4 Layer Spice Cake with Citrus Filling

I. Love. Cake. Over the years, as I have aged (woe is me, hear the cracking of my bones), my sweet tooth has waned considerably. If I crave something, it's invariably savory. From time to time, however, I am presented with the option of cake, and those are good times. I am a grown woman and I still want the icing-drenched corner piece of store-bought birthday cake.

I love cake so much that I have rules for it: I'm not allowed to bake it in my home, only other people's (fortunately, my parents do, in fact, have a kitchen), I may not ever buy one, and above all, I can never be trusted to cut my own piece. [Edit: My friend Josh had this to say about my rules "That looks awesome. Your rules for cake, though, frankly suck. First rule of cake: there are no rules. omnomnom"]

You can imagine how I felt when this little gem showed up in my mailbox:



Obviously. I made the cake.

The only thing I would change is the icing. I think that a light cream cheese icing would cut down on the intense sweetness of this cake, which would make it pretty much perfect.

White Bean Risotto with Chard and Fried Okra

I said that I like it when people send me recipes and I meant it! My best friend's mother, ridiculously skilled in the kitchen herself, sent a link my way, so naturally I had to try my hand at it. I then proceeded to change it. Why? Because I just can't help myself. I thought that it might be a wee bit bland prepared exactly as it was (some of the reviews back me up on this), and I am too lazy to measure so anything I do is a bit of a hack job anyway. Oh, and the store was out of butter beans.

So, what did I do to it? I replaced butter beans with northern white beans, a less flavorful bean, but I knew that it would work just fine. Then I added prosciutto to the mix, used a bit more onion and probably some extra wine, and likely a bit more parm than the recipe called for. What didn't I change? I prepared the okra exactly as directed (except a lot more of it), and it turned out marvelously. I also handled the chard as recommended.

This means I now know an easy and delicious way to fry okra. Such things cannot end well.

Pumpkin Chili & Parmesan Biscuits

I love it when people send me recipes to try. Love it! Just the other day, Jenna sent me a Whole Foods recipe for a decidedly fall dish: pumpkin chili. Before you recoil and run away, let me assure you that it's not weird. I did find the original recipe a tiny bit bland, even with my lack of shyness around salt, so I baked up some parmesan biscuits to crumble into the bowl (WF suggests topping it with sour cream, which would probably also do the trick).

Delicious and Nutritious.

In other news, I have acquired a sufficient level of employment here in DC to allow me to look for an apartment. Exciting! I'm looking at a place this afternoon and hope to have my real life up and running early in the new year. When that happens, there will be the dinner party to end all dinner parties. Well that's an exaggeration, but I will definitely have people over and feed them. I'm slowly but surely getting back into some form of reality instead of my own, personal bubble of stopped time.

It's about time.

Butternut Squash Non-ravioli

I must have spent two days bragging about making butternut squash ravioli from scratch. Two. Days. First I was going to roll the dough myself, then I was going to shortcut it with wonton wrappers... then I was tired and they were out of wonton wrappers at the store, so I just made the filling and put it in giant pasta shells. Yes, I am ashamed of myself, but it was still worth eating.

In other news, I keep my trap shut unless I've already made something these days, so I do learn.

Now, if I were making actual ravioli, I would make some sort of sauce to top it. Despite the hack job on the pasta, I did put together a tasty sauce that consists primarily of wine and butter, so you know it's good.

Pinto Beans and Parmesan Polenta

Oftentimes, when I am cooking, I am aware that it's just for myself. This means that I take part in the time-honored tradition of making a big batch of something and then eating it for days... and days. Now, if I love the food, I am not going to complain about this. This is a food I love. I will eat it ecstatically the night I cook it, happily the next day, and awkwardly straight from the fridge, standing at the counter.

Mind you, this is not the sort of meal you cook quickly after work - it requires planning. First of all, you have to soak the beans overnight. That's right, you get dried beans and you soak them. You can do this. Do not, regardless of what the bag tells you, convince yourself that boiling the water and then letting them sit for an hour actually cuts it. It does not. You will realize this at some point mid-bite, and you will be sad, so just take my word for it. Secondly, it requires the patience of a saint. You have to let it sit on the stove for at least an hour and a half at an extremely low heat to really get the flavor right. Patience is a virtue (not, interestingly enough, "avert you," as I so firmly believed as a child... and possibly teenager... moving right along).

The payoff of this patience is a really flavorful vegetarian dish that is even good for you.