Pumpkin Pecan Coffee Cake & West Indian Beef Curry CBBP #2 - Seasonal Goodies

This is the second Canadian Blogging By Post (CBBP), first organized by Ivonne of CreamPuffs in Venice - a great blog, and if you haven't visited before, you MUST. This time around Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict (another beautiful blog) is hosting and I'm so glad they invited me to participate.

The idea is for Canadian Food Bloggers to exchange care packages. I missed out last time around, but am very excited now. All the rules are here, so if you live in Canada, do join the fun.

The theme is - Seasonal Bounty and what is more Octobery than squash, sweet potatoes or pumpkins? Now I love pumpkin pie but I thought I'd try something a little different. I also wanted to showcase a Canadian cookbook author. It was easy to choose Wanda's Pie In The Sky. I bought her book after visiting her delightful pie shop in Yorkville ( very trendy part of Toronto where all the movie stars and other celebrities stay when visiting - but that's for another post). Every dish in Wanda's book is delectably delicious but the Pumpkin Pecan Coffee Cake really spoke to me - plus I got to use my new spring form bundt pan again. That said, I'm really not a baker, I'm just too impatient. So I'm not sure how long I should have cooked the topping (Wanda didn't say, but then neither did my other baking books or the search I did on the web - so if anyone out there knows how long I should have cooked it for, please share!!! It cooked for about 30 minutes and still only had a light tinge to the sugar and water.

The other thing about this particular season - Fall, here in Canada at least, is that the weather is usually chilly for the most part and so my mind turns to stews and curries and roasts and long simmering soups - sorry I got caught up in a reverie. I'm much more comfortable cooking than baking and truth be told, I'd rather have a savory snack than a sweet one. Although I admit it, I will not pass up a creme brulee or a chocolate brownie.....but back to business....

One of my favorite magazines happens to come from the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) - Food & Drink, Autumn 2006. The recipe for West Indian Spicy Beef Curry called to me (we have a very vibrant West Indian Community in Toronto. You have to come visit us for Carabana next year sometime in July & August. But back to food. Actually, the magazine says that this is "an unusual curry...slightly different mix of spices that's a little sweeter". It was so tasty, (we licked the sauce up and were moaning so loudly, I can't imagine what the neighbors were thinking) so it had to be a part of CBBP.

Recipes

West Indian Spicy Beef Curry

Pumpkin Pecan Coffee Cake

Related links: Food and Drink recipes beef curry dessert pumpkin