Bountiful Bibimbop

The Chef: Elizabeth

The Menu: A totally killer Korean-ish meal of bibimbop. Okay, this might not technically be the most authentic dish ever served, but it was pretty palatable nonetheless. The rice blend—including black-eyed peas, green peas, and pinto beans—made a lovely base for sesame-marinated Swiss chard, roasted acorn squash, sautéed butternut squash, and a sweet red chile paste sauce.

The Goods: These days, we're using squash any way we can around the VNHQ, and couldn't be happier about it. While it might seem like two varieties in one meal would catapult us into squash-overload mode, it was actually lovely to get to compare the flavors of the butternut and acorn squashes in today's lunch. Wait, have we said squash enough times in this post? Squash, squash, squash. Now go out and squash someone you love—culinarily, of course.

International Insanity

The Chef: Elizabeth

The Menu: A recipe testing feast! Maybe you can tell that Elizabeth was too excited about today to get any sleep last night, as she came in carrying tupperware full of test recipes from the forthcoming January+February issue. Considering today's dishes, in addition to the dim sum we had a little while back, let's just say that the Jan+Feb issue is not lacking in international inspiration. To start with the one American dish, the bowl on the top right-hand side is filled with thick, savory clam-free chowdah. Yes, that is the technical spelling of "chowdah." Moving clockwise, our next stop is India for some aloo tikki and palak chaat, both doused with a spiced vegan yogurt. From there we head to Korea for bibimbop, which, it must be said, was totally bangin'. Not pictured are the kimchi that accompanied the bibimbop, nor the whoopie pies we enjoyed for dessert.

The Goods: Okay, for real. This is the last time we're going to say it. Vote Yes on Prop. 2! It's your absolute last chance to be a part of this historic ballot initiative, and 20 million animals in California will thank you for it. Oh, also, maybe this country is getting new leadership today. Could we possibly be any more excited? No. Are we all atwitter, constantly checking the swing- state maps? Indeed. Was it a good thing that lunch today was freakin' huge so that none of us has to worry about cooking dinner tonight and can stay glued to the results as they're announced? Quite.