Today’s my mom’s birthday!  It was a simple birthday celebration at my parent’s house.  I had offered to buy dinner and bring it home, but she had insisted on cooking herself.  In the Filipino culture, birthdays are celebrated by cooking a dish called pancit, which is a noodle dish with vegetables and some kind of meat.  My mom chose to put chicken it it.  She even grilled some spare ribs!  My sister bought this delicious chocolate cake.

Of course, I had to take pictures of the food, and especially the cake.  It looked beautiful and was delicious.  Now that I think of it, I wish I had taken some home when my mom had asked!  Oh well… I’m trying to lose weight, and the cake won’t help! Hah.

My mom blowing out the candles on her cake.  See the flowers?  Glen gave those to my mom, how sweet!   I’m holding my nephew, who looks like he wants a piece of that cake!

And also, we celebrated our dog Lex’s birthday too!  We think he was born around November since he was 2 months when we adopted him.  He’s 4 years old now!

Ever since November started, I’ve been thinking a lot about Thanksgiving. The food, the desserts, the turkey! Glen had an interesting idea… lets cook our own turkey and other Thanksgiving food… this weekend! We got a small turkey, about 12 pounds and pretty much winged it. After thawing the bird for about a day, we were able to cook it in the oven today. It came out well!

Things I learned about a turkey:

• A turkey needs a LOT of time to thaw.  A LOT.
• It’s best to marinate the bird in water and spices for the best flavor – not that our bird wasn’t good, it was, but it could have been better.
• Make sure the gizzard is out of the bird, as we had found it after carving the turkey, in a plastic bag.  It was deep in the turkey’s butt?   We thought they take that out before packaging the turkey!

Of course, we had to make stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy.

As dessert, I made candied yams!  This is a really easy dessert to make.  Seriously.

I used 1 big can 40 oz. of Bruce’s Yams, 4 teaspoons (1/2 stick) of butter, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and crushed ginger and 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg.  I mixed it up in the Kitchenaid mixer and then added it to a rectangular pan.  I topped it with marshmallows and placed it in the oven for about 15-20 minutes.  Done!

And this was my plate of delicious Thanksgiving-esque food.  I couldn’t even finish the bit of turkey I had!  At least we have leftovers!  …for days.

At least we get to enjoy Thanksgiving again in a few weeks, and I won’t have to do a thing!  Maybe I’ll bake something and bring it to the Thanksgiving dinner we will be going to!

If you’re a fan of pumpkin spiced anything, like me, then you’ll probably love Jamba Juice’s Pumpkin Smash.  I absolutely love fall because pumpkin is all in season and even though I live in South Florida, where it doesn’t feel like fall at all, pumpkin makes it for me!  The Pumpkin Smash smoothie is made up of a combination of pumpkin puree, vanilla frozen yogurt, soy milk, ice, and maybe nutmeg. It’s definitely like slurping a pumpkin pie, without the crust. It’s one of those limited time flavors, so I’d try it before it goes away!

Look how yummy that looks!

And if you’re feeling DIY, then try out this recipe from Serious Eats.

Tomorrow’s Glen’s birthday, but since his birthday is on a work day, we thought it would be nice to celebrate today.  Sundays are usually when football is on, and sometimes I watch, but mostly I think about what I should cook, or bake.  I had planned to make a cake for him, and I even asked him what kind of cake he wanted, and he wanted a chocolate cake with strawberries.  So I went and looked for a chocolate cake recipe with chocolate frosting.  I found a recipe I figured I couldn’t go wrong with, since Hershey’s is pretty much the ultimate when it comes to chocolate, right??  And following it to the tee, I now understand why this cake is called “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate cake!

I also got to use my Kitchenaid stand mixer that I got for my birthday for the first time, and I was pretty excited about it.  I was so mesmerized that I didn’t have to hand stir I made a short video on my iPhone.

Here was the end result:

For someone who’s never made cake from scratch (and mostly using those ready made boxes by Pillsbury) it was pretty easy.  I realized I need more cake tools such as a cake cutter and one of those cake stands with the cover.  And I’m sure you’re probably wondering what the gibberish on the cake is, well, all couples have their inside jokes, right?  Even made up words only they can understand.  Hahaha.

And here’s Glen blowing out the candles!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! <3

Glen’s parents and brother came by and brought dinner from Smokey Bones BBQ, a barbecue place nearby.  I swear, this weekend was really all about FOOD.  Just how I like it. 

I was never really into potato salad when I was growing up, but now that I’m older, I find myself more open minded about food. Food to me, is a way to bring people together, taste different flavors and just the joy of making something yourself.

This potato salad is my mom’s recipe, and it’s actually very easy to make.

To make this potato salad, I used 2 baking potatoes, 5 strips of turkey bacon, about 4-5 tablespoons of mayo, salt, pepper and scallions.

I boiled the potatoes in a pot of water until they were soft, which took about 30 minutes. In the meantime, I cooked the turkey bacon for about 10 minutes, then cut the strips into little bits. I then washed and cut the scallions into small pieces. After the potatoes were soft, I drained the water and mashed the potatoes, added salt and pepper (to taste) and the mayo, followed by the turkey bacon and scallions. I then put the potato salad in the fridge to cool off.

This potato salad pairs well with grilled chicken or a thin cut grilled steak. Or even alone.

Dessert alert! Had the best chocolate mousse from Publix Greenwise. This place makes really yummy pastries!