Belated Halloween

We made a jack o' lantern cake for a belated get together last night. It was a burnt sugar cake from Joy (obviously) with cream cheese frosting. The burnt sugar was a huge pain in the ass. It took three tries and two different cooks to get it right and even then it was still a little runny. We (i.e. Brandon. After the caramel I was done with finicky stuff, plus he is an artiste.) only added a little sugar to the icing because the cake was quite sweet already. The combination of deeply sweet cake and almost salty cream cheese frosting was perfect! I would make this again just as a regular cake despite the 45 minute crystallized sugar ordeal.

Games 4 & 6, 7

We tried to make our own pasta for spaghetti and meatballs. I had memories of this being a difficult but ultimately rewarding experience. Not so. We argued. The Steelers played poorly and the noodles were tough and uncooperative with the rest of the meal.

I was stricken with a mystery virus so there are no photos of the tasty nachos from game 5. Beans, salsa, cheese, enormous pile of chips. Oh, and the latest craze in our kitchen: canned pickled jalapenos. For some reason there are carrots in there too but they are too hot for me!

Brandon's pot roast with sweet and regular potatoes. Another lesson learned: don't just sit around drinking beer while it half dries out in the oven. Still, the bottom part that cooked in the beer and mushroom stock was melty and delicious.

Bacon Cheese Fries. At home. There goes my waistline!

Games 2 and 3

Hash Browns, Sausages on soft white buns with Brandon's Family's Sounds-Gross-Until-You-Try-It Peppers and Ketchup sauce.

And Tacos with taco meat which I was always very wary of as a child because it is so dark colored and trashy people seem to really like it. I still prefer beans but for the Steelers I will eat "taco-spiced meat."

A 5K!

We ran the GPLC 5k today. It was the first race I've ever been to and I was relieved to find that I could keep up relatively well. We ran it in 33:30! I was worried I wouldn't even be able to finish, which was ridiculous because I have been running (slowly) for a few months, so I was very happy to run a 10+ minute mile. The next race I hope to do is the Gutbuster on Thanksgiving.

Also, the Steelers won so the whole household is happy today. Below is the first game day meal. More to come.

House Hunting

Yesterday I began my house search. Some of the houses were pretty nice. A couple were pretty gross. All in all I was really happy with the day. This used to be a grocery store.

Three Blooms!

This summer my night blooming cereus had three blooms. I am so proud!

Another

After seeing tote bags in the stores this weekend that were too expensive and not exactly what i would want anyway I made this. I have yet to produce something that really lives up to my expectations. This bag ended up being a little too grandma for me but hey, I can't run from it forever so I might as well just accept that I'm a nerd.

The doll quilt fell victim to the heat wave. If the weather stays nice I intend to get back to it. I have been pretty excited to try the hand stitched binding again. Such satisfaction!