Last Saturday, I had an opportunity to help a friend do some cooking for a dinner party. We had a terrific time in the kitchen, but the stand out moment was when I got a chance to taste the Risotto with Butternut Squash and Leeks we made (thankfully I was able to get her to confess that the recipe was from Epicurious). It was one of those dishes that makes time stop for just a moment, as your taste buds struggle to identify the chorus of delicious flavors before giving up and simply surrendering to the rapture of the moment. It was that good.
So good, in fact, that I decided I had to make it for myself so that I could have more than a few bites. I stirred it up Monday night, in my bright green knock-off Le Creuset pot. I couldn't wait for the rice to cook, knowing that I would soon have an entire pot of heaven all to myself. Finally, when it was all done, I served up an indulgently large bowl and settled down at the table with a spoon and book. It was so good. Perfect for a fall dinner party or for just eating by yourself, on a Monday night, when you want to be just a little extra nice* to yourself.
*I omitted the whipping cream. I like to treat myself, but I do not need to eat a half cup of whipping cream by myself this week.
It's a lazy Saturday afternoon, and while I know I should run to the market and do all sorts of complicated cooking and baking that I never get to do during the regular work week, all I feel like doing is stepping out onto the back balcony, curling up in the shade on a chaise lounge and...reading.
I have a ton of books on my nightstand that I've started and have yet to finish. With the exception of Blink, all of them are about food, but the one I pick up almost every day is a children's book that I read at least a half dozen times when I was in elementary school: The Search for Delicious by Natalie Babbit. If you actually remember reading this book, then hooray! Otherwise, you may know the author's name because another book, Tuck Everlasting, was made into a movie.
This book, Slashfoodies, is such a fabulous book for all of us, even though it's a children's book. I read it every time I get all huffed and puffed over an argument about food. When I read reviews or even when I write them, when someone disagrees with me, or I disagree with him or her, I remember the message from this book. I won't give it away for anyone who hasn't read the book, but I will say that the search for delicious always ends right here.
It's hard to get pumpkin muffins right because the pumpkin itself is often so moist that it makes the muffin seem heavy or overly wet. On top of that, many recipes call for oil instead of butter, which doesn't help to lighten the muffins up at all. Too often, the end product is a very unsatisfying muffin that is gummy and has minimal pumpkin flavor. These, however, are not those muffins.
The recipe is from Epicurious and they use butter, buttermilk, a bit of molasses and lots of spices to turn out a very flavorful muffin. The muffins are moist, but not wet, and have a wonderfully light texture to them. Pecans make a fantastic combination with pumpkin, so I opted to use them instead of the walnuts suggested by the original recipe. Chocolate chips, raisins or dried cranberries would also be good additions to this recipe if you're looking to try a couple of variations.
I must say that I was transfixed by the photos when I read the post about the Chocolate Crepe Cake on Foodaholic. It is a dreamboat of a cake, and a very uncommon type, too. From the outside, it looks like an ordinary cake, but every slice is a wonder as the cake is composed of a stack of about 20 crepes, all layered generously with a rich chocolate and espresso filling/glaze. The white topping is actually cream that is poured over the finished cake, swirling together with the chocolate glaze. It looks amazing both whole and once it has been sliced, since you can see all the thin layers that make it up then.
The recipe was from Delicious Magazine, but it can be found in the post, as well. It was featured on the cover, but Foodaholic's photo looks at least as good, if not a bit better. If the combination of chocolate and espresso isn't your favorite, you can try Martha Stewart's darkest chocolate crepe cake, instead. Either way, jaws will drop if you serve a cake like this one.
I love Peeps. Not the creepy new ones that Just Born is releasing at every conceivable holiday, though. In fact, the
black Halloween ones are just
downright wrong, as are the filled marshmallows. But the marshmallow yellow chicks and purple bunnies are simply
perfect. They're sweet and sugary, light and fluffy. They're made out of sugar, corn syrup and gelatin, in much the
same way as homemade marshmallows. I always buy them around Easter and in the grand scheme of Easter confections,
the low-cal, no-fat Peeps are not a bad option, with only 32 calories per peep.
Continuing the trend on Web 2.0 applications, dine52.com is yet
another del.icio.us clone, but this time, with a food oriented theme (which actually makes more sense with a name
like del.icio.us, but, I digress). It looks like the service just started recently, so there aren't a
massive number of bookmarks yet. But, there were a few interesting items that might warrant a quick look. With
these social bookmarking apps, the more people use them, the more useful they will be.
Nika's Culinaria is a gorgeous blog dedicated to
culinary photography. She experiments with zoom, light, focus and, of course, delectable goodies. Since there are so
many sweets around this time of year, the savory but oh-so-sweet looking Basil, Lime, Brie and Puff
Pastry appetizers really caught my eye. I love the layering, the coloring and the way she managed to capture the
flakiness of the puff pastry. I'm not biased in any way because I own the same plate that she used to stage the photo.
No recipe is needed to recreate these simple, savory snacks, but I can still only imagine the delicious blend of the
flavors until I have an opportunity to try these out at my next party.
I love 
Continuing the trend on Web 2.0 applications, 
Cakes so amazing they'd be hard to cut into
Fruit juice: An invitation to diabetes?
Morbid thoughts? Have a cookie
