use real butter

Recipe: roasted parsnip purée

I took a much needed break from posting after NaBloWriMo ended. I realize a lot of people are blogging daily for their variant of NaBloWriMo this month. I have absolutely no desire to do that for a second month. Blogging takes a certain amount of time which I permit because I enjoy it. When I posted daily, I not only didn’t enjoy it, I began to loathe it. My two other blogs fell into neglect because of the daily posting. Clearly, it tipped the scales into the “blogging as sucky obligation” camp. I maintain two philosophies with regard to this blog:

1) I blog for myself. (Anyone else who comes along for the ride is welcome as long as they aren’t an asshole about it.)
2) Life comes before the blog.

I’m not sure I’ll be doing it again next year unless I find myself with an enormous amount of free time and… that will never happen.

Jeremy and I drove home from New Mexico on Sunday under sunny skies. We stopped at Trader Joes in Santa Fe, hunted for Mexican food near the border with Colorado, and spotted several dozen antelope on the plains. Sunday was also our “smoochiversary” or our “I’m glad I met you” day. Call it what you will, it has been 17 years. I consider myself fortunate for every day I spend with Jeremy. I could not have asked for a better partner in life. We had lunch in Trinidad, Colorado. I don’t know what it is about that border between the two states, it’s like the border between good spicy food you can taste (NM) and Mexican food that is as bland and flat as a Swedish cracker (CO).

don’t be fooled: looks good, tastes like nothing much

Tami and Helen were wondering why I hadn’t been on Twitter much of late. It never fails, but the autumn months seem to be the busiest ones. When I say busy, I mean work, travel, and fun. Last night was muy fun.

you got it: community night at the kitchen

amazingly good: rabbit leg confit with chanterelle mushrooms

We were joined by a familiar crew of friends and had a terrific time full of laughter, stories, plans, and incredible food. As we stood outside of the restaurant, saying our very long good-byes, Luke told me, “I feel so full. About the same as when I had dinner at your place last time!” The difference between dinner last time and dinner at Community Night was that I didn’t have to cook at Community Night and could spend my time with my favorite people. But Luke’s comment made me remember that I still had a recipe to share from the dinner party we threw last month.

parsnips

peeled

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: rum raisin ice cream

NaBlo-Freaking-WriMo day 21.

Okay, it’s not actually NaBlo-Freaking-WriMo, but that’s how I’m feeling about it. [Oh! Please don’t forget to vote for my charity on the Good Bite/Quaker Oats video competition – clicky clicky on the linky linky. Look for Cherries Jubilee and help Farm to School win $10,000. Thank you!] Present Me wants to go back and smack Past Me upside the head for signing on because far too many things are falling into the neglect pile. Well, it’s time for a recipe so I’ll quit with the chit chat and git-a-goin’.

I don’t care what time of year it is, it is never too cold for ice cream. Boozy ice creams are particularly welcome during the winter holiday months. Cream and booze – so festive! I make a lot of ice cream because it is my favorite way to use up all of those egg yolks. I don’t tend to indulge much though… tummy aches. I serve the ice cream to dinner guests or I’ll assign Jeremy a couple of flavors to finish so I can clear the freezer for more ice cream. But there are a few flavors that I have a little love affair with: pralines and cream, butter pecan, and rum raisin.

that’s right, rum

four yolkie dokies

straining the custard

stirring in the cream

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: lobster vols-au-vent

**I’m not really here, I’m in San Francisco yukking it up with all of the food bloggers at the Blogher Food conference. If I’m in the hotel room geeking out, then I’ll post some pictures. If I’m with Helen getting lit on cocktails, then I’m not in any shape to post any pictures anyway!**

Roll the tape, Harry! [Who is Harry? I dunno… it’s late.]

I made doubly sure I did not miss this month’s Daring Bakers challenge because I had an opportunity to recreate a favorite dish I enjoyed as a kid in a fancy pantsy restaurant. So there ya go!

the daring bakers do it ninja style!

And the official line is: The September 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

Did I mention how much I adore these two women: Lis of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice? Well I do. They are the founders of the Daring Bakers (Daring Anythings) – and I bow to their awesomeness.

So let’s hop to it! Our challenge this month was to make vols-au-vent pastries – savory or sweet. I barely had time to brush my teeth in the mornings, so there was only one option for me – savory. When I was little, I ordered lobster vols-au-vent at a restaurant (probably the Williamsburg Inn). It was heavenly. Flaky puff pastry drenched in a creamy sauce with lumps of tender, sweet lobster meat. Never thought to make it myself, just never occurred to me until I saw this month’s challenge. We’ve made puff pastry once before (Danish Braids) but this was a little different and… I love homemade puff pastry. Store bought puff pastry leaves this crazy horrid film all over my mouth because they use some sort of fake fatty compound – I don’t know what it is, but it’s disgusting. I hate eating it because I feel like I just sucked a coating of wax inside my mouth. So, when the DBs say “Make puff pastry!” I say, “Yes, Sergeant!”

score the dough

fold the rolled out dough around the butter

**Jump for more butter**