The house that dreams are made of

Drool squared. ...Found while driving around beautiful Bend, OR. In reality, it's far too large for my tastes or needs, but I'd happy live in the detached garage. The colors are just amazing.

Pump it up

Spurred by the sight of some gorgeous gourds at the local farmer's market, I recently undertook the seemingly simple task of making homemade Pumpkin Tortelli. Little did I know we would be knee deep in pumpkin filling for a week! The process itself was pretty easy (the most gratifying part of which was using the back of a rather large metal spoon to press nearly a whole pumpkin through a mesh sieve... it's like Play-Doh for epicureans!), but it took us three rounds of pasta dough to use up all the filling. And since we were stuffed to the gills with pumpkin-parmesan goodness, we elected to freeze four servings for later. All in all, I'd say that's quite a good take for one measly little pumpkin.

Here's the recipe which could easily be halved for the less pumpkin-crazed.

Pumpkin Tortelli

From The Silver Spoon Cookbook

4 cups pumpkin, peeled, seeded, and chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated (plus extra to serve)

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/2 - 2 cups bread crumbs (I would use less, personally)

7 ounces fresh pasta dough

1/4 cup butter

8 fresh sage leaves

salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put the pumpkin in a roasting pan, drizzle with the oil, cover with foil and bake for about an hour. Pass the pumpkin through a food mill (or fine sieve), add the Parmesan and eggs, and season with salt and pepper. Stir in enough bread crumbs to make a fairly firm mixture. Roll out the pasta dough into a sheet and stamp out 3 inch rounds with a cookie cutter. Spoon a little of the pumpkin filling into the center of each round, fold in half and crimp the edges. Cook the tortelli in a large pan of salted, boiling water for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a skillet, add the sage, and cook for a few minutes.

Drain the tortelli, place in a warm serving dish and sprinkle with the sage butter and extra Parmesan. (I added a little curl of the pumpkin peel to each plate for an extra punch of color.)

Enjoy!

Ellen Degeneres school of dancing

Well. In a dance off with me, he would totally lose. He's got the foundation but perhaps needs to spend some time with a master like myself to really hone those skillz.* However, I have yet to see John McCain step out and shake his money maker so I'm thinking it's Obama: 1, McCain: 0 at this point- just on dance credentials alone.



Regardless of who's the better dancer- don't forget to vote by November 4th.

*Sometimes when I'm watching video of people dancing and they're really struggling to find the rhythm or just look plain awkward, I actually find myself dancing a little bit in my seat like somehow I can will them to be better dancers.

A dose of inspiration

Be. This. Girl.


















Found at Blue Gardenia (coffee & treats) on Mississippi.

Un Be Lievable

This is the type of game I could get completely lost in.

The Unfinished Swan - Tech Demo 9/2008 from Ian Dallas on Vimeo.

Only available as a demo for the time being, I could see this totally kicking Myst's ASS.

(Via the always bleeding edge, Kottke.org. How does one man do it?)

Culinary dispatches from the homeland

Via a friend from the motherland (aka Maine):

"Well, it has been a while since I heard from you. I am sure you are really busy, but I thought if I sent you a note, you might respond. And then I thought, maybe if I sent a note with a recipe for Pork Cake, you would definitely respond! Here goes:

Pork Cake
Recipe from Mrs. Joseph F. Landrigan
Hartford, CT

1/2 lb salt pork, ground fine
1 lb raisins
5 C flour
1/4 lb walnut meats, cut fine
1 C molasses
1 C Lincoln Dairy milk
2 C sugar
2 Lincoln Dairy Eggs
1 Tbsp soda in 1/4 C hot water
1 1/2 tsp cloves
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Bake 1 1/4 hours at 350 degrees.

(That's the whole recipe. I guess if you have the balls to make pork cake, you don't worry too much about nuances like how to combine ingredients or what size pan to use.) Enjoy!"

Seriously? Part of me wants to cook this thing. Raise your hand if you think I should. It totally reminds me of the recipes I got handed down to me by my grandmothers. I imagine women relied so heavily on these standby favorites that there was nary a need to elaborate on the preparation.

Oh, and by the way- I did respond. How could I not? A girl sends you a recipe for Pork Cake and I'm pretty sure even Emily Post would agree that deserves a thank you note.

I heart Robert Downey, Jr.

Just a quick note to suggest this film. If you liked the slapstick comrade-kitsch of Lethal Weapon (admit it, you did) or the self-aware narrator-style of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, I promise you'll love it. And, Val Kilmer manages to pull off deadpan like you've never seen it before.

Seriously. Just go. Your queue is calling.

Oh, and watch it twice- it's even better the second time...