Just a little leak

I woke up on my day off this week to an unpleasant surprise in the kitchen. The floor and countertop were wet, and the ceiling fan was leaking. That's right, the ceiling fan! It didn't take me long to figure out that there must be a leaky pipe in the kitchen ceiling, right underneath the bathroom floor. The water was dripping through the ceiling fan.

Since my husband was still at work, all I could do was put a bowl under the drip. And it dripped, dripped, dripped all day.
When Josh came home, he immediately checked all the plumbing in the upstairs bathroom. We've had problems with the bathroom plumbing before. It's to be expected when we live in a 100-plus-year-old house.

After tearing apart the shower and kitchen sink, my husband concluded that there must be a leak in a pipe running under the floor -- which meant he had to tear up the kitchen ceiling.

He took the next day off of work. He removed all the 1960s-era ceiling tiles, which were stapled onto the plaster ceiling. He wasn't sure what else he would find when he removed the tiles.

Turns out there were already several holes in the plaster, likely from earlier repair projects. At first, he thought the leaky pipe would be a simple patch job. But then he realized that the pipe was leaking because it was rusted through. So he'd have to replace the entire pipe.

It's too dark to get a good picture of the old cast-iron pipe, but here's another view of the ceiling and the old wood underneath. My husband said he found a bunch of mouse nests in the ceiling. As if the house wasn't creepy enough...

One unusual discovery was a patch of patterned wallpaper underneath the wood trim. Could it be original to the house?

I can still hear the drip, drip, drip from the ceiling as I type this. My husband is determined to fix the plumbing -- himself -- over the weekend. We'll see how it turns out.

Perfect pumpkin

A few weeks back before the early season frost, I visited a local farm to get my hands on a few pie pumpkins. It's so much fun to bake with fresh pumpkin. Pies, breads and muffins turn out moist and a vivid orange color that you can't get from canned pumpkin.


It's so easy to roast a pumpkin; the hard part is actually finding a quality pumpkin. I've bought pie pumpkins at the grocery store that were moldy on the inside. And I've tried to grow pumpkins myself, but been unsuccessful. I just can't keep the squash bugs and vine borers off the pumpkins.


Besides, you can't help but feel good when you buy from a local farmer. It's a great sign of support for both the local economy and for Iowa agriculture in general.

It took a little elbow grease, but I sliced the pumpkin in half, then scraped out the seeds and the stringly pulp. Then I baked the pumpkin halves upside down on a foil-covered baking sheet at 375 degrees for over an hour. The roasted pumpkin came out perfectly tender.

I gave the pumpkin a spin in the food processor until it was smooth.



This pumpkin was so sweet, it tasted great without any sugar. I saved some to eat for lunch the next day.

I measured out 1 cup of pumpkin into freezer bags, dated the bags, then stacked them in the freezer for future use. It's such a great treat to make pumpkin bars in the middle of winter.

Of course, I didn't let those wonderful pumpkin seeds go to waste. I coated them in brown sugar and cinnamon and roasted them in a 250-degree oven for 50 minutes. They turned out sticky, but delicious. I've been snacking on them all day.

Can't wait to make homemade pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving!

Martha Monday: Chili

This week's Martha Mondays pick by Megan at MegansCookin is a great one: Martha's chili in the October issue of Martha Stewart Living.

As much as I loved the article, however, I just couldn't bring myself to make the recipe. My Midwest taste buds can't handle all the chilies, onions and garlic in the recipe. Plus, I absolutely adore my husband's chili. There are certain recipes I just don't try, because he's pretty much perfected them to our liking.

So I asked my husband to make his chili in honor of Martha Mondays. He even wrote the recipe down (without me asking him to do it), so he could share his "secret" with the world.

If you can't read his handwriting, here's our favorite chili recipe:

• - 1 lb. ground beef
• - 1 c. coarsely chopped onion

Brown the ground beef and onion together, then partially drain off the fat. Then add:

• - Two 28-ounce cans of whole tomatoes
• - 1 tomato can full of water
• - 1/1-2 Tbls. chili powder
• - 1 Tbl. beef bouillon
• - 3 Tbls. brown sugar
• - One-half 16-ounce can of kidney beans
• - 1 Tbl. Worcestershire sauce

Let simmer over stove until ready to eat.

Fun Iowa fact: Tone's spices are made in nearby Ankeny, Iowa. When we travel to Ankeny for shopping, we can smell what spices Tone's is working on that day (oregano is one of the strongest scents).

I like to add a little cheddar cheese and Frito "croutons" to the chili. My husbands recipe is a nice balance of spicy, hot and sweet. And I love the whole crushed tomatoes.

Please visit the Martha and Me blog to see how the other members prepared their chili.