Bakeshop

I have been busy in the kitchen lately. It has been a regular Santa's bakeshop around here. I decided at least a month ago that all of my gifts this year will be homemade. So if you're reading this and you are expecting a gift from me, this is a SPOILER: your gift will be so delicious.

That's because I had a marathon baking day with my good friend and stellar baker, Betsy. She roped me into baking for a neighborhood artisan market last weekend where all of our cool, hip neighbors sold their artistic wares in a new vacant building space in East Nashville. It was a very fun community event and I was glad to be a part of it. Not only did I hawk a few baked goods, but I met many nice people and was reminded of why I love this 'hood so much.


Betsy and I made s'mores in the shape of little houses with homemade graham crackers, homemade marshmallows and chocolate. She made the most beautiful linzer tortes with a X-mas tree on each piece.



We made a lot of yummy things, including two kinds of biscotti: almond dipped in chocolate and chocolate-orange-pistachio.







We made mini cranberry walnut loaves and maple-glazed pumpkin spice loaves (the best-seller of the day), and our baker friends Lisa and Tom joined in the fun and made cheese straws, chocloate cookie crisps, sugar cookies, walnut fudge and apricot-pecan bread. Our table was overflowing with homemade goodness. You should have been there.



With what I have leftover, I am giving all kinds of nice presents to friends in the coming days. It's the perfect year for making homemade gifts, really. Not just because we're all broke, but because it recalls a time when life was simpler and giving the gift of something made with love in your home kitchen was greatly appreciated.

I hope this year is no exception.

Feeling green

So I am green. That is, I am new to blogging and am learning a LOT. Like how to comment and interpret comments. And how to look at other blogs (oh there are soooo many food blogs out there!) and not get blogger envy, at least for very long. It's all part of the process. So I thought I better get up to speed with the technology and start adding more photos with each post. I get it that people want to see what you're cooking. The photos add a lot to the posts and I've seen some really beautiful ones on other people's pages, so I thought I'd give it a try. I used to be into photography in college (was the photo editor of the newspaper) but it has been a long time and digital photography is a whole new beast.  But there's my lunch above. A plain omelet with brussels sprouts. 

And above that (because I can't figure out how to move it) is my coffee break with pistachio-orange chocolate chip biscotti that I made at work today. 

And tonight, winter minestrone (top), an adaptation of Alice Waters' vegetable minestrone to which I added turnips and their greens, potatoes, and udon noodles. It was filling and nutty and the parmesan crostini were nice, though a bit much with the noodles. Next time I'll leave one out. 

Hmmmm. I think I'm getting the hang of this. 

What's for dinner?

This is a question that could be perceived in a burdensome, obligatory way. As someone who does most of the cooking in my house--and I love it--sometimes I feel bored or uninspired and those nights are perfect for the taqueria down the road, or the gyro place, or even Nashville's finest: hot chicken. But when you're trying to eat healthy and cook mostly at home, there are some things that you can do that are easy, warm and tasty--and pretty healthy too. Like a soup of whatever happens to be in the fridge. Tonight it was a mire poix of carrots, onions, garlic and celery. I added some fresh ginger that needed to get used, and a lonely parsnip that got left behind, some chopped tomatoes, and a can of Health Valley canellini beans. I seasoned it with salt and pepper, a few pinches of crushed red peppers, oregano, a pinch of rosemary and a pinch of cumin, let it cook only about 20 min, took out my favorite new toy (the immersion blender!) and pureed the whole thing, added a dollop of creme fraiche I had from a recipe over the weekend, and that's it! It was delicious. With a grilled cheese sandwich on seeded bread on the side, it was the perfect last-minute winter meal. Homemade soups are the bomb. Canned soups just can't compare. And since I'm all about cooking with fresh, seasonal ingredients, my conscience wouldn't let me open a can of soup. I love a hearty soup that I've made from scratch.