There is a pear tree growing in the yard of Christoph’s childhood home. Each time I visit, my mother in law sends me home with a bag full of ripe pears. I decided to try making a spiced pear cake because you can only eat pears for so long without getting bored!
The cake turned out to be FANTASTIC! I pulled from a couple of different recipes like
this and
this that sounded good and then made some changes based on what I was wanting to create.
Spiced Pear Cake Ingredients:
4 small ripe
pears – peeled and diced
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon
salt
1 teaspoon
baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon
nutmeg
2 teaspoons
vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat oven
to 350 degrees.
Butter and
flour two cake pans
Beat eggs,
sugar, and oil in an electric mixer until blended
Mix in flour,
salt and baking soda
Mix in pears,
cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla extract
Pour into the two
prepared pans
Bake about 40-45
minutes until toothpick comes out clean.
Let it cool in
pan before stacking with frosting in the middle and then pour frosting on top
Brown Sugar
Frosting
:
3 table
spoons of butter
3 table
spoons of brown sugar
2 table
spoons of milk
1 teaspoon
vanilla extract
1 – 1 1/2 cups
confectioners’ sugar
Melt the
butter:
Stir in the
brown sugar, milk, vanilla and 1-1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar.
Whisk until smooth
The finished
icing should be slightly runny
It’s starting to feel a lot like fall around here! The apple spice candles are burning, I’m drinking chai tea like it’s my job and I carved a pumpkin!
Last week I was invited to a pre-opening event for EvolutionFresh. Long story short – In the 1970’s
Jimmy made money during the summers selling fresh squeezed juice on the beaches
of sunny So Cal. He then founded Naked
Juice. Fast Forward to the 1990’s he
starts Evolution Fresh and offers premium juice, fruit smoothies, soups and
salads. Now – Evolution Fresh opens a
location on Fillmore Street.
Every year, I make Ginger a Halloween costume. So far she has been a shark (which won in a costume contest) and a dinosaur. This year I made her the doggy version of the Beach Blanket Babylon finale act!
The costume was made from recycled cardboard, foam board and paint.
All in all, this took me around three hours to make and cost me just a few dollars as I had most of the material on hand.
The costume looks awesome on her and she actually doesn’t mind wearing it. Also, I’m thinking this could work for me as a costume in the future. Winning all the way around!
Belli features an ever-changing menu of Northern Italian inspired cuisine – specifically ravioli. Having just spent time in this region of Italy, you can imagine our excitement to sit down and break bread with our new restaurant family. 
I know you think I may be just a bit biased but truth be told, the food is absolutely amazing. Homemade pasta and ravioli made from fresh local ingredients. Food that tastes good and feels good. But if you don’t want to go based on what I’m saying then I urge you to check out their write-ups in Daily Candy, SF Chronicle Blog, Grub Street, Thrillist and Tasting Table.
If you go, be sure to let me know what you think!
The cake turned out to be FANTASTIC! I pulled from a couple of different recipes like this and this that sounded good and then made some changes based on what I was wanting to create. 
Spiced Pear Cake Ingredients:
Recently, the lovely team over at the Wedding Chicks shared
the photos in a “How to make a pie dessert bar” post! Click here to see the post and see below for
a behind the scenes look at the shoot.
Sometimes the
place you stay can make or break a vacation.
Case in point – the first time Christoph and me traveled together
internationally we learned that air conditioning is for me, a necessary - not
compromise. In my defense we were in
Costa Rica, it was HOT and our windows didn’t have screens and we had to keep
them closed. Sorry, dengue fever and
malaria are low on my souvenir list. 
