With copious amounts of time on my side, I have been scouring food blogs and found a new goodie: girlversusdough. She makes some excellent baked goods, so I gave her pumpkin pecan muffins a go with some tweaks of my own. I halved the recipe, added more pumpkin and made mini muffins instead. I also added walnuts instead of pecans because pecans are sick. UPDATE: pumpkin is still delicious.
The world has been a cruel, cruel place as of late, so what do you do? You make a cookie that brings back fond memories of your childhood. When things were simple and pure. I made some homemade oreos today from this recipe. Smitten Kitchen is one of my favorite blogs, and I have been meaning to make a recipe from the site for some time. This recipe did not disappoint, and was incredibly simple. Keeping in the theme of childhood simplicity. Make sure you have an ample supply of milk on hand.
It seems as though the weather waited to change until exactly the first day of fall this year. This past weekend brought clouds and cold, and the air felt crisp. This weather prompted us to take a weekend pilgrimage to Whole Foods to pick up some dinner items and fall baking ingredients. I opted for the Pumpkin Walnut Bread, which included pureed pumpkin. We found all of our ingredients except for the pumpkin. I asked the Whole Foods helper where it was, and she said she didn't think they had any because of a pumpkin shortage. This news sent me into a tailspin. What? No Pumpkin!? How can this be? What about all the pies, breads, cookies and custards? Heart broken. I thought about giving up, but didn't. I couldn't. I went to four stores that day on the hunt for pumpkin puree, and alas, in the fourth store found a whole display of Libby's pumpkin products. Hooray! There were only a few measly cans left, but I snatched up two 29 ouncers. You won't find me without pumpkin this year.
Apparently the pumpkin shortage is over. Last year's rains caused the pumpkin shortage throughout the holiday season which dragged into the year, but this year there will be a wealth of pumpkin puree goodness. With one of my 29 oz cans, I made the bread seen above and a healthy pumpkin oatmeal cookie. I still have some pumpkin left over, but something tells me I may be making any one of these. 
With my 1L starting school on Monday, I am making it a point to not leave the house this weekend. I wanted something delicious for breakfast this morning (although it was more like lunch time), and decided to give The Modern Baker book another try. I have had some disappointing first tries using this book. The flat, frisbee like chocolate cake of the chocolate genoise mousse cake comes to mind, but the 'Real Welsh Scones' came out just right. They are flaky yet firm and slightly sweet. I new recipe staple.
Real Welsh Scones
Last night, thanks to my dear, sweet Grandmother, we were treated to a celebratory engagement dinner. We picked Frontera Grill for obvious reasons. Since Rick Bayless is a living legend around here, Ian and I knew immediately where we would have our dinner. After racing into the city we were greeted by a long line out the door promptly at their opening, 5 p.m. We were told we had an hour and a half to two hour wait and to check back. Some of us had prepared for this news, others had not. The wait was worth it. This place knocked our socks off. We were pleasantly surprised at how attentive and informative our waiter was, and watching all the beautiful dishes go by made our mouths water. It was an amazing night. Thank you Gramma!
So many delicious choices. Ian's embarrassed by my shameless photography.
Flautas de Puerco - a highlight of the meal.
Trio, Trio, Trio - Ceviche Fronterizo, Ceviche Yucateco and Coctel de Atun Tropical. Mezcal Margarita in the background.
I ordered the Enchiladas de Mole Poblano because I read it is a crowd favorite, but Ian was the clear ordering winner that evening. My dish was delicious, and the mole was incredibly flavorful, but Ian ordered the Pato en Chichle, which was a duck breast sitting in Oaxacan chichilo. They only make this once a year and his mole sauce blew mine out of the water. It came with freshly made tortillas and a black bean tamale. Unfortunately, all my pictures of it were blurry. Following the meal we ordered some homemade ice cream with fudge sauce as well as the Cafe Tacuba, a tequila, chocolate, coffee and Kahlua cocktail over ice. Both were amazing.
It was a gluttonous evening, to say the least.
