Hobbit Day

September 22nd is Bilbo and Frodo Baggins' birthday.  In case you are not a Tolkien or The Lord of the Rings fan like me, you may not know who they are, but let me just say that they are important hobbits (small, home-loving people with hairy feet) who had a hand in the saving of Middle Earth... Also, you should go out and read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings right now.

Anyway, now that I have given away how nerdy I am (as if this didn't show you already...), I must add that hobbits love growing and eating good food.  Also beer.  And so we celebrated with good food and beer.

Since one of the favored food items of hobbits is mushrooms, I decided to try these great mushroom and onion biscuits from Joy the Baker.  After I started making them, I discovered that I didn't have shortening, so I ended up replacing that with more butter.  And I used baby portabella mushrooms rather than cremini.  Since I haven't tried them any other way, I was completely content with the result.

There were oven-roasted Brussels sprouts as well as radishes and carrots sauteed with sesame oil.

We also found some lamb bratwurst and pork sausage at the farmers' market, both from grass-fed animals.  That was quite a special treat!  And my parents still had some cherry tomatoes from the garden.

Overall, it was a very fun celebration and one which I think I just might add to the calendar each year!