Blog in a coma.

So for the time being, effective two months ago actually, this blog has been kind of dead. Things have been a bit crazy. Tim moved back to Portland after spending a whopping 4 months in Atlanta, and the blog does not know the current scoop on Virginia. Perhaps a resurrection will be made, but for the time being, you could probably just stop checking for new posts and save 30 seconds of your day…

Thanksgiving

So my fellow barista Jordan and I made ourselves (and 15 other invisible people) a Thanksgiving feast. We stayed up til 4 AM on the eve of the big day making cranberry sauce and prepping the turkey, among other things that eventually led to flipping through Gourmet and Bon Appetít and deciding we needed to make mac and cheese in addition to the other large list of sides. We ended up rousing ourselves at about 10 AM, drinking some Intelligentsia coffee, and making our way to the local Kroger to pick up some supplies to ready ourselves for what turned out to be almost 8 straight hours of cooking, baking, eating tiny bits of the items cooking and baking, playing our collective vinyl collections, and watching old episodes of The Office. Finally, at just about 8 PM, Jordan, Virginia and I all sat down to one of the finest Thanksgiving meals of my life. I mentioned the 15 invisible people at the beginning of this post because that is literally how many people we could have fed with everything we made. To illustrate our efforts and environment, here is a delicious slideshow of the days transpirings. (I tried to put the slideshow in this post, but WordPress hates me, so there’s that.)

Chips!

Seeing as how fall presents us with all sorts of firm, starchy squash, potatoes etc., we thought some chips utilizing these very items might very well be in order. It started with organic white sweet potatoes from the Decatur farmer’s market and ended triumphantly with acorn squash.

White sweet potatoes sliced thin for a delightful crispy chip.

We began by consulting a recipe that recommended using a vegetable peeler to achieve a consistent, thinly sliced chip of whatever we might be slicing. Vegetable oil was heated in a wok, habañero peppers were minced, fried, and removed from said oil, infusing what turned out to be a perfect level of spice into the oil. Then came sweet potato chips. The first batch got a bit crispy, but the second batch came out a delicious, semi-crispy golden yellow with the nice contrast of the dark skin of the sweet potato. A quick sprinkle of sea salt and a few minutes of cooling was all these chips needed to be ready for consumption.

Crispy sweets, pears, and slightly less crispy sweets.

After we got started with the sweet potatoes, we wondered what else we could possibly make into a delicious, homemade chip. We tried pears, which were indeed delicious, but never really reached that satisfying crunch of a good potato chip. We ultimately ended the homemade chip quest with organic acorn squash. It might just be the ultimate candidate for this mission. Its natural sweetness and the fact that it’s a bit less starchy than a potato made for a creamy, sweet, and habañero-spiced delight.

Deliciously wavy acorn squash chips.

Definitely a fun experiment that we’d like to revisit soon with more squash varieties and a pretty fantastic idea for a weekend lunch when you’ve got some time to make a sandwich and fry up some good fall produce…

Fall Lunch

This entry is the first of hopefully many installments in the culinary and travel adventures of Tim and Virginia in Georgia and beyond. This blog is first and foremost a food blog, with emphasis on great food handmade by our own young hands and great photos snapped by our own young fingers. We decided the inaugural post should consist of what we felt was a great fall lunch. Tim got a brand new food processor during the midst of roasting sweet potatoes and pumpkin, which enabled the preparation of a delicious, hearty ginger-spiced pumpkin sweet potato soup with a coconut milk base. We felt that a sandwich was also in order, and what better way to celebrate fall then with smoked turkey, local Georgia apples soaked in balsamic vinegar, melty-soft brie, and local tomatoes? And to sweeten the experience, Virginia rolled ginger molasses cookie dough in sugar and bits of candied ginger for a spicy sweet finish to a very satisfying meal.

Gingered Sweet Potato Pumpkin Soup

Turkey, Brie, and Tomato on local rustic multigrain.

All together now. Soup, Sandwich and Ginger Molasses Cookies, not to mention mineral water and a side of (not that seasonal) fruit...