Souptacular!

Last Sunday, the first annual Souptacular was launched with great fanfare. Each of us made a soup-- or two. I made French onion soup and vegetarian tortilla soup, A. made north African cauliflower soup, and S. made curried carrot soup with roasted pistachios. Recipes were gathered from several sources, and I've included them below.

The grrl waiting to tuck in. (Check out A.'s adorable apron, which was inherited from her grandma.)

Curried carrot soup topped with roasted pistachios

Dorowot

I was resisting the colder temperatures by creating a tropical-looking drink. (It's actually a red wine spritzer with a sprig of rosemary in a pretty glass.)

Dorowot or doro wot is an Ethiopian chicken stew in a spicy tomato sauce. To get the flavors just right, you really need to use berbere, an Ethiopian spice blend, and nit'r qibe, Ethiopian spiced butter. I might purchase some berbere online to have on hand in the future, but this time, I wasn't able to find it in any local markets.

Instead, I used the 365 Days recipe (see link below) because I'm still infatuated with my crockpot. (I know. I'm a late convert to this trend.) I added carrots during the last hour--so they didn't completely break down--as an homage to Buraka's yummerly version. (Buraka also gets a nod for introducing me to dorowot.) I also tossed in a few handfuls of spinach for a little green. 365 Days' spice blend left a little to be desired, so I used the Saveur berbere recipe as a guideline. I didn't, however, go through the whole process of toasting the spices and grinding them into a powder. I just tossed them into the crockpot, using fresh ginger instead of powdered. Oh, and I omitted the hard-boiled egg because that combo doesn't appeal to me--and because I didn't feel like boiling eggs.

I used this recipe from 365 Days of Slow Cooking and this one from Saveur.

The Brussels sprouts were sauteed in olive oil and granulated garlic. Slivers of prosciutto were added at the end because I didn't want the prosciutto to get tough from overcooking.

Dinner and a Movie

A few weekends ago, a group of us went to Luigi's Pizza for dinner and then watched The Campaign. Among the four of us, we had an Italian chef salad, a fancy salad, a prosciutto and arugula pizza (after swapping out the white sauce for red sauce), and a fugetaboutit pizza. For dessert, we all split a slice of tiramisu.

This shot was taken in the restaurant's entryway. I wanted to wear this adorable dress one more time before the cold weather set in. I pick it up at Target late this summer, and I adore it.

Festing

Sona, Sola, + I on the dancefloor at the World Music Festival

at the Orton Park Festival

Victory!

A group of us hunkered down at the Baldwin St. Grille to watch the election results come in. I didn't stay to hear the acceptance and concession speeches--in fact, I was asleep by 10:30pm--but a good time was held by all. And we were mostly happy with the results: Mourdock and Akin voted out, Elizabeth Warren voted in, Barack Obama re-elected for four more years, and Tammy Baldwin proudly elected our senator. The only part I wasn't thrilled with was our state legislature's red turn. Alas, we can't have everything we want.

Partying like it's 2012

Just a few shots from my 35th birthday extravaganza in September, which included a picnic by the lake, dinner at Umami, shopping at reThreads west and dinner at Eno Vino, and dinner and La Brioche cake at A. + H.'s house. Oh, and the boy bought me my very own bocce ball set. I can't wait to try them out. Woot!

B.'s tutu transformed me into a birthday nymph

Delicious cake from La Brioche

UNI Game

Attending the UNI game was a hoot. We had a delicious Bloody Mary; saw the swanky rooms at HotelRED, thanks to Mr. J.R. generously sharing his reserved room; watched an exciting game at Union South's Sett; and enjoyed some lovely company.

And Miss Erica even sported gameday wear. (Note the Panthers shirt, the Badgers hat, and the purple beads: I was trying to pre-empt any sort of confrontation with an inebriated fan from either side.)