I always think of October as the "orange month": orange leaves, orange pumpkins, and the monarch butterflies come back to California.
This weekend we went to the Welcome Back Monarchs Festival at Natural Bridges State Park in Santa Cruz. The park is one of our favorite day trips during the year, but on this day, the kids get to do art projects, learn about Monarch migration and the ecosystem in the park, and eat hand-churned pumpkin ice cream!
Walking down the wooden boardwalk into the quiet redwood and eucalyptus forest, we saw hundreds of butterflies flitting over the canyon. The butterflies were enchanting, the kids were thrilled, and the ice cream was divine!
We made pumpkin cupcakes the night before, and frosted them with caramel buttercream frosting in the wee hours of the morning. We used the banana cupcake recipe from the February 2009 issue of Martha Stewart Living, but I used roasted pumpkin puree instead of banana. Ahmad preferred the cupcakes unfrosted, but Chef Zaahir declared that "The caramel buttercream really brings out the pumpkin flavor". That's my boy!
When we had visited all the booths, we were off to the beach where my mom took Zaahir and his best friend to play in the water, while Ahmad and I burried rocks and made castles. Then we went to the nearby Seymour Marine Discovery Center and played with these: 
But Ahmad's favorite animal was the Leopard Shark:
Monday Dinner...Butternut Squash Soup:
I boiled the pumpkin skin and pulp from the pumpkin I roasted for the cupcakes., together with a few cloves of garlic, for a soup stock. Then I strained it and added 1/2 a large butternut squash (peeled and cubed), 2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed, some salt and pepper, cumin and cinnamon. I blended it when everything was soft, and then added some cream and heated just until it started to steam. Yummy!
Life (in Orange) is good!