something like this

Aren't these amazing? Ray Villafane's pumpkin sculptures. I doubt my pumpkin will resemble anything like this. 
Hope everyone enjoys a happy and festive weekend.

 

what I'm listening to

I've been listening to Bon Iver's self titled cd all weekend and it is good. Give er' a listen. You may realize you like it as well.

pearl jam twenty

Just watched Cameron Crowe's documentary PEARL JAME TWENTY on PBS. So rad. Oh I love that band. I miss the summer Ryan and I followed them around Vegas, California and Arizona.

I love me some Cameron Crowe as well. I met him once in Las Vegas at the Hard Rock. It's the first time I've ever been star struck. If you haven't seen Almost Famous, stop reading now and go watch it. If you don't love you some Pearl Jam, repent now and get listening. 

 

more pumpkin

This is one of my favorite and easiest pumpkin recipes. All you need is 1 spice cake mix (any brand - but watch out, come October, spice cake mix goes missing off the shelves - so I usually by several), 1 can of pumpkin, 1 package of MILK chocolate chips. The spice cake mix makes these cookies so light and soft. And trust me... spend the extra 20 cents for the real chocolate chips - semisweet don't cut it on these cookies.

Then pour in the spice cake mix, don't add any of the eggs or water/oil as it calls for, just add the can of pumpkin. At first it will seem extremely dry, but keep mixing with a spoon until both the pumpkin and spice cake are well incorporated. Add chocolate chips, and cook at 350 for 12 minutes. I have a small cookie dough scoop that makes these the perfect size. The dough is incredibly gooey, so I recommend using something similar to that or an icecream scoop to keep the mess to a minimum. 

This is another cookie I have to plate up and immediately distribute to the neighbors or I will eat the whole batch. I often double up the recipe, they seem to go so fast. They are heaven when they are warm.

I wrapped them up with a little Halloween themed card, and thought they looked quite nice. 

hello october

I love October. The air is amazing - scarfs and sweaters start making their debuts... the windows can be left open again - and most of all, the house smells constantly of pumpkin. Pumpkin in all forms; cookies, bread, pie, soup - you name it. I could kiss this month on the mouth.

Yesterday I made these cookies I found on my of friend Stephanie's blog. She has the best recipes and has never lead me astray. They were super simple to make - and made a ton, so I was able to plate them up and take around to some of the neighbors... which helped me from eating them all myself.  Tomorrow I will be making the pumpkin gingerbread bars she also posted about... I'm telling you - her recipes are golden.

Then today I tried this recipe for pumpkin bread with cinnamon pecan filling. It was absolutely delicious. It makes 2 loaves, but we ended up eating both... no neighbor sharing on this one.


Ahhhh, hello October. I'm glad you are here.

i am so sad about this