Yum!

The Beer: Ingredients are on order for a Winter Ale and an ale using a recipe from the late 1700's. I should be brewing next week. I have already secured agreements in the Beer-for-Deer program. Either beer should go well with the spicy roasted pumpkin soup I prepared yesterday. Recipe as follows:

1 medium pumpkin
3-15 oz. cans of chicken stock (or as needed).
Seasoning to taste

Cut the pumpkin in half and seed. Place cut side down on a cookie sheet and roast at 200 degrees until soft (we took about 6 hours). When the pumpkin cools, scoop out the meat from inside - I don't know if you can use the skin or not. Place the pumpkin "meat" in a large saucepan and cover with the chicken broth (more or less to get the consistency you want). Add spices and bring to a simmer until very soft. I use curry, cumin, salt, pepper and a jalapeno (cayenne, banana or other hot pepper works fine). Puree with a hand blender or in a food processor. At this point, I add 2 bay leaves and a couple sage leaves. Allow it to simmer for a time and serve. I serve in a bowl with crostini and fresh cilantro.

The Bicycle: I did ride from work on Thursday. About 40 minutes. I'll do it again. But I admit to being a little creeped out walking throught the office in spandex.

The VRWC: No conspiracy today. There's just too much.