yikes!

Wowza. I didn't realize how long it had been since I'd blogged. I've thought of it often, and have wanted to, but life kept getting in the way.

Work, as always, has been kind of insanely busy. And, non-work, too. Barbara, my number one lady, was hit by a car while biking to work at the end of August. She's okay, but had some broken bones, some sprains, and lots of bruises and scrapes. It was so scary. If you're a biker, please always wear your helmet. If you're a driver, be cognizant of bikers on the road. The week before Barbara was hit, the E-dawg was, too. Just three blocks up. In the bike lane. By an uninsured driver. Effed up. She's okay now, too, and back to running races.

Also, in the meantime Hurd celebrated her big 3-0, and Mags celebrated her 30-something. A big wish for a lovely year for both these fine ladies. They've enriched and enhanced my life in countless ways, and I'm forever indebted to their mothers for birthing them, and raising them up right.

In other friend news, Nowlzie is going to be doing some birthing herself soon! I cannot wait to meet this little guy. He's going to have the best parents in all the land, and undoubtedly going to be quite the handsome fella.

And, for food, I've been doing some fabulous eating over the past few months. I've been hitting the Kaya Veggie Dinner monthly. I've known about this for a couple years, but had never made it. Now I'm completely hooked. August's dinner was seriously yumazing. September's dinner was not quite as good as August's stellar offering, but it was also really great. And, it's just always a fun night with friends over a leisurely dinner. And, it's always extra fun that the chef, Danielle Cain, stops by to say hello. She's super sweet, as well as a really gifted chef. Her two sous chefs are also really fantastic, Dave and Jason always put out some great dishes also. in fact, we're still all talking about Jason's dessert from August--grilled local peaches with a Point Reyes blue cheese ice cream, candied pecans, and blackberry coulis. Really, really great. The next dinner is next Wednesday, October 15th. I think (hope!) they're going to publish the menu today or tomorrow. I can't wait to see what they have planned. It's always fresh, largely local ingredients prepared in really interesting and beautiful ways. Yum.

And, one more big Burrito-related item, and I'll be done plugging. big Burrito is hosting an event, big Benefit, supporting the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank this Sunday, October 12th. 100% of the food revenue for that night's dinner will be donated for this third annual event. It's a great way to have a lovely evening with fantastic food, and also support a super local organization.

Okay. Enough big talk.

I'm excited about the season change. I love--LOVE--summer produce and the bounty, but I'm thrilled that the weather is changing (although not the early darkness; that's a bummer), and I love the new seasonal additions to my CSA and the farmers market. Winter squash, apples, pears, the last of the foraged mushrooms, and the cutest vegetable of all--the brussels sprout. I haven't seen any sprouts yet at the market, but I'm hoping they'll be here soon. They're best picked after the first frost. I can't wait.

In the meantime, I've renewed my love affair with the butternut squash. Last night I prepared a big one, by slicing it in half, seeding it, and cutting out a big hollow in the stem part (the most difficult and time-consuming part of this dish. everything else is easy-peasy). I did a small dice of the squash flesh I'd removed, tossed them with a little splash of olive oil and a little splash of balsamic vinegar, and some sea salt and freshly ground pepper, and covered them with foil, and baked at 350 for about 20-25 minutes--until it was tender, but not falling apart. And, with the two whole halves of squash, I put a little honey and cayenne into a baking dish, and put them cut side down, and put about 2T of water in, covered them with foil, and cooked them for about 40 minutes, until very tender (the time depends on the size of your squash).

In the meantime, I cooked some red quinoa (you don't have to use red, it just looks really pretty with the other ingredients). Then I tossed about 3 c. of the quinoa with the cooked, diced squash, about 1/4 c. of freshly grated parmesan. While the quinoa was cooking, I lightly sauteed about 1/3 c. of chopped onion, about 1/4 c. of this gorgeous fragrant celery (with the leaves) that I got at the market, a clove of garlic, a splash of olive oil, some chopped fresh sage (about 2T), and some chopped fresh parsley (also about 2T). I folded that into the squash-quinoa mixture.

I melted some butter in a pan, and browned some whole wheat panko bread crumbs, and put that on top, and popped the whole thing back into the oven for about 15 minutes. When that was done, I scooped it into the halves, and served it with some chopped fresh chives on top. It was beautiful, seasonal, and absolutely delicious. I wish I was a better photographer.


Welcome, Autumn. I salute you.

no time for nuthin'

Halloo, peeps. I hope you all had a nice Easter, if you swing that way. I did. Barbara and I went to her mom's on Saturday night, and woke up to easter baskets (so fun!). Then we went to her sister's for lunch, which was awesome--I brought scalloped potatoes (loosely based on this recipe). Her sister (Debbie) made ham (and some veggie-rice cakes for us vegetarians), this really awesome sweet potato/pineapple/apple/cranberry dish, homemade rolls, her mom made broccoli casserole (and made B & I each an individual one to take home!)...I feel like I'm forgetting some stuff...and some delicious brownies and ice cream for dessert. When we were sitting down to dinner I also pulled off an AWESOME gag based on the whoopee cushion I got in my easter basket. Hi-larious.


In other news, Hurd has left the building. Well, actually, left the Greater Pittsburgh Area for New Orleans. Town just won't be the same.

And, in other, other news E-dawg is heading down to Atlanta this weekend to run her first full marathon!! Send her speed and endurance vibes!

And, in other, other, other news Barbara and I are headed to The Big Apple for a long weekend tomorrow. I can't wait! I'll report back on our many meals next week.

mwah!

monday...

Have you Pittsburgh peeps been outside today? It's sunny! It's warm! Where the heck are we? I just heard it's supposed to be almost 70 degrees tomorrow! I wish work would dismiss us due to weather.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend! I did, indeed. A little chillaxin', a little qt with a Hurd, fun times with a lovely new acquaintance, brunch at Zenith, saw Juno (if you haven't seen it, do!), had the first Bushwicks practice with Mags in over a year. Good times, all.

[Incidentally, do not let a Hurd convince you that she doesn't like games. I mean, look how excited she is over Trivial Pursuit!]


So, so, so...so much to catch up on since I was a slacker with the bloggin' over the holidays. But, a quick overview:

1. xmas was great. I went down to WV to see the fam, and (to steal a clever phrase from The Gooch) to recharge my accent*. Here's me and my beautiful and youthful mom:

And, to add another generation on, here's my freakin' adorable niece, her only self:


*Regarding the accent, it doesn't take long for me to re-pick it up. I heard myself telling my step-dad, when I meant that I was going to get out of the car to walk my dog, "Ahm jus gon waukeem real quick" which translates as "I'm just going to walk him real quick." Whoa.

Also, my step-dad adopted a baby deer (now named Dixie), and has fed her for the last few months. She's joined her own herd, but she stills comes about three times per day for treats (apples, corn chips, deer kibble) and for pets. It was so fun to pet a baby deer! I wish I'd gotten a picture, but every time she came up my camera was charging, or downstairs, or something.

2. New Years Eve was great. I was at Zeke's with the and the K-Bear, and we had a lovely time with some pals who stopped by to count down to the new year.
K-Bear loves hats:


I made a spread of snacks for the soiree. I had:
-veggie sushi (assisted by the E-dawg)
-curried potato-pea-spinach puffs
-mini artichoke-spinach-sundried tomato quiche
-mini wild mushroom tarts
-buffalo tofu dip (this actually didn't turn out so great)
-my mom's famous cheeseball
-a gorgeous cheese spread (by E-dawg, with pears, honey and blackberries)
-a delicious mocktail (also by E-dawg), the Bramble with a juniper berry/bay leaf syrup mixed with seltzer water, fresh tarragon, meyer lemon juice and blackberries (this was SO good!)
-mesquite chocolate chip cookies


And, a few peeps stayed over, and Heather actually brought all the fixins for breakfast the next day--fancy french toast with banana yum and raspberry compote. Yum!


Also, I realized that you know when you are old when at the end of the night on NYE you're not passed out and/or making out with a stranger, but instead you're doing a load of dishes and sorting recycling. I loved it.

2. My new ride! I'm loving it!


I'm so glad to be mobile again.

And, now that we're back up to speed...

Hurd and I tried to check out the new Ethiopian restaurant, Tana, on Saturday, but arrived just as they were closing for a few hours between lunch and dinner. Kramer and Mags had lunch there last week, and gave it two thumbs up, way up. I can't wait to try it.

Tonight is Classic Book Club. We read Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's by John Elder Robison (Augusten Burrough's older brother). Plus, there are always lots of delicious and surprising snacks.

car, schmar

I have to say, for my first car-less weekend, and weather that was not necessarily ideal, I had a heck of a good time! Friday I went about my shopping with determination and ferocity. I hit the co-op first, then the Giant Eagle, and then...well, by then the room in my backseat and my patience were pretty much gone, so I headed home. I put all the groceries away, made some breakfast-for-dinner and retired to watch some netflixes and cable. Good times.

Breakfast-for-Dinner was roasted potatoes, fried eggs and toast. I got these beautiful little local fingerling potatoes at the co-op. They were gorgeous! The flesh was brilliantly golden and the skin was red, so while I was cutting them up I kept thinking that they looked so much like peaches that my mouth kept watering for juicy peachiness, and then I'd remember that they were potatoes. Seriously, look!


So, I heated up the oven to 350, tossed the potatoes with some herbs de Provence, red pepper flakes, olive oil, and salt and pepper, and put them in for about 15 minutes. At that time, I took them out, tossed them again with some onions, garlic and fresh parsley and rosemary, and stuck them back in for another 15 minutes. In the meantime, I chopped up more parsley, and mixed that with some lemon zest and coarse sea salt, and topped the potatoes with that when they came out of the oven.


So, here's my breakfast-for-dinner:


Saturday was a lovely day! E-dawg picked me up in the morning, and we hit the East Liberty Farmers Market, which operates indoor year-round. It was small, but fantastic! I got so much good stuff. Check it:

l-r, clockwise:
sweet potato gnocchi, sweet potatoes, black walnuts, garlic (two kinds, one regular, one that's little and supposedly stronger, but I forget the name), turnips, dried sweet corn, brussels sprouts. Now, that's a good haul from a wintertime farmers market in the 'Burgh, you know?

Then we hit the Strip for oodles of more delights. I didn't photo them, but I got a bunch of cheese from Penn Mac (brie de meux, beemster, Black Diamond sharp white cheddar), some almonds, some baguette, some beautiful fluffy tortillas from Reyna's, and some treats from Cafe Richard. I got a spinach-feta-sundried tomato quiche, a couple croissant and a coconut tart. All fantastic. And, when I got home, I got a call from a WV friend, Jeffron, who was in Pittsburgh for a few hours, so he came over and shared my quiche and some of my leftover roasted potatoes, and we sat around drinking coffee and playing cards for a few hours.

Then Hurd and I hit the town early-evening, old lady-style. We went to Verdetto's 'cause Hurd had a hankering for their delectable mac-n-cheese triangles, but alas, they're not serving food on the weekends (whack). But some old guys bought us shots of some Slovokian liquor that tasted a little like Jaegermeister. Then, we continued our downward spiral by hitting up Donny's for dinner. Yes, you read that correctly: Donny's for dinner. (Thankfully) their kitchen was also not open. Then we rolled up to my 'hood, and went to Billy's. Now, it's only a mere five-ish blocks from my house, but I don't frequent it. But, we had a really nice time! We got some pretty good pub grub, cheap beer, and friendly service. I have decided that this will be our gang's new hang-out since I can walk to it. Pass it on. Billy's is where it's at.


Sunday was an inside day. The weather was cruddy, but I had cable to keep me warm. And, I've been craving a veggie version of biscuits and gravy for a while. Leslie told me about some gravy a friend of hers makes, and gave me an outline of how to make it. So, I made a recipe of Heidi's cornmeal biscuits from Cook 1.0. They are tender and delicious!

Cornmeal Biscuts [ek: this is not a "light" recipe by any stretch, but good enough to splurge!]
(from Heidi Swanson's Cook 1.0: A Fresh Approach to the Vegetarian Kitchen)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Into a large bowl or food processor, sift:
3 1/2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 t. salt
2 T. baking powder
1/2 c. finely ground cornmeal

To dry ingredients add:
1 c. chilled butter, cut into 1/4" chunks.
Using a pastry cutter or 25 quick pulses of a food processor, blend until mixture resembles tiny, sandy pebbles.

With a fork, stir in the following until just combined:
2 c. milk (lowfat is fine)

Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased nonstick baking sheet. Brush the biscuit tops with a bit of egg white and sprinkle with a dusting of cornmeal.
Bake on the middle rack of the oven until the tops and bottoms are golden, roughly 12 minutes. [ek - I got about 2 dozen biscuits out of this]

Yummers.

And, for the gravy, Leslie said that her friend Mary makes it by:

(from Leslie's email description)
First sauté some onion, garlic, mushrooms and chopped up frozen veggie sausage links (don't thaw) until nice and browned. Remove from pan. Then make a roux with butter and flour. Toast your roux for a few minutes over medium heat, then toss in a good sized handful of brewers' yeast. Toast in pan for a few minutes until fragrant.

Slowly add milk (maybe ½ - 1 cup…see how it looks in the pan, depending on how much brewers yeast you use), cayenne pepper (if you like a nice kick), black pepper and white pepper (I like a spicy gravy). Get crazy and add a little sage or thyme, if you like.

Stir until thickened, serve on sweet potato biscuits! (my favorite)

So, here's what I did:
Sauteed 1/2 an onion with a clove of garlic and about 8oz of white mushrooms (stems removed), diced, with a little butter. I added some (about half the package) Gimme Lean (sausage-style) and browned/chunked it up. And some fresh thyme. In another pan, I made a roux with some butter and flour, then stirred in some Brewer's yeast. You may remember that I am afraid of making roux, and with good reason. It always turns too thick and pasty and floury. This time was no exception. When I started adding in the milk, it just turned into a thick paste. Hmmm....so, I got a larger skillet, and warmed the milk in there, then slowly added little bits of the butter/flour mixture (the roux, sorta), and just whisked until there were no lumps and it was a nice thickness/viscosity. Then added in the brewers yeast, cayenne and black/pink pepper. Oh, and some freshly ground nutmeg! I love nutmeg in cream sauces. Then, added in my sausage-mushroom mixture (with a splash of marsala), and cooked it a little longer. It was still a little too thick, so I added a little water until it was the right consistency. Salt to taste. It is sooooooooo good! Exactly what I'd been wanting! And, I felt like a champ for rescuing the roux.


Seriously, it is so good that my stomach just growled writing about it, and I have more (yay!), and I'm really excited to have it for dinner tonight. The biscuit recipe made enough biscuits to share, and put a few up in the freezer for another time. When you heat up the gravy, you'll have to thin it a bit again with a little water or milk.

Expect more lovin' from the oven this week as I bought enough groceries on Friday to last me though the winter!

a Hurd versus the herd

Sandra posted a comment the other day mentioning that it was hard to tell a Hurd and the herd apart. So, I thought I'd include some (linked up) visual aids.

a Hurd
the herd

Speaking of a Hurd, you may remember a month or so ago that she asked me why our joint adventures so rarely show up on the blog, while it's "Ellen-Ellen-E-dawg" all the time. And, you may also remember that I replied that it was because so few of our activities are fit for public consumption. This weekend was no exception. Kramer and I were just trying to go about our business and get some groceries (and maybe some Spice Island and a drink or two at Kelly's), but then the Hurd entered the scene, and a very different evening was had by all. And, that's all I'm going to say about that. Except that I was hungover all day on Saturday and missed all my walking and meeting up with the herd, running of errands and changing of oil and going to parties. A Hurd is a bad influence. Just sayin'.

And, Sunday's plans fared no better because our bike escapades were called off due to a weather forecast that included "dreary", "humid" and "scattered showers all afternoon". So, we just went to brunch at Coca instead. Where I enjoyed some Grilled Polenta with Heirloom Tomatoes and Poached Eggs. Yum.

But, I did get in some good quality time with QAF, and have indulged in my first boy-crush in a looooooong time. Brian Kinney (...sigh...) from QAF. He's, like, totally dreamy. I cannot believe that the real life actor who plays him is straight! What the hell? I think I actually want to be Brian more than anything else, but still. Dang. Check out this short video of Brian and Justin that the Hurd sent me. Which also made me realize that there are a LOT of Brian/Justin videos out there. Goody.

...Sigh...

Okay, what? So, cooking or something, right? So, on Saturday I made up a little salad that is similar to several other summer salads I've done in that it's tomatoes, potatoes and some type of bean with a vinaigrette dressing. This one was baby yellow potatoes (that were incredibly creamy and firm and delicious), red, orange and green zebra tomatoes, green beans, onions, torn basil leaves and a simple vinaigrette with:
-lemon juice
-olive oil
-minced shallot
-sea salt and freshly grated pepper
This is a super-easy, super-fresh and super-pretty. See?


I had it with some lovely corn on the cob (although, I have to say that it didn't even come close to the corn from my CSA last week in terms of juicy deliciousness. I mean, it was good, but that other corn was stellar).


Yesterday I took stock of the contents of my kitchen, and whipped up a little casserole. Plus, I'm meeting up with Bobcat/Jess this evening, and had promised to bring another dish for her to review. So, I asked her if there's anything she doesn't like. You know what she said? Sausage. And, I said, don't worry about that; I'm vegetarian. And, then you know what I did? Added veggie sausage (Gimme Lean) into the dish. WTF? I'm an airhead. Also, while the dish is tasty, it's not perfect, and I'd much rather have her taste something great. But, it's probably better to have to taste something that's still at the drawing-board stage than something I already know is good, right? ugh. I woke up in a panic about it when I remembered the stupid sausage. Plus, there are just several things I'd change about the dish (less fennel, more nutmeg, a thicker egg/cheese mixture layer). And, the last thing I gave her to taste was a tarte in which I'd forgotten the cheese. I think I'm doomed.

So, I wrote down the recipe for this, but I think I'm going to keep working on it before I give you that.

But, the layers were:
bottom--potatoes, onion, green pepper
2nd--veggie sausage
3rd--roasted eggplant and garlic
4th--egg/feta
topping--panko with butter and pulverized dried shittakes
I was sorta imagining a veggie moussaka, but I didn't actually have any moussaka recipes on hand, so I just winged it. The egg/cheese layer should have been way thicker. Okay, I think I'm just freaking out about the pressure to perform and NOT picking a winner for that kind of scrutiny. If it were just me eating it, I'd probably be raving about it. Sheesh.