BABY, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE.

See? So much cold, and so much snow.

So I made some soup.

Sweet Potato Coconut Curry Soup to be exact.

I recommend it. It fights cold.

FALL: Food favourites.

This weekend was the first true fall weekend of the year- a full day of rain Saturday, and it was so cold you needed gloves on Sunday. I turned to food for comfort...

For dinner, I enjoyed this recipe of Sweet Potato Fries. They came out pretty dark so next time I'll reduce the cooking time a little bit before flipping them over.
I also prepared a garlic veggie/pasta dish with carrots and zucchini, which is pretty classic comfort food for me.
For dessert, I baked this Pumpkin loaf that I found on Pinterest.  I couldn't use a loaf pan because I didn't have one, so it's more like a cake... But it's pretty freakin' awesome. Perfect for accompanying my pumpkin chai tea from David's tea (my absolute favourite tea right now).

Like I said, fall is in the air. And I can't help but enjoy all the comfort food coming my way.
What food makes you think of fall?

Chocolate bark.

As Christmas creeps up, I figure I should do something nice for my bosses at work. I didn't really want to buy them anything (who knows what to get them?), so I decided to turn to junk food. Chocolate bark, to be more specific.

Chocolate bark is pretty. It's fun and fancy, and pretty hard to screw up. 

Sweet. Right up my ally.

First, I chopped up the chocolate. 

Second, I melted the chocolate. I boiled a pot of water on the stove and held the other pot with chocolate overtop of the boiling water. I don't have one of those fancy devices, so I improvised.

Third, I poured the melted chocolate into pans and added the toppings.

...Then I stuck them in the fridge to cool.

One finger blister and a sore arm later, I've got three different kinds of chocolate bark that I'll split between my two co-workers.

Semi-sweet chocolate + marshmallows + toffee bits drizzled in bittersweet chocolate

Semi-sweet chocolate + almond slivers + dried cranberries

White chocolate + crushed candy canes + bittersweet chocolate

Lessons learned? 

- Chopping chocolate sucks. 

- Bittersweet chocolate is really bitter, so maybe use less next time. It's a good thing they like a dark chocolate..
- Need to come up with a good way to get them OUT of the pans..

- Make twice as much so you can enjoy some too.

Happy Holidays :)