springtime halloween

this is the warmest halloween i can remember.  while i’m not normally a proponent of warm weather past october 15th, it’s nice to have a warm halloween so kids can show off their costumes and not have to cover them up with puffy winter coats.  that was always a huge disappointment for me as a kid.  you get all dressed up and then no one can see what you actually are because you’ve got this giant coat over your costume!  costumed kids were out in in full force in park slope.  walking gracie was actually difficult because there were so many kids blocking the sidewalk.  we saw a lot of superheros and a lot of princesses.  we also stumbled upon a big parade on 7th ave.   i had no idea this was going to happen, but it was cool to witness.  it seemed like almost a mardi gras style marching band with a lot of in synch whooping.  lots of cute costumed kids in strollers (this is park slope, a neighborhood with so many strollers it actually prompted one bartender to write a stroller manifesto) too.  gracie wasn’t a big fan, and had a mini-freak out and we had to walk quickly through the crowd to get to a quieter spot.

the warm weather also made my dinner idea seem very fitting.  this past weekend tp returned the favor and visited me and we trekked around the city visiting some of the nyc’s finest food purveyors.  russ and daughters was one of them and we purchased one too many smoked chubs (i know, who doesn’t buy too many smoked chubs when the opportunity presents itself?).  so tonight i devised a recipe for pasta with smoked fish (sounds better than saying smoked chubs), grape tomatoes, peas, and crispy leeks.  we had roasted golden and candy cane beets from the farmer’s market on the side.  the pasta wasn’t bad–i sauteed/crisped the leeks, then added some sherry and the grape tomatoes.  eventually i added chicken broth, milk, and a dollop of creme fraiche, some pasta water and the peas and fish, and we were done!  i think parmesan or an extra dollop of creme fraiche at the end would have made the dish, but this way we weren’t as hard on our waistlines.   

 

notice the color in the beets in the first photo?  significant difference after being cooked, huh?  aren’t you glad i thought ahead to take a picture pre-cooking?  and isn’t it amazing that the beets just grow that way?

awesomely disgusting

http://www.theyrecoming.com/extras/pumpkinfest03/

ouch

my head hurts.  my headaches seem to cycle in and out of my life, and i think i’m in a cycling in phase.  they’re not migraines or anything that severe, but they’re strong enough to make me whine about it.  not that it takes much to make me whine…

tonight i thought i was going out with work people, but that fell through so i’m cooking.  it’s been an ethnic food kind of week (caribbean and then indian) so i thought we should try for mexican!  i sent a some links from epicurious and was personally leaning towards a quesadilla (no, you don’t really need a recipe for that but whatever.  i’m a recipe kind of girl.  actually, epicurious has some great mexican recipes that are not suitable for weeknight cooking but i’m totally going to take a look soon and maybe make a mole or something very time consuming).  a, predictably, chose this which sounds very yummy to me too so i’m not too sad about nixing the quesadilla idea.  i’ll post pictures once it’s done if it looks pretty.

i’ve been lazy with the knitting, though i’ve started the decreases on my clapotis which means the end is in sight!  my deadline was originally to be next thursday which is when i travel home to visit my moms and pops.  i don’t think i’m going to make the deadline…

part of the reason my knitting is moving slowly (aside from the lazy part that is.  crusty shorts, where are you?  you’d be so proud right now!) is that i’m very into this book i’m reading right now.  on beauty by zadie smith.  lately i’ve been VERY into novels about the intricacies of relationships (family, romantic, or otherwise), and this fits that category perfectly.  in fact, smith says she owes a great deal to e.m. forster for providing a model, which made sooo much sense as soon as i read it.  i had been thinking jane austen but that wasn’t quite right.  for some reason i had resisted reading any of smith’s books, and i had actually picked this up a few months ago and just hadn’t gotten around to reading it until now.  she’s incredibly creative with her descriptions of people and how they look and talk.  now i’ll have to go get white teeth.  for a while i was a little obsessed with alice munro, another good “intricacies of relationships” writer…

argh

i wrote a long post last night, but once i clicked “publish” it was gone!  i was all pissed off and wrote an e-mail to support and refused to write another post.  this morning i woke up and realized that i never titled the post and so it’s probably floating around in cyberspace, all lonely and discombobulated.  poor post! [wordpress found my post!  i added in any interesting parts that weren't included earlier.  check out the calorie restriction link if you missed it earlier]

here is a truncated version of the post.

this weekend i visited tp in washington dc.  we ate way too much food (ethiopian, french, and crabs crabs and more crabs) and had a great time doing it.  she lives in a great neighborhood in dc near the eastern market where we bought some baby red russian kale, cheese and bread.  we also got some great soy lattes poured in a very creative way by the goofy latte boy. the first he poured behind his back.  well, essentially behind his butt, so i generously gave that one to tp.  for mine he made a coworker bend down and he poured the latte from up high.  interestingly, mine wasn’t as pretty as tp’s.

the crabs were probably the highlight of the weekend (other than the lovely tp of course).  we went down to the wharf, which i didn’t even know existed, and found some amazing seafood.  the wharf is a floating dock with a number of seafood vendors selling all sorts of seafood.  great looking shrimp as big as lobster tails, giant red snappers, oysters, clams, and of course, crabs.  we bought live crabs that were then steamed by the guy working there.  as i told tp (i think i was a little obsessed with the notion) a few times, watching them get picked up and thrown in the basket for steaming was as close to the life/death cycle we needed to get.

after that weekend i felt a strong need to restrict my caloric intake.  Not like the crazy Calorie Restriction people in thearticle here (seriously, even if you live longer what kind of life are you living?), but along the lines of looking at cooking light for
recipes rather than epicurious.  last night i made a caribbean pork with plantain dish.  i doubt it was authentic but it was tasty, and tonight i’ll be trying my hand at indian food.

there has been some progress on knitting.  the clapotis is coming along and i’m almost out of yarn again!  the scarf is fine but not really picture-worthy. 

i’m thinking about two new projects: this one and this one (in longer sleeves and yes, i would wear a camisole underneath.  sadly, i couldn’t get away with that much peeking out)

pronunciation

i’m someone who prides themselves on spelling and pronunciation.  for some reason my school never had spelling bees, but if they did i’m certain i would have gone far.  seriously–i can see the words spelled out in my head, and i know all the pronunciation rules.  but for some reason, i consistently mispronounce mascarpone.  is this something everyone does?  until very recently i thought that everyone mispronounced it.  sort of like most people (not me) pronounce jewelry “jewlery.”   a couple weeks ago i bought some mascarpone at blue apron and was deeply shamed by the saleslady.  i couldn’t find the mascarpone in their cheese case, so asked the woman behind the cheese counter, “do you have any marscapone.”  thinking, well, that’s how it’s said.  she pointedly said, “MAScarpone?  yes, here you go.”  so why do i say it the wrong way?  and how does everyone else say it?

all of this is the lead up to a delightfully tasty and very simple dinner i made tonight.  pasta with mascarpone and roasted grape tomatoes.  yes, the recipe was from there again.  what can i say?  i was at work and deciding what to make!  it was so good though and so so easy.  i used campanelle-shaped pasta, which is my second favorite shape next to gemelli.  and i didn’t cut the grape tomatoes in half, just roasted them whole.  broccoli rabe on the side with garlic, olive oil, and a little chicken broth.  all in all simple and satisfying. 

 except–broccoli rabe.  rapini. whatever you call it.  i love it in restaurants, but i can never seem to get rid of the overwhelming bitterness at home.  i know, it’s a bitter green so should retain some bittnerness.  but not too much, right?  so i blanch it like they tell you to, and then saute, but it still seems too bitter.  any hints?

whew

i finished two very time consuming work projects today.  i can’t believe how relieved i am to not have to think about those projects, to not have to open up the laptop tonight and continue working, and to be able to sit on the couch and knit and relax.

during the past few days i didn’t do much cooking of note, but over the weekend i made a lovely cassoulet.  i know, i need to get recipes from other sources.  everyone else who is tired of me linking to epicurious raise your hands.  while i love epicurious, and i use it so frequently because i often decide what to make for dinner while at work (they have the internet at work, but they don’t have my cookbooks), i would love to start mining my cookbook stash for dinner ideas.  anyway, i made the lovely cassoulet.  instead of a smoked sausage i used a duck sausage.  smoked sausage sort of makes me feel yucky, and adding duck sausage to a dish that traditionally calls for duck confit seemed fitting to me.  i’m getting a bit tired of these slow cooked dishes though, and am looking forward to a fresh-tasting pasta dish tomorrow.  not sure what it will be, but most like the recipe will come from epicurious.  old habits die hard…

in other news, we are being besieged by mosquitoes.  and not just cause it’s warmed up today.  we’ve been besieged for weeks now!  each night before bed a goes mosquito hunting with gracie’s stuffed ball toys.  he’s quite good actually, and with fairly good accuracy hits resting mosquitoes on the ceiling regularly.  what’s weird is that it’s october and we’ve got a mosquito problem!  any ideas?

aptly named

the change in seasons prompted me to pull out the bins storing the winter clothes and begin the closet changeover.  daunting, but also fun because suddenly i get a whole new wardrobe.  i also re-discovered a fair amount of scarves and hats that i made for myself over the past couple years.  this led to two conclusions: 1) it’s time to branch out with my knitting, and 2) my blog is aptly named.  see for yourself:

the last hat at least doesn’t have a flower, though the ribbon helps make up for the lack of girliness.  i’m actually very fond of all these items and plan to wear them throughout the winter.  and i’ll finish my blue “vintage” scarf, slap a flower on that and wear it too.  

rubbing elbows

on rare occasions i get the opportunity to rub elbows with political mucky mucks because i’ll get an extra ticket at work.  last night was one of those occasions.  an eliot spitzer event.  while i enjoy being surrounded by liberal politicians (eliot spitzer was cool and a very easygoing speaker actually, but bill clinton at the last event i went too was by far the best), sometimes even more enjoyable are the venues and the occasional celebrity.  last night’s event was at a great townhouse in the west village.  we were crowded into this great giant library–wood paneled, books and awards everywhere.  and, edie falco was there!  yep.  carmela soprano.  she looked decidedly un-soprano-like–not a speck of gold on her. 

lest i seem too shallow, only two more days to register to vote for the nov. 7th election!

faux puttanesca

i had grand dinner plans for myself tonight.  i was going to stop at the store on the way home, pick up some ingredients for puttanesca sauce, and then come home and, you know, make the puttanesca.  sadly, work got in the way.  when i was interviewing for the job they told me i’d be working long hours.  i think the actual words were, “are you prepared to never see your significant other?”  luckily, that hasn’t been the case until now.  by the time i got out of work and off the subway i had no time to stop at the store, considering i had an anxious puppy at home.  so i improvised (and strengthened my resolve not to order out) and concocted an ersatz puttanesca.  started with bacon, added garlic and onions, then tomato paste, wine, and broth for the sauce, added capers and some of that joe’s dairy mozzarella and served it over spaghetti squash.  ok, so the only thing remotely related to puttanesca here were the capers and the tomato paste, but the flavor was still quite tasty.  i realize the sauce combo sounds pretty disgusto, but it really wasn’t.

fall food and vintage knitting

so, my columbus day weekend was filled with cooking, knitting, the zoo, and a new yorker festival reading (t.c. boyle and andrea lee.  t.c. boyle was an amazing reader and i’m definitely going to be reading more of his work soon.  andrea lee was jetlagged, so i’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt and leave it at that). 

aside from the orange cauliflower soup mentioned earlier, i made butternut squash lasagna.  i’d made this recipe back in a’s vegan days (adapting it, of course) and was very excited to make it in it’s full dairy version.  it did not disappoint, mainly for two reasons: homemade pasta, and joe’s dairy fresh mozzarella. 

first, the pasta.  i decided to make a food processor pasta dough because, as it’s been thoroughly discussed in comments on this blog, i’m a slacker.  it was loads easier than hand kneading, and the results were great.  i have an atlas pasta maker and it works great and rolling out the dough through the press is a very satisfying process.  also very exciting (for me) was adding fresh sage leaves to the pasta as i rolled it out so the leaves were actually pressed into the pasta.  i’m not sure if it made any actual difference in the taste of the overall dish, but the concept was very appealing.  i think i’ll do that next time i make ravioli–imagine each ravioli with a sage leaf centered on it!

on to the mozzarella.  i’m a giant cheese fan, and fresh mozzarella is a favorite.  mild, milky, spongy, versatile.  i’ve been using the fresh mozzarella from russo’s or from blue apron, and they’ve both been entirely serviceable.  this weekend i picked up some joe’s dairy mozzarella from union market and i was amazed at the difference.  milky, creamy, dense, and just delicious. 

on the knitting front, the clapotis is on hold until more yarn arrives.  i’ve been working on a scarf for myself with that blue manos yarn i got at purl.  i’m doing the whole thing in a vertical drop stitch which i’ve decided gives it a vintage look.  maybe i don’t really know what vintage is, but i’m still saying it’s vintage.

can you tell i’m still having a hard time with the pictures?  either too small or too big?  i think i’m finally figuring it out…