Creative Carving

Whoever invented pumpkin carving is my hero. I mean, "let's gut a squash and turn it into food art!" That's my kind of person!

Here we are creating this year's masterpieces. My daughter carved a pretty good likeness of Tinkerbell with the words, "Got Pixie Dust?"


My son, who happens to enjoy math the way I do a bar of dark chocolate, decided to go for a math-faced pumpkin.

Can you tell what I am waiting for this year? About twilight tomorrow, I'll be looking for a "good" vampire...

Here they all are in a row. I tried to take pictures with them all lit up in the dark, but my candles were weak and all I got was blackness. Maybe I'll put glow sticks in them tomorrow!

Happy carving!!

A Promise Fulfilled

This tres chic Twinkie cake has been a long time coming. It made its debut at my sister's Open House, held at our parent's home this weekend for all of our family and friends who couldn't make it out of state for the wedding two weeks ago.

The sign behind the culinary masterpiece tells the story... and I'll explain it here.

Many years ago when my sister was a pre-teen, she and my youngest sister and our mom were looking at wedding magazines. (This happened often in our home since our mom regularly did flowers for weddings.) Our youngest sister was listing all the plans she had for flowers, dress, and reception for her future wedding. But this -> sister, took one look at all the pictures and said, "When I get married, just put out some Twinkies and Kool-Aid in Dixie cups."

And so, I've promised her for years that when she got married, I was going to make her a Twinkie cake. (Yes, in case you were wondering, there was a divine chocolate wedding cake as welll!) But the Twinkie cake had a place of honor. And my promise is fulfilled.

By the way, it was an absolutely marvelous party!!

Midsummer in Midwinter

This Midwinter, we'll be having a Midsummer Night's Dream! The kids' school play is this Shakespearean favorite and I can't wait. They found out today what roles they will play... my daughter will be Titania - Queen of the Fairies and my son will be Demetrius - love-potioned suitor.

My son's first reaction was, "Mom, listen to this stuff I have to say, 'To what my love shall I compare mine eye?'!" To an 11 year old this is pure mortification. But I wisely counseled him, "Son, you learn that Shakespearean love poetry now and I guarantee, when you're 23 or so, if you quote that to a young woman, you'll have her attention!" He looked thoughtful for a moment... and then made a gagging motion. :-) But he did think for a moment...

What can I say. If someone spouts sonnet 116, I'm a puddle on the floor.

A Classical Tradition

All my memories of being at my maternal grandparent's home have a soundtrack. That's because anytime I was in their home, classical music was playing. Sometimes it was a record (remember those?) but more often it was the San Francisco classical music station. I loved hearing that music when I was there.

In my parent's home when I was growing up we always had classical music playing on Sundays. I have memories of eating a marvelous dinner to the tune of Bach, Mozart, and Gershwin.

I've continued that tradition in my home. Every Sunday I turn on the classical music station. The really neat thing is... it's the same station my grandparents used to listen to. I still love the way the music creates a tangible atmosphere in my house. Hopefully my kids are soaking it up.

I've even taken to listening to classical music in the mornings while I get ready for work. I've always had my alarm clock set the classical music station - it just seems like the most humane way to greet the pre-dawn hours. Lately I've taken to leaving it on. There's something about classical music that both calms and energizes at the same time. And you're not left with lyrics that go round and round in your head all day.

I've mentioned before on this blog that my favorite music is movie soundtracks. My two favorites right now are "Pride and Prejudice" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" depending on my mood. :-) There's just something about this music that reaches way inside of me and connects me to humanity through a universal language.

It's a marvelous tradition to have inherited and it's one definitely worth passing on.

A White Wedding

Hooray! My sister and her marvelous man Jeff got married! It was a splendid day. Even the weather decided to go with the white theme... it snowed! Yes, snow in October! It flurried a bit on Saturday morning but gratefully stopped around noon. Didn't stick to the ground either, but boy was it COLD.

Here are the newlyweds looking blissful in spite of the weather.

The reception was beautiful and the cake was divine! Chocolate is perfect for a fall wedding.

I was a happy bridesmaid. Here I am hanging out before the reception. You wouldn't guess it was about 45 degrees out! Oh well, it was so much fun!

Wisdom of the Ages

I was at the grocery store last night. I finished up at the register and put my wallet back into my purse, preparing to pick up my bags of groceries.

The cashier yelled out, "Whoa there goes a dollar! Is that yours?"

The bagger and I looked at a dollar bill that had just fluttered to the floor at my feet.

"No," I responded. "I paid with my debit card."

We all looked up and saw a woman almost to the doors who was stuffing money back into her wallet. The bagger yelled, "Wait!"

The woman turned around while the bagger retrieved the dollar and asked if it was hers. It was.

Just then the cutest, littlest, oldest lady in all of California came shuffling by, holding on to her grocery cart. Her chin barely cleared the handle but she had clearly watched what had just happened. With a gleam in her eye, she said in her ancient-wise voice, "It's a good thing she found somebody honest."

And she kept rolling on by.

When the final straw is chopsticks

You know it's been one of those days when...

In the midst of eating a delicious dinner of teriyaki stir-fry over rice you find yourself thoroughly annoyed at how long it's taking you to eat and you march to the kitchen to get a spoon.

When your son asks why you're no longer using your chopsticks, you announce, "I don't need stress from my eating utensils!"

And then you think about what you just said.

And you know it's been one of those days.

Our October Fest

It actually got a tiny bit cloudy today! And my son and I found one tree with leaves that were definitely yellowish. All this and it's now OCTOBER. So we decided to have an October Festival.

Recipe for an October Festival:

1. One large pot of apple cider (one jug of cider, two cinnamon sticks, 8 whole cloves - hot!)
2. Three maple glazed donuts.
3. One origami session (taught by daughter) on crafting black bats and orange pumpkins (cool!)
4. Thirty minutes of watching "Garfield's Halloween" - classic.

Results - toasty, sweet, silly October fun!