Holiday Style: Chocolate Pumpkin Pie!

Pumpkin Pie was the first dish I ever contributed to a Holiday meal. While planning the Holiday menu in my head, I came up with a new twist to traditional Pumpkin Pie.  Several of my guests are great lovers of all things chocolate (who isn't?)  Here is what I came up with!!

OREO PUMPKIN PIE
For the crust you will need:
1 package chocolate sandwich cookies (I used Newman O's Wheat Free, Dairy Free)
1 Tbsp. Organic cocoa powder
pinch of Sea Salt
3/4 Stick of Organic Butter (6 Tbsp.)

Preheat oven to 300.  Open the package of cookies.  Twist open each "sandwich" creating one cookie with filling and one without.  take all the cookies without filling, put into food processor and grind until smooth.  Take cookie with filling and press together with another cookie with filling.  Do this with remaining  cookies creating "double stuff" and put back in package for later when you want a snack!

Pour ground cookies into a bowl.  Add cocoa powder and sea salt.  Heat butter in a sauce pan on low heat until melted, then add to cookies.  Stir until combined.  Press mixture into pie plate, about 1/8 inch thick.  Press up the sides creating traditional pie crust shape.  I left a rough top edge to my crust, but finish as you wish.  Place crust in oven for 10-15 minutes jut to lightly toast and set.

For filling you will need:
 1 15 oz. can Organic Pumpkin
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs slightly beaten

 Preheat oven to 425.  Mix pumpkin and spices together.  Add remaining filing ingerdients.  Mix slowly until thouroughly mixed. Place pie plate with cookie crust on a cookie sheet.  Pour pumpkin filling carefully into crust. Bake for 15 min. at 425, then reduce temp to 350 and bake for another 35-40 mins.  Let cool and store in Refrigerator until ready to serve.  Enjoy!!

I think this Pie was enjoyed by all my guests, especially my 3 year old son who helped me make it. Although the directions seem long, it was so simple and quick to make.  Anyone who tries this recipe- let me know how it turns out.  Next:  Pumpkin cinnamon rolls!!

Old Fashioned Dia De Los Muertos

One beautiful Sunday in November, I was out enjoying the day with my two little ones. We happened upon a Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) festival near De la Guerra Plaza in the old downtown area of Santa Barbara.  It was set in a small courtyard, adorned with colorful tissue paper flowers over wooden archways and bright paper streamers overhead.  there was a beautiful altar overflowing with candles, skeletons, trinkets and an old colored photograph of Frida Kahlo. 

The scene was quite enchanting- children running about, making skeleton crafts, face painting and wonderful music!  The children were performing traditional songs in Spanish, such as "De Colores", a personal favorite of mine.  Charming, simple events like this seem to be so rare these days.  It was fun to see families of this amazing community enjoying themselves at a traditional event, celebrated in an "old fashioned" way.  

Behind the Iron Gate

So much magic is hiding behind a gate!  I love to imagine what secret beauties are lying within!  Just take a drive through any part of Montecito and your imagination can run wild with secret manicured porteres, lush tropical hideways, ancient european villas and of course graceful trickling fountians.  The joy of it is the mystery and romance that these gates provide.

Of course I have my favorites.  On De la Guerra, downtown, the gate enclosing Merriden Studios is one of the most romantic I've ever seen.  Look how ancient it looks.  The building hiding behind it doesn't disappoint-Georgeous!!

Padaro Lane is full of fantastic gates.  I have two that I love- one more traditional-it has a cape cod feel, very sophisticated.  An ivy vine is growing on its walls, and majestic sycamores line the drive behind it.  The other, while incorperating the sandstone look that is so Santa Barbara, this gate has a cobble, beach-stone feel that  is absolutely enchanting!

The last gate I am including is an extreme gate for an extreme estate!! Situated above Butterfly Beach is the grand home and gardens of Ty Warner.  This gate gives you a hint at the grand lifestyle lying within.  Take a leisurely walk along the bike path above Butterfly Beach and you will catch a glimpse of a larger than life European Villa with expansive promande and lushly-tropical gardens.  You can even hear a trickling fountian in a deep grotto over the wall.  What magic!!

I encourage everyone to find their own favorite gates around this beautiful city.  The search can be great fun, and you never know what you may find around the next corner!

SR   

Dreams of Water

 I often take my two young children on afternoon outings.  Where we are headed is of minimal importance.  One bright sunny day we were exploring downtown, and we found ourselves walking through the sandstone collums of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse.

I must have been seeing this place through the eyes of my children, or perhaps I was remembering the magic of the sunken garden in my childhood.  I would often have dreams as a child that I was in the back corner of this garden, underneath a curving wrought iron staircase, surrounded by the ferns and other lush greenery.  In my dreams, there would be still, dark pools of reflecting water tucked into this secret corner.  These dreams are for me, the beginning of my love for water and the magic of Santa Barbara.

What Is Santa Barbara Style?

As I thought about writing the first entry into this blog, entitled Santa Barbara Style, I started thinking, "what is Santa Barbara Style?"  I have ideas in my head of what I believe it to be.  When I see it, I know it. Can I articulate it?  Can it be pinned down to a few words that clearly define what Santa Barbara Style is?

I was born and raised in this beautiful city.  In so many ways it has shaped who I am.  I have visited and lived many other places, but no other place has come so close to paradise for me.  Recently I began to see Santa Barbara with new eyes.  I think this comes from ones perspective- when it changes, how things are seen change too.  Everything I see provides so much joy and inspiration!  The buildings around town- when did they become so amazing?  The people walking confidently down State Street on a bright sunny day, each one looking as if they had just stepped out of a fashion editorial.  And the headline reads-  Santa Barbara Style: Effortlessly Elegant and Casually Chic.  I can't get enough of it!!

While reading this blog, think of me as your personal tour guide of this unique city.  But this is definitely not your average tour.  This is a tour with all things style in mind.  Anything that catches my attention may end up here.  I am excited to experience where this tour takes us, what inspires me, what I learn and everything I see!
SR