We had my brothers and my brother’s fiancee, Marie, over for the Bills game today. Cooked up some football snacks, and just had a good time. It was a good thing we were having fun, because the game? Well, the majority of it sucked. Big time. Our team that has played pretty well the last two weeks? They fell apart today.
I don’t know what it was: Overconfidence? First taste of truly cool weather? Just a bad day? Hard to say. (I blame the throwback jerseys.)
Once the Raiders broke away for an 85-yard touchdown pass in the 4th quarter, we all sat, stunned, staring at the TV with jaws hanging open. That was it, we thought. They just lost the game. The score was 23-14, and they had to score twice to win. And well, if you have been a Bills fan the last few years, you know that the Bills don’t do comeback victories. If they’re losing, they lose.
They had a bit of a comeback last week against the Jacksonville Jaguars, but it was nothing like what they would have to do here.
When the Bills got the ball back after the Raiders’ touchdown, our excitement grew as they marched down the field and scored a touchdown. 23-21 with about four minutes remaining in the game. We turned our focus to the defense, screaming at them from our living room to not allow the Raiders a first down. And they came through.
With a little over two minutes left in the game, the Bills had a chance. And then they did it. First down, first down, first down. Once they got into field goal range, they let the clock wind down to three seconds before they called their final timeout.
Our kicker, Rian Lindell, ran out onto the field to attempt to win the game with a 38-yard field goal. Scary, considering he missed a field goal attempt earlier in the game.
Next thing we knew, it was up… and it was good. Lindell nailed it. NAILED it. Bills win!! 24-23, with no time left on the clock. A last-second victory.
These are the things that usually happen to other teams. These are the ways in which we’re used to LOSING games, not winning them. So this is very exciting. And the Bills? 3-0 for the first time since 1992. We are cautiously optimistic.
GO BILLS!
A few side notes about the game:
- The turnovers. Ugh, they killed me with the turnovers. Edwards’ fumble (SECOND WEEK IN A ROW, BUDDY! HOLD ONTO THE DAMN BALL!) and interception, along with Lee Evans’ fumble. Ugh.
- The penalties. Seriously, what the hell. The Bills are usually one of the least penalized teams in the league, and today, they were morons. Evans’ offensive pass interference call… he shouldn’t be doing that sort of thing! Get it together, Lee!
- Speaking of penalties. We had a pass interference call go in our favor, and it was clear from the replay that it was going to be controversial. The ball had been deflected off a Raider’s helmet, which negates pass interference. The smart thing would have been to quickly run a play before the Raiders’ coach could do anything about it. What did the Bills do? Edwards seemed disoriented and confused, and gave the Raiders all damn day to look at replay after replay after replay. And then the red flag came out. Idiots. That was a free pass interference call you could have had there.
- What the hell was with the Raider punching Josh Reed in the face in the endzone? What an ass. Leave it to a Raider to get ejected from the game. Just sayin’.
- Did I mention the Bills are in FIRST PLACE in the AFC East? :)
“Actually a pretty nice little Saturday. We’re going to go to Home Depot. Yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath, & Beyond. I don’t know, I don’t know if we’ll have enough time!” – Frank, Old School
Today, we went apple picking again. We were running low on apples and needed to stock up. Not only that, but I learned yesterday from looking at the apple farm’s website that this weekend was going to be special. Why? Well, they were picking the holy grail of apples: the coveted honeycrisp.
We were there around noon, and the apple farm was busy. It’s still a bit warm for true apple picking weather, but how can you resist going out to the farm and picking fresh apples? Especially honeycrisps??
The funny thing was that they just started picking honeycrisps this morning. By the time we got there, many of the trees were already totally picked over. We had to go toward the back of the rows to find apples. So I’m sure that they’ll be sold out (picked out? haha) of apples by the end of this weekend. No more honeycrisps to be had, unless you want to pay $2.49+ per lb. at the grocery store. No thanks, there are plenty of other delicious apple varieties.
After that, we headed over to my in-laws to visit with Michael’s sister and her family, who drove in from out of town. Little Brendan was adorable as usual. I haven’t uploaded the pictures from our visit there (they are on our SLR camera, not the point-and-shoot), but I will update this post with a picture of him when I get the chance. We can’t believe how big he is getting.
Everything there was pretty low-key. We just did what we normally do. Just hung out together and chatted. And ate, of course. Lots of eating always involved.
Pretty normal and relaxing Saturday.
Tonight, I planned to make apple squares from a recipe given to me by a friend. The plan was to make them to take to my in-laws tomorrow. My sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and nephew are coming into town and I always like to bring something to share.
But when Michael talked to his sister tonight, she mentioned that she was bringing a homemade apple pie. Even though it’s fall and it’s apple season, I didn’t want to overdo it with the apple desserts. I suspected my apple squares might have been too similar to the apple pie, so I had to scramble to find something new to make. And quickly. It was already 8:00 p.m. To further complicate things, I had to find something to make that only used ingredients we had in the house. Neither one of us felt like running out to the grocery store.
So, I picked up my new baking book and started thumbing through it. Many of the recipes that looked good were eliminated immediately due to time constraints or the contents of our cupboards. However, I eventually landed on this recipe for blueberry crumb cake. I asked my husband if he thought this might be good to bring, and he agreed. Into the kitchen I went.
Blueberry Crumb Cake
(Recipe from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan)
For the Crumbs:
5 tbsp unsalted butter at room temp
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar (packed)
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts*
For the Cake:
1 pint (2 cups) blueberries (preferably fresh, or frozen, not thawed)**
2 cups plus 2 tsp all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
2/3 cup sugar
grated zest of 1/2 lemon or 1/4 orange
3/4 stick (6 tbsp) unsalted butter at room temp
2 large eggs, at room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
Preheat oven to 350. Butter an 8-inch square pan and put it on a baking sheet.To make the crumbs: Put all the ingredients except the nuts in a food processor and pulse just until the mixture forms clumps and curds and holds together when pressed. Scrape the topping into a bowl, stir in the nuts and press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface. Refrigerate until needed. (Covered well the crumb mix can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.)
To make the cake: Using your fingertips, toss the blueberries and 2 tsp of the flour together in a small bowl just to coat the berries; set aside. Whisk together the remaining 2 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Working in the bowl of a stand mixer or in another large bowl, rub the sugar and zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and aromatic. Add the butter and, with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat the sugar with the butter at medium speed until light, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one by one, beating for about 1 minute after each addition, then beat in the vanilla extract. Don’t be concerned if the batter looks curdled — it will soon smooth out. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture and the buttermilk alternately, the flour in 3 parts and the buttermilk in 2 (begin and end with the dry ingredients.) You will have a thick, creamy batter. With a rubber spatula, gently stir in the berries.
Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and smooth the top gently with the spatula. Pull the crumb mix from the fridge and, with your fingertips, break it into pieces. There’s no need to try to get even pieces — these are crumbs, they’re supposed to be lumpy and bumpy and every shape and size. Scatter the crumbs over the batter, pressing them down ever so slightly.
Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, or until the crumbs are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a rack and cool just until it is warm or until it reaches room temperature.
*We used peanuts instead of walnuts.
**I would use more blueberries next time.
Close-up of the crumb topping:
Update and review: This came out very well. Perfect for a breakfast or brunch treat, but also sufficient for a snack or dessert. The crumb topping is really flavorful and sweet, and is a nice offset to the cake. I would have enjoyed having more blueberries in the cake, so the next time I make this, I will include at least another handful of blueberries. Since I was using frozen berries, I think they didn’t measure correctly because of a little ice build-up on some of the berries. And as always, I’m sure fresh berries would be even better.
Last night, we worked with color flow and royal icings for the first time. We made little blue birds out of color flow, and then made two different flowers (apple blossoms and violets) and violet leaves out of the royal.
We’ve been instructed to save all of the flowers and stuff that we make for the final class (in two weeks), when we make our Course II cake. We’ll be using all of this stuff to decorate it.
So for now, all of this stuff is hanging out in a Gladware container in my kitchen. Check it out:
About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
