Pecan Linzer Cookies with Raspberry Filling

Mai had asked a few of us to bake a few items for her wedding reception.  My intial reaction was "Pink! Hearts! Gliltter! More hearts!" and I scoured the web for anything and everything heart shaped, glittery, and edible.  I had a feeling Martha Stewart's website might have something appropriate.  About 45 minutes of drooling through all kinds of heart-shaped treats, I found some cookies that seemed perfect! Well, by some I mean pretty much every v-day cookie recipe.  Okay but I had to narrow it down and I liked these ones best. Especially because I had just picked up some fresh jam from the farmer's market!

Delicata Squash and Mushrooms

I had about 300 pounds of squash to use (from my CSA). The only squash I've really cooked with is butternut squash, so I wanted to find an easy recipe for my delicata squash.  In doing a quick search on my Epicurious app, I found a recipe that seemed both yummy and easy to whip together.

{Delicata Squash}

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

Well, I think we all noticed summer ended this week.  While summer is always fun (both in the city and out), fall is definitely my favorite season.  I like having non-frizzy hair and wearing cute suede boots.  I was touring the Union Square Farmer's Market, 10 reusable bags in tow, when I found a sample stand.  It's nearly impossible to maneuver the market when you have 300 pounds of butternut squash hanging off your arm, but where there are samples, I find a way.  The sample stand was handing out tastings of butternut squash soup with apples - and was a perfect way to kick of autumn.

Sidenote: I went to the market at around 9:45am on Saturday. HOW WERE THERE SO MANY PEOPLE AWAKE ALREADY? Apparently I miss out on most of Saturday morning by sleeping in until noon.

Weekend Adventures in Bogota!

Sanjay, Becca and I ventured down to Bogota for Labor Day Weekend. This was particularly exciting because visiting Colombia got me to my goal of 30 countries - and before 30!

{A Toast to #30!}

Home Made Ravioli

I hadn't seen Mai in over a month, so we thought it was long overdue for some cooking fun! We decided to make ravioli - from scratch.  No, we do not have a press or ravioli molds.  We decided to wing it and see where it took us...

Rainy Day Pizza

Ew, apparently it is monsoon season in New York.  The rain started last night about 1am, and has been going strong since.  Normally I'd roll out of bed and log onto seamlessweb, but lately I've been disappointed by the quality of everything on there. We all know how much I love pepperoni pizza.  I just didn't feel like waiting 40 minutes for my pizza to show up. So, I did the unthinkable.  I rolled off the couch and went to the grocery store downstairs to get the at home pizza essentials: pita bread, cheese, pizza sauce and pepperoni.

Another perk: I was probably consuming 1,000 less calories than I would have if I ordered in!

Pepperoni Pizza, a Hom Nom original!

Ingredients

• The fluffiest pita style bread you can find at your grocery store
• Mozzarella cheese (try to get the kind that is in a ball - not the pre-shredded it stuff)
• Pepperoni (I picked Boar's Head - I'm sure any kind is fine)
• Pizza Sauce 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  

On a pizza tray, place the pita bread and spread some pizza sauce on it. Slice your mozzarella into 3-4 pieces.  Top the pizza with the cheese and pepperoni.  

Bake for 5-10 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the pepperoni smells good.  

Devour while watching The Parent Trap on ABC family! 

Hello Kitty Chopsticks

I was excited for the opportunity to try fresh sushi, kobe beef, and green tea everything. Tokyo far exceeded my expectations by all counts.  The city is easy to navigate, even if you don't speak or understand a shred of Japanese. We did not visit many historical sights, instead, we spent hours touring the various prefectures of the city.  Everyone is friendly and helpful, and, while this was a city of 35 million, I noticed that hardly any bikes were locked when parked outside a store.

I also noted that most things geared towards women were pink and sparkly.  That pretty much moved Tokyo into a top spot in my own personal "World's Best List".  Oh, and not to mention all the fresh, delicious food that we ate pretty much every block along the way.