Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake

With hurricane Sandy heading for NYC, shutting down the subways and schools, I finally have sometime to get moving on some autumnal fun. Every fall I fill my stomach with pumpkin confections. The first treat of this season, a delicious Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake. Simple, easy, and oh so good! Get the recipe after the break!

Moth Proof!

When you move into a new apartment you are bound to inherit some unexpected things from the former tenants. When you sign the line at the end of your lease you don't really know what you're getting into. For some it's a noisy neighbor, a sticky window, or even the ghost of a former tenant. My unexpected inheritance is a group of squatters! More precisely, Moth squatters!
I didn't even realize that was a problem that people had. Apparently the annoying little pests love hanging out in pantries. They just adore flour, rice, tea, pasta, you name it. After an initial sweep of the cabinets they are still appearing, fluttering across the room like they pay rent. Enoughs enough! The apartment has been baited with moth traps and a few has been caught but a few survivors remain.

In the meantime, I've taken this pesky situation on as a reason to act out my Martha Stewart fantasy life. I stared a moth in it's ugly little face and said "I'm going to organize, label, and seal up ever bite of food you will ever want to eat and it's going to look amazing!" To the Container Store I went and picked up a dozen glass canning jars. Then to Staples to get the perfect labels ala Martha Stewart for Avery. These lovely chalk board labels are perfect! Now things look great and there's no little moth babys wiggling around in my rice (that never happened and I know it sounds disgusting, but they really do that.)
      

And so it Begins Again...

I know it's been a while since I've posted. I some times question why I spend as much time as I do writing, photoshopping, and taking pictures for this blog. I already work a ridiculous amount of time for my clothing and apothecary company, Alder, which happens to have a blog too and teaching at Pratt. Why do I choose to add another job to the list? I seem to never come up with a better answer than you keep reading! Yes, people (you) actually read this blog and I feel terribly guilty when I don't have new content and keep up with things. But life sometimes gets in the way of things but I promise I'll be better. Now let's get back to things.... Last winter marked the season when I taught myself how to crochet. I began a small project, actually a queen sized project, a crocheted blanked inspired by a knitted blanket in Martha Stewarts January 2012 issue. I didn't finish this time consuming project before it became too hot to have skeins of wool on my lap. So I've started up once again since things have cooled off. Despite just starting up, I can't wait to finish this project and get on to something else, a hat, maybe pants! I know it sounds crazy. It's great have something so mindless but rewarding to work on again. It's perfect for subway rides and making me feel like I'm doing something productive while catching up on my favorite TV shows. Unfortunately or fortunately my crocheting has become limited to subway rides and the new TV show activity has become hand embellishing. Come this market week it will all become a little bit clearer. 

Homemade Orecchiette

Homemade Orecchiette with tomato pepper sauce. 

I've been toying with the idea of making my own pasta but just hadn't got around to it. Not until I saw the October issue of Martha Stewart which included a section about making homemade Orecchiette. This was perfect. Not having a pasta maker or even a rolling pin, I needed to make a pasta with as few specialty tools as possible. All you need is a knife and some sculpting skills. I had both! 

However, my artistic talents seemed to get in the way when crafting a pasta with an Italian name meaning "little ear." To set the record straight, Orecchiette does not look like little ears as its' name claims. Orecchiette looks more like tiny flared lipped bowls. The pasta should be called "little bowl" or "piccole ciotole." Despite this knowledge I could not shake the image of a little ear from my head. My Orecchiette ended up looking more like various parts of the human anatomy and nothing like what it should.

My little ears.

I recommend picking up the issue of Martha. It includes step by step instructions with photographs. Which I could not compete with. However, I've included the recipe is after the break.