A walk in the woods.

This past weekend Richard and I decided to slip out of the city for the day and head over to Deep Cove. Since we don't have a car, it is a bit of a trek which admittedly almost changed our mind, but I'm so glad we did it! The bus ride over there is lovely, and quite relaxing, and the day was so perfect for a day in the cove! We've decided that we need to do something like this every couple of weeks, otherwise it is just too easy to get caught up in all the business and get frustrated and stressed, you know? Also, being able to relax and spend the day together away from normal life was really great to brainstorm and get excited about new creative ideas. We visited Room 6, which is so cute and chocka with handmade goodness. I picked myself up the latest Uppercase and some Blue Sky Alpaca, while Richard scored a Louis Riel button! After that, we found a little track (although perhaps not a real one...) that wound its way through the forest and along the water, so we walked, chatted amongst all the mossy trees. Sadly our camera battery was dying, but I did manage to get a few shots of all the beautiful colours and textures we saw. The light was so blue and eerie, I loved it!

Of course we finished off the day with some donuts from Honeys, that every single person (stranger or not) told me to go to when I mentioned our mini-trip. The were huge, doughy and most definitely did not disappoint!

I hope all your weeks are going well so far, anyone got any exciting plans for Halloween? I'm beside myself with excitement as I get to carve my very first pumpkin tonight! The apple cider is hot, pumpkin cupcakes are laid out and now I'm just waiting on some lovelies to join me for a carving party!

xo

God Bless (North) America

So perhaps I am a little late to the party, with it already being November and all, but can I just say that Vancouver is putting on a Fall like no other! I'm not sure if it is just due to being away from home, but I really don't think I have seen colours quite like I have been when walking the Vancouver streets this past month. Not only are the trees celebrating, but thanks to Thanksgiving and Halloween it seems like everyone is celebrating the very fact that it is Fall. I love it. Those holidays add a whole new meaning to this longtime favourite season, and I love that it means you decorate with pumpkins, drink tea, wrap up in quilts and smell the leaves.

Living in the Southern Hemisphere you don't have pumpkins in October, so not only do we not decorate with them, we don't really bake with them either. I've noticed many a pumpkin recipe in blog-land and this unspoken understanding that pumpkin baking/cooking is just what you do in October. Strangely, I hated HATED pumpkin when I was little, so I guess making up for lost time (and just being way too excited at North America and is decorating holiday festiveness) means that I have embraced it wholeheartedly.

These pumpkin chocolate-chip cookies were my first pumpkin baking attempt, and boy were they good! I used Celine's recipe from Have Cake, Will Travel and can I just say - that woman is a genius, and will probably be the death of me. If I keep reading her blog for much longer you may literally have to roll me out of the house.

My pumpkin excited-ness got the better of me and I ended up with WAY too much puree, which lead to these delicious treats. Very easy, moist and with a slight nutty crunch due to the seeds.

Ingredients

2 Eggs (or equivalent egg replacer)

1 1/4 c Sugar

1/3 c Oil (I used sunflower)

1 c Pumpkin Puree

2 1/4 c flour

2 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

Pinch of salt

1/2 tsp each Cinnamon, ground Cloves, Nutmeg

1/4 c Yogurt

1/4-1/2 pumpkin seeds

What to do...

1. Mix 'eggs', sugar and oil.

2. Sift (really, I am very rarely bothered to do this) dry ingredients together.

3. Add egg mixture, pumpkin and finally yogurt to the dry ingredients. Fold in pumpkin seeds, but be sure not to overwork.

4. Bake at 375 degrees F for 20-25 minutes. You might want to sprinkle some sugar and cinnamon on top before doing this, to add a little extra crunch.

A quick note...if you're using canned pumpkin puree, make sure to get the unsweetened sort. Also, for an egg substitute I usually use half a banana per egg needed.

Happy Fall everyone, and Happy November too!

xx