Halloween Pasta!

Don’t panic.  Open your mind.

This pasta is indeed black.

Does it make you feel better if I tell you that it’s not dyed with artificial colors?

How about if I tell you that it’s colored with squid ink?

(…still there?  I promise it doesn’t taste like squid!)

Roasted Eggplant and Red Pepper Soup

You know what I find most challenging about blogging?  It’s not coming up with ideas of what to make.  My mind is swimming with them, so it’s just a matter of making a decision (says the girl who is notoriously indecisive).  Uploading pictures is a bit time consuming, but with that, it’s picking which ones to use (more decisions…).  Still, I don’t stress so much about that.

What I do struggle with is the words.  What the heck do you say about food that hasn’t already been said?  With all the blogs I read daily, I’m amazed with how many just seem to have a gift and love for writing.  I am not one of those people.  In school, I absolutely loathed writing papers, and they would literally paralyze me with fear and stress.   We’re talking massive procrastinating, all-nighters, and sobbing fits…yes, tears, people!  So why in the world have I made this a hobby?  I mean, writing and making decisions??  Answer: I’m possibly a little bit crazy.

Writing for this is entirely different, though.  I assure you that I am not shedding tears over composing blog posts! 

Chai-Spiced Snickerdoodles

So, it’s fall, I hear…  It is cooler here in south Texas than it was a couple months ago, but not exactly sweater weather (mid-80s, anyone?).  That said, I have brought out my hoodie for the occasional slightly chilly morning or evening.

Chai is always something that makes me think of fall and winter.  Doesn’t it seem weird to drink it in early summer, or is that just me?  I actually stopped ordering chai lattes a few years ago because they began tasting too sweet.  Turns out that maybe that’s just at a certain large coffee franchise…last week, I tried a sip of my friend’s chai latte at a local coffee shop, and liked it!

I guess that sip is what inspired these cookies.

Vegan Avocado Lime Shake

I love really simple things that turn out to be really tasty.  If you’re doubting the tastiness of this shake, fear not!

Yes, you would be drinking an avocado. Yes, it looks like liquid guac.

But the flavor is awesome!! 

Ginger and Vanilla Pear Tarte Tatin with Chocolate Puff Pastry

I ain’t gonna lie.  I lost a little sleep over this thing.

That’s part of the challenge with desserts like cakes, pies, and tarts: you can’t sample them to make sure they taste okay!  Wahhh.  It’s probably a good idea to do a test run on them, but when you don’t have much money to spare, that’s not always an option.

That was definitely the case with this tarte tatin, especially because puff pastry is so expensive!  (I am well aware that it’s definitely worth it, though!)  I noticed a few weeks ago that Dufour now makes chocolate (!!!) puff pastry.  Having only heard rave reviews about their original puff pastry, I was very intrigued.  So intrigued, in fact, that I just skipped over the regular stuff and went straight for the chocolate!

Canadian Thanksgiving!

I’m not Canadian.  However, while on my trip to New Zealand, most people guessed that I was from there, mainly because I didn’t seem American?   I am super quiet, not that Canadians are stereotypically quiet, but I guess Americans have a reputation for being on the loud side…  Those who did guess that I was from the US often assumed California, but never Texas (“Where’s your accent??”).  It quickly became a fun game for me when people asked!

Anyway, why a post about Canadian Thanksgiving?  Well, three friends and I celebrated it yesterday!  None of them are Canadian either (in fact, one is from NZ!), but my friend Jill did live in Montreal recently for school and work.   She hosted it and it was a nice little get-together!   Talk about a vegetarian feast…

Spicy Brownies

Oh, my.  I’ve been experimenting again.  Once you start, there seems to be no turning back!

This didn’t start off as an experimental idea, though.  I found this recipe in a Moosewood cookbook, and it’s almost identical to Mark Bittman’s brownies, which I’ve mentioned before.  The only difference is that Moosewood calls for brown sugar instead of white, but they both claim to be originally from an old recipe somewhere else.

Initially, I was going to add peanut butter chips to half and white chocolate chips to the other half.  Then I thought of cinnamon chips, which is when my mind started going into an over creative mode.  You see, I had an orchestra audition on Monday, and when I have to practice a lot, I start thinking about things I would rather bake instead.  Not feeling very confident with the possible outcome, I was planning to bake these after I got back from the audition as a comforting activity and treat.