Cupcakes and Pumpkin Bread and Snow in October

The weather has apparently put me in hibernation mode... Yesterday was cupcakes from Magnolia and tonight I'm making pumpkin bread with maple glaze. All amidst the rain and snow that continues to fall outside.

It's cozy indoors tonight with a comfy couch and sweet, fluffy, spicy, golden, pumpkin bread baking...

Hot Apple Cider

October has been a beautiful, sunny, crisp, and enthusiastic month so far. I have been inspired to cook more and more, although I think this is because I am craving distraction from the hideous mountains of non-food related work that is far less satisfying.

This weekend we made apple cranberry pie (two of them) and enjoyed some hot spiced cider during the process of rolling out the dough and shaping the pies. The results were highly successful (but it's hard to beat hot cider and homemade apple pie!) and I thoroughly enjoyed documenting the event.

For those of you that are interested in the Perfect Pie Dough recipe it is as follows:

For two 9" crusts:

2 1/2 cups pastry flour
Pinch of salt
1 and 3/4 stick of salted butter (cold!)
Ice water (as needed)

1.Mix the flour and salt

2.Cut in the butter - with a knife or fork (a food processor on the "pulse" setting is ideal, but the fork or pastry cutter is a more labor intensive option)

3.When the flour butter mixture is well mixed with a sandy/pebbly texture, add a little ice water just to get the dough to stick

4.Divide into two equal sections, wrap and chill for at least an hour.
Yum!

Pie - Still in need of a top crust

Pie  - After baking, the Queen of Hearts would have been proud

Hot Cider - with cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and vanilla

Be Happy, Eat Healthy

I didn't expect much of my late night cooking fiasco. However, to my surprise the results were creative and delicious. Below are a few photographs from my haphazard, thrown-together, made up on the spot, yummy, organic, vegetarian Pad Thai:

Ingredients: Rice noodles, Shanghai bok choy, leeks, ginger, soy sauce, chilis, egg, my special secret sauce (that I won't be able to replicate because I made it up on the spot . . .)

Be Happy . . .

. . . Eat Healthy

What a delicious experiment this was! I'm looking forward to my next trip to the Korean grocery by my work - an excellent place to find fresh, delicious vegetables and asian noodles. 

Unfortunately I was so eager to begin cooking that I neglected to get any pre-cooked shots. The greens and yellows of the bok choy and leeks are not nearly vibrant enough after sauteeing. I guess the inspiring chop sticks will have to do to liven up these photographs.

Free Time? Nahhh . . .

I forget what free time is like, but I remember how to waste time! This is why I've been going through older photos, in search of time wasting. Here are some samples of my foodie art from the last couple years. 

Summer Lemonade 2011

(I love the floral textures and off-kilter colors)

A Mimosa Brunch 2010

(One of the accidentals that appeared with such rich texture and and precise haphazardness)

Tomato Still Life (a la Warhol) 2009

(Part of a still life project of weird vegetable/fruit/object combinations - focus on texture and unlikely pairs)

Missing Vacation

It's starting to get a little chilly and darkness is setting in earlier and earlier. I am very much missing September's vacation to Portugal! Here's a little reminder: breakfast al fresco (tea, coffee, cream, French toast) on the veranda. Mmmm free time and tasty food....

Miso Soup for the Congested.. Soul?

Suffering from a bad cold this week . . . Haven't had a cold in well over a year and I'm not a happy camper.

I did however, take time out from being sniffly and cranky to make some miso soup with fresh leeks, bok choy, carrots, garlic, and tofu. The result was a delicious and soul-warming soup. Hopefully I'll be on the mend soon, but until then I will subsist on hot soup and tea.

This photo does the leeks no justice, but it is hard not to appreciate their vibrant green and yellow spirals sautéing in the pot.

French Toast

Because the French toast was so delicious (organic whole grain french toast with mascarpone, cinnamon sugar, bananas, and Vermont maple syrup) it was eaten too quickly to take a picture. Devoured at light speed.

I leave you with the aftermath: buttery cast iron pan for the washing.

More coffee...

And so continues my obsession with hot coffee. I can't help it, it's just so pretty to look at!