Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto with Sugared Walnuts*

I love winter squash.  Especially butternut squash.  I think the first time I had butternut squash was when I was visiting home during my sophomore year of college and went to the Seattle Asian Art Museum with my mom one weekday.  We stopped at a cafe for lunch and I had the butternut squash soup and I was hooked.  Fall is my favorite season, and the first thing I associate fall with is...you guessed it...butternut squash. So when I went home in October, I found the perfect recipe to try.  Yeah, yeah, the post is really late.  But I think you can still get butternut squash in some places! 

Carmelized Brussel Sprouts with Pancetta

Normally I just steam brussels sprouts and eat them leaf by leaf.  So I figured my recipe needed to be, um, real fancy (huh), for Thanksgiving.  Of course anything with pancetta is immediately salivating, and when you throw in some shallots on top of that, well...hom nom nom!

Adventures in Doughnut Making

Doughnuts are a LOT harder to make at home than you think.  Or, than Lara Ferroni makes you think.  Yeast, proofing, waiting for the dough to rise.  You'd be lucky to have one by 3pm if you start at 11am. Okay...maybe that is an exaggeration, because my sis and I are doughnut novices.  But that didn't get us down!

Pumpkin Pie!

Pumpkin pie is synonymous with Thanksgiving.  I mean, who doesn't like pumpkin pie? Cough...cough...my sister doesn't think she likes pumpkin pie, but really, she does.  She hasn't had a good one yet, I think. 

I was shopping in SoHo and stopped in the Vesuvio bakery for a latte.  I saw a GINORMOUS pumpkin pie and immediately knew this was the recipe I had to try for our Thanksgiving dinner.  The spectacular thing about this pie is that its crust was HUGE.  I'm talking like more than 2" tall, not small like the kind you find at your local Safeway or Whole Foods, or even your basic pumpkin pie recipe.  I asked the barista where the pumpkin pie came from, and she told me it was baked fresh at City Bakery.

Diwali Party!

While baking up a storm for dessert fest, we discussed doing an Indian food night.  Well, it started with "can you bring Indian food tomorrow before the party?"...um, no, but, I'd be happy to do a post-dessert party wrap up feast!  And...Diwali was soon approaching!  So the DESSERT FEST 2010! chefs decided that an Indian dinner night was in order!

Deep Dish Pissha (Pizza)

I was flipping through Marisa’s old cooking light magazines one evening while watching Monsters Inside of Me and The Cooking Channel and I was really craving pizza. Lo and behold – a deep dish pepperoni pizza recipe appeared before me!

When I was attending training for my old job, we were based in Chicago for 2 weeks. Here my main goal was to eat as many deep dish pizzas as I could possibly fit in my stomach. One day I got so excited about the thought of eating my first authentic Chicago style deep dish pizza, I referred to it as “deep dish pissha”.

On that note, with the glossy magazine photos of melted cheese in a golden crust in front of me, I had two options: 1) go to south street seaport and have one at Uno’s or 2) save the recipe to make when I went home for a week. I decided it would be well worth the wait to have some home-made pizza, so I opted for #2.

Champagne Jello Shots and Jigglers

Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday.  More so than Thanksgiving (yes, shocking, considering it is food-centric and all you do is eat and spend time with family).  I don't know why I love Halloween so much.  Maybe because I still love dressing up.  Sanjay, Shrenik and I brainstorm costumes 364 days in advance (well, this year, even 366 days in advance as we were already planning for next year this Halloween).  Maybe because I love candy.  Probably the main reason.  For those of you who watch Modern Family - yes I will be Claire in 20 years.  In fact, in 20 years, if anyone says to me "are you trying to get candy or a Japanese business man" I might die of joy.  YOU DON'T MESS WITH TRADITION.