Friday, November 16, 2007

Fall Harvest Dinner

I know I've been slacking terribly lately. I'm going to pick it up again after Thanksgiving. I've been cleaning, reorganizing, and writing a lot on paper. I've also spent some time cooking. Most notably yesterday, when I prepared a seven-course dinner for Johanna's birthday. It was one of those meals that was perfect in every way - slow, mindful eating, gratitude in every bite. Good company, good food harvested from the earth. A long, comfortable, blessed meal. This is what I'm working toward - the time when meals become blessings, when to sit down and eat is the greatest comfort, when we can breath deeply and thankfully and linger over our meals and find in them a way to open ourselves toward wonder.

The menu

butternut squash soup with sage, roasted garlic, and cream, sage shortbread, kale chips

arugula, clementines, toasted pumpkin seeds, parmesan, garlic-lemon vinaigrette

curried lamb turnovers with apples, onions, and walnuts

wild rice pilaf with shittake mushrooms, pine nuts, toasted fennel seeds and broccoli on a bed of wilted winter greens

baked delicata squash stuffed with farmhouse cheddar, apples and walnuts sautéed with thyme, and wilted spinach

pumpkin gnocchi with roasted garlic herbed cream sauce, cider-glazed roasted carrots, red cabbage stewed with wine and apples, wilted broccoli rabe

gingerbread muffins, baked spiced apples with caraway, coriander and cardamom, bitter hot chocolate with maple syrup, cinnamon and cayenne