Holiday Cake

Right now, Bones is in the hospital, awaiting an ultrasound of his liver, to figure out why he was sick and acting strangely yesterday. I am anything but relaxed. However, I've been meaning to write this post for ages, so I'm going to do it anyway.

*****

Terri's Jewish Apple Cake Recipe



A long time ago, when I was in the later years of elementary school, my mom bought a home and school produced cook book from one of my younger cousins. You know the kind, with recipes contributed by kids' moms, spiral bound, and with some student art on the cover. At some point, my mom started making this recipe for Jewish Apple Cake. It was (and is) really good.



Sixteen years ago today, CPM and I had our first date (heh, did not realize that until just this minute). You know how in the first blush of a relationship, you go over all the reasons that you are "meant" to be with this person? I claim this cake as one of them. The recipe, you see, was CPM's mom's contribution to the elementary school cook book. (He and my cousin had attended the same elementary school.)

I can sort of recall the moment that I realized this...I was standing in my mom's kitchen, and somehow the topic of the cake came up. I pulled out the cookbook, looked at his mother's name next to the recipe, and it smacked me in the face, that my family had been eating and enjoying this cake of his mom's for years before I ever met CPM. If that isn't destiny talking, I'm not sure what it was.

I make the cake every year at Christmas. While CPM and I don't actually observe the holiday, preferring instead to eat Thai food and watch bad TV or a movie, some things are sacred, like the annual cookie baking. This cake is one of those things. It's easy to bake, and is quite amazing tasting. Make it. You won't be sorry.

I keep the recipe on the same piece of spiral notebook paper that I copied it onto. The paper is stained, and crinkled, from being used so many times.

Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
1 TBSP cinammon
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
4 cups flour
4 TSP baking powder
1 TSP salt
1 cup orange juice
1 cup oil
4 large applies, peeled, cored and sliced thinly

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine 3/4 cup sugar with 1 TBSP cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside. Grease and flour a tube cake pan.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream eggs and sugar. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the apples, and mix well. The batter will be very thick.

Add 1/2 of the batter to the prepared cake pan. Add apples and 2/3 of the sugar mixture, gently smooshing apples into the cake batter. Add the remaining batter, covering the apples evenly. Sprinkle the batter with the remaining sugar. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remove cake from oven, cool on wire rack.

Getting this thing out of the pan can be a challenge. I normally loosen it with a cake spatula, put a plate on top of the cake (it will have risen over the top of the cake pan), flip the cake out of the pan, then put a plate on the bottom of the cake, and flip it back over. You will get cinnamon sugar all over yourself and the floor, but this is the only way to get it out.

Eat and enjoy. (Sorry for the crap photos, I've been using my iPhone for everything lately. My poor DSLR sits lonely in a basket in the foyer of the house. I think I need an EyeFi card for it.)

Miscellany

At the vet...Bones says, "Get me out of here."


The following list is in no particular order and the photo above has nothing to do with anything. Bones is just awesome.

-My holiday shopping is done. I cannot wait for the day when all of my various nieces and nephews are old enough to be okay receiving a gift card or cash. I'm half way there. I firmly believe that the ones who still believe in Santa deserve to open up some annoying toy from me. Hence, Amazon, Target and "the mall" have all received hefty infusions of cash from me. Bleh. Thankfully, the mall was eerily empty on both of my visits. As usual, there is not one decoration chez moi. I will however, probably be baking cookies this weekend. I still maintain some vestiges of holiday cheer, even if they are not present in the other half.

-Four weekends, four seasons of Breaking Bad down. Am I late to the party? A little. The spouse and I prefer to watch television this way, obsessively staying up too late to cram in just one more episode. It is everything that Dexter used to be...engaging, thought provoking, frustrating, maddening. Good television.

-My new favorite supermarket is the Whole Foods in Plymouth Meeting. I may just be purposely scheduling my shopping trips to lunchtime so that I can eat the pizza from their brick oven. It is awesome! They have beer! And a taco truck! They will make you a burger and fries!

-Ate at Distrito, discovered that there is a reason Jose Garces is an Iron Chef. Great food, fun atmosphere, and a crane game where CPM and I almost won a Mexican wrestling mask. Still, I think I prefer Cantina Feliz, for locational convenience and familiarity.

I was thankful for my stretchy waist yoga pants.

For the seventh consecutive year, the spouse and I spent Thanksgiving with some of my favorite people. I think that it all started because we were all vegetarians who felt left out of our family's traditional celebrations, who just couldn't stomach another year of eating the gross frozen corn and fielding the "what does a vegetarian eat/don't you miss meat" questions. There is also the whole "avoiding the family drama" element that is a wonderful side effect of this tradition. Thus, Thanksgiving has become one of my most highly anticipated holidays.

Recently, the spouse and I have moved into the realm of eating fish. The spouse has gone a step further, and introduced sustainably sourced meat and poultry to his diet. Thus, Jaime decided to add an actual turkey breast to the menu. This does not upset me. I have never been a big fan of the "protein" part of Thanksgiving, so I didn't miss having the Quorn roast substitute (which recently has decided to disagree with me my digestive system, blah). I was always fond of the big plate o'sides, albeit freshly made sides.

Sometimes, in the days leading up to Thanksgiving, I get discouraged...I don't want to make pie crust from scratch, I don't want to chop apples, blah blah blah. But then I do it, and it's easy, and I'm eating tasty food that was made with love.

My contributions to this year's menu:
Green Bean Casserole (I subbed Trader Joe's Fried Onions, and loved it.)

Smoky Brussel Sprout Gratin from the December 2011 issue of Martha Stewart Living

Bourbon Cranberry Sauce (Ridiculously easy, ridiculously delicious.)

Creamy Mashed Cauliflower (Roast the garlic, it's better this way. Also, I probably didn't need to make this, as we had too much food.)

Pumpkin pie (unknown internet recipe). I always use the pie crust recipe from my Cuisinart food processor.

Apple pie. Once again, my own crust recipe.

The spread.


My (first) plate (yes, I ate two whole plates of food).


I ate so much food this time that I had to change into yoga pants when I got home, and then take the dogs for a long walk in an attempt to burn some calories. I think it took me two whole days to fully digest everything. Thanksgiving Success!

No Chili Peppers?

I made this chili for dinner last night. I will now publicly declare that I love this chili so much that I will marry it. Of course, I never follow a recipe exactly, so here's what I changed:

1. Instead of using fresh serrano peppers, I chopped a can of chili peppers in adobo sauce. This added a lot of spice, but we like our food spicy. Thanks, Whole Foods, for this. I'm not sure I understand how a store can sell every odd vegetable out there, but not have one type of chile pepper available for purchase in the produce section, not even the lowly jalapeno. (Yes, I asked. They had none.) However, I will continue to use the canned peppers, because I loved the flavor of the chili with them.

2. Instead of fresh tomatoes, I used one can of diced tomatoes with green chiles, and one can of diced tomatoes. Tomatoes are out of season here, and I refuse to purchase the crappy ones that can be used as tennis balls. (I will however buy Kumatos. I love those things. They are an oddly tasty engineered version of the tomato.)

3. I omitted the tomato sauce and the additional water/broth, as I did not want my chili to become soup.

I served it with nonfat Greek yogurt (instead of sour cream) and some grated cheddar. On my side of the table, I crunched up some tortilla chips on top and made myself a "frito pie." This one is a keeper.

Cooking Some Stuff

I finally got around to making this Pumpkin Cranberry Bread. I have had it bookmarked for a while, and then added it to my Pinterest desserts board when I started cleaning out the million food bookmarks that I had emailed to myself over the years. (Side note: Pinterest = Awesome). My only modification was to skip the nuts. I hate nuts in baked goods. I simply added extra cranberries. Thus was born my favorite quick bread, ever. Ever. This shit is good.



The spouse has been doing this minimal carbs thing for several months now. I've been doing my best to accommodate his diet, and he's been really successful (lost +50 lbs thus far). At first, it was difficult, as I would frequently resort to pasta for dinner on a weeknight because it was so quick and easy. Now, I just resort to soups and salads. (When I want pasta, I make him spaghetti squash, and I measure out and prepare my portion of pasta. This is an easy compromise.) Occasionally, I go a little crazy, as I did yesterday, and make a full meal. I made crab cakes for the first time. I'm not linking to the recipe that I used, because I'm not satisfied that they were as awesome as they could have been. They were simply tasty, but I didn't want extra. I made mashed cauliflower (skipped the scallions because I hate them, and next time I will roast the garlic before adding it--raw was a little too much bite). I also caramelized some red onions and threw them on some baby arugula with goat cheese and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. That was really good. Onions plus lettuce plus cheese plus vinegar equals delicious.

Impatiently Tapping My Foot

...in anticipation of the "real" spring weather. I know, I know, in two weeks, we (meaning you crazy people who dislike the heat) will all be bitching that we skipped spring and jumped right into the sticky humidity. Such is life on the east coast. Still, I'm eagerly awaiting 70 degree days and 50 degree nights, even if they only last for a day or two.

This weekend, it felt like CPM and I were on vacation. We did a lot of work around the house, but still managed to eat out more than we would normally on your "average" weekend. First, CPM took me to breakfast on Saturday morning. He owed me one. The weekend prior, he had passed a late night comment about "going to breakfast in the morning." Then we woke up and when I asked what we were doing, he told me to cook. Man, that really ticked me off! You know how you fall asleep anticipating your next meal? (What? Is that only me?) Well, to wake up and find out that I wasn't getting fancy coffee and treats was super irritating. Especially since Mr. Spouse happily snoozed away while I prepped the pancakes and tempeh bacon. Arg! So, to correct his mistake, on Saturday, he took me to Green Eggs Cafe in Northern Liberties. This was our second visit. (It has easily become one of our top five breakfast spots.) We always strategize our breakfast order...we both get a savory dish, and then we split a sweet as "dessert." This order: Veggie Benedict, Egg White Omelet with Mushrooms and Tomatoes, and Sticky Bun French Toast.



We did a whole bunch of stuff on Saturday (me: cleaning and food shopping, him, electrical work), then he took me to dinner. Trust me, this is only normal when we have house guests or are on vacation, I never expect two "out" meals in one day. Nevertheless, we found ourselves at Gunner's Run early on Saturday evening. Me: Vegan Sloppy Joes. Him: Panko Fried Cod. Verdict: Delicious. Secondary Verdict: Will be stealing pickle recipe. They are AMAZING.





On Sunday, I cooked breakfast. Just threw together some eggs benedict. You, know, eggs benedict is so quick and easy, I don't know why I don't make it every day. Actually, I really wanted to try out my new poachpods. I've tried the normal egg poaching methods, the whirlpool, the vinegar in the water, etc. My poached eggs still ended up looking like snot. These poachpod things are great! Just lube them up a touch, crack the eggs into the pods, float them in boiling water, cover, and five minutes later you have perfectly poached eggs.





We also have a new Sunday tradition. It's called "Pizza Sunday." Yes, we go out for pizza on Sunday night (or we have for the last five Sundays in a row, at least). We've been frequenting Pizzeria Stella. The pizza there is fantastic, if a little bit pricey. I'm not sure how long pizza Sunday will last...it's the one day of the week where I don't feel rushed to prep a meal, so I normally enjoy cooking. Pizza Sunday might just become Pizza Tuesday. Which would be a nice predecessor to Thai Wednesday. (What, you don't do Thai Wednesday?)

I've Decided...

I'm having a nervous breakdown. Seriously. Life just continues with its wacky loops. Eh. There is not enough wine in the world to help me cope. I've been living with random moments of panic, and then fleeting bits of contentment. Life is weird.

***

It's been a while since I've done anything even remotely crafty. Lack of mojo, I suppose, is the culprit. Since I've tossed most of my self made clothing into the "cut into scraps for a quilt" pile (that's what inevitably happens when you make stuff from quilting cotton), I've avoided my sewing room, only entering to iron various pieces of clothing and put food in my cat's bowl. So, it was time to "do something." Enter chutney.

Ever since I took that preserving class taught by Marisa McClellan, I've wanted to try to do some preserving on my own. Armed with the recipe from the class, I assembled all of the tools that I needed. Lest you think it is easy to come upon canning supplies in 2010, let me assure you that the opposite is the case.

First, I tried a trip to a local Walmart. I hate Walmart, but really, you would expect them to carry this sort of thing. They had nothing. I then tried a small, local hardware store. Apparently, small, local hardware stores aren't open on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. (This is why Home Depot and Lowes win...the convenience factor). Hence, I was forced to use Amazon to gather my tools: jar lifter, canning rack, lid magnet, wide mouth funnel. Despite having a Prime membership, FedEx decided to never deliver the order to me, and I was delayed an additional week while Amazon shipped replacement tools.

I then discover that the canning rack that I ordered is four inches bigger than my largest pot, so I was forced to buy a 20 quart stock pot. On Friday night, I made my husband schlep me around to three different stores to be sure I was getting "a deal." I refused to pay that much for a pot that I would use only a few times. In the end, I did spend more than I wanted to, and now I have a pot that is so large, I could cook myself in it.

Finally. I made a trip to the farmer's market on Saturday morning and grabbed some rhubarb and a few apples. I chopped, mixed, boiled, and voila. Chutney.





Lessons learned:

-20 quarts of water takes a LONG time to come to a rolling boil.
-Making chutney requires a lot of vinegar. The house will smell like vinegar for days after the chutney is done. It's actually kind of gross, and worries me for when I eventually make pickles.
-The canning rack that I bought on Amazon is a piece of crap, as it rusted immediately. WTF.

Next up in my preserving journey: a trip to Linvilla Orchards this Friday, picking some berries, and making some jam!

As the sausage turns.

I went to the Piazza farmer's market today with Jaime and her daughter, Abby. While I only bought strawberries and radishes (huge radishes!), I was glad to get out of the house and away from the four footed mongrels that torment my existence if I so much as sit still for even a moment. Yes, Squirt, you are cute, but you torture me with your constant need to be chasing the ball.

Who me?


Thanks to the purveyor's of the Renaissance Sausage truck for keeping it real for the vegetarians of the world. I give you the veggie sausage sandwich. Delicious.





As it is a holiday weekend, I have a feeling that the Piazza farmer's market was sparsely populated by vendors. Thus, we headed to the Headhouse farmer's market to see who else was about. The answer: no one. Except for the Buttercream cupcake truck. Yes, I made a meal off of food trucks today. I haven't done that since college. The Turtle cupcake that I ate was awesome: vanilla cupcake with caramel frosting topped with pecans and chocolate ganache. You would see a picture below, except I ate the cupcake too quickly. Hence, you can gaze in wonder at the cupcake offerings.



For the record, my husband says I am obsessed with the idea of food trucks. And why not? What other venue gives you such flexibility of location and low overhead? It forces you to keep your menu limited to what you know you do well! I think Gordon Ramsay would approve of the many gourmet/specialty food trucks that have been cropping up of late. I know these two have my wholehearted support.

Food Boner

CPM and I used to travel to King of Prussia mall just to eat at Bertolini's, an italian restaurant that closed about a year ago. CPM loved the dish they called Fazzoletto. They even took it off the menu for a time, but he was so desperate, that he spoke to the manager, and was told to call ahead before we got there, and they would make it up for him as a special. That was some pretty good service for a semi-chain restaurant in a mall.

For some reason, I decided to attempt to recreate the dish today. I wanted to blog about it so I have a record of my recipe. CPM devoured his entire serving and half of mine, which is exactly what he would do at the restaurant, so I think I got it right! Fazzoletto as served at Bertolini's was sheets of pasta, topped with a spinach and ricotta mixture, with a mushroom gravy over top. I actually found an article from a Las Vegas paper online that sort of had the recipe, but mostly I had to wing it. Here is what I did...

Ingredients
11 oz fresh baby spinach
EVOO for saute of spinach
8 oz sliced baby portabellas
4 oz sliced mixed wild mushrooms
2 regular portabellas, chopped
8 oz mushroom broth
1 small container whole milk ricotta
2 cups whole milk, brought just to a boil
4 (2 for mushroom sauce, 2 for bechamel) tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
salt, pepper, nutmeg, thyme
pasta sheets, about 2 per person, 5 inches wide by 12 inches long (I got mine at Whole Foods in the fresh pasta section, it came in a 9 oz. container)

1. Saute the baby spinach in the EVOO until wilted.
2. Mix the spinach with the ricotta in a large bowl, adding some salt and pepper for flavor. Set aside.
3. Make a bechamel. I used this recipe, except I halved it: I melted 2 tbsp. of butter, then added 2 tbsp of flour, and whisked it until smooth. Once it turned the "toasty" color, I added the 2 cups of almost boiling milk, and whisked it constantly for 10 minutes. Once done, I put in 1 tsp. of salt and a dash of nutmeg.
4. Mix the ricotta/spinach into the bechamel. Set aside.
5. Turn on the pasta water at this point. The spinach/bechamel/ricotta mix can sit while you do the rest.
6. Melt 2 tbsp butter in a small saucepan. Add all of the mushrooms. Stir around. Add some salt and pepper. I also threw in some thyme. Let this saute for a few minutes.
7. After a few minutes, add the mushroom broth to the mushrooms. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and let simmer for 10 minutes.
8. After 10 minutes, scoop about half the mushrooms out, and puree the remaining mixture using a stick blender (or use your regular blender). Add the mushrooms back. This is your mushroom sauce.
9. Put your pasta in the now boiling water and cook according the package directions.

To serve, I put one sheet of pasta in a dish, and folded it around several scoops of the cheese/bechamel sauce. Over top of this, I put a ladel of the mushroom gravy. Top with parmiggiano reggiano cheese.

Voila.

Things I won't do again.

1. Sew this McCall's pattern. I'm trashing it. Maybe it was the $1 a yard knit that I used, or maybe it's just heinous. I tried to do the version that is shown in red. Ugh. It came out super horrible, like it was a reject from a Wham video costume designer.


2. Drink the beverage known as the three R's at Farmicia. It supposedly contained Root Liquor, Rye, Ginger Ale, and was served over rocks in a glass with fruit. I was expecting a little rocks glass drink. Nope, it came in a giant coke glass. I finished it. I do not remember the ride home from the restaurant. Apparently I told my husband that he was not a nice person. I also could barely taste the Root part, which was the appealing part of the beverage when I read the description. I'll have to get a bottle to try in other ways.

3. Eat too much spinach. I am a mostly vegetarian gal. Thus, I live on mostly vegetables. You know what sucks? When vegetables make you feel like you are going to puke. Some fruits do this to me too. Currently on my list: zucchini, yellow squash, cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon. I had to add spinach last night. I put it on a sandwich (with some veggie chicken, garlic, tomatoes and provolone) and was rudely awakened around midnight with a need to lay on the bathroom floor and feel like I was going to die. This has happened before with spinach, I was just in denial.

Houseguests = Weight Loss Challenge Fail

I'm pretty sure that I ate out for almost every dinner last week. That's what happens when CPM and I have house guests. I get all excited, and intend to cook lavish meals, and then the spouse decides that we have to visit various local eateries to showcase the cuisine of the greater Philadelphia area.

Restaurants visited during the course of the week:

Farmicia
White Elephant
Ooka
Cantina los Caballitos
Cantina dos Segundos
Philly Soft Pretzel Factory

Yep, just doing our part to keep the local economy afloat.

CPM is away for work this week. I have several dates with Lean Cuisine, Smart Ones, and Billy Banks' Full Body Blast!

See? Pictures, as promised.

Firstly, eat brunch at Farmicia. You will be glad that you did.

Tofu Scramble with Vegan Chorizo


Eggs Benedict with Veggie Sausage


Eggs Benedict with Smoked Salmon


Then, come back to my place and eat some cake. The gladness will continue.


This dog certainly wishes he could have some cake. Alas, Ollie, you may not have chocolate lest you die. You may only look and drool.

Xmas Eve Equals Quiche

For a few years early in our relationship, CPM and I would spend Xmas eve with his side of the family. His aunt always made quiche. Now, we practice a form of "pretend Xmas is not happening" while together, and I give gifts to our nieces and nephews who are still too young to understand our form of Scroogedom. I still miss the Xmas eve quiche.

Thus, this past Xmas eve, I was searching the interwebz for a quiche recipe. I wanted it to be cheesy and mushroomy. I found a couple that looked promising, then decided to just wing it. Did I take a picture of the finished product? Nope. Because we didn't get to eat the darn quiche on Xmas eve. My beloved spouse is frequently called to perform "emergency heating service calls." Which means he got home too late, and I was already gone to celebrate Xmas with my side of the family. The finished quiche sat in the fridge for 3 days until we had a chance to eat it. It was still terrific. Here's what I did.

Ingredients:
1 pie crust (I make my own, feel free to use a refrigerated version)
2 8oz packages of mushrooms, sliced (wild, portabella, whatever)
Some oil of some kind to saute stuff in
1 medium onion, diced
1 package of tempeh bacon, chopped
1 10oz package of frozen spinach, thawed in microwave
4 oz goat cheese
5 eggs
1/4 cup half and half
3/4 cup greek yogurt
A sprinkle of parmigiano regianno/romano/some other stinky cheese
salt/pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place pie crust in deep dish pie pan. Crimp edges, then refrigerate crust while you cook up the rest of the ingredients.

Saute mushrooms, onions, and tempeh bacon in a pan until the mushrooms have become soft. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Thaw the spinach in the microwave and squeeze the water out.

In a big bowl, whisk together the eggs, half and half, and greek yogurt. This mixture will have a thick, custardy texture.

Get the pie crust from the fridge. Dump the mushroom/bacon/onion mixture in the bottom of the pie pan.

Spread the goat cheese over this layer.

Spread the spinach over the goat cheese.

Pour the egg mixture over everything.

Sprinkle the stinky cheese of your choice on the top.

Bake uncovered in the oven for 40 minutes or until the egg has set.

I can attest that this lasted really well in the fridge for several days. To reheat, I put it in a 350 degree oven for an hour. I served it with mashed sweet potatoes.

I suppose...

I should be writing about how awesome our Thanksgiving was. It was. We ate with our close friends. The only bad side: their lovely lovely lovely little girl is afraid of CPM and refused to sit at the table with him. Thus, she spent Thanksgiving picnicking in their living room. I admit, he does look a little scary right now, all unshaven and sporting his long hair. Still, I'm hoping she outgrows this by next year, because it bums me out that our friends can't have a special holiday meal with their daughter.

Lovely table setting.


I should also be writing about our post-Thanksgiving trip to Toronto, where we met up with another set of close friends and their 2 year old son. I took maybe 6 pictures the entire weekend, because we spent most of the time walking the city. I walked holes into 3 pair of socks, and practically broke my feet, because I am an old lady, and my orthotics are not as great as they should be. It was cold, and we saw the sun only a few moments on both days that we were there. But we ate incredible food, including some delicious chocolates. We learned about Yo Gabba Gabba from a baby who spoke french, spanish, and very little english. I bought a cool necklace made by this Canadian jewelry person. It was a good weekend.

My recommended food establishments:

Strong Hearts Cafe, Syracuse, NY


The above is the only food related photo that I took on the entire trip, and it doesn't even feature food. Trust me, though, the food was worth the four hour drive. It was exactly what I needed half-way through the 8 hour drive to Toronto (which stretched to 10 hours after a long ass border crossing wait). I actually looked forward to stopping here on the way home.

In Toronto, we enjoyed:


Fressen, Toronto. Delicious fancy vegan food. Make reservations to ensure you get a table.

Fresh Restaurant (we ate breakfast at the Spadina location). Tasty quick vegan breakfast. The pancakes were a little blah, but the tofu scramble was tasty, as was the vegan sausage.

Harvey's Harvey's gets its own paragraph.

Harvey's is a fast food chain, like McDonald's (except better), and is only found in Canada (that I know of). Harvey's makes the most incredible veggie burger that I have ever tasted. They also custom build the burger to your specifications. Finally, the menu features poutine, perhaps the most delicious junk food item to ever be invented (fries + cheese + brown gravy = awesome). On every trip to Canada, I must have Harvey's. On this trip, we saved up our Harvey's visit for Sunday night dinner (oooh fancy). We walked (a really long way in the cold rain) to where we thought there was a Harvey's, and found no Harvey's. Oops. We then hopped on the closest subway to head to the Union Station Harvey's (which I knew existed because I had mapped it as closest location to my hotel...yes, I am insane). We get off at Union Station, and still couldn't find the place. We wandered around a bit, and finally had to ask a security guard for directions...turns out Harvey's was right above us, in the actual station waiting area. Good lord. When I finally bit into that burger, even though they forgot my cheese, it was still the greatest meal I had ever eaten.
Note to American fast food restaurants: why haven't you sent your spies to Harvey's and stolen their veggie burger recipe? I mean, I'm glad, for my diet's sake, that there isn't a Harvey's within a reasonable driving distance of me, but still, it would be nice to be able to tempt myself with the occasional poutine purchase...

In progress...Butterick 4790

I'm breaking my usual rule. If a pattern features a drawing on the cover, and not an actual human, I normally don't even attempt it. I don't trust that the finished product will actually look good on a human. But I was intrigued by Butterick 4790 after I saw this post on the Sew Retro blog.

You must understand how enthused I was about making this dress. (I don't actually know what came over me, I never get that focused about a project.) I had to go out and buy the pattern on Friday night after dinner so that I could have instant gratification. I couldn't order it and wait. I also luckily had exactly the right amount of fabric in my stash: a king sized Gaspa sheet from Ikea. When I got home from dinner/shopping on Friday, and my husband went to bed (at 7:30pm, go party animal!), I spent the next two hours cutting the pattern and fabric and pinning the darts.

On Saturday morning, I resisted the call of the sewing room in favor of working out and cleaning. Once the chores were out of the way, I allowed myself to be sucked into the sewing...fast forward several hours of sewing and hem pinning (mostly hem pinning, there really is a lot of hem to this dress). I should have been planning and cooking dinner during the latter portion of my sewing time, but I allowed myself to be convinced by my husband that going out to eat was the right choice, because it maximized my sewing time. When we got back from dinner, I sat on the couch for two hours and hand sewed the massive hem on the rear wrap portion while we caught up on our "programs." (I love our DVR.) This dress is a serious committment! I was then able to finish all of the bias bindings before hitting the sack.

So, I have no progress photo. I have to sew on a few snaps, a few buttons, and finally put it on. I have a feeling that it is 1 size too big for me, but I am determined to make this thing work, even if I have to stuff my bra! Stay tuned...

On Sunday night, I made these pumpkin scones. I highly recommend the recipe. The scones are incredible. I was craving a pumpkin scone from Starbucks all week last week, and these are even better. Of course, I didn't unload the photo from my camera yet, so all you have to go on that is the satisfied sound of my belly digesting the one that I ate for breakfast this morning. *Gurgle*

Let's Pretend...

That the following four pictures of food make up for me doing absolutely nothing useful with my free time lately!

First up: a quick week night meal. I knew I had some veggies rolling around in the fridge. I also knew there might be a box of couscous in the pantry. Score! Roasted veggies with couscous. It's healthy. I think I ate Halloween candy for dessert to keep my diet balanced.



Next: A good use of a Quorn turkey roast that had probably been in my freezer for a few months. I invented a mac and cheese to go with it. Ingredients: 16 ounces of half and half, a whole stick of butter, a block of sharp cheddar, a block of asiago, and a big log of goat cheese. Melt dairy, cook pasta (orecchiette in this case), toss together in baking dish, top with bread crumbs, and bake. Probable caloric content: 1 million calories. The asparagus makes the dish healthier. Also, balanced this meal with Whole Foods bakery brand chocolate cake.



Next: The banana french toast from Vegan Brunch. Serve it with Tempeh Bacon. And fruit sauce. And maple syrup. And powdered sugar. Take a carb loaded nap after eating.



Finally: Seitan Cheesesteaks. These are only good when you use Ray's Seitan and good rolls. Any other seitan (including the crap you make yourself) is sub par. One day I will probably learn that Ray's puts cow blood in the seitan, and I would still eat it. These are topped with shredded cheddar jack cheese because I was too lazy to stop and get American on the way home from work.



I have had a "to do" list of sorts rolling around my brain. Some of it is done (winterized Vespa, check), some of it is not (make fall skirt). CPM and I are going to see Metallica this weekend. And then CPM and I are going to Toronto for the weekend at the end of the month. Eventually, I'll have interesting things to write about. Until then, eh.

A public service announcement.

If you are in the Philadelphia area, are vegan, or are in the company of vegans, and in need of brunch, you may be tempted to try Mi Lah Vegetarian's prix fixe Sunday brunch. Let me save you some heartache. Don't go. It's not worth the $20 per person price tag. The servers are inept and the food is sub par. It's a shame. A place like this should be awesome.

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One year after we repainted our kitchen, and got new dining furniture, I finally spoiled myself with new dishes. Oh, Ikea, there are so many reasons to hate you (for instance, because you force me to self check out, and I charge myself for one more cereal bowl than I have actually purchased, which I do not realize until I am safely back at home). But I can't be mad when you sell the exact rounded corner square plates that I have been wanting for ages.

Newsflash: I made soup and it was great!

Normally, I would wait until work to post this, but this soup was so good, it deserves a home based post.

I found this recipe for Potato Leek soup on a blog that I follow, Last Night's Dinner. I knew I had to recreate it. Except, CPM, my beloved spouse, despises mustard. I decided to modify the recipe just a tad.

I did everything almost exactly the same...sauteed the leek in butter with kosher salt, added the broth (Imagine Brand No Chicken Broth) and potatoes, brought it all up to a boil, and simmered for about 20 minutes until the potatoes were soft. (I used my Cuisinart to slice them, and I also left the skin on.) Once the potatoes were ready, I pureed using the emulsion mixer. Then, the piece de resistance: a gigantic log of goat cheese went into the soup. It was about 1.25 cups of goat cheese. I stirred it over low heat until the cheese melted, and served it just like that. A little sprinkle of salt and pepper helped kick up the flavor, but otherwise the soup was perfect. I didn't have any bread, but I'm thinking a loaf of Metropolitan Bakery's rosemary bread would have been perfect.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles

I know what cookie I'm taking to Jaime's holiday cookie party this year:



Recipe here. Amazingly, they're vegan.

I coated them in Sugar in the Raw, because I like the chunky texture on finished baked goods. They're definitely spicy!

I will make this again!

Last night I made this risotto recipe. It was exceptionally easy and incredibly delicious.

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Finished Product



Since I can never follow a recipe exactly, here are the details of my methods and modifications:

-I added a minced clove of garlic to the pan at the same time as the chopped onion. What is food without garlic?
-I added a pack of mixed wild mushrooms (probably about 4 ounces) to the pan at the same time as the red pepper. I wanted the extra richness of mushrooms. I also only used 1 red pepper because the other one that I had in the fridge got cooked the evening prior when I grilled dinner. Oops.
-I used Imagine brand No Chicken Broth instead of actual chicken juice.
-I got a cheap bottle of Sauvignon Blanc for the recipe and surprised myself by really enjoying a chilled glass as I cooked. I'm usually a full on Shiraz girl.
-I used 5 ounce container of spreadable chevre and the prescribed amount of grated parmigiano-reggiano for the cheeses
-I didn't add the turmeric. I might next time, just for the hint of color it would lend to the dish.

So, I've never made risotto before this, but I've eaten tons. I've been wanting to attempt one on my own for quite a while. I made this on a work night, which is impressive in and of itself. The prep is minor, just some chopping of the onion, pepper and garlic, it's the stirring of the broth into the rice that takes all of the time. I hovered over the stove with my laptop open on the counter, and a glass of wine nearby (losing a game of Scrabble to CPM, as usual). As I stirred the broth into the rice, I sampled, and it seemed flavorless. The magic happened when the cheeses and a bit of freshly ground sea salt were added at the end. It became a rich and creamy delight. I meant to prepare some vegetarian sausages to go along with this, but I honestly forgot about them while I was cooking. This would also be good with some oven roasted Ray's Seitan, which I would "serenade" in my magic recipe marinade.