my dog is brilliant, my tummy is not, and heyyy here's a recipe

Sometimes I think that my real calling in life is to cook professionally. And then I get a terrible stomach virus and food sort of seems like a cruel joke. I've spent much of the past day and a half curled up on my couch, hoping that the babydog doesn't do something stupid again.

Like this:

Usually she'll just curl up on the couch and nap with me, which is infinitely preferable to finding her attempting to get her head out from under the gate. I think she is totally surprised by the fact that she's still growing.

And here's a totally unrelated recipe from my dinner party:

butternut squash gnocchi
2 lb butternut squash
1 T butter
1/2 t nutmeg
2 t kosher salt
1 t black pepper (or white if you have it)
3-4ish c flour
1 egg

Split the butternut squash in half, scrape out the seeds, rub with butter and then season with 1 t salt and 1/2 t pepper. Roast until it's soft and easily pierced with a fork.

Scoop out the insides and puree in a food processor with the remaining salt and pepper and the nutmeg. Or you can mash it by hand if you're a masochist.

In a huge bowl, add the egg to the squash and gently combine.

Stir in the flour a cup at a time for the first 3 cups and then see if you need more. Add a 1/4 cup at a time from there. The gnocchi needs to be able to stay together, but you don't want to put too much in because they turn into mini rocks if it gets overworked. At some point I read that if you do this while the butternut squash is still hot, you can get away with using less flour, but it also depends on the humidity. The best way to test is to roll out a little piece and then boil it and see if it stays together.

Once you've incorporated the flour, grab tennis ball sized chunks and role into tubes on a WELL floured surface and cut off the individual pieces. Roll with a fork for the cute little grooves.

To cook, boil in salted water. You'll know that it's done when the pieces float to the top.

Serve with sage brown butter sauce:

1 stick butter
2 T fresh sage, minced
juice 1/2 lemon

In a pan, heat butter and sage over medium heat until the butter browns (~3-4 minutes). Take off heat, strain, stir in lemon juice. Try not to eat it all.