rewind: my trip to boston this past september

I am currently in Boston, MA.

I love it here. I mean, loooooooooove it here. My love for this city is similar to my love of Chicago and (parts of) Brooklyn. Each city has their unique qualities, of course, but Boston has an old world charm that I find irresistible. It's just so... old, and quaint, and historic, and European. I feel like I can walk down just about any random street and say, "(gasp!) It's so cute! I could totally see myself living here!!" Plus, it is also home to my best friend Stephen. That alone puts it miles ahead of Chicago or Brooklyn.

I came up here in September for a few days to visit Stephen and reacquaint myself with this New England metropolis. I had such a great time that I started planning my return trip before I had even left. So, when I found out that my former job, the National Tour of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, was going to play Boston for two weeks in November, that was it; sealed the deal.

So... here I am. Visiting Stephen and this city that I have grown an affinity for... and visiting my FIDDLER fam.

I haven't taken many pictures this time around, but I figure now is as good a time as any to post some from my last trip up. Please to observe a random sampling of pictures:

Rupert chillin' out in Stephen's apartment. Because of the cashmere blanket pictured, my sometimes-unruly puppy has become a fiber snob and will only snuggle with this particular luxury item. He's been forever spoiled. Goodness me...

Stephen lives in Beacon Hill (my favorite neighborhood!), which is home to Beacon Hill Chocolates...

They're famous for their chocolate sushi... chocolate, marshmallow, and caramel. UN-REAL!

Ah... the Boston Gardens. This looks like a George Seurat painting to me...

Of course I made Stephen stop at Mike's Pastry. I've been dreaming of this canoli for years. Years, I tell you.

... and maybe we added another cannoli, some marzipan, and a lobster tail... and maybe a cookie or two... just maybe.

This is a lobster tail. I had never seen or heard of one, until watching the TLC show "Cake Boss" - which I love and can't get enough of. The whole process of how they're made is fascinating to me. I wasn't prepared for just how big a pastry it is, though... "It's huuuge!" (Spoken like Buddy Valastro from Cake Boss.) And the filling...?!?! Oh. My. Goodness. Me. Better than cannoli filling. Stephen and I were floored.

One afternoon we took Rupert and window shopped our way down Charles Street, and slowly wandered our way over to Newbury Street to a wine bar that Stephen had been wanting to try out. It was a not-too-warm, beautiful early Fall day, and an afternoon glass of vino seemed in order. We found a table outside and I tied Rupert up to the wrought-iron fence around the sunken (below street level) patio. Stephen and I rested, the sun shining on our faces and Rupert busied himself by making friends with anyone and everyone who passed by. Here is Stephen smiling at what a ladies man my dog is...

We ordered our vino (we both had one of my favorites - a Rosenblum Zin) and a cheese plate. As soon as that cheese came to our table, Rupert forgot all about his race to get as much love as possible in the shortest amount of time and found a new goal: the cheese plate.

He stood like that looking over my shoulder for minutes at a time. It was hysterical. Occasionally, when I would look back at him, he would give me actual puppy dog face... heartbreaking!

I admit I caved in a few times - he does love gourmet cheese, and seeing as how I do too - how could I refuse him? And then after his belly was full and happy, he laid down and rested for a bit. He looks a bit like he's in a cheese-induced food coma here... he actually feel asleep for a few minutes. Melt my heart.

I have a few more tidbits of fun from that trip, but I'm going to save that for another post. Plus, I don't want to waste any of my precious time being back in this city! I'm itching to get out and explore some more before seeing the show tonight!

Au revoir!

pumpkin roasting, or the most fun way to spend an autumnal afternoon... ever.

I've been wanting - craving - to roast a pumpkin in my oven for weeks now. My sweet friend MacKenzie put the idea in my head, but after Halloween passed and I was no longer seeing buckets of pumpkins lining storefronts of the local bodegas I sadly wondered if I had missed my chance. However, last Thursday in my elevator I fortuitously overheard a mother who was pushing a giant SUV-type stroller assuage her son's morning crankiness by telling him he could have an apple cider doughnut when they got to the University Farmer's Market. Aha! Maybe they would have pumpkins! So, as soon as the elevator door opened, Rupert and I walked as fast as our little legs could take us to the University Farmer's Market in search of pie pumpkins.

They had them! Two small-ish, lovely little things...

(That lil- lil' guy there came all the way from a Seattle pumpkin patch just for me - he was a gift from my friend Jon. He makes me smile... both the pumpkin and Jon.)

In my pumpkin picking, I chose a gorgeous, near perfect Cinderella looking pumpkin, and then a not-so-pretty but comparable-in-size pumpkin to go with it. You really only need one pumpkin to make enough puree for a pumpkin pie or batch of pumpkin bread, but I wanted to have enough around to stick in the freezer.

I don't have a lot of experience cooking or roasting squash, so I prepped by doing a fair amount of research on the subject. During my web perusal I found this great website, which breaks it down for you in ten simple steps. So, instructions in hand, and perfect playlist rocking out of my speakers (Monsters of Folk, A Fine Frenzy, and Andrew Bird) I got to roasting.

My pumpkins were a pound or two heavier than hers, but it was still the same idea. I chose to roast the pretty one first, you know for blog-picture taking reasons. Here it is all hallowed out (seeds removed for later roasting, of course.)

I popped it in the oven for just over an hour...

... and Voila! As this was my first time roasting a pumpkin and the website didn't mention anything about the "doneness" - other than sticking a fork in it to make sure it's tender - I think I under-roasted this one. You can see that the flesh varies from light to a darker color. I now know that you want the darker color pretty much throughout. Of course, you don't want to over-roast, but I thought this guy was a bit under-done.

After letting it cool slightly, I scooped out the flesh into my favorite appliance in the apartment, the Cuisinart Food Processor, to make a puree:

The puree turned out a bit watery; nothing like the canned pumpkin puree I am used to dealing with. I had a hunch it might need to strained through a cheese cloth overnight, and after some quick research and finding this great blog, my hunch was proven right! Out came the cheesecloth and strainer.

At this point I tasted the puree and I have to admit I was a little disappointed. It was nice and fresh, but it wasn't as sweet - as pumpkiny - as I was hoping for. It was more squashy. Which is fine and could easily be fixed with the amounts of sugar/spices/etc. that you add to the recipe... but I really wanted that fresh, sweet pumpkin taste. So, after I placed Pretty Pumpkin #1 in some cheesecloth (set in a strainer and over a deep bowl), I grabbed the other, less pretty pumpkin, and started in on that one. Somewhere in the back of my head I remembered reading a web article claiming that smaller, darker pumpkins were more flavorful. I was curious to see if this theory was correct.

This time I roasted it for a solid hour and a half, the flesh was even more tender, and the color of the roasted flesh of the pumpkin was even throughout. After pureeing it, I gave it a quick taste, and it was pure pumpkin perfection. Yes, please.

I repeated the cheesecloth technique with this batch and popped it in the fridge with the other one.

Cut to: the next morning. There was a good inch or two of pumpkin juice in the bowl , so it was definitely a necessary step! I couldn't believe just how much pumpkin juice drained out of it! And what was left was the perfect pumpkin puree consistency.

Here are my jars of puree and you can see that the two jars on the left are lighter in color ("Very pretty" pumpkin #1) than the two on the right ("She has a great personality" pumpkin #2). Both yummy, just different tastes.

Again, with the difference in color:

My overall assessment of pumpkin roasting is that smaller, darker pumpkins work better and even if a recipe doesn't ask you to, you must drain the puree overnight in cheesecloth before adding it to a recipe (... unless, of course the recipe specifically asks for this watery version.)

Addendum: I roasted the pumpkin seeds using this recipe, and brought those up with me - along with the fresh puree - to Boston so that Stephen and I could use them somehow. And use them we did! But more on that in another post...

herb obsessed

Remember this post when I first planted my urban herb garden and was incredibly angsty over whether or not the wee seeds would make it? Well, I'm not entirely sure how it happened, but they're not only making it, they're growing like gangbusters! And I can't stop taking pictures of them. They're so green and vibrant and healthy looking, not to mention their amazing smell - pure, lovely herbiness! Aside from Rupert and the food processor, they may be my favorite thing in the apartment.

As I previously mentioned I may have to do, I ended up transferring them from their small pots to a bigger, deeper window box...

Here they are after I first repotted them... about three weeks ago, I think...

I started the parsley and sage in the same pot, but I wanted each bunch of herbs to have as much room as I could give them, so I left the parsley in the biggest of the small pots and planted the sage in the windowbox with the basil and thyme.

I placed it in another window with the not-yet-shown-on-this-blog wee pot o' chives.

I used my basil for the first time the other night. Snipped a few leaves, chopped it up, and sprinkled it on some left-over pasta. Yum. I'm convinced that this basil tastes better and more fresh than any other basil one could get their hands on. Probably not true, but this is what I've been telling myself...

I haven't used any of the other herbs yet. I've been waiting to let them get "established" before I start snipping off bits of herbiness. This is probably not a theory backed up by actual, real gardeners, but it makes sense in my own mind.

Seriously, isn't sage beautiful?!?! I could not stop taking pictures of it this afternoon!! I think I'm going to snip some off to take up to Boston with me this weekend. I spent the afternoon roasting and pureeing a couple of pumpkins and I have grand plans of Stephen and I making pumpkin ravioli from scratch with a brown butter sage sauce. He doesn't know anything about my plans yet... so... I hope he's game.

And here is a current picture of my window box herb garden...

A veritable forest of herbs, n'est-ce pas?

I've been rotating the box every week or so so the herbs don't only grow in one direction. The sunlight, although constant throughout the day, is pretty specific (if that makes any sense), so rotating which side leans against the window makes me feel like the sunlight is being evenly distributed, if you will. Again, probably not an actual gardener's trick... but it makes sense to me... so I do it.

The chives and thyme look good, but not as hearty (robust? strong? developed?) as my mother's real garden herbs. The thyme specifically doesn't have the 'woody' stalks from which the delicate leaves grow. Both the thyme and the chives are very flimsy. Mother Dearest says that this is to be expected. The first year's growth may seem a little weak, but that during the second year of growth the plant is stronger. However, I'm growing these guys in a window sill when most other herbs are hibernating. So, I suppose I'm conducting a bit of an experiment here.

I also asked Mother Dearest what the next step is in the life of my wee sprouts of hope. She said she would take a look at the pictures and let me know, but she guesses it will be actually using the herbs, thus pruning and encouraging more growth in the plants. I guess I'll have to find some recipes and creative ways to use these guys...

... twist my arm.

makes me tired

There are about a zillion things I want to post about to catch you up on what I refer to as "the ridiculousness that is my life in New York City." I've attempted to catalog my various "creations, curiosities and musings" several times - but the very thought of telling you about every interesting thing I've done/made (or even just posting a picture montage of them) makes me tired. The overwhelmed, cranky, fussy kind of tired that is often exhibited in young children who don't know any better... and myself. And I'll admit, it isn't fun for anyone. The good news is that if I've exhibited my crankiness around or toward someone, I will usually bake them a batch of cookies or a pie to make up for it... once I've had my snack and a nap.

At least there's that.

That being said, I believe crankiness is often a choice, so... I suppose I can choose to sweetly and happily update you here and there on things that have happened in the last couple of months.

Don't pressure me, though, because if you do I'll get not-by-my-own-choice cranky and you won't get a pie... and I have a pumpkin roasting in my oven... and a pumpkin pie recipe sitting out on the counter.

I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.

(Smile.)

a very fall day

Yesterday, Rupert and I started the day by forgoing the park in favor of roaming about Columbia University. I think my wee dog prefers to hob-nob with all the Ivy League types instead of all the big, playful dogs at the dog run. Much to my surprise and delight, when we got up there we found a farmer's market in full swing! The first booth displayed barrels of gorgeous apples which I wanted to buy by the bagful, but as I only had some pocket-change, I had to settle for some fresh, hot apple cider. Mmmm.

Apple cider in tow, we roamed about the other stands, me ooing and ahing over the gorgeous produce and Rupert hungrily sniffing away for anything he could manage to eat without my noticing. I'm very careful that he doesn't eat anything but dog food, and I usually manage to get street scraps away from him, but my dog is a Hoover, I tell you. Sometimes it disappears so fast! Luckily, in this situation he was at least scarfing down farm-grown, organic produce. That made me feel a bit better.

After making friends with a cute Havanese pup and a Columbia Med student who thought he was the most adorable, sweet thing ever, we made our way home so that I could get started on some cookies.

One of my favorite stagehands on Broadway, Gus, had given me a couple of tickets to the new musical Memphis, so as a thank you I wanted to bake him (and a few of my other friends involved with the show) cookies. I've been feeling particularly fall-ish lately, so I had mixed up a batch of cookie dough using a recipe for chewy ginger spice cookies from Epicurious.com. I wanted the flavors to have time to really blend together, so I made the dough the night before and put it in the fridge overnight, as opposed to the hour the recipe calls for. If you follow suit, the dough may seem a bit dense, but believe me... they puff up beautifully, taste amazing, and are soft and chewy.

I know not everyone is a fan of crystallized ginger, but I really think that's what gives these cookies that "lil' extra punch" you want in a spice cookie. Some of the reviews said not to use dark or Blackstrap molasses, but I could only find "robust" molasses, so that's what I used and it turned out fine. I used rounded teaspoonfuls of dough, which ended up giving me almost four dozen bite-sized cookies.

Finding myself without small Ziploc bags, I had to get creative with my packaging. I'm a fan of simple, simple simple! these days, which - to me - means parchment paper and kitchen twine. I love how they turned out. I want to wrap everything like this...

While the cookies were in the oven, a couple of boxes arrived at my front door. They were from my mom, and contained most of my fall clothes. I'm still wearing my "tour" clothes, which are mostly warm-weather things. I had asked my mom to send me some fall stuff. I love when my mom sends me clothes from home - I feel like I went shopping without spending any money. It's great! Included in one of the bigger boxes was a smaller box, and upon opening it I found out that it was my annual fall care package!!

Items making their annual appearance: Roasterie Coffee (seriously well roasted coffee from Kansas City), pumpkin Peeps, and dozens candy corn that have escaped the (broken) bag they came in. Ha! This happens every year - I open the box to find a broken cellophane bag with candy corn and mini-pumpkins everywhere! It's like confetti - I love it! I'm not sure that's what my mom intends on happening, but it makes me smile every time.

Not pictured are the annual fall themed paper napkins. I must have at least two dozen different fall themed packages of cocktail napkins and I love every one of them, even if I never have an occasion to use them.

Also included this year was a bag of doggy treats for Rupert. My mom buys him these cookies from The Land Of Paws (an awesome pet boutique in KC) and he just looooooooves them! He knows he has to be on his best behavior for the them, though, so after I placed on the ground for him to see and he sniffed at them to see what they were...

... he backed up, sat down like a good, well-behaved dog, and focused his eyes on the prize...

Haha! He must have sat like that for I don't know how long. It was hysterical. He was very still and very focused, which is very unlike my dog. So, after I failed many times in trying to divert his attention and get a picture of his cuteness I, of course, rewarded him for this exemplary patience. This doggy bag is quite cute, n'est-ce pas?

After the afternoon spent indoors we were going a little stir crazy, so we ventured out to the park for a brisk walk. Oh, and what a gorgeous sunset we saw!

It's days like this that remind me of how much I love New York City in the fall... le sigh...

they grow up so fast...

I was watering my wee herbs this morning and was happy to find that they're starting to look like real herbs! Observe:

Small sage leaves, but they look like sage leaves and not sprouts! And look at the basil:

I was particularly excited about the parsley, because the sprouts didn't look like anything in particular, just a nondescript sprout. But the second round of leaves are starting to look like the real thing!

Success! I love windowsill gardening! It might be my new favorite thing. Despite my initial green thumb anxiety, they're growing so fast and seem quite healthy. Although, I'm not sure how long I'll be able to keep them in these pots. I thought I would have a bit more time, but they seem to be growing up right before my very eyes. [Cue: fake tears] It seems like just yesterday they hadn't even broken the soil yet, and here they are looking all grown up...

almond-raisin granola

I've been making this granola recipe for a few years now, and each time I am pleasantly reminded of how yummy it is! Perfect for fall morning breakfasts! I've also put a few servings into a small brown paper bag or mason jar to give as a gift during the holidays and it's always gone over well. Everyone loves a good granola! It's a really quick and easy recipe... plus it makes your apartment smell absolutely delicious.

The only modification I make to the recipe is that I like it to be nice and brown, so I leave it in the oven an additional 5-7 minutes. If you like a more cereal-like granola, break it up a little after you take it out of the oven while it's still hot. If, like me, you like your granola a little more "chunky", let it cool on the cookie sheet and then break it up. Also, I've added dried cranberries and/or chocolate chips (for more a trail mix taste) and both work well.

If you make it, I'd love to hear your thoughts!