October Favorites

Can you believe it's the last week of October?!  We just celebrated our son's first birthday with a campfire themed celebration among family.  What a whirlwind year!  Here are some of my October favorites as of late...

+ the Fixer Upper memoir, The Magnolia Story

+ Marvel's Luke Cage on Netflix

+ this new cookbook, Molly on the Range

pumpkin cheesecake tea by Davids Tea (not as sweet as it sounds)

+ this fall-feeling nailbolish, OPI schnapps out of it

+ this subtle yet delicious pumpkin bread

+ this Seth Meyers monologue

+ this app, unroll me which has uber simplified my junk mail

+ Avalon Organics facial wash

image/bippityboppityboo

Halloween in Dessert Form

I need a reason to make this cake.  Forbidden Forest Chocolate Butterbeer Cake, combining my love for Harry Potter, delectable chocolate, marshmallowy goodness, and Halloween decorating all into one eye catching, decadent dessert.  Wowza!  I'll definitely be pinning this bad boy to make at some undetermined time in the future when my kids are older and more able to truly appreciate the spectacle (and effort invested).  For now I'll pass it in on to you out there, in case you've got the gumption to create this masterpiece.

P.S. And for those wondering, "What does butterbeer taste like?" I had the exact same thought... This recipe calls for butterscotch chips, peanut butter, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, and sugar.  Yum.


Quote of the Week

"Before you marry a person, you should first make them use a computer with slow internet to see who they really are."
~ Will Ferrell

image/pheartache

Foodie Roundup: Pumpkin Edition

Tis the season for pumpkin!

{SWEET}










{SAVORY}








Quote of the Week

"The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience." 
~ Eleanor Roosevelt

image/bloom

Cookbook Crush: Cravings

You guys - I cannot tell you how much I love, love, LOVE this cookbook.  It's no surprise, I get a small thrill every time discover a new worthy cookbook.  Just like finding that latest and greatest I-couldn't-put-it-down book that everyone's been talking about, this discovery represented that for me.

  First, I had no idea who Chrissy Teigen was.  When I stopped ready Us Weekly years ago, I purged all my unnecessary knowledge of random celebrities, names of spouses, kids, names of their restaurants, etc. etc.  In case you also haven't heard of her, she's mildly famous for her modeling days and being John Legend's wife, but more importantly wildly funny.

For the record, a good cookbook in my mind's eye includes the following:
 a). it speaks to me
b). colorful pictures of the food, I'm terribly visual, so pages with just recipes is a no-go
c). narratives to explain the nostalgia, passion, or thinking behind the food
d).  enough delicious sounding (easy) recipes to make my stomach rumble

Cravings is ALL of these and more, though this is far from your typical cookbook!  It is peppered with swear words, healthy-ish recipes but the title speaks to the content, as it is layered with cheesy, rich, and decadent "real life" recipes you actually crave too.  I appreciate this, as who really craves beets, or salad.  Maybe once in a blue moon?  

Trust me, it's worth it.


image/katiepowellbell

September Favorites (a day late)


+ Stranger Things on Netflix; a town overcome by creepy things, love the attention to 80's detail, weird and addicting all at once

+ The Danish Way of Parenting, one of the best parenting books I've read yet

+ Decent new(ish) Disney movie Zootopia we watched on the plane

+ the new batch of winter jammies at Hanna Andersson

+ this lavender scented eye mask

+ Kodiak cakes pancake mix (available at Costco)

+ this seasonal pumpkin-cranberry infused beer

+ love this story about a what memories an American girl doll can hold