Peach Pie
At the moment, I’m far away from home, in Stockholm to be exact. The days are long and constantly shift between clouds and blinding sunlight; you’re never quite sure if it’s going to rain or if you’re going to get a sunburn from minute to minute. I’ve been gone for nearly a week and still have another three weeks of traveling ahead of me. I can’t remember when I took a trip that was so long and so relaxing. Vacations like this make being an adult a whole lot of fun.
Because we’re gone so long (I’ll be away for a month in total) we decided to sublet our apartment. This meant that before we left we had to make some headway into the stocks of food cluttering up the refrigerator. Frozen muffins were defrosted, soups were eaten, and a big pot of vegetables was mixed up. I also had a single pie crust that I had to use, leftover from making these. The Saturday before we left I saw piles of beautiful peaches at the market and couldn’t resist buying a bag (or two) to help me use up that extra crust.
I may have mentioned it before, but I love having some pie crust at the ready, it means you can whip up a pie or tart in no time at all and everyone thinks you’re some kind of magic (and who’s to say that you aren’t?). Sunday morning, while Amir was still asleep, I rolled out my crust, peeled and sliced my peaches, tossed them with some sugar and flour and then threw it all in the oven. As I crawled back into bed, less than an hour later, Amir asked me what I had been up to and I said, oh so casually “there’s a peach pie in the oven.” The expression on his face said it all: some kind of magic. Eating peach pie for breakfast is pretty magical, even if you make it yourself (maybe especially when you make it yourself). We ate nearly half the pie that morning.
Banana Pudding
Once upon a time, I worked in an office and made money. It’s true, it happened. One day, a swarm of consultants descended upon us and made us take the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator test. When we got the results, (I’m an INTP) I was described as a “mad-scientist”, often distracted with many projects going at the same time. Me? Distracted? Never!
I often feel a bit mad, but rarely like a scientist, except when I’m making caramel. When I make caramel I feel like an alchemist turning base elements into pure gold. That’s certainly what you get when you make the banana caramel that flavors this pudding, pure molten sweet delicious gold.
You don’t have to make the banana pudding, if you go just as far as making the caramel you will be more than happy. It’s delicious mixed into plain yogurt, or blended with milk and frozen into a banana sherbet. I would imagine that it’s also very good sandwiched between a two shortbread or some chocolate cookies. However, if you do make the pudding, oh if you do! it is manna from heaven. I like mine layered with homemade shortbread but do with it what you will. I challenge you not to eat it all in one go.
Off off and away
My grandmother preparing to race a plane across the country saying goodbye to my aunt, dad and uncle.
Yesterday I boarded a plane, and about 5 1/2 hours later I landed in Dublin. I’ll be gone for the next month or so but will try to keep up posting here in the meantime. I’ve got lost of tasty things and pretty projects to tell you about. I am once again sans digital camera so there will be no photos until Amir and I (and our Nikon D50) are reunited in Zadar. I’ll be shooting with film on our trusty analog Nikon and hopefully on Amir’s little Minox if I can ever get the roll of film in there to rewind.
I’m off to go explore more of Dublin, where I’ll be until Sunday. Then I’m off to Stockholm to visit with some family, then London to see an old friend and once-upon-a-time-roommate. Finally I’ll fly down to Zadar where Amir will pick me up and take me to his beautiful hometown of Bihać. We’ll travel to Sarajevo and maybe to this little town of Lukomir, which is so remote that the war never reached it. We will definitely be viewing some waterfalls and spending ample time on the beach. If we have time we might even visit Tito’s cave.
Suffice it to say I am in high spirits and very excited about the many adventures coming my way!
Blueberry Apricot Mini Pies
I’m in L.A. for a few days, visiting with my family and relishing the heavenly west coast weather. Cool and grey, it would probably be infuriating if I lived here and were wishing for summer and the beach, but it’s pure bliss coming from the inferno that New York has been this past week. As has been noted by more than one blogger, the east coast (and the midwest) has been suffering from quite a heat wave. It hit 103 on Monday and I steadfastly refused to turn on the oven despite my desire to make summer pies. On Tuesday, I caved.
I just couldn’t help it: I had apricots sitting in a basket on my windowsill, fresh blueberries left over from making soda, and a pie crust languishing in the fridge, before I knew it the oven was on. My handy thermometer told me it was over 95 degrees in our kitchen and I banished Amir, shaking his head at my foolhardiness, to the air conditioned living room/bedroom to save one of us from baking along with our desserts.
Let me tell you, dear readers, it was worth it. For dessert that night we each enjoyed our own little pie with a dollop of whipped cream, the fruit sweet and tart and surrounded by a flaky, buttery crust, a perfect ending to a smoldering day. Even Amir conceded that my baking had been a good idea after all, despite the fact that he thought I was suicidal at the time.
The next morning, while I put off packing, we ate the remaining blueberry apricot pies with a dollop of mascarpone on top; I would brave the most extraordinary weather for such an exemplary breakfast.
Roasted Vegetables with Toasted Pine Nuts, Parmesan and Lemon
This is currently my favorite way to cook vegetables: tossed in olive oil, dusted with salt and pepper and then roasted with some pine nuts just until tender. Once they come out of the oven they are coated in lemon juice and sprinkled with parmesan (grated works better but shaved parmesan looks prettier, don’t you think?). That’s it, that’s the recipe, it is simplicity itself. The roasting brings out the sweetness and earthiness of the vegetables, which is complimented nicely by the pine nuts, tangy lemon, and salty cheese.
This “recipe” was inspired by a green bean salad I used to eat at the City Bakery, before I went off to grad school and lost all traces of my sanity (and my money). I made it with asparagus in the spring because that is what we had; I’m currently making it with green beans, and sometimes potatoes. Use whatever strikes your fancy: cauliflower takes well to roasting as does broccoli. It is good both hot and cold, and left in the pot nine days old (or am I thinking of pease porridge?), either way, make it, eat it, and be happy.
Sparkling Vanilla Lemonade
New York is hot and sticky in the summer, which means lots of drinks must be made and consumed. Summer got an early start here, hitting us with 90-degree temperatures at the end of April. While it was a bit of a drag to pull out the air conditioner so early, it also means that our summer drink season got an early kickoff. There have been iced teas, ades, aguas frescas, and homemade sodas. We have also brought out the juleps and the fizzes and the tonics. Glasses chill alongside the 8 lb bag of ice in our freezer.
Of all the drinks I’ve made this may be my favorite; it’s special. It has the tang of lemonade and the sweetness of vanilla ice cream. When you pour in sparkling water, the foam is flecked with vanilla beans. Even though turning on the oven is a punishable offense in this weather, this lemonade is worth it, if just for the smell that emanates through your apartment. It is not an everyday lemonade but you should brave the heat and make it at least once this summer. Once you have, add a shot of vodka or rum, you deserve it.
Blueberry Lemon Polenta Cake
I have been writing this blog for a whole year now. It started on a rainy New York day just like today. I talked about graham crackers and language, two of my favorite things in the world. It’s been a simple but monumental year, teaching, traveling, and almost finishing my Master’s degree (just one more month!). It’s been nice having this little piece of virtual space, a sort of mental garden. It’s been a place to write something other than academic papers, to try out new recipes, and experiment with photography. I have been so grateful to hear your voices in the comments. It’s been fun and I hope to be able to post more (and more regularly) in the coming year.
Today I have a lovely cake for us. Something simple, easy to throw together and delicious to eat. It all started with this post by Olga over at the Sassy Radish. I made the cake and loved it, tangy, sweet and studded with fruit – what is there not to love? But I cannot make anything without thinking about what I will do the next time and so while I was eating one cake I was dreaming up this one in my head. It was everything I hoped it would be: soft and yielding but slightly chewy from the polenta, full of toothsome blueberries and bright bursts of lemon, a perfectly simple, rustic cake.
Strawberry cupcakes
Hello.
It’s been a grueling semester but I’m back.
I’ve returned with strawberry cupcakes to boot.
I usually have an aversion to cupcakes, they’re too cutesy and too trendy and have become too associated with all sorts of things I dislike. However, unlike a cake, cupcakes don’t need to be cut, they can be eaten out-of-hand, as-is and are perfect for end-of-semester, in-class parties, which is exactly what these were for. I whipped these up one night while writing a 33-page critique of a standardized test. I frosted them the next morning in between bouts of editing the aforementioned paper. Suffice it to say they’re pretty easy and a wonderful distraction from the merits and faults of the ECLAS-2.
The recipe can be found at the Smitten Kitchen.
n.b. This recipe makes a ridiculous amount of cake. It made about 24 cupcakes plus an 8″ square with a little batter leftover. I cut the square cake into 4 and froze it, then defrosted it, and frosted it, but I’ll tell you more about that later.
Easter Basket
Every Easter, my brother and I would each wake up to find a poem, composed by our dad, lying somewhere in our room. The poem was a riddle, that started a long chain of riddles, that eventually led to our Easter basket. As we got older the riddles got harder and the Easter bunny, who was always waking my dad up in the dead of night with cryptic clues, would get progressively more drunk and degenerate. It was wholesome family fun.
For many years there have been no clues, just the FedEx man and a beautiful package arranged by my mother. There is always a note on top telling me that I should share with my roommates, or Amir (as a matter of fact, I think the wine was sent especially with Amir in mind). And of course, because this is my mom, there is always more than enough to go around. (It helps that she has a company which specializes in these things.)
This year was no different and when I opened my package today, there was a veritable meal inside. Sausage, shoestring potatoes, wine! There were even petit fours made with fresh buttercream.
There were also some less-classy favorites, such as York peppermint patties, Neco wafers, Reese’s peanut butter eggs, and Girls Scout cookies. You know what makes moms so great (at least my mom)? They remember all these weird preferences. They remember how much you love Neco wafers. Or that you prefer the rich chocolate-covered tagalong to its inferior (though still tasty) peanut butter partner, the do-si-do. (As a girl growing up in Los Angeles, I once sold Girl Scout cookies to Bill Pullman and he only bought the peanut butter cookies. A man after my own heart.)
In a near season-less city like L.A. our Easter baskets were a sure sign of spring, just like the crocuses and snowdrops I now look for in New York City parks.
Paper Menagerie
Last year, while in Los Angeles for Christmas, I received this little package from some new friends of the family.