saturday snapshots

It can't be good when the forecast uses the word "gloomy," so I planned to spend the day in the kitchen making goodies to get through the gloom. We were looking forward to a restful day inside after a busy week with lots of late nights, so we ate French toast and started roasting a big pumpkin. The predicted hard rain still hadn't started by early afternoon, so while the pumpkin finished cooking and cooled, we went for a short walk...which kept getting a little bit longer and longer since the weather was cooperative.

When we finally came back home, it was time to finish the pumpkin projects: puree, soup, cookies, ice cream, and roasted seeds.

portes ouvertes

It's a dreary day, but we managed to get ourselves out the door for wine tasting at the Domaine de Mucelle. We left just in time for the main downpour of the day, but waited in an old storage barn for the heavy rain to pass before continuing the short walk through town. The rain hadn't dampened the festivities, so we started sampling the wines, enjoyed deep-fried apple rings, and learned a bit about the process and machines for growing, making, and bottling the wine, all done at the domaine. We also tried le moût, the unfermented juice hand-pressed from the grapes this past week.

Walking home to restock the cave with wine as local as it gets - we've got organic chasselas, gamay, pinot gris and noir, and a bubbly one.