Canobie Lake Screamfest

I have a love/hate relationship with autumn.  I love the colors of the season, the pumpkins, the foliage, and the smell of apple pie!  However, the thought of summer being over, winter right around the corner and the days getting shorter makes me sad.  I love the month of October - it's my birthday month, but I'm not a fan of Halloween, you know the scary stuff and all!  I hate horror movies, in fact I don't even like the commercials for them.  I'm such a wimp!  One thing that I did with my family and friends was go to Canobie Lake Park in New Hampshire for their Screamfest and it was a blast!  My kind of scary. 

If you live in New England you should definitely check it out!

More cupcakes!

So I got this great recipe from the Hostess with the Mostess blog - Pina Colada Cupcakes.  They were so super cute, but I wasn't crazy about the taste.  Maybe it was the texture, maybe I wasn't in the mood for it, but I just didn't like it.  However, ALL my girlfriends loved them and even my husband loved it - he prefers all things chocolate.  I am going to do my own version of pina colada cupcakes and if it turns out well I will post the recipe.  In the meantime, these look so impressive and are the perfect thing to bring to a girl's night get together and everyone will ooh and aah.  Love that!

And for all you New Englanders, yes, those are straws from Dunkin Donuts.

Sarah's Key

I just finished reading Sarah’s Key and it was such an amazing book. The book is about a girl in 1942 and a woman in the present day and how their lives come together. The book toggles between 1942 and the present, which is something I liked very much because I could only read about the holocaust for so many pages before it was just too much to bear. Going to the present every so many pages made it easier to read on an emotional level. I have always been highly affected by emotional books, especially those having to do with children. I couldn’t get through The Lovely Bones because I just couldn’t deal with what happened to the main character. So I was a bit afraid that I may not be able to read this, knowing that the premise was the holocaust and knowing that it was about a girl named Sarah. Thankfully I decided to give it a try otherwise I would have missed out on a great story.

I fell in love with the characters and the easy-going writing style of the author.  One page just flowed into the next and it was quite beautifully written.  I don’t want to give any spoilers because I think it’s important to read it knowing very little and it would take away a bit of the mystery.  I will say that when I got to the end of book I was sad that it was done.  I didn’t want it to end.

Inspired

So, after my trip to Shabby Chic I just had to make some gourmet cupcakes of my own.  I tried my hand at some pink lemonade cupcakes and they were pretty good!  I made sure to share them with a couple of the booktini gals - people who enjoy fine baked goods!!  Here's the finished product:

Shabby Chic

We went to the cutest cupcake shop this weekend!  Shabby Chic is a lovely cupcake shop in Windham, NH.  I fell in love with the decor, the owners, AND the cupcakes.  They make gourmet cupcakes and wonderful baking classes.  A little girl's birthday party was in full swing when we arrived.  Little girls in white aprons and chef hats all making cupcakes, my heart just swelled!  They have adult baking classes too and I will definitely be going back with my besties!!

Phantom Gourmet loves them and New Hampshire named them one of the best.  Make sure you check them out!