Cheesecake Parties

Yesterday I decided to bake buns, so I used a recipe with pumpkin in the dough, which I makes them nice and moist and gives the buns a golden hue.

Since I was spending a great deal of time in the kitchen I decided to cook up some of the Cherokee Trail of Tears beans from my garden. I simmered them for hours in chicken stock and then added chopped raw pumpkin and sausages at the end.

We had this with a beautiful bottle of Nichol Syrah, which is one of our favorite wines. Then we were invited for a cheesecake party for a friend's birthday. The cheesecake was New York style served with a blueberry sauce. C told us the story of her husband and a friend deciding they were going to make a cheesecake at 3 am when they lived in San Fran. They went to an all night store and bought the ingredients and whipped up a cheesecake. They decided this cake was "not up to snuff" so they went back to the corner store, bought more ingredients and made another cheesecake. "And we ate both!" D said. OMG. Anyway, his cheesecake was so light and creamy and delicious that when I got home I decided I had to make a cheesecake. I watched Midsomer Murders on YouTube and baked until 11 pm. So tonight we had friends over for 10 Year Tawny and pumpkin cheesecake garnished with whipped cream, hazelnuts and maple syrup. Per's in a huff because he's lactose intolerant, so tomorrow I will have to placate him with a non dairy sweet.

Today I spent the afternoon watching YouTube and eating popcorn with hot chocolate. That's what holidays are for!

Good Food Day

I finally made it out to UBC Farm again today for their last market. I bought some greens and some honey crisp apples from a farm in Summerland. I took lots of photos of the pumpkins and squash and was wishing I had a car to haul some home.

Later, I was talking to a staff person at Trafalgars and was impressed that they have a staff CSA with Cherry Lane Farm in Richmond who is supplying some of their produce. That is way cool. It just makes so much sense.

Today J gave us a canning workshop with her new pressure cooker and she made some amazing baked beans. There was lots left over so we get to eat some for dinner. Yay! She served us rooibus chai and salmon she had canned herself with her own dill pickles. She is the canning queen. I am so impressed. Photos to follow. I also liked the way she made notes about the process, breaking down the cost of ingredients and the capacity of the canner.

Ules has been watching Good Eats DVDs with Alton Brown. He's actually great for this age group because of his wacky presentation and obsession with the science and history of food. He's also good for the students to watch so they can get some ideas for producing their own cooking show.

I wish all of you a good food day.