Walk in the Glow of Each Other's Majestic Presence

Last night, daily_alice and I carved a jack-o-lantern. I've always just tossed the seeds, since I don't like them, but Jason loves them toasted, so I went ahead and picked all the seeds out of the slime. Following this recipe, I let them dry over night and this morning tossed them with a tablespoon of butter (which was a little much) and divided them into three batches on a baking sheet: plain buttered, garlic/cumin, and cayenne. I tried one and yup, still don't like 'em, but Jason is devouring them and making yummy noises, so I think I can call this a success.

( #90 Honey-Walnut Frozen Yogurt )

For Gilly's party, I made five flavors of tropical sorbet. It feels like cheating to count them, but they were new recipes and I did make them, so here they are:

( #91 Mango Sorbet )
( #92 Papaya Sorbet )
( #93 Pineapple Sorbet )
( #94 Banana Sorbet )
( #95 Coconut-Almond Sorbet )

On the day of the party I became concerned that there wouldn't be enough food that wasn't duck or dessert (those of you in attendance will know how foolish this concern was) so I made up three different pasta salads. Oddly enough, I'm not sure that I've ever made a pasta salad before.

( #96 Roasted Vegetable Pasta Salad )
( #97 Smoked Salmon Pasta Salad )
( #98 Pasta Salad with Tuna )

I'm getting very close to the end of this project, about two months early. I've really enjoyed the impetus to try new and different things and discover some really excellent recipes. I'm trying to decide what I'll do once I've reached one hundred. Options include:

• keep going until the one-year mark and see how far I get
• do another hundred, under the same guidelines
• do a different challenge (25 New Vegetable Recipes? 25 New Cookie Recipes? 100 New Desserts?)
• go back and re-cook the ones I especially liked, with improvements and more photos
• take on a non-cooking challenge

If anyone has suggestions--things you'd enjoy reading, things you think I'd enjoy doing, things you think I need to focus on--I'd love to hear them.

Inspired by our most recent trip to Il Buco, I decided the time had come for me to figure out how to make beef carpaccio at home. I looked at several different recipes online and here's what I ended up doing:

( #46 Beef Carpaccio )

( #47 Arugula Pesto )

Thanks to bookly for all the assistance in shopping and prep and for being a willing test-subject!

#33 Carrot Oatmeal Cookies After my success a few days ago, I decided to go ahead and try this recipe. They're just out of the oven and oh yes, they are the tasty! They're lighter than regular oatmeal cookies and the carrot bits make them look festive and interesting. Right now they're quite moist on the inside and I'm interested to see how they change as they cool more. I'm very glad they turned out well, so that now I don't have to figure out what else one might do with coconut oil.