Vote!

In case you've been living under a rock, you'll need no reminder that Tuesday, November 4th, is a very special day. It's not only my brother's 37th birthday. It's Election Day.


Please make sure you get out there and vote. You might even be so inclined as to Barack the Vote, but I'll leave it up to you to decide who the right candidate is. (Hint: His name kind of rhymes with Clock Mama.) Whoever you end up voting for (Barack Obama), please just make sure you exercise your constitutional right to vote.


Vote, and get all of your family and friends to vote.

Vote, vote, vote!

P.S. About 50% of those at Natural Log Squared officially endorse Senator Barack Obama for President.

Chef Eric

Since Eric is relatively new to cooking, he often finds recipes that he's curious to try. Two of my favorites of his were an almond-encrusted salmon he make for my birthday, and a chocolate cheesecake.

This time, he's asked whether I have the following ingredients:

Red pepper flakes
Dry white wine
Flat-leaf parsley
Fresh basil

Of course, these could be ingredients to just about any recipe. But I'm having fun wondering what he's got planned!

Autumn 2008

For the third straight year, Eric and I made our way to Wightmans Farm in Morristown. This year, we took with us our friends Nathaniel, Pei, and their son Alexander Preston.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect. The day included a hay ride, a pumpkin sling shot, pumpkin picking, and yummy snacks, including apple cider, apple pie, and donuts. And then a few more donuts.

The neat thing about Wightman's is their pumpkin sling shot. This is how it works: You place a baby pumpkin into the sling shot. Then, you try to shoot the pumpkin into one of the buckets off in the distance on a hill. Here's a picture of me getting ready to let go:


What makes the sling shot so special is that this was the third consecutive year that I managed to get the pumpkin into the bucket! The prize is a pumpkin, which we'll hopefully carve up this week.

Here are our friends Nathaniel, Pei, and Alexander Preston:


Here's Eric and me with Nathaniel and Pei's little Pumpkin:

Watch this space in October 2009 to see if I can make the pumpkin sling shot for a fourth time...

2008's First Pumpkin

In honor of our long-neglected blog, here's our first pumpkin of the year.

Baked ziti...yum yum

I'm not much of a cook but I do like to dabble here and there. Once we get a new kitchen, then I'm sure we will graduate to more complex dishes. But for now, I'm sticking with the comfort foods. The latest creation was baked ziti (very adventurous, as you can tell).

Ultimately, most pasta dishes are a combination of bread/pasta, tomato sauce, and cheese. From that perspective, baked ziti is really not that different from lasagna. Maybe that explains why everyone kept on asking for more "lasagna."

Whatever you call it...here is the recipe:

1 pound of uncooked ziti
1 1/2 tbps olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 tsp of minced rosemary
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 pounds of ground beef
1 jar (26 oz.) of spaghetti sauce
6 oz. of sliced provolone cheese
3/4 cup of cottage cheese
6 oz. of shredded mozzarella cheese (I love this stuff, so I put more in)
3/4 cup of sour cream (I didn't like it with the sour cream, so I would leave it out)

I was also going to throw in sliced Italian sausage but I forgot to include it! So I guess that is an optional ingredient. I also deliberately left out the parmesan cheese (gross!)

1. Cook the ziti and set it aside. I just boil it without any salt or oil.

2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and cook the onion. Then, throw in the rosemary and garlic, and mix well. Set aside in a small bowl.

3. Cook the ground beef (and sausage) in the skillet until cooked throughout. Then, stir in the onion mixture and spaghetti sauce. Reduce heat to low and let it simmer for 10 minutes.

4. Preheat the oven to 350F.

5. I line a baking dish with non-stock aluminum foil, so that the dish doesn't get caked with sauce and pasta. I spread a thin layer of sauce along the bottom of the dish. Then, I spread about half the pasta in the dish. Layer the provolone cheese, cottage cheese, and sour cream (if you so choose) on top of the pasta, and then top it with about half of the sauce. Then, layer the rest of the pasta, the remainder of the sauce, and the mozzarella cheese.

6. Bake everything uncovered for about 30 minutes. Since everything is already cooked in this recipe, you don't need to worry about exact cooking times.

As I mentioned, this is very simple. But is also pretty satisfying and makes great leftovers! I'm getting hungry just writing this...