Cranberry Walnut Pumpkin Spice Muffins

I was feeling much better yesterday evening, thanks to all the cold medicine I've been taking. While I was waiting for Amanda to get home from work I did a brief clean out of the fridge and discovered a bag of fresh cranberries I had bought but not used over the last few weeks.

I discarded the berries that had become squishy and rotten, but I had an overwhelming number left. I didn't feel like cranberry sauce/relish and I wasn't sure what else to do with them. I chatted online with Erica (former roommate/current graduate student/baking goddess) who suggested rolling them in confectioners sugar and drying them. Kevin (co-worker/vegetarian cooking master) was stranded in Indianapolis due to the weather and suggested a vegan pumpkin muffin recipe he had used.

As it turned out I had a leftover can of pumpkin puree in my cabinet, along with some chopped walnuts from Thanksgiving. I figured I could spruce up these muffins a bit and they'd be a nice, relatively healthy (compared to some of the things we've all eaten the last few weeks) treat to share with people post-holiday.

Cranberry Walnut Pumpkin Spice Muffins

1 3/4 cups flour

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1 can pureed pumpkin

1/2 cup soy milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

2/3 cup fresh cranberries, halved

This is a sift dry ingredients together in one bowl, mix wet ingredients together in another bowl kind of recipe. Add wet to dry, then mix in the cranberries and walnuts (see photo above).

Fill the muffin cups 2/3 way full (these do puff up, so overfilling them is a bad idea). Amanda had bought these cute blue and yellow silicon muffin wrappers for a dollar (!) at Target and I've been excited to use them. (See below.)

Bake on 350 degrees for 20 minutes (may take less in a gas oven, my electric one seems to take a bit longer to bake everything).

They turned out really beautifully, a little moist (I suspect a whole can of pumpkin puree was too much).

Here they are "naked". I snacked on them last night (and I've had one so far this morning). I will be passing some along to Ashley today, I think we're going to explore the Botanical Gardens since the weather is decent.

Here's to feeling better! And happy eating!

-Robin-

Nothing Says the Holidays like the Flu

I love my roommate Amanda. I do not - however - love her germs. I woke up Wednesday morning excited about my four days off (from both jobs) when I noticed that: I couldn't breathe out of my face.

My symptoms increased throughout the course of the day to: sinus headache, sore throat, upset stomach, coughing, sneezing, running nose, and terrible body aches - aka the classic flu. From Amanda to me, with love, right before we went to my dear sweet grandmother's for Christmas eve.

I went down to my grandmother's (with my brother and Amanda) and we were loaded up with food and goodies. Including a new onion chopper (!) and a salad spinner. And Target gift cards - the greatest gift anyone can give me.

So I came home and have spent most the last 48 hours in bed, feeling like death, ingesting large amounts of cold medicine, watching 30 Rock on Netflix, and not wanting to eat.

That's the worst part of this - I'm not hungry! Oatmeal has been my friend, along with some fruit that I've forced down chased by warm tea.

I'm feeling better now, so I'm trying to eat. Luckily I made a Broccoli Chickpea Casserole earlier this week (recipe/photo below) so all I have to do is reheat for some hearty and healthy goodness.

Needless to say, this black plague forced my idea of two grand birthday cakes for the guy I am not-so-secretly in adoration of to a screeching halt. So I improvised. I had a box of brownie mix and a bunch of Snickers fun size bars (which were originally intended for his cake). So he got Snickers brownies for his first birthday treat this week.


I cut the fun sized Snickers up into 6 pieces each and sprinkled them on top of the brownie mix once it was already in the pan.

Pre-baking shot. Post-baking was delicious (apparently) but not terribly visually-appealing as the Snickers sort of melted into pools across the brownies in a strange, but tasty way.

Here is my saving grace of the week (my foresight is superb apparently):

Broccoli Chickpea Casserole

3 cans of chick peas, rinsed/drained

1/2 large onion, sliced

2 large carrots, grated

1 head of broccoli, cut into small florets

1/2 cup of bread crumbs

3 tbls olive oil

1 cup vegetable broth

1 teaspoon salt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Mash the chickpeas in a large bowl using a potato masher. Add the onion, carrots, and broccoli and mix well. Then add the bread crumbs and olive oil. Add the vegetable stock and salt. Mix everything together (by hand seems to work the best).

Transfer the mixture into a glass baking dish and press it down firmly.

Cover the mixture with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Then uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes.

Still delicious, even after a few days in the fridge.

Here's hoping everyone had a healthy holiday and that the worst of this flu is behind us!

Happy Eating!

-Robin-

Issa Was Here

Happy Holidays from the ladies at the UCC! Biz should make an appearance soon while she's home (in Pittsburgh) to spend Christmas with her family before heading back to Dublin, so get ready! I've been busy getting gifts, mailing everything, and baking cookies for Hanukkah/ Christmas/ the New Year.

Here is what Amanda and I got Nathan (Amanda's little brother/ one of my favorite cooks):

Can you be jealous of a gift you got someone else? I am. I want the Flavor Bible too.

This is what our dining room looks like right now ... kinda scary ...

Our neighbor Amalea (Otto's mom!) gave us a poinsettia, which we are using to decorate our liquor shelf.

Amanda's mom Julie (Xango seller/ food sampler extraordinaire) mailed us a Christmas tree from Boise, Idaho along with decorations for our apartment since Amanda won't be home until January to celebrate with her family.

So I've been baking. And not baking. The "cookie" recipe that follows are no-bake cookies. Consider them a Coastal version of the Mid-western "no bakes" Kevin and my other middle American friends have been teaching my urban Eastern self about recently. These have been a holiday favorite of mine for a few years. They're incredibly simple to make, they go in the freezer, and everyone loves them.

Chocolate Cranberry Crisps

1 1/2 cups of rice krisipies cereal
12 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup chopped almonds
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the rice cereal, cranberries, almonds, and vanilla extract. In a microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips and stir until smooth. Pour the melted chocolate into the mixing bowl and quickly mix so that the chocolate coats the cereal mixture. On a baking sheet, place a sheet of wax paper. Using two spoons, spoon out the mixture and plop it onto the wax paper. Once the wax paper is full of little gooey blobs of chocolate, put the baking sheet into the freezer for 10 minutes or so that the cookies can set. Once the cookies are set you can pull them off the wax paper pretty easily. I wrapped a batch up for Andy's parents (who I adore!).

I'm sure there will be many more holiday posts coming up. I will probably do a little something festive for Hannukah this week and I will be dividing my Christmas between my grandmother's and Ashley's. I am also gearing up to make two birthday cakes (!) for one very special person and for a low-key New Years that will involve helping Ashley recover from surgery.

For everyone reading this - Have a very Happy Hannukah, a very Merry Christmas, and a Safe and Healthy New Year!

Love & Happy Eating!

-Robin-

The Last 3 Quince

You're sick of me talking about quince, aren't you? Well, as of now, I'm out of quince. : (

My last three quince were used today to make a peach quince pie for Colin, who, like everyone else I know - has never had a quince.

Andy, when he was visiting in September (before he moved here in November!) brought me peaches that were home-jarred. I've been saving the jar for something special and today seemed like the perfect opportunity with Colin here to make him a treat. So I made him a peach quince pie. This is a variation on the quince blackberry pie I made for Andy and his father Tim a month or so ago. I used the other frozen pie crust had saved from that adventure.

I also took a recipe that I LOVE from a copy of Cook's Illustrated that I pour over at Andy's today before lunch. The recipe is for a better crumbly topping and oh, let me tell you - it is loads better than the toppings I've been making.

Peach Quince Pie

1 jar of wonderfully sweet summer peaches, canned by a good friend from the country

3 quince, peeled, cored, and chopped into flat pieces

1 pre-made pie crust

3/4 cup chopped walnuts (although other nuts- like almonds would work well)

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

4 tablespoons white sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cloves

Pinch of table salt

5 tablespoons margarine, melted and cooled

1 teaspoon corn starch

2 teaspoons lemon juice

To Do:

Poke holes in the pie crust and bake for about 10 minutes so it gets brown.

Arrange the peaches across the bottom of the pie crust in a pretty design.

In a pot, poach the quince (I put in a little honey and vanilla extract) and cook them until they get soft. Drain them. [I clearly didn't drain them enough, because the inside of my pie was a warmy, gooey mess. Which, frankly, I'm okay with, but some people like their food to stay together a bit more.]

In a bowl, combine the nuts, flour, spices, brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons (half) the white sugar. Pour the cooled melted margarine over the mixture and mix (hands work best) so it makes a wet sand texture.

In another bowl, mix the other 2 tablespoons of white sugar, the corn starch, lemon juice, and punch of salt. Toss the quince in this mixture before pouring them over the peaches.

Crumble the topping over the quince and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or so. Basically, bake the pie until the top is crunchy and everything is hot. Your kitchen is going to smell amazing.

Colin really enjoyed the pie. Andy got a text message about it and he's coming over later (before we all venture off to Ashley's housewarming party). The pie didn't stay together very well, and I could take or leave the crust (mostly leave). This would make a great cobbler and is an excellent idea for apples, pears, etc.

Now I just need to figure out what to do with the box of oranges that arrived fresh from a Florida grove from my grandparents yesterday...

Happy Eating!

-Robin-

Vegan Portuguese Kale Stew

My good friend Colin is making a 10 day visit to the East Coast. In his honor, I had our mutual friends over for dinner on Thursday. Andy brought the bread, Caitlin and Ashley brought the wine and apple crisp for dessert. I was in charge of "dinner". Soup/stew is generally a good call with a large crowd (there were 6 of us for dinner).

I was leaning towards making my traditional winter vegetable soup, but I realized I had made it for the break-fast on Yom Kippur, so I wanted to branch out and make a new hearty stew for everyone to try.

I had some vegetarian chorizo in the fridge, which I used at the inspiration for this stew. I picked up the kale and turnip at the organic market by my house, but the rest was found bits from my kitchen.

Vegan Portuguese Kale Stew

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1/2 cup diced onion

1 large diced turnip

3 large diced carrots

1 bunch kale, stemmed and chopped

4 soy chorizo sausages, chopped

3 bay leaves

3 tablespoons parsley

2 tablespoons thyme

6 cups vegetable stock

1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

3 red potatoes, diced

Heat the olive oil. Add the garlic, onion, turnip, and carrots. Heat for 5 minutes, then add the chopped chorizo.

Add the stock over the vegetables. Then add the spices and potatoes. Cook for about 20 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.

Add the beans and the kale, a handful at a time until the bunch is incorporated into the stew.

Salt and pepper to taste.


This stew was amazing. It made 8 good servings, because Andy had seconds (no judgement there! I take it as a compliment!) and I had one leftover for lunch the next day.

The colors were amazing and it made me feel good to eat it (as in I knew I was eating really healthy and it tasted great). I will be making this stew part of my recipe book, I think it will be making repeat performances a lot this weekend.

I'm sure I'll be cooking more this week for Colin while he's here, so expect more hearty meals!

Happy Eating!

-Robin-

Smurf Cookies

My coworker Kerri is leaving the hotel for a sweet State Department job (this a very DC story). Kerri hearts cookies, so for her going away last week I edited my standard chocolate chip cookie recipe especially for her.


Blueberry Chocolate Chip Almond Cookies (Smurf Cookies)

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) margarine, softened (I used Earth Balance)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Egg replacer for 2 large eggs
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts (I used almonds)
1 cup wild blueberries (I used Trader Joe's frozen organic)


To Do:

Mix flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl.

Beat margarine, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add egg replacer and beat.

Gradually mix in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips, nuts, and blueberries.

Use a large spoon and you can fit about 12 on a cookie sheet (four rows of three).

Bake on 375 degrees for about 10 minutes.


This recipe makes a lot (around 50?) cookies. They're really soft and would probably hold up better with real eggs and butter, but were delicious vegan. Kerri (and everyone else) loved them. And they were really cute and blue.

I'm sure there will be many variations of this to come.

Happy Eating!

-Robin-

No Leftovers & Quince Pancakes

Luckily I was able to give away a significant amount of the leftovers from Thanksgiving as people were leaving Thursday night. While I did pig out on the rest of the mashed potatoes and carrot cake on Friday, my gorging didn't last all weekend.

Now that my kitchen ad fridge are back to a manageable level of cleanliness and order, I am going to start cooking for this week. We have a special guest visiting for a weekish from Minnesota, my dear friend Colin. We've dragged him off the Range for some pre-holiday fun. So expect posts involving him over the next few weeks.



I bought 6 quince you might remember a few weeks ago at the farmers market. One of them went into my stuffing for Thanksgiving and the other five served as part of my table centerpiece. This morning two of those wound up in some very thick pancakes.

I used my standby pancake recipe, but jazzed it up a bit.


Quince Pancakes

2 quince
3 cups water
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sugar

1 1/4 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons margarine
1 cup water*

1. Wash and peel the quince. Core them and dice into small bite-sized pieces.
2. In a pot, add the cinnamon stick, 1/2 cup of sugar, and the vanilla extract to three cups of water. Dissolve the sugar and add the diced quince.
3. Poach the quince until they are tender.
4. In a mixing bowl combine the dry pancake ingredients (flour through salt).
5. Pull the quince out of the water, but don't drain the water.
*I used the water from poaching the quince for the pancake batter. You can use just a regular cup of water or soy/cow milk if you want.
6. Add the margarine and incorporate until batter is ready.
7. Mix in the quince.
8. Fry 'em up in a nice hot pan doused in cooking spray. (Note: I reapplied the cooking spray after each pancake to prevent sticking and that seemed to work).

This recipe made 5 HUGE pancakes. Of which Amanda and I only ate one each and are saving the rest for lazy breakfast the rest of the week.

I think I'll be making cookies and perhaps hosting a small dinner party later this week, so expect some fun posts soon!

In the meantime, happy eating!

-Robin-

A Turkey for Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I wound up hostessing dinner for seven and dessert for ten, all co-workers and friends. I got up yesterday morning and baked the stuffing and Turkish-style roasted vegetables first.

The Stuffing

I used pre-made bread cubes, a mixture of corn and white bread
1 quince, peeled, cored, and chopped
1/2 white onion, chopped
2/3 cup golden raisins
2/3 cup dried cranberries
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
4 cups vegetable stock
1/3 cup margarine (I used Earth Balance)
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon pepper
1 tablespoon rosemary
1 tablespoon sage

1. Peel, core, and chop the quince. Toss it in a pot of boiling water to soften.
2. Meanwhile, in another pot, heat the vegetable stock, melt the margarine into it and add the spices.
3. In large pan, combine the bread cubes, onion, raisins, cranberries, and walnuts.
4. When the quince pieces are soften, add them to the dry stuffing ingredients in the pan and toss.
5. Pour the wet mixture over the stuffing and toss until everything is combined.

Cook on 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.

Turkish-style Roasted Vegetables*

2 large parsnips
3 large carrots
4 large red potatoes
5 1/2 head of cauliflower
1/3-1/2 cup of olive oil
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon pepper

*The only reason I call these "Turkish-style" is because this is what my Turkish host mother used to make for me.

1. Peel the parsnips and carrots, dice.
2. Wash the potatoes, but leave the skin on for color. Dice.
3. Dice up the cauliflower.
4. Put all the winter vegetables into a large baking dish and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Bake at 350 degrees until the vegetables are soft, usually 30-45 minutes.

After I made the stuffing and the vegetables, I turned my attention to the turkey.

Now, I'm a vegan. And I was raised vegetarian. So this "making a turkey" is a mystery to me. I sought advice from lots of meat-eating people and enlisted the help of my good friend Andy, who came over around 12:30 to help me prepare the turkey.

I had gotten the turkey for free from my part-time job. The turkey was 10-12 pounds. I submerged it in warm water in my sink (still in the wrapper) to make sure it was completely thawed. Andy and I cut the wrapper open to reveal the turkey. Andy washed it and removed any pin feathers and miscellaneous organs inside the bird. Andy had me wrap up and refrigerate the gizzard and the kidneys for later gravy making.

Andy, removing the things inside the turkey

Andy was greatly amused by the turkey

After the turkey was good-to-go, I buttered the baking pan and we salt, peppered, buttered the turkey. It then cooked in a series of 30 minute cooking-and-basting intervals for around four hours. Thankfully, Andy had a meat thermometer (my big fear was that the turkey wouldn't cook all the way and people would get sick!) and we probably over-cooked it slightly just to make sure it was completely done.

Andy and me salting the turkey

Andy and me, basting the turkey

During the turkey cooking process, I also made the standard mashed potatoes, green beans in a sweet soy sauce with walnuts, maple glazed sweet potatoes and acorn squash, and crescent rolls.

The mashed potatoes weren't recipe-worthy and the crescent rolls were made by a dough boy that I just rolled and baked.

Thanksgiving Green Beans

1 lb fresh green beans

1/3 cup soy sauce

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

1 tablespoon sugar

1. Trim and wash the green beans. I heated mine in a skillet, you could, of course bake them.

2. Combine the soy sauce and sugar. Toss in the chopped walnuts.

3. Pour the sauce over the beans and toss til coated.

Maple Glazed Sweet Potatoes and Acorn Squash

4 small sweet potatoes

1 small acorn squash

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 cup chopped almonds

1/4 cup margarine

1. Peel and chop the sweet potatoes and squash into bite-sized pieces. Put them in a pot of boiling water and cook until soft.

2. In a small saucepan, heat the margarine, maple syrup, and brown sugar. Add in the chopped almonds.

3. Strain the potatoes and squash and pour over the sauce.

All of my guests brought items to share: Angela brought her grandmother's cranberry relish (AMAZING), Kevin made a vegan key lime pie that was to die for as well as my favorite carrot cake, and Andy made a sweet potato pie.

I was able to pawn off a lot of the leftovers on my guests as they were leaving last night. I did however make some mashed potato patties this morning drenched in corn meal and then fried.

Not bad for my first full Thanksgiving with a real turkey. Of course I couldn't have done it without the help of my amazing friends and co-workers.

This is still the sort of turkey I prefer

I hope everyone had a memorable Thanksgiving full of love and fun!

Happy happy eating!

-Robin-

It's Not Me, It's the Quince

When I talk about quince, people tend to react in a way similar to conversations about unicorns, leprechauns, and or the Easter Bunny. Quince are imaginary fruits, especially to most Americans. None of my friends are quince-o-philes like me, in fact, I'm the only person I know who's ever had a quince. (My first quince experiences was when I lived in Ankara, my host mother made an incredible poached quince dripping in honey.)

I religiously read certain food blogs and it seemed to me in the last few weeks that everyone is talking about quince. I was really starting to get sad, given the lack of quince in the mid-Atlantic region. Imagine my surprise then when at the farmers market two weeks ago there was a crate labeled "QUINCE" overflowing with bumpy, roundish green-yellow kinda fuzzy and sweet smelling goodness. I bought five.

And yes, they were expensive. But I'm okay with that. I'll go easy on the lattes to balance out buying a half dozen of them a week until their season is finished and they vanish again.

Once I bought the quince, I realized I wasn't entirely sure what I planned to do with them. Luckily, a special occasion presented itself: my good friend Andy and his father were in town looking for an apartment (Andy recently took a government job and is moving here). I wanted to make something special for Andy (and his father, Tim, who I am a huge fan of). After a lovely dinner at Mai Thai - what can I say, everyone I take there loves it - I had Andy and Tim back to my apartment for a quince and blackberry pie.

I bought the pie crust from the My Organic Market in my neighborhood. Because I'm very, very lazy. I used blackberries because, quite honestly, I had a bag of them in my freezer. Again, lazy.

Here's the pie before it was cooked. There isn't an after photo because as soon as it was done, it was eaten. Tim, Andy, Amanda, and I all had pieces. The leftover slices went to my neighbor Amalea and her brother Austin, who had been redoing the tile in her bathroom all week and needed something sweet and homemade. But imagine this photo only browner and you pretty much got the gist of what it looked like cooked.

Quince Blackberry Pie

1 pre-made pie crust

5 quince, peeled, cored, and cut into bite-size chunks

4 cups water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup sugar

1 cinnamon stick

1/2 stick margarine (I used Earth Balance)

1 cup of oats

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup frozen blackberries

*I basically just made all those measurements up because I just - made the pie - and didn't measure anything, I'm sorry.

1. Peel, core, and chunk up the quince. Don't cut yourself, they're hard as a rock.

2. In a big pot, dissolve the sugar, add the cinnamon stick and vanilla. Drop the quince in to poach them.

3. While this is going on, coat the pie crust in margarine, prick a few fork holes into it, and bake it so its nice and brown.

4. When the quince are soft and sweet, ladle them out into the warm, golden pie crust.

5. Strategically place blackberries on top of the quince in some sort of artistic fashion.

6. Cover with a crumbly topping you've made out of margarine, oats, brown sugar, and ground cinnamon.

7. Bake at 375 degrees until the top is crunchy, the blackberries have melted slightly into the quince, and the crust is darker but not burned.

8. Serve it with vanilla ice cream and make your guests extremely happy.

Otto, taking a nap on our futon while Amalea was doing demo work on her bathroom tile. We seem to like to end posts with cute animals - so there you go!

Happy Eating!

-Robin-

Resurrecting Our Appetites

As evidence by the photo below of what it looks like outside my dining room window, it has been a while since I've posted. I apologize.


Transitioning back to my hometown as a working adult has proved more of an adjustment than I imagined. But that's an excuse and not a very good one at that. Expect more posts here. Very soon. And more frequently than not.

Working on this blog made me extremely happy when I was doing it. And I could use all the happiness I could get. And yes, those are chicken nuggets. I took this photograph of The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill, an art installation in NYC when I was there a few weeks ago for work. It was incredibly brilliant and one of the best things I've seen in a long time.

Otto, our next door neighbor's dog, will be making frequent UCC appearances

And while Biz is in Dublin I will try to hold down the fort around here (and do a better job than I have been!). I'm sure when Biz gets back and settled we'll be able to hear all about Dublin and Ireland and all the theatre she's been doing (not to mention everything else)! So look forward to her return in the next few months (I know I am!)

Other than decorating fruits and vegetables for the various holidays of this season, I have been cooking a lot and the forthcoming posts will reflect the abundance of my local farmer's market, the introduction of Kevin Vegetarian Cook Extraordinaire, and Amanda's new job at Trader Joe's.

These jazzed up scones are just a sample of what's to come. They were created from a raspberry scone mix our neighbor Amalea gave us, which I added dried cranberries, almonds, and chocolate chips to. Ashley (roommate from Jordan/recent DC transplant) had to come over and help me eat all of them.

Clearly my friends and family are excited about the UCC being revived, not just because it makes me so ridiculously happy but because they want to be subjected to the abundance of food stuffs they will be forced to eat in the near future.

Happy Eating! You'll be seeing me soon!

-Robin-

UCC Reunion in DC

Biz came down to DC to spend the weekend with me this past weekend! We had Thai Food at Pho Siam on Mt. Vernon Avenue Friday night. (Note: Pho Siam reeks of floor cleaner- at least its clean? - but the food is delicious.)

I have a theory on this: a never-ending cycle of cleanliness. Asian restaurants do a high order of take-out business, so they constantly re-clean an already clean restaurant, creating a pervasive Clorox odor which in turn deters people from having a sit-down meal, making them re-clean an already clean restaurant yet again. Ha. Back to regular weekend news. (Biz)

Saturday morning we went to the farmers market by my apartment. I bought blueberries, some
yellow nectarines, and the most delicious blackberries. They were the kind of blackberries that burst tart sweetness into your mouth when you bite into them. We ate them for breakfast both mornings and I finished them last night while watching Knocked Up on dvd in my empty apartment.

Biz bought a green pepper, some fantastic looking apricots, and apples. Post-market we swung by Cheesetique. Biz of course, bought lots of cheese (because Biz loves cheese). I believe she bought provolone, some sort of goat's milk cheese, and one with dried mangoes in it. Biz- a little help here for the readers on what kind of cheese you bought?

Right, I ended-up buying a little Stilton with mango and ginger and a more aged goat cheese (I forget the name). I'm surprised they sold the cheese in such small pieces (1/5-1/3 lb), most places won't let you buy less than 1/2 lb. I also got a piece of provolone from their $1.99 cheese bits bin. An awesome idea: I'm guessing when the larger blocks or wheels get too small, they sell the pieces.

We also picked up a walnut raisin boule, which made a delicious breakfast as well. Below is an artistically arranged photo by Biz of some apricots, apples, and blackberries from the farmers market with the boule.

Biz's breakfast plate Saturday morning, mango Stilton, blackberries, and walnut raisin boule.

Biz and Robin, Saturday evening at Busboys & Poets post-dinner.

After an afternoon trip to the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art to see an exhibit on Afghan treasures, Biz and I enjoyed dinner and dessert (and coffee- and wound up waddling around, I still feel full) at Busboys & Poets. We walked from the U Street/Cardozo area to Adams Morgan, where we browsed in the Idle Time Bookstore. (I bought the new Terry Pratchett novel, Making Money, and a book of Italian short stories side-by-side with the English translation. )

We walked to the metro via Dupont Circle, where Biz bought some wine at Bestcellers. (Officially my favorite wine store; too bad I don't live in Washington DC. They have wines arranged by flavor feel: fizzy, fresh, soft, luscious, juicy, smooth, big, or sweet.)

Hopefully Biz and my next rendez-vous will be in Pittsburgh before she leaves for Ireland, but if schedules do not permit, expect independent updates from us until we are able to have a grand reunion in Dublin at some point this fall. A vegetarian, Irish Thanksgiving, perhaps? We shall see...

In the meantime, find a friend and enjoy some very happy eating!

-Robin- and ~*'Biz'*~

Family Cookout

I've been trying to figure out what is really important in my life recently. This self-realization process of understanding my priorities has lead me to discover that I love my family. A whole freakin' lot. Last week was my grandfather's birthday and today my grandparents threw a small cookout in honor of him.

Below are a few snapshots from that I think capture the day, the classic backyard family cookout.

My father is extremely goofy and a pretty good grill master.

Amanda, protecting the food from the inevitable flies.

My plate, complete with 2 veggie burgers, corn, and pickles.

I hope your summer finds you enjoying time with your family, somewhere near a grill.

Happy Eating!

-Robin-

More Plums Means Cobbler

I called Biz today while I was walking home from the public library after work. We had a conversation about the Methley plums I bought at the farmers market on Saturday. I wanted to figure out what to do with them before they go bad.

Biz and I discussed my options for making a cobbler and the possibility that the plums may give off a bit more liquid than other stone fruits. I came home and fixed Amanda some dinner (leftovers of veggie sloppy joe's and a salad, nothing fancy) and started on my cobbler-ing.

To Do:

Wash and halve a pint of Methley plums, make sure to remove the pits. Place them cut side up in the baking dish.

In a separate bowl, combine 2 cups of oats, 2 tablespoons of margarine, 1 tablespoon of vanilla, 1/4 cup brown sugar, and 1/4 cup of water. I'd suggest melting the margarine to make it pourable. Use enough water to completely moisten the oats.

Pour the oats over plums and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes until the oats are fully cooked and starting to become a crispy topping.

Notes:

These plums were REALLY tart! Amanda and I enjoyed their tartness and the contrast with the topping, but if you don't like really sour plums, I'd suggest sprinkling a little brown sugar or honey over them before you put the topping on.

We also ate most of this cobbler while watching part of Gandhi, which we have currently on Netflix. The cobbler goes well with Ben Kingsley.

Happy Eating!

-Robin-