Pistachio Pound Cake.

From Bon Appetit.

It was maybe five minutes overdone.  Too brown!

Rosemary bread!

I used this again to make some bread, and I rolled it in fresh rosemary.  I ate it along with some kale and ricotta ravioli, inspired by Martha, whose shortcut was wonton wrappers, and a blogger, who sauteed the kale.  

I didn't boil the kale, but instead sauteed it with some purple scallions, garlic and vegetable stock.  I tried to use the immersion blender, but it was not liquidy enough, so that proved to be a bit difficult.  I didn't take any pictures because the wonton wrappers made them look like the nasties, but they tasted delicious.  Leftovers sort of congealed and ended up looking more like lasagna.

Morimoto v. Guy Fieri

You couldn't pay me to use a credit/debit card with Guy Fieri's face on it, even if it were a pre-loaded card with $5,000.  The shame I would feel every time I had to bust that out would not be worth it.

Pret

Uh, whatever blogger did to their formatting, I do not like.  Dislike! Dislike! Dislike!

But what I DO like is this sweet ass bag I got with this morning's croissant:

Weeknight Dinner

I feel a little embarrassed about having used an Emeril recipe, but it's true.  It's here.

And it was pretty fucking good, but a clean, simple recipe, that I'm sure anyone could have figured out if they opened up their kitchen cabinets.

Thanksgiving, Part Three

A few weeks ago I held a Thanksgiving dinner party with the theme of "redemption" to make up for an epic fail (overcooked turkey) in 2011.   I didn't necessarily fail this time around, but it did not live up to 2010.  I've never made a more beautiful, moist bird in my life, and I will only be failing every time I try to recreate that.

Also, this dinner party was so traumatic on a whole new level that I wonder if I can ever do this again to be honest.  And the worst part?  I loved everything leading up to it - the invites (tinyprint.com does amazing invites, by the way), the RSVP's that a portion of the invitees failed to send back... despite the fact they were fucking STAMPED, the decorations, the anxiety, the food, everything.

I did the standard fare (turkey, potatoes, stuffing) and friends did a great job at the potlock part (salmon, slaw, veggies, cheese, dip, etc.), but I'm particular proud of the pomegranate cranberry sauce.  It is a mash-up of this recipe and another cranberry pomegranate relish.  I didn't use any herbs like year - just red wine, sugar, frozen cranberries, pomegranate syrup and pomegranate seeds.

The first Thanksgiving party I held I seeded two or three pomegranates and then juiced x amount of seeds by blending it and straining it by hand.  I don't do that anymore.  Once is enough.  I bought those seeds prepackaged, and I'm not sorry about it!

Pret A Manger

They have the best fucking bags.