let's eat 'till we pass out from tryptophan!

thanksgiving! one of my favorite holidays! i love all the foods and flavors that make up the thanksgiving feast. turkey, gravy, brussels sprouts, cranberry, chestnuts, sweet potato, and mexican pie! mexican pie may just be a tradition at my thanksgiving :) for as long as i can remember, my family has been celebrating thanksgiving with 4 other brooklyn families. we meet up in a lovely brownstone in carroll gardens, we pot luck and each year we look forward to certain signature dishes. our host prepares the bird and a series of delicious apps. i really look forward to the spinach stuffing puffs every year. that and a glass of white wine is breakfast. i hang out with these boys that i used to play soccer with when i was 5 (simon is the gentle giant in the picture below). we still sit at the 'kids table' even though we are all nearly 30... sometimes people sneak outside pre-dinner for herbal assistance...






this year i was on dessert... as always. i couldn't decide between my orange saffron ricotta pound cake OR pumpkin chocolate chip cookies; so i made both!

ricotta pound cake with orange and saffron: follow this recipe, but also soak some saffron in a few tablespoons of boiling water... add this to the wet mixture before you add the dry ingredients. i also add a bit of cardamom and cinnamon to this recipe. i know i say this all the time, but i think changing recipes to fit your personal tastes should be encouraged... painting outside the lines is FUN.

i made cupcake versions of this recipe just to try it out. you should cook them around 20-25 minutes at the recipe's suggested temp.




i also made these AMAZING pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (totally LOVE this baking blog- joy the baker). i am so in lust with these cookies. i never would have thought that chocolate and pumpkin would go together so well, but the combination (especially when the cookies are warm) is all sorts of earthy/rich/sweet goodness.







the desserts were a hit. this is good news, because i might be selling my baked goods at cafe 457 in park slope! i should probably start promoting this blog. fa realz.

gobble gobble gobble x

the brooklyn flea... dumbo

i love the brooklyn flea! mostly, i'm in it for the food... i mean there are some cool crafts/clothes/jewelry etc, but that stuff is sometimes out of my price range. on the other hand- i always have $5 to spare for a papusa or some asia dog with kimchi! today it was nearly 70 degrees, so Jojo BonBon and i headed to Dumbo, coffee in hand, sunglasses on--- in NOVEMBER. Jojo and i took a long walk around before we decided papusas were the right choice. the tables inside the flea were packed, so we took a walk to the Dumbo park by the water... i really LOVE this park, and have a soft spot for the tobacco factory in the background. Jojo and i grew up in Brooklyn, so i think sometimes we forget how nice it is to take advantage of places like this-- i don't come here enough.

so, i got a chicken and a bean & cheese papusa with cabbage, tomato sauce, jalapeno and sour cream- the works!



it was delicious as always! Jojo and i listened to some lady gaga and solange. we had some good chats and sat in the park until we got kicked out... i love you brooklyn. can't you be 70 degrees every autumn sunday?







also- i made a second batch of the pumpkin cream cookies, but i used a pastry bag to make them look a little 'fancy'... they taste delicious either way. i was mostly looking for an excuse to make them again because i thought they were so yummy.

condiments and cookie sandwiches

you know how you always have left over sauce after ordering in from your favorite take out place... for me that place is a toss up between lemongrass grill and bombay dream. i have to say--- that the biryani from bombay dream is seriously delicious and may induce food coma. i always get some paratha and chutney with any meal. i always have leftover sauce and feel someone guilty just throwing it out. this time i used my leftover sauce to make something for lunch the next day. i had some baby potatoes and an onion.
i chopped them up and tossed them with the tamarind sauce (courtesy of bombay dream), masala spice, salt, pepper, chopped garlic, olive oil, and black sesame seeds. i baked them in the oven at 400 degrees for around 30 minutes.



they were super delicious!

FOR DESSERT...

i came across this recipe on friday and knew that i had to make them! the season has me craving pumpkin and squash all the time. i had almost all the ingredients, so this was going to be an easy sunday baking sesh. i followed the recipe but added a few extra things to make it more to my taste. a bit of maple syrup and clove spice for the cookies and a bit of cinnamon for the cream filling. i am heavily debating eating these all while i watch the season finale of mad men--- some of them just might make it into the office.



the cookies themselves cook super fast and have a similar texture to black and white cookies (yum)- very cake like. the only unpleasant part of this very easy cookie baking experience was that my smoke alarm went off. i think my poor cat gombotz is still recovering. my cookies were not burned (in fact-- perfectly cooked), so the smoke alarm incident remains a mystery. maybe the guys of bored to death can help me out :)

popcorn, marshmallows, chocolate and cinnamon... oh my

happy halloween from sookie stackhouse! one of my favorite days/nights of the year. a chance to dress up, play pranks, watch old horror films, be a little naughty and eat candy... popcorn balls has always been one of my favorite halloween treats. i had never made them before, but i discovered the recipe is almost the same as rice krispie treats. i decided to try adding some chocolate and cinnamon to make them a little more exciting, after all halloween is about sugar overload, so why not go ALL THE WAY.

what you'll need:
half a stick of butter
bag of marshmallows
3 quarts of popcorn
1/4 cup of light brown sugar
1/4 cup hot chocolate mix (cadbury for me)
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/2 cup chocolate chips

in a LARGE pot, cook the butter, sugar and marshmallows. melt them down till you have a big pot of ooey gooey melted marshmallow goodness. after that, turn the heat to low. in a large bag mix the popcorn, hot chocolate mix, cinnamon and chocolate chips. add the bag of 'seasoned' popcorn to the marshmallow goo. stir till well coated. coat your hands with butter and roll the mixture into tightly packed popcorn balls. let cool on wax paper and serve. i added a few smarties for fun.

mahalo! civil liberties fighters collab on calamondin cookies.

i work for a very special organization that i love. we protect civil liberties. we defend those that have no voice. we take on the man. bill o'reilly hates us, we are keeping the human rights on lock, and rachel maddow (LOVE HER) is our friend. also- we have affiliates all over this great big U.S of A! recently, on a trip to hawaii, i got to hang out with our hawaii affiliates. they are super awesome. one affiliate in particular, who always sends sunshine in her emails, also mailed me some delicious calamondin jelly she made herself! i had never tried calamondin. it's sweet and tangy and looks like honey. i have enjoyed it on crackers- but i wanted to attempt baking with the jelly.


HAWAII/NATIONAL COOKIE COLLABORATION EXTRAVAGANZAZAZA!

*also- my co-workers and i watched obama land today- i guess these cookies are also in his honor- son to hawaii!

i used a very basic butter cookie recipe.

i made thumb prints. i added the calamondin jelly, which was sticky (not easy)-- i decided to make a few blueberry jam cookies on a whim.



15 minutes later:



i should also mention i work in an office of culinary savages/foodies/cookie monsters. get ready kids.

squash this!

it's fall, so squash is in season! i plan on making a lot of squash and pumpkin deliciousness in the next few months, but this was my first squash celebration. it's a warm, sweet, gooey, earthy and somewhat healthy dessert. not that i care about that... i mean, i can remember at least one occasion where i had tunnocks for breakfast. to be fair--- manda and i were waiting for a train in st andrews scotland and it was that or cigs. i think i took the healthy road.

your journey to a yummy maple acorn squash bake:

cut squash in half
remove seeds
sprinkle salt
brown sugar (to taste)
maple syrup (to taste- i fill it up good and coat the sides)
spices (cinnamon, clove, nutmeg are what i go for)
place in dish
put a bit of water on the bottom so the skin does not burn
bake at 400 for 1hour 15 minutes.

so easy. and so good. happy fall!

sprouts! by way of brussels.

you know what my mom never forced me to eat as a kid: brussels sprouts. i have discovered my love for them late in life, but now we are more in love than ever. brussels sprouts and chestnuts are one of the dishes i most look forward to at our annual brooklyn heights thanksgiving. these sprouts were a purchase from alice's farm. since they are organic i soaked them for a good while. i cut off the stems and halved them. i then coated them with the following:

salt
pepper
sweet paprika
lemon juice
olive oil

when it comes to ingredients, i say, season to your taste. i LOVE paprika, and probably put in more than most... then again i was raised on hungarian cooking, so i think i have paprika running through my veins at this point.

i baked it in my lovely le creuset casserole dish, which i got at the cooks companion (i love this place!).

i baked it at 400 (because that's what the mahi mahi from trader joes called for) for 20 minutes (give or take a few).

mmmmmmhmmm! brussels sprouts! where have you been all my life...