Halloween baking

I had a day off yesterday and now only 2 more left of my clinical training. One could say, I could be happy.

I devoted yesterday to cleaning. Yep, cleaning. That meant: vacuuming, washing the boat load of dishes even though it's not my turn (! why can't we have a dishwasher!?!), picking up, dusting...ya know. (No laundry though!! Ha-ha-ha!)

We also had to clean the aquarium. The shape it was in was shameful. Words cannot describe how much we loathe cleaning it, but if you are going to enjoy the beauty of the creatures in it, it's gotta get done! I always feel so much better about life when the aquarium is clean. Weird.

A few of my friends came over yesterday evening to enjoy what the title of this post is about. Halloween baking. This was the best part of my day. Or well, it was the best part of my morning! By 10:45 a.m. I had everything in the oven...and by the evening completely assembled.

The cake inspiration came from pinterest (of course) but I have only one can of pumpkin left and that is for the Thanksgiving pumpkin pie...

Instead I made a chocolate cake using the black magic chocolate cake recipe from Hershey's.

The buttercream frosting is from here. I just added orange food coloring (ahem, ok - yellow and red)

And the glaze was from here...

And finally my favorite part of this cake! The meringue ghosts! I loooove meringue, we have had a serious relationship ever since my pavlova summer. These were so fun to make, I've never piped meringue before so it was nice to try something new. Cute, doncha think? :)

What a frankenstein of a cake! I didn't realize I needed so many recipes just to make what I had in mind! Lol! It turned out great and was DELICIOUS, too!

Since I had such a halloween baking theme going on, dinner unfolded as a ghost shaped pizza! The dough was made from scratch and we put some ground beef, onion, jalapeno and tomato on it -- and lots of cheese! :) If you hadn't already guessed, I was inspired by pinterest for this pizza, too!

Aah, good food, friends and clean house! A perfect Friday!
Thanks for reading! 

Wishing you a Happy Halloween and fun weekend! :)

Foxes! Crispy crumbles!

Yesterday, I did indeed make the crisp/crumble I had planned to. 

For it I used:

4 small plums, diced
1 Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, sand pear, diced
1 1/2 - 2 dl apple sauce
1 dl brown sugar
1 tsp pumpkin spice (ground nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice)

Crust
~3 dl flour (I used gluten-free = wheat starch)
75g margarine, cold
1 tbl brown sugar

Butter a dish. Make the filling by mixing it all together... Then make the crust by pinching it all together (my butter was too soft and made this hard to do!). Bake at 200C/~375F till bubbly and golden. (25-30min)

While I was baking it, I happened to look out the gorgeous window and see something that made me scream with delight! TWO FOXES FROLICKING! 

AAaAAAAh! 

I love it!

Amazing animals, they are one of my favorites.

Thanks for reading!

Oh no, not again!

I'm at it again! My evil alter-ego Master Procrastinator has attacked! 

I should be studying, finishing a school project, working on my bachelor's thesis...

Instead I have cleaned AND organized the bedroom closets. Washed laundry... And admired the color spectrum of my neatly folded tank tops. 

I have admired this pretty flower that we got for our housewarming... Still blooming Nina! :)

I've spent a fair few minutes at a time staring out the window at the beautiful autumn scenery. Blue skies today!! Should I go for a long walk? Life is too short to sit inside a study right?

I have had fun looking at and putting away some of the goodies we bought at Ikea yesterday. These mushrooms are Christmas decorations but I think I want to display them year round! I love mushrooms! 

They had super cute bird napkins at Ikea too! I wish I had a valid reason to buy the bird tray I have loved since that came out a few years ago...

We finally made a decision and solved the living room lighting situation. We wanted to get a light to hang down from the ceiling but there was a tricky outlet situation as well as no hook to hang anything from...so we decided this was an easier and less painful way to see what we are eating at dinner... Now we just need to start hanging up the Japanese tapestries we bought in March AND all the pictures we had blown up from our trip!

I am sitting here sipping this, Lipton's citrus green tea. It's not too shabby. I bought a multipack of green teas to switch it up. I have a bad addiction to buying tea.

 I was pretty sure this is a quince so I bought it to try (inspired by the quince tree). Upon googling I found out this is a Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese or sand pear. Shoot. 

I am going to cut it up and make a crisp with this unique pear and these plums. 

And as I sit here, the master procrastinator, Miss Kissa is keeping me company. She looks at me disapprovingly while laying on top of the notes I should be reviewing.

I wonder often and out loud WHY I have chosen this particular degree program? What on earth was I thinking? (If I remember correctly the thought process at the time, it seemed like a sensible and responsible career choice). 

Can't I be a painter/crocheter/photographer/homebody/anything else but a nurse for a living?

Oh boy.

I think I will work on that not-quince and plum crisp.

And continue listening to the new Puscifer album, Conditions of my Parole. 

I recommend. Especially if you have a serious love thing with Maynard James Keenan, too.

I also recommend the new Tori Amos album, Night of Hunters. Although, you might be annoyed her daughter sings as much as she does on it. 

Thanks for reading!

Oh so very...Pinteresting...

It's 11 p.m. I'm finally home, in my PJs and sipping tea. Yes, oh yes, I am going to sleep well tonight. It's been a long 6 day work week at clinical training. (Only 4 more work days! Yay!)

After running into some old high school friends this week, I was inspired to finally go through with my plan of arranging a little Christmas party-reunion type deal. 

I do love a good party! 

So I locked down a date that suited me best (Nov 26th) and set up an event on facebook, clicked a bunch of faces that I associate with being in high school and voila, just over 50 people were invited! 

What's that? Over 50 people? Whaaaat? 

Hahah, we live in 65m2 (google tells me this is 699.654177 sq feet) -- HOW are we going to fit?! 

Good thing the usual rule of thumb is only half of the people invited come, which is ok and definitely a good thing although it would be so very nice to see everyone! 

Now for the exciting part though! Finally getting to use and add more to my pinterest board created long ago with this particular event in mind: Christmas party ideas

YAAAAAAY!

I am far to lazy to link any pictures to this post, also because I don't want to upset anyone by using their pictures, but do check out the board if the link works! 

I am so excited to decorate for Christmas and CLEAN (weird, I know) and make this place sooooo pretty and cozy! :)

And the thought of preparing food and baking... <3

Like I said, I love me a good party! 

I feel bad making this a text only post, so here is a picture from last Christmas, or well the beginning of December!

 

Can you believe he is already over a year old now? And he weighs more than 40kg (~80lbs)!? He's over 70cm (2.3ft!) tall at the shoulder?!

Since I got to looking at these old pictures, I'll share one more of my favorites! 

He's up around my hips these days, certainly no tripping on him now! Lol!

Thanks for reading, I promise to share some newer pictures next time! ;)

stepping stool ta-dah

This is a ta-dah post.

This stool has been on the back burner for long enough --> no longer! With the help of my ever so patient hubby, we decoupaged this plain wooden ikea stool (15e) with the classic marimekko unikko design napkins last night! 

TA-DAH! :)

It's a bit wrinkly, some parts were torn and we were both frustrated at more than one point -- BUT look at how cuuuuuute it is!! :)

I just love it! We keep this stool in the kitchen to reach the top shelves of cabinets and sometimes as extra seating. It's just so bright and cheery now! Yay! 

We are so in love with this and are considering making more! If not another for us, maybe as Christmas presents or something. After all, it's a budget friendly project and you get the satisfaction of being crafty! :)

Tasty salad! Dinner tonight! I love eating a bowl of color!

This was just a quick pop-in post, I was so excited to share my latest craft! 

Thanks for reading!

Weekend R&R

It's been a tough week. I started a 3 week clinical training for our pediatric nursing course...and kids, well, they're tough. I hate to hear them cry and honestly, thank goodness this is only 3 weeks, because I am not all that amazingly fond of it. Things could be worse though. They can always be worse!

That is why, after this looong tiring week, my glorious weekend off has felt incredible! I have slept in, I have lazed about, I have eaten well and I have played in dirt (some might call it gardening). The sunshine was out for all of what I had left to enjoy of Friday and Saturday (yesterday) was just well...beautiful. Let me share! 

Here is the little road to the lake from the garden... This tree on the left was once covered in white flowers, it's hard to believe how fast summers fade.

I don't know if we just missed the red foliage while we were in Florida or what, but this fall has been really yellow to me. I managed to find some red leaves like this though! :)

Here are the last flowers from our garden...

Our perennial flower bed. Those big leafy plants are going to be foxglove next year we hope. 

The last pansy picture for the season. I am a little sad, I won't lie. 

Ok, now I am crying... (lol, just kidding) ...the last rose pictures...

And much to my mom's frustration, the roses seem to think it's a great idea to be full of rosebuds in mid-October. It's stupid of them, they don't have a good chance at all. :(

Back home, this is the view from our floor's common balcony. Yep, lake view every time I open our door and walk to the elevator. :)

This was our low-fat beef burger. We worked hard at the garden, so we had to eat well at home. Mr. Hubby-man makes some tasty tasty bacon cheeseburgers!

And I took care of the dessert. American style cinnamon rolls going into the oven...

...and coming out of the oven to get smothered in a cream cheese frosting! Ah, better than cinnabon.

Although, I will say I cheated and made the yeast bread dough from the good old Finnish "pulla" recipe. It's just easier than trying to convert foreign yeast recipes. 

I love that my husband loves to help me bake! I hate rolling out doughs and kneading, etc. I just like mixing and decorating, and EATING! So thanks to Mr. Man for helping me roll out and roll up these buns! :)

And while I could think of so much more to share, time is running out! I have some visiting to do with old friends! Therefore, au revoir to each and all and thanks for reading! :)

Wishing you a happy Sunday! 

Loot

Here was the sunset yesterday. It was rainy in the afternoon, then the sun came out again and lit up the trees and there was even a rainbow! I actually just saw that rainbow today after looking at the pictures (top right corner)!

Kissa is one to take immediate advantage of carelessly placed empty suitcases...

And now to the loot part!

We bought the fish a dragon and lantern from petsmart. The dragon connects to an air stone, so once we get the tubing set up, bubbles will come out of the mouth! :)

Kissa got a green furry mouse (she loves it!) and Koda and Manta got an indestructible ball made from rope. It was also popular last night.

He was happy to come home and be with his mama and papa. Apparently he found the grandparent's home boring.

We got this awesome clock as one of our many generous wedding gifts from the hubby's relatives. Thanks to everyone!

Another one of our amazing wedding gifts: this crocheted afghan. Actually, I'm typing this on the couch right now curled up in it. I looooove it!!! The hubby's grandma made this for us (she made one for the sister-in-law too) and it is just so beautiful. I'm completely inspired to get my butt into gear and finish my blanket too. I need to find out what kind of stitch/pattern she used, its gorgeous. It looks like granny "clusters" (3dc groups) all put together back to back and crooked. So cool. And she has some crazy skill, I bet there is not one mistake in this!

I bought some baking supplies. New autumnal cookie cutters, a big bottle of vanilla extract (they don't sell it in Finland) and lollipop sticks for when I attempt cake pops. I also bought a new frosting piping set like my old dear one! I picked up a Wilton's dessert decorator plus from Michael's. Yaay! Can't wait for a good baking day now! :)

And on that great baking day, I can wear my brand spanking new retro inspired apron! So pretty! And perfect for our kitchen too, since it has the apple pattern! I just need to find or DIY some cool hooks to hang my apron on. I am thinking of starting a collection... ;)

We bought some new knobs for the closets in the bedroom (seen here) and for the hallway. Those hideous 70s brown ones were just too ugly.

I bought this new purse from Marshalls. I looove that store! Such great deals! It's so funny that it caught my eye and I had to have it, because my sister had eyed the darker brown version just a week or two before!

I got this poncho from Kohl's. It was totally an impulse buy but it was the only impulse buy I made so that is pretty good. AND it's amazing to wear. Like in the mighty boosh: "it's impossible to be unhappy in a poncho!"

 I picked up this sweater on clearance from Target. I guess I'm digging gray this year...

Also on clearance at target was this peacock blue sweater. I love it!

And this little dress was on clearance, too at Target. It is so comfortable!

These babies are also from Michaels. Such a pretty collection!

I picked  up this interweave crochet magazine and some new yarn. :)

My sister made us published authors by compiling our Japan honeymoon blog into a book using her Creative Memories software! How cool is that! I love it, thanks E -- you did a great job!!!

Some pile of loot, huh. How fortunate are we! :) It's like Christmas in October! Yaay!

Thanks for reading, hope you weren't too jealous (wink wink)!