Comfort Friday

T gave me the best surprise this afternoon: though he has a cold, he took an early train, got home before pick-up, picked the boys up and took them to baseball practice. Aah! I finished my presentation for tomorrow, did a bunch of stuff for the kids school and made dinner for both the boys and us. So, so nice! I still needed to deal with my yellow Romas so made up another sauce and then decided to do a paccheri bake. As you might recall from trips to Italy and Italian markets in the States, I love paccheri and bring it home whenever I can. It is such a great pasta. I like that it's tubular but not ridged at all like penne or such; the smoothness of paccheri pleases me infinitely.

So I boiled some until al dente, tossed them with my golden sauce and the leftover ricotta I had in my fridge as well as some chopped basil from my deck plant and dumped them gently into my new baker (the one that matches the new platter; heh). Then I sprinkled some fresh breadcrumbs on top, grated a bunch of pecorino on top and baked for 12 minutes. It was lovely, like healthy mac-and-cheese.

Rhubarb Apple Butter, local deals

This morning, I very much enjoyed teaching another canning class. We made my Spiced Rhubarb-Apple Butter which is a perfect foray into fall. Thick, sweet and savory, fragrant, it's great on good bread but would also pair well with chicken or pork roast.

Tomorrow's One Day Deal at participating Whole Foods is: Fresh Halibut, MSC-certified. Regularly $24.99/pound, tomorrow only it will be $14.99/pound! Yes, the WF One Day Deals are usually on Fridays, but this week, it's tomorrow.

And, for American Plant lovers, now through September 30, 8" mums are on sale for $5.99 each (regularly $7.99). I have to be honest in telling you that 8" mums are 3 for $12 at Whole Foods so this isn't my favorite Am Plant deal, but c'est la vie. Mums are a great and pretty choice for cool- and cold-weather landscaping.

Tomorrow I'll be teaching Canning 101: Pickles at the Strosniders in Silver Spring. We'll be putting up a small batch of ginger carrot pickles starting at 10am, so come on by if you're interested.

Facts

1) I am the tiredest Em-i-lis ever. 2) The Oreo is a delicious cookie, and it's been way too long since I last had one.

3) This cat has a great life.

4) This butter crust pastry stuffed with newly made Yotam fried onions, sweet potato, broccoli and a bit of cheese and served with apple chutney made a lovely dinner.

5) I will be back with you tomorrow after a meeting and my canning class but before baseball. I hope.