Peach Crumble & Plum Pie!

Remember last month when I made that fantastic Croissant Apple Bread Pudding with Coconut Crisp Topping?  Well, you may remember that I reserved the pie crust and apple pie topping for future recipes.  If you're wondering what I did with them (I know you were on pins and needles), you're in luck!

Here are the Peach Crumble and Plum Pie desserts that I baked!

This is the basically the picture that I left you with, and you probably thought that I was crazy for not just chucking the topping and pie crust in the trash.

Well, a couple of peaches + a few ingredients = this delish crumble!

I actually forgot to take a picture of this plum pie after it was baked.  Oops!  The next morning when the light was better, I was going to take the pictures.  However, a slice was removed as a midnight snack and not in the cute blogger styling way.  Oh well!

Here is the plum pie pre-baking.  You'll just have to imagine it with a little more of a jewel-tone and cute dollops of whipped cream!

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Saturday Synopsis!

Right now, I am headed to The SoCal Social!  I am so excited because it is my first blogging event since Mimi G's conference back in July, and these ladies are serious DIY bloggers!  I'm ready to learn a lot and meet some fun new friends.  I just KNOW that I will have a great round-up post for you next week.  :)

Woo woo!

Here are last week's posts in case you missed any.  :)

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Blog Business Cards & My New Domain Name!

Tomorrow, I am headed to the SoCal Social, and it will be my first blogging event ever!  It sounds like a fun time and not too intense.  Believe me, if it involved flights, hotels, conference schedules, etc. you could count me out.  This will be an afternoon shopping and getting to meet new friends!  Yay!

For that reason, and a couple of others, I decided to make some business cards for my blog!  I spied this post on how to make blog business cards, which I did not follow exactly, but it did help push me to get going.  Without further ado, my new business cards!

I designed them from scratch, and now that I have them in my hands, I will most likely make a few changes to the next batch.  However, I'm overall pretty pleased with them!

Out in the real world, when I mention that I have a blog, people are not sure what it involves.  Hence, I put together a mini project gallery on one side, along with my blog name.  It definitely gives a flavor of what I do on the blog!  I made this side glossy, which was a good choice.  Next time, I will most likely change up my projects to ones with better pictures.  Also, the badges need to be a little less transparent.

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Garden Tour #2: Succulents!

Fall is upon us, and that means that the foliage will be changing.  And yes, the leaves do turn in California!  For me, the most exciting part of my mother's garden are her flowers and the vegetables she grows, which stop producing this time of year.  Remember, I shared a bit of her garden in this post with you?  I am encouraging her to grow squash this fall, but since she is not a squash-lover, I will not be receiving any of her extra crop.  :(  I totally understand because she has her hands full with all of the lovely succulents that she has to tend to year round.  By far, these are the plants that incite most of the "oohs" and "aahs" with guests.  This post is dedicated to the lovely succulents that she grows with a lot of work and care!

First of all, her backyard is paved so she does a lot of planting in pots.  I love her arrangements!

First, she buys bunches of succulents at the nursery and replants them into nicer looking pots.

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Weekly Wrap-Up + New Website Announcement!

Although the weekend was a restful one, I definitely have a lot to share!

For one thing, I have an announcement to make.  It's rough around the edges right now, but I started a new blog called The Episodic Eater for all of my food adventures!  I will continue to share my foodie fun here, but you can head there to see ALL of the pictures, as well as more commentary on the restaurant decor/ambiance and the food itself.  It will basically be my chance to play amateur food critic!  I hope to see you there!

And now, back to today's regularly scheduled Weekly Wrap-Up post!


Precap (jump to):

• Eats:  James Beard: Taste America event, Pho Tasty
• Sights:  He Cooks!, Cooking time, Car Troubles, Shoe Decisions

Last Weekend

After New Orleans, I had some work to do over the weekend, so I was really delighted when my guy decided to make dinner. Garlic bread and lemon pasta!  The noodles were these fancy noodles with a thin hole in the center.  Delicious!

We broke open one of the caramel apples from New Orleans, which had been sitting on the counter taunting me...  It's so beautiful isn't it?  It is coated in Butterfinger bits, which was really interesting!

Monday - Friday

Here's a little sample of what I made in the kitchen over the week.  Some of these are from my Instagram feed actually, if you want to follow along!  I made a Ricotta & Fruit Bowl with peaches and pineapple, a batch of Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies, Ropa Vieja (to be blogged about soon!), and some yogurt and fruit cups for the upcoming days.  Yum!

Also, I developed a recipe that I cannot wait to share with you soon!  Here is a dark Instagram picture, so I don't give anything away too early.  :)

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Announcement: Mad About Plaid Challenge!

It's that time again!  We have a brand new Stitch Once, Rip Twice challenge, and it's our last one of the year!  If you don't know about our sewing group, click here for more information and to read about our past challenges.

I'm always so excited to announce the winner of our member vote, and this time we had a definite favorite.  A few of the top contenders included making a holiday party dress and using embellishments to zhuzh up a garment.  This time the members of Stitch Once, Rip Twice will be incorporating one of the most popular trends on the Fall/Winter 2013 runways:

Plaid!!!

Yes, that's right! We are all...

The Rules

1. Your garment can be for yourself or someone else, and there's no restriction to what type (i.e. dress, blouse, trousers, etc.).
2. The garment can be made from scratch or refashioned, just as long as you use your sewing skills!
3. Share anything you would like on your blog or on the group's Facebook page along the way.  That includes patterns, techniques, inspiration, project ideas, problems, and in-progress pictures.
4. Have your finished garment done and posted by December 31st either on your personal blog or on the Facebook page.  The week after the deadline, I'll put together a wrap-up post with everyone's finished garments so we can all see!

If you have a blog, post the button above so your readers can join along too!

Lastly, to get the creative juices flowing, I rounded up a bunch of gorgeous looks that may just inspire some of our final garments!

Dresses

Plaid in many different colors, scales, and prints can be found in these beautiful dresses.  There are also a variety of sleeve lengths, hemlines, and silhouettes.  Some are more tailored while others are more draped and easy fitting.  The one thing in common?  All of them are impeccably sophisticated!

Source

Tops

There were a variety of tops that utilized lightweight fabrics to more structured wools.  Most of these mixed are with solid colors and have dramatically different silhouettes.  The colors and plaid patterns are so unique for each piece, that they all easily dress up a plain black pencil skirt or pants!

P.S. - You know how much I love the peplum, so the red number is calling my name!

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