Pumpkin Cooking Club

Yumi, Summer and I hosted cooking club tonight at my house. Our theme was "Pumpkin." Since Halloween is right around the corner, I put out a few spooky decorations.



I started us off with a bourbon pumpkin smash cocktail, with a spiced sugar rim! These were amazing. And they tasted even better in my new unicorn glasses!



Yumi made a salad with arugula, roasted pumpkin pine nuts and feta. This was a hit and we ate it ALL!



She also made savory pumpkin scones that were amazing.



Time to eat!









I made pumpkin soup, and served it in pumpkin bowls! I topped the soup with sage blue cheese pesto and spicy pumpkin seeds. These beautiful pumpkins came from Primaterra Farm at the Athens Farmer's Market. I've gotta say, pumpkin soup tastes extra pumpkiny when you eat it from a pumpkin!



For dessert, Summer made pumpkin sweet potato pierogis with marshmallow sauce and pecans.



These were fabulous, and the marshmallow sauce was so fun!



Mmmmm. Three cheers for pumpkins!

Happy First Birthday, Jasper!

Today we celebrated Jasper's first birthday!



Look at that little (almost) one-year-old boy!



Joe made a MASSIVE birthday cake.



Birthday feast!



Mmm.



The kids played pin the tail on the fox.



They got to decorate their own fox tails!









Vana explaining the rules.



Pin it!



Jasper enjoyed watching the game. Look at his foxy little red hair!



Jasper!



So many tails.



Then it was time for birthday cake. All eyes on Jasper!



Whoa, look at that cake.



Grandpa and baby Jasper!



Jasper had his own special baby cake. He had never had cake before! He was very timid and gentle at first.



He was fascinated with the texture for a long time before he even realized he could eat it!






First taste!



He got pretty into it.



And the grownups got pretty into the chocolate cake!






Excellent job, Jasper! May you enjoy many cakes for many years to come.



Time for presents!



Jasper had fun with the papers and ribbons.












A little fox outfit for Jasper! And one for momma!



Having a blast!



Happy birthday, sweet boy!