Pumpkin Blondies

When you find yourself in the midst of a hurricane, surrounded by a flood of Facebook posts about delicious treats, it eventually becomes inevitable that the flour, butter, and chocolate will come out, and the mixer will be put to use.  There may also have been videochatting with my cat and my coworker (and her cat); as it turns out, the kitties were not so impressed.

My hurricane buddy

Unfortunately, my last minute trip to the store for my weekly shopping trip coincided with many people's trip to stock up for hurricane supplies, and my grocery store was entirely out of eggs!   (They were also out of bananas - is this how DC preps?)

So when the inevitable happened, and I found myself searching through the pantry for something sweet to bake, it was the eggless caveat in mind.  I don't mind substituting for one egg in a pinch, but beyond that you can't gamble too fast and loose wtih baking.

I stumbled upon a blondie recipe at Smitten Kitchen - and with only one egg I figured I could make it work.  I subbed about 1/3 cup canned pumpkin for the egg and also added 1/4 tsp baking powder and 1/8 tsp pumpkin pie spice.  With some chopped almonds and chocolate chips, these were definitely what the doctor ordered!

Pumpkin Blondie with Almonds and Chocolate Chips

Riding Out the Storm

Oh Sandy!!

Call it Frankenstorm, call it a blizzicane - either way Sandy has been wreaking havoc across the eastern seaboard since yesterday.  Here in the DC area, that means that Metro has been closed and nearly everyone seems to be off work.

Metro Remains closed through Tuesday AM

I'm lucky living downtown in that my power seems to be relatively reliable.  Cross my fingers, but I haven't lost power in the city yet (Take that Irene, derecho, and Sandy)! I know there will be some cleanup, but it feels good to be prepared.  Going about the prep in my little 1 bedroom made me feel grown-up in a way -  the plants had to come in off the balcony and be cordoned off from the cat, filled up water jugs, and had flash lights, lanterns, and candles at the ready.  Even though I'm nearly 30, I sometimes am surprised by my reaction: oh! I can do this myself, and I don't even need my parents!  Actually, I think my parents may have been a little disappointed that I didn't need them, since they called throughout the day just to check up on me (they're the best!).

The internet has really changed the way we deal with Mother Nature.  Facebook is entirely taken up with Frankenstorm posts - and mostly with my female friends posting about cleaning their apartments and baking.  All that inspiration and a little dose of restlessness left me hungry!  So off to Pinterest to finally try out some of those recipes I've pinned ages ago.  A blizzicane obviously calls for warm comforting soup - so I made a white bean and roasted garlic soup based on this recipe from Pease Pudding.

White Bean and Roasted Garlic Soup

I used canned white cannellini beans, and roasted my own garlic.  There is nothing like the delicious rich smell of roasted garlic infusing the air in your apartment to instill a sense of calm while a hurricane rages outside.  I roasted mine in foil packets with a tiny bit of olive oil (and sopped up that oil with some bread after roasting!) I also included some of the thyme from my newly relocated plants.  Comforting, delicious, and pretty dang easy.  This will definitely go into the rotation.

Oven Roasted Garlic

Sprouted

I love the internet.  Before the internet, where did we watch videos of exotic baby animals and learn about up to second breaking news celebrity gossip?  Need to prove to your friend the obvious answer of who would win in a match between a giant mantis and a spiny leaf insect? Youtube has your answer: Monster Bug Wars (awesome show!).

The internet has a lot of awesome, useful things.  I love to cook, and I'm always looking to make something new.  So low and behold, having mastered dry beans, I realize that you can sprout beans.  Yes - bean sprouts, like you buy in the store, you can make that at home and its pretty much the easiest thing ever.  I'm talking 5 minutes of effort, and no special equipment.

I followed this website: eHow - Sprouting Garbanzo Beans - and simply used a large metal bowl and a paper towel.  You can soak them anywhere from 36-72 hours.

Day 2 - Delicious!

After a day, the sprouts had tails about 1/4 inch long.  Personally, at this stage I thought they were still too crunchy.  By day 2 I was AMAZED at how much the sprouts had grown - the tails were closer to an inch (see above)!  To see things in my garden take weeks or months to produce, sprouts are like instant gratification.  At the end of the 2nd day, I found them to be more to my liking for not only putting in other dishes like mung bean spouts, but also straight on salads.

Hooray for sprouts!!

Killer Cacti!

Watch out for those Killer Cacti!

There have been a lot of changes around here.  Well... perhaps not in the blog world since I have been consistently absent.  The rest of life, though, seems to be constantly in flux, and seems to be especially crowded as of late.  Changes at work, and at home, can make the little things feel even bigger.

I went through an administrative change at work - same job, same clients, different company paying me - and the administrative changes are so frustrating.  New insurance, new 401k, new administrative procedures. Woof.

The manfriend, Mr. Lincoln, went off to Arizona to go to grad school, and I've be working to reestablish a routine as a (geographically) single woman in the City.

I spent last weekend in Arizona (my first trip!) and we got in some quality time. We drove up to Sedona, taking in the desert vistas from our rental convertible and a perfectly relaxed night watching the moon rise from our hotel balcony with pizza and champagne.  It doesn't get much sweeter than that.

Moonrise from the balcony

Its a tough change, and a big adjustment, but I always find the old adage is true: distance makes the heart grow fonder.  Its a great reminder to cherish the time we spend together and to slow down and enjoy each others company.

Brunch at Ken's Creekside