Checking In...

Bathtime 4
Originally uploaded by gaffentine

I know I haven't posted here in a long time...I've been a little busy. :) I hope to have more recipes to try, and more time to try them, in the near future as the days get shorter and the oven begins to do double duty as a way to heat the house!

Hot Chocolate?

Whipped whites
Originally uploaded by gaffentine

Pudding with Whipped Cream?

Go here to find out what this is (and how to get some for yourself...)!

The Gourmet Pregnancy

It was a well-balanced meal: tons of vegetables, dairy, starch, protein, and even a little bit of a spicy zing!

Corn, spinach, cheese, yogurt, tortilla, tomatillo, onion, garlic, butter, brown sugar, salt, jalapeno...

Who am I trying to kid? We had homemade kettle corn (corn, butter, brown sugar and salt), cheese-and-spinach quesadillas (cheese, spinach, tortillas and Greek yogurt, which is an excellent substitute for sour cream when you've run out) and salsa verde (tomatillos, onion, garlic and jalapeno).

Matt will probably never again say "Whatever you feel like" when I ask what we should have for dinner.

:)

It's the Little Things

Gentle Farmer and his glamorous wife came to visit us this weekend. He taught me to make a pie crust. I actually made one all by myself! I think it's probably time to come out with the long awaited (by some) story of the Flying Pie Crust of Rage.

Just need to line up some ducks, first.
Stay tuned...

A New Resource

For as long as I have been baking, my cookies have been coming out flat and crunchy, and not at all like the moist, chewy goodnesses you get at the open air markets or the coffee shop. Then I found this.

And I made the Alexis' Brown Sugar Cookies, halving the vanilla extract and replacing it with almond extract. And they are HEAVENLY, and there is only one left now, so I might be making more chocolate chip cookies tomorrow...

The Leftover Pasta of Summer

It's all in the presentation
Originally uploaded by gaffentine

I made dinner from leftovers last night. (And ate THOSE leftovers for lunch today!)

I had some extra steamed asparagus, a few cherry tomatoes going soft, fresh baby carrots (REAL baby carrots: just the tiny ones, fresh out of the ground, not the ones you get in a bag that have been miniaturized with an awl, or something...) fresh radishes, a bit of leftover radicchio and some other greens.

I heated some water for pasta, while I grabbed the rest of a bag of TJoe's frozen shrimp out of the freezer (a weakness of Matt's), and put it in a bowl of cool water. Added some butter and about a half cup of white wine to the shrimp in a pan, and let it simmer for a few minutes, while angelhair pasta boiled away in the pot of water. Drained the pasta, transferred it to another pan and added a pat of butter, the asparagus (cut up) and the tomatoes (halved). Stirred it around a bit, just until the asparagus and tomatoes were no longer cold, and then plated it up with the shrimp over all.

Sliced a few carrots and radishes, sprinkled them over the radicchio and greens, and called it dinner!

Pie-Brain

So, I've been eating these delicious peaches I got at the Farmer's Market on Monday (note to self, ask Matt about his client with the peach trees, ie, HOW'RE THOSE PEACHES COMIN' ALONG??), and since I still have pie-in-my-mind, I think I'm going to go to the one after Mass tomorrow morning and get a bunch more, and make a PEACH PIE. And then probably eat the whole thing myself.

Here's hoping it's not too hot tomorrow, since I'd also like to make banana muffins again. Not for us, for some people hosting a dinner party tomorrow night. If there's one "hostess gift" that's been a consistent hit, it's providing "breakfast for tomorrow" for the hosts of what will probably be a very late night.

Breakfast Prep

Breakfast Prep
Originally uploaded by gaffentine

You may find the recipe - and the philosophy behind this method - over here.

This pie was a huge hit, both with our camping buddies, and with our fishing guides, on our recent camping trip. I do recommend a pie for breakfast when you're camping. Nothing better than a slice of pie and a hot cup of coffee (or hot chocolate) on a cool morning.

Preparing for Camping

So we're off tomorrow into the wilds of North-Eastern California (according to Maps.google, it's almost exactly halfway between here and Death Valley, a coincidence that is not at all lost on me.)

I've been in the kitchen all afternoon, preparing some home-baked supplies for the next three days. This trip is a fishing/camping trip for ourselves and another couple. Matt has been talking about fishing in the early morning, and the early evening, with time during the day for naps and hikes. I plan to get up to start breakfast after he leaves, which means they'll be going off with nothing in their bellies, unless they want to fortify themselves with:

Teresa F.'s Grab-n-Go Breakfast Cookies.

1/2 c. softened butter or margarine
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/4 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp. vanilla
1 14 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained well*
3 c. quick-cook rolled oats
1 c. whole-wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 c. raisins, or dried blueberries, or cranberries**
1 c. walnuts, or pecans, or almonds, chopped***

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.

Beat butter and sugars with mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla, and beat to combine. Add pineapple to mixture, and beat to combine.

In large bowl whisk together flour, oats, cinnamon, and baking soda. Add flour mixture to the egg mixture, and beat just enough to combine. Mix in dried fruit and nuts by hand.

Drop 1/3 c. of dough on cookie sheet, leaving 2 inches between each cookie. With a damp hand press cookies to 1/2" thickness. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes. These freeze well.







*I don't like pineapple, and I can't have it anyway (triggers contractions, or something), so I substituted some canned peaches that I ran through the blender real quick.

**I, for whatever reason, was out of raisins, so I chopped up some dried apricots, threw in a handful of dried cranberries, and topped it off with some dried coconut.

***Half cup of chopped pecans, half cup chocolate chips. I couldn't help it...

On the Prowl

Today, I am hunting for pie recipes. So far, an apple pie looks promising, along with a no bake berry pie...

Mother's Day Lunch

Mother's Day Lunch
Originally uploaded by gaffentine

Herb Salad with Goat Cheese; Strawberries on Kiwi Slices (Mama T's donation!); Caprese Salad; Cheese-and-Baguette; and (Matt's Favorite) ROUND TABLE TAKEOUT! :)

Holy Crap, you guys.

I'm speechless.

Also, I want it.

Muffin Mania!

I've been eating fruit nonstop since we got The News, but even my voracious appetite sometimes has trouble keeping up with the natural process of ripening going on in the fruit bowl. So Thursday and Friday were spent "salvaging" soft fruit, by baking it all into muffins!

On Thursday, I took the soft pears, and made Pear-Walnut-Raisin Spice Muffins. The original recipe can be found here. I used whole wheat flour instead of regular, and added a dash of ground cloves, allspice, and a sprinkling of ground ginger.

On Friday, keeping in mind the bunch of bananas that were never touched, I trawled the pages of Google returns, finally settling here for the PERFECT banana muffins. The recipe calls for white chocolate, and since I had to go out and get white chocolate, (and since Baby Brain is NOT a myth, this first necessitated a shower, and then drying my hair, finding something to wear that would kind of fit, finding my keys when I was looking for my wallet instead, finding my wallet, losing my keys, and then wondering if I'd actually put on deodorant (I probably put deodorant on five times a day, so great is my horror of forgetting)), it was well past noon by the time I got to the drugstore (I'd ordered scans of the ultrasound, and they were being printed there), and then they didn't have ANY white chocolate that didn't have coconut in it, so not only did I use wheat flour, I used white chocolate with coconut in it!

I brought samples of both kinds to my toenail painting appointment, and they were gone by the time I was done, so I suppose they're good! (I've had several of the pear muffins, but I don't usually like baked-banana things, so I haven't tried those yet.)

Here are the remains:



I will definitely fill the cups more when making the Pear Muffins (that's the one sad little one, there, in the middle). I have such a fear of overflowing tins that I usually don't fill them up all the way. The recipe said there would be eighteen muffins, and I ended up with twenty-four, due to my timidity. I did not, as you can see, repeat this mistake with the banana muffins!

Coming Clean (Finally)

While I *did* have a head cold, and was out of commission for a long time because of it, I am also entering the second trimester of my first pregnancy. (Yay) And since I am a wimp about being sick at the best times, my first ride on the first-trimester roller coaster of smells, sights, talking about food, hearing about food, thinking about food, etc. has been eventful.

But now that I'm getting back on the cooking and baking bandwagon, maybe we'll see a little more action around here!

Updating

My sinuses have cleared, and I'm actually out of bed. I'm not feeling up to tackling any cooking yet, though, so I'll be going to the Farmer's Market this afternoon to pick up some fresh juice and berries. The berries will be mixed altogether in a bowl with snipped mint leaves. It'll "stew" in the fridge all day, and make a very refreshing appetizer to Matt's Famous Chicken Melts!

*Radio Silence*

The only cooking going on around here lately has consisted of "Open can, pour into soup pot, heat, eat, go back to bed".

We've been stricken with The Head Cold From Hell. Catch y'all later.

Apple and Brandied Currant Tart Filling, part two in a series

Apple and Brandied Currant Tart ~ Chez Panisse


3 pounds baking apples, peeled, quartered and cored. (Reserve skins and cores)
½ c. plus 2 tbs brandy
1 c. currants
10 oz. Galette Dough*
4 tbs unsalted butter, melted
¾ c sugar

Glaze

Reserved skins and cores
1 c. sugar

Preheat the oven to 400.

Peel and core the apples and slice ¼ inch thick and toss with 2 tbs brandy.
In a small saucepan, warm the currants with the remaining ½ c of brandy and ½ c water, over medium heat. Bring to a simmer; remove from heat and leave to plump up.

Remove the pre-rolled dough from refrigerator and place on a buttered or parchment lined baking sheet. Leaving a 2-inch border, arrange the apple slices over the pastry mounding the fruit to a thickness of 3 or 4 slices at the edges. Trim away most of the border, leaving about ½ inch of pastry. (Save the trimmings to make little sugar cookies.)
Finish the tart by folding the exposed border over on itself, crimping to make a narrow pastry rim around the fruit. Brush the edges with melted butter. Sprinkle buttered edges with a tablespoon or so of the ¾ c of sugar, and sprinkle the remainder over the apples.

Bake in lower third of over for 30 minutes, rotating several times to make sure the edges brown evenly. Drain the currants and scatter over the apples. Continue baking 20-30 minutes, until the apples are soft and the pastry edges have begun to caramelize. Slide the tart directly onto the cooling rack, and allow to cool slightly.

While the tart is baking, simmer the cores and skins with 1 c water and 1 c sugar until a thick, rosy syrup is achieved, about 20 minutes.

Strain the syrup and drizzle over the tart just before serving. Serve with vanilla ice cream or creme fraiche.

It was so delicious that by the time I thought to take a picture, there was nothing remaining but some crumbs and a lonely currant on the baking sheet.

The Chez Panisse Themed Dinner Party

Could have been a disaster, but was not, due to loving friends and their forgiving natures!

The fish was the wrong kind, the grilled endives were over-grilled, the beans in the bean soup were a little...not soft, but the wine was flowing (not for me, DD!) and there was cheese and good conversation!

Here is part one of the two part masterpiece of the evening: Apple and Brandied Currant Tart.

I had put Melanie in charge of it, since she knows how to make a pastry crust, and I think that's why it turned out as well as it did!

Here is the crust recipe, with the filling to follow later.

Galette Dough ~ Chez Panisse

2 c. All-Purpose Flour
1 tsp sugar
¼ tsp salt
6 oz. (1 ½ stick) unsalted butter
½ c. ice water

Combine the flour, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add half the butter to the mixture and work it in with your fingers until the dough is the texture of think oatmeal.

Add the remaining butter and quickly work it in until the biggest pieces are the size of large lima beans.

Dribble the ice water into the dough in several stages, tossing and mixing in between additions. Don’t try to dampen the dough evenly; it should look rather ropy and rough.
Stop adding water while there are still a few bits of dry flour remaining in the bottom of the bowl.

Gather the dough into 2 balls and wrap tightly in plastic. Press down to flatten into disks.
Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Roll each flattened ball in a 14 inch circle on a lightly floured board. Dough should be ¼ inch thick.

Refrigerate rolled dough at least ½ hour before using.

(Rolled out circles can be frozen and used the next day.)

Stay tuned for the filling! Coming up next!

Diving into Lent

In case you didn't know, Lent began yesterday and this year, we are attending the Byzantine Lenten services, and observing Byzantine Lenten practices. This means that yesterday was a Strict Fast Day: no meat, eggs, or dairy.

Fortunately, little Miss Veganese Chef over here has quite an arsenal of recipes adhering to these restrictions. Unfortunately (for you guys) all I did was The Lentils (yes, again), BUT, I did accompany it with a rousing (and slightly tweaked) rendition of Spicy Cornbread, the recipe of which follows:

"Sassy"* Cornbread.

Prep:
Seed and chop fine 1 red bell pepper
Seed and dice 1 chile pepper
Squeeze two tablespoons of lemon juice (this was 1 meyer lemon)
Cut the kernels off 1 ear of corn (or thaw 3/4 c. frozen corn)

Preheat the oven to 350, and lightly oil an 8x8 pan with olive oil and dust it with cornmeal.

Heat 1 tbs olive oil in a saucepan, and saute the peppers together until tender, about five minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, allow to cool.

Mix together 1 c. soy milk, the 2 tbs lemon juice and 1/2 cup olive oil in a small bowl.

In a larger bowl, whisk together 1 c. whole wheat pastry flour (I used regular WW flour) and 1 c. stoneground cornmeal, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp sea salt. (In place of the chile pepper, I sprinkled a teaspoon of cayenne into the dry mix.)

Add the soymilk mixture and combine, using as few strokes as possible so as not to overmix. Fold in the peppers and corn.

Spread the batter evenly into the pan and bake until a toothpick comes out of the center clean. (20-25 minutes.)

Cool for five minutes. Cut and serve hot or warm.

I found this in a book called May All Be Fed; Diet for a New World. It has some great recipes in it, but at times I found the text to be...I don't know...a little too "OMG! Teh guvermints, it brane-washes teh childrens! Oh noes! Kwesh-tun EBBERY-TING!" You know? (Not that we shouldn't be mindful of our food sources, mind you, but I guess I'm a little overly-sensitive to any hint of hysterical paranoia. Except my own, apparently.)

*Yes. Left out the chile pepper AGAIN. Big fat baby, over here. I blame the potato-loving Irish side of me.

I Wasn't Doing Any Cooking of My Own 2

Wait long enough and someone else will do your writing for you.

Here is an account, by Rich, of the food we ate at SPQR.

Go ahead. I'll wait.

***

Of course, the person who burned her face on gourmet food was me*. In the unlikely event that anyone was wondering. It was insanely embarrassing, but I'm glad we got a comp out of it, at least. That's me, always taking one for the team!



*Gee, I hope you've already read it!

Just in Time for your Post-Super Bowl Bash!

How do you show your appreciation for your Super Bowl hosts?

Since we don't have a TV, we have to rely on the kindness of our friends in order to watch the biggest game of the year! And of course, no showing up empty-handed!!

I figured that other people would be taking care of the old favorites (I was right; there were wings, salsa, onion dip, some guacamole, and this really amazing spinach dip that someone had got up early to make!), so I trolled through my stack of recipes-to-try and surfaced with this Hummus variation from theppk.com.

Hummus Amungus

Prep Work:
Chop enough onion to make 1/2 cup
Mince 2-4 cloves of garlic
Chop three tomatoes
Seed one hot pepper, any variety*
Mix together:
1 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp cayenne
and set aside.
Juice one lime
Chop 1/4-1/2 cup fresh cilantro.

Saute the onion in 1 tsp oil for five minutes. Add the garlic and the spice mix for an additional 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent sticking.

Add the tomatoes, then cover and lower heat to simmer for five minutes.

Meanwhile, drain and reserve the liquid of a 15 ounce can of chickpeas. Add the peas to the food processor with just enough of the liquid to blend.

Add the chickpeas to the hot tomato mixture, add the lime juice and cilantro, and stir well to blend.

Can be served hot or cold, and I accompanied mine with mini-pitas and some tortilla chips.




*Am a big fat wuss, so left this out, resulting in a "zippy" hummus rather than a "spicy" one.

I wasn't doing any cooking of my own.

SPQR
Originally uploaded by gaffentine

We spent the weekend with friends in San Francisco, ostensibly to SEE our friends, but really to eat at SPQR on Fillmore.

Save your pennies, because it is worth every. single. one.

If I can remember, I will soon post the dishes we partook of at this scrum-diddly-umptious restaurant.

What to do with the leftovers from Roast Chicken, if you indeed have any.

Chicken Pot Pie!
Originally uploaded by gaffentine

Even though Matt's brother was there for the Roast Chicken, we managed to have leftovers, so I turned back to my old friend Google, and started compiling all the returns for "chicken pot pie" into one convoluted yet cohesive whole. I did not want, for instance, to make a bottomless pie in a pie tin, but I did want to use celery. I didn't want to make a biscuit-top...thing in the cast iron skillet, but I did want to use white wine.

I also had to account for the fact that no one on the Internet seems to make a chicken potpie with fresh vegetables. Most of the recipes called for a "16 oz bag mixed frozen vegetables". Ew. I did, however, end up throwing a handful of frozen peas, the ones that I keep on hand to break up the monochromatic appearance of the Favorite Lentils EVER, into the skillet at the last possible minute!

ANYWAY. After I turned the oven to 425, I cut the meat off the chicken (we ended up with a breast, a thigh and a leg), then washed, skinned and chopped two potatoes and three carrots, and diced and sliced one onion and three stalks of celery, respectively.

Sauteed the potatoes and carrots in a cast iron, and therefore oven proof skillet, with a tablespoon of butter for about five minutes, then added another pat of butter and the "soft" vegetables: the onion and celery. After another three minutes, I tossed the chicken in with everything else, and turned off the stovetop.

Rolled out the (Trader Joe's) piecrust (nope, still can't make my own), and used a tiny cookie cutter to make four decorative "steam holes" in it, tossed a handfull of frozen peas into the pie, and then had Matt drape the crust over the top of the skillet (with his mad pizza-making skillz, he is much better at draping crusts than I am!), and then I brushed it all over with melted butter.

Into the over for about 15 minutes, and then under the broiler for about five, et voila!

It was pretty good.

Finger-lickin' Roast Chicken

I used to think that a Roast Chicken was a Roast Chicken was a Roast Chicken, but then I realized that no on made Roast Chicken quite like Mama fixed it, and then I tried to replicate the tastes myself (why I didn't just ASK her, I'll never understand, although I'd prefer her recipe for Chicken and Rice Casserole...hint, hint) and then I did a little Google action and saw just HOW MANY* variations there are so I picked one at random and made it when Matt's brother came to visit.

I selected this result, and here is the paraphrasing:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Take 1 five and a half pound free range chicken, remove the giblets, rinse with cool water and pat dry.

In a small bowl, combine 1/4 pound of softened butter with one half handful each of fresh thyme, oregano and parsley, chopped fine, and just mash them all together in there. (Might as well use your hands, because that's how this stuff gets to the chicken, anyway! It's quite a messy and fun operation!)



Rub the herbed butter under the skin, and all over the outside of the chicken. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and stuff the cavity with a halved orange, a half a clove of garlic and a halved onion. Place the bird in the baking dish breast side up and add one whole onion to the bottom of the dish. Arrange six slices of onion across the breast of the chicken, and roast for 25 minutes.

Remove the bacon, baste the chicken with the drippings, and roast another 25 minutes, until the skin is brown and a thermometer in the leg reads 165.

Remove to a platter and let stand ten minutes, to let the juices settle.

This is when I scraped the drippings into a saucepan (my baking dish is glass, so I couldn't put it on a stovetop burner) over medium heat, added 2 tablespoons of flour, and stirred in 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth. Once the flour was all dissolved, I put in the 1/4 cup of dry sherry, and dashed in some salt and pepper.

Matt carved the chicken, while I rescued the orange halves from the cavity and squeezed them over the pieces of chicken on the serving plate.




The flavors of orange and thyme were particularly interesting together, in a very good way, while the buttered outside made for a crispy skin with a VERY juicy meat. This is definitely something I'll be making again!!




*I didn't actually see each and every one of them, but that particular Google return was quite extensive.

The Black Bean Chili of Bliss

So, I can't remember where I found it (typical) but I bought (secondhand, duh) a copy of this book called "Sacramental Magic in a Small-Town Cafe", mostly because the subtitle was "Recipes and Stories from Brother Juniper's Cafe", and if there is anything I love more than recipes, it is a story that goes with it, and even more than a story, I do love me a monk. Then I go and buy Brother Juniper's Bread Book, and then a few MORE cookbooks at a Friends of the Library book sale*, and then Matt sighs and shakes his head and encourages me to log in some hours at The Job.

So, anyway, apparently Brother Juniper was not a REAL person running this cafe; it "is dedicated to the spirit of a famous Franciscan monk (ed note: hoo-rah! monk!) named Brother Juniper...The original Brother Juniper is chronicled in the legends (ed note: !) of St. Francis of Assisi. He was St Francis' favorite monk because he was simple, humble and generous..." (Prologue, "Sacramental Magic in a Small-Town Cafe") Very cool.

One of the chapters was titled "The Zen of Black Bean Chili", and I followed the recipe and made some awesome black bean chili, but, as with any new recipe, I didn't feel very Zen about it until everyone** had tasted and pronounced it good.


And here it is!

Black Bean Chili, from Brother Juniper's Cafe.

#Wash and check over 4 cups of raw dried black beans, and put them to soak in 10 cups of water at room temperature for at least four hours, but preferably overnight.
Drain beans, and discard water.

#In a heavy stockpot*, bring the beans and12 cups of water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally until the beans begin to soften, about 1 ½ hours.
Cooking time depends on the size of the beans, so keep any eye on ’em while you do your prep work!

#Dice 2 medium onions, mince or press 8 large cloves of garlic, and dice enough chilies to make 2 cups. (Mild, medium or hot is up to you.) Dice 1 ¾ pounds of tomatoes (or take the 28 oz can shortcut, WITH juice), and pour or prepare** a cup of beef (or vegetable!) stock. (They actually recommend 1 tablespoon beef stew base, but I couldn't find any Better Than Bouillon, which is the same thing, so I improvised using the cartons of stock they sell at Trader Joe's. It came out a tiny bit soupier than I would normally like, but what can you do?)

#Toast 1 tablespoon whole cumin seeds in a dry frying pan over medium heat, stirring constantly until they begin to crackle and pop, about 1 minute. Remove the seeds from the pan, pour in 2 tablespoons of olive oil and turn the heat to High.

#Once then oil is hot, add the onion, garlic and chilies, and sauté until onion is translucent, about 3 minutes. Stir in the cumin seeds and immediately remove from heat. Cover the pan, so that everything can steam together.

#When the beans are soft, stir in the onion mixture and add the tomatoes and 1 teaspoon of fresh ground pepper. Stir in 1 tablespoon salt, the stock, and 4 tablespoons of soy sauce.

#Simmer until liquid is reduced, and the chili has a consistency between soup and gravy. Add more soy sauce if necessary; those bean really soak up the saltiness!

#Serve with a dollop of creme fraiche or sour cream, garnish with freshly chopped cilantro and a spoonful of red or green salsa!

(Serve bowls of crème fraiche/sour cream and salsa on the side, so people more or less adventurous than you can make adjustments!)


*This usually goes without saying, but I’m just saying: avoid aluminum, because you will be using tomatoes, and that’s a nasty reaction!

**I use the jars of Better Than Bouillon chicken, Beef or Vegetable paste to make my stocks. They last a LOT longer than anything I can make from scratch, unless I freeze it, and when I freeze things like stock I usually forget about it until we’re out of ice, and grab THAT ice cube tray, and I say, “Oh, right, this stuff…” So I don’t even bother, anymore!



Bon Appetit!



*Ten cents each, y'all. I am not even joking!

**I made it at Anna B.'s house for her, her mom and her brother.

I should retitle this The Hypocrite Chef

So much for getting back on the healthy-eating bandwagon*.

Two nights ago, instead of making cous-cous and a goat cheese salad, I let Matt talk me into ordering a pizza and watching back-to-back Law and Order (via Netflix Watch Instantly program, which is swiftly defeating the purpose of not having a television0.

I think I'm resigned to the fact that we're in hibernation, but that doesn't mean pizza and TV for the rest of the winter. We'll just be a lot less adventurous in the culinary department. For example, today I am making this. AGAIN.


*I did make the tahini sauce, but it came out weird, mostly because I tried to "liven it up" with garlic and parsley, and it ended up tasting...garlicky and parsley-y, and not at all in a good way. :(