cupcake friday.

I have been busy this week. Clearly that is represented by my lack of posts. But last night, I got in the mood to bake. I have been supplying my afternoon class with spontaneous baked goodies throughout this semester, so I decided to bake them vanilla cupcakes to celebrate Friday. Thank goodness for weekends.

These are vanilla cupcakes with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting. They were very easy to make, and have rich gooey consistency.

Makes about 24 cupcakes
2 3/4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Blend Sugar and butter on high til fluffy. In a separate bowl whisk eggs and milk and vanilla. Add to butter mixture. Slowly mix in dry ingredients. Fill cupcake liners 2/3rds full. Bake at 325degrees until golden, or about 20 minutes.

YUM!

great. and full.

today is 85 degrees and sunny.

this is unheard of in chicago in october.

i am loving it.

it is glorious. the colors of fall are so vibrant, and the trees are radiant with reds and oranges and yellows.

today i feel remarkably grateful.

in a book titled The Best Thing I Ever Tasted, Sallie Tisdale writes a memoir about her love for food. She says, "Food fills many empty spaces. It can be symbolic, mythic, even archetypal- and nothing special. How we feel about food is how we feel about our own lives..."

today i feel remarkably grateful. For life, and for food.

On Friday night, my friend Annie and I invited our professor and his wife over for dinner. It was lovely. Their company and conversation offered both a blessing and insight. It felt joyous to share a meal with a couple who is approaching their 35th wedding anniversary. We discussed at length relational dynamics and what it means to be immersed in a culture with very reactive dating tendencies. I am grateful for their wisdom.

I am grateful for fall and sunshine.

I am grateful for friends and color and the ability to walk into the grocery store and choose what will nourish my body for the week.

{in my kitchen. mushroom and red pepper flatbread in hand.}

to make a flatbread.

start with pizza dough. You can get a basic recipe here.

Spread your dough onto a cornmealed pizza stone.

toss together an assortment of veggies, seeds, nuts, olive oil, and cheeses.

top with more cheese, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with garlic salt.

cook in your oven at 425 degrees until cheese is bubbly and crust is brown.

some favorites:

butternut squash, onions, sunflower seeds, and provolone.

pepper, mushroom, parmesan and mozzarella.

apple, maple, walnut and cheddar.

fall for soups.

Fall is the perfect time for soup.

The weather has begun to change, and with the coming of the cold, there is nothing better than sitting down to dinner to a warm bowl of soup.

I have never cooked with eggplant, but this past weekend I decided to experiment. I have eaten eggplant, love it, and love the color, but I have never attempted to cook it. I found a couple of eggplants on sale at Valli Produce, and decided to try something new.

I stumbled upon a recipe for eggplant and chick-pea soup. It sounded risky, but adventurous, which I am all about. The recipe was easy. It consisted of roasting chickpeas and eggplant, and then warming up a delicious garlic broth, and cooking it all together.

The soup was a hit. My guests loved it, and it will absolutely become a repeat in my fall-soup-repertoire. We added a simple flatbread and spaghetti squash, and it became the perfect warm-me-up Friday night dinner.

coffee break.

A biscotti is a hard cookie, perfect to dip in a steaming cup of coffee or hot chocolate.

A respite in the day, biscotti and coffee often offer me a much needed afternoon break.

Biscotti is fun and easy to make. It is tactile, but simple, and can be filled with a variety of ingredients. Try figs, nuts, dried fruit, white chocolate.

{dark chocolate and cranberry vanilla biscotti}

willing to die

you give up your will;

keep still, until

moved by what moves all else,

you move.

-wendell berry

I like vegetables. A lot. I like things that grow from the ground, or on plants, that come in seasons. My parents own a small plot in a community garden, and while at home this fall, I was able to gather tomatoes for our dinner. They were delicious.

Cooking is often nostalgic for me. It reminds me of childhood, and of family. My mom has incredible intuition with food. I have childhood memories of my mom taking random ingredients and creating masterpieces for dinner. She knew the way to combine, and play, and experiment with food to form the most phenomenal and unique dishes.

Perhaps my love of cooking was birthed long ago, at home.

This morning, while eating an apple and cheddar frittata, I had a yearning for home. To be in the kitchen, with my family, or in the garden, with my sister.

Today I am thankful for food and memory, and for the ability to remember.

break. but not fast.

this year has seemed to be thematically narrated by food.

Thus far, in my school year, I have managed to have some fabulous food memories. I was reflecting on this today while I waited for my friends Bekah and Angela to come and join me for breakfast. Sitting at my kitchen table, I watched the campus walk by, sipped my coffee, and breathed in the aroma of fresh baked oatmeal and cinnamon bread.

It's really quite grand, to be in the presence of good company, and to share good food. I could not ask for much more.

We enjoyed our meal slowly, taking time to breathe between bites. We refilled our coffee cups. We ate with the windows open. We lingered.

{cranberry and corn pancakes with eggs and fruit}

In my opinion, breakfast should be slow. There is something beautiful about taking the time in the morning to be still, to be reflective, and to enjoy the company of friends. This morning we laughed hard about about memories, talked dreams of future, and reveled over daily crushes. It was fun, and slow, and memorable.

Perhaps that was my main reflection. Breakfast should never be fast. It should be enjoyed, and slow, and in the company of good friends.