Roasted Pumpkin Soup & Pork Roast just Kidding

So, Stef is in Scotland for the weekend, and I have been cooking. Today it was pumpkin soup, but instead of boiling it, I roasted the pumpkin, along with five carrots and an onion. I ate one carrot when the veggies were done - I love roasted veggies - then I put the rest in the blender with some milk and cream, and used couscous spices: curry powder, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, coriander, cayenne, and paprika. Then I whipped it up until the soup was creamy and light - and had a bowl because it smelled so good and now I'm stuffed. Pumpkin is filling!

The Faux Pork Roast (Roast Pork, Just Kidding!)  comes from "Food Wars", a manga cartoon that has some incredible recipes. This one looked like fun, and I had all the ingredients, so I boiled my potatoes and mashed them, fried up onions and mushrooms and added them to the mash. Then I wrapped it in four large rashers of thick bacon and tied it like a roast. I baked it in a nice, hot oven (turning it once) until it was browned all over. Then I deglazed the onion/mushroom pan with port wine, added soy sauce and butter, and some herbes de Provence. I sliced the roast on a plate and poured the sauce over it. I had it for dinner last night, and at work today for lunch, and it was deliecious!

The good thing about recipes is that you can change them to accomodate what you have in the house. I didn't have red wine, but I had port wine, and that worked well with the soy sauce. I didn't have any sweet sake, but the port wine was sweet already, so it worked fine! I also substituted regular mushrooms for the oyster mushrooms and again - they were fine!

Tomorrow, Sunday, I will take Auguste for a walk along the riverside. The river is very high, and it is scary/fun watching the brown, swirling water as it flows by just inches from the bike path - instead of being several meters below it!