Saturday, October 29, 2011

Pumpkin Day 2011 (another "Outside of Portland Adventure")

(Two blog entries in one week?!  Who's an overachiever?!)

I love Pumpkin Day!  This year we had Pumpkin Day on Oct 22.  The weather wasn't looking very promising, but Pumpkin Day 2011 was going to happen!!  Despite the weather being kinda crummy, we still had a great time.
All of us at the pumpkin patch
We all picked our pumpkins and took them back to my mom's house to carve them.  Usually, we gut and carve our pumpkins outside, but because it was so wet out we did it all inside.  We put tarp all over the house to make clean up easier. 
Hard at work
I think everyone's pumpkins turned out really well!  I tried to freestyle mine...I think I need to stick with a pattern. (Mine is the puzzle piece one and Eric's is the green/orange one with the ghosts) 
Our beautiful creations
We carved our pumpkins, ate a ton of food, played some games and ate some more food! I hope everyone had as much fun as I did.  I can't wait till Pumpkin Day 2012!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Mr. Hopper, Puerto Rico and Baking!

Eric mentioned it in his last blog...but yeah, I got a job!  I work at a bakery called Finales Desserts Northwest.  I usually work at the cafe and serve delicious desserts, but I have gotten the opportunity to work in the kitchen!  It has been a great experience so far!

My other roommate Mark came to visit his family here in Portland and was nice enough to make time to see me!  He even came to check out where I worked.  We also visited a church (upon his recommendation), had brunch and played Puerto Rico.  It was good to see him!

This is Mark with Mr. Hopper and Baby Hopper.  It looks like he's wringing their necks.









I've also been learning some cool stuff in school.  Here's what we've been doing.

Banana Bread
Muffins

Coffee Cake

Yellow Butter Cupcakes with Caramel Chocolate Ganache
Lemon Tartlets
Fruit Tart

(before)Caramel Cheesecake with Chocolate Cookie Crust
 (after) (The bites taken out are from my teacher's eval)

Failed Genoise (gen-waz)

Successful Genoise

My first two genoises collapsed...kind of put a damper on my day at school.  I tried again yesterday and it worked out.  Apparently I was being too gentle!







Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Huge

So this week marked a significant event. As many of you already know, I have long been a huge fan and supporter of my favorite golfer Davis Love III. Many have asked why so let me give a few quick bullet points as to why:

1) Sexiest swing on tour. If you are ever having tempo issues, hop on youtube and check out some of highlights and you will see significant improvements.
2) Well respected amongst his peers. Pretty much the class act on tour (this was reiterated with his 2012 Ryder Cup Captain selection)
3) Sponsors. Just solid sponsors. Polo Ralph Lauren and Acura.
4) There are more but I need to move on for the main reason of this entry.


So for those of that don't know, I am on twitter (@afrobubs) and this week decided to go see whom Davis Love follows. Upon getting to his page I see he had 45,000+ followers but only followed 66 people of his own. As I started scrolling down I saw the regular tour players (Tiger, Mahan, Bubba, etc...) some events he supports (Ryder Cup 2012, McGladrey Classic, Tour Player, etc...) and then I saw what I never thought would happen; he also follows @AFROBUBS! I had to do a triple take! I have referenced him in many of my tweets and I always knew he was reading them but this assured it to me. I still hold to the belief that someday I will get the opportunity to tee it up with him.

For those that aren't familiar with twitter, just sign up and you will understand. A lot like the facebook feed.

That is all I really got for now. Other things of note:

1) Carla got a job (I will let her expand on this one). I am very happy for her.
2) I have played golf the last 2 Saturdays and feel like my swing is coming back around. Not totally evident in my scores but that will come. 77 + 79 respectively.
3) Work is going well.
4) Seahawks and Huskies are very entertaining to watch these days which is a nice change of pace from about 3-5 years ago for each.

Back to Blogging!

Things have been a little crazy lately...

As most of you know, just after a few weeks from when I hung out with him here in Portland, my dear friend Dan Strickland passed away.  He was an amazing friend and a wonderful person.  He was brilliant, kind, goofy, a true example of what a Christian is supposed to be.  I love you and will miss you, Dan!  




The weekend I found out about Dan, we had some friends planning on coming down to visit.  It was perfect timing, as I felt that having friends around would help me out A LOT.  And it did.

Our friends Jen, Justin, Tiffany and Aaron came down to visit us for the weekend.  It was super fun having them here.  One of my favorite things that we did was go on the Portland Walking Tour.  It was really interesting!  I would totally go again.  (I wanted to post my pictures from the tour, but I don't want to spoil it for those who want to go on the tour when they are down here. Again, I would TOTALLY go on it again)  We also went out and had a good time at the local watering holes.



If you come down and visit us, we'll show you what Aaron is doing
Fishbowl!


The girls were working hard in the kitchen
the guys took naps.

School has been really fun lately.  We've been doing a lot of baking!  Which makes sense because it is my Introduction to Patisserie and Baking class.  Since class has started we have made,
  • Chocolate Chip Cookies
  • Brownies
  • Strassburger Cookies
  • Biscotti
  • 3 different kinds of Meringues (we even played with a blowtorch)
  • Ganache
  • Biscuits
  • Scones
  • different Pie Doughs
  • which became 2 Pies (blueberry and apple)



Yeah, I'm the nerd who brings her camera to class.


This past weekend, Sasha and I went to Canada to celebrate Nolan's (my godson) 1st birthday!  It was really fun to visit the family.  Kiddie birthday parties are fun!



This is Nolan with his new basketball hoop!

I think that's all I got for now... :)  Eric might update you on what's been going on with him in a couple of days.