Fall to Winter+ a Little Baking

With the frigid temperatures this week, the golden fall leaves from last week seem far away.

I celebrated my 32nd birthday on November 19th! I threw myself a lovely party and invited a medley of friends from different parts of my life. I left it to them to get along, which they did! I baked apple and pear crisp, cupcakes, the sugared cranberries (which have become tradition), Layla's amazingly easy and addictive artichoke spinach dip, and a cake.

Having learned from last years unintentional $76 champagne punch, I tried to tone it down a bit this year (so that I could spend all of my money on baked goods). Tip: try not to pick drinks that require multiple fancy bottles of liquor by accident, though it is a fun way to stock up your bar! I went with a citrus infused champagne punch via Epicurious. I like champagne punches because they're festive and bubbly, and don't seem to leave my friends with a hangover.

It was beautiful with all the oranges, limes and lemons cut up in circles. And there were barely any leftovers (beverage wise). I had to send the troops home with cupcakes and pumpkin bread.

The following week we stayed in the area for Thanksgiving this year. It was a nice change to not travel to Indiana, though we missed seeing family and friends. We headed down to Atlantic City area to spend Thanksgiving with my Uncle, Aunt and cousins. I brought Mike's mom's Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan topping (so good, I can be encouraged to post recipe if anyone is interested), more sugared cranberries, and a blue ribbon dutch apple pie

Other than that, we made our first Black Friday purchase ever, a new MacBook Pro laptop! What a glorious little machine that probably deserves a nickname. I bummed around and spent way too much time watching Arrested Development (yes, I'm a latecomer!) on Netflix on the new laptop and cackling merrily and loudly at their shenanigans.

I may or may not have re-read the last Harry Potter book snuggled up on my couch and watched a couple of the movies.

Until next time,

M