Christmas Cards

After many attempts of getting a Christmas Card Picture we ended up with these two finalist.
We ended up choosing the one with Domino! We pick them up today, and hopefully they will be in the mail by the end of the week!

Thanksgiving Part #2

After shopping on Black Friday we headed home and pulled out our Christmas decorations! Since Russ really wanted to buy a fake tree last year, I gave in and told him as long as I can take advantage of it (putting it up the day after Thanksgiving and taking it down New Years Day.) Now our house is all ready for Christmas! Even Domino likes the tree!

Don't mind the rug, I don't like it there but we made a fire and had to put something in front of it.

My fake tree skirt, since I cant find one I like

Our second Thanksgiving was on Sunday at my Dad's house. We had yummy prime rib, yorkshire pudding, twice baked potatoes, ceasar salad, and green bean casserole! We also had toasted raviolis for appetizers! We were all stuffed!

Now that Thanksgiving is over are getting ready for our multiple Christmas celebrations! I can't believe it but our schedules are booked through the first of the year! (Well we are out of town for 2 weeks.)

Thanksgiving Part 1

We had 2 Thanksgivings; one on Thanksgiving with Mom, Jeff, Stephanie & her boyfriend Evan, then another one on Sunday with Dad, Shu-Jen, Steph and Evan.

Thanksgiving #1 we had: Turkey, Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans, Cranberry Sauce, Sweet Potatoes, and rolls. For dessert we had Pecan Pie and Tunnel of Fudge Pumpkin Cake!

We spent the night, so I could wake up at 6am and go shopping with Mom, Steph, Evan and Falynn. We hit Penny's first, not much of a crowd there. Next stop was Macy's where we ended up standing in line for an hour!! We made a few more stops and were home around 12:30.

Heres a few pics!

CSA - Farm Fresh to You

Last month we started getting CSA boxes. We signed up for an all fruit box once a month! It took us about 2 1/2 weeks to get through all the fruit, but it was yummy!

Our second box came today with:
2lbs Bartlett Pears
2lbs Empire Apples
2 lbs Navel Citrus (Oranges)
2lbs Pinklady Apples
1.5 lbs Mandarin Oranges
1 lb Honeycomb Apples (Was suppose to be a Pomegranate but they ran out)
1 pnt Cherry Tomatoes
.5 lb Baby mixed green lettuce

We both love apples but man we got a lot!!! Anyone know any good recipes?

Happy Halloween!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Last night we carved our pumpkins. Last year we took a picture with Domino in the pumpkin so we thought we would try again, she had another idea. hehehe Anyways heres our pictures!

And a picture of Domino from last year... She looks so tiny!

WOW 4 posts in 1 day!

Don't think I am going to make a habit out of this!

Tunnel O Fudge Pumpkin Cake

This cake came highly recommended by a friend. I want to try and make it for Thanksgiving so I thought I would try it out a month early to make sure it "tastes" okay! It turned out really good, I cant wait to make it with the frosting!!

Ingredients
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 sticks (1/2 pound) soft unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin
2 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted
Chocolate Glaze:
1 cup heavy cream
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 tablespoon butter

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a 12-cup Bundt pan; dust with flour or cocoa.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream the butter, both sugars and the vanilla with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add the eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each. At low speed, mix in the dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with the pumpkin.
Transfer 1 cup of batter to a small bowl; stir in the chocolate. Spoon 3 cups of the pumpkin batter into the prepared pan; smooth the top. Using a small spoon, make a shallow ditch in the center of the batter, forming a ring. Drop the chocolate batter into the ditch. Cover with the remaining pumpkin batter, smoothing the top.
Bake for 45–50 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes, then turn out to cool completely. If desired, prepare Chocolate Glaze and drizzle over the cooled cake. Let stand until set.
Chocolate Glaze :
In a saucepan, bring the cream to a boil. Remove from heat. Add the chocolate and butter; stir until smooth. Let cool for 1 hour, until thickened but pourable.