There Goes the Neighborhood

I tiptoed next door under the cover of darkness to snap a few photos of Steph and Big Red’s latest, um, how shall I put this?

Latest stunt?

Latest experiment with lawn ornamentation?

I’ll just let the photos speak for themselves…

My mom purchased a new living room set yesterday evening for her townhouse.  She’s going with a modern decorating aesthetic and the beige, comfy micro-suede just wasn’t cutting it.  She decided to give the beige, comfy micro-suede set to Steph and Big Red since their leather couch and love seat had seen better days thanks to one ornery cat and two rambunctious children.

After the older boys’ soccer game this morning, Big Red drove the family over to my mom’s townhouse to load up the furniture.  When they returned home, the old furniture was apparently taken out front and forgotten.  I wasn’t there to see the removal of the old furniture but I did see it still sitting in the front yard and driveway when my mother and I returned from seeing Julie and Julia at 9:30 PM…  It was a great movie by the way.

I say it all the time because it’s true.  There’s never a dull moment around here.

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Pumpkin Roll

One of the things I loved about going to Clute, TX’s  Picket Fence restaurant (or the testosterone-robbing Girly Place that my spouse and male friends called it) aside from the over-the-top country goose decor, was ordering their pumpkin roll for dessert.  It was awesome!

Their cream of poblano soup rocks the house too.  I’ve already made my own very yummy version of that which I will have to share.  But I digress.

Now that it’s kind of fall (84 degrees is fall-like weather here in FL), I’m craving pumpkin-y things like Starbucks Pumpkin Spice lattes.  They’re back!  So, so happy about this!  And pumpkin rolls.  Although I’ve never made a pumpkin roll myself I’m willing to give it a go.  I’ve found many recipes on the Internet and they’re all essentially the same.  So, I’ll share the one that I’m going to try:

Ingredients:

• 3 Eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup pumpkin
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• Filling:
• 8 ounces cream cheese — softened
• 4 tablespoons butter — or margarine
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation:

In large bowl, combine eggs and sugar, beating with an electric mixer until thick and light yellow in color. Add pumpkin and lemon juice, mixing until blended.

In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, spices and salt. Add to egg mixture, mixing well. Spread batter into greased and waxed-paper lined 10-by-15-inch jelly-roll pan.

Bake at 350 ° for 15 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool for 15 minutes. Place cake on clean tea towel sprinkled liberally with powdered sugar. Cool 10 minutes longer. From 10- inch side, roll cake up in towel. Set aside.

While cake is cooling in towel, prepare filling. Beat together cream cheese and butter; stir in powdered sugar and vanilla and blend until smooth.

Unroll cake. Evenly spread filling over cake. Roll up cake (without the towel). Wrap in plastic wrap. Cover and chill at least 1 hour. Slice before serving. Keep leftover slices refrigerated. This pumpkin roll freezes well.

I don’t know about freezing the pumpkin roll as I’m sure I’ll consume the whole recipe in one sitting…