use real butter

Recipe: pasta carbonara

The other day as I was wrapping up a product shoot, I noticed Kaweah lying on the floor next to a light stand, looking bored. I walked over to stroke her silky ears and she casually lifted her front paw asking for a belly rub. Kaweah was in a mellow mood, which used to be a rare thing but is now the norm. Instead of putting the studio gear away, I pulled the background down to the floor and coaxed the dog over with treats. I need to remind myself to do this more often while she’s still with us. It’s so easy to get busy and tell yourself that you’ll do it later, and then one day… later is just too late.

she reminds me of a plush toy sometimes

kaweah got bored

the half-bambi

We took care of house things on Saturday which involved lots of running up and down the stairs to do laundry, to seal the driveway before the next snow storm, to consolidate our recycling and trash to take to the dump, to move our deck furniture into the basement until summer. That sort of house stuff. Kaweah, in her old age, no longer likes hearing loud sounds (despite being mostly deaf). She also dislikes seeing furniture or large appliances moved about. And it makes her nervous when we go in and out of a room too much. So after getting wigged out for most of Saturday and hiding in the office, she finally emerged when I started making dinner.

pasta carbonara: linguine, olive oil, pepper, parmigiano-reggiano, eggs, pancetta, salt

Yes, leave it to cured pork (or any meat) to pique Kaweah’s interest. Truth be told, I was interested too. I’ve never made pasta carbonara before. It’s something I have seen and heard praises about for eons, but I had never even tasted it. Pasta carbonara had been sitting on a long list of dishes I wanted to make and/or try. I had no idea it was so simple.

dice the pancetta

grate the cheese

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: baked chocolate doughnuts

There is a big bowl of chocolate candies sitting on our kitchen counter. We didn’t get a single trick-or-treater this year. I mean, we don’t typically get very many kids hoofing it up to our house, but we’ve had as many as a dozen on Halloweens past. It doesn’t help that it was cold and windy. I like Halloween so very much for a lot of reasons. First off, it’s a no guilt holiday (for me) that doesn’t involve obligation, travel, or cooking a massive meal. Secondly, it’s FUN and creative and also a little scary! But it’s not TOO scary because little kids are involved, and that’s good because I can pretty much handle “little kid” levels of scary. Thirdly – it is the anniversary of our first date, followed by November 1st, our smoochiversary.

20 years ago on the shores of the olympic peninsula

Jeremy and I have been together for 21 years, which is essentially half of my life… but all of my heart. He is the very best person I have ever known. And when the very best person you have ever known likes chocolate and cake and doughnuts, it’s absolutely appropriate to make chocolate cake doughnuts, don’t you think?

vanilla, brown sugar, cocoa, baking soda, salt, butter, eggs, flour, buttermilk

flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt

mix the dry ingredients together

Every time I’ve made doughnuts in the past, I have fried them. I think fried dough is one of the perks of being human. We have opposable thumbs, we can make doughnuts. But deep frying stuff is a pain in the ass unless you have a deep fryer, which I don’t want to own. A few weeks ago, I finally broke down and purchased doughnut pans. I usually cringe at the thought of acquiring such task-specific bakeware, but figured I could get some good mileage out of these pans if the baked doughnuts were a success.

adding buttermilk to the brown sugar, vanilla, eggs

whisk in melted butter

combine the wet and dry ingredients

the batter should be thick and smooth

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: frozen grapes

Guys, we need to talk. Have you heard of Holiday grapes? I saw them last week at Whole Foods. I tend to be particular about grapes. I like them to be sweet, crisp, juicy, and preferably without seeds – but I’ll make an exception for the seeds if everything else makes the grade. I gently squeezed one of the giant round grapes between my fingers, surprised at the firmness. I plucked one off and popped it in my mouth. Delightful! Since then, I’ve purchased several pounds of this variety. Apparently they are typically available from mid-October to early November. That means now. That means – get ye to the market and find yourself some Holiday grapes.

holiday red seedless grapes

The check out guy scanned the grapes and then said, “You know what I love to do with these? I put the whole thing in the freezer and snack on frozen grapes. It’s so good!” I’d never frozen grapes before, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to try this with such precious, lovely and expensive grapes. When I got home, I plucked three from the stem, washed them, and popped them into the freezer.

give them a wash

pat dry

**Jump for more butter**