ShanaRay.com

i am still in love and wanted to showoff/brag about the cupcakes that Andrea Ballus, owner of Sift: A Cupcakery in Cotati brought over the the MacKenzie Agency the other day.

that is all….

The first night of my Labor Day weekend was spent drinking Papapietro Perry pinot noir and making vegetarian tacos with one of my own personal favorite chefs, my friend John. We picked tomatoes and bell peppers from his garden to make the veggie kabobs (bell peppers and onions) and salsa. As John went to throw away the stem of this bell pepper, I noticed the happy face on it. Needless to say, I had to send it to TwitPic, and later to my “things that make me laugh” album on Facebook.

Since Labor Day is the last “hurrah” of the summer, this weekend got me thinking about the next season and my personal favorite – Autumn! As I say time and time again, it is the little things in life that make it all worth it. Having my birthday land on the very first day of my favorite time of year just adds the cream cheese frosting to my cupcake or the happy face to my bell pepper. I am a huge fan of simplicity. It is that one simple moment that something happens that you know YOU were meant to see. That one glimpse of the cute guy looking you up and down, the butterfly that chose to land on your hand when you were just about to scratch your nose, or that nature-made happy face on a bell pepper.

One of my favorite simplistic fall activities is finding the dried up oak leaves that just fell on the ground and stomping on them, making the crushing sound. When I find a huge pile of perfectly dry oak leaves and make my first jump, nothing else in the world matters, it is just me, my ears and the leaves.

So many other things to look forward to: stuffed squash, heirloom tomatos, Australian boys in town for Crush, carmel apples, Halloween, sweaters, Pumpkin Ale, pinot drinking weather, the smell in the air here in Healdsburg during Crush, Halloween costumes, my move to Alexander Valley on October 1^st and most importantly my second annual black and white birthday bash.

Ever since I started at The MacKenzie Agency, I have been immersed in the culinary world. The office is surrounded with products from some of our clients such as Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker, Lundberg Family Farms, and the Gourmet Olive Oils of Spain, not to mention the wine that is in the wine fridge in our kitchen.

Part of a research project that I had to do today was to research some of the many flood blogs that are out there.  In addition to making me hungry, the research also gave me some ideas of what I will be creating for my aunt’s birthday dinner this weekend.  The four recipes that stood out are below. I am not sure if they go together, but they all made my mouth water and more importantly are very simple for me to make.

Instant Potato Gnocchi from Cooking with Amy

Stuffed Squash Blossoms from the Barefoot Witch

Macaroni and Goat Cheese from Ile de France

Blackberry Cream Frosting from Coconut Lime

My friend Candice Caballero is an amazing photographer and I just wanted to show off a picture of hers that made me happy.