I knew this soup was going to be good, but I was unprepared for how incredibly delicious it actually was. For being so simple to make it had a surprising depth of flavor.

It's thick and creamy, slightly sweet with just enough heat from the curry to add a lovely complexity. It's topped with a drizzle of cilantro oil (just cilantro and olive oil blended together with a pinch of kosher salt) for a little bit of additional freshness. The key is using fresh ingredients and a high quality curry paste - not a powder, a paste. I like Mae Ploy's pastes and I used the yellow curry paste in this soup. They're often available in Asian supermarkets. I order mine in bulk off Amazon.

I've been seeing how I can model my meals around main ingredients from Carolina Grown (see this post for more details). Mostly because I enjoy eating locally grown, fresh ingredients and I absolutely love the idea of being able to support local farmers as much as I possibly can - but also because planning a menu and sticking with it is a great way to save money.

I already allocate more money to food that most people I know, but I'm still interested in spending as little as possible for the highest quality ingredients I can get my hands on.

Because it's still winter the produce options at CG are limited, but they've got some lovely root vegetables available - including these Carolina Ruby sweet potatoes.

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When TA and I went to DC for New Years we had the chance to dine at Tenh Penh with the MiL and sFiL. While the service could have used a little polishing, the food was particularly delicious. At the end of the meal, in lieu of the traditional fortune cookie, four gorgeous little cakes were dropped off at the table.

They were about the size of a half dollar and smelled gloriously of almonds. They were chewy and dense and sweet and ridiculously delicious. TA and I are both fans of Asian cuisine, especially any sweets made with mochiko, a glutinous rice flour.

First attempt - not enough liquid, too puffy, and not enough sugar or almond extract.I decided right then and there that I absolutely had to try and make these at home and after two failed attempts I finally succeeded. Although these would be even better if I had a mini-muffin pan, they are nevertheless satisfying.

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Dating back to at least the 14th century, ravioli have long been a satisfying treat spanning cultures across the globe. The Italians have their raviolis, but so do the Russians their pelmini, the Ukrainians their varenyky, and the Chinese their 義大利餃 (Italian jiaozi, or dumpling).

They have a rich history - according to Delizia! The Epic History of the Italians and Their Food by John Dickie, ravioli were reportedly served to the papal enclave of 1549 - along with boiled chicken.

Though I'd pass on the boiled chicken, I'll rarely pass on a good ravioli. With the right filling and the right sauce the combination can be heavenly. Although tedious, the preparation could hardly be called difficult, with or without a ravioli mold.

It is, however, incredibly time consuming.

And time is something that I often have little of, especially when in the middle of a semester so brain-rending that medieval torture devices would provide respite from my agony. I'll take water-torture over a 3 paper week any time.

That being said, the substitution of store-bought gyoza wrappers (the round equivalent of a wonton wrapper, more commonly used in Japanese cuisine) for homemade pasta dough works quite adequately. It makes a good deal of sense that they would considering that potstickers are really just the Asian equivalent of ravioli in any case.

Some might frown upon the shortcut, but if they have the time to make homemade pasta dough on a weeknight and then assemble the raviolis one by one - well, feel free to stop by anytime. My kitchen awaits your culinary bad-assery.

In the meantime, I'll stick to my gyoza wrappers.

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A few weeks ago the folks over at POM Wonderful contacted me about whether or not I would like to try some of their product. I debated on whether or not I wanted to accept free product from a company - even if they didn't explicitly ask me for a review - and eventually came to the decision that I would never post a false review about anything, good or bad, and I always disclose if I received the product gratis.

Which I did.

So, no harm no foul - right?

And since I'm sure pretty much everyone on the planet has had pomegranate juice at this point and POM Wonderful is essentially the only national commercial producer of pomegranate juice, we all know it's pretty damn good.

It tastes good, it's rumored to be the holy grail of antioxidants, and with any luck the consumption of internationally grown pomegranates will help alleviate poverty in the Middle East.(POM Wonderful only uses domestically grown pomegranates, however.)

All that is well and good, but I'm more interested in pairing the juice with pureed pineapple and taking a tropical vacation in my mouth during this cold and dreary December.

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A holiday dinner just isn't complete without a pumpkin pie. Now that I'm living in the South, I tend to hear quite a bite more about sweet potato pie than ever before - it's not exactly a popular dish in the Pacific Northwest.

However, no matter whether you prefer pumpkin or sweet potato, it can be a calorie bomb. The majority of those calories come from the crust. When something consists solely of flour and butter, though, that shouldn't really come as a surprise.

If you're like me, the crust is a mere nuisance anyway. Simply a vehicle with which to scoop all that lovely spiced squash and whipped cream into my mouth.

So why not do away with the crust as a whole?

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