fall back

Okay, before I say anything about food or cooking, I'd just like to express my extreme JOY and ELATION that we have a new President(-elect)!!! I actually feel hope; the dark ages are drawing to a close after eight long years of fear, hate and general idiocy. Hallelujah! We Baraked the vote! Woot!

Alright. I've been posting so infrequently over the past few months that I never even think to photograph my plates until they're at least half-devoured. I'm going to try to start remembering, though because I just love all the colors in autumn cooking. There was a time when I compulsively photographed everything I ate. My hard drive is full of memories of meals enjoyed. So, yeah, my fall resolution is to remember to do that, and hopefully that'll make me blog more.

Anyhow, I cooked a lot this weekend. I was inspired by my new issue of Vegetarian Times magazine, and by my very own copy of Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything Vegetarian that Barbara got me since I kept repeatedly checking it out of the library, and not giving anyone else a turn.

On Saturday morning, we got our sustenance for our trip to the Handmade Arcade from some lovely pumpkin pancakes from the VT recipe for Pumpkin Pancakes with Honey Raspberry Syrup in the article "Kitchen Prescriptions"--recipes for fighting off colds and flu (B has a bad cold, and I'm trying to fend it off), though we just used maple syrup since I didn't have any raspberries on hand. They were soft and tender and delicious, and totally hit the spot. I had a yummy veggie dog from Franctuary at the arcade, then headed home to enjoy our fantastic new art purchases, and make dinner. I tried another recipe from the same VT article for Soupe au Pistou. It's a hearty veggie bean soup. The pistou (kind of a French pesto) comes into the picture when you serve it. You put a couple tablespoons of the pistou in the bottom of the bowl, and then ladle the hot soup over it, so the heat releases the flavors without cooking it. It was heavenly, and just extremely lovely to boot. I paired that with some warm Yogurt Herb Bread (a quick bread recipe from Mollie Katzen's The Enchanted Broccoi Forest). E-dawg joined us for our fragrant dinner, and showed off her own arcade purchases. We made hot cocoa with fluff for dessert, and all was right with the world.

And then late last night while cleaning out my book bag (no, it is NOT a purse), I came across a recipe I'd printed from somewhere (maybe Chow.com?) for Butterscotch Brownies (they were really blondies, not brownies, but anyway). They were super-simple, and really nice.

Sunday morning's breakfast was a grilled cheese sandwich with the Yogurt Herb bread with some cheddar and roquefort, and a couple small squares of the butterscotch bars and coffee.

For lunch, I turned to Mark Bittman's gigantic tome, and made his recipes for Braised Turnips, Spicy Autumn Burgers and Fast, Down-Home Barbeque Sauce. I put the burgers on a toasted bun, and topped them with some carmelized onions, cheddar and the bbq sauce. The turnips and a cup of yesterday's soup rounded out the plate, and were washed down with some apple cider. A cup of hot tea with a butterscotch bar made dessert.

Even though it's cold outside, I feel all toasty warm and sated, and ready to sit down with a crossword and some Iron and Wine playing softly in the background. This has been my kinda weekend.

comfort, schmomfort

Well, the colcannon was a big, fat failure. It turned out more like spackle or papier-mâché or glue than a bowl of fluffy love. I'm not sure whether it was the potatoes (they were more sweet, less starchy) or the fact that I cooked them the night before (even though I rewarmed them for mashing). It may have been a combo of both, but I'm leaning towards the potato variety. You need starchy goodness, but I just wanted to both use up my CSA potatoes I'd been stockpiling for weeks and wanted colcannon, so I made a gamble. And, lost.

So, after I realized that the potatoes were glue it just hurt my heart that I'd already invested ten or twelve (smallish/mediumish) potatoes, three cloves of garlic, half a head of cabbage, a bunch of chard, a bunch of parsley, lots of grated parmesan, some half-n-half, some butter...well, I just wasn't ready to throw in the towel that easily. So, I came up with the plan of making them into potato cakes. So, I threw in a couple eggs, some more cheese and an entire bag of panko. I formed them into cakes (not easy since they were still so gluey), and fried them in a little olive oil. Guess what the result was?

Yep, glue cakes.

The flavor wasn't horrible, but the texture was grody. So, I threw the finished cakes in the trash, but was still left with a giant bowl of the glue. I called Schwatts for her expert advice. Guess what that was. She said, "Make a piñata?". And, then she settled down and shared her own tales of Potatoes Gone Wild, and suggested that maybe I could try using it as thickener for soup. So, that's gonna be my last-ditch effort. I'm gonna warm some stock, and whisk some in and see if that'll work. Otherwise, I just gotta bite the bullet and toss 'em (dang, and today was garbage day). So sad!

So, I went empty-handed to book club last night, but I didn't leave with an empty belly. There were lots of delicious treats--E-dawg's chocolate chip pumpkin loaf (yum!), Nat's baked apples (yum!), Hayley's madeleines (yum!), and all the other delectable treats that I can't think of right now. All in all, apart from the colcannon debacle, a delightful evening.

And, today's Friday! Woot!

Handmade Arcade is this weekend, and it's two days this year! It's this big annual DIY craft fair, and it's awesome-awesome. I plan on getting all my holiday shopping done there. Halfly because I don't plan on doing a ton of holiday shopping this year (down with capitalism, up with good cheer!), and halfly because there are so many incredible things to see and purchase (okay, so not totally down with capitalism).

Also, I'm getting a hair cut tomorrow. Finally. My head is looking like I'm sporting a mullet mop. It's so displeasing to me that it actually makes me nauseous. It's that bad. Yet, I'm going back to the same person that cut it last time. If anyone has excellent hair-cuttin' suggestions for the 'Burgh, please bring 'em on. My friend Beth once told me, "You should always have someone cooler than you cutting your hair." And, hey, let's face it, it's hard to get cooler than this guy.

And, I'm pet-sitting Zeke this weekend! My special little guy!

Annnnd, Slow Food Pittsburgh is having an Apple Festival tomorrow at the Union Project! Complete with apple pie baking contest and Johnny Appleseed look-alike contest! (I love this gal's blog, and she mentioned a while back that she's entering the contest. I'm pulling for her for the win! Seriously, her blog is called "Pittsburgh Needs Eated". That's the cutest name ever).

So, it'll be an action-packed weekend! Not so great for hibernating, but good for the soul, nonetheless. Hope you have a good one, dear readers.