in the meantime

So since I last wrote, I've just been cooking. And baking. And cooking. And baking. And...well, you get the idea.And it's not so much that I haven't wanted to write in here, I guess I've just been so pre-occupied in eating is all.

Because, really, what good is cooking if there's no eating?? Eating - though not more than laughing - is one of my favorite things.

Indeed.

Like the pizza-kick I was on for a good bit that included a pizza for my lovey:

With goat cheese and spinach and bacon and caramelized shallots and a light tomato sauce. Mmm. Mmm.

Or the (not-so) traditional Cassatta Cake:

The first cake I fully made and truly loved. I used to have a cake thing. A terrible cake thing. Where frostings were awful and cakes would fall apart and it never looked like the cover of the magazine or whatever other picture I was trying to emulate and the discouragement was almost too much. So I'd plop the pile of cake crumbs held together with unbearably sweet frosting into the fridge and I'd try not to scream when I opened the fridge again.

But. I've mastered cakes. Oh, I have. And my mastery of cakes is leading me down a path I am way too excited about.

The Cassatta though, is a gorgeous orange chiffon with ricotta filling and covered in whipped cream. The traditional is decorated in candied fruits, but mine is a simple array of fresh fanned strawberries. Almost too good to eat. But really...

And there was that divine meat-and-potatoes dinner:

Because at the end of the day, you can spare me your froo-froo and your ridiculously gourmet and your over-exertion of a dish. There is absolutely nothing better than a perfectly seasoned peice of meat, a nice heap of potatoes (a good sweet potato mash is always nice), and a good bit of green to balance everything out (like the sauteed spinach with shallots for a mild, onion backdrop) . There is beauty in simplicity. Especially when we're talking food.
And that picture does not do it much justice.
And the chocolate cake:

Ooey and gooey and a tad underdone, but the light mousse in the middle and the nice, thin layer of ganache bring it all together for a perfect bite of chocolate heaven.
And to finish it off, my favorite spaghetti-and-sweet-potato pasta that I am so fond of. I can't help it.

So I've been keeping a little busy eating. So sue me. But now I need to get busy excersicing.
So if you will excuse me...