Bowl of nuts

I love this time of year because it brings out one of my favorite things, bowls of un-shelled nuts. There is something romantic and old world or at least old timey about it. My grandparents on both sides always had bowls of nuts in their home when fall came. I remember going around clacking the decorative metal nut crackers and trying not to stab myself with the really sharp hook thing that removes nut meat from the shell. Now that I have my own family I am trying to start up traditions. Having un-shelled nuts every fall has been a tradition now for almost 5 years. Even my in-laws have a huge bowl of nuts at their table in the fall. Only my father in law uses a small hammer to crack them open. My sister in-law Luisa can cracker walnuts with her hand. Impressive!

We bought one of those old timey metal nut crackers, but I seem in capable of cracking the nuts without shooting them across the room. So instead I got lobster cracker. It works great!