Happy Fall Y'all

At precisely 5:18 pm EDT today, the fall season will begin! Hurray! Fall is definitely one of the best . . . no wait . . . it's THE best season of all! The leaves, the cool air blowing through an open window, football, pumpkin-flavored everything, the harvest . . . ahhh, fall.

Preparing for fall in our home means dragging out our favorite cookbooks filled with hearty, cold-weather recipes! And tonight we usher in the fall season with stuffed red peppers, sauteed cabbage, and Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale.

Stuffed Red Peppers

1 (3 1/2 ounce) bag boil-in-bag long-gran rice

4 medium red bell peppers

3/4 lb ground sirloin

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 tsp paprika

Salt & pepper to taste

1/8 tsp ground allsprice

1 jar of tomato-and-basil pasta sauce, divided

1/2 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup dry red wine

Cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 450°.

2. Cook rice according to package directions.

3. While rice cooks, cut tops off bell peppers; reserve tops for garnish (optional). Discard seeds. Place peppers, cut sides downs, in an 8" square baking dish; cover with plastic wrap and microwave at hight for 2 minutes, or until peppers are crisp-tender. Cool.

4. Brown beef and onion in a nonstick skillet. Add parsley, paprika, salt, pepper, and allspice, and saute until fragrant.

5. To the cooked beef mixture, add rice, half the pasta sauce, and cheese. Stir until combined.

6. In a small saucepan, combine the remaining pasta sauce and wine. Bring just to a boil.

7. Spoon the beef mixture evenly into each pepper. Place peppers back in 8" square baking dish, coated with cooking spray. Drizzle wine mixture over peppers. Cover with foil.

8. Back at 450° for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake an addition 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Garnish with reserved pepper tops (optional).

Sauteed Cabbage

1 small cabbage head

1 or 2 strips bacon, chopped

chopped onion

olive oil

chicken broth

fresh thyme and/or parsley

nutmeg

salt & pepper to taste

1. Heat about a 1 Tbsp olive oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add some chopped onion (I use what I have left over from the stuffed pepper recipe) and some chopped bacon. Cook until tender and bacon begins to crisp, about 6 minutes.

2. Cut cabbage into strips about a 1/2" wide. Add to pan with onion and saute. You may wish to add a bit more olive oil, or butter for flavor.

3. As the cabbage begins to wilt, add some chicken broth for flavor. If you like your cabbage crisp, don't add too much!

4. Add some fresh thyme (or parsley) and a pinch of nutmeg, cook until fragrant. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Fruit Still Life

There's a special place in this world for Melon and her fruit cronies. So take a load off, Melon, and enjoy the view!

Oliver's First Love

Oliver is growing up so fast, and we knew if would only be a matter of time before he showed an interest in . . . GIRLS! Our friend Ann came to visit in August and Ollie got a little . . . um . . . fresh . . .

Ollie: "Ann, I love the way you pet me. You're so pretty. Will you be my girlfriend? I love you."

Ann: "Woah there little guy! Are you serious? I mean you're cute, but I live in Cincinnati and you live in New York . . . "

Ollie: "Oh, Ann, I would follow you anywhere."

Ann: "That's all I needed to hear!"

Ollie: "Take a picture, Mom. We're in love."

Top Dog

"I feel the need . . . the need for speed!"

Olliecare

Unless you've been living in a cave for the last 9 months, you've certainly been hearing lots about the many health care proposals circulating in our nation's capital. (The recent debates have made me think about moving to a cave.) Jess and I've been discussing the issues a great deal.

We consider ourselves lucky. Not only are we relatively healthy (though if we keep eating this, we won't be for long), my employer (CUNY) provides us relatively affordable health care, a luxury we wouldn't be able to afford if we were forced to buy health care on our own. Jess and I both feel that anything that might improve our country's 37th place World Health Organization ranking would be a good thing. Sure, if reform passes, things will be different. But isn't that good?

Recently, however, our dinner-time, health care discussions have gotten rather raucous. Not on account of Jess and I, however:

That's right, Oliver has injected himself into the health care debate. No. . . he's not on the side of those that call Obama and his posse Death Eaters, nor does he think the plans floating around Congress amount to "socialized" medicine. [By the way, Oliver thinks that many political pundits use words like "socialist," "fascist," "Hitler," etc. without really knowing what they mean in an attempt to scare American citizens. He knows what they mean. He's not scared.]

No, Oliver isn't afraid that the so-called "Obamacare" does too much: He thinks it does too little. Oliver's upset that none of the proposals currently circulating the offices of Capital Hill contain any insurance guarantees for animals. He thinks that calling these plans "universal health care" is a misnomer. These plans are not truly universal because none of them cover any of our four-legged friends.

His life is at least as dangerous as those of us with opposable thumbs and the ability to speak. On a daily basis, he chews on and consumes all sorts of potentially dangerous items, walks over broken glass on the streets outside, and he often has to avoid the footsteps of careless Brooklyn citizens.

Oliver's proposal would offer guaranteed, affordable health care for all US citizens, including our pets. Not only would his proposal provide preventative care and allow all animals to choose from whichever veterinarian he or she likes, but it would provide end of life counseling that would help these animals create living wills.

Oliver doesn't have the means to canvass for support anywhere but in this apartment. He asks that if you'd like to support his call for justice, post a comment in the box below. His parents will forward the comments to Pres. Obama.