use real butter

Recipe: roasted beet, chèvre, hazelnut salad with blood oranges

I’ve been horizontal for the past two days with a blasted flu (not H1N1 as everyone seems to assume). I came down with it during my trip to California last week when we were taking care of stuff for my grandma. Sigh. No good deed goes unpunished. Today, I can finally sit upright for more than a few minutes at a time without passing out.

So I think some of you might be wondering who won the CHEFS gift card? Jeremy and Kaweah had a lot of fun picking the winner yesterday. I was in and out of consciousness while Jeremy was hard at work in the kitchen. He finally presented me with a handful of dog treats etched with a number 0-9 on each one… in binary. Somehow this was more exciting to Jeremy. As long as he’s happy… Kaweah followed him around like a little black shadow, anxious to do her part (that is, to eat the treats).

your nibbly kibbly chances of winning

our dedicated employee

Per the usual routine, we set out all ten digits and recorded the first number she ate. Jeremy is quite practiced at preventing Kaweah from mowing through all ten at once (she’s a quick one, that dog). We replaced the devoured digit with a new one and reshuffled the biscuits. Binary, hexidecimal – they’re all delicious to Kaweah. 3… 0…

there goes the 5

Congratulations to Wend! You were comment #305 and you win the $100 CHEFS gift card! I’ll be emailing you to get your snail mail address so CHEFS can ship it to you right away.

But wait, there’s more! I have a $25 CHEFS gift card from the BlogHer Food conference back in September that I never used. A $25 card means only one thing – I’m going to spend way more than $25… I’d rather give that card to one of you. So Jeremy took the winning number 305 as a seed for a random number selection (Kaweah had eaten plenty for the day) and we have #33 – Paula! Congratulations to Paula! I’ll contact you shortly to get your mailing address too.

So this here flu has played havoc with my holiday schedule and I’m left digging around in the archives for something to share. I can only handle thinking about holiday fare for a day or two and then my brain revolts. The cookies, the sweets, the large cooked animals, the cream, the starches, the fat – they make me so sleepy. I find greens and citrus to be light and refreshing. Salads leave me feeling recharged and ready to spring to action!

some golden beets

a few blood oranges

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: pomegranate chocolate dessert

I thought I might find a little time to do some festive baking, but it seems that I won’t have much time this season for a variety of reasons. There has been one recipe I’ve been wanting to try out for a couple of months now ever since pomegranates arrived in our markets. Pomegranate seeds are little jewels. We have five large pomegranates sitting on our counter right now. I tend to stock up on them because Jeremy can put away quite a few. My enjoyment of pomegranate seeds increased tenfold several years ago when I learned I could EAT the crunchy center. How about that?

the glamour girl of the fruit world

boozy version

PAMA had sent me a bottle of their pomegranate liqueur last month to inspire and shoehorn me out of this creative funk I’ve been wallowing in. Well, I suppose lack of time and funk are not the same thing, but I have noticed that lack of time can be an inspiration-killer. Jeremy’s immediate reaction was pomegranate martini! Oy, martinis and I have a checkered past. I thought something more tame like a dessert, was in order.

had to try making pomegranate molasses

cutting the cake bases

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: candied calamansi limes

There is so much going on here at urb and the holidays are poised just around the corner like a prank waiting to smack me in the face. It’s GREAT! Who doesn’t love being a frenzied mess? I get so much more done that way. Let’s quit with the chit chat and get to brass tacks.

this one is from the heart
Giveaways here, giveaways there. I wasn’t planning on a giveaway right now because we have a big one coming up to celebrate a certain black dog’s birthday. However, with Thanksgiving around the corner I’ve been thinking less about planning a giant meal (um, I still don’t know what we’re having for dinner and I’m not really caring at this point) and thinking more about what I’m thankful for. After this last trip to California where I sat in the back of the bus with some of my favorite food bloggers and talked about… BLOGGING, I was saddened to hear about the hateful comments and emails these fine people occasionally receive. In general, food blog readers are quite supportive. I have to say I felt a warm glow inside when I thought about my readers – you guys. I’m thankful that I have this awesome online community of fun, witty, creative, and caring people. And because you give me warm fuzzies, I’d like to give you a warm fuzzy in return.

one i made for katie in manos del uruguay wool (sage multi colorway)

Everything I’ve given away on the blog has been out of my pocket thus far. Today, I’m announcing a little giveaway that is from my pocket, my hands, and my heart. It’s a scarf. I haven’t made it yet! That’s because I want YOU to pick the colorway of the yarn. I’ve already selected the pattern: My So Called Scarf because um… it has to be something that I can actually knit and it’s a pattern that works for a man (all two of you) or a woman. Even if you don’t want a scarf, it makes a lovely gift for someone else. The winner will get to select one of these gorgeous yarns. I recommend choosing a multi (variegated) yarn because it looks particularly nice with the pattern. So here are the rules, kiddos:

1) Leave a comment on this post and share what Thanksgiving is about to you. Even if you don’t celebrate Yankee Thanksgiving, what does it mean to you? No novels, please :)

2) You have until midnight Mountain Standard Time (GMT minus 7 hours) on Wednesday, November 25th to enter (so 12:01 am will be Thanksgiving Day here).

3) Multiple comments from same person will be disqualified.

4) The winner will be selected at Crazy Random by The Dog and The Astrophysicist and announced on Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 2009.

5) I will ship worldwide.

6) Good luck!

Not too long ago, my dear friends Todd and Diane of White on Rice Couple shipped me a package of sharp objects I couldn’t fly home with from BlogHer Food 09. They included several precious fruits from their yard in the care package. [Okay, Diane told me last week that the passion fruits were bought because their passion fruit vines weren’t producing much – this does not diminish my gratitude one iota.] I ate the dragonfruits, froze the passion fruit pulp, and then what to do with those calamansi limes?

remember these?

i like that the lime is orange

**Jump for more butter**