So you thought this was *only* a food blog? Nope… there’s more to magical living than magical food. And when the air starts getting crisp and the days shorten noticeably, I start moving toward my twice-yearly “nesting” phase. While most people “spring clean,” I find myself in the mood at the end of the summer, then again at the end of winter.

When I was still living at home with my folks, my Mom did the bulk of her seasonal cleaning in marathon bursts of activity and effort, usually over a weekend, almost always when I thought I had something better to do than help! Since I didn’t inherit my mother’s seemingly effortless ability to keep a large home spotless at all times, I have to pace myself a little more. Instead of a weekend-long muckfest, I prefer to pick one project every few days over the span of a couple of weeks. This keeps me motivated, as I see things spiffy-ing up steadily, and also heads off the deadly burnout that sometimes will stall me right in the middle of a big project. After a few areas are successfully taken care of, however, I find that there is a sort of momentum to the cleaning, and I wind up with the energy needed to do more than just a bit here and there, usually culminating around Halloween, when I put the finishing touches on everything in time for the new year.

Today, the bug bit me as I was puttering around my kitchen: my bar was a disaster area! It’s really a baker’s rack, and barely used as a bar, but that’s what I called it when we bought it, and so it remains until today. The problem is, it gets really dusty, and the three basket drawers that I thought were such a grand idea have turned out to be a polarized zone that attracts “stuff” and holds it there like a miser. After a while, it becomes part of the landscape, and I don’t even really notice, consciously at least, that even when my kitchen is sparkly otherwise, there sits this mountain of messy, right at the head of it! Here is the “before” picture.

For the curious, here’s what’s going on in this mess. (more…)

Whew. I’m pooped! This was a lot of fun, but it sure was a long day! The good news is, the jambalaya turned out wonderfully, my bread experiment was a success, and the spring rolls were yummy. Only disappointment was the caesar dressing, which I’m going to have to tweak some more. It was ok, but on the bitter side, I think. Oh well, can’t win ‘em all, right?

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Today I made a hot lunch, even though it’s just for Tish and me. Times like this, I’ll often make things that Cat doesn’t particularly care for, like today… when I decided to indulge my craving for things curried.

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Almost impossible to photograph when you’re making ten servings for ten hungry, hungry people (including six teenagers!) eggs benedict still, however, is a crowd pleaser. Next time I make it for just Cat, the Tishlet and myself, I’ll give the photography another shot. Here, however, I will pass along my recipe, as requested.

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These pretties were made for a twist on my normal hoagie rolls for philly-style steak sandwiches. Honestly, I ran myself out of white flour — a neat trick, when you buy it in bulk like I do, but somehow I managed! These are very dense and flavorful, but not overly heavy. They went well with a tangy horseradish & smoked paprika sauce and garlicky onions, peppers, and steak. Mozzarella was the cheese of choice.

Here’s the roll recipe:

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I’d had macaroni and cheese on my mind for a while, and last night seemed to be conducive… there was a slight chill in the air, a harbinger of autumn weather to come, which always makes me want comfort foods such as this. My plan was to use and review a published recipe: Alton Brown’s “Baked Macaroni and Cheese” from Good Eats. I started waffling on that plan at lunchtime when, in a pasta fugue, I cooked the macaroni for supper, too (I had to have macaroni salad, for some reason.) Pasta salad, nice and simple, is wonderful; however, if I’m going to make plain-jane mac ‘n cheese, I might as well buy a box of the blue stuff, and not spend a couple of hours and five times the money on it, ya know? Homemade mac n’ cheese should always, always be over the top!

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From the Ben & Jerry’s Website:

Over 40,000 fans fancied themselves flavor innovators and created their own funky chunky ice cream. We have narrowed it down to the top 5 who will come to Vermont to bring their flavor to life! Who will be named the Ultimate Flavor Guru? Will it be…

The finalists:

• Robin Thorneycroft, 25, of Richmond, B.C., who suggested a flavor she calls Italian Renaissance, made of amaretto liqueur ice cream, cherry chunks and sliced almonds.
• Timothy Link, 36, of Troy, Idaho, whose suggestion was Mojito, a lime-based sherbet with mint, brown sugar and rum added in.
• Kerstin Karlhuber, 25, of Boston, whose Wackie Chan would be sweet cream and ginger-flavored ice cream, with chocolate-covered fortune cookie bits and fudge swirl.
• Tasha Callister, 26, of Jackson, Fla., whose Puttin’ on a Ritz would consist of vanilla ice cream, caramel and Ritz crackers.
• Reina Chilton, 26, of Tempe, Ariz., who recommended “ApricotAbra,” a mix of apricot chunks, dark chocolate, vanilla ice cream and tart apricot preserves.

Personally, I totally vote for ApricotAbra.

I don’t even really go for too many sweets, but there’s no denying the appeal of doughnuts. I have no idea what possessed me to make some tonight, but Cat and Tishie were *not* complaining. Here’s the play-by-play.

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Well, I started out to make fajitas, but got sidetracked along the way, and wound up with yet another bastardization of a common dish! Sometimes these experiments go *really* well, and fortunately for us, tonight was one of those times. Well, at least in terms of how yummy the end product was. We’ll… just gloss over the part when I almost burned down the kitchen…

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… they’re either perfectly delectable, or decidedly NOT. You’re also likely to start a fight if you present any one recipe as THE BISCUIT, but I’m willing to risk it, here. It took me most of a lifetime to perfect what I consider to be the best recipe ever. I am a firm believer in tolerance and acceptance of diversity, so please, no flames. At least not until you’ve tried them…

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