Little drummer boy

Okay; maybe this drummer boy is not so little anymore. In fact, he just turned 7 years old today.

Hayden isn't the only musical kid in the family. Jacob also has taken an early interest, as you can see him playing the drums on his first b-day.

He has since moved on to dance, probably due to the fact that his aunt is a dancer. He and his cousin actually took lessons this summer, not long after shooting this YouTube video at Matthew's parent's house (he was self-taught at the time; ha ha).

It has been a busy weekend, as both his cousins spent the night on Friday. Then, they all attended swimming lessons the next morning.

Today will be even more hectic, starting with a birthday celebration/annual gingerbread house building get-together at my mom's house, followed by another party with Matthew's side of the family.

This year, I have to admit that I won't be constructing another raw house, but here is the original in hopes that it will inspire you. It already got my bloggin' friend Bitt in the spirit. Check out her creation.

I did have time to run some popsicles up to Jacob's school for his big day (usually it is cake or cupcakes, but he wanted to be different this year; a little cold, but different), and at home, I put together this pineapple pop to look like Spongebob in his honor.

It was quite simple, especially after making this chocolate orange. I just used more chocolate to glue the banana, apple and blueberry pieces onto a fresh pineapple slab, and a little bit more to finish off the details. The whole thing was served on a stick. So cute, don't you think?

My son's kind of cute, too, if you ask me (he's the one popping his head in through the background). Happy birthday Jacob!

Striptease

I can hear the music already: "Ba da da ..., ba da da da ..., ba da da ..., ba da da da da ..., ba chi-chi, ba chi-chi, ba chi-chi, ba chi-chi, ba dada, ba dada, ba da da da ..." (or something like that).

Anyway, if you clicked on the link, you would've heard it as you watched the unveiling of this festive fruit.

I know I said you wouldn't be hearing from me as much this month, but I just couldn't resist. Besides, Hayden was entertained by this one, especially when I started singing the burlesque-style tune.

So, what's underneath this skin? It's a raw chocolate orange (okay, I actually used a clementine, but you get the point), similar to the processed ones found on the store shelves this time of year. This one may not have as long of a shelf life, due to its lack of preservatives, but after one taste, it won't last long anyway.

It's so easy to make, too. It is just a peeled citrus fruit, sectioned and filled with a mixture of cocoa powder and agave, spiced with some cinnamon. Sweet and spice; now that's nice :-)

Guitar lesson

Since I haven't had as much time in the kitchen lately, I decided to show you some snapshots of what's (or in this case, who's) been occupying my time.

Little lady is working on some new skills, one being her guitar playing. She's already a huge John Mayer and Jimi Hendrix fan, so my hubby thought we'd start her out early. Here are some pics from a recent lesson:

To start, she just had to touch the strings and get a feel for the instrument. She had already begun to focus more on her daddy's hands when he played, as well as her idols' techniques seen on various videos. Now it was her turn.


Could she handle the pressure, as she looked up for her daddy's approval?


Now, let's try that again.


How's that for a strum?


Looks like she's on to a good start. I'll keep you posted :-)

Can you resist this face?

Neither can I, so that's why you won't be reading as much from me this month (that is, unless you opt to look back at the prior two years of posts).

December is always busy, full of birthdays (one of them being my son, who will be having his cousins over for a sleepover soon; at least I'm used to not sleeping lately), holiday gatherings, and of course, Christmas. I have tons to do and a new little face added to the mix (isn't she a cutie pie? There I go comparing her to food again).

So, to make sure she still gets the attention she deserves, I've got to scale back on the blogging this season. Hopefully, I'll still post a few more times before the end of the year. I'm sure you understand.

Happy Holidays!

There's chocolate in my snowball

Seriously, there really is chocolate in my snowball, although this one is made of coconut snow. Rather than being annoyed by the uninvited presence of dirt or gravel in the outdoor stuff, I welcome these particular dark speckles in the food variety.

Back to Mofo again (but I promise to make it brief; I can see how this has gotten a bit out of hand), I decided to finish off the month of November with yet another Mofo memory in cupcake form. This one combines a few.

You may recall how I found the Sexy Sadie and her bakery home via the Cooking Vegan With Soul blog. Well, in the process, I also discovered the many other flavors the Sweet Avenue Bakery has to offer, like the Snowball and the Jet Black. I had planned on making one of each, but at the last minute decided to morph the two into this black and white version.

Reminded of Averie's cookie dough, as well as her chocolate snowballs (I'd seen a lot of raw macaroons during mofo), I shaped this traditionally snow white ball with cacao nib "chips" and placed it on top of a plain cookie dough cupcake (actually, the "cake" is basically my rawified and sexy reduced-fat cupcake base). Delicious!

Dressing up your leftovers

Happy day after Thanksgiving everyone. Hope it was a good one.

Unfortunately, I was a bit under the weather for mine, but in the end, I still managed to have a good time. I took it easy, finding vegan fare at both houses, so today I'm whipping up a post-celebration salad with yesterday's untouched ingredients (who wants to eat a dish made by a sick person?).

It seems that is the theme of the day, as many of the morning shows were presenting their own creations out of Thanksgiving leftovers. Some were traditional, while others took their leftovers to another level (think curry and decadent pumpkin/chocolate milkshakes).

I decided to keep mine traditional, since I could barely taste my meal yesterday. Inspired by Rachael Ray's raw stuffing salad (which she served under turkey cutlets; In my opinion, the salad can easily stand alone as the star), I made my own version out of chopped carrot, celery, mushrooms, flat leaf parsley and apples, like hers. Then, I swapped out the bread for almonds and walnuts, and added some dried cranberries to really serve up the whole holiday experience in a bowl.

As for the seasonings, I used sea salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, garlic and some cinnamon for my own special touch. It was all tossed together with some lemon juice, apple cider vinegar and EVOO. It really does taste like Thanksgiving in one dish. Delish!

Last minute cupcake meal

If you were hoping I made my Thanksgiving in cupcake form this year (something a tad more filling than this miniature version), give this a try. Just whip up a savory mock meatloaf/mashed potato cupcake (you could even add a layer of raw stuffing and swap out the raw ketchup for cranberries) and pair it with this pumpkin trifle cupcake for dessert. Hope you have a happy Thanksgiving!