More catching up - October and November - baby Chloe born!

Working backwards, with the happiest news, our fourth grand daughter, Chloe, was born just before Thanksgiving;).  

My favorite kind of selfie: 

I was Noelle's support person for her C-section - what an honor! 

Tommy, Camille, and their close friend Sophie were here for Thanksgiving and we just loved having them here - 

Leading up to all that and in no particular order - lots of kitchen time - a stash of granola to freeze for the weeks ahead - 

Our townhouse roofs were replaced over the course of several weeks -  

We went to California for my niece Megan's wedding - here at the rehearsal dinner the night before - Megan, me, my step-Mom Denise: 

And of course also to see grand daughters - 

They have moved to the "east bay" outside of San Francisco - 

The Halloween energy was big - 

Back in NC, ever hopeful about the election - but let's not go there. 

And an ongoing bathroom renovation - is there anything more disruptive, in a small home, than a bathroom renovation?  Ha.  But it was worth it.  My brother makes fine cabinetry and is always in demand.  

I had the walls painted SW Silvermist.  Custom medicine cabinets in natural cherry - 

Shower niche tile, combo of chambray blue and soft green.  The tile guys were here three times!  

Busy weeks, tip toeing around the bathroom renovation.  

A couple of concerts thrown into the mix - Vampire Weekend at the urging of Tommy - and we loved it - 

And Lake Street Dive - honestly, such a great band - warm up band was Tiny Habits, so good too. 

Pizza weekend with our nephew Joey and his friend Paul - 

Noelle and Keenan threw themselves a casual baby shower with southern BBQ and all the fixings - I brought salad, cupcakes and the finished baby quilt - 

In other quilty news I managed to finish doing the sashiko stitching on Kaela's sashiko throw, section by section.  I'm real pleased with it and will give it to her at Christmas.  It's raining today but I will get a better photo at some point soon.   

How do the days and weeks and months fly by so fast? 

xo Cynthia 

p.s.  What are your favorite holiday bakes? This might be a new favorite around here: 

Sophie Gee's Sticky Toffee Pudding 2024  

Sophie - Madame Superstar! - is Camille's bestie and she joined us for Thanksgiving this year.  The night before she left, Sophie made us her favorite dessert.  We devoured it!  Soooo good.  Her mom got this recipe while living in England years ago.  

Pudding: 

1 C water

3/4 C chopped dates 

2 tsp baking soda

4 T butter

3/4 C sugar

2 eggs

3/4 C flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Butter a 9" square pan.  

In a saucepan, bring the water and chopped dates to a boil, then remove from heat.  Stir in the baking soda and set aside. 

In a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar, then add the eggs one by one, beating after each one. 

Gently fold in flour and salt, then stir in the dates and vanilla. 

Pour into the prepared pan and bake 30-40 minutes, until cake is done.  The cake will be very dark. 

SAUCE: 

1 C brown sugar

1/2 C heavy cream

4 T butter

1/2 tsp vanilla 

Bring all ingredients to a boil and simmer 3 minutes.   Keep warm. 

Serve the warm cake over a bed of the warm sauce, and topped with whipped cream.  YUM.