the sweet smell

aahh november is really one of my favorites months because it celebrates two wonderful things....the mister's birthday..SO GLAD he was born!!! and THANKSGIVING!!! this is my all time favorite holiday...EVER!!! so over the weekend i made a pumpkin pie! now i didn't make the crust, i cheated and the mister got me pre-maid crust BUT i did use a real pumpkin instead of that canned stuff! it added an extra step but really it was super easy and i think made a WORLD of a difference...i don't want to toot my own horn as i didn't invent the recipe but whoever did is my HERO but this pie was soooooo amazingly yummy! i have one more pie crust and pumpkin and i will be making this again for sure...also going to make it for thanksgiving to share with my family! i know my little sugar monster of a niece will love it ;D

the first step was to get all the seeds and pumpkin guts out and then cut it up into pieces. you have several ways of cooking the pumpkin, either microwave (yuuk, don't know one and NEVER will again,) bake (which takes 45 min to an hour) OR steam for 20 min....hmmmm i'll take the later. so i threw all the pieces in a pot and steamed for 20 mins. waited till the little pieces of hot lava cooled and then scooped out all the yummy flesh, tossed in a blender and blended till it was all smooth and even. easy peesy lemon squeezy!

right before it went into the oven

the extra piece of wonderfulness that this recipe added was a walnut, sugar & cinnamon topping which you also blend...this goes on top of the pie and give it an extra crunch that i OH SO LOVED! i found the recipe on epicurious....which you can find here....this website is my go to for finding all things yummy.

half through you take the pie out and add the walnut topping

and here is the wonderfulness that came out and filled our tummies with pumpkin sugary goodness!

hope you make the recipe and enjoy it as much as we did!!

have a great weekend! the mister is off to las vegas for his first time! i can't wait to hear what he thinks when he gets back and i have a bike expo to attend to and round up some potential venders!!!!


xoxoxo,
cb

a perfect fall day filled with skulls & pumpkins

in some of the windows you can see skulls

 saturday was awesome! the weather was warm not a cloud in sight and any day filled with skulls and pumpkins is a day well spent in my book. my sister in law came over with my little nephew and we headed over to the dia de los muertos art exhibit. i thought it was appropriate to wear my skull earrings...i mean it only made sense ;D

the art exhibit is being held from oct. 8th to nov.14th...i am not sure how long this has been going on as this will be our second halloween here and we missed the exhibit last year and we were super bummed. i was so excited to go because the meek mansion is never open to the public. the mister didn't go as he went on a bike journey so i can't wait to go again and go at night to get the whole effect!

 people from all over hayward participated in the exhibit from grade schoolers, high schoolers and
independent artist...i was so impressed, i thought they did a great job and i especially love the "stained glass" art the best! made me want to go home and whip something up...perhaps next weekend!

i really loved this alter which is in stead of alters of remeberence different people made books instead...so clever!

 since dia de los muertos is a day of remembrance there were little and large alters scattered about remembering family members as well as the former owners of the house the meek's.

there were several paintings done by various local chicano artists that were amazing! i felt so inspired by this that i now know what type of tattoo i want to get next! day of dead birds! can't wait to start designing!

later that night we went over my cousin's house and we carved pumpkins till the early morning! i did an owl and the mister did a GREAT day of the dead skull! here they are at home in front of our little casa :D it was a PERFECT fall day!

hmm not a great picture but you get the point, no?

what is the best memory you have a perfect fall day?

xo,
cb