Thanksgiving

After a week of fighting a cold, I'm hoping that tomorrow I'll be back at work. Sadly I was too sick for us to make it to my aunt's Thanksgiving on Saturday. Stupid cold. But on Thursday, we had a very nice Thanksgiving in Queens with Chris' family and family friends. It's amazing that even friends of the family feel like my family -- a reminder that "family" includes all kinds of relations.

This holiday season, I feel fortunate to have such a large family of people who are so kind and generous.

Muppets

Paper flowers & pages

Taken 11/22/09.

Easy-to-make paper flowers from last week's scrapbook weekend with mom. Make a bunch and create a wreath. Instructions are at miss fancy pants.Started a 'my first garden' book on the weekend with my mom. Beginning pages above.

new hair

11/23/09.

Overly dramatic snowman photos

Home sick from work today. Ribs, knees, even my armpits ache...unless I sit perfectly still. This past weekend my mom flew out and we spent 3 days at a scrapbooking weekend getaway (run by Right at Home). We kicked ass being crafty and made snow people out of glass jars. cute! I worked on a mini-book of my garden & mom worked on Halloween photos. More photos to come.

We made 3, this is my favorite. Taken 11/24/09.

Snow people made by others in the class. Taken 11/21/09.

Cloche

Today I'm crushing on this hat. Of course, it's (too expensive) includes wool, as do most hand-made hats. Fingerless gloves from Craftland? Forget it. Wool wool blended-wool wool. For all you wool wearers out there...I get that wool is warm. If I wear anything close to wool my skin bursts into flames. Then again, when I come in contact with a lot of things, I feel like my skin is on fire.

Hat (and photo) found here.

Christmas tree up at work. Loving it.

Recipe Rursday: Sweet Potato Spaghetti

Spaghetts 11/11/09.

With our very last item from Scratch Farm's CSA, a lone sweet potato, we made this odd little dish -- Sweet Potato Spaghetti. We will definitely make this again. The only thing I'd change is to add more rosemary, which adds a nice compliment to the sweet potatoes. I held back, and without the garlic, it would've been bland. But, another winner from Real Simple.

Spaghetti with Sweet Potato and Ricotta (Real Simple, October 2009)

• 12 ounces spaghetti (3/4 box)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 small sweet potatoes (about 1 pound), cut into 1/2-inch pieces (we used one large)
  
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 2 shallots, sliced (skipped the shallots, used minced garlic instead)
  
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary (or dried - I used 1tsp. to avoid overdoing the rosemary, but next time I'd amp it up to 1T)
  
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan (1 ounce)
• 1/3 cup ricotta

Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Reserve 1⁄2 cup of the cooking water. Drain the pasta and return it to the pot.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the potatoes, 3⁄4 teaspoon salt, and 1⁄4 teaspoon pepper and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Add the shallots (garlic) and rosemary and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are tender, 3 to 5 minutes.

Toss the pasta with the potato mixture, Parmesan, and the reserved cooking water. Dollop with the ricotta before serving.

Dad Highlights

For fans of my media-loving father (in Better Investing mag & on CNN), you might also enjoy:

• His voice mail inquiry about the band Coldplay (April 2009)
  

• This video of him demonstrating how to play a digerydoo (November 2008).
  

Green Green Green

More forgotten 2009 photos: Before heading to Ben & Saida's wedding in September 09.

cookey. 9/19/09.

Recipe Rursday: Spicy Seafood Stew

Taken 11/2/09.

Sometimes I crave chunky seafood dishes. The Shrimp & Scallops recipe posted on Dooce's partner's website (way back when) is a good example of an easy, chunky seafood dish. Chris has been making stews left and right as a way to get through the heavy cooking greens (chard & kale) from our CSA. This particular recipe was his idea and led to a gigantic pot of hearty spicy goodness - perfect for a winter evening. He started with a slow-cooker recipe in Joy of Cooking, but took the preparation quite off-book. Note: the pot was so big, it fed us both 2-3 dinners.

Spicy Seafood Stew (variation on a recipe in Joy of Cooking)
The original recipe uses a slow cooker and no actual clams.

• 1T Olive oil
• 1 Medium white onion
• 1-2 chopped carrots (not used in Joy)
  
• 1 medium celery root, diced (A very new CSA vegetable for us, Joy uses a celery rib)
• 1 jalapeno pepper (we skipped)
• 2 -3 garlic cloves
• 1 28 ounce of canned whole tomatoes, broken up with a fork (Joy uses crushed tomatoes)
• 1 container of fresh clams & the juice inside (Joy uses 2 C bottled clam juice)
• 1/2 C dry red (or white) wine
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (more to taste!)
• 1 lb. of skinless cod fillets, cut into 1 in. pieces
• 8 oz. of medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

Cook the onion, carrots, celery, red pepper flakes, and garlic, over medium heat until the onion is translucent & carrots have softened. Stir in the tomatoes, clams/clam juice, wine, oregano. Cover and cook on low for at least a 1/2 hour.

Turn the heat to high and add the cod and shrimp. Cook and cover until the fish is opaque & the shrimp are starting to become opaque (12-15 min. but checking periodically). Season with salt & pepper, optionally with 1/4 C chopped basil or parsley).

My Dad: Rocking all forms of Media

Riding on his recent national television fame on CNN, my dad has recently published his stock evaluations and recommendations in a top-selling investment magazine (Better Investing). He's such a media hog these days....sending me autographed copies of his articles and whatnot. Enough dad!! (click page below, to enlarge)
Page 2 of the article (below).

Sometimes she's creepy

Taken 7/3/09.

Been going through forgotten, 2009 photos...this one should be titled: The Royal Lineage of Cat, or "Why do you anthropomorphize me like you do?"