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.

the waves

I could just watch the ocean all day

black candy

There is a plum cake in my head, and I don't know quite how to get it to manifest in the real world. This first attempt isn't bad. I found a simple but elegant recipe, basically a variant of pound cake, and traded in some of the flours for darker flours, some of the sugars for darker sugars and I browned the butter.

I think the kamut flour adds an especially tasty element. Next time it needs a ton more fruit, and less cake, and I think maybe a little cardamom?

I made plum jam too. The trick is to use fresh plums as well as dried, I used the brooks variety of italian plum, both from the same farm. Red wine, lots of bay leaf, black pepper, a few apples from the yard for some extra pectin.

smile for the camera

tomato days

I can barely keep up with these little guys!

Dried these out low and slow while waiting for UPS last week, now happily packed with herbs in olive oil for rainy day pastas to come.

Whole wheat pasta, smoked pork cheek (I smoked it!), pesto, and these little sugar bombs, parmesan, always parmesan.

about town

We've been having a good weekend, hope you have too. I have pictures of a couple of delicious things we ate, but we'll get around to that after coffee.