Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you all a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Hope y'all will have a fantastic day filled with family, friends, and good food ;)

ThanksGIVING

With Thanksgiving on our doorstep, I wanted to remind everyone that while we're feasting with family and friends others aren't always so lucky. At any time of year, but especially during the holidays, we should take a minute to think about Giving...

Every community has organizations that can help stretch your donations. Here in Portland one great organization is the Oregon Food Bank (OFB) – it is at the center of a statewide network of 915 hunger-relief agencies.

OFB serves all of Oregon and Clark County in Washington. Oregon Food Bank recovers food from farmers, manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, individuals, and government sources. OFB then distributes the food to 20 regional food banks across Oregon. And there are plenty of ways to donate: 1) give canned goods; 2) give dollars; 3) donate time.

These are ways to really celebrate the season.

Sasha Suit

Check out Sasha's home-made hoody

My Run

We were running through the forest.

In Forest Park. Portland's Forest Park is the largest wooded city park in the United States. With a 40-mile loop, there's a trail for every level: from walkers to runners. And there's something for everyone to see.


It wasn't a fast run but maybe if I show you a few photos, you might understand.

When you're running with a crew, you have to take a little more time and just enjoy the journey.

Not all the girls run at the same pace but it was a beautiful trail - although it had leaves all over the path, which made us slow down even more (slippery - so we had a good excuse).

Still, it was a beautiful morning on the Leif Eriksen trail.

It's Starting to Look a Lot like Christmas

I'm starting to think of ways to decorate on a budget for Christmas. I'm pulling out old nick-nacks and repurposing them.

I bought some Christmas Tree balls at Ross for $3.99 and put them inside the Hurricane I had sitting around the house.

It turned out pretty for a very paltry bit of money.


How 'bout you? Have you been thinking of ways to decorate without spending a load of money?

Checkerboard Cake

I wanted to make a fun cake for a birthday. Here's how I did it. I made a banana chocolate checkerboard cake.

First I baked one layer with chocolate in the center and the outside rim and yellow cake in between the two chocolate areas.

Then I baked a layer with yellow in the center and the outside rim with chocolate in between the two. And then I baked another layer just like the first.

I stacked them with the two chocolate layers on the top and bottom and the yellow double rim layer in the middle, using cream cheese raspberry filling to glue them all together.

It created a checkerboard effect. My theory is Food should be Fun :)


Plus, I used the extra batter to make cupcakes - Mom always used to say, "never let anything go to waste" - now if I could only learn how to never let anything go to my waist - that would be a real trick

Money Cake

I wanted to make a cake to celebrate a friend's promotion. Here's how I did it:

I made a template out of construction paper and then I cut out the cake.





Then I made a ganache glaze. Here's how I did it.


Ingredients:

2 cups of heavy cream,
12 ozs (or one package) of chocolate chips
1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt.

Heat the cream over medium-high heat until it comes to a boil, pour over chocolate chips and add salt. Let it sit for 10 minutes (do NOT stir or it will come out grainy) After the ten minutes, stir and pour over the cake while the ganache is still warm.