I had to venture out to Niagara Falls Blvd today. Oy.

I ordered a movie that needed to be picked up at Barnes & Noble (Mel Brooks, "High Anxiety", 1977). *
(sorta ironic**)

I made sure to head out early, as there is NO WAY I wanted to deal with late afternoon/early evening traffic. Seriously, I used to work in that general direction and I know that from now until the holidays are over, that area (well, pretty much everywhere), will be insane, traffic-wise. GAH!

OMG.

I managed to find other items to look at, ran a few more errands and was fearful to look at the clock after somehow losing track of time. Books and music does that to me every time.

5:15 pm. oh man...

and sure enough, the blvd was packed. Saw three smashed fender bender accidents within a quarter mile.

Jumped on the 290. Traffic was at a crawl.

Jumped OFF at Colvin, figuring that I would never make it the Grand Island bridge (and that would be likely just as bad or worse).

Twin City Highway was a traffic mess.

(saw such insane driving that I expected to be in an accident or see yet another one.)

Jumped off at some random nameless street and decided to make an adventure of navigating through unknown territory. This was actually quite fun.

Didn't know where I was going but I am sure I looked like I did, as I made my way home without further issue.

However, saw two more car crack ups along the way. WTF?

anyway.... glad to be home. :)

• more on the movie, "High Anxiety"

if you didn't know, it is a parody of suspense films, notably, Alfred Hitchcock, and the movie was dedicated to him.




This scene makes me laugh SO HARD.


OK, here is the scene, just a few minutes long. Cracks me up to no end!

• but really, I was peaceful. Annoyed to some degree, but you know how that goes..

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!