Monday Musings: On Pumpkins, #Chocotoberfest, and Hurricanes

I’m back, folks! And with a brand new series! Didja miss me?

HAI.

Just a little note today to let you know that all is well at The Crumby Casa! You may know that my hubby and I are residents of Eastern Central Florida. You may also know that this tiny little storm they named Matthew came through and tried to tear us away from the United States like little girls fighting for Barbie dolls (I mean, like back in the day style fighting. Now I guess it’s like Bratz or something idek.)

Thank God for the Wobble! It was all over the news, and the storm did indeed skirt the state, sparing us from what could have been a much worse end result. We live just north of Cape Canaveral, and aside from losing some shingles on the roof and walking outside to a sea of camphor tree branches in the backyard, we had no damage to report.

Of course, we were some of the unluckiest as far as the electricity situation, which is one of the reasons I haven’t been around in just about two weeks!

Wanna skip straight to the #Choctoberfest fun! Click here!

Monday Musings is a new series on The Crumby Cupcake. Take a peek into the random brain of the girl behind the blog – the series will feature happenings in life outside, as well as some current favorite internet thingies, both food and non. Look for updates on Erica’s half-marathon training, blogger events, travel, tasty meals eaten outside The Crumby Casa…honestly, if it ain’t a recipe, you’ll see it here! 

Yesiree. After an absolutely crazy half-day at work on Thursday (thanks to Publix for letting us close at 4PM,) I came home to my wonderful amazing husband having trimmed the trees in our backyard, finished putting up our hurricane shutters, and cooked 5 meals in anticipation of us losing electricity for at least a few days.

Have I mentioned how much I love him?

Anyhoo, I fell asleep at about 9:30PM, and of course our power flickered out at 10PM, before any real strong winds or rain even kicked in – we were one of about 3000 houses to lose it that early.

Super.

I rolled my eyes and fell back into a fitful sleep, waking up at around 2AM, and then again at 6AM. I was up for the day at that point, checking the weather religiously until my data signal took a crap around 8AM…right when the eye was off our coast, and the strongest wind gusts started up. I would be lying if I said there weren’t a few gusts that brought me to my knees, praying that our desperately-in-need-of-replacing 30-plus-year-old roof held fast above our heads.

After downing an entire bottle of Starbuck’s iced espresso (my new bev obsession BTW,) I attempted to distract myself by reading Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (<–affiliate!) For the most part, it worked, except when Hubs decided to poke his head outside to see what the storm was doing.

I can’t say I wasn’t curious, and we took our chances opening the front door and watching the winds blow like crazy from the North, while we faced the South. It was a mostly safe, if misguided, plan, for what it’s worth.

We weren’t, like, running around in the front yard, dodging tree branches or anything.

To make a long story short, we and everyone we love are safe and sound, we finally got our electricity back on Tuesday morning (of course…after my 2 days off where I got nothing productive done,) and I’m getting my normal life back together slowly but surely.

In all the hubub of hurricane prep, I missed out on the final two days of my beloved Pumpkin Week! But don’t you worry, punkin lovers – I already have those recipes queued up and coming at you in the next few weeks! One of them being this beauty right here, which I am beyond excited to share…it’s a total winner, quite possibly the best cake I’ve ever made!

BUT FIRST, and without further adieu…

Today is one of my favorite days of the year… because it is the first EIGHTH day of #Choctoberfest 2016 (Thanks so much to Allison and her fellow organizers for extending this event to two weeks for poor Hurricane-affected saps like moi!)

#Choctoberfest is a virtual event put together by The PinterTest Kitchen. Bloggers from around the world will be posting their favorite chocolate recipes, and you’ll get a chance to win some awesome prizes. What’s not to love?

Thank you to the sponsors who make #Choctoberfest possible! This year, Imperial Sugar is back as our Gold Sponsor. They have been a trusted name in kitchens since 1843, and their website is home to thousands of sweet recipes tested in the Imperial Sugar Kitchen. You can find Imperial Sugar on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube, or join their Sweet Community so you can share your own recipes, save recipes to a virtual inbox, print Imperial Sugar coupons, and connect with other sugar lovers.

Imperial Sugar and our silver sponsors have banded together to offer a huge #Choctoberfest prize pack, which you can enter to win below! One lucky winner will be chosen at random to receive the following:

• From our Gold Sponsor Imperial Sugar: 1 case of granulated sugar (40 pounds), 1 case of brown sugar (24 pounds), 1 case of dark brown sugar (24 pounds), 1 case of powdered sugar (24 pounds bags), and an Imperial Sugar red ruffle apron
• From our Silver Sponsor Nature Nate’s: 32 oz. Raw & Unfiltered Honey bottle, Honey Syrup, Honey Packets, a Nature Nate’s T-shirt, various kitchen supplies, and $50 Amazon gift card
• From our Silver Sponsor Barlean’s:16 oz Barlean’s Butter-Flavored Coconut Oil, 9.52 oz canister of Chocolate Silk Greens, and 8oz bottle of Essential Women Omega-Swirl Chocolate Mint
• From our Silver Sponsor Caveman Coffee: 1 Bag of Coffee (you choice of blacklisted or sabertooth), 1 coconut MCT oil, and 1 Cacao Butter
• From #Choctoberfest blog hosts The PinterTest Kitchen: 1 specialty chocolate gift pack (your choice of dark or milk chocolate), 1 tin (14 ounces) drinking chocolate, and Divine’s Fair Trade Gift Set

Enter now to win our #Choctoberfest 2016 prize pack! We’ll be picking a winner at random winner on Saturday, Oct. 22, so enter by next Friday to make sure your name is in the drawing:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here’s a list of all of the bloggers participating in #Choctoberfest 2016. Visit any of their blogs to get delicious chocolate recipes throughout the week(s):

The PinterTest Kitchen • 2 Cookin’ Mamas • A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures • addicted 2 recipes • Amy’s Cooking Adventures • An Affair From The Heart • Balancing Motherhood • Body Rebooted • Bottom Left of the Mitten • By the Pounds • Canning and Cooking at Home • Coconut & Lime • Cook with 5 Kids • Cook’s Hideout • Cookaholic Wife • Cooking with Carlee • CopyKat Recipes • Cricket’s Confections • Crumbs in my Mustachio • Elisabeth Jean • Fairyburger • Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice • Family Around the Table • Fantastical Sharing of Recipes • Feed Your Soul Too • Feeding Big • Frankly Entertaining • Full Belly Sisters • Get the Good Stuff • Grumpy’s Honeybunch • Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks • Hostess At Heart • Ink and Sugar • Jane’s Adventures in Dinner • Join Us, Pull Up a Chair • Karen’s Kitchen Adventures • Kate’s Recipe Box • Kudos Kitchen by Renee • Kylee Cooks • Letz Eat • Life Currents • Life on Food • Making Miracles • Monica’s Table • Moore or Less Cooking Food Blog • My Catholic Kitchen • My Gluten Free Miami • Our Good Life • Palatable Pastime • Restless Chipotle • Seduction in The Kitchen • Sew You Think You Can Cook • Simple Food 365 • Southern With A Twist • Sumptuous Spoonfuls • Take Two Tapas • Tampa Cake Girl • Teaspoon of Goodness • That Recipe • The Crumby Cupcake • The Flavourista • The Food Hunter’s Guide To Cuisine • The Freshman Cook • The Pajama Chef • The Redhead Baker • The Spiffy Cookie • Tramplingrose • Wildflour’s Cottage Kitchen • Zesty South Indian Kitchen

I’m looking forward to seeing all of the yummy recipes posted on these blogs. Check them out throughout the week and don’t forget to follow our sponsors and bloggers using the Rafflecopter giveaway widget above for your chance to win our sweet prize pack.

Are you a fellow food blogger who wants to get involved with events like #Choctoberfest? Sign up here to get notifications when they happen from The PinterTest Kitchen.