Food and NoCal, among other things

So, it's been three weeks since I've done a true grocery trip. Don't have a great reason for it, other than lots of life has happened, including James starting school and a trip to San Francisco/Napa/Sonoma Valley for me. Today's grocery run was not only a re-stocking trip (meaning I needed some staples like butter, eggs and flour), but also includes seven meals instead of five. There are also four back-up meals built in, so they aren't specifically listed on the menu, but I easily have enough ingredients to do all of them, without compromising anything on the menu.
So, on with the food:
Mock Manti: this is a greek dish with ground lamb, bowtie pasta, and a lemon-mint greek yogurt sauce
Pork and black bean pie, with sweet potato topping: actually this one is fairly self-explanatory
Tava: large cubes of beef, roasted with potatoes, tomatoes and cumin
Sausage, bean and barley soup: hot Italian sausage, red kidney beans and pearled barley
Lachmajou: seasoned ground beef (cinnamon, parsley, lemon) served on fresh baked flat-bread
Arron con pollo:Puerto Rican style chicken and rice
Curried apple and lentil dal: Indian dish, pretty self-explanatory

My back-up meals are almost always the same: pasta Bolognese, pasta ai Fagioli, chili

For baked goods I've got:
Brownie chunk cookies: think chocolate chip cookies, except with brownies instead of chocolate chips (now go ahead and think chocolate chips as well as brownies, because that's probably how I'll make them)
Old-fashioned apple cake with walnuts and brown sugar frosting
Olive, herb and parmesan breadsticks


I love Northern Cali so much. I'll be putting pictures of my trip up sometime soon. The air there smells like eucalyptus and cedar. I was able to surprise Zoe for her birthday, and we got to spend the weekend tasting wine.
It's full-on autumn here in Seattle, which means it's mostly wet and cold. There are some pretty colors, and today was sunny. (Today was actually pretty nice- chilly but dry.)
Oh, I'm getting a kitten on Monday. :) Help me think of a name? It's a small tabby female with white feet, black raccoon rings around her tail, and a black outline of her pink nose.