The Darkest Hour

If we continue as we began, I think that this years time change may be fun. I always love waking up to the light, I'm an early riser. But, for a non driver, early dark evenings can get to be a bit, shall we say, claustrophobic?

But if last night's cooking frenzy is any indication of the nights to come, I'm on board. Our first experience cooking the lovely spring green fava bean was a tender success. We cut up our 2 sugar pumpkins and roasted them ( also a first) seasoning some to have as a dinner for a vegetable and pureeing and freezing the rest of the flesh for future baking. Will I dare to bake a pie? The suspense mounts!

Lest I forget, we also cleaned, dried and roasted the pumpkin seeds in a mixture of salt, chili, cumin, cayenne, brown sugar and the tiniest pinch of cocoa. An hour at 250 degrees, stirred every 15 minutes. Tasty little treats.


We browned and braised a chunk of beef shoulder, surrounded it with sauteed pieces of onions, carrots, garlic cloves, seasoned with S&P, bay leaves and thyme, added beef broth and a bottle of Magic Hat #9, brought all to a boil, then covered our cast iron dutch oven and slid it into a 350 degree oven. 3 hours later the meat was fork tender, we added the parboiled, shelled fava beans, heated up a half a baguette and piled some roasted pumpkin pieces on the plate.

Darkness? Bring it on! You'll find me in the circle of light in the warm kitchen, GG studying, the cat sleeping on a folded up towel and the Lab circling anxiously for any tidbit that might hit the floor. Cozy always trumps claustrophobia.

GG clearly NOT studying