10.23.2012

On a lighter note

Thanks so much to everyone for the sweet comments and emails over the past few days. I really do appreciate it so much!!

Had a fabulous weekend, the highlights of which were:

1. Sushi
2. The Pumpkin Walk
3. The End of the Homemade Doughnut Fail
4. Giving a Talk in Church
5. Surprise Visitors!

The Pumpkin Walk is an annual North Logan tradition that is going on 30 years. Local families and groups create huge displays out of pumpkins, and the rest of us show up and walk around and admire them. They used to hold it closer to Halloween, but it was eventually moved to earlier in the month to reduce the odds of snow-covered pumpkins.






This year the theme was Games, so of course this happened:



The Tiny Dark Lord had a good time, and then he posed for this picture and looked so cute that I squealed loud enough to spook the horses. Not that I could see any horses, but it's North Logan so there were for sure some within earshot.


We got home, put TDL to bed, and then had some adult fun. Well, adult Mormon fun. ("We love apple pickin', Seth. It's like Mormon Mardi Gras.") For the past few years we've had the same group of friends over for homemade doughnuts and wassail, and every year it's a testament to our friendship that they keep coming back even though my doughnuts never rise and are always gross. This year I was determined that I would not fail, so I asked my sister Jenny for a new recipe. She, in her wisdom, pointed me to Joy the Baker's recipe, which also includes the Alton Brown Chocolate Glaze.

And oh, friends. Check it:


It's a good thing I only made a dozen, otherwise I would probably be writing to you from some kind of treatment facility. Let's just say it was only the most delicious thing I've ever eaten, ever. I made my family's wassail to go along with them. Here's the recipe if you're interested:

Wassail

2 quarts apple cider or juice
2 cups orange juice
2 cups pineapple juice
(I just buy the frozen can of orange/pineapple concentrate from Old Orchard and use half, saving the rest for another batch down the road. I think that works out right.)
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 stick cinnamon
1 tsp whole cloves
Sugar to taste--1/2 to 1 cup

Simmer over medium heat for 20-30 minutes, then serve. Can be refrigerated.

And speaking of family, here's a hint about the surprise guests:



7 comments:

Rachael said... [reply]

I am glad it sounds like you're surrounded by lovely people. I want to eat all of those donuts, and the pumpkin walk sounds fantastic. (I told my husband what you said about the flowers reminding you of our rosebush and could barely get the sentence out without crying, so I really hope you're doing well right now.)

Unknown said... [reply]

Ohh, The Pumpkin Walk. I'd almost forgotten about that from my USU days. So fun to get little snippets of Cache Valley life via your blog.

Ps. Sorry to hear about your heartache.

Loradona said... [reply]

You are pure evil, putting that doughnut recipe up. So I made doughnuts today (not that recipe, but I'm still blaming this on you). And now I have two dozen chocolate doughnuts. Thank goodness for church responsibilities that require refreshments, otherwise I would be sunk.
I'm going to have to try that recipe one day, though.

goddessdivine said... [reply]

Um, I want one of those donuts like RIGHT NOW. Holy crap those look good. Why didn't you make that kind of stuff when we were roommates? :-P

Jenny said... [reply]

I keep staring at that picture of the donuts as some perverse form of torture.

Bebe McGooch said... [reply]

I've been wanting to make those donuts forever. But haven't had an occasion yet to make them.

I can't believe how curly TDL's hair is! He is so stinking adorable!

Unknown said... [reply]

I was just scrolling through your blog to get to the Ryan Gosling link since a friend could use that card. However, I got distracted by a picture in this post. Popular opinion seems to be that it would be the doughnut picture but it's not. It's the one with you and cute little TDL. You look gorgeous in that picture! I figured any girl (even more so, a mom of a energy-depleting toddler) loves to hear that someone thinks they are beautiful so I thought I'd make a quick comment.

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