October 28th, 2009
I’ve had a cold all week and I am utterly tired of it. I’m tired of the sneezing, sniffling and constant headache – I am ready to be over it. In the daze of my cold, I’ve barely had the energy to cook and have been very lucky to have an amazing boyfriend. Have I told you about him? He brings home hot soup and ultra soft tissues when I’m not feeling well. There’s nothing more a girl with a sore throat and sniffly nose could ask for.
October 26th, 2009
My family went to a farm called Emandal growing up. I first went there with my third grade class for an educational camp they put on in the spring. They teach kids about life on a farm – we learned how to milk a cow, plant seeds, gather eggs, hand crank ice cream, etc. I came home incredibly excited about my time on the farm, so we decided to go as a family in the summer. We stayed in rustic cabins, picked raspberries, pickled freshly harvested cucumbers and swam in the nearby river. It’s a memory that is very precious to me.
October 22nd, 2009
I end up eating very random things when I’m home for lunch. It’s never a planned meal, so I’ll end up picking around at everything. A few green olives at 12:23, a slice of bread with cheese at 12:48, a handful of grapes at 1:17, a piece of dark chocolate at 1:32 – it goes on like this for a while. I will just keep snacking away with out ever feeling like it’s maybe a good time to stop. I realized that this might be a problem when I found myself eating stale graham crackers at 2:46 – something I would never crave. I decided that I should make some healthy meals, ready for when I’m lost at lunch time. This is one of those meals and has been an awesome dish to have when 12:30 rolls around.
October 20th, 2009
We’re really getting into fall quickly. Although we don’t get many normal clues in San Francisco like multi colored leaves and morning frost, we do see a dramatic change at the local farmer’s market. Instead of all the berries, peaches and plums we’ve been consuming all summer, there are now unlimited varieties of apples and pears. In exchange for summer squash, we now have a beautiful array of winter squash to choose from. So many varieties in fact, I had never even heard the names of some of them. Hubbard, kuri or turban squash anyone?
October 16th, 2009
It seems like everyone has their go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe. It’s such a coveted thing to have the perfect dough for these incredibly popular cookies. It’s hard to beat chocolate chip. For the longest time I felt so out of the loop. I didn’t have the flawless recipe I was looking for and never quite came up with the cookie I wanted.
October 15th, 2009
We had a storm here on Tuesday. It rained the entire day and was so windy, we didn’t let the cat go outside fearing she would be blown away. We are total weather wimps in San Francisco. For most of the year it’s pretty mild, we get a lot of fog but we don’t get many storms. So when we did have a storm this week, four out of the six people living in our house stayed home. It felt like we were kids and school was cancelled.
October 14th, 2009
We had this whole plan to go camping last weekend. It was going to be our last goodbye to summer where we could catch the last little bit of warm weather in Big Sur. Long story short – we didn’t end up going and we’ve now been quickly plunged into the chilly, foggy weather that fall and winter bring in San Francisco. I have now accepted that summer is gone until next year and it’s time for soup, mittens, hot cider and cozy nights indoors. But last week when I was still expecting to camp along a river in the trees, I thought it would be fun to make marshmallows for s’mores. I had never made marshmallows but love a challenge that ends with something sweet. Turns out home made marshmallows is one of the best things ever. You can make so many different flavors and they taste so much better than the store bought, jet puffed kind. I tried vanilla, chocolate and cinnamon. I am so excited for the holidays now because these will be such a great treat to make as gifts.
October 12th, 2009
I’ve been eating tons of eggplant lately. They’ve been looking so beautiful at the market and I have a hard time resisting beautiful produce. It’s never been something I’ve craved or sought out before, but it has now become a weekly staple. I’ve tried a few different recipes now and although I have loved all of them, this one is my favorite. It’s incredibly simple to throw together and only bakes for thirty minutes. My new beloved variety of eggplant to use is Graffiti Eggplant (also called Sicilian Eggplant). Besides the alluring, striped appearance which attracted me at first, they are also great for baking. These little eggplants have no bitterness and keep their smooth, meaty texture when baked.
October 2nd, 2009
It was chilly this week in San Francisco. The wind started up and people began taking out sweaters and scarves. Of course, typical of this city I am now sitting outside at a cafe and the weather is warm and beautiful. But, two days ago when it was cold and starting to feel like it must be autumn, I wanted something warm, sweet and comforting. Chocolate chip cookies crossed my mind first – as they often do – but I had this beautiful, crusty loaf of bread that was sadly turning stale. The upside to a stale loaf of bread – bread pudding. Bread Pudding is one of the most cozy desserts out there. There’s something about the spiced, custardy bread that makes me want to curl up in front of a fire. Mixing the creamy custard with tart apples sauteed in nutty brown butter and rum soaked raisins pushes it over the top and makes it absolutely dreamy.
