Pumpkin and Spice

Wow. It’s been a while. In fact, it’s been so long, that I’m going to assume you’re here by accident, or because you stopped by to see if the domain name is available.

The truth of the matter is, I was feeling a little overwhelmed by… everything. Dad just passed away last spring, and while I’m not trying to stir up sympathy or anything, it was emotionally exhausting. I started a new job with an hour and a half commute- both ways. It was a… taxing environment, so between the commute and work itself, it was eating up a huge chunk of my time and energy.
           To top it all off, I was feeling dissatisfied with the blog. I felt obliged to post. Not that the pressure was coming from anyone but myself, but I felt like I was forcing myself to find recipes to post, and I felt like it was becoming joyless. Good news, I’m in a new(er) job, nearby, with better hours and a much more mellow work environment, and I’m much happier with where I am. This newfound satisfaction with the career aspect of my life allowed me the opportunity to re-evaluate what I wanted to do with my blog.       What I came to realize is that most of my cooking and especially baking is done for parties, or entertaining for friends. Kyle and I eat pretty simply when it’s just us- especially with both of us working full time, dinner is often just whipping out the George Forman grill (best $30 investment ever) to grill fish or soups out of the crockpot (okay, maybe this is the best $30 investment ever… it’s a close call.) However, I live to entertain!
          I love throwing parties, big and small, elaborate and simple, and I love having people over and cooking for them. I realized that since this is where most of my inspiration comes from, perhaps this was the direction my blog should take. And, I figured with prime party/get together season upon us, it was the perfect time to re-start. Some posts will have recipes, some will have party ideas and tips from parties I’ve had, some will be ideas for parties I’d like to have. Some posts will still be about my life, trips, &c. Really, I'm just trying to refocus to keep this a fun and joyful task for myself and  for you all. (Assuming anyone is out there!)

I was fully intending to post my turkey recipe prior to Thanksgiving, you know, when it might have done some good. But I was a little busier than I anticipated- I worked every day for eight days before Thanksgiving, so there was a lot of pre-holiday prep work that occupied my evenings (when I might have had time to blog), plus with family coming into town there was a lot of cleaning to do. I kinda overestimated my free time, I'll be honest.
Well, there's always the Christmas turkey.

(Also, before we go any further, my "h" key is sticking, sooo... if any words are missing "h's", that's why.)

The holidays are rapidly approaching- it's truely the most wonderful time of the year! I love that once you hit October, you get a holiday every month until Valentine's day! Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas/Hannukah, New Year's, Valentine's Day- it's the best. It makes me feel all Hallmark card squishy inside.

 This time last year, I was in Utah with Sissy, and we spent our Thanksgiving with a co-worker and her family. This year, my parents are coming from Kansas, my brother is coming from Kentucky, and my in-laws and sister-in-law are coming from a couple streets over to our apartment for a big family Thanksgiving. It's going to be my first year hosting the Big Dinner, and I'm a ball of excitement and nerves.

I love Halloween. I love vampires (though not so much Twilight-y vampires...) In honor of the holiday, and my beloved gothy bloodsuckers, I created a bloody cheesecake for our Halloween party this year.

A hazelnut flavored cheesecake with a red chambord (raspberry liqueur) flavored swirl is topped with with a "bloody" splash of frangelico spiked raspberry coulis. The flavor is smooth, rich and creamy, and the sauce offers a tart, bright note. In fact, it's really lovely enough that if you left out the red food dye in the cheesecake, it would make a delightful dessert for any occasion.

I hope that you all had a great Mother's Day weekend- I hope you all treated your moms well, showered them with love and gifts and let them know how fab they are. I gave my mom a call, but since she's coming to visit this coming weekend (Yay!) we're postponing our Mother's Day celebrating until then. I'm super-excited about the present I got her, because I know she'll love it, but she reads my blog (hi, Mom!) so I can't say what it is yet!

Kyle's mother lives about three miles away from us, so we did celebrate with her. Of course, I baked her a cake. I decided that I wanted to decorate her cake in an orange color scheme, because I think that Kyle's mom looks beautiful when she wears oranges. (Not many people do, but it's a great color on her.) Since the outside was going to be orange, it made sense to make the cake orange flavored as well.