i heard "santa baby" playing in cvs today. yes, the first snow has long come and gone, but i was still not ready for the images of waxy Whitman's chocolates (oh, Snoopy - sigh), mall craze, and perky poinsettias that were immediately triggered.
[i should have known it was coming with the return of eggnog lattes and red starbucks paper cups!]
but the rapid approach of the holiday season also brings positive associations to mind. for example, holiday cocktail parties. i am a sucker for all things that make the quintessential holiday cocktail party: the scattered flickering of tealights, the vaguely familiar ting of jazz, the obligatory assorted cheese platter. (i like wine too, but when it comes to parties, i prefer it sangria'd, not mulled.)
and so i welcomed the season by having brie with dinner. brie, the most peaceful and harmonious of the cheeses! what doesn't get along with brie...?
crusty bread
jam
pears
pecans
apples
walnuts
blueberries
dried apricots
flaky crust
almonds
grapes
yup. it's all a happy holidays once someone cuts into the ooey goodness of that perfectly circular little disk.
p.s. santa, i would not mind an outer space convertible as well, but in red, not blue.
thanks! :)
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Saturday, November 19, 2005
sequins, curry and banana crumble
i had a very boston moment today. ice puddles formed on the street before my very eyes!!
so what are ways to bring comfort on a day like this in boston? jamaican irie ginger tea with generous honey treatment at darwin's. my once-every-5-months haircut, this time with michelle at james joseph (she wears her own hair assymetrical and purple - i went for the symmetrical look). beginner's flamenco with ramon (a slow, expressive, happy spanish dance with castanets). a sequined black tank from jasmine sola.
and of course, comfort food. i cooked tonight. i made an indian chickpea curry (though i cheated - i used this little unlabeled packet of indian spices i scored at the veggie food fest - check out my old blog for that story). i do need to get me some more of those packets. they rock.
i also saw a few over-ripe bananas on the kitchen table and decided to conjure up a worthy recipe for them. it is my philosophy that no banana should have to live a life of neglect, only to be reluctantly eaten, brown and mushy, by some unhappy person.
banana crumble
fruit:
2-3 ripe bananas, cut lengthwise into thirds
2 tbsp. sugar (white, though i'm sure brown sugar would work, too - i only had white in the house. but don't underestimate the power of white sugar - it can do amazing things.)
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. vanilla sugar
dash of nutmeg
topping:
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. milk
vanilla sugar for dusting
preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
generously grease a 8x8 square cake pan. lay cut bananas flat to cover the bottom of the pan. sprinkle 2 tbsp. sugar, cinnamon, vanilla sugar, and nutmeg over the bananas.
in a small bowl, combine flour, salt, and sugar. cut butter into the dry mixture until texture is crumbly. add milk and knead to combine. roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick. punch or cut out shapes (approx. 1.5-2 inches in diameter) and lay shapes on top of bananas in pan. dust with vanilla sugar.
bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until topping is golden brown. serve hot, with vanilla ice cream.
it's not bad. then again, i am always more forgiving when i come up with the recipe myself and there's no one else to blame for failure. :)
(p.s. for a while i thought i had actually invented the banana crumble. there are apple crumbles and blueberry crumbles, but i had never heard of anyone making a banana crumble. however, upon turning on my computer, i promptly googled "banana crumble", and unfortunately it looks like the sugartree inn bed and breakfast has beat me to it. as well as approximately 278,000 others. dammit...there goes another chance for fame, fortune, and legacy)
so what are ways to bring comfort on a day like this in boston? jamaican irie ginger tea with generous honey treatment at darwin's. my once-every-5-months haircut, this time with michelle at james joseph (she wears her own hair assymetrical and purple - i went for the symmetrical look). beginner's flamenco with ramon (a slow, expressive, happy spanish dance with castanets). a sequined black tank from jasmine sola.
and of course, comfort food. i cooked tonight. i made an indian chickpea curry (though i cheated - i used this little unlabeled packet of indian spices i scored at the veggie food fest - check out my old blog for that story). i do need to get me some more of those packets. they rock.
i also saw a few over-ripe bananas on the kitchen table and decided to conjure up a worthy recipe for them. it is my philosophy that no banana should have to live a life of neglect, only to be reluctantly eaten, brown and mushy, by some unhappy person.
banana crumble
fruit:
2-3 ripe bananas, cut lengthwise into thirds
2 tbsp. sugar (white, though i'm sure brown sugar would work, too - i only had white in the house. but don't underestimate the power of white sugar - it can do amazing things.)
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. vanilla sugar
dash of nutmeg
topping:
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. milk
vanilla sugar for dusting
preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
generously grease a 8x8 square cake pan. lay cut bananas flat to cover the bottom of the pan. sprinkle 2 tbsp. sugar, cinnamon, vanilla sugar, and nutmeg over the bananas.
in a small bowl, combine flour, salt, and sugar. cut butter into the dry mixture until texture is crumbly. add milk and knead to combine. roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick. punch or cut out shapes (approx. 1.5-2 inches in diameter) and lay shapes on top of bananas in pan. dust with vanilla sugar.
bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until topping is golden brown. serve hot, with vanilla ice cream.
it's not bad. then again, i am always more forgiving when i come up with the recipe myself and there's no one else to blame for failure. :)
(p.s. for a while i thought i had actually invented the banana crumble. there are apple crumbles and blueberry crumbles, but i had never heard of anyone making a banana crumble. however, upon turning on my computer, i promptly googled "banana crumble", and unfortunately it looks like the sugartree inn bed and breakfast has beat me to it. as well as approximately 278,000 others. dammit...there goes another chance for fame, fortune, and legacy)
Monday, November 14, 2005
pic of me
nuts
last night i watched eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. (v. good)
in celebration of this viewing i made candied spicy walnuts. which i burnt. toasting nuts is not something that should be done by anyone who is consistently 10 minutes late, particularly since the entire toasting process should not take more than 8 or so minutes. i thoughtfully tasted at least half of the batch to determine whether or not i had actually burnt it (after which i reluctantly admitted to myself that i had. although, had i not been having people over later that night, i might have successfully convinced myself that i had not actually charred the nuts, along with my brand new calphalon baking sheet.) i was not to be defeated, however, and immediately took on glazed cinnamon pecans to prove a little something to myself. this time on the stovetop, though, as i do burn most things that require any degree of attention in the oven. i melted my plastic spoon in the process, but was able to pick out the plastic pieces from the sugar mixture prior to adding the pecans. they came out pretty well overall.
why i did not tell anyone about this debacle later that night is a mystery to me, now that i have this blog to help me re-evaluate the little peculiarities of my life. perhaps because i was too eager to hear compliments for my apple upside-down cake. mmm apple cake.
in celebration of this viewing i made candied spicy walnuts. which i burnt. toasting nuts is not something that should be done by anyone who is consistently 10 minutes late, particularly since the entire toasting process should not take more than 8 or so minutes. i thoughtfully tasted at least half of the batch to determine whether or not i had actually burnt it (after which i reluctantly admitted to myself that i had. although, had i not been having people over later that night, i might have successfully convinced myself that i had not actually charred the nuts, along with my brand new calphalon baking sheet.) i was not to be defeated, however, and immediately took on glazed cinnamon pecans to prove a little something to myself. this time on the stovetop, though, as i do burn most things that require any degree of attention in the oven. i melted my plastic spoon in the process, but was able to pick out the plastic pieces from the sugar mixture prior to adding the pecans. they came out pretty well overall.
why i did not tell anyone about this debacle later that night is a mystery to me, now that i have this blog to help me re-evaluate the little peculiarities of my life. perhaps because i was too eager to hear compliments for my apple upside-down cake. mmm apple cake.
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