(cauli)flowers from an ex.

the pre-story of this cauliflower could have gone much worse:

sunday morning i went to a yoga class, make-up-less and with frizzy hair – very glamorous.  leaving class feeling zen, i went to buy cauliflower – and the store had orange cauliflower!  orange!  and for the same price as snowball cauliflower!  hooray!  upon leaving the grocery store, and feeling grand, i bump smack into my ex-boyfriend!  great.  just what i needed: frizzy-yoga-hair, no make-up, and now smelling like odoriferous cabbage.

the shaken feeling i felt after the bump-in quickly dissipated after returning home and remembering i have orange cauliflower! orange cauliflower! weeeee!!!!

truthfully, the orange cauliflower did not make the dish: this cauliflower dish is delicious no matter what kind of cauilflower is used. soooo delicious…you should probably just stop what you are doing now and go make some.

recipe: cauliflower with brown butter, pear, sage, and hazelnuts (adapted from urban italian: simple recipes and true stories from a life in food by andrew carmellini)

the 9th healthiest grain.

according to the chalkboard in the bulk-foods section of whole foods, bulgur wheat is the 10th healthiest grains. apparently a grain called “teff” is number 1, but since i have never heard of “teff” before, bulgur is getting a promotion!  hooray! good job!

after all, i figured since i was serving all the rest of my vegetables smothered in heavy cream and bacon fat, i should make at least one healthy dish.  and quinoa is so trendy right now, i needed to be a bit of a rebel, which led me to bulgur. and guess what? bulgur isn’t vulgar! it’s a mix between a quinoa and a couscous. its flavorful, with a bit of a bite. and the best part is that it tastes delicious and sounds fancy without much work!

smelly sprouts.

brussels sprouts are a food derided by children and adults alike: they’re smelly despite they’re adorable size, and result in a cacophony of sounds post eating. they should probably be in the top five “foods not to eat on a date”.  on the rare occasions i get a night to myself to eat dinner in my pajamas on the couch, i usually opt for boxed macaroni and cheese directly from the pot, or a dozen roast brussels sprouts… not the most attractive thing to admit, so lets just keep that between us.

serving brussels sprouts at a dinner party would be an excellent way to clear the room, if you do not want your guests to stay all night. but when you are enjoying your guests, how does one remove the odoriferous properties from brussels sprouts? simply brown them in bacon fat and then cook them in heavy cream and maple syrup!

heart attack in cabbage form, you say?
worth it.

gracies sweet potatoes.

i call these gracies sweet potatoes, but i’m not really certain why. its really a sweet potato and sage gratin…but it doesn’t matter what you call them, they’re delicious.