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Your Thanksgiving leftovers

This year’s Thanksgiving feast could only have been more low key if we’d gone the TV dinner route. My mother-in-law wasn’t able to visit, so I planned to simply roast a chicken and serve a few veggies for the two of us, but ended up doing even less than that when our neighbors invited us to share dinner with them. It’s a little embarrassing that I’ve lived here for four years as of this weekend (which reminds me, this blog just turned three!) and haven’t managed to get to know them yet. I blame Gil for not introducing me around when I moved.

Not wanting to go empty-handed, I pulled out the bag of almost-overripe persimmons I’d been storing for a couple of weeks and got to work on an upside-down cake that sounded like a perfect ending to a Thanksgiving meal — with two sticks of butter, it was possibly the most indulgent cake I’ve ever made.

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I did a quick google search when the idea for the cake hit me (my standard approach, since very few ideas are truly new), and found only a couple of recipes.

No such thing as “one & done”

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Introducing Otis B. Driftwood Roth, who is already a pro at this camera thing.

Rufus got a little brother today! Since we believe in division of labor in this house, Gil did a great writeup over at VM, while I’ve got the pictures right here.

more of Otis & Ru after the jump

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Almost heaven, New Jersey…?

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Sure, I moan about missing summer, but a sunset like this makes it easier to consider the glass half full — the stripped-down trees guarantee an unobstructed view of any late afternoon glory that comes our way. (As always, click on the images to see the larger view on flickr.)

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Lazy Sunday

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sugared puffs

Sometimes, while recovering from a long work week, a woman (this one, anyway) doesn’t want to roll out of bed and think too hard about what to make for breakfast. She just needs her popovers — a foolproof and indulgent treat. Preparing the batter takes less than five minutes, which leaves plenty of time to get up to speed with a cup of coffee and the morning news while the magic happens in the oven.

I used David Lebovitz’s recipe for popovers rejiggered as “sugared puffs” and rolled half in butter + cinnamon sugar as called for and kept half plain to eat with butter and fig jam. The delicate, eggy batter wasn’t overwhelmed by the cinnamon topping, so the sugared puffs were more to our liking — even earning a “Nom-nom-NOM” from Gil — but with a less assertive jam, the plain janes might just give them a run for their money.

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popovers with butter and fig jam

recipe after the jump

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Another orangey post

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Double-decker lasagna

Because the farmers’ market gods do not see fit to bestow seasonable, local produce upon us between Halloween and Thanksgiving, I stocked up on storage items last weekend — onions, potatoes and all manner of squash, plus another frozen tongue. It’ll be a long winter. But look, I’ve just gotta say: We need some new squash recipes around these parts. Roasted squash — excellent in a pinch. Good old squash soup — fine. It’s reliable, it’s easy, delicious and mostly unobjectionable, but I’m still kinda sick of it from last year, truth be told, so it might be a while before it graces my table and blog again.

In the interest of not boring myself or you (too late, they cry!) to death, I went all out and made a lasagna — something I never do. All those layers just kill me, but I was won over by this one. It was adapted from Giada’s recipe and was so good, I’ve got plans to make a few more updates and serve it as our Thanksgiving main course. This lasagna’s charms are subtle, but once […]

Better late than never

I’m a week behind, so let’s hear it for Halloween pictures! We should celebrate with leftover candy (assuming it’s lasted this long).

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Rufus begged to wear his Halloween costume to the last farmers’ market of the season. How could we refuse? All I cared about was getting a few veggies and a nice chuck roast for beef bourguignon. As you can see, we both left happy.

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I combined the classic recipe from Julia Child with a couple of Anthony Bourdain’s modifications and tweaked a bit more based on ingredients we had at hand. To say this was the best beef stew I’ve had would be an understatement; I’m sure it was the overdose of demi-glace that did it, but that doesn’t demystify things at all.

recipe and more Ru pics after the jump

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