not to be confused with pumpkin doughnuts.

every year in addition to our traditional pumpkin carving j and i paint smaller pumpkins. last year i made "punkmins" (punk pumpkins), and j did a line up of super hero mini pumpkins. this year these little doughnut pumpkins caught my eye.

| materials |

arcylic paints in "doughnut", frosting colors and an assortment for sprinkles
mini pumpkins
paint brushes
cup of water
newspaper/craft paper
paper towels

| method |

line your craft space with newspaper/craft paper and place pumpkins upside down on the paper. set aside your cup of water and paper towels.

paint your pumpkins upside down (so that you cover the bottom 2/3 with the doughnut colored paint. let dry completely.

once dry, flip the pumpkins over and proceed to paint the "frosting" on the pumpkins free hand, being sure to cover where the doughnut paint ends so the pumpkin is entirely covered in paint. leave a small circle at the top. let dry completely.

once dry, paint the circle and stem on the top with your doughnut color, giving the illusion of a "hole" and paint on the sprinkles.

-l
made to border

before we moved, j and i didn't know anything about south texas. i made sure our new home had precisely two things before agreeing to relocate: a target and starbucks within reasonable driving distance. but beyond that? we headed west blindly and optimistically.

leading up to our departure we joked (and my family teased) that hopefully there would be more than a taco stand on our new food frontier. when we finally rolled in, i spent the first few weeks driving around pointing out everything i recognized from back home to j.

"look! a chilis!!!"
"yeah, lauren i hear those are a chain."

"look! ANOTHER STARBUCKS!"
"and some place called moonbeans."

"omigawd its a frozen yogurt place! AND there's a dairy queen."
"i'm surprised those weren't on your list of requirements."

not long after we settled in, i started to worry again...this time that the best we were going to do for a "night out" was chilis. yes: how quickly i become spoiled with what i have. restaurants i was initially exclaiming over, i was turning my nose up at a few months later.

i'm thrilled to say that we have started to discover some gems, and salt- new american table definitely makes my shortlist. when we walked in, i saw the minimalist bar, lots of scrubbed wood (my favorite), custom cocktails and a carefully crafted menu with lots of interesting choices.

i think i exhaled for the first time in a few months.

i can't get past the fried chicken, which is served with a side of jalapeno mashed potatoes. if ever there was a dish that combined our new home and our hometown, that's it. southern comfort food with a tex mex twist. it's perfection.

and salt is our new go-to for special, but not stuffy dates.

For reservations, call 956.627.6304.

-l
made to border