Cooking hasn't been all that exciting lately, but tonight I made a fabulously easy, tasty and comforting creamy cauliflower soup that was posted recently on Mark Bittman's blog by Annemarie Conte. In my excessive laziness I didn't even dice the potatoes evenly, and the cauliflower florets were cut more appropriately for a hors d'oeuvres dipping situation than a soup, but it still turned out great. I even used frozen dill for the garnish, but if you don't tell anyone they won't know. Fresh herbs in November are the biggest racket going at the grocery store.

Last weekend I finally attempted the caraway dumpling soup that Cathy's mom was craving right after we learned of her diagnosis. It took two jars of caraway seeds and about three hours to make, and unfortunately wasn't all that tasty. Maybe it was being subjected to the odor of caraway for such a long time before the soup was done, or maybe it was that I didn't grow up with my mom making it when I felt under the weather, but it didn't really live up to expectations. Of course the recipe made a full gallon of soup so now I have the added joy of dumping out a lot of food.

About a week ago I got a notice from the property management that due to The Possibility of Leaks, they'd be replacing my water heater on the 18th. Not only did I need to lock up/control my pets, but I also needed to clean out my storage closet in case the repairman needed to access pipes behind the wall. My storage closet is really, really full. In a flash of paranoia I actually wondered if they were kidding about my (very new looking) water heater because they in fact wanted me to clean out my storage closet. So Tuesday night I dragged out all the boxes and Rubbermaid bins and potting soil, and on Wednesday I worked from home in case they needed me to also move the huge wire shelving unit or take the cat door insert out of the patio door.

None of the above was necessary when it came right down to it. In my case they only needed to swap out some pipes. The whole ordeal was over in about 35 minutes, during which the repairman was a) fascinated by the drop cloth I'd put down, and b) thrilled that I was watching General Hospital, and c) sorry I'd had to evacuate my storage closet for absolutely no good reason. All in all, it wasn't a bad thing I had to pull all the crap out because I ended up consolidating and throwing away about three boxes worth of stuff, and I found my purple yoga blocks. However, since the new pipes were put in my water smells weird.

I made a steak this weekend--all by myself--and it was good. Wasn't sure for a few minutes there if I'd actually get to enjoy it while it was still hot. I don't have an outdoor grill (nor have I ever been all that great at grilling, too worried about whether the meat is done), so I pan-seared the steak in a cast iron skillet for 90 seconds on each side and then stuck it in the oven. Well, guess what happens when you toss a slab of meat into a hot cast iron pan?

Smoke.

Lots of smoke.

Even with the stove fan on high and all the doors and windows open, it got pretty bad. I fully expected my smoke alarm to go off and summon the fire department who would all laugh themselves silly over my dinner (while it got cold).

But no, it was great. The smoke alarm did not go off. I rested the meat, threw it on a plate with some salt & vinegar potatoes, poured a glass of 1992 Heitz cab (ask Ben someday how I came to be in possession of that great bottle of wine), and had an excellent dinner.

I also succeeded in baking a nice loaf of the no-knead bread this weekend. The first attempt failed last weekend when I forgot to add the salt, but this one turned out quite nicely. I agree with Uncle Bob that the crust is awfully crusty, but the bread is nice and chewy.

In random bird news, a huge hawk swooped down right in front of my car this morning as I was leaving for church, startling the heck out of me and a runner on the sidewalk. It alighted in a tree in the center divide of my street and proceeded to eat its breakfast (a rodent, not the runner). I couldn't see it well enough in my side mirror to figure out what kind it was, and the light turned green before I could turn around and get a good look. There haven't been all that many hawks around lately, mostly crows. A wild turkey stopped traffic briefly on Crow Canyon the other morning, but even those haven't been around as much as usual.