Fresh pasta

I called a friend on a whim as I was driving near her house to see if she might want to eat falafel with me in her driveway. Sounds great, she said, but I'm already making pasta. How does that sound? 

Pretty delicious, actually. Tasted pretty delicious, too. She'd made pesto the night before, so my heaping pile of spaghetti was topped with fresh pesto and a generous helping of parmesan. And she sent me home with peppermint bark, on top of that. 

An excellent detour, and nice to have a tiny bit of spontaneity when it's so hard to these days. 

Surprise!

Somehow, I skipped all of November. Oops!

Today, I'm excited that a friend dropped off a surprise - a tote bag she decorated and some baked goods inside. I'll be having muffins for breakfast the next few days, and that sounds delicious. And the bag is lovely. 

Scavenging

I managed to concoct a lasagna tonight out of cottage cheese, radish greens, and the noodles and jar of tomato sauce that had been hanging out in my pantry. It's not my normal recipe, by a long shot. But it was pretty tasty, especially for something that came together without much of a plan. 

Power

Glad I didn't lose power today, as so many did. Some coworkers had to go to the office because there was no electricity at their houses - where we've been working since March. What a concept - having to go to the office as a backup for the first time in ages. I'm sure it would have been nice to see some friendly faces. But the snacks are better at home. 

Dessert

For months, I've been craving rice pudding. I had some leftover rice this weekend and thought, aha! Today will be the day! I stuck some milk in my freezer back in March and finally I would use it to make rice pudding! 

As it turns out, milk takes, like, two days to defrost in the refrigerator. So two days later, I finally made my rice pudding, prioritizing it over dinner because I knew if I waited, it probably wouldn't happen. (There was a lot of leftover rice as it turns out, so it may have been a fried rice and rice pudding kind of evening.)

But now the rice pudding exists and is creamy and delicious and I suspect I'll be making it again very soon. 

Muscadines

Muscadines have been growing on me the past few weeks.

Traditionally, I have liked the word more than the fruit. But my CSA had some good ones, and a friend shared some that she picked.

She handed them over in a box she made and her daughter decorated, and it was super exciting to see how thrilled she was to hand them off.

Plus, I'm getting used to them. They're no concord grapes, but they're not half bad.

This weekend

I watched a movie outside, picked some apples, sat around a fire and talked with friends. If not for the masks and the distance, it might have felt like any other October. It wasn't ideal -- after all, there's still a pandemic -- but it was something.

Apple crisp

I can smell it cooling from the other room, and it smells delicious. 

Baking

Is this a cake with shrimp and mushrooms? Because it sure looks like a cake with shrimp and mushrooms.

My baking has not yet gotten that weird, but I'm glad there's room to grow.

Gifts

I put something in the mail today, and it's nice to know that there's a surprise floating around out there that will hopefully make someone's day a little better.

Smores

I was in the woods this weekend, and built a fire with the help of Tostitos (who knew they were good kindling? The internet did!). A fire naturally requires smores. And having not gotten my fill, I made some over the stove this afternoon, too.

Lunch

Was a tomato sandwich, with a tomato that I grew on foccacia that I baked.

And it was divine.

Apple cider

I had my first glass of the season today. It's just divine.

Surprise

I got to be on the phone with someone I sent something to as it arrived at the front door -- and the confused reaction to the knock, followed by being able to tell them what it was they were being surprised with was really great. (It was ice cream! We should all be surprised with ice cream. As long as there's someone home to get it!)

P.S.

The butter carving was just as amazing as I hoped it would be.

Sugar

While cutting watermelon the other day, my sister mentioned something about pickled rind. It set off a lightbulb. I meant to look into what you could do with watermelon rind! I did a quick search.

The result is this:

It's candied watermelon rind, made over a day and a half.

I don't know that it's worth the effort to make it again -- the texture is good, but it's a little salty from brining and the candied ginger I have has lasted years -- but it's exciting to have remembered to look something up and to create something I haven't before. The taste is growing on me! And I snuck some lemon peel in there, too, so there's a little variety.

If you want to try it yourself, let me know how it goes.

In the oven

A blackberry pound cake, from blackberries I picked and using a recipe I printed out years ago, aspirationally, and am finally making use of.

(It smells great.)

Bounty

I swear I have never had this much food in my refrigerator ever, at any point. It's absurd. And there are so many choices! How grand.

Fruit picking, and the results

Tomatoes

They're getting there!