Fall in Love With Pumpkin

Hello Readers!
Good news, Fall is here!

Better news, it's PUMPKIN season!

The other night, I dangerously wandered into Cost Plus, and I should have known better. After perusing their standard tea selection, international candy fare, and unique accessories I stumbled upon their seasonal display. Whoops.
Pumpkin treats and fall decor galore!
Before I knew it, my basket was full of orange wrapped goodness.

The total damage was:

• Pumpkin Ginger Tea
• Maple Pecan Tea
• Pumpkin Spice Coffee
• Pumpkin Scone Mix
• Pumpkin Bark
• and a REALLY cute owl for my fall display at work.

This morning I baked the pumpkin scones - and let me tell you, run, don't walk, to get yourself a bag of this mix! It turned out delicious, and was super easy to make (just add water)! They were really pumpkin-y and really soft. I would not lie to you.

Of course I paired my fresh baked scone with a cup of pumpkin spice coffee - with hints of cloves and nutmeg. My two favorite hints.I call this breakfast my "Fall Delight". So go get your own, you will be delighted.

Wii LOVE Cupcakes!!!

Saturday night I had a few ladies over to play some Wii! We busted open my newest game, Gold's Gym Dance Workout. Together, four of us burned the equivalent of a piece of bacon and a chicken nugget. That was the good news.

The bad news was, earlier in the day, my lovely sister (I'd insert a blog link here if she had one...Sister, get one!) and I were shopping in the City, and utilized the restroom at Starbucks. As we exited back on to O'Farrell, Laura freezes, points, and says,

"What is that? Is that a cupcake shop? It is a cupcake shop. We are going there."

with more force and demand than I have ever heard from her. (She is more serious about cupcakes than I am!)

Obviously, I was not going to object. We did a little more shopping, and made our way back to, Cako (really, with the name? Not to mention the fact that their logo looks like it say "caka", anyway). On our way over, we discussed what flavors we wanted and whether we wanted to eat them now, or later. Red Velvet would be a must, but there would be more flavors to choose from.

CuppaKim: What if we just get half a dozen, and then we can pick a few different flavors and we can have them tonight?

CuppaSis: Ok, but how about, we just get a dozen!!!!

CuppaKim: ...OK!

Once in Cako, we let a few customers go ahead of us, since our order was going to be slightly high maintenance...in the end we bought a dozen, and got one free:

1 x S'mores
1 x Caramel
1 x Oreo
1 x Pink Champagne
1 x Nutella
1 x Coconut
2 x Mint Chocolate
2 x Chocolate Strawberry
3 x Red Velvet

Laura brought the Nutella to her husband, Matt. I dropped off a Chocolate Mint to my dad. And that left 11 cupcakes for 5 girls. We MAY have had eyes bigger than our stomachs.

I must also give Laura credit for reminding me to use my cupcake stand - SO CUTE.


And major shoutouts to Cari, who had previously given me these incredibly appropriate napkins:


I think the cupcakes were a hit:


But then again, when are they not?

Jett Cakes: Take 2

Last Tuesday, I took an inaugural visit to the Jett Cakes Truck - it was fabulous.

When I returned to work that afternoon, I had one cupcake left to deliver - so I put it in the work fridge. When I took it out to take home one of my coworkers asked what I had, I told her about my Jett Cakes adventure (she actually is the one who told me about Jett Cakes in the first place!)

Anyway, on Friday, she decided to track down the truck and get a few cupcakes for her brother-in-law's birthday - and was kind enough to take orders from the rest of the office!

I had decided that I already had hit my cupcake quota for the week, and passed on the offer. In the mean time, I tweeted Jett Cakes to find out what flavors were offered that day.

I probably shouldn't have done that because what I got back was the following:

Today's flavors: chocolate, choc mint, vanilla, lemon, apple, red velvet, banana nutella, coconut, choc/vanilla swirl, caramel fleur de sel

Do you see that last one? CARAMEL FLEUR DE SEL? That would translate to Salted Caramel. I love salted caramel. LOVE.

So, of course, I emailed my coworker and changed my order - and threw in an extra chocolate mint for dad.


Please do not divide by when I tell you the caramel fleur de sel may be the best cupcake I have ever had, EVER.

The coarse salt was generously sprinkled over the caramel colored icing, which made me a little nervous, but at first bite, the zip of the "sel" paired with the sweetness of the icing was similar to that same experience you get from a chocolate covered pretzel, which leaves your mouth saying:

WHAT IS THIS AMAZINGNESS I AM TASTING!?!

The cupcake beneath had the most unique texture, the outer edges had a chewiness to them, a little bit like a a crust that had been glazed with a bit of sugar. Combine the two and what you have is a cupcake that is utterly

Heavenly.