Mulligatawny Mit Naan!

Tonight I tried my hand at our favorite Indian soup, Mulligatawny. It's a lentil and onion based soup with cumin, coriander, turmeric, garlic, chicken, coconut milk, and lemon.
I found a few recipes online, but none of them sounded like the Mulligatawny that living in Europe had spoiled us with. So, of course, I decided to create my own! HaHA!

It turned out wonderfully! Just the right spices, all the right flavor notes, just the right consistency. The trickiest part was pureeing the soup in batches in my food processor. Note to self: Purchase blender.

This. THIS is a vanilla bean and cinnamon panna cotta with apple chai gelée. It took forever and it was a pain in the ass. It was also delicious, and I'm thinking of serving it in martini glasses at my Thanksgiving fête.
Total prep and chill time for these two glasses was around 6.5 hours. Total eating time: 10 minutes. Worth it?
Absolutely.

Good Ol' American Pot Roast

It's been chilly. Well, by Floridian standards I suppose it's been downright cold, but for me, it's just a tad brisk. I've taken to this new weather quite well, using every cold day as an opportunity to make something comforting and satisfying, like this tasty beef pot roast. Is it just me, or should pearl onions be in literally everything?

I just finished season 1 of my new favorite show, Californication. It stars the devastatingly handsome and sexy David Duchovny (yes, of "The truth is out there" fame.) The X-Files is one of my all time favorite shows, and I was apprehensive about seeing Mulder doing anything but hunting for the paranormal and pining over Scully, but this show is great. It's crude, offensive, sad, vulgar, twisted, sexy, and hilarious. I honestly haven't cared for much that he's done except for The X-Files, but I love this. Check it out.

Kitchen!

The original paint in my house was god-awful. We painted the kitchen green, but I really wanted stripes above the stove, a la Ina Garten. Look at that terrible red/yellow combo! And those tacky painted mugs! Yuck!

Here it is today! I took a picture of this area to show you the stripes I just finished painting! I've been wanting these since we painted the kitchen, but Ricky has been so busy. I decided that today was the day, and knocked 'em out this afternoon after work. The whole kitchen is the darker green, just so you know. I can't wait to get new counter tops.
Not too shabby if I do say so myself! I'm pretty proud, go me!
Oh, and how cute is my little chef guy? This was hanging in the kitchen area of my new workplace, and I asked the owner where he got it, because I wanted one. He said I could have it since Friday is my birthday! Hooray! Thanks Chris!

It's a beautiful day for cooking

Today I really felt like making things. When I got home from work, I made this quick apple tart. The crust is my favorite no-roll tart dough, made with macadamia nuts. I tossed the thinly sliced apples with brown sugar, salt, and lemon juice, and then layered them onto the par-baked crust. Once it was done I dusted it with confectioner's sugar, and that was it! Simple and delicious!

I also wanted to make cookies for my new co-workers. While my tart was baking I whipped up some vanilla bean cookie dough, and baked these little beauties off right after I pulled out the tart. I love that these bake in only 8 minutes.
Click on the picture to get the recipe.
Dinner tonight was awesome! Salmon baked in foil packets with lemon, capers, and thyme along with some pan roasted brussels sprouts with almonds.
AND
Butternut Squash and Vanilla Risotto.
Doesn't that sound absurd?! I thought so too, but it was divine! To make it, simmer 4 cups of chicken (or vegetable) stock with a scraped vanilla bean (and the pod) and add chunks of Butternut Squash. Once it's soft, you remove the squash and set it aside. In another pot, cook 1 medium diced onion until translucent. Add 1 1/2 cups Arborio rice and brown. Slowly add the warm stock, discarding the vanilla pod, a cup and a half at a time, allowing it to absorb completely between additions. Once the liquid is all in, add 2 tbsp butter, stir in to melt. Add 1/2 parmigiana reggiano, salt to taste, and the squash. Fold in gently. Serve!

Bananas Foster

I like ice cream. I like bananas. I like caramel. I like Bananas Foster... so I made it into a sundae.

Vanilla ice cream, bananas, homemade caramel, homemade cinnamon whipped cream. Awesome!
My recipe for homemade salted caramel sauce is here at Ever So Sweet.

Buy me this?

I figure now that I'm a secretary I need a sweet Joanie-inspired pen necklace. It's logical.
Off to work!

Sunday always comes too late

Woke up relatively early this morning (8 am) and made breakfast for my sweet husband who decided to do lawn work today. Sausages and scrambled eggs and Welsh Rarebit, or as my sisters and I called it growing up, "Toasted Cheese." We're strange.

I had a headache so I went back to bed, and after about an hour Ricky woke me up with his new friend, a lizard he found in the yard. How he got it to climb onto his hand I will never know. That lizard didn't stay in the house long.

Dinner tonight was a quick, easy Sunday supper. Big bowls of minestrone and some manicotti stuffed with ricotta, mozzarella, and parsley, all baked with some homemade meat sauce (with turkey) and more cheese. I stuffed the manicotti using a disposable pastry bag, which was Ricky's idea. I'll never spoon filling into a noodle again, smart man.

A glimpse into my musical tastes...

CornMazing!

Such a good day! On the way to the corn maze, we took the scenic highway. How nice is it to get to drive along this?

Here we are getting ready to get lost in the corn maze. And by lost I mean not lost, since Ricky is taller than most corn stalks.

Maze entrance. Labyrinth! Dance magic dance!

Here are some random pictures of us being awesome corn-mazers.

I was really excited. Obviously.

I love this picture of Ricky! He's so handsome!


This is Ricky suckin' on a chili dog outside the Tastee Freeze. For all you John Cougar fans out there.
We had Chinese for dinner, and I got some of my favorite red bean buns!

candle flavors and a sleeping kittle

Do you ever smell something and think, "that would probably taste good, too."
That usually happens to me whenever there are candles around, and this time it was a Vanilla Lime one by Yankee Candle.

I've been meaning to make some lime curd, as lemon curd is delicious and I love limes... it made sense. Then I thought that vanilla and lime smells good, so it ought to taste good as well. I gave it a shot. I added some vanilla bean paste along with the butter, and some green food coloring to distinguish it from the lemon curd in the fridge, as lime juice is surprisingly similar in color to lemon juice. It hasn't set up yet, but once it does I'll share a photo of the finished product.

Oh, yeah, so this is how my cat sleeps. She's weird, she's named Gojira (Jira for short) after Godzilla. It's a long story.

Snappa!

Fish tonight! This was my first time making red snapper for Ricky. He really liked it, thank goodness. I seasoned it with olive oil, salt & pepper, smoked paprika, and basil. On the side we had steamed broccoli (I always steam vegetables, why?) and pasta with some smokey tomato sauce (tomatoes, smoked red pepper, capers, anchovies, and cippolini onions.)
Tasty!

Rerun

We eat a lot of curry. I bet if I went through this blog, I'd find several posts about chicken curry. But hey, everyone has to have a stand-by right? Ours just happens to be super spicy Indian food!

Earlier today I blogged about my new favorite shampoo. I thought I'd show you a picture of my hair! Shiny, straight, and behaving!

stove top potpourri!

May I say before this post that I have started another blog, Ever So Sweet. It is devoted solely to baked goods and recipes for said baked goods. If that's your thing, check it out.

I'm cleaning my house today, and as I'm spraying down pillows with Febreze, I think to myself, "I want my house to smell like something yummy, but I'm too busy to bake."
Enter the stove top potpourri idea.
I went through my spice drawer and pulled out everything that smells yummy and autumn-y. Pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, cloves, cinnamon sticks, allspice, nutmeg... and threw a whole bunch into a pot of water set on low heat on my stove top. I sliced an orange and tossed that in too.
After about five minutes the whole front of my house smelled like spices!
So easy, so cheap ($0 to be exact) and so effective!

be a lush

One of my favorite stores in Maastricht was Lush, shown to me by the wonderful Kari. I love love loved this store, and was very sad to leave it behind when we left Germany. Imagine my excitement when I found out that they have US stores, and a website! They have amazing handmade natural bath and body products! I know they seem a tad pricey, but the products last quite a while, with the exception of the perishable ones, and they smell great and are good for you and the environment! Shop Lush USA here.

Shower time

I have curly hair.
Let me correct that. I have huge, unruly, kink-curly hair that tends to frizz uncontrollably when exposed to any of the elements. Any.
Needless to say I change shampoo often. Nothing ever seems to smooth the flyways or add any shine or luster, and I need shine and luster, since I flatiron my hair nearly every day.
So, after years of using something different every time I run out, I think I've finally settled on a shampoo.
It does everything I need it to do, and it smells faintly like marzipan! I use this and the matching conditioner, and along with my Aveda products, my hair has never looked better. That'll show you, Florida humidity.