stephanieNY

I bought a butternut squash on a whim last week at the farmers market. And in the spirit of fall, I made some soup with it tonight. It was easy peasy...1 onion, 1 fennel bulb, 1 carrot, 2 potatoes, and one butternut squash all cooked up in some butter and veggie stock and then blended. At first it smelled a lot like baby food when I added the veggie stock, but in the end it was goo-ooood. I look forward to it tomorrow night and the next night...and probably the next night.

After cooking a bit this summer, I've been extending my efforts into the school year. Last week I made a spaghetti squash meal, some more granola, baked tofu, and big pot of sugo to last me a while. It's a lot more fun to cook for two though. Tonight I made english muffin pizzas...a miniature solution to making pizza for one. Except that I have all the ingredients now and will have to make the same thing the next few nights. S'ok...they were quick and really yummy. Those are figs and onions in balsamic and goat cheese. Maybe I'll be crazy and add carrots tomorrow night.

I tried out spaghetti squash tonight. I've been eying it for a while. It's like pasta except that it's squash...brilliant. Actually, it's mostly like squash. This plate that you see here is a bunch of vegetables. I like it and all, but my eyes were playing tricks on my stomach who thought that it might get some starch tonight. My brain should've known better I guess. I'll try it again, as it's really fun to pull the strands out of the skin and I like its texture mucho. But spaghetti squash, however starchy your name may be, you are a side vegetable.

So, that last meal I wrote about was not our final best-meal-ever of the summer and had some serious competition last night. Still recovering from the BME two nights earlier, I was pleasantly overwhelmed when after I suggested yesterday that we get some sort of meat to cook up for dinner, Adam turned around and whipped up some pepper-crusted filet mignon in barolo sauce. Fancy, right? It was. Restaurant-quality at worst, the filets were cooked perfectly and had a great crunch with a kick around the edges with the peppercorn crust. Don't even get me started on the sauce.

Feeling the pressure from The Graduate/Arrabiata night, we cued up another classic that I had never seen all the way through....Goodfellas. Reeeallly good, and a nice cap to my summer of The Sopranos.

...of the summer was the best meal ever. I once called another meal, in another post, the best meal ever, so I think we can assume that the meal in question is crazy good and my excitement over it at the time makes me want to declare its supremacy. Adam cooked an amazing pasta dish last night with what he called a "quick" arrabiata sauce. I've tried my hand at cooking this summer and made some decent dishes (from recipes), but there's a pretty large difference when someone with mad skillz comes in improvising and achieves "best meal ever" status.

Fresh pasta, fresh peas, fresh tomatoes, and pancetta. I should've photographed the pancetta before it was cooked because we were both blown away by its raw form. I've only ever seen it in its final state, cooked in a dish. From the butcher, it was rolled and stuffed, and I'm pretty sure still had the pig skin on it...yikes.

Last night's best meal ever was followed by the best movie ever. I had never seen The Graduate before. Now I have and I can't believe that nobody sat me down earlier and had me watch it. I get these a lot: "You've never seen Bravehart!?" and "You've never seen Star Wars?!" Star Wars, Shmar Wars. Where was the concern about the lack of The Graduate in my life? I guess its credits and its endless references in pop culture should've clued me in sooner. But anyway, I am now hip to the brilliance of cinematography and directing that is The Graduate. I want to frame stills from about half of the film frames. It was gorrrrgeous. If I could go back in make-believe time, I choose to go to the barbeque pool party in the Braddock's back yard in 1967. I'd bring the pasta with me.

I had five different sea creatures at dinner last night. That's because Adam and I split the fisherman's platter at the Barking Crab, plus a few oysters as warm up. The platter's line-up was haddock, shrimp, scallops, and clams...all fried. Mmmmmm, so good. Summer is officially complete.

I sometimes think the Barking Crab is kind of a kitschy place, more for the tourist-type not the local-type. But then every summer I find myself looking for a cool outdoor place on the water with fried clams, and voila...the Barking Crab. And I'm pretty sure if I ran into this place in another city, I'd probably complain, "Why can't Boston have a place like this?!" So here it is...I love the Barking Crab.

I really like oatmeal but have been dismayed by the blandness of the real oats and the fake gooey-ness of the instant. I heard mixing a banana into the oats was a good way to flavor it up. So I made it this morning and it was wicked good! I made it with milk, a teeny bit of brown sugar, and a teenier bit of vanilla extract, then mixed in half a banana all chopped up. Soooooo good.

And then, for lunch I made and ate this kick-ass salad. Some of the mvp's of the mix: green figs, parmesan cheese, and red onions.

Pressure's on for dinner.

We made these zucchini boats tonight, with stuffing of the corn, tomato, and parm cheese kind.

The giant zucchini started last week like this:

Then half of it got sliced up like so for zucchini sandwiches:

After tonight's boats there is still about 1/4 of it left. Zucchinis of such size might be old news to those used to growing their own, but they're new and wondrous to me. What will we make next?

Last weekend, I had my annual lobster fill. The past few summers, it's gotten to August or so and I find myself in a dire situation...dangerously close to the end of the summer without having feasted on a lobster. It's definitely more the ritual than it is the actual consuming of lobster meat, but either way, it doesn't seem right to let the summer pass without partaking. So, when Adam's family was here from the west coast last week and showed some interest in having some lobsters from the east coast, we made it happen. Rule #1 as set forth by Jessica: the word "lobster", whenever uttered, is from here on to be pronounced only as "lobstah". It made perfect sense and felt right. (That was really the only rule.)

For more lobstah photos (plus some more from the week), go here.

My lobster before and after:

We made pizza last night for dinner, and when I say we, I mean Adam. He made whole wheat dough, and then there was sugo, strips of mozzarella cheese, caramelized onions, carrots, and figs. The toppings slipped toward one side on the pizza's way into the oven, but it was saved and tasted yum.