Pumpkin & Pomegranate

I learned something this weekend. maple syrup is REALLY expensive. No wonder people are overjoyed with agave nectar, it is about 1/3rd the price or maple syrup (Kind of like corn syrup vs. sugar). But you know me, I don’t do the agave. So maple syrup it was, and the maple syrup alone for my donation to this bake sale cost me $20. Whew! Granted, I did a double batch, but that is A LOT of maple syrup. i think if I were to make this recipe again I’d cut that down a bit, mainly because I doesn’t need to be that sweet. In fact, while I think they were very tasty (and I made a lot of happy yummy noises as I ate one), i might prefer it if they were a little less sweet. So that is a thought for the future. I cannot even tell you how many of these suckers I made. it was under 60, but over 40…I think.

I meant to make it back the second day to see the piggy Edgar, but unfortunately our breakfast took a longer time than planned on Sunday, and we were a couple of lazy bums sitting on the couch watching TV. But I did get a lot of photos from Saturday right after everything was set up

Everything was so cute, and there was quite a crowd, even while things were still getting set up. I ended up nabbing quite a few goodies for Matt. I was for a good cause after all :-)

After that I went to the University District Farmer’s Market with my friend Ashley. I wanted to get some fresh produce, but since it isn’t Summer yet the veggies that were there were a tad steep for my budget. I ended up picking up a bottle of this barrel aged apple cider vinegar though. Apparently it is similar to balsamic, but made with apple instead of grapes. I have no clue if the health properties are the same as with apple cider vinegar, but the taste is divine. I plan on many a salad this Summer! Hooray for Rockridge Orchards!

They also had mead. I adore mead! But since mead is VERY sugary, and I know I wouldn’t drink much at all, I couldn’t afford a bottle. If it was something that would keep for 6 months I might have indulged, but I just don’t drink enough to make it worth it. It was SO beautiful though!

Saturday night Matt and I went out for Ethiopian food. i have never had Ethiopian before, but he is a huge fan and we have been talking about going to try some for about a year now. We looked at reviews and settled on Assimba.  I was a little astonished when i noticed there were about 4 different Ethiopian places in a 2 mile block, but I guess that is the Ethiopian hub in Seattle. We ordered the veggie combo (which is vegan) and matt asked for a serving “for 2″. The waitress told us that it usually feeds 2, but we didn’t believe her.

That was $13.00. By the time we were done with it, it looked like this:

Plus there was another plate with a whole other Injera, and we devoured that. We couldn’t eat this last bit though because we were STUFFED. Stuffed for a total of $14.40. We couldn’t believe it, but we will definitely be back again! My favorite was the red lentils, and the cabbage. Everything was delicious, and I was astonished to see how much protein is in teff. I keep reading that the glycemic index of teff is low, but I haven’t yet been able to find a value for it. In any event, it was delicious and I am not sure if teff is something I will add to my pantry, or just feel a little more comfortable eating when out and about. I will definitely be trying my hand at making Ethiopian food though, it was wonderful :-) Hope you all had a fabulous weekend!