Anticiplate

It had been two and a half years. Right around the time that I started this blog. As I stepped off the plane, I felt a sense of security and peace. People smiled at me, genuinely making eye contact, and saying, “Pardon me” and “How y’all doin’ today?” in their southern twang. Big hair, pink lips, and dressed to the nines. I was home.

The first thing I did was order a sweet tea, which I regret because it was nothing like I remembered and within that first sip, I destroyed any special memory I had coveted in my mind. 

The week was spent learning how to sail from my Dad. A sailor since he was eighteen, I figured he would be the perfect person to give me lessons, and also a great way for us to reconnect. My favorite memories of my father were taking weekend trips with him to Smith Mountain Lake and laying in the sun on the bow of our boat. As the wind ricocheted off the sails and blew my hair and my face, I would remove myself from my the childhood anxiety that everyone goes through and I found a place to feel free and uninhibited.

I wanted to find that place again, especially after all of this transition in my life. There is nothing that can replicate being in the middle of a body of water, only the wind to push you where you want to be, and allowing yourself to just let go. I think I can actually sail a boat by myself now, but I think I will continue to practice with people who have slightly more experience than me. By next summer, I should be a pro.

I cooked for my family. Three times actually, which was more than I had expected or planned. I brought my knife bag, something I now will never travel without, and opened their eyes to this and surprisingly this, and experimented with some new recipes.

I hung out with childhood friends from Salem, watched my best friend since second grade get married, ate lots of BBQ pork and chicken, baked macaroni and cheese, overcooked green beans, overly-mayonnaised cole slaw, dry wedding cake, and drank lots of bourbon.

What I didn’t experience, which I was terribly disappointed by, was the “Virginia Fall” I had kept telling Erik about. Virginia is experiencing an indian summer, and the leaves hadn’t even changed!  One day, it was 89 degrees. I am sorry, but isn’t it October? I was waiting for the autumn colors in the foliage of gold, fuschia, auburn, bronze, burnt orange, lime, and cherry red. But, all I saw was the verdant summer colors that I had been staring at in Seattle the whole summer. Bummer.

So, the first thing I decided to do, even before unpacking my over-stuffed suitcase, was to bake some roasted squash bread. Growing up, my mom always made pumpkin bread out of the can, or zucchini bread from the overgrowth in her garden, but I have never roasted the squash myself.

And, unfortunately, I will never go back. Sorry Libby. The way it makes my house smell is way better than any leaf I will ever see in Virginia.

*I like to toast the bread and then spread room temperature butter all over it. Or, if you want to get REALLY fancy, you can pan sear the bread in butter in a large skillet. That takes it over the edge.

Makes 1 loaf

Prep time: 25 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour and 30 minutes

*Loosely adapted from here and here

1/2 sugar pie pumpkin, seeded and skin removed and chunked

1/2 butternut squash, seeded and skin removed and chunked

1 acorn squash, seeded and skin removed and chunked

Olive oil

Kosher salt

1 3/4 c. AP flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 c. canola oil

3/4 c. brown sugar

3/4 c. vanilla sugar (sugar infused with a vanilla bean)

2 eggs, room temperature

1/3 c. water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9X5 inch loaf pan.

On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss the chunked squash with enough olive oil to coat and an even sprinkling of salt. Roast for 30 minutes until fork tender, but not very caramelized. Cool. Place in a food processor, and blend until creamy. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, soda, powder, spices, and salt.

In a standing mixer, mix together the two sugars and the oil for four minutes on medium speed until well blended and sand-like. Keep scraping down the sides to make sure all of the sugars are well blended into the oil.

Add in 1 cup of the squash mixture and blend on medium speed for two minutes until thoroughly combined and smooth. Add in one egg at a time until fully combined.

Add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the water, and finishing with the flour until just combined. Scrape down the sides to make sure the flour mixture is fully combined with the squash mixture.

Slowly pour the batter into the loaf pan and smooth the mixture out with a rubber spatula. Cook for 45 minutes (with a convection oven) to 1 hour, until you can just smell the bread and a tooth-pick is inserted and comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack for a couple of minutes in the pan, and then invert the loaf and let cool for another 15 minutes.