leftovers

We never quite got around to decorating the gingerbread men, or even baking them. We waited too long to find a good cutter, oh well, another year. We had plenty of sweets and now we have gingerbread dough in the freezer for another day.




But I think the day after strata will have to become a regular thing, all the chopped up bits of old bread, leftover vegetables and the stray bit of fruit even, the extra milk and butter steeped with garlic and thyme left over from making the mashed potatoes, bits of cheese and salami from the antipasti and a bunch of eggs, all left to mush up on the counter for the early afternoon.






I baked it at a low temperature, covered for most of the way, in a water bath, I'm not sure I've tried that before but it was a good technique, it came out consistent and tender, no grey egg or undercooked spots. Delicious dinner,  tidied up fridge, super.

aftermath

Yesterday was lovely, oceans of wrapping paper and dirty dishes and friends, near and far. I'm making a strata out of leftovers right now, maybe I'll show you later.

These are just a few from around town, sometimes I see things I would take pictures of if I were traveling, but because I see them all the time I take them for granted, I'm trying to change that.

hello from december

Recently I stopped buying the Sunday Times, didn't renew my New Yorker subscription and stopped bringing home the weekly local papers. And what a success so far! I'm reading more books, I don't come downstairs in the morning and think that I have to wade through all the paper on the counter before I get to doing whatever wants or needs to get done. There is of course a little loss and sense of loss, but much more freedom and sense of freedom.

It doesn't mean that now I have as much time as I need for everything I want to do, but I like the reminder that I get to choose.

holidays aren't really a big deal for me, but colored lights are nice, also food with friends. We almost took the year off from trees, but J. convinced me we should get one, and I'm glad we did.

treats

chestnut and pear bread pudding, I had this for dinner the other night with a little bit of warm caramel,

J. made it for me, as well as these fennel and sesame cookies, biscuits, cracker cookies. . . paximadia is what they are really called I guess. I've been pestering him to make them for months now, I must have come across this recipe in may or june and I've been pining for them since then, but with fennel seeds too. And hot black coffee. I've been pining for all sorts of hard bread like cracker like things lately, rusks, taralli, biscotti, grissini. I bought some taralli from the world foods not long ago, dry stale awful things that made me miss Israel the overnight baker so deeply. Nothing like arriving early in the morning to see him packing up his stuff, racks of bread and cookies, and wine biscuits all over the place. I just got a new cookbook (yes, shocking, I know) and I think I'm gearing up to make some of the yeasted crackery breads and rusks. No, I don't make J. bake everything, just almost everything.We had greek barley rusks for the first time in Queens, a place that is gone now, the owner got up from her table when she saw them delivered to ours and poured the olive oil over them herself, chopped tomatoes, the juice, salt, parsley?, olive oil, olive oil, olive oil and the weird nutty soft hard mushy crunchy rusks, a mountain of them.

cold weather, the wind, ripe pears cut nicely, and chicory, this one down here I was told is called "lucia" after a town. The picture doesn't do any justice to what it's like to crack it open, little blood flecks intensifying toward the center, the palest most elegant yellow.

snap of, snap the

we aren't used to ice here, nor really the slanting winter sun.

I missed my bus yesterday morning, trying to photograph this one poor tree that dropped every single leaf in a big heap the night before. I didn't really catch it, I should have gone back for more pictures after I watched the 14 drive off without me.

no shadow no stars

the thick fog when I walk home at night, the scuffing through leaves and the smell, sometimes you get caught in the rain

late gardening

Plenty of herbs still in the garden, and kale, and every time I go to finally pull out those squash plants I find another one hanging there.

First time in Verboort

I forgot to take a picture of my lemon meringue pie, dang, next year I guess. The beer garden was down the road from the church compound, at the gun club. The shuttle was the church school bus. The driver worked on her knitting while we loaded and unloaded and told everyone not to throw up during the ride, at 1 in the afternoon. I think she was joking, but I guess things can get rowdy later on in the evening.

The scale of the dinner was like nothing I've ever seen. Our tickets were, as you can see, 1428 and 1429, they were serving 2400 and under by the time we left and just barley warming up. I think they served 7000 last year, all the while wearing cute little dutch bonnets.

last day, favorite month

So if you want one of those not cut all the way through jack-o-lanterns, I think the trick to making it glow properly is to scoop out the inside really aggressively before you start carving the design on the outside.

We made cassoulet for dinner, sausages, duck legs, flageolet beans, endive, other things. . . and apple, dried cherry, sweet vermouth crisp, pistachio ice cream

indian summer

this week has been so beautiful, the fall sunlight just kills me, every year.

applesauce, music, a little t.v., a little exercise, some errands, some yard work, things just are this week, nothing flashy.

exploring, a little

I have really been enjoying the "photos taken nearby" feature of the mobile flickr app, such a funny way to see little snippets of other people's lives. I added this image of my lovely macchiato today, at the Water Avenue Coffee Company, so other ramblers may perhaps enjoy it on their rambles

when life gives you tomatillos

This is our recreation of a dish we used to love at a restaurant in Greenpoint called Brooklyn Label. They eventually took this off the menu, before we even left the area, and I think the chef has changed now as well. Hey look, I just looked up their website for reference and they are serving Stumptown Coffee, wow, the two coasts just get closer and closer together don't they?

Anyhow, soft polenta with pork shoulder stewed in spicy tomatillo salsa, poached eggs. I added some of my delicious zucchini relish for a little bright note on top. It doesn't photograph all that well, but this is really really delicious. I think it was a successful recreation, we could go a little spicier next time, even. You have to get up early in the morning to start the polenta if you want to have it for brunch, but soaking the cornmeal overnight on the countertop helps.

old growth

On our mostly coastal adventure we stopped in the woods, on a hillside in the Rogue river valley.

on the coast

I love beach towns at the end of the season.