Pumpkin Patches in OC

Halloween is just a few weeks away and there are pumpkin patches to be visited!

Check out my article for a few favorite pumpkin patches in the area.

I can't wait to take Peanut for a gazillion pictures to pick out a pumpkin!

Doughbot Donuts, Sacramento

B's friend Mike knows how much we love food and suggested this place to us.

I was sort of sold when he told me their tagline is "Resistance is Futile".

We checked out their website, finding they are a couple (she is pictured below) who started off 

making donuts out of their kitchen for friends 

while they scoured the internet for deals on the equipment they needed to open a store.

The first thing I noticed when I walked in were their bicycles up against the wall.

Good food and bikes?  I'm sure B was sold right then.

We came in after the morning rush and it was quiet and calm with the smell of 

doughnuts and coffee hanging in the air.

The decor is fantastic and makes me wonder where they found all these 

vintage, retro and modern goods.

So much personality in such simple decor.

The menu changes daily and it makes me want to go back again and again

just to see what they are coming up with and try them all.

What you see above is the PB & J.  

Simple and delicious, why didn't I think of that?

I ordered coffee and she prepared it in a french press while I drooled from the smell of it.

I already have a list of donuts that weren't available that day

that I must try.

Meyer Lemon Creme-filled with meyer lemon glaze and candied meyer lemon on top.

S'mores- cinnamon sugar donut filled with chocolate, locally sourced handmade marshmallow,

glazed with cinnamon and graham cracker.

I know, genius.

They also have quite a few donuts available in a vegan version.

On the left you see a bite of the PB & J with that fantastic strawberry filling.

On the right you see the chai.

I really loved the chai and wanted a cup of glaze to dip my donut in.

This is the apple bacon fritter which I really liked although 

I would have considered it more of a donut.

I'm not really sure what defines a fritter so maybe I'm off on my definition.

Really though, unless you have your heart set on a traditional fritter, 

I'm not sure it matters.

It tastes good.

I want to eat it.

I had The Dude first.

Do you know what I'm referencing when I say The Dude.

The Dude abides.

My college boyfriend and his friends spent months watching The Big Lebowski

over and over again, spouting off quotes and whatnot

until just the mention of the movie makes my right eye start to twitch.

The man calls himself "The Dude", need I say more?

I loathe the movie.

I do not however, loathe White Russians, The Dude's drink of choice.

The translation into doughnut is a White Russian Bavarian creme-filled 

doughnut with perhaps a coffee glaze? on top.

The creme was light and airy and incredible and I woke up this morning thinking about this doughnut.

Perhaps now I've been cured of my eye twitch

because whenever The Dude is mentioned I'll think of this doughnut.

Perhaps I'm not cured at all as my eye twitch will be replaced with drooling.

I think the eye twitch may be more socially acceptable.

Anyway, this made me think of you mom,
oh lover of both white russians and filled donuts.

I also have to mention the vanilla bean donut.
It's simple and classic but good Lord, how often do you find donuts with actually vanilla bean?
I mean, look at those gorgeous flecks in the glaze.

On the right is the Strawberry Lemonade,
I didn't get to try you but I'm coming back for you my friend.

Doughbot is a great find so head over there and eat some doughnuts!

Sure, I can make that

My friend Tina and I were talking about how we get these great ideas.

We see things online or on TV and decide that we can do whatever it is ourselves.

Most the time we don't even try...

but sometimes we lock ourselves into these ideas.

We had this discussion at her sons birthday party

after she spent hours and hours making BAM!  and SPLAT! and BOOM! cookies

and a gorgeous banner that looked relatively straight-forward.

We know better, don't we.

Oh sure, that won't take much time.

So when I started looking for a costume for Peanut,

I just couldn't decide on what I saw.

I started seeing all these diy owl costumes and ended up with a whole board of them.

We thought that he might make a great vampire, what with the hair do and all,

but I kept coming back to the owl.

I mean, it's his first second Halloween and I get to make him cutesy if I want to.

So my mom helped me pick out a pattern for the body.

There weren't any owl patterns but a pumpkin/lady bug/duck pattern should be fine.

Of course, just opening up the pattern scared me.  

There were 35 different pieces and so far I've use 2.

Of course, I don't understand the directions.

Um mom!  What is basting?!

Like in cooking?

What does basting have to do with sewing?

I figure if I just do what she tells me it really seems pretty straight forward.

For now I'll just spend my evenings cutting out "feathers".

Lots and lots of feathers.

B still doesn't believe I'm going to make a costume.

I mean, just because I've only sewn square (and 1 rectangle) pillows...

and some pumpkins (that were slightly lopsided).

Back to cutting feathers.

The more pictures I see the more elaborate things get,

so I've restricted myself from looking up anymore owl costumes.

He'll be 1, he won't even remember this.

Oh but the pictures will last forever :)

Remind me later that I wanted to do this.

A few days of fall

The day after we got back from Sacramento it was cold and rainy.

It was the first day it really felt like fall.

B stayed home with Peanut (who had a cold from to much partying... or too much shoe-licking)

while I ran errands.

Isn't it amazing how easy it is to run errands without hauling a little one in and out of the car?!

I made 9 different stops in 2 hours.  

Anyway, with the cold weather and the idea of snuggling in for the rest of the day,

I figured it was a good time to go thru our boxes of clothes

and pull out the next size and season.

We've been lucky enough to get clothes from my nephew 

as well as new clothes/gifts from friends and family.

These days are always fun for me because I feel the need to try things on Peanut.

Why are hats so cute on babies?

Not that this is a baby hat.

The size reads size 2T-3T.

Mmmm hmmm.

Peanut thought daddy's beanie was pretty funny too.

We snuggled and had soup and generally made the apartment a disaster.

He is into everything and thinks NO! actually means GO FASTER!

What are we going to do about Christmas?

By the way, it absolutely is not fall without THESE cookies.

I'm seriously, a bit of fall in every bite.

Pumpkin Pecan Cookies with Brown Sugar Butter Frosting

The cookie itself is light and cakey and the frosting adds the perfect amount of sweetness.

Go make them now.

Peanut's Baptism

Although we just got back from Sacramento and I have tons to share, 

I wanted to back track to a very special day in September.

Last month we had little Peanut baptized.

The baptism started just after normal nap time and the Peanut was so tired 

I wasn't sure he was going to make it through the ceremony.

When we approached the baptismal font he perked right up and the chance to play in the pool.

He splashed around, trying to twist towards the water.

He was wet, the deacon was wet and a few of us were wet also.

Everyone agreed that we should have done the full immersion, 

if only to see how excited he would have been to be in the water.

It was really cute.

At the preparation class they mentioned the changing of the clothes into

a white garment after the baptism with water.

I loved that idea.

My family thinks I'm crazy.

Does anyone remember my veil-switching and  dress altering

 during my wedding ceremony and reception?

You can see the changes here.

Anyway, in the picture above Peanut is being blessed with more oil then you can imagine.

It was dripping down his face.

His hair was greasy for 2 days.

He smelled very.... sacramental.

Or as B would say... he must smell like Jesus!

My sister kissed his oily head and her lips went numb.

Perhaps there is clove in there?

Poor kid probably couldn't feel his head.

Peanut did wonderfully and it's such a sweet and powerful sacrament.

It felt good and right and inspiring to be there.

Afterward we headed back to my mom and dad's for a little celebrating.

This is only a very small portion of what we had to eat,

which included

savory artichoke & spinach bread pudding,

breakfast potatoes,

tomato corn pie,

lox,

summer salad,

Puerto Rican garlic pork leg,

fresh fruit and of course,

lots of cheese.

Raise your hand if your baptized today!

I saw these yarn balls on pinterest and had to try them out.

I'll post a review later.

This is a messy project but the result looked good.

We decorated with them as well as hydrangeas.

I adore hydrangeas.

Tina made these chocolate suckers.

The ones on the left have sprinkles and the ones 

on the right have crushed lemon drops.

You could do so many things with crushed candies!

I made 2 different cakes.

I know it's crazy but I didn't want to run out.

I bought the gum paste flowers on etsy.

I think it would have held up better if it were refrigerated after making.

I finished it the night before and it sort of sagged.

Fantastic chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling and a vanilla buttercream.

It was really good.

This one held up beautifully and I think it's really pretty.

I will post a recipe for this which was really a hodge podge of recipes 

used to create what I had in my mind.

Lemon & Blueberry Layer Cake

Soooo delicious.

Here is Peanut with his godparents!

Thank you Tina & Rick, I know you will be wonderful godparents.

At the top is Peanut with Bryce who is my godson.

This is what happens when you try to get a nice picture of 

exhausted, delirious Peanut with his great-grandma.

Oh Peanut.

It's time to feel your boobies.

TOUCH YOURSELF!

Its Breast Cancer Awareness Month and maybe the only time I can use a blog title like 

Touch Yourself without losing my lovely readers.

I'm going to step up on my soap box and remind all of you about the importance of the Self Breast Exam. It is so important to learn what your breasts feel like and 

what is normal for you in order to indentify any changes.

I'm going to remind you that I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 27. 

That is 13 years before mammogram age. 

I would have been long dead by 40 had my cancer not been found. 

I am alive because a lovely doctor felt a lump in my breast during an exam. 

I did not find it because frankly, I wasn't doing regular breast exams.

Don't rely on luck. Be proactive.

Give yourself an exam. 

Let your partner give you an exam. 

Let a stranger... dear God, I'm only kidding, although I am sure you would get some volunteers. 

Please don't be telling your other half I sent you out to the streets to get felt up.

This page here has information on how to do self breast exams among other bits of info. 

Take the quiz and test your BC knowledge!

Please also know that only 5-10% of breast cancer comes from the hereditary genes. 

The other 90-95% of us just get it without rhyme or reason. 

Women get it, men get it, people of all ages get it. 

So spread the word and encourage the people you love to be proactive!

That being said, if you do feel a lump don't freak out. 

The vast majority of lumps found are absolutely nothing. 

I know so many women who felt a lump or had mammos or bibopsies :) that ended up being nothing. 

The point is that they checked it out. 

If you would like more information about finding a lump go here.

Also, if ever you need someone to talk to about any of this please don't hesitate to email me. 

I am not a doctor and I can only speak from my experience 

but I promise to give you nothing but honest answers or a listening ear.

Now go touch yourselves! Oh, and tell your friends to touch themselves too!

We're in Sacramento

We've been here since Thursday and we've been having a wonderful time.

We haven't stopped eating since we arrived and I might have to buy new clothes to come home in.

For some reason my memory card isn't compatible with their computers and seems to overwhelm and shut them down... so no pictures until next Wednesday.

Until then I've stolen a picture from my sister-in-law to show you the family.

Peanut had a great family party yesterday and had his first dim sum and sushi experiences today.

Very fun!  And no, we did not give him raw fish.

 I can't wait to catch up with you all and share some good eats with you too!