Pork empanadas.

I couldn't decide which picture sucked less. They both have their minute pros. This dough, courtesy of Elise, is crazy. 1:1:3 of creme cheese, butter, and flour. The pork was some leftover from some braising and marinated in some of leftover salsa I was trying to get rid of.

The egg wash just before baking helped give it that glossy, buttery finish, as if it needed to look more buttery. The pastry ended up varied, depending on the thickness of how I rolled the dough. But 18 minutes at 375 does it about right.

I also fiddled with the pork a bit. I rarely add salt to things, so I ended up adding a bit of salt and pepper to the marinated pork to end a bit more punch. That went into the second batch, blended with some cheese.

I was out of sour cream, so I used Greek yogurt and jalapeños instead; it worked quite well.

Addendum: These freeze well.

Zen Green Tea Liquer.

This is also long overdue. I had been putting this off until I could find a supplier up here. Which I did, despite being way overpriced. It's something use scarcely anyway. It's a sweet liquer blended with matcha. FOr not being into sweet drinks, I like it quite well. It imparts a smooth, soothing finish to a lot of drinks and adds a nice color to clear drinks. I've had it with tonic, gin, both, and by itself. It's worth the money a sa novelty at the very least.

Finca El Retiro Malbec.

This was weird. Very wet for a red, almost to the point of almost being sour. Thin and grape juicy. Double meh. The most curious thing was a few sips I left in a cup over night. Instead of drying up and leaving a nice snowflake in the morning, there was still fluid, thick, and smelling strong. I did not find it appetizing.

Red Lava Syrah.

Way overdue. I remember nothing. Good thing? The list price is more than I'd pay for it.

CB Chistmas Ale.

I was originally gonig to pick up a 19th Hole if they had it. Which they did. But then I saw this. And I'm a sucker for new beers.

I found it to be quite spicy and refreshing, hearty even. It always nice when a cold brew can pull off a warm feeling. Against mulled wine and egg nog, I think it'd find good company.

CB Canandaigua Ale.

Another growler. I'll just say it wasn't as impressive at the 19th Hole.

Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout.

This one was full of surprises. Apparently, it's an Imperial Stout at 10%ABV. Now, my experience with chocolate beers has been quite mixed, but I have to say that this is quite good. I once read somewhere that as you drink a wider variety of beers, Guinness looses its appeal. This one drives the nail in the Extra Stout's coffin.

I'd comment on the color, but it's completely opaque, even held up to the light. The texture is thick but not sticky; I did feel like I was pouring chocolate milk. The head was a nice mocha color and creamy. The chocolate comes through clean and strong but overall left me with a sticky feeling in the mouth like after drinking something sweet.

It's a seasonal, if you can call October through March seasonal, so I'll stock up a bit. But I look forward to Brooklyn's other offerings.

Ommegang Three Philosophers.

Another offering from Ommegang brewery, which is apparently part of the Duvel family. It's listed as 98% ale, 2% ale with cherries added. Hm. I can't tell if it tastes like cherries or acetone. I picked this up at a friend's recommendation, but something about it doesn't suit me. Eh.

Sandwiches.

I know a lot about sandwiches. I've been eating sandwiches for a very long time. This past summer, I was spoiled by getting to have soup with my sandwich every day. And then, since I wouldn't have such unbridled access to that kind of variety of soups afterwards, I swore off those sandwiches. Listen. I hate sandwiches that involved two slices of bread, one slice of cheese, and two or three slices of deli meat depending on the brand. I've been through a lot of kinds of bread, a lot of kinds of cheese, and a lot kinds of meat. I know a lot about sandwiches.

Unsurprisingly, habits are hard to break. But at least I've tried some variety. And I don't eat them everyday.

Pizza Sub

When you get into eating sliced bread all the time, you realize it's not that great. Subs are great. Salami, pizza sauce, mozz, green pepper, onion.

Pastrami Wrap

Wraps, as it turns out, are also awesome. And lend themselves well to containing vegetables. Sun-dried tomato wrap, cucumber, roma tomato, colby jack, pastrami, chunky tapenade.

Italian Sub

Uh, same thing as a pizza sub? Except tomatoes instead of pizza sauce?

Pumpkin Dinner.

Ok. So this is just a huge novelty really. Pumpkin actually doesn't taste like anything and has a weird texture. But the innards were good. I made it with a mixture of ground beef, brown rice, lentils, onion, and a can of creme of mushroom soup.The insides were actually quite good though nondescript. It was one of those things you can just eat on its own with anything on top or with anything. I think I had some with cheese, some with Frank's, some with yogurt dill sauce. Whatevs.

I ended up using some of the pumpkin for pumpkin pancakes which I made from scratch and not ready-mix stuff. It turned out ok. Some baking soda didn't mix well in a couple cakes but the pumpkin generally lent a fluffy texture.

I also had a bunch of leftover lentil so I make an Indian style lentil soup which was pretty good but needs some work.

CB 19th Hole Ale.

I thought this was an awesome autumn drink. Pumpkin ales just don't cut it most of the time, and I don't want to drink cider all the time. 19th Hole has a creamy but clean taste, with strong overtones of apple.

The carbonation is a little low, but it comes in this sweet jug. It is a growler.

Cookies.

I'm working on committing baking to memory. Baking is weird. This is 1:1:1:1:3 of egg, brown sugar, white sugar, butter, flour, and bit of salt and baking soda. These are toffee and dark chocolate chip cookies, separate.