apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I've finally narrowed down the snacks for tomorrow's cocktail party: gougeres (from Chocolate & Zucchini), mini lamb meatballs, roasted spiced nuts, a smallish charcuterie plate- yay for local butchers!- and small honey financiers (also from Chocolate & Zucchini). (No plates or utensils necessary.)
To be served with lots and lots of cava, naturally.

I think I am going to either try a pumpkin cheesecake bar recipe that my mom usually makes or a pumpkin crumble that I saw on Chowhound.

I'm making potato bread.

chocolate chip cookies, the ultimate comfort food.

I baked a cake, but admittedly it was from a box mix.

My entire Saturday was spent making Julia Child's cassoulet recipe. It was the most complicated meal I ever made, taught me a few new things, and came out really yummy.

Now I have a pound of lard to use up. Perhaps I'll try my hands at making a really flaky pie crust from scratch.

I made Naan on the BBQ today. So-so.

I'm thinking of baking a banana bread/cake... those bananas in the freezer should definitely be used up :|

Genevieve with a smile,

Banana bread pudding is a tasty way to use up old bananas too.

my questions may get lost here, seeing as the weekend is over, but maybe they'll roll through to this week's open thread?

1) what to do with an excess of peppermint bark? is it freezable for ice cream mix-ins later in the year?

2) if someone gave me a rosemary plant that promptly dried up and died, is there much difference between those dried rosemary leaves and if i had cut them off and hung them upside down to dry in a proper harvesting? in other words, can i salvage the leaves off a recently dried up/dead rosemary plant and use them?