Where is Kelsey when you need her to......

Frost some cupcakes!!

In our last few CSA box's we were getting very autumnal (I love that word) vegetables. One that I thought particularly beautiful and not familiar with was the Kuri squash. I decided to take this squash which I received two, along with a pie pumpkin and roast them. 350 for an hour and a half for those interested. I ended up with 8 cups of wonderful pumpkin/squash puree.

First I made a batch of pumpkin/squash muffins that the recipes needs a little tweaking but are very wholesome and delicious with whole wheat flour, oats, brown sugar and Greek yogurt. Then on to the not so wholesome pumpkin cupcakes with chocolate butter cream frosting. This is where I need Kelsey. The cake decorating class we took this summer was amazing but I let her take with her some tips I did not replace so while the cupcakes are very tasty the frosting has some issues in looks.

Pumpkin cupcakes

1 cup flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

7 tbs unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup pumpkin/squash puree, I was generous

1 tsp pumpkin spice

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin pan with 10 muffin papers.

Put flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in mixer. Add butter and process on low speed until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, pumpkin/squash, spice and vanilla. While mixer is running at low speed add half of the liquid ingredients. Slowly add remaining liquid ingredients and mix until thoroughly incorporated, scraping sides as needed.

Divide among 10 paper lined muffins and bake 16 to 18 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

Get Kelsey to frost your cupcakes with chocolate buttercream icing and enjoy!!

Thanksgiving

According to family lore my parents came to this country with my sister Jacqueline from Holland via England the day before Thanksgiving. Their neighbors in their apartment complex in San Francisco invited them for Thanksgiving dinner. The repast was amazing and my mother continued to create the dinner forward including inviting any lost sole that had no family to celebrate with in the area.

My favorite Thanksgiving was the Thanksgiving we spent celebrating my mother's 70th birthday. I was just finalizing my divorce and my two sisters, their husband's, children and mine along with my mother boarded a cruise ship out of Galveston for a week. It was the most give and take wonderful week.
And life goes on and lives get scatter and now I am giving recipe advice to my girls. Life is good and I am blessed with a loving husband and three children that check in with their mother as their lives ebb and turn. All is well with the world!! Happy Thanksgiving to all that have touched my life in the past year and made it better and to all that have been in my life watching over me.

It's Been A Year

It's hard to believe it's been a year since I moved to California from Texas.
The biggest adjustment is a no brainer - I miss my children!!
The girls are both at college but they would routinely pop in for a weekend or two and Hagen was in the house, learning to drive and it is amazing the daily conversations that can be had driving back and forth to school. I miss that!!
Next on the list is the shoppe and Dru Ann. The shoppe and Dru Ann go together as we spent at least five days of the week interacting and sharing our families lives with each other.
Next are all our wonderful customers and friends. And a lot of our customers became our friends. We shared our daily trails and tribulations with everyone. We were a great group of knitters and I miss our Thursday nights.
It has been an adjustment finding connections here. I can state with positive enthusiasm that all my new friends are KNITTERS. What a wonderful connection that is!!
Before the move I had connected with a few ladies on Ravelry.
Linda took me to my first knitting guild meeting as I was in the midst of unpacking boxes and Marleen encouraged me to join the Saturday group at Filati's. Both ladies, I will say have been my saviors.
I am now working part time at Filati's and love the interaction with the customers and my co-workers. I have also been elected to the position of treasurer for the Camellia City Stockinettes Knitting Guild.
I am still trying to get my children to California but am happy to say they are thriving and doing well where they are.
And the bestest thing about living in California is living with the most wonderful man in my life, Jim.

Fingerless Gloves

I got to wear my new Cabled Fingerless Mitts by Lazychick Designs today when Jake and I went for our walk. One of the goodies I received at the knitting guild retreat was a skein of Noro Kuryeon and I needed some gloves for our cold morning walks. The pattern called for 120 yds and I had 110 yds. These mitts are knitted from the wrist down and my thought was to eliminate one eight round section of the cable pattern so I did two cable repeats instead of three before starting the gusset.When I began knitting the second mitt it became rather obvious that the mitts were not even going to look close to coming from the same skein and I really wanted my fingers to be covered more so I did two cable pattern repeats instead of one after I was finished with the thumb gusset which meant I needed more yarn. I had some left over Kuryeon from Murphy's sweater so the thumbs are from a different skein but yes folks the body of the mitts are from the same skein. Ah, the beauty and aggravation of Noro.

They did keep my hands warm.

Pine Nuts Not Needed

I tried a new recipe for pesto today. Instead of pine nuts I used pumpkin seeds. At $3.59 a pound it's a much better bargain.
2 cups basil
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup Parmesan
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
Salt and fresh ground pepper
Makes about 1 cup
Let me know if you need basil. It's growing almost wild in the back yard.