a halloween story

so.... my neighbors.

my neighbors keep stopping me when they see me outside gardening or taking the dog for a walk. after they say welcome to the neighborhood, blah, blah, blah...the next thing out of their mouth is... do you know about halloween?

i want to be a smart ass and say a couple things like:

" i've heard it's a holiday where kids beg for candy, is that really true? i wish they had that when i was a kid" with a puzzled look

"isn't that on the 31st of october?" and scratch my head

"that's my lord's birthday." (kidding)

"we don't celebrate that day, it's associated with satan and he's a bad bad man! may the power of christ compel you, may the power of christ compel you" and run away

"halloween has roots in the celtic festival of samhain and the christian holy day of all saints. and samhain means summer's end so halloween is a pagan holiday to celebrate the end of the harvest and the beginning of the darker half of the year." and push my glasses further up my nose.

but i don't because being sarcastic is probably not the best way to start being a good neighbor, so i say no, "what about halloween?"

get this... my neighbors say, "expect a 1000 kids."

now this above scenario has happened more than once, i have had a dozen of neighbors warn me. i decided to heed their warnings, i have bought 6 huge bags of candy. it fills a basket 2 feet long, 1 foot wide, and about a foot deep. i'm going to be pissed if i spent 50 dollars on candy and i get 2 kids. i'm going to egg their house with all my leftover candy! but i think they are serious because half the houses are seriously decorated to the hilt and i only have two pumpkins because someone keeps systematically stealing my pumkins one by one. spooooky!

wish me luck and have a happy halloween!

pear french toast cobbler

There are dishes that are not pretty. They just don't photograph so well. For example; stew, chili, and meatloaf instantly come to mind. This dish comes pretty close also. It's like second runner up in a beauty contest.



Ouch. I always hated that card. It was doubly insulting. First of all, you only won the second prize but then you won a measly 10 dollars!{insert joke about Carrie Prejean and her breast implants here} Dude, so not fair.

Anyways...

I think that food bloggers tend to shy away from these dishes because they don't qualify for the money shot. I know we eat with our eyes and all that jazz but how many good recipes are we missing out on because they just aren't pretty enough for us to show on a food blog?



pear french toast cobbler:

4 eggs
1/2 heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
12 1-inch slices of stale Italian bread
5 cups of washed, peeled, and diced bosc pears
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
a pinch of salt
a teeny amount of pepper
2 teaspoons orange zest
1 tablespoon of melted butter

The night before serving:

Combine eggs, heavy cream, vanilla, and baking powder. Pour into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Add bread slices, turning once to coat both sides. Cover and chill overnight.

In the morning:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine pears, sugar, melted butter, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, pepper, orange zest, and butter. Pour into a greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Place bread slices over the pear mixture. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes, until bubbly and golden. Serve with whipped cream and warm syrup.

Tasting Notes: Much better tasting than it looks. Make sure if you do make this add the syrup and whipped cream because it's pretty damn tasty. The original recipe had blueberries with out the zest and pepper. I can imagine that apples would be nice or cranberries with some walnuts and orange zest. I guess what I'm saying is this recipe is adaptable. Go forth and experiment!

pumpkin pecan bread

The Crunchy Sock Conundrum

Doing laundry for 6 people has become an issue. It started innocently enough. Separate laundry, do laundry, fold laundry, tell kids to put their laundry away. Standard stuff. Then it morphed into something else.



It became a little like Chester the Terrier.

"When is the laundry going to get done? Is the dryer done? Did you wash my pants? Are their any clean towels? Mom, where is my yellow shirt? Is my soccer uniform clean? Mom, this needs to be hand washed, this needs bleach, this needs to dried flat, this needs to be dried on low heat, this needs to be washed in cold water on delicate. I don't like the smell of our detergent. Can you put fabric softener on this but not that? Huh Mom, huh Mom, huh Mom?"

Imagine high maintenance movie star.



Exactly what I was dealing with. I just compared my kids to Joan Crawford. Not me, them.

So to save my sanity and my body from wire hangers. I decided it was high time my kids started doing their own laundry. The boys and girls separate their laundry and wash, dry and fold it. I do Rich's and my clothes... plus the towels and the whites. I only do the whites because between all of us there is only one load. It's a big load but one single load nevertheless. I fold the whites which by the way is a lot of socks. We all use the same brand of socks even though they are different sizes and are men's and women's but here's the conundrum, Andrew and Will's socks are crunchy. Even after they have been washed in hot water with fabric softener and lovingly dried. They are crunchy.

My husbands socks... not crunchy, my socks... not crunchy, the girl's socks... not crunchy.

What the hell are they doing to their socks to make them crunchy? Besides the obvious. I will not go there because I try to keep this blog sort of family friendly.*



pumpkin pecan bread: great coffee cakes, sticky buns, muffins, & more by carole walter

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, spooned in and leveled
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
2 large eggs
3/4 cup very fresh dark brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons freshly grated navel orange zest
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups canned pure pumpkin puree
1/2 cup medium chopped, toasted pecans



to toast the pecans:

Line a heavy-gauge rimmed cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Toast the nuts in a single layer in a moderate to low oven (300-325 degrees) The length of toasting time will vary depending on the size, oil content, and volume of the nut. Color and fragrance are the best way to determine whether it is toasted or not. Pecans normally take about 8-10 minutes.

for the bread:

Position the shelf in the middle of the oven. Heat the oven to 325°F. Butter the loaf pan. Line the bottom with baking parchment, then butter the parchment. Set aside.

Combine the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and allspice in a medium bowl and whisk until thoroughly combined. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whip attachment, beat the eggs on medium-high speed for two minutes or until lightened in color. Add the brown sugar, taking about 2 minutes, and the granulated sugar taking about 1 minute. Add the orange and lemon zests and beat for one minute longer. Scrape down the side of the bowl as needed.

Reduce the mixer speed to medium-low and drizzle in the oil in a steady stream, taking about 2 minutes. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the pumpkin puree. Mix until thoroughly combined. Add the dry ingredients, in two additions and blend for 10-15 seconds just until incorporated. Remove the bowl from the mixer and using a large rubber spatula, fold in the pecans.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 60-65 minutes or until the top feels springy to the touch, or until a wooden skewer or a toothpick inserted deeply into the center comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and place on a cake rack. When the loaf is almost cool, invert it onto the rack. Remove the pan, peel off the parchment paper and turn the loaf top-side up. When ready to serve, cut the bread into half-inch slices.



Tasting Notes: So the directions for this recipe are a little persnickety but well worth it. I'm the minimalistic with adjectives food blogger. I don't like to do the words: yummy, soft, moist, delicious...yada, yada, yada. But this bread is heady with fragrance and taste. Swear to God, that's what popped in my head while making this. Heady. So this bread is some pretty heady stuff. It has been by far the best pumpkin bread I have eaten.

* I was told by some big-wig that the people they worked with thought I was too crude and this is why people will be and are hesitent to work with me. That if I toned down my blog I could be really succesful being a mommy blogger. I still wonder why we didn't end up working together.

a preview...

there are a few glitches to be worked out and some credit where credit is due to some people but i have to be up at ungodly time in the morning tomorrow so for now... take a look and let me know how you like it and if you see any problems so i can fix it.

krysta

moist yellow birthday cake - evil chef mom turns 2

The other day Nancy complained that she was bored. As tempted as I was to pull out my favorite Betty Draper from Mad Men lines like, "Go bang your head against a wall." or "Only boring people are boring" I decided not to damage my child's psyche anymore than I already have and told her, "Why not bake a cake from scratch?"

"What for?" Nancy asked.

"Just because. Do you really need a reason for cake?" I asked, "But if you really need a reason my blog is turning two."



and off Nancy went to bake a cake,



and to lick the spatulas,



and to DECORATE! (squee!)

Let me tell you this girl is a cake decorating fool. She's watching too much TV... Cake Boss, Ace of Cakes, and those damn baking challenges on Food Network. Seriously, have you watched Food Network lately? That's all there is... Ace of Cakes and cake decorating competitions.



I guess I shouldn't complain because I benefited from it.

moist yellow birthday cake:

4 cups plus 2 tablespoons cake flour (not self-rising)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups heavy cream or whole milk

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter two 9-inch round cake pans and sprinkle with flour covering all sides. Remove all excess flour.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each addition. At low speed, beat in heavy cream until just combined. Add flour mixture in three batches, mixing until each addition until incorporated.

Spread batter evenly in cake pan, then tap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles. Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then run a knife around edge of pan and invert onto rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

Frost.

Tasting Notes: Okay, so we didn't make frosting, we used store bought frosting. I have issues with frosting like I have issues with pie crust, which have scarred me for life. Anyways, I am not a frosting person. I LIKE CAKE not FROSTING. You can tell because I used CAP LOCKS. Don't get me started on cakes with more frosting that cake. This cake was moist (duh, you put that in the title Krysta) and light. I know you would think the cream would weigh it down but you would be wrong. Anyways, this cake was really nicely done with lots of flavor. Thank you Nancy.

P.S. I have just realized something proof reading this post, that it's a food blog and I didn't do any cooking/baking for this post. Hmmmm, wonder if I can get the kids to do all the cooking and photography and I'll just write about it?

cola shredded beef tacos

I think I am getting old. Wait let me clarify that, I think I am maturing. Let me explain.

When I was a kid and I had to do that every other weekend custody deal between my mom and dad. I would stay at my dad's and read magazines all weekend, that way I didn't have to interact too much with anyone or get into any trouble. Reading was my coping mechanism.

Anyways, my dad and stepmom had an impressive amount of magazine subscriptions. My favorites were: Gourmet (don't get me started on how depressing Gourmet's shuttering is), Bon Appetit, Smithsonian, and National Geographic. After I read through those magazines I'd go on to what I thought were the second tier magazines. Magazines that were boring but kept me occupied: House Beautiful, Architectural Digest, Field and Stream, and Sunset.

I didn't understand Sunset magazine. Gardening (lots of it... BORING! turn the page). Pictures of houses (Who Cares! turn the page). Where to eat (I'm stuck here at my dad's so I can't go out to eat! turn the page). Recipes (where's the articles about food like Gourmet? UGH! throw the magazine on the floor in a huff) What can I say? I was a pain in the ass as a kid.

If my past self could see me now she would be HORRIFIED. I like Sunset magazine. Gardening? (More please.) Pictures of houses? (Please sir, may I have some more?) Recipes? (Damn, they have some tasty stuff.) I guess what I'm saying is I've matured and I totally get Sunset now.

OHHHHNOOOOO! that was my inner child. She wants to be Peter Pan.



cola shredded beef tacos: sunset magazine october 2009

beef:

3 medium dried ancho chiles
2 large dried guajillo chiles
2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
2 large garlic cloves, sliced
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 cup canned diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
2 pounds chuck roast, cut into 4 pieces
1 dried bay leaf
1 1/2 cups Mexican Coca-Cola (cane-sugar sweetened) or another cola (not diet)

condiments for the tacos:

12 to 24 warm corn tortillas (6-in. size; use 24 if they're thin and floppy)
Accompaniments: chopped avocado, red onion, and cilantro; thinly sliced pickled jalapeños; and crema Mexicana or regular sour cream.

sauce for beef:

Wipe chiles clean with a damp cloth, stem and seed, and tear into pieces. Heat 1 tbsp. oil in a heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Sauté onion and garlic until softened, 1 to 2 minutes. Add chiles and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Add 1 1/2 cups water, the cumin, tomatoes, oregano, and 1 tsp. salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, until chiles are softened, about 10 minutes. Purée sauce in a blender until very smooth.

Meanwhile, season beef with the remaining tsp. salt. Heat the remaining tbsp. oil in a 5- to 6-qt. pot over medium-high heat. Brown beef, turning occasionally, 10 to 14 minutes. Discard fat, if any.

Pour sauce into pot and add bay leaf, cola, and a little water if needed to barely cover meat. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer until beef is very tender, 3 hours.

With a slotted spoon, transfer beef to a plate. Let cool slightly, then tear into shreds, discarding any fat or gristle. Meanwhile, boil sauce over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened and reduced to about 3 cups, 10 to 30 minutes. Stir in beef and heat a few minutes until hot. Remove bay leaf.

how to serve the tacos:

With a slotted spoon, transfer beef with some sauce to a bowl. Spoon beef into tortillas (double tortillas if they're thin), tuck in accompaniments, and serve with remaining sauce if you like.



Tasting Notes: Man oh man. I love these tacos... the sauce for the tacos was a little smoky (in a totally good way) and rich and not at all spicy. If you can get your hands on fresh corn tortillas, it will make this dish great.

If you make this dish and you have extra sauce, DO NOT THROW IT AWAY! Here's what you do... serve the sauce over really thick tortilla chips and add some cheese, cheddar or monterey jack. Zap it in the microwave for a minute and then try not to lick the bowl clean.

spinach and mushroom quiche

I spent all weekend at my computer going through pictures and doing some other things that you be able to see soon. Crap that you really don't want to hear about because it's so damn boring BUT I did notice I am on a yellow kick.

If it has yellow in it I have either cooked it, photographed it, read it, or about to paint it yellow. Don't get me started about hex color codes or paint chips. I am about to make a very controversial paint color choice that has my whole family scratching their heads going "Huh? That girl has done gone and lost her mind."

But I have faith, yellow is the way to go, especially the colors Social Butterfly and Banana Cream Pie. I mean, really, paint color names are the best.

And the Internet tells me that the color yellow symbolizes wisdom. Yellow means joy and happiness. People of high intellect favor yellow. Yellow typically symbolizes sunlight, joy, happiness, earth, optimism, intelligence, idealism, wealth (gold), summer, hope, air. And the Internet is always right, right?



spinach and mushroom quiche:

serves 6

8 ounces mushrooms, clean, trimmed, and sliced a 1/4 inch thick
2 tablespoons butter
splash of white wine
6 eggs
1 cup evaporated milk
1 1/2 Gruyère or Swiss cheese
1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed
a little bit (minuscule) freshly ground nutmeg
pepper to taste
1 prepared, refrigerated pie crust (If you can make a good crust that doesn't require tears and many curse words, knock yourself out and make your own. I cannot do that so I cheat.)

Melt butter in a small saute pan. When butter is melted and pan is hot add the mushrooms. Cook until golden brown, add a splash of white wine and let the wine cook off until nearly evaporated. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Whisk together the eggs and evaporated milk in a large bowl. Stir in cheese, spinach, salt, mushrooms, pepper, and nutmeg.

Pour egg the egg mixture into the crust and bake for 30-50 minutes*, or until lightly brown and the center is not jiggly.


reflection of the view from my office window at home

* I have made this twice now and the cooking times vary wildly.

road trip: oregon

photo of Portland Skyline from Washington Park

My mom, Katie, her boyfriend Bo, and I went to Oregon.



Mainly to visit University of Oregon. Which is where the movie Animal House was filmed.



It's hard to take photos when you are touring the campus with other prospective students and parents. The tour guides herd you like a bunch of cattle.



We stayed with my Uncle Gene and Aunt Cathy.

I cannot say enough kind words about them, they are truly great people.



At their house in Canby, Oregon. The whole house is like a photograph. I felt like a little like Goldilocks (without all the fussing) Everything is just right.



They live a hop, skip, and a jump away from the Gribble Barn.



And when you are done taking photographs of the barn you come back and take pictures of Uncle Gene and Aunt Cathy's house.



And if your lucky maybe some chickens will follow you like little puppies.



Haystack Rock



Washington Park...again



Maybe just maybe in while you're in Portland you get the grand tour lead by my cousin Elisabeth and she'll make sure you're fed really well.

Pok Pok



It tickles my funny bone that a Oregonian Restaurant of the Year serves you wet naps.

I will be making these.

Also hoping that they will soon come out with a cookbook.



Bread and Ink was also tasty and delicious.



Camp 18 was fun.

Not shown: Pix Patisserie. The Shazam! was roll your eyes in the back of your head good.



Hanging in your room might be your great-grandmother's grandmother's christening gown.



...and one of the highlights of the trip is finding out that if your daughter goes to the Clark Honor College at University of Oregon she will not be just any ol' duck. She would be an odd duck, a fighting platypi.

vacation

i have so many pictures and recipes to share, a winner to announce, and a scary long to-do list.

...now if only i could get myself out of vacation mode and get katie to pick a winner.

see you tomorrow.

road trip

so...

How well do you know your movies and your movie trivia? The above clip is the only hint I'm giving. Oops, there is a second... Katie and I are both going on this road trip.

I'll back Sunday night with a gift from here. If you are one of the many who guess right or wrong*, Katie will pick out the funniest comment and I'll send you a gift.

*and don't IMdb it, that's cheating.

** you can guess as many times as you want.

baked rigatoni with spinach, ricotta, and fontina

Sometimes....

not always, but sometimes the stars line up and during one magical Sunday

there is no to-do list
you get to sleep in
the kids get along peacefully- all day- i can not stress this enough
all the chores, housework, and laundry are completed
you can take an afternoon nap
the phone or the doorbell doesn't ring
dinner is simple

sometimes...

you are able to eat dinner on the front porch, watching the sunset.

sometimes...

you feel a slippery glimmer of peace, knowing you cannot grasp at it because it will soon enough leave on it's own.



baked rigatoni with spinach, ricotta and fontina: food and wine quick from scratch italian cookbook

1 pound rigatoni
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 10-ounce package frozen spinach, thawed
2 cups (about 1 pound) ricotta
5 tablespoons grated Parmesan
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
6 ounces fontina, grated (about 1 1/2 cups)

Heat the oven to 450°. Oil a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the rigatoni until almost done, about 12 minutes. Drain. Put the pasta in the prepared baking dish and toss with 1 tablespoon of the oil. Meanwhile, squeeze as much of the water as possible from the spinach. Put the spinach in a food processor and puree with the ricotta, 3 tablespoons of the Parmesan, the nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Stir in half the fontina. Stir the spinach mixture into the pasta. Top with the remaining fontina and Parmesan. Drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons oil over the top. Bake the pasta until the top is golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes.

dreams of autumn

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. - George Eliot

ecm's house tour: the kitchen

Welcome to my kitchen... come on in.



so... let me start off by saying my kitchen is a rectangular 16 feet long by 8 feet wide (not including the breakfast nook). Breakfast nook and lots of counter space. I'm talking so much counter space, I can layout a few cookbooks, have some mixing bowls and pans out plus ingredients and if I wanted to dance a jig for my husband on the counters, well I would have enough room for that too. But you might want to leave the room if that happens, you might go blind.



There is an orgy of space! It's wonderful but scary at the same time. Every kitchen I have ever had has been only half the size of this one, I'm not complaining or anything but my mind spazes at the mere thought of cooking in here. My brain is all like, "Dude, you can't cook in here! You'll make a mess and it will take forever to clean AND you don't even know where you put the measuring spoons, now do you? HA! That's what I thought. What an idiot... thinking you can just come in here and cook. This kitchen is for a cook, not a hack, now go grab some pine and go sit on the bench, meat."



Yes, my brain and I do have these conversations.



I know now what "now you're cooking with gas" means. Oh dear lord...I love my oven and stove. I'd have little baby Thermadors and it would give new meaning to the term "bun in the oven".

[insert your own joke here]



What's this?



I am moving on up in the world. I, now am the proud owner of an appliance garage with eight plugs. Count them... 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8....



Crazy. Between the counter space, an appliance garage (doesn't that sound a little pretentious?), under the counter lighting, plus the other 2 lights and recessed lighting, the Sub Zero fridge, and the umpteenth million drawers and cupboards... you can now understand why my brain hurts every time I try to cook? It's enough to make my head a splode.

It will be my kitchen renaissance. I will create grand operatic meals fit for_____ ahhh forget it!



POOF!!!