Spontaneous Decadence!

I was reading through one of my new roommates’ cookbooks, and found a recipe for toasted lemon pound cake with pears cooked in port. We just happened to have all the ingredients: pears at the right stage of ripeness, port, spices, and chocolate sheet cake instead of pound cake (Stir Crazy Cake, which is not too sweet or too rich, but is chocolate).

Combine 2 peeled, cored, and sliced firm pears with 1 cup port, 3 tablespoons sugar, 1 stick cinnamon (broken), and 5 juniper berries. Cook until pears are medium-soft, then remove pears and cook the wine down to a syrup. Spoon pears over cake and vanilla ice cream, then drizzle all with port syrup.
I don’t think I can explain how incredibly decadent this is, and it was literally all stuff we had on hand.

Things I have cooked in my new kitchen

a thing with the stuff that used to be in my old freezer
--this was basically pork fajitas, with bell peppers and tortillas.
vegetable and tofu stir fry with honey-soy-sauce glaze
--a good way to use up some stuff from my CSA box.
Beet/pea salad with dijon dressing
roast beets with feta and balsamic vinegar
Stir Crazy Cake
Sundry saladry

"It goes bllblblblblblbl at you in the fridge"

Or in other words, Kale.
Kale is this weird curly-leaved thing that tastes a lot like broccoli, but you strip it off its stems like chard. Then you add it to some garlic flowers sauteing in olive oil, with the water clinging to the leaves from washing and a little bit more. You cover it and let it cook for a little while, until it's bright green and maybe some bits are a little browned. Then you can serve it over couscous. Or other starch thing. Or maybe you could have made some sort of main dish, if you like that sort of thing.