with Mary Anne Mohanraj
Still a little too harried to bake from scratch (Kev comes back today, yay!), but I’ve found a banana bread mix I really like (yes, I know those are pumpkins, but I have multiple pretty pumpkin molds, no banana molds (haven’t found any pretty ones), and a habitual excess of bananas in our freezer), and that makes it easy. Miss Jones mix (link in comments). Zinnias by neighbor Sera Sera.
When spicy cheese OR spicy fruit are insufficient on their own, try putting them together….
I pretty much exactly followed the one I found here.
Came out great – I only regret that I don’t have enough elderberry syrup left from this summer’s berries to make many truffles. Vaguely healthy too – dark chocolate, cashew butter, and elderberries are supposed to be good for warding off winter colds. Shipped some off in the Patreon boxes, and there are a few boxes left for the flash sale. And then that’s it until next summer. 
(the ones that didn’t want to ripen). The end result is sharp, interesting, a little bitter – nice with an aged cheddar cheese on a charcuterie board…
I used this recipe.
Someone asked me what my signature dish was last night, and I was totally stumped. I don’t actually have one! But I do like all of these.
I wanted to keep this event vegetarian for the South Asia Institute, so I skipped some of the classic Sri Lankan short-eats – if it weren’t vegetarian, maybe mutton rolls would be the signature dish. I don’t like the typical vegetarian version nearly as well, though. Maybe I should try making it with jackfruit…hmm.
This layout worked pretty well for an event, so noting for the future:
• three kinds of frozen samosas – these I just baked / fried as instructed. Pumpkin samosas from TJ’s (which I haven’t tasted yet, so not sure if they’re any good), paneer-chili samosas (don’t remember the brand, but spicy, good), and potato & pea Punjabi samosas (Swad). I’m really glad I got a deep fryer, because it makes this kind of thing SO MUCH easier.
Set the temp. to 350F (or whatever is appropriate), and then it’s just popping them in, waiting five minutes, popping them out to a paper-towel-lined plate. Transfer to foil pans, pop in warm (low) oven to keep warm until ready to transport / serve. Easy-peasy. Would’ve been nice to serve hot, but they work fine at room temperature, served with tamarind chutney and coriander chutney (decanted from store-bought jars).
• ribbon sandwiches (beet / carrot / spinach) — Pepperidge Farm Very Thin bread is key
• mini naan rounds (quartered) from the grocery store, with four dipping spreads: jackfruit curry, potato curry, eggplant pickle, mango-ginger chutney
I forgot to bring cheddar cheese cubes, which go great with the mango-ginger chutney and naan, but otherwise, happy with the savory options.
While I was at the board retreat yesterday (4.25 hrs, whew!), Kavi started working on our picture book, “Marshmallow Magic.” She got so much done! 4 pages (these are two-page spreads) drafted already! Only 22 – 26 to go…
Kavi said it was okay to share process photos with you. 
I think she’ll need to re-do the layout on the second one, to allow for the gutter in the middle, but still, very cool!!!!!
Sunday evening, Kavi and I were studying together — I was prepping my syllabi, and she was doing homework. Kevin brought us study snacks. Not visible but also on that cutting board, fresh mozzarella and prosciutto.
Sri Lankan cashew milk toffee has a texture similar to pralines or New England maple candy — it’s not really a toffee, despite the name; more like a crisp fudge? It melts in your mouth — it’s really the texture that I love so much.
That does mean that cutting it into squares can be a little challenging sometimes, and so if you order them from me, they may not be perfectly square. That’s how you know it’s ‘artisanal.’