Random Recipe - Chocolate Sabayon Torte

This month's Random Recipe challenge teamed up participants and had them make a recipe that a team member randomly chose ... a neat trick! Well, I got the treat when Lyndsey from Vanilla Clouds and Lemon Drops chose this recipe for me! I'm making it for a Halloween treat; it's small enough that it will be gone by the end of the evening. I intend to offer our neighbor's a dessert and coffee 'trick or treat' as they bring their children by for their more traditional candy treats. This treat involves chocolate ... a lot of chocolate!

Ree Drummond's Beef Noodles Salad

I imagine Ree Drummond has infused a bit of controversy into the 50 Woman list discussion. She seems to raise the dander of as many folk as Rachael Ray ... perhaps because she is as much a media upstart as RR. Ree has marketed her lifestyle with as much savvy as Martha Stewart, in my opinion. She likes where she's at on her 'ranch' in the heartland, has a raft of kids, a handsome husband who ranches, a 'state of the art kitchen and convention center' guest house on the property, and boundless imagination for spinning her romantic take on her courtship with Marlboro Man, her family life, her home-schooling ideas, her food adventures. It all comes out in a folksy stream of consciousness on her food blog - The Pioneer Woman. She also takes damn fine photos of eveything from beaten eggs to the family dog, vistas on the ranch to Marlboro Man's backside. It all works to entice a lot of people to her site, to her cookbook signings, to her occasional blogging events/parties, and to her Food Network cooking show.

" ... it's all about cows and butter." - Ree Drummond

Babies and Bread Dough ...

Look at these pretty little Challah loaves ... they remind me of babies I've known and loved ... little bundles of round puffy softness. Smooth round ankles and chubby round bottoms ... soft plump chins and cheeks to snuggle against.  In my family, we liken newborn babies to bread dough. They require a warm soft space, a bit of kneading and patting, covering up and rest and everytime you see them, they seem to be plumping up and growing bigger and bigger!

Curried Pork Springrolls with Lime

To get these little beauties, you need to do a little work.

Springrolls require major prep work ... so get everything in place and then go for it! But first some background ...

Sour Cream Apple Pie

Everything is about apples in the house right now. This weekend there was a special presentation by nurserymen and vintners at the local orchard. SB and I went over to learn a bit about the heritage apples that are being picked this month ... we ended up coming away with four heritage types and a huge bag of Macouns. I loved the names - Espolou, Roxbury Russets, Hudson's Golden Gem, and Baldwin. The minute we got home, I chose Baldwin, Hudson's Golden Gem, and Macoun to make two sour cream apple pies. One pie went to church this morning and one pie is warming in my oven for dessert.

Happy Accident Soup ... or Empty Bowl Blues

damp cold day  ... empty bowl blues

When I first started cooking, I followed recipes to ... the ... letter. Sometimes, I was ecstatic and at other times not so ecstatic. As I gained confidence in the kitchen and learned about spice chemistry, kitchen chemistry, and husband and kid chemistry, I got  to the point where I could play with recipes or make up meals from what was sitting around the counter top and in the fridge. These meals usually came at a time when I was a.) unorganized and forgot to take something from the freezer in the morning b.) on a tear and sick of making all the usual 'crap' (not literally) c.) on a mission to purge the kitchen of various and sundry or d.) alone in the house with the kids and knowing I could get away with a disaster because there was always Kraft mac&cheese in the blue box.

Molly Wizenberg's Meatballs ... Another Game-Changer!

Molly Wizenberg is cut from the same bolt as Clotilde Dusoulier - both foodies started out as young professionals right out of the academic environment and both tossed it all to write about, make, enjoy, and influence cyberfoodie culture. Molly and her husband have taken the path of restauranteurs and Molly has published a wonderful memoir on her father and family, her move to create a food blog called Orangette, and her courtship and marriage. Like many young women these days, she has chosen to balance a 'team dream' with her own aspirations as a writer. She is a modern day game changer in that she is living the 'follow your passion and make it work for you' mantra of so many folk - AND she is making it work in a wildly successful way.  Good for her and how nice of her to take her blog followers along for the ride ...

She has been a subtle influence on me since the time that I started reading food blogs and concentrating on creating my own little spot in cyberspace. Her writing style is casual and engaging. The blog, Orangette has been an interesting, fun, poignant, and addictive spot to visit. Her ability to chatter about the most inane and sometimes intimate of life's moments and bring them around to make a point or share a dish has been her hook - the way she draws her followers along through the blog and brings them back time after time. She is an anthropologist by training and while she makes light of her university studies, she has definitely kept some of that training running through her commentary on food and family, food and friendships, and food and culture ... mix that with a healthy sense of humor and its a good combination. To boot, she chooses some excellent foods to share on her blog and in her book (soon to be books). When A Homemade Life came out, I ordered it up and spent a few days making the recipes with which I was most intrigued ... one, the scones that I've posted is an adaptation of her recipe. I also posted a review of the book  and made the first set of those scones right from a recipe on her blog. Sooo good!

Picture Perfect ... Is It Possible?

This is a pear and walnut tart ... the product of a whimsy and a bowl of ripe pears just begging to be used in their prime!

They say that copying someone is the most sincere form of flattery ... wellll ...