candy

hi.
lately it seems, i'm surrounded by candy. every store has at least 1 whole aisle devoted to halloween candy. i'm a candy-holic, but i haven't given in and have not purchased one bag of halloween themed, tiny sized candy bars.
on olive place, we've been known to eat candy. for about 4 months, we had one jar devoted to huge gum drops, thanks to my momma who worked at a candy store. we spent like $30 at the crazy m&m village in new york city. right now, there are some (organic) lollypops in a jar on the kitchen window sill.
a couple weeks ago, i made my first attempt to make candy, after seeing this post and this recipe.
Then i came up the Design Crush Blog and found a recipe for homemade twix!!!! and knew i had to try to make them.

the results? I haven't bit into one completely finished bar yet, but they look pretty darn good! the cookie is like a shortbread, with whole wheat and almond flours. the caramel came out great, and the chocolate melted well, despite the fact i do not own anything to even remotely appropriate to double boil (i attempted to temper, but my candy thermometer started at 100 degrees! so it was kind of pointless.)










i tried to class things up and make them a little more "gourmet" by sprinkling grey sea salt on top.

wednesday's dinner

this delightful juice contains:
-freshly picked apples
-cranberries
-carrot
It was the most electric color, multiple shades of red turning to orange. so delicious, too. i drank it in about 3 minutes.



this delightful plate contains:
-broiled salmon
-parsley sauce (parsley pureed with rice wine vinegar, shallots, oil, s&p)
-roasted potatoes and cauliflower
-fresh shelled peas with tomato sauce

Nanami Togarashi

we're obsessed with all things japanese. once a week, we visit our local resto (formerly Kayuga) Midami. almost every time we go (if the weather is under 60 degrees), I order the nabeyaki udon. the last couple of times, it was served with this strange little vial of spices called Nanami Togarashi. I wanted to take the jar home with me, but since i like that place so much, i made a quick trip to Penzy's to round out my spice collection and just whipped it up in the kitchen this afternoon.

Nanami Togarashi
ingredients:
1 tbsp black peppercorns
1 tbsp tangerine peel
1 tbsp ground red chile pepper
2 tsp flaked nori
2 tsp black sesame seeds
2 tsp white poppy seeds
2 tsp minced garlic

I ground it all up in the mortar and put it in a spice jar.

(i'm proud of the fact that i had everything but the last 2 items)

fall into it

we're slowly but surely checking things off our seasonal list, with apple picking completed a couple weeks ago. mauricio ate like a dozen straight off the trees, but i'm having to force him to take apples to work lately. looks like we'll be drinking all of them, along with the awesome cranberries i got at last week's local food fest.

our weekends are typically pretty slow. we like to wake up late, walk and get some breakfast with the dog at singaBella's, put in some time at the farmer's market in union, and think of somewhere to walk around for the afternoon.
this particular weekend that mauricio captured on film, we spent the entire day outside enjoying the weather. the three of us ventured to the north end and sat outside, having cappuccinos and sharing (yes, the three of us) a nice slice of ricotta pie.

slow tuesday

today z and i ventured out into the republic of cambridge for a three hour walk, happy the sky was blue and sunny with a slight chill in the air. my amazing peet's caramel latte kept my hands warm, and we kept trying to find new sunny spots to lay down and soak up some vitamin d. our favorite place was the JFK park behind the charles hotel, where z could alternate between chewing her bully stick and chasing unsuspecting squirrels.

babyPad

even babies love the iPad.
she was mesmerized by the moving water in the koi pond app :)


(click photo for a larger version)