New York Botanical Garden

Today I went to the New York Botanical Garden again. It was another Pfizer corporate day, so I decided to take advantage of the free tickets. We debated as to whether or not to go, since we had the October blizzard in the northeast yesterday. But, today was in the mid-40s and sunny, so it ended up being a nice day (compared to yesterday - I would have preferred it to be about 30 degrees warmer).

This is a real pumpkin...grown in Pennsylvania.

One of the huge pumpkins cut in half.

I thought this one was neat.

A pumpkin caterpillar - kind of weird seeing pumpkins and snow.

A little pumpkin house - I went with two friends from church - Jennifer and Dina.

The special event was "Fall Flowers of Japan" and the remaining pictures were taken in that exhibit.

Cold Spring Hike

Yesterday I went with some friends to hike near Cold Spring which is in the Hudson River Valley. It is about an hour ride on Metro North to get there. We arrived there at 11am, but we had to walk about a mile (most of it along a highway with a narrow shoulder) to get to the trail start.

The path we did was called Breakneck Ridge. This is the most difficult trail (and there were parts where it felt like you were scaling the side of a mountain).

The views were amazing...much better than Camelback.

It was also perfect weather yesterday for hiking - about 60 degrees and sunny.

Zach - a friend from church.

We were along the Hudson River and could see the Hudson most of the time.

This is the highway we hiked...fortunately we did not have to walk the highway back. We met a nice older couple and they offered to give us a ride back to the train station.

This is the Breakneck Ridge lookout point.

We climbed this to get to the second lookout, Sunset Point.

The leaves were all changing.

We climbed this as well.

On the way back, we were looking for another trail but we couldn't find it. We found this old building instead.

I love hiking...I would do this mountain every Saturday if it was a little closer.

Butternut Squash Soup with Coconut and Ginger

Tonight I decided to attempt making soup from scratch. It turned out pretty good so I wanted to put the recipe/link here for future reference. Here is the link to the recipe, and I also posted it below. Love this fall soup (actually, I think I like cooking with fall foods the best).

The ingredients I used...the leek and shallot were purchases from the farm yesterday.

The finished product. I forgot about using the unsweetened coconut as a garnish, but sprinkled thyme, salt & pepper on top instead.

2 large butternut squash - halved lengthwise, peeled and seeded

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 leek, white and tender green part only, thinly sliced

1 shallot, finely chopped

2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

1 teaspoon curry powder

1/2 cup dry white wine

6 cups water

1 cup unsweetened coconut milk

1 thyme sprig

Coconut shavings for garnish, optional

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Set the squash, cut sides up, on a baking sheet. Fill each cavity with 1/2 tablespoon of the butter; season with salt and pepper. Roast the squash for about 1 hour and 20 minutes, until tender. Cut into large pieces.

2. Meanwhile, in a large soup pot, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in the olive oil. Add the onion, leek, shallot, ginger and curry powder and cook over moderate heat until lightly browned. Add the wine and cook until evaporated.

3. Add the cooked squash, water, coconut milk and thyme sprig. Simmer over moderately low heat for 15 minutes.

4. Discard the thyme sprig. Working in batches, puree the soup in a blender until smooth; season with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into bowls, garnish with the coconut shavings and serve.

Staten Island Pumpkin Patch

Today I went with some TGC friends to a pumpkin farm on Staten Island. It was a nice day and a fun fall activity. I will let the pictures tell the story.