Fall Into Winter

These photos are from a number of weeks ago and I just realized that I never shared them with you. It blows my mind that you can see that far from our rooftop. Too bad we don't have a 3 or 4 story house. That would be cool. The fall colors are my personal favorite palette and I find myself wearing these colors all of time--particularly the mustardy yellow, mmmm! A few weekends ago I ripped everything out of the garden and put a layer of fallen leaves and a layer of compost. It will be perfect in the spring. We will just turn it under with a shovel and voila! Perfect soil to plant in. The picture below is of me beginning the tearing out process. I'm not gonna lie, it's always nice to have a number of months off from the garden in the winter. We've been having fires in the fireplace almost every night. I love it!

Foodie vs. Enthusiast

There are a few peeps at my work that created their own dinner club. They get together every week, whereas we "foodie club" once a month. There have been talks of competitions or cook-offs. We agreed to keep it friendly and have a combined tapas night where we all cook and come together to share our talents and love of food. The food was great, it was casual, people were cooking all night long. We took our time and were extremely full by the end of the night. What better way to work that stuffed feeling off than a little friendly competition on the Michael Jackson wii game. So fun!!!

El Pulpo

This month's Foodie Club was at our house and I got to set the theme and cook the main course. I chose a Roman theme after being inspired by the Rome episode of Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations." I made Eggplant Caponata, Octopus simmered in a tomato and white wine sauce with capers, served on the side of Cacio e Pepe, which is a creamy spaghetti with loads of pecorino and black pepper. I've never cooked octopus before and it was quite the experience. It turned out pretty deliciously though. Depal made 2 kinds of paninis for the appetizer--one with braised oxtail and swiss cheese and the other a creamy artichoke and roasted red pepper. He also made a super tasty roasted mushroom soup. He never uses recipes and it's always incredible! For dessert, Leah made 2 kinds of fancy cookies. It really was a fabulous dinner overall!

Italian operatic photo shot.

It's Fall Y'all!

Fall is happening around these parts and here's proof...

This woodpecker is the view from my computer desk. Loving the birds!