I promised myself that before I could write this blog post, and leave for Milwaukee to see the one and only, I would finish my stats homework. I wouldn't take a nap, or heat up some (surprisingly delicious) butternut squash soup, or sing a single note. I’m sure it’s not a surprise to any of you that I did just exactly that, minus the homework.

A belated Thanksgiving to all of you, readers! Before I was lazy this week, I was sappy last week. I cried thinking of everything that I am grateful for – the opportunities I've had, the people I've met, and the people that are stuck spending every holiday with me for many years to come. Needless to say I have set the tears aside and enjoyed two very wonderful Thanksgivings last week, and couldn't wait to share them with all of you. Most likely you were there – 90% of my fan base shares my DNA.

And the other 10% are begging to.

What would Thanksgiving be without two pies for four people? We had a wonderful pecan and a pumpkin pie this year, but I think the pecan stole the show for me.

While the biscuits rose, Dad enjoyed maniacally carving the turkey.

Lastly, we wrapped up our weekend by saying goodbye over a delicious breakfast at one of my favorite Madison restaurants, Marigold Kitchen, followed by a stroll through the capitol to see the tree being put up. Actually, we said our real goodbyes over whiskey gingers and tears induced by a Packers loss. And Aaron Rodgers' mustache.

And after all the excitement of seeing his favorite people, someone was very happy to be home.

Old Fashioned Pecan Pie

I would hope that my sisters would agree that this pie is repeat worthy. I adapted this recipe from America's Test Kitchen, and am glad that I came across it one afternoon when Molly sister and I were slacking off reorganizing our priorities. First, the recipe calls for you to toast the pecans beforehand, and it really developed a deep flavor from the nuts - and this is coming from a girl who argues that nuts have a place but not in dessert. To do this, toast the pecans on a baking sheet at 350 degrees F for 5-7 minutes or until they are fragrant. I hope this recipe makes a believer out of you, because it was a rich but very delicious end to a special dinner.

1 cup maple syrup
1 cup light brown sugar
1 Tbsp. molasses
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 Tbsp. butter, cut into cubes
1/2 tsp. salt
6 large egg yolks
1 1/2 cups toasted pecans, coarsely chopped
1 uncooked, single crusted pie shell, chilled for at least 30 minutes
(a 9-inch deep dish defrosted store bought pie shell will also work here)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

To make the filling:

Combine maple syrup, brown sugar, molasses, and heavy cream in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat, let simmer for three minutes, and allow the brown sugar to dissolve. Once sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and let cool for five minutes before incorporating the eggs and other ingredients. Add butter and salt to saucepan and whisk until incorporated. Once butter is incorporated, add egg yolks. Make sure your mixture is cool before adding the yolks to prevent the eggs from curdling, adding the cold butter will help with this too.

To assemble and bake:

Arrange pecans in bottom of pie crust, and pour filling on top of the nuts. Place the pie on the lowest oven rack and immediately turn the oven temperature down to 325 degrees F. This rapid temperature change will ensure that the unbaked pie crust doesn't get soggy. Bake for about 1 hour or until the crust is lightly browned and the pie still jiggles when shaken. At this point, the pie is under baked but will continue to cook while resting on the counter. Allow pie to rest and finish cooking on the counter for one hour and then chill the pie in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

Bourbon Whipped Cream

1 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
2 Tbsp. bourbon
1 1/2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Whip the ingredients together either with a stand or hand mixer on medium speed until the cream forms nice, stiff peaks. Serve with your favorite pie, but there won’t be any judgment on this end if I catch you spoon in hand.

Tomorrow I’m signing up for my last class schedule as an undergrad. It feels like just yesterday I was getting a fresh start, still getting lost in Madison, falling out with a few friends and finding my best, taking my first class that I loved and taking a note from a boy that someday I would, too. There are still so many things that I haven’t done in Madison – the arboretum, Picnic Point, and the Vilas zoo. And a first for me this Saturday, going to my very first Badger football game as a badger. I can remember a time that I wasn’t sure that Madison was for me, but in the same token neither was Milwaukee, or Waukesha, or Cedarburg either. As I was walking home from orchestra last night, snow fell all around me, getting stuck in my bushy Puzzo eyebrows, chapping my face with the wind. It swirled around the street lights, creating a cool haze of white flakes above me, signaling the first of many cold nights to come. And for a second the loneliness that I had been feeling left and I was surrounded by a peaceful solitude that reminded me of how lucky I am. A luckiness to be scurrying back to a place that feels like home, where my sleeping pup waits for me to shower him with kisses as I walk through the door. And yes, at times this little big town can feel huge, but walking down my snowy street, quiet and all to myself, it was peaceful and I was reminded that I have made a wonderful decision. I’ve finally made it, and making it feels kind of good.

I first started watching cooking shows when I was around ten or eleven years old, probably when I should have been outside running around with the other neighborhood kids. I actually remember very vividly flipping the channels and I stumbled on Rachael Ray’s 30 Minute Meals on the Food Network at 5:00pm. I also have a feeling I just woke up from a nap, some habits you never kick. I don’t remember at all what she was making, but I remembered watching her and, probably because it was dinner time and I was hungry, I was captivated. I wish I could explain it without it sounding like a revelation. But it kind of was. Giada de Laurentiis was on before Rachael, and Paula Deen afterwards, but there was something about Rachael Ray’s lack of culinary pretentiousness that my ten-year-old self could relate to. She made easy dinners, taught me how to cut an onion and what zest was, what spices went with which cuts of meat, and how “in the time it takes you to watch this show, I’ll have made a delicious and healthy meal from start to finish”. And I liked that. I didn't gravitate toward baking at first, and in fact I found myself craving to make dinner more than anything else. The kitchen slowly became my domain, and somewhere along then it became in a sense my identity.

I remember my first few cook books were America’s Test Kitchen, Live! and a children’s cookbook on decorating Christmas cookies. I also always remember feeling challenged, one time in particular after I made my first pie in a cake pan when I was twelve, not knowing the difference in bake ware and feeling foolish for being corrected by my mom and grandma. It was the same kind of foolish I felt when my first blueberry pie didn't thicken right, much to my dismay at a family party at my boyfriend’s house in high school, and his family gave me pity and humbly drank my pie with a spoon. But I learned, and most importantly I had the support of those around me. Whether it was my mom teaching me my first entrée, scrambled eggs, or my family waiting patiently for dinner as I discovered the importance of time management in preparing meals.

It wasn't until I was 14, in eight grade, that I realized that cooking was a career, and could be my career if I wanted. I shadowed a chef at the Chancery restaurant in Waukesha that year and I remember feeling so excited that she let me actually stir the sauces, cut the peppers, and didn't just stick my scrawny 14-year-old self on dish duty. Knowing much more now than back then, it wasn't service time while I was there so the kitchen was relatively quiet, mostly just prep work. In high school I reveled in the fact that there was a Culinary Arts program available , and in fact many my friends that stuck with it are now graduating from Le Cordon Bleu and The Culinary Institute of America. Jealous. But it was in that Culinary Arts program where I learned how not to ruin an angel food cake, and where I won my very first omelette competition. I can’t say I've ever won any more, but it’s a silent victory in my head when my French tri-fold doesn't rip, exposing the cheesy guts.

So finally, I’d like to share a recipe from Jamie Oliver, another one of my longtime celebrity chefs that I've pined after for too many years. I especially like this soup because it’s simple, most of the ingredients I actually had on hand, and it’s a lighter version of a soup that is very comforting in this weather that we’re having. Plus it came together in roughly 30 minutes, and doggone-it, Rachael would be proud.

Vegetarian Corn Chowder
Yields four servings

A Few notes to add about this recipe. First, at my grocery store here on campus they didn't sell 1% milk in the amount that I needed without having too much leftover, so I opted for 2% instead. The soup turned out to be the perfect creaminess, in my opinion. If you’re looking for something very thick like your traditional chowder, you might want to try whole milk or even a combination of whole milk and half and half. Also, more traditional corn chowder, or many of the recipes that I looked at, have bacon as a staple ingredient. I wanted to make this vegetarian friendly for Molly, and also wasn't up for buying a pricey package of bacon only for a few necessary slices. That being said, if you have bacon on hand I think this soup would really benefit from rendering down a few slices and using the grease to sauté your onions and celery rather than butter. Then of course you can garnish with the crispy bacon bits. And lastly! I didn't season with salt and pepper until I was ready to serve, after realizing this soup needed quite a bit of salt for my taste. I would recommend doing just a bit of salt and pepper seasoning at the veggie stage, and then again before serving to taste.

1 celery stalk
1 medium onion
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
3 cups 1% milk
1 medium Yukon Gold potato, peeled and cut into little cubes
3 scallions
2 cups frozen corn
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives and/or parsley (optional)

Pull the leaves from the celery stalks and set them aside. Chop your celery and onion.
Heat the butter in a medium saucepan over a medium heat. Add the celery (not the leaves), onion, and thyme. Stir until the vegetables start to brown.

Sprinkle the flour over the veggies and stir for a few more minutes. Pour in the milk, add the potato and bring to a boil, stirring the whole time so the soup doesn't stick to the pot. Cook until the potatoes are tender, but not mushy – this will take around 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop the celery leaves, trim the ends off the scallions and slice them thinly. When the potatoes are tender, stir in the corn, scallions and celery leaves. Bring the soup back to the boil, then serve with crusty bread or a garnish of sharp cheddar and scallions like Molly and I did.

Friends and family, yours truly is one short cake, pie, or stock trading scandal away from becoming Martha Stewart. A few Saturdays ago I spent most of the day baking, and I spent a good chunk of my last Saturday morning throwing together a lobster costume.

1. Scour through your closet and drawers to find a mildly dumpy red sweater
2. Thrift a child’s bright red hat from your nearest Target, and proceed to wear it for a day and a half to stretch it out on your large head
3. Snatch some ping pong balls from a friend’s house, one who is the best beer, um, soda pong partner and color ‘em in with a permanent black marker
4. Hot glue red pipe cleaners and beady little eyeballs to your stretched out hat
5. Find a couple claw shaped oven mitts on the internet ($5 for a pair mind you!), buy them, and e-mail your sisters to question your sanity – not because you just purchased lobster claw oven mitts but because they’ll make a great addition to your kitchen collection
6. Grab your best girl friend, and hit the town knowing you don’t have to fend off any males on Halloween because your costume probably does it for you

Either that or you're hanging around your best friend's boyfriend in a train costume.

I have so many wonderful recipes and stories that need telling, and when my life pauses just for a second and I can finally breathe again, I promise I will share them with you. Think caramel, hearty stews, and pie. Not in the order, or certainly not together, but I have a lineup of recipes begging for their spot in the limelight. Until then, wishing you all a wonderful start to November, although crazy mine is shaping out not half bad.