Spaghetti Squash with White Wine and Brown Butter

After holding a candlelit vigil for my deleted photos, and listening to repeated Elliot Smith + Cat Power mash-ups, I decided it was time to post a new recipe.  {It's what my camera would have wanted.}  Spaghetti squash is so beloved in Maison D'ICP, it's practically our household mascot.  When skies are grey, and technology goes astray, it's the little things - like spaghetti squash and wines with screw tops - that make you realize everything is okay.   {Like unintentional rhymes on a rainy day.  Or a Middle Eastern buffet.  Or water lillies by Monet.}  WINE: sssshhhhhh.

Yes indeed.  Things are pretty much getting back to normal, I guess you could say.

{WINE: shhhhhhhh.}

{{Sorry.}}

Blog Meltdown

For the five of you who visited my blog this week, you may have noticed this.  {See above.}  For the friends who humor me by following my Facebook and Twitter page, you may have noticed that I've been ruthlessly salty.  For the man who lives with me who I call my husband, you may have noticed I've been drinking your whisky.  Straight.  From the bottle.  I will spare you my soapbox about Google+ integration and how it doesn't give a royal bleep about its users, but instead I will give you the short of it: my blog had a major meltdown, and I've lost all of my images from the last three years.

Thirty rhymes with awesome.

It is Friday the 13th.  I am in Mexico.  I am 30.
Thank God I had all of that work done.  Happy birthday to me - bring on the vericose vein socks.

Blog Book Club: The Novice Chef

Jessica of The Novice Chef Blog is sass in a muffin tin.  {This isn't the first time I've name-dropped her  round these parts, not to mention praised her "ass friendly" recipes.}  She is, in my humble, more mad-skilled baker than novice chef judging by the ridonculous amounts of baked goods she pumps out every week.  Her recipes run the gamut from experimental {Mountain Dew Apple Cobbler - what?} to tried-and-true {Southern Buttermilk Biscuits}.  Her pastry-chefing prowess fills the expansive void that is my baking repetoire, and I could totally see us hitting it off over a few Moscow mules.  {Oh how we would snark.}  Have a looksie.  And then let me know what you're planning on making for me.  It's really the least you can do.  Really.

Fondue Potatoes

Now that everyone's officially stopped caring about their New Year's resolution diets, let's eat real food again! Please don't be hard on yourself. You made it a full nine days. If that kind of diet were measured in dog year's, you could totally {maybe} fit into an Herve Lerger by now. At least your friends would be nice enough to tell you that you look AMAZING.

Brussels Sprouts Slaw with Grapes, Avacado, and Vanilla-Mustard Vinaigrette

One of my OCD-isms is that I don't like to post healthy recipes on Fridays.  No one eats "clean" over the weekend, so it's kind of rude to be all SALAD IN YOUR FACE at the end of the week.  But I just did it.  And I'm sorry.  {I'm not sorry.}

Greenling is coming!

Best. news. of. the. year.  GREENLING IS COMING TO DALLAS!  Who else in the 214 is signing up?

Vodka-simmered Cherry Tomatoes

I can already hear you, food snobs of the world.  Ugh.  Tomatoes?  In January?  How unseasonal/tacky/rude....  {If you didn't already, please re-read in the voice of honey badger.  That's what food snobs sound like when I decipher their thoughts.}  My response to the haters is two-fold.  First and foremost, Ina Garten, reverend mother of cooking, says cherry/grape tomatoes are the most consistent and flavorful year-round.  Second, if I have to eat another root vegetable I'm going to punch myself in the face.

Blog Book Club: Mixed Plate

Mixed Plate is one of my faves, and like my first entry in the Blog Book Club, it has nothing to do with cooking.  I've been reading it looking at the pictures since the internet was practically born.  {Or maybe since 2007 just after Liana started jotting down her favorite indie things.}  This blogger curates some of the best homemade finds on Etsy and elsewhere online.  I'll admit, I've made a few unnecessary purchases after browsing this site.  {SMALL purchases, husband, small ones.}  And, because the blog has a plethora of sponsors, many of the products she features involve a discount or two.  But, as a whole, it's just a nice place to stop by and admire people's creativity and talent.  I like that - I think you will too.  Besides, what's better than calorie-free plates, piled high with endearing cuteness and unique finds?  I can't think of anything either.  Happy browsing, blog friends.

Auld Lang Sandwich

To get the recipe, click here.

Happy new year, mes amis!  Two years ago, I posted this recipe: black-eyed peas and chorizo on toast with a tomato gravy.  It was the first time I made it, and it turned out to be such a successful little experiment that Internet Cooking husband and I have declared it a New Year's Day tradition.  {Please excuse the self-props.  But I only dole them out when it's true.  Otherwise I'm totally self-deprecating and have nothing cute to wear.}

Wishing you...

Crispy Sesame Brussels Sprouts with Lemon Zest

Over the weekend a few people asked why I haven't been cooking lately.  {Or in the words of Internet Cooking Husband's best man, pulled a bait and switch.}  Let the record show that I AM cooking, thank you.  The problem is that I can't blog as much as I would like because of my frenemy, Daylight Savings Time.  Food just doesn't look good in Maison d'ICP lighting, and I can't get home and finish cooking before sundown.  It's a total food-photog dilemma, and it's really super serious and upsetting. Maybe it's the worst thing to ever happen in my kitchen.  Ever.  Alas, these Brussels sprouts are gorgeous - they just don't look like it in my over-exposed dining room. 

Holiday Gift Guide-orama: For lovers of cuteness

Languiole cheese and steak knives come in RAINBOW!  {Via Anthro}

Part three in le gift guide: cute nuggets of cuteness to tickle your cutesy bone.  {Alternatively titled, Things that will make your husband roll his eyes a lot.}  But - eep - look how cute!  Yay for girly giftables! 

Holiday Guift Guide-orama: For lovers of gadgetry

Proof you can get your gourmet on: handmade cookies stamps via Shop Terrain.

Part two in the gift guide-orama: gadgets to support your loved one's cooking habits.  Everytime you use one, an angel gets its wings. 

SMOODLES

Dear children of the world: please stop soliciting me with your school fundraising wares.  When you show up with your cute mugs and five gallon tubs of snickerdoodle dough, all I can think about is cookies.  I mean, your cuteness.  I MEAN, your education.  And I care a lot, as evidenced by the loads of crap stockpiled in my kitchen which needs putting to good use.  Enter these smoodles.  {S'mores plus snickerdoodles equals smoodles.}  I juggled a few things around, et voila, I'm helping pave a better future for America's youngins with a twist on two faves.  Calories be damned, it's for the the kids, my friends.  THE KIDS.