Holiday Shopping for Me

Did you all have a nice long holiday weekend? We definitely did. We had some friends over for Thanksgiving and on Friday we all headed down to San Jose for the Harvest Festival - that's a huge craft show for those of you who aren't in the know. haha

My big purchase this year was "Wooly". He's the cutest sheepskin covered footstool you've ever seen. He's a buffalo and comes complete with his own fuzzy goatie. Wooly has friends. If you'd like to see them, click here.

My friends Bob and Sue are vendors at the Harvest Festival, so that's the main reason we headed down to the show. I picked up a new snowman for my collection from Sue. He's so cute!

That's all the shopping I did this weekend. How about you?

Cake Decorating Fun

This weekend I did something I've wanted to do since I was about 10. I took a cake decorating class at the local cake supply shop! It was a 4 hour workshop, and I really loved it.

There were 9 of us in the workshop. We each got a Styrofoam cake to decorate and lots of parchment paper to practice on.


Everyone thought the basket weave technique was pretty cool. It took a long time, so I only went half way around.

We also learned a few borders, some small flowers (the teacher made those blue ones), and what every girl wants to learn...roses! Mine turned out surprisingly well.


I got a set of tips a few weeks ago so I could practice at home. I can't wait to do some more frosting art. I wish that cake had been real. mmmmm

Two Spoonfuls - Pumpkin Season II

One day, Ginny said to Jenn: "Let's do a cooking blog post." A flurry of emails later, Two Spoonfuls was born!

We are two creative gals who became friends through our mutual love of fabric and sewing. Now, we're bringing our energy and style into the kitchen, trying new recipes, re-vamping old favorites and sharing them with you.

We'll use familiar ingredients to create dishes that are flavorful and easy to prepare, while adding our own helpful tips, bits of kitchen wisdom, and a little food history too. The recipes we share will be practical, with easy gourmet touches.

Look for Two Spoonfuls recipe recommendations: always in time for a weekend, to share with your family and friends.
___________________________________________________________________

This week I made Libby's® Pumpkin Roll from VeryBestBaking.com. For the full recipe, click here. I've always been intrigued by these fun looking swirled desserts, and a little intimidated too. It was actually really easy to make. The ingredients are pretty simple: Powdered Sugar Flour Baking Powder Baking Soda Ground Cinnamon Ground Cloves Salt Eggs Granulated Sugar Canned Pumpkin Walnuts (if you like) Butter Cream Cheese I know, it's kind of a long list, but they're all really basic things that you probably have on hand. The only thing I had to purchase special was the cream cheese, oh, and the pan. You'll need a 10x15" Jelly-Roll Pan to make this cake. A Jelly-Roll Pan is basically a cookie sheet with sides.

Jelly-Roll pans can also be used to roast meat, so they're pretty handy. I bought two sizes.

When you get to the rolling stage, make sure you roll it in a non-loopy kitchen towel. No terrycloth.

You only need 2/3 cup pumpkin, so you'll have a bunch left over. This morning I added some to my pancake batter and made pumpkin pancakes. mmmm

The final cake made about 15 1/2" slices.

__________________________________________________________________

Ginny's Notes:

1. Be sure to read through the directions before you get started. You need to grease the pan, lay wax paper over it and then grease (and flour) again. If I hadn't watched this video, I'd have likely messed that up and had a sticky mess on my hands.

2. The cake is very sticky. When I tested it for doneness, I couldn't be sure because of this. I followed the directions and checked after 11 minutes. I could have taken it out at that point but gave it another minute or so. I think it was a little bit overcooked.

3. The cake itself doesn't have a very strong flavor. If I make it again, I'll add some ginger or maybe a little pumpkin pie spice sprinkled on top.

4. The amount of filling in the picture had me worried, so I spread mine quite thin and discarded about 1/3 cup. I think it was just the right amount in the end.

5. Don't be stingy with the powdered sugar! It will save your life and keep things from sticking.

____________________________________________________________________

This was a great pumpkin recipe and I can feel good about at least part of it being good for me! Pumpkin is a great source of vitamins and nutrients. It's low in fat and calories & can even be used in place of oil in some cake mix recipes.

Check out NutritionData.com for more information on raw pumpkin and everything else you can think of. What a great website.

Now, let's check out what Jenn made with Pumpkin this week. (I think I know what I'm baking for Thanksgiving)

On My Desk

I know, I haven't played "On My Desk" since September! Sorry about that, I know you're probably aching to see what's laying around in my sewing room. Thanks for the interest. haha

I've always got several things in the works. Most of the time my works in progress are directly related to my shops. I'm not sayin' what the alphabet stamp, paper pack and Rolodex are for, but they aren't for my shop! I hope to make a new handbag out of the cool red fabric. I just can't decide which design to use..maybe this one. That orangey colored leaf print will by my Fall cloth napkins soon.

I've got about 5 boxes of sewing patterns in my sewing room closet. I've been slowly trying to destash a bit so they've been making their way into my shop. This is the next round that will be available. Lots of wintery stuff like coats and Christmas crafts. If I haven't used them by now, I probably never will.

This is for a custom order for a market customer. It's a simple project, but large. I'll be tackling it very soon. So much to do, so little time!