Daring Bakers Challenge #5: Maple Mousse in Edible Cup

The second day of the long weekend was just as marvelous as the first.  Like Friday, it involved copious amounts of relaxation, but since the sun was out, lounging took place on the deck and gardening replaced vacuuming.  Also like Friday, there was really really good food.  It all started with my take on chicken and waffles for the Daring Baker's Challenge.

Herb-Crusted Lamb with Whipped Parsnips

I recently had the pleasure of enjoying a 3-day weekend with absolutely no to-do list.  It was marvelous, the sort of perfect weekend that you dream of, but rarely get to experience without something getting in the way.  It all started with a nice, lazy, drizzly day.  There was coffee with a friend, some errands, lunch at a great new sandwich shop, and then periods of relaxation and doggy-snuggling punctuated by just the right amount house-cleaning to leave me feeling, at the end of the day, that I had managed to perfectly balance being productive and lazy.  And, just when the weather began to look like roasting season was its end, we got a perfect chilly and wet evening for turning on the oven one last time.  We roasted a beautiful piece of lamb, all dressed up in herbs and garlic, and smeared the most delightful blackberry-Malbec sauce on each bite.  We whipped parsnips with the tiniest amount of clove and nutmeg, just enough to elevate them to "fancy."  And at the end of the night, we felt lucky, happy, full, and pretty psyched that it was still only Friday....

Corncakes Rancheros

My goodness I've been terribly absent lately.  It's not because I've been globe-trotting or accepting awards or whatever you probably assumed I was doing.  It's just because the usual stunning DEB meals have not been exciting enough to share with you.  Or have been gulped down too quickly to allow for photos.... It's all coming to an end, though.  There are grocery lists and notes jotted down on various receipt-backs and stuffed into my purse that are waiting to be referenced over the next week.  My planner is once again serving its ultimate purpose as a place for meal-planning, leaving dentist appointments and lunch dates woefully forgotten.  But all in the name of good eats!  

Croquettes

I kind of did something amazing.  It involves butternut squash (go ahead, you can groan), and blue cheese, and some of those fancy vinegars from Blue Sky.  There was one last squash in our pantry, waiting to be used up before we moved on to peas and asparagus and said goodbye until next fall.  I wanted to do something completely different, something to end with a flair this months-long love affair we've had with butternut squash.  So I thought about empanadas, and I thought about mole, and finally I thought about croquettes.  

Hand Pies!

I'm not sure why I've been entranced with the idea of hand pies this month.  It could be that with the busy schedule I like the thought of having something to go from freezer to plate that's homemade and flavorful after a long day of work.  It could be that I just like any excuse to use my killer pie crust.  It could be that I need something appropriately British to match the accent my internal dialogue has picked up since I spent two sick days on the couch watching Downton Abbey.  Or it could be that they're just a really great idea.  A pie you hold in your hand.  A pie you can eat all by yourself without getting funny looks.  A hand pie!

Char Siu Bao and Gai Lan

This was our dim sum dinner a few weeks ago- one of several we've had and probably the best one so far.  We had char siu bao made two ways, umami eggs, and sauteed gai lan, which might be my new favorite kind of greens.  Really the only problem with this meal came at the end, when we were left to suffer a persistent lack of green tea ice cream despite our endless whining about needing some.  

What Didn't Make The Cut

There were a lot of great things cooked over at the Dog Eat Blog house during the last few months, but between bad lighting, busy nights, and sheer laziness, they were never properly documented for you.  And they were good enough that they deserve to be shared.  So I wanted to make a list, with short, quick recipes, of some of the things I delighted in making and eating over the past couple of months.