Sweet Potato Soup

I know that it is incredibly passe to enjoy squash and pumpkin soup but I do, I do. I have a huge box of sweet potatoes that were sitting in my pantry, calling my name. So, I made a variation of an old Bon Appetit curried pumpkin soup recipe from the seventies. Deeelicious! What a terrific vegetarian, Fall meal. It went perfectly with some homemade cornbread that I baked a few days ago. I gave it a little Brazilian flair by adding a can of coconut milk.

The Willow Tree Cafe. Sanford, FL

I sat on the outside porch area of The Willow Street Cafe in Sanford Florida for lunch, today. I wish I had brought my jacket. It was very nippy for Florida. I ordered the small pork schnitzel, sauerkraut, and spatzle with raum sauce. The schnitzel was fine although a little bland and cold. Perhaps it is unreasonable to expect the schnitzel to be warm on such a cold day while sitting outside! One of the  menu options is to have the schnitzel with rahm sauce for 2 dollars more which would have given it more flavor. I chose the spatzle with Raum sauce as one of the sides and dipped the schnitzel in the sauce. The Raum sauce was over salted and over reduced but did help the schnitzel become tastier. The meal was served with a plate of bread and butter: 2 slices of baguette and a small slice of cold,stale brown bread. The coffee tasted a little bitter and was not generously refilled by the server. Although this meal was only mediocre, I have had fine meals at this cafe, in the past. Typically, I have ordered some type of sausage though instead of the schnitzel. The star of the meal was the dessert which was recommended by the cheery waitress. Seasonal, and well prepared, the Rumpkin Pumpkin Cheesecake is a rum flavored whipped cream topped pumpkin cheesecake that sits on a ginger snap crust. It was fragrant and boldly spiced. Maybe I am expecting to much of such a casual place, yet I am always irritated when the service staff sits at a table to take an order in an overly chummy manner. This happened with the table next to me. I also do not understand service staff who act as if you are bothering them when you need assistance. You see, when the fellow next to me began smoking a cigarette (which I find intolerable) I stepped inside to the register, hoping to pay, and a young man started grilling me about where I was sitting, since I had no check. His subtext seemed to be that he assumed he could not identify my server and I was an idiot for not having a check. However, my server was sweet natured and helpful and dropped the check off to me when she noticed me at the register. I will go back  and perhaps order differently. My expectations for great service will not be high, though.

http://www.willowtreecafe.com/

Brownies

 A few months ago I ran across a copy of Lora Brody's Growing Up On the Chocolate Diet  that I have been lugging all over the world for 20+ years. I have often thought of cooking various recipes in the book and, like so many things in life, I had never gotten to it. In the book, we find one of Lora's most memorable stories; which is the story of Lora's attempt to get her hands on the prized Trianon cake recipe from the mean French lady (Colette) who sold the cake that "made grown men cry" in her Manhattan Pattiserie . Compelled by the description, I followed the instructions and baked the cake which was absolutely delectable. It is crumbly and rich and one of those chocolate desserts that haunts your memory. Here it is a few months later. Time has marched on. I pulled out the book and made her Mom's Brownie recipe. Delicious, too. I think that I will make Martha Stewart's Brownie recipe and see how they compare. I love that smell of chocolate and butter melting together over steam, especially this time of year when it is cool.
.http://www.amazon.com/Growing-Chocolate-Diet-Lora-Brody/dp/0828908079