Jarlsberg wants to send me to EWR12

I've never been to a blogger conference. I've read the good, the bad, and the giddy from bloggers who were at conferences. Are they worth it? I guess it depends on who you ask, and what the conference is.

Last year, I really wasn't interested in going to a conference. But this year, well, I think it might be fun. It would be even more fun if someone wanted to help defray some expenses.

You know, like maybe a cheese company. Like Jarlsberg. They're sponsoring a contest for one blogger's entry to Eat Write, Retreat, and I'm feeling lucky.

Cheese and I have a long history. We've been good friends as far back as I can remember. Cheese should send me to a blogging conference, don't you think?

One of my favorite cheesy, melty Jalsberg relationships is all about a particular sandwich. A Cuban sandwich.

When my husband and I lived in Chicago, there were a few places where we could get Cuban sandwiches. After we moved to Colorado, those fantastic sandwiches were hard to come by..

So I made my own, starting with the bread and ending with smashing the sandwiches in a sandwich press.

And somewhere in the middle of the sandwich, nestled on top of the ham and pork, Jarlsberg cheese melted and glued the sandwich together and oozed enticingly out the sides.

I've made a lot of Cuban sandwiches since that first one, and each time it's not just about the flavors, it's also about the history of our relationship with the sandwich.

I don't remember my first hot dog or my first hamburger, but I remember that first Cuban sandwich that I ate with my husband.

A Cuban sandwich is a simple thing, and I've published the recipe before, so I'm not going to republish it. But I do encourage you to try one.

It's almost just a ham and cheese sandwich, but somehow the extra ingredients elevate it to something that's more than the sum of its parts.

There are some opinions as to whether the sandwich should have mayonnaise, and maybe some opinions about the exact type of mustard and pickle, but roast pork, ham, and cheese are a must.

Real Cuban bread is hard to come by, but a baguette will suffice. And the sandwich is always pressed.

So there you go. Start with a baguette. Slather some grainy mustard on the bread, and mayo, if you choose. Top with thinly sliced roast pork, thinly sliced ham, Jarlsberg cheese, and hamburger dills.

Put the sandwich in a sandwich press and heat it and smash it until you have a dense and tasty sandwich, warm on the inside, with melty cheese.

So there ya go. Me and cheese. Really good friends.

Banana, Pumpkin, and Hazelnut Bread

A while back, I attempted to ship some canned pumpkin to a friend in Italy. Apparently it doesn't exist there, and she wanted to make pumpkin pie.

A few months later, the package was back on my doorstep with all sorts of interesting stickers and notations. It looked like it had a rough trip - it was mashed and dented and crushed.

The cans were similarly dented.

So there I was, with four dented cans of pumpkin, and Thanksgiving far, far away.

I also had a couple of overripe bananas. And when I say overripe, I mean tragically overripe. Like you can snip the end off the black banana and squeeze the pulp out, like toothpaste from a tube. Not good for eating, but great for baking.

I've made banana pumpkin cookies. So why not banana pumpkin bread? The interesting thing about those cookies was that although there was a LOT more pumpkin than banana, the flavor was predominantly banana. That's what I was looking for in my banana-pumpkin bread.

And just for the fun of it, I threw in some hazelnut meal (ground hazelnuts) as well.

The resulting banana bread is ... well, it's kind of orange. But like the banana pumpkin cookies, the primary flavor is banana. The pumpkin adds color and moisture and just a hint of flavor. The bread isn't super-dense, but it's not nearly as light as cake.

You can bake this in a loaf pan for a more traditional banana bread shape (which would probably require just a tad more baking time), but I opted for making it in a Bundt pan for a more attractive presentation.

Banana, Pumpkin, and Hazelnut Bread

2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup hazelnut meal
2 overripe bananas
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a Bundt or loaf pan with baking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and hazelnuts. Stir to combine.

Put the bananas in a medium bowl and mash them to get out any lumps. If the bananas are really, really ripe, it might not take a whole lot of mashing. Add the pumpkin, oil, eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract. Whisk to combine.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula just until combined.

Transfer the batter to your prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour.

Remove the pan from the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes before turning the banana bread out onto a rack to cook.

If you want a little garnish, sprinkle a bit of powdered sugar on top of the bread before serving.


And while you're here ... don't forget to look over to the right for CURRENT GIVEAWAYS.

The perfect cookbook for Fat Tuesday

No, it's not a cookbooks full of paczki and pancakes. I'm talking about Fat Girl Food, a cookbook with the tagline "Twice the Calories, Triple the Taste."

Why is this appropriate for Fat Tuesday? Well, besides the name, if you're giving up any sort of food item for lent, it's bound to be here. This cookbook is full of unapologetic comfort food.

And it's funny. I like to read cookbooks like they're novels, and I've got to tell you that some of the comments here had me laughing out loud.

Jena Hutchison, the author of this book and the blogger behind Fat Girl Kitchen, obviously loves food. She makes no excuses for her use of butter, cake mix, or other convenience products, when it suits her mood. On the other hand, she makes her own bread and pizza dough.

In other words, she cooks like most people - using what makes sense at the time. And she does it all with a healthy dose of humor. Like this introduction to a taco salad recipe:

"The ultimate in bachelor food, this salad probably tops out a couple thousand calories. Rich chili and handfuls of smooth cheddar cheese effectively bury any and all lettuce flavor for the discriminating palate. And just in case it didn't, a hefty smash of Doritos and creamy ranch dressing annihilates any remaining "veggie-ish" underpinnings. Is it healthy? Of course it is - it's a salad!"

Even some of the recipe titles are a hoot, like Swedish-ish Meatballs or the Easy-Peasy-Cheesy Sauce which in fact sounds easy and also pretty good. "I have yet to use it on ice cream," Jena says, "But I figure my first pregnancy might take care of that."

Recipes all have callouts - some of them useful and some of them funny. It makes browsing through the book a lot more interesting, that's for sure.

As far as recipes, I haven't tried any yet, but they seem like they ought to work just fine. Although some rely on packaged products, that's easy enough to get around, if you want to. Many of the recipes also have variations you can make, and many also have uses for the leftovers, which is very interesting. And it's not just about reheating stuff or making sandwiches. Enchilada soup, anyone?

This is a fun cookbook, with a lot of personality. And there are a few recipes I'm pretty sure I'm going to try, as soon as I quit laughing.

And now for a giveaway! CONTEST IS CLOSED. 
...And the winner is ... Sheri!


Are you interested? Because I've got a copy to give away.

• To enter, leave a comment here telling me what your favorite comfort food is.
• For a bonus entry, tweet a link to this contest. Come back here and tell me you tweeted.

And that's it. Two possible ways to enter, one fun cookbook to win. Contest begins when the post goes up and ends on Sunday, February 26 at midnight. Standard contest rules apply. Good luck!