Autumnal Reverie Part I: Pumpkins!!!

Dear Reader(s?),

My favorite time of the year is almost over. Actually, I think it's now officially winter... friends up north and in Utah have already had snow (Note: This makes me a little jealous. Just a little.). Whatever. I refuse to accept that Fall is leaving me as fast as it arrived. I will relish every last golden leaf that clings desperately to the tree outside of our window.

Why do I love Autumn so much, you ask? I'll pretend that you asked, because I think I'm the only one reading this. I'll indulge myself. I love this season for about a million floaty red, green, orange, and yellow reasons; I love the contrast of leaves on dark, wet asphalt, and their sparks of color against a bright blue or deliciously grey sky. I love the magical feeling of walking with my dogs through a swirl of leaves carried on a crisp breeze. I love wearing boots, gloves, and jaunty scarves.

I love this season because I get nostalgic. Pilot husband and I started dating at this time of year. 10 years ago. In high school...weird, I know. We were married this time of year. School also starts in the Fall. The air is breathable again. I don't sweat when I get out of the shower. Using my oven isn't unbearable. (In my best Martha voice: These are all "good things.")

And then there is the food. Comfort food is back. Pumpkins, apples, stews, roasts, and breads of all varieties abound. This post will focus on the first of these delightful things: the amazing pumpkin. See? I promised that I would create a more focused post.

 Each year, E and I have a pumpkin date. We head to a local farm, buy gigantic pumpkins and assorted goodies, and have a movie marathon while carving said pumpkins. Honestly, it's my favorite date of the year. This year, we went to Kinsey Family Farm in Gainesville, GA. It was great! The fine folks at the farm gave me some advice for cooking with fresh pumpkin and even gave me their own pie recipe.

There were so many to choose from!

The farm was beautiful. They have a pumpkin patch, full nursery, adorable farm animals waiting to have their ears scratched, and rows upon rows of Christmas trees. Our visit made for a lovely afternoon retreat from the city.

They even had pumpkin varieties that I've never seen before. The creamy colored ones in the back are a new breed; there were only 400 of them in the country this year and Kinsey Farm had about 40 of them! It made for a fun jack-o-lantern. See?

 So on to the food part of this post. This is a Jarrahdale pumpkin:

Don't be put off by the green exterior. It's perfectly orange and tasty inside.

Scoop out the innards, poke holes in the flesh, and microwave in a shallow pan of water until soft. 

Allow flesh to cool and puree. This is my modified version of the Kinsey recipe: Preheat oven to 425°F. Mix 3c pureed pumpkin with one 14oz can sweetened condensed milk, 2 eggs, and cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, clove, and salt (to taste). Pour into two prepared pie crusts and bake for 15 minutes before reducing heat to 350° F. Continue to bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a knife inserted comes out clean and your pie looks something like this:

I changed the original recipe slightly by adding the ground allspice and cloves. Oh, and I added a modest splash of vanilla extract. I told you that I was bad about measuring things. In any case, the base recipe that the lovely people at Kinsey Family Farm was a big success! It definitely has the hungry husband stamp of approval.

Oh, and just because I couldn't resist... here are a few puppy pictures to give you a daily dose of cute. Again, you're welcome.

 

Atti models the latest in froggy- doggy gear. Don't let the innocent eyes fool you. It's a ploy to get pumpkin. 

 

  Loki was all tuckered out from carving pumpkins. Go ahead, it's ok. All together now: Awwwww.

Dear Reader(s),
     As promised, this follow-up blog is about food. Food from my kitchen. Things that I made from scratch. Meals I invented and then savored. There are so many things to love about cooking: the warmth of the stove, the myriad smells that fill every room of our apartment, the challenge of finding *just* the right balance of sweet, savory, salty, and sour flavors, the plating, and the reward of offering that meal to friends and family.

The results of chopping, peeling, stirring, and mashing - not to mention cut fingers, cookie sheet burns, and sore muscles - are tangible. I like tangible things. So much of my academic work leaves me wondering what I really accomplished by spending weeks on a seminar paper. The the tangible success of good meals is nice. The burnt garlic bread (is there any other kind?), the hockey puck biscuits, and the over-salted soups (all painfully tangible) are instant lessons for improvement. These lessons lead to better cooking and if you're a good student, you eventually get compliments. For example: E - "These are the best biscuits you've ever made." Me - "You mean that you're not afraid of breaking a tooth." E - "Right." To the casual observer, this could seem like a mean thing for a husband to admit. In reality, it shows husband's never-ending patience because he actually suffered countless batches of steely biscuits with nary a complaint. But this post isn't about biscuits or even failures. It is about the delicious, tangible results of playing in my kitchen.

This is a sampling of what has been happening in my kitchen over the past year. Soon I will have more focused posts, I promise. I will have beautifully planned blog posts dedicated to one ingredient, one food, or even (gasp) one recipe... with instructions.... eventually. In the mean time, here are a few pictures to satisfy your closeted food voyeur. Enjoy!

First is my take on a southern classic - sautéed shrimp with onions, bacon, and wilted spinach over sharp cheddar cheese grits.




Taking advantage of summer herbs and citrus: seared Greek chicken in garlic, lemon, and oregano sauce with pine nut couscous and garden salad.

How about some lemon pound cake with lemon glaze? The answer is a resounding "yes."

 

 Have you ever tried cooking with tea? You should, and here's why: finely crushed Earl Grey leaves add pleasant aroma to shortbread cookies. These cookies have tons of flavor without being overwhelmingly sweet. 

  If those aren't sweet enough for you, try adding sweet tea icing. Trust me on this. It is delicious - and easy. Just use REALLY strong tea and powdered sugar. Done.

Eggplant and fresh tomatoes on a pizza? Yes, please. This pizza has a pesto base with roasted garlic and eggplant, caramelized onions, fresh tomatoes, feta cheese, and Kalamata olives. I will eventually do a post solely dedicated to the glories of pizza. We eat a lot of them. The key is to play with the toppings. Ever heard of a breakfast pizza? You will.

 This is a recipe from an Irish cookbook that friends gave me for my birthday. This, dear reader(s), is Beef and Guinness Stew. It simmered gently for hours. And what is that fluffy cloud beneath the stew? Mashed potatoes.

 My darling husband has a few culinary weaknesses. He grew up in the south, so that list includes grits, cheese, cheese grits, and gritty cheese. Wait, part of that list sounds strange. The point is that he introduced me to grits and convinced me that they are not only edible, but they are delicious and versatile. Here we have spicy blackened tilapia with southwestern salsa of fresh corn, tomatoes, jalapenos and black beans over grits made with a Mexican cheese blend.

                  
           
            
                      Here is a close-up for good measure:

 Fajita nachos. Because they're delicious and they are a good use of leftover assorted veggies, that's why. Also, we can feel a little less guilty because the chips have flax seeds in them. Don't you mind that cheese and sour cream... and beef. Just let me have this one.

Are my culinary experiments limited to southwestern foods? Not in the least. Try Moroccan lamb chops with couscous and Mediterranean salad. The fragrant spice rub for the lamb includes cumin and cinnamon.  Really, give it a try.

Finally, I give you beef lo mien. Soba noodles are tossed with thin slices of marinated beef, slivers of carrot, fresh tomatoes and green beans. This isn't traditional in any way whatsoever, but it was a way to use leftovers and it tasted great with homemade Teriyaki sauce.

Breaking the Silence: Blogging Sabbatical Ends

Dear reader(s?),

After almost a year of silence, I have returned. Where have I been, you ask? What could possibly keep me so busy that I couldn't spend twenty minutes on a simple post? Did I die in a book avalanche? Did I become so overwhelmed by theory and secondary sources that I spend my days rocking in a corner muttering about Žižek? Did my first semester of teaching college freshmen turn me into a homicidal maniac? The first two scenarios aren't completely out of the realm of possibility. The third is ridiculous because I love my job. I do, really. I can't lie to you, dear friend(s); I've allowed myself to become preoccupied with daily things like this:

 

Ok, so maybe this isn't exactly normal. That's what grad school does to a person; it turns an otherwise (mostly) sane girl into a zombie bookworm. It could easily turn ugly..... seriously, taking breaks from grading, lesson planning, and studying are important. And what should one do during said study break? Well, let's just say that it hasn't involved blogging. Blogging often feels suspiciously like thinking and writing. It is easy to forget that I enjoy both of those things.

But this sounds like a lot of complaining, doesn't it? Boohoo. Poor Sarah, withering away behind a pile of books. Poor Sarah is doing something that she loves for a tuition waiver and a (very, VERY) modest paycheck. She even finds time for happy distractions from her arduous career path including this latest addition to the family:

 

Meet Loki. He's a chocolate and tan dappled dachshund. He's a ball of crazy, furry, snuggly, destructive energy, and I'm in love. But why did I get a puppy during one of my most stressful semesters of grad school?

This is why:

You already know Atticus. He's a dapple-red burrower/squirrel chaser/cuddle buddy/ bottomless pit of cute. But he was lonely. See how lonely? Lonely enough to stare at me during finals. Can you feel the guilt emanating from those big sad puppy eyes? I could.

Enter the tiny, energetic solution. He loves his big brother. They are inseparable. They cuddle and play fight and make our little apartment a happy and distracting place.

See how distracting? You're welcome.

But wait a minute... isn't this predominantly a food blog? What about the food? Where's the food? It's coming. Actually, it never went away. I have simply been selfish. I'm sorry. To make up for it, I'm going to flood the next post with pictures and ideas. I'll eventually follow up with recipes, but that will come later when I start measuring and can tell you something more specific than dashes, swishes, and generally confusing instructions. Bear with me, dear reader(s). I'm making a comeback.




Yes, they dressed up for Halloween. Don't judge me or call PETA. They liked it. They insisted. They even made me call them "Halloweenies." See the big eyes and ears? See how it provoked play-fighting? Again, I'm a sucker and you're welcome.