Kaija, Kornelija

As information about Rome, my Latvia road trip and my recent visit to the vet with the cat are STILL PENDING, I've been greeted on this my Name's Day with a lazy, snowy morning. I'm still trying out pumpkin pie recipes for an event at work at the end of the month. Recipe number two seemed to be better consistency wise, but I did something wrong with the oven temperature and scorched about half of the top of the pie. I'm bringing it with to work today as my Name's Day office treat and am planning on slathering it with an artistic layer of whipped cream to cover up the damage. I made cupcakes for my birthday and though I realise that this process is more time-consuming than just buying a torte, it's also less expensive and more interesting for me.

That being said, pumpkin pie is very easy to make, completely from scratch. Like, almost dirty easy.

Pumpkin "goo" used for the pie filling can also keep in the freezer for a little over a year. This means it would be possible to steam, blend and pack pumpkin for an entire year's worth of pumpkin pies, cookies, and other assorted baked goods. I know I could go the soup route, but I'm not into that. I deal with oveny things.

Roadtrip Saga Complete

Still no recap on the Italy trip, but know that my vacation is officially over and that I am running on burn-out right now and won't be able to stop and take another breath until Saturday evening.

Also know that I have finished my Latvia road trip and have come out breathing on the other side. I almost didn't sleep last night for fear that the rental people would find something, ANYTHING wrong with the pristine car I returned to them early this morning. But everything went well.

In temporary closing, we have snow, or had snow in Latvia yesterday. From Riga all the way to Daugavpils (where I was Thursday morning).

Keeping you on the edge of your seats...

Vacation

I'll get around to writing more in detail about the Italy/Rome experience, but for now know that I am back in Riga, currently implementing my mini Latvia road-trip and am doing well. What sweetens the deal is that I was finally able today to pick up the goodies I ordered from Amazon.de.

Stay tuned.