Back in Action with Pumpkin Gnocchi

Hello Friends.  I feel like it's been ages since I've posted but it's really only been 3 days.  I'm sure that is a long time for those of you who lust after vegetarian recipes and quirky London tidbits.  What have I been doing?  Well the truth is mostly just working.  Nick and I have been really bad at playing house lately which means our house is in the college dorm state and we spend most our days off remedying that fact and doing DIY.  (pictures will come when we finish!)  Anyways... I wonder when we'll really be adults and be able to keep our house in a state of mature cleanliness and not university student mess.  When does this change happen?

I have two days off in a row though (which hasn't been happening much lately) so that means I am house wifing hardcore.  You know this is almost an extreme sport.  I mean I'm carrying 3 loads of laundry up and down the stairs while hopping over various obstacles, doing the dishes while listening to Britney Spears only to find out our dishwasher is broke... (but I fixed it don't worry) lugging a vacuum that weighs 100 pounds because it was probably purchased back in the 1920s or so, painting our guest room so it no longer has a bright orange ceiling (Nick has GREAT taste) then of course the main event - making dinner in perfect time for the husband man's arrival home. Whew!

So here it is Pan Fried Pumpkin Gnocchi... which I stole entirely from Steamy Kitchen

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup ricotta
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan 
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup all purpose flour sifted, and extra for dusting
• 3 Tbsp butter, divided
• 2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
• 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 3 sprigs fresh sage

First off, preheat your oven to 150 C or 300 F.  Combine 1/2 cup ricotta, 1/2 cup pumpkin, 1/2 cup parmesan, egg yolk, tsp of lemon zest, 1/2 tsp salt, and half of your sifted flour in a large bowl.  Mix until ingredients just come together.  Then lightly flour your counter, dump the mixture onto the counter, and mix the remaining flour in.  Knead for a minute or so.

Then cut into four equal parts, and roll each into a log, about an inch in diameter.

Then use a knife to slice these into bite size pieces.

In a large pan, heat one tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat.  When this is hot, add your gnocchi to the pan, cooking for a minute or two on each side until golden brown.  You'll probably have to do 3 or 4 batches so when they're brown place on a baking sheet and pop em into the oven to keep warm.

When all the gnocchi is cooked, discard butter and clean pan with a paper towel.  Add 2 tablespoons of butter and one tablespoon of olive oil to your pan  and put it back on the heat.  When hot, add sage and cook for a few minutes until it's nice and crispy and smells delish!  You can remove the sage at this point or keep it in - depending on whether you like fried sage or not.  Then add 2 tbsp balsamic and whisk for a minute over low heat.  Pour this over your gnocchi and serve.

This is a pretty good dish and is easy to make, even though it looks pretty fancy.  I accidentally used salted butter and I think this added too much salt so I would be sure to use unsalted next time.  I really appreciated the crunchy outside and soft fluffy inside, as well as the bite the balsamic adds.  Something did taste a little too bitter though - perhaps I put in too much zest.  Oh and they say this recipe serves four - maybe we're just lardy but we ate the whole thing between two of us in one sitting.  Fattys.

Dress to Impress

Have you ever heard the saying, "Dress for the job you want, not the job you have"?  I'm sure this phrase or something similar has been uttered to you by self-appointed role models throughout your life - you know, the teacher and parent crowd.  This type of advice usually goes in one ear and out the other (to use another parental phrase) - that is until you experience it.

The restaurant/hotel I'm working at has literally just opened, which means everything is in some type of state of organized chaos.  For example, a few days ago we were issued uniforms.  The waitress uniform was grey pants, a white shirt, and an apron.  Typical waitress attire.  I was wearing this uniform for two days, until the General Manager of the hotel came up to me and told me this wasn't actually my uniform.  Since I am a floor supervisor, I have a supervising outfit.  The GM helped me find a suit jacket, however, the only one left was two sizes too big.  Also, we have to wear our hair pulled back.  This results in me looking like a butch mature bird in a baggy power suit.  You know the look, like Hillary Clinton....

Nonetheless, I must admit I am absolutely amazed at the difference the suit has made in the way my colleagues treat me.  Since wearing the suit, people come up to me, asking me for directions and advice.  This definitely wasn't happening in my waitress uniform - they were more likely to boss me around than listen to anything I had to say.  While I've heard many times that dressing in a certain way can influence how people act towards you, I have never experienced the change so strongly.  Now I am a believer in the power suit.  You know, while everyone was making jokes about Senator Clinton's pantsuit uniform, she was probably the one laughing the hardest because she knew the secret of success.  You don't see skinny bitches in miniskirts and push up bras running for president after all.  

Christmas Lights on Oxford Street

Oxford Street is London's equivalent of Chicago's Michigan Avenue.  Long straight road of consumer's paradise.  In November, Oxford Street lit up with millions of tiny lights - ready and glowing for the Christmas season.  While I've always loved Christmas lights,  I think that November is too early to get into the Christmas spirit.  But today is December 1st!  Wooo Hoooo!  Christmas is upon us!  Enjoy my pictures of Oxford Street all decked out.

There are dozens of christmas light umbrellas hanging over the middle of the street.  I guess that's because in the winter it rains all the bloody time.

Sometimes the lights go out... must be a Grinch looming nearby...

All the stores have Christmasy window displays too!  Selfridge's usually has my favorite everything, and they definitely take the cake on window displays this year.  They are all fairy tale themed.  This one is little red riding hood.  I don't think she's realized that wolf is eying her up like a rare piece of sirloin yet.... sneaky little bastard.

This one is Snow White - except they replaced the dwarfs with well dressed children all in Stella McCartney's kid's line.  Oh Britain you are so politically correct.

Well that's all the Christmas decorations for now.  I think this is going to be a very festive fun filled month!  Only two weeks until we fly to Cincinnati for the holidays and I think we'll be cooking, baking, and partying up a storm.  I can't wait!

Kale with Apple and Onion, and Lime Butternut Squash

For the past two days at work they've been providing us with free pizza and french fries.  While every now and then I love pizza, this isn't my usual choice of food, and having it for two days running definitely made me crave a few good veggies.  I got home early tonight and whipped these two dishes up for dinner.

Lime Butternut Squash
Ingredients

• 1 small butternut squash, a little over a pound
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 teaspoons lime juice

Preheat the oven to 400 F.  Peel the squash, cut length wise and scoop out the seeds, then slice across to form 1/2 inch thick pieces.  Throw into a roasting pan.

Add in one tablespoon olive oil, one tablespoon of butter, and two teaspoons of lime juice.  Pop into the oven for about 40 minutes, stirring half way through.

Meanwhile, there's plenty of time for cooking something else, in my case Kale with Apple and Onion.

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound of kale tough stems removed
• one small white onion 
• two cooking apples
• 1/2 teaspoon Garam Masala 
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup water

Chop your onion into 1/4 inch wedges, and saute in a medium sized pot with 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium high heat until the onion is golden brown.  Add your apples, chopped into wedges, as well as the garam masala to the onions.  Cook until the apples are tender and then add your kale.  To this add 1/4 cup of water and simmer until kale is tender.

Here are the two dishes side by side.  A healthy menage of sweet and tart flavors.

The butternut squash got nice and crispy on the outside, while the inside stayed soft and the lime added a bit of bite.  The kale dish also played on the same flavors because of the sweetness from the onions and tart of the apples.  Both dishes are healthy and tasty, though Nick found the kale a bit chewy.  I think this is a good meal to whip up when you need something easy and healthy.

What Thanksgiving is Like in England

The truth is most people in England have no idea today is Thanksgiving, unless of course they're Americans living here.  So today everyone carried on like it was any other day.  Nick and I looked into going out to eat, as a few restaurants cater to us Americans and are serving Thanksgiving feasts, but unfortunately most offers seemed like a lot of money for a lot of Turkey, and not much else.  Obviously, I wouldn't want to pay for dead turkey, as the slaughter of so many birds is really not one of the things I feel thankful for today.  Sorry had to throw that in there.

I got up for work today at 6:30, and after a chaotic day I got home around 7.  Though my thoughts were wandering to pumpkin pie and mashed potatoes all day long, and in an ambitious moment I actually spent £10 yesterday on canned pumpkin (Selfridges is the only place that stocks it - I'm thankful for that) I was too exhausted to go nuts on a Thanksgiving smorgasbord.  Thankfully, Nick premeditated my Thanksgiving laziness and bought some pumpkin stuffed ravioli on the way home.  He also made me mashed potatoes, which were slightly sweet, cheesy, and fabulous.

This was as far as our feast went in London...

But I am very thankful to have a great husband who makes me a pseudo thanksgiving meal!  It's not exactly the spread that I'm used to seeing on Thanksgiving, but I appreciated it nonetheless.  I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and has something to be thankful for today.