EOW No. 2

Rounding out our Italy trip, this week I posted about Florence in Part 2 of our Italian vacation as well as our surprise engagement while we were there.  Thank you all for the well wishes!  I'm planning on doing a blog post elaborating on the engagement and what that all means (or doesn't mean), so you all will get a lot more details soon.

Every time I think about this meme, it cracks me up

Bryan’s parents are coming in town next week for an extended long weekend (before deer season), and we’re taking them to a Halloween costume party where dressing up is mandatory.  All of the costumes are being kept a secret so we don’t know what everyone is dressing up as.  Even his parents are dressing up, which I'm very excited about.  They’ve only visited Texas during the springtime, which I guess is similar enough to the fall here.  Bryan’s mom’s one request for her trip is to go to IKEA.  She’s never been to one and wants to see what all of the fuss is about.  This may have to be an adventure that they go on while I’m at work one day.  I'm frantically trying to make our house more "fall-like" and cozy before they get here, so I'll be purchasing a crap load of pumpkins this weekend.

During the short cold front we had last weekend, I baked this orange, five spice bundt cake from Food52 and it not only tastes delicious but it makes your entire house smell festive and delightful.  I highly recommend this recipe - although do leave it in the bundt pan for as long as they recommend because I didn’t and mine didn’t come out as cleanly (hence no photos).  Ugly dessert is still dessert right?

Cold weather always puts me in a cooking / baking frame of mind.  Slow cooker and braised recipes galore!  This week, I ordered a pasta maker so I can try to replicate some of the recipes that we made in Florence.  There is nothing quite like fresh pasta.  Also this braised onion pasta recipe basically screams comfort food.  Nothing says fall quite like carb loading and bulking up for the wintertime.

In pet corner, some horse has been bullying Mae for the last few months.  Recently, she’s been coming back with bite marks on her back.  I don’t know if it’s her “roommate” Shannon or another horse reaching across the paddock.  Either way, I’ve been spraying AluShield Aerosol Bandage all over her wound and getting it all over my saddle pads as well.  The spray is a must have in my barn first aid kit.  She's really been enjoying the cooler temperatures and behaving very well.  The ponies are all starting to get fuzzy which means it's blanket season soon enough (groan).

Look at that fall sunset