Feast of San Gennaro

Head on over to my friend, Sarah's, amazing little blog, The Undercover Caterer, to see the scrump-diddly-umptious dinner we had the pleasure of experiencing on Monday night.

It was in stark contrast to the Chipotle burrito I scarfed down last night while attempting to watch Biggest Loser, write a term paper, and keep Klaster from getting too jealous that a boy was sitting next to me. That dang dog has THE trickiest ways of smuggling himself in the middle of me and whoever else is on my couch.

picture courtesy of Sarah of The Undercover Caterer

It's Oh-ficially Fall.

It sprinkled today. And I'm wearing a very adorable, autumnal sweater with ARGYLE on it. I'm obsessed with argyle in the fall. And pumpkins.

Oh yes.

Oh yes, #2.

And bring on these.

With a Name Like Curd...

Why in the world would they name such a wondrous, lemony, smooth gift from God, "CURD"?

Regardless...a coworker's birthday was dawning and the usual gift card was not in my repertoire. (Not that I mind getting gift cards. Just a quick FYI, there). So, I decided to whip up something, package it in a supercute manner and hand it off to the recipient.

Yeah, so. Hand-juicing and meticulously zesting, then straining 19 lemons? Doesn't quite fit into the "whip up" category. I've never cooked something and then had sore wrists and biceps for days thereafter. On a positive note, as readers of I Pray to Gouda, you all now have free, all access tickets to my gun show. :: flex ::

Homemade Lemon Curd

*"What the heck do I do with it, Faith?"

* Top scones, pancakes, stir into plain yogurt and crepes and whipped cream, english muffins...or pull a Faith and eat it off a spoon.

2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, plus 4 large egg yolks, beaten
1/4 cup finely grated lemon peel
1 cup fresh lemon juice (approximately 1 hour later - check out your awesome, toned arms in mirror)
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1. Set a fine-mesh strainer over a medium, heatproof bowl next to stove. In a heavy, medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar, lemon juice, eggs, egg yolks and lemon peel. Add butter, cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly (about 5 minutes).

2. Lower heat and simmer. Sitr until mixture thickens (another 5 minutes). Strain mixture into prepared bowl, then press a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto surface. Let cool to room temperature. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 1 month.

Hurry! Before It's Too LATE!

Because blueberries are about to head right out of season, yo. Actually, with the way temps are going here in California (um, hot with a side of HOT), blueberries may well be part of the produce sections around here through December. I'm quite over this non-autumn weather we're having. But I'm not sure who to yell at for it.

These blueberry crumble bars are OUTSTANDING. Like - crazy goodness in yer mouth. I made them for a movie night my neighbors and I had (my neighbors? Well, they're the best. I've got two rad school psychologists next door, a sweet, funny plastic surgeon [holllaa!] upstairs who has a supah-hilarious criminal psychiatrist friend who's over a whole heck of a lot, and a majorly kind, cute, 30 year old guy
across the street. Before you go leaving comments about how the two of us should totally, like, date...everything is under control.)

What was ridiculously cool about this movie night is that it was outside and we used a projector to splat the movie right onto the side of the house. Yes.

Blueberry Crumble Bars
courtesy of Smitten Kitchen (congrats on the baby, Deb!)

{Makes roughly 36 smallish rectangles}

1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cold unsalted butter (2 sticks or 8 ounces)
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest and juice of one lemon
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9×13 inch pan.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.
3. In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown.
Cool completely before cutting into squares.