Happy Halloween!

I've mentioned many times in this blog that tradition is so important to me. I love building and sustaining memories that will re-create themselves year after year. There's something so sweet about celebrating tradition and what comes along with that.

In 2008, Allison and I decided to be kids again and start a pumpkin carving tradition. We thought it would be fun to drink wine while using sharp knives, always a wise idea, and then I'd cook a pumpkin dish for dinner to tie it all together. We kept the tradition alive for three years. Although short-lived, it's so fun that we started that and hopefully we'll be back in the same city one day to start it up again. I loved looking back at my posts from 2009 and 2010, remembering just how much fun we had together.

Although I didn't carve this cute fella, I thought he was adorable and literally looks just like me in the 4th grade:

Wasn't I cute? I passed by this on someone's doorstep when I was out for a walk and loved it.

I'm thinking of and missing you, Allison. I hope all of you have a happy and safe Halloween!

Punkins!

Last year, Allison and I started a pumpkin carving tradition together. We had gone on an amazing hike in the Catskills with friends and stopped at a roadside farmer's stand on the drive home. We picked out perfect pumpkins and got delicious homemade cider doughnuts. It was so great:

I had never carved a pumpkin before and we thought it would be so fun to do so together. I also thought it would be great to cook some sort of pumpkin dish for dinner, thus beginning our pumpkin tradition! So, the following weekend, I made pasta with pumpkin-gorgonzola sauce and mushrooms which was so delicious and we got to carving! Our little guy turned out awesome too, as you can see:

This year was round two and we had so much fun! I cooked pumpkin pasta with shallots, sage, and sausage (so good!) and we went to town on our pumpkins, yet again. These were store bought pumpkins, sadly, but they were just as good:

Mine's on the left. I swear, it really is the little things in life that make it so worthwhile. I'm so blessed by having my sister here in this city with me and all these little things we do together makes life just so fun. Is it wrong that I already look forward to picking out next year's pumpkin recipe...?