Sweet Revenge

Happy Halloween!!!!

 As you get older, Halloween is celebrated so differently from when you were a kid. Back then, it was all about the coolest costume and how much candy you could acquire in a single night. You'd look forward to Trick-or-Treating with the same, overwhelming amount of anticipation that you'd feel on Christmas morning. I remember my favorite costumes were the ones my mom made - Princess Jasmine from Aladdin and Pocahontas (but way before Disney came out with their movie). I definitely wore those a few years each!

 This year, my Halloween encompassed going out on Saturday night in a costume cobbled together at the last second with my regular wardrobe. Yup, I was a "cowgirl", in my plaid button-down shirt, jeans, a leather boots. Sorry, I didn't even have a cowboy hat to make the ensemble work. We visited two bars, neither of which was very busy or having a Halloween party. It was a complete reversal of last year's Halloween festivities in downtown -- every place was packed with costumed people, it took forever to get a drink, and we had to park blocks away.

 And my plans for tonight, Halloween Eve, are to hit up the grocery, then hang out at my apartment with my roomie, watching a Halloween movie on tv. Not a scary movie, though, since I'm such a chicken. We were planning to enjoy the first case of Ohio-issued Yuengling, since it was scheduled to be released today in southern Ohio. Sadly, though, the release date in stores has been pushed back to mid-November...so we'll be prematurely (by one day) celebrating Dia de Los Muertos with Rogue Dead Guy Ale. [side note: I love the colors and traditional imagery of Dia de Los Muertos - and I've always loved the idea of a day to celebrate the lives of your ancestors.] Sounds perfect to me! Plus I get to eat all the candy I bought, instead of giving it away to kids. Ha, okay, I will eat some of it, but I'll try to incorporate most of it into some baked goods, like cookies or something. Sigh. Behaving is such a challenge...

 Unlike my Halloween festivities, my celebration of fall-inspired cooking are in full swing.

 Two weeks ago, I made a pumpkin pie from scratch, meaning I chopped and roasted a small pie pumpkin instead of scraping it out of a can. I learned that I prefer the ease and bright orange color of the canned pumpkin puree to my sad, pale brown pie. Both taste quite good, though.

 Last week, I took the leftover roasted pumpkin and pureed it for a Pumpkin-Ginger Bread Pudding, with raisins and a hefty dose of cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom. Very tasty, especially when warmed and drizzled with heavy cream. Okay, what doesn't heavy cream make better? And there was plenty of heavy cream and gruyere cheese in the fennel-potato gratin I made, which was such a comfort dish, I know I'll made it again this winter.

 This past weekend, I was a baking fiend. I'd postponed some of the baking I'd meant to do during the week and had to get it done on the weekend, so that my ingredients didn't go bad. I made: baked mac and cheese with ricotta and squash puree, brownie cookies, brownies (with the leftover batter from the cookies), and Alton Brown's Super Apple Pie. Yup, that's right, I made my second attempt at the apple pie that had so disappointed and frustrated me a few weeks ago. This time, I came in armed with a brand new pie bird (an adorable white and blue rooster with red rooster trimmings!) and a springform pan (in lieu of the 2 inch deep tart pan AB recommends). I made the dough for the pie crusts over 24 hours before I made the pie, so they had plenty of time to firm up in the fridge. This pie takes a bit more time than I usually commit to pies, thanks to peeling and slicing all the apples, then coating them in sugar and letting them drain out some of their juice for 30 minutes. The task was made even more difficult by the ancient peeler my mom owns, which took some serious pressure to get peeling. Naturally, that brings about a serious fear of injuring myself with said peeler. I actually longed for the lovely, sharp oxo peeler in my apartment (nerd!).

 I was worried I'd have a repeat of my previous frustrations, or an entirely new set of difficulties to deal with; it'd be my personal Halloween horror story, made worse by the need to re-try baking the pie. I cannot let a silly pie recipe defeat me!

 The chilled crust rolled out nicely. The filling had more liquid than I thought was a good idea, so I added a bit more flour. It didn't seem to do much...but it was worth a shot. I even took the time to arrange the apples around the pie bird in a manner similar to AB's demo video, though I didn't arrange them nearly as neatly as he did (this young grasshopper has no patience!). The head of this wee pie bird poking out of the top of the pie was a strange sight, and he looked as if he might be screaming "Nooooooo!" I almost felt bad. There were only two minor problems with assembly: 1) the edges of the crust were difficult to seal together in the springform pan. I did my best, but it wasn't a pretty job, and 2) the reduced apple juice was a bit too reduced, almost like candy syrup, so it didn't brush across the crush. My lack of artistry is apparent in the smudges of candy-apple-juice around the emerging head of the pie bird.

 In the looks department, this pie isn't going to win any awards. In the arena of taste, though....mmmm! This pie has it. A tender, flaky crust with just a hint of apple from the applejack brandy. Apples kept juicy with apple jelly and apple cider, complete with a subtle hint of spice from the addition of grains of paradise. And a fresh acidity underlying it all, thanks to the lime juice. Marvelous! Definitely a Super Apple Pie. My revenge on this recipe was complete and so very delicious!

 Happy Halloween!
And Feliz Dia de los Muertos tomorrow!

Rocking Out on a Monday

Mondays are usually not all that awesome. Actually, they're the second worst part of the week. Sunday nights hold that terrible top spot because they are filled with dread about ending the weekend and returning to work for another week.

Sometimes my Mondays are considerably improved when I leave work a little early and trek up to Dayton for an evening at Red Carpet Tavern with Eric and Manning. What's not to be fun about delicious wings (hopefully drenched in hot sauce!), enormous glasses of icy PBR, and hours of entertainment from the boys and the various characters at Red Carpet Tavern? Practically nothing. Wait, unless we stay there past 11pm, since I try to leave Dayton at an ungodly time to beat most of the work traffic. It's worth it, though. And it always makes my Monday and the rest of the workweek a little more bearable.

Last Monday, I didn't go to Red Carpet Tavern. But neither did Eric, and that's significant. He hasn't missed a Monday night there this year and only missed a handful of Mondays in the previous 2 years.

Even without a trip to Red Carpet Tavern and wings and PBR, last Monday rocked. And here's why...

Eric drove down to Cincy...
We met up at my apartment, so I could finish getting ready. He was exhausted from his manic recording sessions over the last 4 days, so he chilled on the couch while I putzed around a bit.

We went out to dinner...
At Dewey's pizza. So delicious. I'm addicted to their Green Lantern pizza (red sauce, mozarella, pesto, goat cheese, artichoke, mushrooms), though I was highly tempted by their seasonal offering, a Cuban pizza. I may just have to revisit to try this out... Pickles on a pizza, it's like I have to try it! While we were inside, it began storming--lightning, pouring rain, dark clouds. This didn't bode well for the rest of the evening's plans... I continued to sip my too-hoppy beer and devour my half of the pizza while we waited out the rain. Eventually, Eric dashed through the storm to bring the car curbside. What a gentleman!

We saw A Perfect Circle!!!!!
Miraculously, the storm stopped the instant we pulled into the parking lot for the venue. Only our feet got wet as we trekked into Riverbend Music Center and entered PNC Pavilion. And, as expected at a show by any of Maynard's bands, the people watching before the show started was excellent! Our seats were in the first seated section, on stage right, giving us an incredible view of the stage. I'm noticing--and finding very interesting--that Maynard prefers to play in "small" venues and to not display the band on jumbo tv screens. They actually didn't use the tv screens at all for APC, though they put up graphics or music videos for Tool's show. The show itself was fantastic! I was distracted at times by the security guards repeatedly telling fans to stop using cameras (no photography or recording allowed); one girl in particular was told at least 20 times to stop and she'd argue every time. She even walked forward several aisles and took pictures. Definitely distracting. But I loved the show and had such a fun time!!!!

Afterwards, we chilled at my apartment and, amazingly, the apartment wasn't a sauna and sleeping conditions were ideal. I even woke up to turn off one fan because I was--wait for it...--too cold! Ah! And I must admit it was rather wonderful to see Eric before heading in to work.

Unfortunately...the remainder of this work week has been positively dragging by at a snail's pace. Tuesday felt like the longest day at work ever and I seriously thought it was Thursday. Or maybe that was just hoping it was Thursday. Sigh. Either way, I can't wait for that wonderful time on Friday when I leave school and head to Dayton...because that's when my weekend starts.

A Happy Tired

Hello! I hope you like the updated look of my humble little blog! I've been wanting to change the background and spiff it up for awhile, but I haven't because - I admit this is pathetic - I was afraid the background watercolor I loved so much would disappear from my options. I figured, what's the point of having all these lovely options if you never take advantage of them? And I made the change! I also was overexcited by seeing my best friend Moe's blog awesome new look :) As usual, she inspires me.

Well, I'm exhausted and just dragging. I'm near the end of my workday, but that's mainly because I decided to push a few items off until tomorrow. (Oops! I'm still striving to be a better worker...) Why am I so tired, you ask? Because my weekend was awesome! Here's the highlights:

Friday night, Eric was still out of town (at his brother's graduation from NYU with his MBA), so I went to the outlet mall en route to Dayton. My mom joined me for awhile, then we made the remaining trip home, where we had dinner with my dad at a tasty Mexican restaurant. I ordered carnitas and they were so deliciously tender, falling apart at the slightest touch from my fork. And they came with a spicy yet refreshing tomatillo salsa. Mmmm! I stuffed myself then flipped through a few magazines before bed. Since I usually spend my weekends at Eric's apartment, it was strange to sleep at home, in my small, uncomfortable bed. Plus I'd forgotten just how loud my parents leave the tv's when they fall asleep. Oof.

Saturday, I putzed around in the morning, even sitting outside in the glorious sunlight with my book, and just as I was about to get a shower before getting Eric from the airport, my relatives from Kentucky stop by. They were in town because my uncle and my cousin are making custom cabinets for my other aunt and uncle's remodeled kitchen (it's going to be incredible, a dream kitchen). So I hung out with them for a bit, had a rushed shower, and picked Eric up from the airport. For the first time ever, there was an airport security fellow who walked up and down the curb outside the doors to the airport, telling people they were not allowed to be stopped at the curb unless their party was visible outside. Um, okay, whatever. I made 5 circuits of the airport, all at an excruciating 15 mph. Actually the slow speed made it hilarious when other cars were also circling - a parody of a car race, all of us jockeying for position in slow motion. Ha!

For the remainder of Saturday, Eric and I just relaxed. He even napped, despite his aversion to calling it a nap. Silly! We made a rather fabulous dinner on the grill - barbecued chicken breast, oven roasted potatoes & onions, and - wait for it! - cornbread! Mmmm! Sadly, the cornbread tasted a bit soapy. I wasn't sure if the mix had gone a bit rancid or if it was just some off-tasting wheat flour (my first few bites of wheat flour products often taste soapy). Regardless, I ate more than a few pieces of that cornbread over the next few days! Manning came over, we played Wii Bowling, and called it a night early on.

Sunday, I helped Eric prepare the store for a running form clinic. It was one of the first major, non-school associated events he's held in the store, and he said it went really well. There are even videos and pictures of people at the clinic on their Fbook page.

Sunday night, Eric and I trekked to Columbus for Rock on the Range, a two-day rock festival held in Columbus Crew Stadium. This event marked the first time A Perfect Circle performed live in several years. A Perfect Circle is a musical collaboration between several top artists, but what brought Eric, and in turn myself, to the band was the singer - James Maynard Keenan. He's the singer for Tool and for his more recent project, Puscifer. All three acts have tremendously different and incredibly awesome sounds. We've also seen Tool and Puscifer in the past 2 years, so we were awfully psyched for the chance to see A Perfect Circle! After enduring a band neither of us really cared for and a 40 minute stage change...A Perfect Circle came on. Ohhhhh man, I was so excited! Oddly, though, A Perfect Circle didn't allow the jumbotron screens to show their performance. Nor did they have any visual elements other than a backdrop banner (their circular logo in black on a plain banner), various colored lights, and a little bit of smoke. It's an enormous departure from the stunning visual elements of Tool and Puscifer. I was disappointed...then I realized I was so focused on the band, straining to see Maynard's outline (he doesn't like to be front and center like most singers. he typically hangs out in a back corner. but even his stance his so compelling, you're focused in on him without trying) or watching Josh Freese, the drummer, swing his arms high overhead, almost like Animal from The Muppets. It didn't matter that they didn't have movies and theatrics - they were there, they were performing, and it was awesome. So many people left during the early part of their show; obviously other people didn't feel the way I did. Probably because they hadn't come to Rock on the Range specifically for A Perfect Circle. Probably because the other bands used all sorts of visual elements - movies/images on huge screens, playing on the jumbotron screens, even shooting bursts of fire (ooo! aaaa!). Those people didn't know what they were missing! After the show, Eric performed magic. We made it out of the parking lot in about 5 minutes and were on the highway within 10 minutes. Seriously, that's magic!

With the late show in Columbus, I'd decided to take Monday morning off. I had intended to go into work in the afternoon, but, upon hearing that the owner of Red Carpet had saved us 3 spots for Monday night's special event (an extremely popular singer who could imitate numerous other artists, like Elvis or Frank Sinatra), I decided to take the whole day off. Wooooo! Sweet, sweet freedom! I spent most of the day baking things I hadn't had the chance to make last week, and spent a little bit of time outside in the sun (I have a very lobster-ish coloring to my chest, stomach and arms!). Then we fell into our usual Monday night routine - pick up Manning, go to Red Carpet, and quickly put in an order for wings and tall mugs of ice cold PBR. Mmmm! Life is good! The owner had reserved our seats with 3 nametags that all said "PBR". Apparently, we're known as PBR. And I like it! Just as the singer started his second song, the power in the entire bar went out! Severe winds and thunderstorms were sweeping across the area, remnants of the horrible storms that had caused tornadoes in Missouri earlier. The singer, who was blind, immediately quipped "Now you know what I feel like!" Ah! Hilarious and somewhat scandalous. Obviously he was comfortable with his blindness, because he kept making jokes. Let me tell you, I was so glad we had so many people in the bar with us, more than the average Monday night. Tea candles were set around the bar and the taps still worked, so we drank our PBR by candlelight in companionable darkness. :) A rare experience, but an awesome one! After 30 minutes, the power returned and the night went on. We were there until 12:30! Ah, way too late for this girl, who has to wake up at 6am to make it back to Cincy before traffic gets too crazy. It wasn't too late, though, to give Eric a surprise - I'd found cupcakes at DLM with Batman decorations! He was so excited and we both fell asleep quickly, full of PBR and happiness.

So I'm tired today, but it was from such a good weekend, I won't even think of complaining about my tiredness!