Halloween and Election Day

There's a real sense of excitement about the election among the neighborhood kids. They've voted in school, and they've seen the yard signs. A. and I took the kids to vote with us this morning -- in line by 6:15am, out the door at 7:10 as voters #10 and #11. J. wants to stay up to watch the returns tonight.

I did my share of campaigning this weekend with the jack o'lantern. It was awfully validating when parents of trick-or-treaters broke out their cell phones to photograph the results.

Now, how do I dispose of this?

Daring Bakers: Fall Harvest Pizza

It's hard to have a bad day throwing pizza dough in the air. It really is. That said, tossing pizza dough isn't really a job to give your 8 year old (it ended up on the floor, with tears.) Photography isn't the job to delegate to the 4 year-old either...

Topped with roasted pumpkin puree, carmelized onions, sauteed portabella mushrooms, swiss chard and fresh mozzarella, it was fall on a flatbread.

Delish!

Our jack o lantern

Pardon my partisanship. Living in a area that's as blue as any, I really can't resist joining the fun. Triangle noses will wait for '09.

TWD: Pumpkin Muffins

I intended to make these all week. But that would have required the trip to the grocery that I've been delaying. Our cereal shelf, which normally looks like it was ripped from the set of Seinfeld, is nearly bare of it's yummy TJ treats. The kids have been eating (organic) pop tarts for breakfast on occasion. My avoidance has reached new heights.

Last night, I was planning to drop J. at lacrosse, zip over to the bank and then make a quick stop at the new Whole Foods for the missing pumpkin and a few lemons. By the time we were ready to go, the 50 degree air had given over to cold, steady rain. We stopped at the lax field, determined that there was no practice and headed to the bank. In the parking lot, I started searching for my pen the checks that I needed to deposit. In our mad dash to ensure mouthguard, shoulder pads, water bottle, gloves, elbow pads, jersey, helmet, and stick we forgot ---wallet. Back home, I was wealthier for skipping the stop at "Whole Paycheck" .

Once home, I began adjusting the ingredient list. I microwaved a baby pumpkin from the CSA box. It provided a scant 1/2 cup pureed pumpkin. I augmented that with some TJ's pumpkin butter. Given our fondness for ginger, I also minced some crystallized ginger and added it to the batter. "Fake" buttermilk (milk + vinegar * 5 minutes) stood in for the real thing.

In the end -- a nice muffin. I enjoyed the sunflower seeds on top. A. wished for a stronger pumpkin flavor, which I might have gotten from canned pumpkin or by oven roasting the fresh instead of microwaving it.

TWD: Lenox Almond Biscotti

There, would you like a cup of coffee and some biscotti? It's that kind of day.

Honestly, I would never buy a biscotti. I generalize them as tasteless, rock hard, calorie wastes. While, no doubt, there are bakeshops all across America that have delicious biscotti, I'm not willing to take the chance. I feel the same way about chocolate layer cake -- it's often dry and simply disappointing.

I've made biscotti before, from a Cooking Light recipe that a friend made several years ago. Not too bad. But with a constant influx of recipes, biscotti never made it into the permanent rotation. Under the wire, on Tuesday night (hence the Wednesday night post) I decided to whip up a batch of Lenox Almond Biscotti. I roughly divided my batter in half before adding black pepper to one batch and orange rind, cointreau flambeed orange flavored dried cranberries (from TJ's) and almond extract to the other.

After I cut them, I experienced similar problems to other TWD bakers. After multiple tries and some newly-half sized biscotti, I gave up on the marching soldiers baking technique, lay the biscotti on their sides and moved on. All in all, these were delicious. I'd add more pepper than the eyeball that I used. My best intentions called for dipping the fruit ones in dark chocolate. By the time I was ready to do that this afternoon, there were too few remaining to make it worthwhile. Next time? Yes... these will make the rotation for a while at least.

Those crazy gas prices...

I bought gas today for $2.94/gallon. While my wallet relishes the (probably temporary) reprieve, I can't help but hope that it doesn't change newfound habits to conserve fuel. Among other things, I've been playing a game during the drive to J.'s school -- can I use my accelerator perfectly in the glide uphill to the stop sign?

Sometimes the pessimist, A. would call the falling gas prices a republican conspiracy to influence the election.

TWD: Creme Brulee

Cold custard + Crackly sugar crust + chunks of milk chocolate. Oooh, creme brulee must be one of my favorite desserts. Of course, I have about 50 other "favorites" but this one is good. I borrowed the blowtorch, used the heart shaped creme brulee dishes from the Target Dollar section 2006 (?) 2007(?). I baked these for well more than an hour, but appreciated the absence of the water bath. White sugar torches better than brown. Yum!