In the news...

Restaurant review a'coming tomorrow, but yesterday was a good day and today a damn busy one. In the news, in short order:

I taught a terrific Canning 101 class at Strosniders. We made my Apple, Pear and Lemon Thyme Jam; those who stayed to chat after class ended got to take home all the leftovers. Fun!
Thanks to everyone who came and to Strosniders for having me back. 

I had another essay, The Sweetest Traditions Are Often the Simplest, published on The Huffington Post. Exciting!

And, a sandwich I recently created - was nominated for a community pick on Food52. Want to eat some seasonal deliciousness for lunch this week? Make this: Apple, Bacon, Caramelized Red Onion Sandwiches with Arugula-Thyme Spread. I thought it was so good that as soon as I finished the first, I made a second one and ate that too. 

Yesterday's jam, today's pizza, hubs & idioms

Peeps, I miss my husband. He has worked so late so often recently that I've not even seen him until the next morning. I didn't see him the night before I left for New Mexico, obviously didn't see him while I was away, and have only spent 50% of the nights since I've returned sharing equally tired space before tucking in. It's hard on both of us, in different ways and at different times. "Ships in the night" is such an accurate idiom, isn't it? It's like "white on rice" or "you catch more flies with honey." Though I love "to beat sixty" and "it's six and one, half-dozen the other," they really make zero sense unless your intonation and the context are spot-on suggestive. Usually, spot-on suggestive is not my problem, but you see what I'm saying.

In any case, seeing one's spouse for roughly 75 minutes per day is not conducive to feeling terribly connected. Indeed, T often gets up with the boys so that I can have a bit more sleep and time off, so really, we're probably more in the 45 minute/day range right now. No good. I see the security guards at school more than that. And while I really like Officers W, J and M, I did not marry any one of them.

Such is life I guess. "This too shall pass." That one's pretty good unless people are being overly platitudinous with it.

Blahby, blah. The recipe for yesterday's jam, Apple, Pear & Lemon Thyme, is now posted, and tonight I made a hell of a great pizza. I mean like, off-the-hook outstanding. Pizzerias should use this basic recipe.

Ready? A great crust, olive oil, Maldon, a light sprinkle of crushed red pepper, LOTS of torn basil, grilled eggplant Calabrian-style (I bought this, the crust and the fresh mozz at Vace, a favorite local store of mind), Iberico-style cured pork (like prosciutto or speck; I got this award-winning one from EcoFriendly Foods at the Dupont farmers market), grated smoked mozzarella, fresh mozzarella, more basil.

After some time on the grill, I tossed some chopped figs (fresh; actually 1 fig; from my garden; that's all I had.), some of the eggplant's oil and some pimentón- and peperoncino-infused finishing salt. Sososososo good!

It's fall!

Overcome with fallitude, I yesterday spent a ludicrous sum of money on sugar pie pumpkins. Swear I thought they were $1.99 each rather than per pound, but alas. I whiled away this morning roasting and then turning them into five cups of beautiful puree. I know it's fall when I start using my food mill on a regular basis, and today was its maiden voyage. Aren't these gorgeous? And what scrumptious pumpkin goodies the puree will later make! Do y'all do this? You simply split each pumpkin, remove the seeds and superfluous strings, place the halves cut-side down on a half-sheet and roast at 385° Fahrenheit or so until they're starting to collapse and sooo easily pierced with a knife, about an hour. Then you scoop the flesh from the skin (which is then discarded; great for the compost!) and mash or food mill until you're left with a puree of uniform consistency. Freeze in one-cup portions so that later, when you need just that one cup, you aren't stuck halving to ice-pick frozen pumpkin mounds.

While they were roasting, I also worked up a new jam: apple, pear, lemon thyme, pear brandy, black pepper and sugar. What I didn't waterbath can, I ate atop crunchy sea salt crackers and Humboldt Fog. Mmm!!!