THE MORNING STAR BED & BREAKFAST, LLC 
The Morning Star B & B in Autumn
Welcome to The Morning Star B&B Update!
Greetings!

    Well another month has passed and now the holiday season is only weeks away. I'm putting away the Halloween decorations and starting to get ready for Thanksgiving. We have a full house at the B & B for Thanksgiving this year - all return guests, I believe. That will be nice. I'll also be cooking the holiday dinner for family and some friends. So I need to be well organized around this time of year. Gosh, I'd better get to work!
Apple Crumb Pie
Apple Crumb Pie
    With a no-roll cream cheese crust and a crumb topping, this apple pie is both delicious and comparatively easy to make.*
 
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour, divided
13 T. unsalted butter, divided
4 oz. cream cheese
1/3 c. dark brown sugar
1/3 c. sliced almonds
2 t. ground cinnamon. divided
1 c. granulated white sugar
2 T. corn starch
3/4 t. ground nutmeg
4 c. peeled & cored baking apples (such as Granny Smith) sliced 1/3" thick
4 C. peeled & cored crisp eating apples (such as Jonagold) sliced 1/3" thick
2 T. fresh lemon juice

1. Prepare pie crust: Combine 1 c. flour, 8 T. butter (cut into chunks) and cream cheese in the bowl of a large food processor. Pulse until the mixture forms a ball. Wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
2. While crust is chilling, combine remaining 1/2 c. flour, brown sugar, almonds, 1 t. of cinnamon and 5 T. butter in clean food processor bowl. Pulse until ingredients form a crumb mixture. This will be the topping. Refrigerate until ready to use.
3. Whisk together white sugar, corn starch, remaining 1 t. cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside for filling.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Press pie crust evenly into a 9" pie pan.
3. To make the filling, toss apple slices with lemon juice and then with white sugar mixture. Arrange apples in pie crust, allowing them to mound slightly in the center. Press crumb mixture onto apples, covering the surface of the pie.
5. Place pie on a baking sheet and bake for about 1 hour or until the apples are tender. Allow pie to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before cutting.
* The crust that I use for this pie is the Cream Cheese Crust for Quiche from A Taste of Morning. 
You Had Me at Woof
You Had Me at Woof  by Julie Klam 
    Just when I was beginning to wonder what book might tie in well with this season for thankfulness, one of our guests - Kathy from Kansas - surprised me with a copy of You Had Me at Woof: How Dogs Taught Me the Secrets of Happiness.  The link is to a video that does a fine job of showing Klam's sense of humor. Thanks for the book and the link, Kathy!
    Klam's love of Bostons led her to work in Boston Terrier (and B.T. mixed breed) rescue. The book focuses largely on her experience fostering dogs that had been taken from bad homes or that had been dumped in animal shelters after their owners didn't want them anymore. Though humorous, the book has a serious message about the challenges faced by the very kind and patient people who take in unwanted dogs so that the dogs can live out their lives in a safe and happy environment.
     Reading about Klam's experiences, I was both amused and taken aback. If I had read this book before ever having known a Boston, I might never have gotten a dog from this wonderful breed -- and that would have an awful mistake to have made. Reading the book, I had to remind myself that (1) Klam was sharing the "bad-dog" stories in order to be funny and (2) that she hadn't gone out of her way to find a good dog from a good breeder - she had gone out of her way to give a good home to dogs that hadn't been socialized and cared for. The problem with her problem children wasn't that they were Bostons - it was the homes that they had come from previously - that and the fact that it is pretty difficult to house train a dog when you live in a 16th floor apartment.
    My life - like Klam's - has been wonderfully enriched by having Boston Terriers. I am so glad to have found this perfect-for-me breed so many years ago. So, amongst other things, this season I will be giving thanks for the 5 remarkably good (loving, affectionate, social, personality-filled, playful, loyal) little Bostons who have brought happiness and plenty of laughs to Bill and I over the years. (Below: Abbey & Penny play a friendly game of tug.)

Abbey
    As always, I hope that you enjoyed this issue of The Morning Star Update. Wishing you and your loved ones a very happy Thanksgiving ...

Sincerely,
 
Laurie Pieper
The Morning Star B&B
In This Issue
Apple Crumb Pie
You Had Me at Woof
Confectionately Yours
Wrap It Up
Things to do in O'Hare
Dates to Remember
Cover of Confectionately Yours
Confectionately Yours
   Confectionately Yours: A Collection of Cookies, Candies & Yummy Confections is a cookbook for sweet finger foods. With over 100 recipes for every season, from easy to make goodies to fancy treats, this collection  can help make any occasion sweeter.
   The 8 x 9" oversize volume has 30 full-color pages. With photos of almost every recipe - a few frosting photos and photos of cookie variations didn't make it into the book - this is a handsome volume if I do say so myself.
    The retail price of Confectionately Yours is $23.99, but I am giving a $2 discount on preordered copies. To purchase copies for $21.99 + tax, just send us an email stating how many copies you would like to reserve. To receive the discount, preorder your copies by November 15th, 2011.
(Shipping and handling $5 for first copy sent to one address, $1 for each additional copy to the same address. No sales tax is charged on orders shipped out of state.) Preorder here. 
Silver Package
Wrap it Up
    Now in its 12th year, Wrap it Up is the main annual fund raiser for the Manhattan Arts Center. Featuring artists from Manhattan and the Midwest region, working in a variety of mediums - watercolor, oils, acrylics, fused glass, blown glass, ceramics, textiles, and so forth - the fundraiser runs from November 4th through December 24th. I will have several framed pieces of photography in Wrap It Up along with holiday and Boston Terrier note cards. 
WickerParkSushi
Things to do in O'Hare Airport
    Starting November , 2011, we'll have two flights a day each way between Manhattan and Chicago on American Airlines, so chances are more and more of us will be flying through the windy city. Chicago is super convenient when flights are on-time, but the world's second busiest airport is notorious for delays.
    At least there is no shortage of things to do if you get stuck with a long layover. The last time I flew through O'Hare I had 3.5  hours of layover time and decided to think of those hours as the last ones of my vacation. First I walked the airport for exercise, then I treated myself to dinner at Wicker Park Seafood & Sushi followed by a chair massage at  Back Rub HubPass along your recommendations. 
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Red Floral Decoration
Dates to Remember
November 3rd: Re-think, Re-design, Re-invent for the Holidays, Colbert Hills
November 4th to 6th, 10th to 13th: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Manhattan Arts Center
through November 5th: Look & See, Strecker Nelson Gallery
November 13th: Downtown Holiday Open House
November 11th: Veterans Day Parade, Poyntz Avenue
November 11th to 12th: Weavers & Spinners Open House and Sale, Riley County Seniors' Center
November 12th: Buttons & Bows Arts & Crafts Fair, Seven Dolors Church
November 26th: Winter Wonderland, City Park Wamego
November 29th: Cirque Mechanics, McCain Auditorium 
Links of Interest