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Fall feels like it is officially here! I didn’t get home from work until after dark, Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale is in the house, and I needed a sweatshirt after my run while cooking dinner. Shipyard is my all time favorite pumpkin beer, starting with the packaging. I love it! To me, some pumpkin beers have an overbearing cinnamon and spice flavor and feel like drinking potpourri. Shipyard is nice and smooth with a hint of cinnamon pumpkin pie.

This evening I broke one of my cardinal rules of going to the grocery store between a workout and dinner. . . which resulted in a basket full of fun looking things that I probably didn’t need. I am sure you will be hearing all about them.

The hubs and I cooked dinner together tonight. His being out of work is kind of nice in that he is home and does a lot of cleaning around the house so that I don’t have to. I love being in the kitchen with him, and when I said so tonight, he gave me the title of this post “What happens in the kitchen makes a house a home”. I happen to completely agree. When we have company, we don’t end up on our comfy sectional couch or in a room with a TV, we all end up in the kitchen. When we were buying our condo, a big kitchen with entertaining space was a must, and most nights it is where I unwind while chopping, roasting, and listening to music. 

On tonight’s menu, homemade macaroni and cheese with a Swiss twist. We started with Cabot Racer’s Edge sharp cheddar cheese, 6 cloves of garlic, chopped baby Bella mushrooms, Barilla gemelli pasta, skim milk, apples, and nutmeg.

I love my little nutmeg bowl and grater. We bought it three years ago in Grenada on our honeymoon. It is the lifetime supply of nutmeg!

I grated the entire block of cheese and divided it so that 1/4 was reserved off to the side. Then I grated the garlic cloves and started to sauté the pulverized garlic in olive oil. I tossed in 3/4 block of cheese, lowered the hear, and poured in about a cup of skim milk. Stirring very slowly, I increased the heat until the cheese and milk were blended. Once the sauce was creamy, I grated a bit of nutmeg in and then added some fresh ground black pepper. At the same time, hubs was cooking the pasta and chopping and sautéing the apples in a bit of olive oil. Once the pasta was al dente, it was drained and poured into a baking dish. I poured in the cheese mixture and then added crumbled baby Bella mushrooms, stirring everything thoroughly. I sprinkled the remaining shredded cheese on the top and put this mixture in the oven at 375 for about 15 minutes.

The sauce was a bit thin, I think because I did not use cream and maybe needed more cheese. But the taste more than made up for it. The mushrooms gave it a lovely earthy, meatiness that went well with the creamy cheese and the slight spice of the nutmeg. Topped with warm, soft apples, it reminded me a lot of the Alpine noodles that we enjoyed so much in Switzerland.

Its been a really great week so far. I booked my travel and accommodations in San Francisco last night, and tonight we are going to plan our wine country itinerary. I also had my annual review at work today, and not only did it go well, but I was able to talk about what I would like to do more at work, mainly Public Relations and development of more creative, robust communications materials and events.

I am off to enjoy this chilly evening, and I hope you all do too!

Brrrr. . . we sleep with a fan in our bedroom window, and when I woke up this morning, I couldn’t get out of bed. Fall is definitely here! And no better time for hot, slowly cooked, hearty meals. The other night I planned on making a traditional coq au vin, but because it was about 90 degrees out (very different from today!) I morphed the recipe into a wine, veggies, and chicken dish that was quite different than coq au vin but delicious nonetheless and something I would definitely make again.

Start with 2 lean chicken breasts. I think this would make a great veggie side dish without the meat and chicken stock by the way, if you don’t eat meat or like me, don’t often feel like eating it.

I also roughly chopped about 5 large organic carrots, half of a large white onion, 2 red potatoes, and a white potato. Potatoes are definitely a fall/winter staple in my house! All of these things, plus some giant cloves of garlic go thrown into a pot with olive oil.

I also grabbed a giant sprig of rosemary from my deck garden. I have tons of this stuff, and I love it with potatoes!    

Once I heard some sizzling, I stirred around so that everything had a chance to get a little brown from the bottom of the pot. The I poured in about a cup and a half of chicken stock and started this simmering. About 15 minutes later, I poured in a cup of Nashoba Valley Vidal Blanc, one of the last whites we have left, and likely one of the last we will buy until spring! I also added in a tiny bit of roughly chopped fennel and fresh ground black pepper.

I cooked for another 10-15 minutes, stirring and checking the softness of the potatoes and carrots. I definitely didn’t want anything falling apart. At this stage I added a bit more wine and fennel, then the chicken, which I had seasoned liberally with black pepper. I don’t use salt ever when using stock, which I find salty enough to begin with.

I simmered this for another 10 minutes or so, then brought up to a boil near the end to make sure the chicken and everything was thoroughly cooked. While not at all a traditional dish, this was delicious and even better the next day. I loved the layer and complexity of the flavors from adding herbs and wine at different times during the cooking process. The fennel and white wine gave it an almost bouillabaisse like flavor, and it ended up being perfect for a warm early fall evening, paired with a small glass of the leftover Vidal Blanc.

Boston’s South End has many many fabulous places to eat and drink, one of them being Stella. Located at the corner of Washington St. and West Brookline St., its outdoor patio overlooks a lovely city green space full of adorable dogs and their walkers. Its sleek interior is comfortable and offers the perfect level of noise so that you can hear your cocktail companions but that isn’t so quiet that it feels stuffy.

The menu features a great collection of cocktails including the Aperol Spritzer which is a mix of Aperol, a slightly bitter orange-y Italian liquer,Zonin prosecco, and seltzer water . I love Aperol and until now have only had it the two times that I have been to Italy. I have fond memories of long ago drinking Aperol on ice in an open air cafe in Venice. . . sigh 🙂

I was glad that I chose this drink. It was fruity without being too sweet, bubbly, and refreshing. The hubs chose a glass of lovely Bottega Vinala Pinot Noir.  

While we were waiting for our food to arrive, we were each served a piece of fresh, hot focaccia bread. I ate half, and I saved the other half because we ordered mussels, and I knew I needed to sop up the broth with the bread. Way to be prepared! 😉  

As usual, we decided to share a few appetizers for our meals. We ordered the Spicy Mussels  / saffron cream / roasted peppers / white wine / garlic for $11, the Parmesan Arancini / buffalo mozzarella / spicy pomodoro fondue for 9 and the appetizer special, figs / prosciutto / gorgonzola dolce / honey / balsamic vinegar.

I didn’t actually expect to get dinner so I didn’t have my camera. All I have are Blackberry photos, and some of them, like the photos of the figs and mussels didn’t come out. The mussels were in a gorgeous yellow saffron sauce dotted with red, green, and yellow bell peppers and served with grilled bread on the side. I still needed the bread I saved earlier. I think my favorite part of eating mussels is eating whatever sauce or broth they are cooked in! I have had the arancini at Stella before, and they were once again perfection. The size of baseballs, they are fried crispy and golden oozing with soft, warm rice, and a gooey buffalo mozzarella surprise in the middle. Nestled in a bowl of intensely rich and robust tomato sauce, these arancini could really be a meal in themselves.

The star of the evening was of course the fig dish. What do you get when you combine roasted figs with crumbled gorgonzola dolce, honey, and reduced balsamic vinegar? Heaven! I only had a bite of the prosciutto with this, but the saltiness worked perfectly with the caramelized figs, creamy cheese, and vinegar/honey sauce. This is a meal I would definitely like to recreate at home. By the time we at these three dishes, we were perfectly full. I love small portions of lots of different things.

The service at Stella was great, and on each chair outside, they offered soft, cozy fleece blankets. I needed it by the time the sun started going down. If you live in or are visiting Boston, I would definitely recommend Stella for after work drinks and eats. I did another 110 minute run tonight with a major hill workout 3/4 of the way through, which had my heart pounding and my legs shaking. It felt GREAT! After a nice shower with my new Good Health Natural Products French milled lavender soap, which smells amazing(!) I am ready for some America’s Next Top Model and travel dreaming/planning. My brother in law invited us over to Italy the week of October 4 to help them harvest the grapes for their wine. . . and I would love to make it happen! If we can’t do that I would still really like to go to San Francisco for the Food Buzz Festival plus a few extra days in Napa. I’ll keep you posted! 😉

Working from home on Thursday, so I get to sleep in about a half an hour. Fabulous!

Have a great night everyone!