After 10 days in New England

I drank seven of these...

Dunkin Donuts medium French Vanilla iced coffee with cream. My life's blood. (Especially when served with a Boston Kreme doughnut on the side...)

I ate three of these...

The Clam Shack's lobster roll, served with sweet potato fries, for $6.95. It literally does not get any better than this.

 And I made this cake from scratch, thanks to Martha Stewart...

Vanilla cake with creamy vanilla frosting, to celebrate grandpa's 85th birthday.

It was good to be home.

Falling for fall

Right. So, fall in California – official as of last Saturday, but there were signs beforehand. As we all know, I love autumn. As in, I luuuuurve autumn. This is definitely my favorite time of year – I love the cooler weather, the beautiful trees, the clothes, the sense of coziness, apples and pumpkins and winter squash (which, of course, means apple pie and apple sauce and apple cider and apple cider doughnuts and…okay, I’ll stop now. I think you get the point). Plus, to top everything off, we are officially at the beginning of the holiday season! YES! Before you know it, Halloween will have come and gone and it’ll be time to prep for THE BIG ONE (Thanksgiving, which there is already a feature about on foodnetwork.com) and then Christmas. I am already so excited that I can barely contain myself. I just realized that the next round of magazines to arrive will all be Thanksgiving ones! Wyatt says, “Did someone say…turkey?”

But back to the matter at hand. I apologize, I know I tend to get distracted by holidays…and turkey…and cooking…and Starbucks…(wow, I’m in kind of a goofy mood today, huh?). I was concerned that moving out here would mean no fall. After all, I was coming from New England, the kingdom of autumn. And while fall might not be quite as in your face here, it definitely makes its presence known. The weather hasn’t changed dramatically, although it is cooler in the mornings and evenings. But that was kind of to be expected – the weather is fairly steady year round here, and it is always pretty ideal, so no complaints. The leaves on certain trees are changing colors – mostly to a brilliant red, which is very pretty. It seems like the further north one goes, the more color there is – there is even a difference from Oakland up to Berkeley. There are several drives recommended for leaf peepers, pretty much all somewhat north of me, and I really hope to take one with Wyatt and the brother. Perhaps most exciting of all, fall produce has made its way to the farmers’ market – apples, pears, some squash and pumpkins, sunflowers – I’m in heaven! A number of the apples are old heirloom varieties that you don’t see much anymore (including Jonathon, a long-time fave of my dad’s although he never get his hands on any). There is actually a whole section of the region called “apple hill” that features apple orchards, cider makers, and apparently the best apple cider doughnuts ever (we’ll see about that). Anyway, I hope to take a drive that way in a couple weeks, once the season peaks – check out this link for more info: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/84940. So far, autumn in northern California has been quite satisfying.

Last weekend was the Eat Real Festival at Jack London Square in Oakland. Because I live pretty close, the roommate and I went twice – Friday evening and Saturday morning. And boy, did we eat – lobster roll bites (good, but not as good as at the Clam Shack in MA), nutella-strawberry crème brulee, frozen custard, spring rolls, garlic mac and cheese, cupcakes (twice), and a caramel apple topped with bacon. True story. Everything was delicious, and it was a lot of fun to wander and see what everybody was eating. A whole weekend festival dedicated to food!

Cooked four more recipes from Barefoot in Paris over the weekend, too!

Finally, here’s a funny pic of Alex, hanging his head in shame and admitting defeat to the pancakes – hence the white flag.

A Quick Update

Oh, what to talk about today? In truth, not much has been going on in my own little foodie universe. I have been busy with work and school and life in general, leaving less and less time for cooking and watching Food Network and so on. Some highlights to hit on:
I went to visit my grandparents over the weekend – something I try to do every month or so. They live about three and a half hours away, and I always enjoy my visits. While there, I had my last lobster roll of the season. We go to this really cool place called the Clam Shack. It is just a seasonal stand with picnic tables outside. The menu is heavy in classic New England seafood dishes, including the infamous lob-stah roll. They do a really good job on it, too. A simple grilled and buttered roll, topped with 100% lobster – no mayo, no filler – served with a side of onion rings and a pickle. Perfect!
Yesterday I went to the grocery store and stocked up on ingredients to make three different autumn suppers, all of which I am looking forward to preparing (and eating). The first is a skillet rosemary chicken. I can use rosemary from my herb garden, which is always extra special. This lemony rosemary chicken is prepared completely in one skillet, and served with new potatoes. Yum. The second dish is a turkey cutlet with herb gravy (again from the garden) and an apple celery salad. The third and final meal is one I have prepared before, tried and true (whereas these other two are new). It is an autumnal roast of sorts – baby potatoes, chicken, italian sausage, shallots, and black grapes are all roasted together with EVOO and herbs, and then topped off with a balsamic drizzle. I got this recipe from Rachael Ray (of course), and it has become one of my favorite easy, simple cold weather meals. And it is supposed to be chilly this weekend – highs in the lower 50s! Brrr.
I am pretty sure I see another apple pie in my future. This time I will be sure to take a pic and post the recipe. I have been eating a lot of different varieties of apples this fall, when they are all so plentiful. As a native Northeasterner, I am of course biased toward the macintosh – and with good reason, in my opinion. They are sweet but not too sweet, juicy, and they stand up well to baking and other cooking methods (such as homemade applesauce). To answer a previous comment, macs are usually my apple of choice for making pies. I do try to incorporate some variety to add interest to the pie, so I might use mostly macs but include one or two apples of a different variety. Same goes for applesauce and apple crisp (another seasonal favorite that I have not even touched on yet). My favorite apple for just munching on, however, is the honeycrisp. Crunchy, as the name implies, and sweeter than most, they are the perfect snack. Too bad they also tend to be a bit pricier than other varieties.