Monday Menu with Chiffon Cake and Hurricane Sandy!

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Hurricane Sandy has visited our coastal Virginia town; as has Mr H's ship, so he is home for a few days!  Happily, as this relieves some of the concern regarding the storm.

Noms This Week

Pumpkin Ice Cream  |   I purchased a quart of pumpkin ice cream from Trader Joe's (I know ... fail on me for not being homemade!) to celebrate Mr H coming home.  If you don't want to regret this life on earth, you will go and treat yourself to this devastation of delectability.

Chiffon Cake  |   STOP.  Stop what you are doing.  Make this.  Save this recipe, pin it, bookmark it, whatever you need to do - DO NOT LOSE THIS RECIPE!!!  It is worthy of fame (and mostly devoid of nutrition, so save it for a special occasion!  Like today).  A chiffon cake is a peculiar hybrid with the airy, fluffiness of angel food cake and the rich, tender mouth-feel of pound cake.  It is an historic cake and has a well-deserved reputation for elegance and decadence.  If your tube pan doesn't have a removable bottom, see how to use it here.

Kitchen Tasks  
That most magical place ... 

Well ... |  Surprisingly little happened here this week ... With Mr H coming home and Hurricane Sandy bearing down, I guess other things were going on!

Makeshift Salsa  |  We did want some salsa; we purchased a jar at Whole Foods, then added fresh corn cut from the cob (raw), minced cilantro, and from our garden added habanero, sweet banana peppers, and chopped green tomatoes.

Vitamix  |  I made a huge batch of pesto!  Watch for the recipe - I will be reviewing it as a guest poster for Alphabet Soup.  Uses fresh or frozen basil.

Crop Circles
Welcome to my garden! Per se. 

Uprooting Tomatoes  |  We systematically cut down the tomatoes, harvesting any remaining green ones for use in the kitchen (you can use them green, or let them ripen.  I doubt if I'll let them sit long enough to ripen!  Yum!).  We did not compost them or turn the roots under, but pulled up all the roots and threw all the stalks, leaves and roots away; this is because most Virginia tomatoes suffered from blight and we did not want to let the fungus back into our soil.

Kale  |  We planted kale, a good fall and winter crop, to help clean the fungus from the soil.  We can't plant any other nightshades - peppers, eggplant, different tomatoes - in this soil next year.  However, garlic, onions, and kale will find homes in the soil.

Hurricane Sandy  |  Now that the kale is planted, it is drowning ... hopefully it survives Sandy!

Other news

Fun  |  We bought some Burt's Bees soap for the little man - he is just over four months now and has yet to feel any sort of chemical, soap or lotion on his body.

Hurricane Sandy...  |  ...visited us - all of our neighbors flooded, but our house is up on a rise.  So far, so good.  Praise the Lord!!  Thanks to all our canned goods, we don't have to worry about grocery stores running out of food.  We could easily live here for a while without ever leaving!

As I write this update, the floodwaters are steadily increasing and have reached our driveway!  Benches on the oceanfront are floating away ... cars are floating, too!!

Our street 

the surf, two blocks from our house

across the street from us

The house behind us 

Out the back driveway

Continue in prayer for New York City and other eastern seaboard areas that will be hit with Hurricane Sandy as she moves up the coast!  This storm is far from over yet!!


Mrs H
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