Dining with the Bloggers - September 6th.

I had promised myself to be a good girl this week. I'd promised myself: no baking. You can't keep doing cakes and muffins and sweet stuff for DwB, Zarah - you're going to end up having to rename the project Baking with the Bloggers! I know, I've only done one DwB-post yet this time around - but trust me, there's a scary amount of chocolatey treats finding their way into my to-do-list. I could claim I was innocent, that they simply jump in there themselves. But we all know that's a lie. And I'm no liar.

So, I went looking for something savory. And you know, as well as I do, that there is PLENTY of opportunities in that respect out there also. It was a windy, cold and dreary Monday, and it was weather for soup. Yes, already that time of the year.

And there it was, jumping out at me from my Bloglines. Smitten Kitchen is a relatively new foodblog written by Deb from New York. I forget how I first stumbled upon her blog - at first I thought it was from Cate mentioning her, but turns out I've bookmarked recipes from Deb before that feature was made. Regardless - she was instantly added to my rss feed. Her pictures are fabulous and her writing is - well, her writing is of the kind I, as a non-native English speaker/writer, can only dream of ever doing anything like. She uses words that, while I may know the meaning of them (some of them, yes I do!), I would never think of using in a sentence, and I love how she keeps everything down-to-earth and honest - and she's quirky in a way I absolutely adore! (and would probably not like me for calling her quirky, heh!) Just check out how she got her tagline! While her foodblog is new, her regular blog is ooooooooold, and can be found here (and it looks like she was bitten by the foodie-bug a good while before she started Smitten Kitchen - in fact, she announced just today that she's going to devote her time solely to the foodblog - I'm sure we're going to love having her!)

But I digress: soup. I had a longing look at the soup made from 44 cloves of garlic, but had to work for the next couple of nights, so I thought I'd better stay clear for now. Cauliflower Soup it was instead - not a bad substitute if you ask me. I made it using less liquids because I had a small head of cauliflower, and because I like my soups thick - real thick. The recipe is supposed to make 4-6 servings - well, it was the only thing I had for dinner, with a couple of slices of toasted sourdough on the side - and I ate ALL of it. And it felt good. Also, check out the amount of pepper in Deb's picture - it needs it. When I first tasted the soup out of the pot, I thought it was a little blah, but the freshly ground pepper somehow livens it all up. Oh yes, and using chicken stock will definitely liven things up too - I was fresh out (Duh! As if you ever have any, Zarah!) so I used white wine and water.

But I wasn't really going to stop there, was I? Noooooo. There were these, too, you see. How could I pass up on those? Three different kinds of cookies, and while I would have gone all out and done all three kinds, it was a school night and I just did the Oreo-type ones. All the ingredients were in the kitchen, so they whipped up in seconds, and baked in nine minutes. I let them cool and then sandwiched them with some leftover cream cheese frosting from my sister's birthday cake from the day before. That would have to do, as there was no recipe for the filling - Deb used her cookies for ice cream sandwiches, which is definitely no bad idea either!

I snapped a couple pictures, then scooped one up and standing over the sink, bit in. Mouth full and all, I moaned an 'Oh. my. gawd.', spontaneously. They're so good, I just couldn't help myself. Chewy and sticky and cocoa-y cookies, mellowed and perfected with the cream cheese frosting. Ah!

I later found out that she had a link to the full Oreo recipe here - I told you, she was just a foodblogger waiting to happen! It's definitely not the last time I'm trying one of her recipes - I've got my eyes on her Salsa Fresca and her BBQ sauce - and if I could find it in myself to kill (ahem, and buy - where would I get those here?!) so many teddybears, I most certainly would try her Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake...

So you see? I tried. I tried being a good girl, and not go sugar-crazy. I guess it's just in me, isn't it? Thinking about it, Baking with the Bloggers might not be such a bad proposition...:-)