Happily reunited...

After my wine tasting post, I couldn't help but take a detour from the "Italy series" and mention a happy reunion that has taken place in Novorossiysk......

Thanks, Mom, for the lovely apron.
It says "Queen of Everything" on the front. :)
Along, with my laptop playing my "Life is Good" Pandora station, makes for a happy cooking experience.

With Ryan's return, I now have a reason to cook.  It has been close to 6 weeks since I was last cooking up a culinary creation.  When Ryan is gone, I have no desire to cook meals for myself, it only adds to the loneliness when you have to sit down to a delicious dinner, solo.

All my talking about wine, cheese, salami and pasta yesterday (made me hungry) reminded me to share a few of my recent creations.  Cooler weather has moved into our area, so soups, and tummy warming meals were on the menu.

After Italy, I returned to Novorossiysk while Ryan remained in Moscow.  Once he finally returned to our apartment, and after several weeks without a home cooked meal,  I wanted to create the perfect "welcome home" meal.  I decided chili with warm cornbread would be perfect, make it before he arrived home, let it simmer all day, and enjoy it for dinner.

I didn't want to make a "regular" chili.  I was inspired by a few different recipes, and created this "Italian" chili.  Zucchini, mushrooms, cannellini beans, and chickpeas were the new additions.  The seasonings were also changed a bit, adding some italian seasoning to the spices. 

Literally going through withdrawals.  After over a week of wine everyday, sometimes twice a day, and then close to a week with none, it can drive a wife silly.  My only request of Ryan was that he choose a lovely wine to accompany our dinner.  

Chili without cornbread is like......well, it's just wrong.  I added an extra egg white to the mixture, making the batter a bit less dense, sprinkled parmesan on the top before baking, and these little guys were mighty yummy.  

An Italian souvenir.
While in Venice, we went to Murano Island, famous for the glassblowing.  

An excellent fall dessert....warm rice pudding.
Must admit this would have been better if I was able to find better rice.  I needed more instant than I could find in the stores here, but overall a good dessert.

The following day, Ryan woke to the smell of pancakes!  Love pancakes....

Keeping with the fall theme, pumpkin pancakes with an apple cider syrup.  

Sunday evening, Ryan invited a friend from work to dinner.  I was not only excited to spend time with her, and share stories about Italy (she was the lucky lady who lived in Rome for a time), but I was also excited to cook another fall dinner.

Not your typical pumpkin soup.  This is peanut-pumpkin soup.
Very nice alternative, loved all the different spices and flavors that mixed together.  

I did it again (this is only the second time).  I roasted a whole chicken.  The last time I did this was LAST Thanksgiving, when I prepared a "living in Russia" Thanksgiving dinner.
I roasted onions, apples and brussel sprouts with the chicken.  To add some extra flavor, I used some of the apple cider syrup from the morning to coat the chicken, really adding a nice apple flavor. 

Really need to work on my chicken "carving."  Luckily the taste made up for my butchering. :)

I made tacos the other night and wanted to use up the remaining toppings, and corn salad.  I also had some yellow peppers and zucchini in the refrigerator that I didn't want to go bad.
Welcome to, leftover taco/clean out the vegetable drawer soup.
A tummy warming, "southwest" style soup, with fresh zucchini and feta as a topping (nice contrast to the spicy flavors).  Also, leftover hard taco shells, added a nice crunch.  

Well, there you have it.  I am cooking, I am happy, we are well fed, life is good in our apartment. :)