And now ladies and gentlemen, we’ve entered the time of year where my trunk is full of butter and my pictures are dark because things get baked at strange times.  That’s right folks, it’s go time, the big show, the superbowl of hostessness: holiday baking.  I apologize if things get a little nutty around here.

Before we descend into the madness, I’ve got a little fall hug for you.  I’m a bit of a pumpkin late bloomer.  And, to be honest, I usually like my gourds leaning in the savory persuasion.  But, these looked too good to resist.  The recipe comes from the fantastic blog, Two Tarts.  Not too sweet, and perfectly spiced, these muffins are autumn in a cute little wrapper.

I made a couple of little tweaks to the original…but really, just tiny ones.

If you like this, you might like these

Pumpkin Saffron Macarons

Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Frosting/Filling

Soundtrack

The second presidential debate.  How about them binders?

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

adapted ever-so-slightly from Two Tarts

Ingredients

• 1/2 C toasted pepitas
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cloves

For the filling

• 4 oz cream cheese
• 1/4 cup sugar

Directions

1. If your pepitas aren’t toasted, drop 1/2 C into a pan over medium heat.  Shape pan occasionally and cook until nuts become fragrant.
2. Whip together cream cheese and powdered sugar using a hand-mixer.  Set aside bowl in the fridge to firm-up.
3. Mix the sugar, oil, pumpkin, and eggs together very well in a large mixing bowl.  Then plop the flour, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spices on top of this blended wet mixture.  Stir well to incorporate and fully mix everything together.
4. Line muffin tins with paper cups, or lightly oil them. Spoon about 1-2 Tablespoons of batter into the bottom of each muffin.  We used a regular dinner spoon – heaping – to do this.  Make sure this batter is spread thinly and evenly across the bottom of each muffin tin. Whacking the pan flat on the counter a few times to is effective.
5. Distribute a spoonful (approx 1 Tablespoon) of the cream cheese filling in each.
6. Finally, evenly distribute the remainder of the batter over the top of the cream cheese.
7. Sprinkle pepitas on top pressing them in slightly.
8. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.  Let cool before you eat them, unless you are ready to deal with molten cream cheese!

I have a rule: the shorter the skirt, the flatter the shoe.  Of course, short is a relative term.  For me and age appropriateness, short equates to just above the knee.  And, at about and inch-and-a-half, these little ladies are perfect.  The designer is Dana Davis and I admit, the only place I’ve ever seen her shoes is via the Gilt.com sample sales.  I bought these about a year ago.  And, if this brand ever comes up again, I’d snatch up another pair in a heartbeat.  Tights by Target.

TD and I had our first date a few days before the 2000 Gore-Bush election.  Somehow, during the course of that very first tete-a-tete, we found ourselves going through the election booklet item-by-item [we broke all kinds of first date rules–and it was fun].  Guess what happened?  We disagreed. On just about everything.  And, it was totally and completely okay. For both of us.

I wouldn’t call either TD or I particularly political in general.  But, we both take our rights as citizens and voters seriously.  Having different political viewpoints, in my opinion, helps to inform each of our decisions.  Hearing TD’s educated perspective always broadens my own.  Every once in a while, it even changes it.

What we didn’t know on that first date 12 years ago was that we had started a tradition that will endure until death-do-us-part.  You see, that first act basically guaranteed we will each vote in every election just so the other doesn’t get a leg-up.  The first date also started the tradition of reviewing the voting booklet, making our cases (and listening to the other’s) and then, voting together.

Which brings me to today’s post.  Last election, we did the first two steps together but, because of his travel schedule TD voted absentee and I voted in person.  It wasn’t nearly as fun.  So this year, I registered absentee so we could once again be united in our discourse.  And, because we are we, we made a dinner out of it.

The original plan was to make a carbonara recipe we’d perfected (according to us) some years back.  However, earlier in the week, we  watched an episode of Anothony Bourdain’s No Reservations that involved a particularly (food) pornographic dish of cacio e pepe.  There just happens to be a porn-related proposition on the California ballot this year, so cacio e pepe it was.

First step (per TD’s request) was to make the parmesian-reggiano bowls for the simple pasta.  I’m sure there is a recipe out there on how to do it officially, but here is what I do.  Smallish frying pan (8-10 inches) + heat+ grated parmesan.

Oil the outside of a small bowl.  Once the parmesan  is golden and will hold together (test be lifting an edge with a silicon spatula), flip the whole mess over the bowl.  Let cool.  That’s it.

Owl Gore presided over the event (at first I named him Owl Green but then realized Owl Gore was more likely to annoy TD).  Lest you think I was attempting to create a partisan atmosphere, allow me to point out that TD was more than welcome to bring along his own glitter encrusted moniker (insert stripper joke here).

Cacio e pepe is an incredibly simple but satisfying dish.  Because it is simple, each ingredient is important.  Use a high quality pecorino and freshly ground peppercorns.  Oh, and fresh pasta if you can find it.  I also like to use a single pot.  In this case it’s a dutch oven.  The water will take longer to bowl but the vessel will hold its heat well and do most of the work for you with the sauce.

Once the pasta is cooked al dente (be sure to reserve at least a cup of the pasta water), dinner is about 5 minutes away.  Strain the pasta, set aside.  Add butter, oil and pepper to the pot.  Stir until fragrant.

Add-in reserved pasta water (use more than you think you’ll need).  Bring to a boil.

Add pasta.  Then sprinkle your grated pecorino and parmesan while vigorously tossing the mixture.

And serve.  While lovely, this dish was lacking in color.

So, a little arugula salad and the last bottle from the case  Concha y Toro Carmenere that followed me home from Chile nicely rounded-out our festive meal.

Our votes cast, all that is left to do is wait.

Soundtrack

DJ TD again on the ones-and-twos.

Cacio e Pepe

adapted from Saveur, April 2010

Serves 4 (we halved the recipe and it worked well)

Ingredients

• 1 lb pasta (usually spaghetti or bucatoni, we used a linguetinne because that is what we could find fresh)
• 2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
• 2 TBS unsalted butter
• 2 tsp freshly cracked pepper, plus more for garnish
• 1 C finely created Pecorino Romano
• 3/4 C finely grated Cacio de Roma (can substitute Parmesan)

Directions

1. Bring salted water to boil.  Add pasta and cook until al dente.  Reserve 1 cup of pasta water,  Drain pasta.
2. In the same pot if large enough, or in a heavy saucepan, heat oil and butter.  Add pepper, cooking until fragrant (1-2 minutes).
3. Ladle 3/4 cup pasta water into pot/skillet, bring to a boil.
4. Transfer pasta to pot/skillet and spread evenly.
5. Sprinkle 3/4 cup each of the Pecorino Romano and Cacio de Rom over pasta and toss pasta vigorously to combine until sauce is cremy and clings to the pasta without clumping.  Add remaining pasta water if necessary.
6. Transfer to plates and sprinkle with remaining cheese and a good spritz of pepper.

A working girl’s secret weapon?  The wedge.  I have multiple pairs in multiple (more fun than grey) colors.  These are J.Crew but Ann Taylor has some that are more reasonably priced and if you like a pointier-toe, Pour la Victoire is a good bet.

I’ll admit, I love the color teal.   I also love aqua. And even mint. Alas, these colors are not always “in.”  In fact, I still think of those awful Laura Ashley puffy-sleaved tea-length bridesmaid’s dresses when I hear the color teal (I know you know what I’m talking about).   In the nicest way, of course.

Happily, teal is all over the place this fall.  So, I had to take advantage.    J.Crew, calls this color dusty jade.

Props for creativity, but, dusty jade=teal.