Chocolate Pecan Pie
I've had this pie recipe saved for a few years and finally got around to making it over Labor Day weekend. Christian helped me make it because he wants to perfect making pie crust. It was delicious and everyone who had a piece said it was good! They might have been being nice, but I believe them, ha ha! There's not much chocolate in it but you can definitely taste it! Sadly you need an America's Test Kitchen account for the recipe. I had downloaded it when I did a free trial in 2020. Might be time to get it again to refresh my recipes!
Coffee Cake
We barely needed sour cream for the pie crust recipe above but I didn't want to go off recipe so we bought it and I planned to make this coffee cake with the rest! I made it on a slow Monday morning (they're usually slow for me with the end of the week being busier) and had a piece for lunch, so good! I had to freeze half of it because I was leaving for a business trip in a few days so I got to enjoy the rest when I was home!
Hostess Sheet Cake as Birthday Cake
I made this back in June and Christian loved it so much he wanted it for his birthday cake. I made it into an 8x8 square so it would be more cake-like. This did present a bit of a problem because the cake was thicker and heavier so the filling oozed out a bit. I saved it by putting it back into the cake pan, so it's not the most photogenic cake, but was still delicious! As with last time I combined two recipes My Messy Kitchenn for the cake batter and Bakerella for the rest! (my phone was not cooperating so the colors are way off in this picture)
Giant Pretzel Bread
One weekend when I was over at my parents house my mom & I decided to make her giant pretzel bread. This is always a hit when she makes it, so fluffy with a healthy amount of salt (obviously you can put less on if you don't like salty pretzels.) I don't know where she got the recipe so typed it out if anyone wants to make it. It's super simple.
- 4 - 4½ cups flour
- 1 pkg. yeast
- 2 Tbsp. sugar
- 1 ½ tsp. salt
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup water
- 2 Tbsp. oil or melted butter
- 1 egg, beaten with 2 tsp. water
- Coarse salt
- In a large bowl, mix 1 ½ cups flour, yeast, sugar and salt.
- Heat milk, water and oil to 120-125° and add to dry ingredients.
- Beat 2 minutes on low, then increase to high and beat 2 minutes more.
- Stir in enough flour to make a soft dough.
- Knead on floured surface until smooth and elastic (5 minutes).
- Place in greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size (40-50 min).
- Punch dough down.
- Roll dough to 1" diameter rope (5 ½' long)
- Shape into a pretzel on greased baking sheet.
- Cover and let rest 15 minutes.
- Brush with beaten egg mixture and sprinkle with salt.
- Bake 375° for 25-30 minutes.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix
I wasn't going to include these but thought it was funny! I went to a marketing convention at the end of last month and one of the exhibitors was giving out cookie mixes. Of course I had to grab one to see how they were. I ended up with shortbread cookies and chocolate chip because my client gave me his bag. I made the shortbread first with my mom & we used salted butter because I always do. Big mistake. They were SO SALTY. I couldn't even eat them after making a lemon glaze. When I made the chocolate chip cookies I decided to use my homemade butter that I left unsalted. Even that was not enough. If I took a bite of a cookie without a chocolate chip it was pure salt. GROSS! Note to self: don't trust pre-made mixes anymore. At least I have an amusing story to tell.
Birthday Cake
Saving the best for last. My birthday was last Friday and Christian insisted on making me a cake because I always make something for him. So cute! He used Butternut Bakery's funfetti cake recipe and it came out great! (he used unsalted butter and the frosting tasted a little funky to me becasue I don't like unsalted butter, haha! Funny how I don't like the butter you're supposed to use) We ate a couple slices and then froze the rest so we could enjoy it slowly.
On day two of our Salem trip we started bright and early again, arriving at our same parking place on Essex street at 8am. We did all the paid things on day two after deciding what we wanted to do on Saturday. We also repeated a lot of spots since I wanted some non-rainy shots too. We left to drive home a little after 1pm so it was a short day. Before we get to the schedule of the day here comes the outfit photos.
We took a stroll along the water and by the Salem Maritime National Historic Site. After about 45 minutes there we headed back to Town Hall, the Bewitched Statue and Allison's house on the way to walk some of the historic streets like Chestnut, Cambridge and Pickering. We made sure to walk by The Pickering House, one of the oldest home in Salem.
After our morning walk we headed back toward the water for our tour of The House of the Seven Gables at 10:30am. I haven’t read the book (whoops) but learning the history of the house and how it inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne was very interesting. After the tour we also walked through the house where Hawthorne was born.
Our next historical activity was walking through The Witch House, which is down the street from the Ropes Mansion. For this tour you have to buy your tickets at 8am. We were on right at 8am and ended up with tickets at 11:45. It was cutting it pretty close to our first tour of the day but we knew we'd be able to make it.
After all that history we headed to the Salem Common to have lunch at the food truck festival! We shared some birria tacos, Christian got a Mac Melt and we both had whoopie pies.
Before heading home we went back to Forest River Park so we could visit Salem in 1630: Pioneer Village. At only $5 it was a steal. It is a small village but there's a lot to explore within the houses. This is where they filmed the first scenes in Hocus Pocus where Thackery Binx lived.
Finally getting around to posting about our trip to Salem, MA last month. We had originally booked an airbnb within walking distance of downtown but a month before the trip the owner cancelled it. After some back and forth with airbnb we ended up at a place in nearby Marblehead and $400 in extra spending money because of refunds and booking a cheaper place! We went to celebrate the first day of Autumn and our sixth wedding anniversary.
I had a business trip in Boston the week before so Christian came along (worked from the hotel) and we headed to Salem on Friday evening so we'd be ready to go Saturday morning. Our first day was slightly rainy with a nice chill to the air. Normally I would hate rain, but it made it seem more spooky and Halloweeny.
First, let's take a look at my outfit! I decided to wear my fun b chyll cashmere cape for the day with an old Zara crop top, J Brand high waisted jeans, Etienne Aigner bag and some vintage lace-up heeled boots. Not the best outfit for a rainy day, but I had hoped the rain wouldn't be constant all day, and I was right.
I now apologize in advance for all the photos!
We started our morning bright and early getting to the Forest River Park parking lot around 7:30am so we could walk from there to 4 Ocean Ave, which just so happens to be Max & Dani Dennison's house in Hocus Pocus! We didn't want to park on the street to disturb the people who live there and we didn't get too close to the house, but I had to have a photo at this iconic location! Even though we were there very early there was one other couple that showed up while we were there and a couple cars slowed down to take photos.
Next, we headed to Downtown Salem and found a free on-street parking spot. Tip: we found our spot on Essex street, down the road from the Hawthorne Hotel. After parking we walked to Wolf Next Door Coffee for a quick breakfast. We shared a hot chocolate, I had a lemon poppyseed muffin and Christian had an egg sandwich on a biscuit.
After breakfast we walked back towards Salem Common and the the Phillips Elementary School building that is featured In Hocus Pocus. I had to video a scene from Hocus Pocus where Allison is walking along the Commons after school because I'm crazy. Unfortunately they were setting up for a food truck festival so there was a lot of junk in the way, but I got something at least! I did it again later in the afternoon after I got a witch's hat because Allison had a hood on in the scene and I thought it would look better. But then we got lovely Port-o-Pottys in the shot. Love it. We'll see which one I decide to post. The Salem Witch Museum is also across the street but we decided not to go because we didn't need to see mannequins and dioramas.
Then we made our way from the Common to the Salem Witch Trial Memorial. It honors those who unjustly lost their lives in 1692. It is so sad to see the reasons these people were killed and how they were killed.
After that sombering moment we made our way to Ropes Mansion, otherwise known as Allison's house in Hocus Pocus. Along the way we passed the Bewitched statue, Old Town Hall and The Witch House. Be sure you check out the garden's behind the mansion as well, very pretty. By the time we finished there it was till only 9:50am. This is my main tip to help you beat the crowds. Although I can't vouch for how crazy it is in October, I'm sure it's busy all day long.
Next up was one of the most touristy areas, Essex Street. It's full of shops, street performers and restaurants. We were a little unorthadox and got some chocolates at 11am from Kahawa Chocolates. I tried a variety of chocolates, some were a little too out there for me, but it was fun.
After our dessert we waited in a short line to eat lunch at Red's Sandwich Shop. While waiting one of the staff exclaimed how the Autumn crowds started very early this year and that they didn't usually have lines until October. Once seated Christian had the Fried Haddock Sandwich and I enjoyed the Strawberry Moon salad with grilled chicken, watermelon, strawberries, feta cheese, onion, & cucumber on a bed of lettuce with raspberry vinaigrette — I asked for no feta, and I think the watermelon was missing, ha ha.
We walked went back down to where we had breakfast to check out Ye Olde Pepper Companie, one of the first candy stores. We didn't buy their famous Gibraltars because they were very expensive, but we did buy a few chocolates to eat later!
Before dinner we walked around a few more shops, explored some more side streets in the main downtown area and rested our tired feet on some wet benches.
We had our anniversary dinner at Ledger Restaurant & Bar. We shared Popovers with beef drippings & pumpkin-maple-sage butter. Christian had the Ledger Double Burger (special sauce, American cheese, pickles, lettuce, sesame seed bun, onion, fries) and I had the Strip Steak special with mushroom sauce, broccoli rabe and hassleback potato. It was all delicious! (I did have to ask for the cheese to be removed from my potato because the waitress didn't mention it when describing the special, whoops!)
After dinner we walked back to the car, passing Odl Town Hall again headed to our airbnb and watched Hocus Pocus before resting up for day two!
