moving troubles, and happy December!

Boy, it's been a while!  Apologies, and just as frustrating for me as it is for you.  

The 3rd move in two and a half years has been wonderful in some ways (I have a full size electric stove!) but huge troubles with Photo and iphone pictures which refuse to transfer from Photos to Blogger with my new Internet provider, and I think something called pix may have complicated things even more.  The neighbor I had hoped would fix it is away, so I wait and wait and this post will probably naked of pictures.  (Amazing - Stuart Little showed up on a old, random photo file!)

But I've been happily baking again - a birthday cake for my neighbor today, and one a week ago for my daughter in law, both lemon cakes with the cream cheese frosting from the carrot cake everyone likes so much - those were hard to give away!  

A few rounds of Spice cookies, especially nice when the weather turns chilly.  Today and yesterday was sweater weather, can you believe it?  Lots of soups - leek and potato, Tuscan tomato, and my favorite Spinach soup. Omelets oozing with brie, melons with a splash of lemon or lime, all good.

And now unpacking the Christmas ornaments - Stuart Little in his canoe was the first out of the box!  I thought I'd lost him in the last move, but there he was -  Happy December!  

golden beet salad with zucchini and cider dressing

Oh, how I love golden beets !  I like them much more than red beets - the flavor is sweet (but not too sweet), and has an earthy mineral flavor, at least to my tastebuds.  

Since I also had bought a slim medium sized zucchini at the market, the two came together in my thinking as a nice little individual salad or side, with an apple cider and olive oil dressing, then sprinkled with fresh sage and Italian parsley - perfect autumn pairings!

As it was coming together in my mind, I also remembered that both vegetables should be very briefly cooked, which really brings out the flavor, so I set a saucepan of water simmering on the stove, while I grated the beets and sliced the zucchini almost paper thin.  A very quick dip into the simmering water, then quickly into a sieve to drain.  The dressing was equally quick and true to the season:  apple cider (or apple cider vinegar), olive oil, and fresh sage from the garden.

The recipe :

a saucepan of simmering water

1 medium golden beet per person, peeled and grated

1 small, slim zucchini per person, sliced thinly on a mandoline (watch your fingers!)

Very briefly place sliced zucchini in boiling water - I counted to ten and then removed the zucchini with a slotted spoon to a small bowl.

Quickly place the shredded beets in the simmering water, count to ten, and scoop out to cool and drain.

Arrange zucchini slices and beets on individual plates, drizzle a teaspoon or two of dressing over, sprinkle with the sage and parsley and serve.

The dressing:

Equal parts apple cider and olive oil

kosher salt to taste

ground pepper

slivered fresh sage

chopped Italian parsley, optional

You can serve this warm or at room temperature.

The geese have been honking and flying overhead for the last few weeks, I always wave to them and wish them a good journey:)  The wild turkeys are back, walking up and down the city sidewalks, which never fails to make me laugh - quite a change from the wild country turkeys in New Hampshire!