Fall Foodie

Yesu, where did October go?

(It just ocurred to me that I may have taken the Lord's name in vain in Spanish . . .)

Rob visited mid-October, we spent the evenings bowling on his Wii and the afternoon at Shaker Village. My parents also came down that weekend, and I attempted to knock everyone's socks off with a cranberry-orange pork roast, rice pilaf, and a braised fall vegetable medley of carrots, celery, apples and raisins, with a freshly-made home-churned pumpkin bourbon ice cream for dessert. For those counting calories, I whipped up a lower-fat chocolate cinnamon carob chip ice cream. To compliment dinner, I simmered a mulled spiced apple cider and served my gourmet meal on bright blue plastic plates with non-matching pink napkins. It was elegance at its finest. However, I'm not completely lazy - I allowed everyone to use real silverware. Rob treated Rick and I to lunch at Ramsey's Sunday after church, and then he headed home.

Two weeks later, the 'rents came again because Keith told them he's having problems with drinking. So of course everyone fell apart and I found myself hosting guests during what was quickly becoming the busiest part of my semester . . . It was one of those time where I just had to forget about the mounting piles of work I had to do and concentrate on my family. Ironically enough, Keith physically looks the best he has since he started college. He looks like he's lost weight . . . Mom tried to give me some sort of speech on the phone about "now, I know you've lost patience with your brother, you've had a right to, but now is when the family needs each other the most and you just have to . . ." I cut her off at that point, a bit annoyed, because I haven't lost patience with Keith. Contrarily, I'm waiting patiently on the sidelines until he decides he wants to have a meaningful relationship with me. Oh, and I made meatloaf with creamed corn and mashed potatoes. Now, meatloaf may sound boring, but sautee thyme with the onion and garlic, use bread crumbs as the binder in a beef and pork mixture, bake the loaf free-form, and top it with a secret glaze that includes cider vinegar - and you have a culinary delight that will burst on your tastebuds. It is indeed one of my typical recipes - that is, recipes that require a minimum of twenty ingredients.

Tomorrow night I'm a-fixin' seared pork chops with a cranberry-apple compote and a sweet potato mash with an undecided vegetable. Tuesday night is slow-cooker chili with buttermilk biscuits and again, an undecided vegetable. Thursday night will be lemon piccata chicken with rice pilaf and green beans.

Tonight we're going out to Buffalo's Wild Wings. I'm thinking a nice, deep, honey barbecue sauce to compliment the crisp fall day outside will celebrate the season properly.