Fall dinner

We had our first official hard frost last night (although it got cold enough the night before to kill off the tomatoes and squash). Plus, I had time after kids' stuff to cook!

Pork loin: Seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and poultry seasoning, seared on the grill, then finished in the oven. Nice and juicy and even the tween ate it because it was like pork chops when sliced.

Fried green tomatoes: See frost above. Salted, dredged in seasoned flour, then fried. (This is how the spouse grew up with them - I alternate with cornmeal because I like them better that way. He sometimes puts powdered sugar on them, but I do draw the line somewhere.)

Sauteed apples: Peeled, sliced, with nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and allspice, plus a tablespoon of butter and about half a tablespoon of sugar.

Baked potatoes plus raw sliced apples for the big kids round out our dinner. I also sliced up an Asian pear, but it was a little past ripe and nobody ate it (and I don't blame them). A nice Australian cabernet for the grownups as well.

Brownies for dessert!

It was kind of a long day- Up early (and the toddler-boy didn't sleep well last night, winding up in bed with us) to make pancakes for the horde of kids. Mid-kid had to be at the baseball field at 9:30 while the tween had to have her soccer picture made at 10. She had TWO soccer games back-to-back today; a bit much, I think, for this age group. They tied the first game, but lost the second. Would they have done any better if they were fresh? I don't know, but it seems to be an inherently bad system. Lunch at Cici's, then dropped off the sleepover friend and came home. Nice afternoon playing in the yard, and I even managed to do a little scraping and plastic placement for the last bit of house painting that needs to be done.