On the plate and Spread 'Em..!

Here in my neck of the proverbial woods, the snow is coming down something fierce. The roads are already a sloshy mess of grey and white. And, I'[m stuck inside because my propensity for making snow angels is severely curtailed by the neighbors' dogs and their habit of pooping in our yard instead of their own.

So, here I am, all but sequestered in the house with a super-cute dog and a copious amount of culinary toys I received for Xmas. In cases like these, the only thing to do seems rather obvious: you eat spreads:
Here you see some hummus in the foreground with a Kalamata Olive Tapenade in the background. "R" considered the spread so good that she took a good majority of it--and the rest of the pita chips with which to eat them--to work with her where everything got rave reviews. And R, if you're reading this, no hard feelings about my lack of pita chips ;) , a good reward of cooking is knowing that people enjoy your work. If you're interested, here are the recipes:

HUMMUS
* 2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
* 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, or more as needed, plus more for garnish
* 1/2 lemon, juiced
* 2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh parsley leaves, plus more for garnish
* 2 cloves garlic, peeled
* 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon dark Asian sesame oil
* 1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground cumin
* 12 to 15 grinds black pepper
* 1/4 cup water
* Paprika, for garnish

Directions:
In a blender combine all the ingredients except the parsley and paprika to be used for garnish. Blend on low speed until smooth. You'll have to stop the blender often to push down the ingredients. If the mixture is too dry and you're having trouble blending it, add a few more tablespoons of olive oil to help things along.

Scrape the hummus onto a plate. Sprinkle the paprika over the top, drizzle lightly with olive oil, scatter some parsley on top, and serve. You can make the hummus up to a couple of hours before you serve it. Cover the top with plastic wrap and leave it at room temperature.

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TAPENADE
* 2 cups Kalamata olives or other brine-cured black olives (about 16 ounces)
* 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
* 1/4 cup packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

Directions:
In a colander rinse olives. Working with several olives at a time and using flat side of a large heavy knife, press olives to crush them, and remove pits. In a food processor pulse olives with oil until coarsely chopped. Tapanade may be made up to this point 3 days ahead and chilled in an airtight container.

Chop parsley and stir into tapenade.