Monday night is Can't Think of a Clever Pun Night

I used a can of coconut milk and Thai chili paste to make Thai pumpkin soup!





Roasting the pumpkin first softens it so that you can puree it until it's smooth. And of course, topping with the toasted seeds is a must. I also had a massive salad of past-its-prime lettuce that barely clung to life in the fridge while I was absent. Sadly, the arugula went brown and had to be thrown out; I was really looking forward to having arugula after a long hiatus thereof.

I really want to make bread, but I've got all these potatoes at the moment, so baking may have to wait. Unless chocolate chocolate chip cookies are a possibility... hmm... be back later.

Martin 'n' Lewis/Amos 'n' Andy

Pulp Fiction is a fantastic movie, but it introduces a tragically false dichotomy. Why choose between chocolate and vanilla when both are easily available in one baked good?







I was gifted the amazing cookbook in that first picture as an early Chanukah* present and knew that the cookies pictured on the front cover had to be my first stop. The actual recipe calls for white chocolate chips in the chocolate dough half, though; I dislike white chocolate, so I substituted chopped macadamia nuts to excellent effect.

These might have to happen again once I'm back in Manhattan.

*Listen up, yids and goyim: I don't want to see any of this Hannuka/Hanukka/Hannukah business. Chanukah is where it's at. Chanuka is fine if you're grammatically and orthographically virtuous otherwise.

A vegetarian Thanksgiving

Eschewing the concept of a "typical" Thanksgiving--turkey and gravy and what have you--makes constructing a vegetarian Thanksgiving meal much easier. This year's theme was French food. We have:

1. Vichyssoise (thank you, Andy)



2. Roasted vegetable salade niçoise (without the tuna)



3. Roasted asparagus with homemade tarragon mayonnaise (not pictured)

4. Shirred eggs (also not pictured)

5. Rustic boule



6. French apple tart (baked in an American-style pie pan; just call it fusion)



Thank you to Andy's mom for taking the photos while I was running around like a Tofurkey with its head cut off pulling everything together, and thanks be given to all blog readers!

The wrong Murakami

Four bookstores and one library later, and I don't have a copy of The Worm and the Ring, but I do have a copy of In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami, which I have already begun to read. Haruki is winning the Murakami contest so far.

Now, caveat emptor: I picked up a Groupon for this organic produce delivery service called Urban Organic that would give me great-quality produce for next week at a very good price. Unfortunately, the service did not call (as promised) to arrange a delivery time, instead deciding seemingly randomly to deliver the food today. This is unfortunate, as I am leaving for Pittsburgh in the morning and will not be able to reap the benefits of the freshest of the items. I resolved to use some of the greens tonight and have been thoroughly enjoying the walnuts in the box (although, since in the absence of a nutcracker I'm cracking them by squeezing two together, I don't know what I'm going to do when I have only one left).

Upon passing Murray's Cheese Shop and seeing that they had a pre-Thanksgiving sale, I picked up a bit of gorgonzola and then got a pomegranate and persimmon from my favorite fruit stand on the way home. I roasted the last couple cloves of garlic I had and made a warm garlic/Persian yogurt spice/red wine vinaigrette with olive oil and just a touch of sesame oil to give it a little extra nuttiness. I tossed organic romaine with the warm vinaigrette (to wilt it just a little), then topped it with the cheese, fruit, and some chopped walnut. This is a vibrant, intriguing salad for the most steadfast anti-saladarian.





I intend to name this concoction after the college friend who taught me how to seed pomegranates the right (read: Persian) way.

And then a friend of mine fed me queso azul de Valderon. Everything this article says is true. I feel like I've been kicked in the face by rotting leaves, but in a good way. A really good way. Yow.

The Apotheosis of Cookie

All I can say is: Egads!



Take peanut butter.



Add browned butter.



Add grated fresh ginger.



Make cookies.



There. Bow down before the lord your new eminently edible god.

Unoppressive Non-Imperialist Risotto

Did you know...that arborio rice is not necessary for a risotto?

My contents of the fridge comprised: leeks, beets, a carrot, and a half-pound of green beans, and a couple nubbins of cheese. After consulting How to Cook Everything Vegetarian and the Internet, I decided that a. the photos of beet risottos looked like piles of ground-up viscera and b. a barley risotto would be just fine, thank you very much.

I call this creation Whatever's In The Fridge Risotto, To Be Made While Listening To Lectures On Your iPod So That You Are Ostensibly Studying As You Stir And Eaten With Beet Chips. Pithy, I think.

One more day until this exam is over, after which I can bake something delicious and visit the library/a used bookstore. And considering that today I found out there's a bookstore called Unoppressive Non-Imperialist Bargain Books in the West Village, this should be a great trip indeed.

So many "dal" puns, so little time

Hello, curried lentils. It's been awhile.



Which is too bad, because you are so good to eat, particularly with slow-roasted sweet potatoes and sesame- and garlic-roasted green beans.

Internet denizens: Thanksgiving break this year will involve me reading (at least) three books by authors whose work I have never read. No Calvino or Coover, Gaddis or Garcia Marquez, Baxter or Bolano, no, sir! Right now the top three candidates are Muriel Spark, Edward Dahlberg, and Karen Blixen. Any other ideas?

For you ladies and gentlemen in the five boroughs: I would like to do a little pre-Thanksgiving, post-exam baking. Right now, I'm thinking either browned butter peanut butter cookies with fresh grated ginger or dark chocolate brownies. You stand to benefit from either of these. Opinions?