grey + orange

When the darkness settles in and the fog won't lift I get desperate, like really desperate, like I probably have seasonal-affect-disorder desperate, for a little color. So much so that I made a little myself. I don't think I've shared any doodles or drawings here yet, but I need to be more comfortable sharing, so here are a couple colorful drawings of a plum.

Oh and that foggy lake photo was taken with a new toy that I picked up at the flea market. I'm busy running film through a couple of other film cameras I found in the depths of my parents cupboards. They were dusty and the batter compartments corroded, but I tinkered them back to working order and have been taking photos with them for the past couple days. I can't wait to have the film developed and see what type of pictures they take. The waiting is the best part of film. All that instant gratification is over rated. Well at least for somethings. I certainly won't be giving up email in favor of handwritten letters, but it is nice to have something to look forward to, even if it's just a little something.

home again + apple cake

*panic* (I like to think of the asterisks as hands flailing in the air). The leaves are gone. All of them. From yellow to bare in one weekend. When we left on Thursday the apartment was bathed in a nice yellow light and now it just feels bright and exposed. Ugh. I guess this means our neighbors can officially see into our windows, although I think they've always been able to since they always have their curtains drawn, which I figure to mean they can see us and they don't want us to see them. But if they have their curtains drawn it means we don't need to use ours right?!

I think it's almost better that we were away when the last leaf fell. We weren't here staring at the tree, willing it to hold on just a liiiiittle bit longer. Nope, we were home enjoying the company of friends and family. So remember when I said that this was the first time Zach and I have traveled back together? Well it's funny because the flight is the most time we spent together all weekend it feels like. We had our own agendas and people we wanted to visit with. We did come together briefly throughout the weekend, but never for an entire day. I guess that's what happens when you live abroad and your time at home is precious. I see a lot of Zach, more than I ever saw of him when were living in New Haven, and I obviously love spending so much time with him, but when we whisk home for a weekend it's impossible to compromise on our wish-list, so we each go our separate ways. Until we have kids I kinda think that is how it will go...

These are a few pictures of my weekend with the girls in New Haven. I didn't take many, because once again I completely forgot, too wrapped up in living it I guess. It was heaven. Air mattresses squeezed together on the floor, mornings around the table with coffee, toast and eggs, afternoons strolling through East Rock and evenings eating anything that was edible. Friday night Crem cooked a chicken surrounded by Brussels sprouts, potatoes and squash and then tempted us with whole wheat chocolate chip cookies for dessert.....mmm. Saturday we went to Caseus, my favorite restaurant in New Haven and shared a bunch of delicious plates, including more Brussels sprouts. It was perfect. I can't wait for the next reunion/bachelorette/wedding.

It's always hard to come back from a weekend like that. Zach and I were both a little bummed when we boarded the flight. It's just so nice to be home sometimes, especially when all your friends make the effort to see you. We often get caught up thinking that is what it would be like if we lived in the states again - that we would be showered with dinners and drinks and get togethers. It's easy to forget that people are busy, like really busy, and it's often hard for friends who live in the same city to see each other, let alone see each other everyday.

Pair a touch of sadness with a pinch of jetlag and a whole lot of fallen leaves. It was time for a pick me up and I'd been wanting to bake an apple cake for a while, ever since the leaves changed from green to yellow. I found this recipe in Dorie Greenspan's cookbook Around My French Table, which I've been browsing/using a lot recently. It's quick and pretty easy, made with ingredients you likely have in your pantry. The dough to apple ratio is also wonderful in this cake. It's as if the dough is just there to take up the extra room between apples and the nooks they create amongst themselves.

apple cake

adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table

8 tablespoons / 1 stick / 113 g butter, melted and cooled

1 vanilla bean or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

3 tablespoons dark rum

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

4 large apples, different varieties (I used 5 because 2 were really little)

1 tablespoon of cinnamon, more if desired

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Butter an 8" - 9" springform pan.

Peel the apples and slice them into fairly thin slices, about 1/8" - 1/4" thick (you can really cut them however the heck you want). Place them in a bowl, sprinkle with cinnamon and mix well.

Place the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the vanilla bean, sliced lengthwise (if you are using extract you will add it later). Once melted remove from heat and allow to cool and then remove the bean, scrapping out as much vanilla 'dust' as you can

Whisk the eggs until foamy. Add the sugar and whisk until incorporated. Follow with the rum and vanilla extract if using.

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add half of this mixture to the batter, whisking gently until incorporated and follow with half of the melted butter. Mix gently so that you have a smooth batter rather than a thick batter. Repeat with the rest of the flour and then the rest of the butter. Switch to a rubber spatula and fold in the apple slices, making sure to coat them evenly with batter. Pour into the buttered pan and place in the oven for roughly 50-60 minutes, less if you are using a 9" pan. You want the top to be golden brown and a cake tester to come out clean when tested.

Those were the leaves. Don't you think you'd miss them to0? They quickly became a part of our apartment decor. Now I might just have to paint some big canvases yellow and hang them everywhere.
And this is just a favorite fall photo that I snapped on one of my walks, walks which are already getting colder, cold enough for scarves and soon mittens.

off we go

Off we go. The two of us, in one plane, sitting next to each other, heading to the states. That's a big deal, that together part. Since beginning the cross Atlantic flights a year ago this is the first time we are traveling to the states together, as in we will be fighting over who gets the window seat.

I've made this trip eleven times by myself. I could probably fly the plane at this point, well maybe not, but at least I could tell the pilot what route to take, and maybe ask him if he wouldn't mind getting a little closer to Greenland this trip because I love gazing at the icy coastline (just another reason why I should get the window).

We are looking forward to seeing friends and family. There will also be a little celebrating as we pop some bubbly in honor of Kerry and Alex! Remember Kerry, she was just here in early September before she went to Kenya? Well, anyway, when she got back to NYC, Alex popped the question and now we all get to celebrate! Hooray.

pumpkin pasta + pumpkin pancake = fall

Consider this post a brain/photo/recipe dump. These past few weeks were busy so instead of taking my time with recipes I rushed through them, only snapping photos when I remembered that I have a blog where I like to share things like food, and travel and life and pictures of the Alps. Oh Yeah, THE blog. Whooopsy daisy. My mom (and #1 fan) was wondering what happened to my posts, and I told her not to worry, that she should think of it as she would a little kid at sleep away camp who is not calling home. Not hearing from someone can actually be a good thing. When I wasn't locked to my desk cutting and gluing little house models I was out spending time with new friends. So blog silence, a bit like radio silence, can be good, every once and awhile. The only bad thing, for me, is that it results in a serious backlog of photos and discussion points, so many that I inevitably forget what I was going to say and look at photos and wonder 'hmmm where the heck did I take that.'

Anywaaaaay back to the photo dump at hand, fall pumpkin cooking. I bought a pumpkin slice at the farmers market a couple weeks ago and went to town, first roasting, then mashing, mixing and pureeing, and finally stuffing. It was my first time working with pumpkin and I must admit I was a bit clueless and definitely a lot experimental, but everything came out okay, if not exactly what I had planned or expected.

pumpkin ravioli with ricotta

the dough (or you could buy wonton wrappers)

from Alice Waters The Art of Simple Food

2 cups all purpose flour

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

Mix the eggs and the egg yolks in a bowl. In a separate bowl add the flour and make a well in the top. Pour the eggs mixture into this well, and with a fork combine add the flour to the egg bit by bit. When the dough becomes too stiff to mix, turn out on to a lightly floured surface and knead by hand. You can also do this in a standing mixer, adding the eggs to the flour while mixing at low speed. If the dough is dry and crumbly (mine was) you can add a few drops of water until it comes back together. Shape the dough into a disc and refrigerate for at least an hour

Roll out by hand on a lightly floured surface. You want the dough to be fairy thin. Roll as thin as you can and then begin to stretch the dough by pulling the edge over the rolling pin, anchoring your forearm on the rest of the dough, and pulling the rolling pin with the dough on it away from your forearm. Do this about six times, working clockwise around the dough. Roll out again. And then stretch again. When you hold the pasta up you want to be able to see through it. You can always test the thickness of the dough by dropping some in boiling water and testing it. If it's too thick, keep rolling.

When the dough is thin enough cut into strips about 3 - 4" wide, or big enough for you to drop some filling and then fold the dough over. Place a damp paper towel over the strips until you are ready to use them.

the filling

this is where the guess work comes in

10 oz/300 g pumpkin slice, roasted until soft

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated

8-10 mini Italian amaretti cookies pulverized (place in a plastic bag and roll over with a rolling pin) 2chf at Migros...

a few sprigs of thyme

salt and pepper

sauce

2 tablespoons butter

parmesan cheese

to roast the pumpkin, place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with brown sugar and fresh thyme, stab it with a fork in a few places and then roast it at 400ºF/200ºC for about 30 or until it is soft. Let it cool to just about room temperature. Once cool remove the skin and mash with a potato masher or with a fork until fairy smooth.

In a large bowl mix the mashed pumpkin, cheeses, crushed cookie, thyme and salt and pepper. This is your filling! Taste it before proceeding and add anything else that you might fancy.

Spoon the filling onto the rolled out pasta dough, keeping the filling in the lower 1/3 of the dough. Keep about 1 1/2 inches between each blob of filling. Spray with a fine mist of water. Fold the upper half of the dough over the lower half, then starting at the fold coax the air out of the ravioli and press the two layers of pasta together with your fingers. When the sheet of pasta has been formed and pressed use a knife or a pasta cutter to cut the individual ravioiis. Use a fork to seal the edges if you used a knife. Lay them out on parchment paper until you are ready to cook them.

Cook the ravioli in salted simmering water for about 6-7 minutes, until the pasta is done. Melt the butter in a sauce pan and pour over the pasta with the grated parmesan cheese. Enjoy.

pumpkin pancake

recipe from Nigel Slater, Tender Volume I - he refers to it as a scone, but it wasn't very scone like in my mind so I'm going to go ahead and call it a pancake)

10 oz / 300g pumpkin

1 cup/ 140g all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

5 tbsp / 70 g butter

1 egg beaten

90ml milk (tough conversion to cups - about .4US cups - over 1/3 under 1/2)

2 tsp thyme leaves

a little butter or oil

Steam the pumpkin, cut into large chunks, until it is tender enough to mash. Preheat the oven to 400ºF/200ºC

Mix the flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Cut in the butter, as though you were making pie dough, using your fingers to blend the butter into the flour.

Crush the pumpkin with a potato masher, then beat in the egg, then the milk, then the thyme. Pour this into the flour mixture and mix well. Season with salt and pepper. (at this stage I panicked that the dough wasn't stiff enough and I added an addition cup of flour. Of course this changed the nature of the scone to more of a muffin...I say stick with the recipe and see what happens)

Warm a heavy non stick 8-9" skillet with a metal handle over low to medium heat. Melt a little butter or oil in it then scrape the dough in and smooth it flat. Let it cook until the underside begins to golden.

You are going to need to 'flip' the scone so lightly oil a dinner plate, slip the scone out of the skillet on to the plate or flip it out of the skillet and then slide flip it back into the skillet with the uncooked side down. Cook for another 4-5 minutes.

Place the pan in the oven until the scone is lightly set, another 7 or so minutes. Turn it out of the pan, cut it into wedges and serve it warm with a slice of cheddar cheese and some bacon.