the babiest.

the absolute end of the carrots.

lindsey asked why i thought parnsips were lacking in comparison to carrots. sugar, i replied. carrots are like candy in my mouth. big fat love.

is this christmas?

so, i did yoga this morning and ate a vegan cookie and came back to the house and had peppermint hot chocolate with shira and took the dog for a hike.

almost christmas.

shira and i apparently only make risotto together. given that it requires one to stand and stir the pot for almost an hour, it's nice to have someone in the kitchen.

having both read the december 2010 bon appetit magazine, we decided on its "meatless main dish" of risotto with butternut squash, leeks, and basil. however, leeks were not to be found and we both had leftover winter squash from the csa. so, it was really winter squash risotto with scallions and basil. we added salt and pepper but mostly followed the recipe. i have no idea why it looks like scrambled eggs in the photo.

delish. especially with some fancy brother thelonious belgian abbey ale.

the smallest.

this is the smallest carrot i have ever seen.
it came in the last CSA share. holy moly.

(yes, i am writing about food-borne illness and eating at the same time. yes, i need a haircut.)

ro-tel, hotel, holiday inn.

today is the day i discovered ro-tel in the grocery stores of NC. 5 kinds. i brought home spicy, obviously.

it is a holiday.

yes, npr.

npr is increasingly teaching me how to make different foods, like maple syrup caramels. maybe when i finish this paper, i will actually make them. thank you, public radio; i should give you some money.

a baked deviation.

so, today was supposed to be my third baked sunday, but the monkey bubble bread required only items that i did not have. and with few people in town, it was never going to be eaten in its entirety.

and then, shira came over and brought a challah. so it was settled: baked french toast. the best thing i've had for breakfast in ages. (yes, still by the bakery baked.)
it calls for a raspberry sauce, but we did it with blueberry. the recipe also said to soak the bread in the egg-milk-cream-vanilla-cinnamon mixture overnight, but we did it for about 20 minutes and it went unharmed.
and i have tons of hazelnuts so i broke them up and added them to the almonds. yes.
i mean, don't you want to eat it now? the above photograph is immediately after it came out of the oven. insane beauty and deliciousness.
like dessert for breakfast. maybe better. (recipe to come.)

i did.

today, i held a warm egg. why was it warm? it had JUST been laid. like i saw the hen sitting there and she got up and there was an egg. so damn awesome.

and then casey let me take a dozen and half of them back to chapel hill for me and shira. it's an eggstravaganza! (yes, i had to go there.)

weeks ago.

i made the nytimes mac n'cheese recipe weeks ago. a fraction of the whole recipe. in my toaster oven. with a little too much cayenne.

years ago, michelle (zoe's mom) emailed me this recipe. she said it would make my heart stop a little. and it's become my favorite. it's delicious. and easy. and probably pretty fattening. i don't mind. it's not like i eat it every day, kids!

right this minute.

this food is absolutely, incredibly delicious: rosemary toast with chevre and a salad of radishes, cucumbers, and carrots with sea salt and olive oil. and a fat tire. a big bottle. (i took my economics exam; i deserve to drink early.)

i tried.

i have rare blood and think i should give it to other people.

i was supposed to do just that this week. in the past, i have been low in iron (not anemic, courtney, just too low to donate) and so i ate LOTS of kale before i went to donate. i ate two tortillas with kale, beans, and goat cheese (not my most creative breakfast). i usually eat yogurt on weekday mornings.

and then?! still too low. totally sucks. mostly for the people who might need it.

in preparation.

this is getting complicated. let's count: there are 2 caseys, 2 alexes, 2 michelles. both caseys have a last name that starts with "w" and both michelles live in new york. there are probably more duplicates but seems as though i am in favor of mentioning caseys and michelles. (additionally, shira has at least 3 friends named amy, 2 in the triangle. we each have a hannah, but she also has an anna and a suzannah. did i mention i am moving in with her? MUCH better things are on the horizon, and more confusion as to which friend is being referenced.)

so, on saturday, casey (who has the hens in his yard) drove me to a million (actually 3) grocery stores plus the liquor store to buy things for the punch. when we came back, i made us some rye toast with cheese and a fried egg. and he put potato chips on top of it! blake and i are huge fans of potato chips IN our sandwiches but never really ventured into the open-face potato chip realm.

maybe because they fall off? no idea. he looks very serious in the photo. a jedi mind trick to keep the chips on top? i hope.

until then.

almost to the end of the semester. SO close, yet so far still: economics final, grading of the 101 exams, an independent study to finish. i'll be done by christmas.

for now, this is what michelle called romantic soup: lentils with greens and tomatoes and carrots and rye croutons.

algonquin punch.

yes, i threw a little party for the policy girls and made algonquin bar punch. casey white made a frozen ice bundt packed with lemons to keep it cold and not diluted.

it was potently delicious. you missed out.

(please excuse my very messy table.)

the last.

a little party this afternoon. this is the final list of things i am going to get in the rain.

eating instead of econ.

first of all, i took 15 pictures using photobooth before i got a decent one.

second, this breakfast is incredible. rye toast with a fried egg (sunny-side up), tomato, avocado, and maille mustard. with cinnamon coffee, the grateful dead, and the beatles.

torchy's tacos.

on tuesday, november 23rd, i went to work with blake. it was very "take your hermana to work day," as i stood in the back of terra burger and drank double strength organic coffee (yes, FROM terra burger) and watched blake do things like play with meat. did i learn much? that's debatable. but the coffee was delicious.
ok, so he wasn't really playing with it, just taking it out of packages. he also cut lettuce. (is his hair in a ponytail? YES.)
i was really excited about all the labels they had for sandwiches and things. they were just so specific. lots of vegetarian-related ones. surprising for a burger joint, huh?
but then, courtney retrieved me and took me to torchy's tacos. torchy's started out as a food truck and now has brick-and-mortar shops all over austin. courtney told me that these tacos were big and not to order too much, especially because we were going to have chips and queso, a lovely part of every healthy breakfast.
the queso was incredible. what did they do it? no idea. but i put in on my taco (egg-potato-cheese) and ate mouthfuls of chips and drank more coffee.

and they gave me 4 sauces for my taco. for one taco! i don't know which ones they were but i ate them. seriously, i could eat tacos all the time. for every meal. i am not sure i would get tired.

i would be a very round girl if i lived in austin with all those tasty food trucks and tacos and sometimes tacos in food trucks. holy hell.

hey, hermano.

what happens when you stay with baby brother for thanksgiving? a six-pack of imperial sugar dr pepper in glass bottles. always the best; i think i drank three during my visit.
*my pet monster obviously likes it, too.

so much basil.

i bought $2 worth of basil in the farmers' market last week. no, the week before. it must've been a couple of pounds. i put it on everything. in my sandwich, my salad, my eggs. i made pesto. it was everywhere.

and super fresh and almost minty. just delicious.
i am a little sad i ate it all. but only a little.

to die for.

week 2 of the baked baking adventure: sweet & salty brownies.
this recipe was incredibly easy, and oh-so-delicious. they took a little longer than indicated, but it might be my oven. i had some extra caramel so i drizzled it over the top of the batch. i am not even a huge fan of caramel but this one is especially light and delectable.

on another note, i am in need of a proper double boiler. i am tired of always being so makeshift.

hanukkah.

it's december. and hanukkah. last night, we got an inch of snow and it stuck. (i really thought that we weren't going to get snow before the kids in new york.)

to celebrate the festival of lights, shira and i made her mama's latkes.
i want to believe these are top secret family recipes, so i am not going to ask for them. but, we made sweet potato ones with scallions and russet potato ones with onions. and it was all lovely and greasy and delicious.
we probably should have consumed a healthy vegetable with this meal. but we really just wanted the latkes. and there was apple sauce. that's got nutrients, right?