Pumpkin and Spice

I love Halloween. I love vampires (though not so much Twilight-y vampires...) In honor of the holiday, and my beloved gothy bloodsuckers, I created a bloody cheesecake for our Halloween party this year.

A hazelnut flavored cheesecake with a red chambord (raspberry liqueur) flavored swirl is topped with with a "bloody" splash of frangelico spiked raspberry coulis. The flavor is smooth, rich and creamy, and the sauce offers a tart, bright note. In fact, it's really lovely enough that if you left out the red food dye in the cheesecake, it would make a delightful dessert for any occasion.

Bananas are one of my favorite fruits, especially at breakfast time. As just about anyone who has seen me prior to about 8am can attest, early mornings are not really my "peak hours". I like to keep breakfasts as easy as possible- grinding my own beans for my coffee is about as complicated as my breakfast gets. Usually, I just do a bowl of cereal (Grape Nuts are one of my favorites) with soymilk, coffee and a piece of fruit. Bananas are perfect for breakfast because they're easy to peel (unlike oranges- I'm not that patient in the morning) and easy to eat (unlike, say, apples... I'm like the slowest apple-eater ever.)

Of course, everyone has their own idea of when bananas are at the perfect ripeness. Kyle likes his pretty green, whereas I prefer my with brown speckles. Usually this works out well, because I buy a bunch of green bananas. Kyle eats the bananas when they're green, and as they turn brown, I eat what's left. Sometimes, though, Kyle leaves me with too many bananas to eat before they go mushy and black. I hate to throw them away, so sometimes I freeze them for smoothies, but, of course, the classic standby for squashy bananas is banana bread.

I know there's been a bit of a post drought lately, but my defense is-
a.) I spend most of my time sleeping, at work or at the gym and
b.) Work has been sorta uneventful.

In a way, uneventful is good, because there's been no drama and things are going smoothly, but it sure makes for boring blogging. I'm still at the top-of-the-mountain lodge, though last week I was on a different shift. My first week, I was on days, working a pretty standard 8-4:30 shift. (Kinda a rarity in the culinary/hospitality industry!) Last week, I was working at the restaurant, which is a buffet-style Alps/moutain inspired restaurant.

Sorry for the lack of communication lately. My internet connection is terrible, and uploading photos is a bit of a chore. My camera is also acting up, and sometimes decides it just doesn't feel like focusing, and all I get are pictures that look like I smeared Vaseline on my camera lense.

This is my last week at the ski lodge I'm currently working at. The interns move around from shift to shift and lodge to lodge, to give us an oppertunity to try everything. Only three more working days left until my switch.