I love squash and I have been particularly obsessed with it these past few weeks.

My favorite is the buttercup variety (yum!). It is, in my opinion, perfect 'as is'.It is very sweet and cooks into a very creamy mash; I can eat it every day (and I have been, mmm!). If you are looking for a consistent taste and texture, this is the squash to select. Other squash varieties can be inconsistent with their taste and texture, namely the Acorn squash mentioned below.
on my counter, a few small buttercup squash:


Next favorite is the butternut variety. More firm in post cook texture and not as sweet as the buttercup, but it still has a delicious rich, mostly sweet flavor. Sections of it can be a little stringy, but for the most part, it can cook into a stiff mash.
butternut stock pic:


Acorn squash by comparison (visually smaller then the other varieties) is savory to almost bitter in taste. There are wonderfully sweet acorn squash to be found, but this is where the inconsistency I mentioned appears. When it is good it can be real good, and when it isn't.. well, douse it with lots of butter and brown sugar, I guess. But I prefer to consume the other varieties and add nothing to have to enhance the flavor and texture. I have one on my counter now that I need to cook up. Hope it is a good one!
acorn stock pic:


So soup and chili sounds really good about now. I had begun thinking about making a vegetable stew/chili/soup concoction after pining for a bowl of of (e:leetee)'s veggie creation in (e:leetee,50206)
Knowing that I desperately wanted to use squash in my cooking project, I was given new direction with (e:tinypliny)'s squash soup post, (e:tinypliny,50375) Actually, I was slightly derailed with that one. Now I knew I would have to make two separate pots of cold weather vittles.

I have had super creamy and smooth squash soup before. It is good, but I want something more "chunky" and packed with veggies. I decided that whatever ingredients I selected, I would run them through the food processor to create a consistent texture throughout yet keep it chunky as well. It is a mouth feel thing.

Squash, lentils, carrots, mushroom, celery, cumin and cayenne pepper pretty much make up this super thick "soup"
end product:




like (e:tinypliny), I refuse to throw vegetables away just to make stock, and I rarely use store bought stock (chicken or vegetable) as it is so loaded with insane amounts of sodium. Even the lower sodium varieties are just too high, in my opinion. Insane! So I make own broth by just not tossing the vegetable that are used. Why waste? All the flavors "marry" at some point. Works for me, anyways.

However, in this case, I did not make a brothy soup.I wanted it super thick and any excess liquid kept getting soaked up anyways.

In short:
-Onions added to pan. Followed by:
-chopped carrots, celery, mushrooms, coriander, black pepper, salt, balsamic vinegar and water. While all that cooked/simmered..
-I cooked squash, scooped out the good stuff and tossed it in a bowl.
-I cooked lentils then ran them through the food processor before adding them to squash bowl.
-Scooped veggies out of "broth" and ran them them through food processor. Tossed in with squash & lentils bowl.
-Stirred it all together then ran all of it (in batches) through the food processor.

-Tossed this mixture (and "broth") into a large pot, added cumin, salt and cayenne pepper and simmered for an hour. Added a little extra water on occasion; those lentils are thirsty buggers!

Seriously delicious..
sweet with the added depth that cumin provides. A little bit of cayenne gives it a little kick without scorching your mouth. If you like that, then dump it in and add one of the fresh hot peppers from the produce section to really fire it up.

I will make this again, so here it is lest I forget what I used to create this pot of yumminess (amounts used are mostly a guess):

1 small Buttercup squash
1 small Butternut squash
2 cups Green Lentils (use pink/lighter color to maintain vibrant yellow-orange of the squash)
1/2 onion
12 oz chopped mushroom
2 celery stalks
2-3 carrots, finely chopped
cumin to taste
cayenne pepper to taste
salt to taste
black pepper to taste
coriander (1/2 tsp added to vegetable "stock")
balsamic rice vinegar (1/4 cup added to vegetable "stock")
water (4 cups added to the makings of vegetable "stock")



everything purchased between local farm market, Lexington Co-op and Wegmans.


My NEXT creation, as I had made a large vegetable purchase for this purpose, is to create a veggie chili/stew. I always have an assortment of beans, wheatberries, lentils, and barley on hand, so I'm not sure which I will go with yet. The base will be tomato and so far I plan to use cauliflower (inspired by (e:leetee) picture post) along with spinach (very easy to blend into anything), carrot, celery...and whatever else I have in the fridge. Meat or no meat, I'm not sure. Likely not, though. I'm sure I can sneak in some squash, too. Vegan, vegetarian, chock full of flesh, I don't care as long as it tastes good! It is a matter of coming up with making a cohesive flavor.. With this I might seek the help and direction from suggestions on the internet.

..or (e:peeps)! :)

this is what I woke up to



(boring!!!)

I want to see what the first snow looks like. If you've got pics, get to posting them!

every once in awhile (ok, sometimes daily *cough cough*), I poke my head in over at the lolcat site
Can't help it. I'm addicted to the cute.

even cute food:

helps counteract the digestively challenging food compilations at this site:

(yet, many pics make me a little hungry..)

anyway, some lolcats make me laugh, some make me roll my eyes, and some make me squee a little inside:


awwwwh! sniff! come on, you feel a little mushy inside. ;)

Then this quick video is about 40 seconds of, "huh". Furry dude knows what he is doing. I'd let him pull up a chair at my table anyday.


yep, stopping myself there.

Waking up to rain today reinforced my choice in working outside these past few days. Seeing rain in the forecast for the next few days or so made yesterday especially busy; but I got what I set out to accomplish, finished. yay!

-Yanked out dead plant stuff from pots and ground.

-Cleared out & stored remaining plant pots.

-Raked out beds of leaves and other mess I created.

-dragged branches, raked stuff and other decomposable debris out to rear 'yard-forest-unmanaged compost pile' area.

-Washed windows (outside only)

In the process: left side getting clean, right side not yet washed


not great, but much better than what it was, yes?



-Washed outside car windows while I was at it.

-Swept porch and wiped down outdoor furniture. One chair & small table with ashtray stays set up for smokers, although 100% family and 90% of friends don't smoke, thankfully.

-Daily long walk while sun was shining strong. Made sure to sit in the rays for a few minutes as we might not see it again for a few days or more.


Sitting on boat dock, lower Niagara River. (emptying into Lake Ontario straight ahead)





The sun was so bright! my eyes!my eyes!




After work stuff and play time, I have indoor projects to finish and/or start (still need to do the window plastic). I need to keep busy as the early darkness just kicks my ass, so as unexciting as all this sounds (I enjoy it on some level), it is really about keeping busy.

One last thing, as it can be generalized across the region--
The farmers markets in my area are pretty much ready to close by weeks end. Some have gone through to Thanksgiving, but this year the closings are a little earlier. So get out while you can!
I intend to hit up a few between today and tomorrow to gather up a few more apples, squash and whatever else that might look good. I love love love buttercup squash and end of season prices are a great time to stock up. I aim to cook up and freeze a few containers worth, also work some into a soup/stew/chili etc. MMMMM squash!

Looking at (e:metalpeter)'s recent post, (e:metalpeter,50334) reminded me that I had told Peter that I have a picture of him from the reception (candy table!) that I have been meaning to post. Oops!

I remember saying that as someone usually behind the camera you usually aren't in front of it. Which prompted me to take this picture.





of the few pictures I had immediately resized, this is one of them.

The other was already posted (e:theecarey,50210)

I have a few more that I hope to get to soon.

It is that time of year when traffic remains heavy for a couple of hours after rush hour.

It is that time of year when driving through a residential neighborhood one sees a mixture of pumpkins, corn stalks and wreaths with giant red bows.

It is that time of year when the darkness comes in early and the red, green and blue LEDs start turning on.

It is that time of year when at least two local radio stations play seasonal music (much too early, in my opinion) 24/7 until the first of the new year.

It is that time of year when friends and family talk about shopping; some of whom ask me what is on my "list"

It is that time of year when the single aisle of Christmas decor spotted in October is growing exponentially in color, variety and volume.

It is that time of year when merchandising displays, commercial radio/tv ads, and mail box circulars are covered with festive vomit.

It is that time of year when I try to focus on something other than the looming "holiday" but, it is everywhere.. every year, and it keeps getting earlier.

and now, it is that time of year, when I post my general displeasure to it all.

and for those that know me, it is also that time of year when I try to make the most of it and to find some fun and joy beyond the excessively marketed aspect of the 'season'.


Sooooo..

eventually, I would be down for some hot cocoa, baking (cookies!), sleigh rides, snowball fights, parties, "secret santa" (yes.. we have to do that this year, so get thinking about it!!), glittery craft/card creating inspired by the younger Visco, old movie night, caroling (do people do that?), perhaps a collective 'adopt a family', community projects, etc. Many possibilities to get together and have fun and create memories.

Just not "this time of year": Mid November!!

This week went by in a blur. So much so that I still feel like I have tons yet to accomplish. For this reason, I might stay close to home and work on an assortment of projects all weekend.

Maybe. I can be pretty easily swayed to venture out..

Alright, so I need to seriously wash the outside part of my windows. It is getting harder to see outside- yeh, they are pretty bad. It has been a perfect week to do that, so really, no excuses not to get it done. A quick scrub & squeegee should do it.

and now it is time to get around to putting plastic up on the windows. FUN! heh. I've been remiss in starting that project. I usually buy a bunch of window kits but I would like to find a roll of the plastic that is used in covering windows. That might be easier/quicker for my windows that are clustered together, and possibly less expensive to cover them all at once, then individually. The plastic in the large kits aren't big enough, so I end up doing the windows individually. *yawn*.

The rolls existed in the past, but I haven't seen anything in a few winters, so...

Do rolls of window plastic still exist and if so, where would I find such a product?

Home Depot only had kits.

Sometimes change is good..

sometimes it is downright annoying.

(as with alliteration)

Yahoo!


as an avid use of most things Yahoo!, most specifically I use it for email, I was displeased with their "new look" a few months ago. the layout is intuitive enough, but is more image and module heavy. Fortunately, I could go back to the "classic view" by scrolling to the very bottom and clicking on the tiny text that allowed me to go back to what I prefer. The classic view is/was more scarce in features which I find visually pleasing.

Then a week ago, a banner warning exclaimed that the new yahoo will fully take over ie; the more visually busy and cumbersome look. Not horrible, just not my choice for user experience.

So I didn't believe that it would fully take over..

until today.

yuck!

Yaboo!



but I will get over it.



although, a little love for the yahoo has died today.





anyone use Yahoo?
like or dislike the official change?

It's cold outside

and the sky is amazingly clear. Nights like this remind me that I would like a telescope and a better understanding of the star clusters. As much as I am into the sciences, and just looking out at the universe, I haven't learned to recognize more than a few constellations. I try, but then I forget.

While not as clear as some places, my little neck of the woods has little light pollution. Looking up, you'd likely be in awe standing in my driveway right now

and freezing your ass off, too.

Good night!