Mustard and Apricot Salmon

Aaaahhhh, beer!

There are lots of reasons to have a beer at 2 in the afternoon.....

Spaghetti Squash, Chestnuts, and Sausage

This meal was like a big plate of autumn. Which is good, because until it all came together, I was worried it might be a big plate of fail. Sometimes my culinary instincts aren't right on point, and I ignore the cautionary voice in my head and power through anyway.  (This mostly affects my baking, resulting in lumpy icing and dry bread, which I never know how to rescue.)

Saga Jolokia: Chapter 1- Apple Jolokia Chemical Bomb

If you like spicy, I mean really really like really spicy... then you'll love the Naga (or bhut) jolokia- sometimes called the ghost pepper.  It is unrivaled in Scoville units (nearly 1 million, which is 2-3 times a habanero's level) AND has great flavor. In both sauces and fresh (on pizza, sandwiches, etc.) it gives a slowly warming heat, with a bright flavor.  I could probably describe the flavor better if I had a chance to focus on it- usually I'm marveling at how my face sweats when I so much as look in its direction.  In fact, I think I'm starting to sweat just thinking about the pepper....

Turnips for Supper

Photograph: Wataru Yanagida/Getty

Okay, I know what you're thinking.  This is not only a really boring, but quite possibly icky-tasting idea.  This is one of those meals that I love having for dinner, but that E (and probably a lot of other people) considers just a side.  I am not the biggest turnip fan, but I think adding a little garlic and crunchy pecans into the mix fixes what can sometimes be a kind of watery, why-isn't-this-as-tasty-as-other-root-vegetables kind of dish.  By the way, I'd love an alternative method for cooking turnips.  I have no idea what else to do with them, so if you have ideas, please share!

Christmas Curry

In the summer of 2009, The Boog systematically destroyed my hopes for a crop of home-grown vegetables and herbs by digging up whatever I planted.  Had I planted a shoe-tree or a bacon-bush, she no doubt would have pitched in with the watering and weeding.  Seeing no real benefit for herself by allowing Green Intruders to occupy what were otherwise perfectly decent Digging Spots and Future Mud Holes, Boog promptly removed the gorgeous basil, peppers, and tomatoes I had managed to nurse into adulthood. Mind you, I was the idiot who figured that we might as well start a garden in the spot Boog dug up, because there was already a hole. It wasn't "a" hole, it was "Boog's hole," and she was not interested in sharing.

Unlike our dogs, E and I are easily trained.  We learned that if we were going to grow anything, it would have to be well-protected from our nefarious beasts. Thus the construction of a simple chicken-wire fence around our garden last spring, and an ensuing feeling that we were officially Gardeners.  I mean, it's nothing to go bragging about, being the result of 4th-grade-level engineering and $20 worth of supplies from the hardware store.  But it did its job...for 4 months.  

First Galette- a success story

I love the change of seasons, but especially the beginning of fall.  Fall is my favorite time of year for so many reasons- all the ones you're thinking of, I'm sure.  Who doesn't it love it when the weather demands that you snuggle up on your dog bed with a pillow and a blanket?

 But food-wise, fall is my favorite time.  I mean spring's great with all the peas and asparagus and whatever else, and summer has the corn and tomatoes and general healthy bounty, but I really could eat roasted vegetables every day of the week, and they're at their best in autumn.  The fall and winter squashes beat the heck out of summer squash (don't even get me started), and then there's sweet potatoes, parsnips, turnips... Couple this with the fact that your neck and butt no longer sweat just from chopping onions in the kitchen while the oven preheats, and the sudden perfect pairing of heavy, dark beers with the crisp evening air and you have one happy girl.

Ottolenghi

Goodness, 2 whole months between my first and second posts.... must have been all that thesis writing that kept me so busy.  Okay, it wasn't thesis writing.  It was general slacking-off, combined with many nights of successful culinary ventures that will be blogged about in short time. But until then, I found a new source for food ideas that I had to share.

When I think of London, exciting, fresh, vegetarian food is very far from my mind.  I think about fog and rain and how despite the fact that they all speak my language, it seems such a very large city that I am pretty sure I'll always be too terrified to check it out.  (Mind you, this is all based on reading the entire collection of Sherlock Holmes mysteries and falling prey to the stereotypes I see on TV....)  And food-wise?  Well, bangers, fish and chips, cottage pie, delicious beer... but not fresh and tasty, light and healthy.  And then I read about Ottolenghi.  He has some really neat ideas about how to put food together, and which foods to put together, and basically just makes for some fun food reading.  Plus, you get to read it with a British accent.

http://www.ottolenghi.co.uk/