Friday, December 25

Thirty-seconds too long on the ice and . . .

. . . I broke my wrist.

It was such a fun evening - a belated birthday celebration for Melissa. Snacks and a drink at Trader Vic's in L.A Live, then a few turns around the holiday ice rink. See how happy Miss M. is!
Just one quick aside here - modern skates are so much better than the ones I learned on 30+ years ago.
About 10:00, Melissa got out of her skates and into her street shoes. I dawdled. One more turn around the rink and I passed the exit gate, heading for the corner to tell Melissa something (now I have no idea what that was).
One moment I was on my feet, the next I was on my tush. And there was a powerful pain in my wrist.
I'll just say: urgent care and x-rays before 11:00pm and surgery a week later. Now, I'm in a cast, keeping my wrist elevated (mostly) and my cast dry. I'm wriggling my fingers and thumb and working on complete extension.

And I'm wondering how I'm going to dress this over-sized appendage for work on Monday.

Monday, December 14

Roasted Pumpkin Fondue


This Roasted Pumpkin Fondue was adapted from Ruth Reichl's new book, Gourmet Today. My excellent friend Melissa gaved me the book as a kitchen-warming gift. I've heard Ruth describe the dish on a number of occasions. Then Evan Kleiman said she tested it (with great success) with a smaller squash before preparing eleven ten-pound pumpkins for a catered event.

I started with a three-pound Kabocha squash. some slices from a stale baguette,  gruyere cheese, cream, vegetable stock, nutmeg, salt, pepper and olive oil.

All the good stuff goes in in layers and the outside is painted with olive oil. Then - into the oven!
It came out all crisp and burnished on the outside and creamy-gooey delicious on the inside. It was so soft and creamy, the lid fell apart a little bit.
Pretty scoops of squash, cheese and bread (which has absorbed the cream and stock).
I ate almost half before I tore myself away.
The leftovers will probably be lunch this week. Unless I go get it out of the fridge right now.

Yum!  Thanks, Melissa - I'm ready to make one for you now!