And more cold weather food posting...

Had a wonderful roast last night at House of Femme - thanks to Miss R for the invite and to chef Miss B.
Lamb, roast vegies, red wine. So good.
Best gravy I've had in ages too.
In honour of chef's prediliction for cheese, we did a desert with 2 different cheeses.
(Stolen from Mr L and Miss A)
Stew some pear slices.
On puff pastry put ricotta cheese, pear slices, sprinkle with brown sugar, bake until done. We served it with marscapone.
Mr M reckons future changes should include more sugar, peeled pear, and icecream instead of marscapone.
Stories told at the table of strawberries soaked in balsamic vinegar, rolled in icing sugar and dipped in marscapone, were not believed by the others. But, dammit, I know that I will be vindicated if they ever taste it.

Tonight's cooking exploits included the following cake.
[Well, the batter made 2 loaves, so half a cake got sent to the Summer Hill Bordello aka The Velvet Vulva aka The Polished Pearl. And I'll take a loaf to work tomorrow and see how it goes down].

Cardamom coffee cake from The Moosewood Cookbook

1 1/2 - 2 cups Butter [this is an estimate - the recipe calls for 1 lb. *shrugs*]
2 cups Light brown sugar
4 Eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract

4 cups Plain Flour
2 tsp Baking powder
2 ½ tsp Baking soda
½ tsp Salt
1 tbs Cardamom powder [I ground cardamom seeds in the coffee grinder until fine - they were even stronger smelling than the bought powder then!]

2 cups Sour cream (or yogurt or buttermilk) [I like yogurt best]

Filling:
¼ cups Light brown sugar
1 tbs Cinnamon
½ cups Walnuts; finely chopped [I used almonds and wacked 'em in the coffee grinder for a few seconds]

Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. (180 c)
Grease and flour a HUGE tin, or two loaf tins.

In a LARGE mixing bowl, beat butter with 2 cups brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Stir in the vanilla.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cardamom in a separate bowl.
Add the flour mixture, 1/3 of it at a time, to the butter mixture, alternating with the yogurt. Stir just enough to blend after each addition. Don't beat or overmix.

Combine 1/4 cup brown sugar, cinnamon, and almonds in a separate small bowl.
Spoon approximately 1/3 of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with half the nut mixture, then add another third of the batter. Cover with remaining nut mixture, then top with remaining batter. Lightly spread into place.

Bake approximately 1-1/4 hours [yes, over an hour folks] or until a knife inserted all the way in comes out clean.
Allow to cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then invert onto a plate. Cool at least 30 minutes more before cutting into it.

Makes the house smell good.
Makes people happy.
Makes tummies full.