Fall!

I do so love fall!  It is my absolute favorite season:)  I love the colors, the crisp, cool air, the holidays and mmm...the food!
This year, I will not make my annual trip to Winston-Salem.  No Kopper Kitchen's breakfast or lunch (their collards set your mouth on fire and put some shine in your hair), no Sweet Potatoes or Old Salem Tavern (sigh).  I love their food (and no, I don't go to Winston-Salem just to eat).
While my home doesn't present the same ambiance as the aforementioned establishments, it does have a working kitchen and a closet shelf full of recipes.  I grabbed the instructions for Sweet Potato Pecan Bread Pudding and Pineapple Upside-Down Pumpkin Gingerbread.  Added to that~ some garlic pork tenderloin and collards.  (Yes, I know it's not truly collard season until after the first frost gets them, so I put my batch in the freezer for a few days).  Almost as good.

The beginnings of Sweet Potato Pecan Bread Pudding.

Ready for baking.

  Pork tenderloin, collards, and the bread pudding with maple whipped cream.

Syrupy pineapple goodness...

with pumpkin gingerbread batter on top...

Mmm...45 minute wait to let it cool before...

Time out.  I must admit here that all was not wafting as scrumptiously as can be imagined.... The syrupy goodness ranneth over and made a big smoking mess.  The family scrambled to open up windows and doors to save the day and once the smoke and burnt smell cleared up, YUM.  The wonderful aroma of pumpkin gingerbread meandered through the house.  

So here I am, on a rainy Saturday kicked back in my armchair with a full tummy, the prospect of dessert with a dollop of maple whipped cream in my near future.  Bliss.  Absolute bliss.

...flipping out a delicious,  oh-so-wonderful cake.