Heaven on Earth

Back to Blogging

2011-06-09T14:28:00.001-07:00

I've been recovering from a life threatening,
totally life altering disease. I'm not the
same person I was in 2009 before everything
happened. I'm physically unrecognizable and
I feel physically, and spiritually a totally
different person. So what!!!

But I miss blogging and so I'm going to try
to come up with a little something frequently.

First Post of the New Year

2011-01-10T06:16:00.000-08:00

So much has changed since December of 2009. 2010 was the weirdest year of my life.
I had to deal with a yearlong of treatments for a mortal disease. Me!!!
So, since nodbody reads this blog anyhow, I'm going to post about anything and everything and not worry about taking pictures of food all the time.
What are your resolutions for the New Year?
Mine are to get healthy and stay healthy and try and find
something worthwhile to do with the rest of my life.

Yes this tasted as bad as it looks.

2010-03-15T06:45:00.001-07:00

These were originally purple carrots.
They cooked up to a hideous black color.
And they tasted like evil.

Candied Grapefruit Peel

2010-02-13T14:27:00.001-08:00

OK. Still trying to catch up with
Christmas 2009. So as I said before
this is early Christmas 2010.

For me Christmas wouldn't be Christmas
without candied grapefruit peel.
This recipe comes from Gourmet
November 1979. My husband
bought the magazine for me.
It was my first Gourmet ever.
And I've made the peel every year since then.

Take four large grapefruit.
Quarter lengthwise. Remove the peel,
including the pith and
cut into 1/2 inch strips. In a kettle
cover the peel with cold
water, bring to a boil over high heat, and
simmer peel for 10 minutes. Drain the peel.

Pat the peel dry with paper towels.
In a 4-quart kettle combine 3 cups
sugar, 1 1/2 cups water, and 1/4 cup
light corn syrup, bring
the mixture to a boil over moderately
high heat, and boil it for 30 minutes.
Stir in the peel and simmer for 30 minutes,
until the syrup is thickened.
Being careful not to let the syrup
burn, simmer the peel, stirring,
for 15 minutes more. Transfer the peel with
gongs tosheets of was paper covered
with sugar and roll each strip to
coat it well.
Let the peel dry on the paper for 24 hours.
It keeps very well.

Gugelhupf

2010-01-25T14:53:00.001-08:00

I'm very late with everything. I've been thrown off
track by life. I want to post about my usual
Christmas things. So maybe I'll just say
that I'm early this year.

I make this as a gift for a Saint (really and truly)
that I know.

This recipe comes from Gourmet's Old Vienna Cookbook
by Lillian Lanseth-Christensen. It's a real treasure chest.

This recipe is very easy. It's just got a lot of ingredients.
And if you are type of person who is nervous about
bread baking it doesn't get any easier than this.

OK.
Dissolve 2 envelopes of yeast in 1/2 cup warm milk and
add 2 tablespoons sugar. Put the mixture n a warm place
for 1/2 hour.

Sift 4 cups flour. Add 3/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon salt,
1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 cup raisins, 3/4 cup sliced almonds
and the grated rind of 1 lemon and toss to combine.
Make a well in center of flour, pour in the yeast mixture.
Stir 4 beaten eggs and 3/4 cup melted butter into the dough
and work in gradually 1/2 cup warm milk, to form a smooth
dough. This will be a very soft and sticky dough. Don't worry
you don't have to handle it much. Cover the dough
and let it rise for 2 hours until double in bulk.

Punch down the dough and shape it quickly into a ring.
Put in a well-buttered and floured 10-inch
gugelhupf pan. I put slivered almonds in the bottom.
Let rise for 1 bour. Bake at 375 F for 1 hour.
When cooled a bit and removed from pan
dust with confectioner's sugar. It's better
the next day.

Buckeyes

2010-01-25T14:25:00.000-08:00

This recipe is from my German grandmother.
She lived for a long time in Ohio, the
Buckeye State. Buckeye is another word
for horse chestnut.

My Grandmother is much on my mind lately.
She was a rather difficult person and
she had a very sad life. When she died
we weren't on the best of terms. I'm about
to go through a sadness she had and
I guess it gives us something in common.
And maybe somehow will atone for the past.

Here is probably the only example of her handwriting I have left.
She typed out the recipe and wrote a note to me.

I always make these at Christmas time.
Beware they make a TON.

You need
3 lbs. of powdered sugar
1 pound of butter
2 lbs. of peanut butter

I mix everything in my KitchenAid.
So roll them into balls the size of -- chestnuts.
Chill them a bit. Then melt some semi-sweet
chocolate in a double boiler. I think you will need 24 oz. at least.
I just use chocolate chips.
Dip the peanut butter balls into the chocolate
so they look like chestnuts. Store in the fridge.
They freeze VERY well.

Kraeuter-Doemchen

2009-12-10T12:11:00.001-08:00

This past fall I had the good fortune to go
to Germany. I went to Cologne for the first
time and it was love at first sight. The
cathedral - Koelner dom - was more than I even imagined it
could be. I had no idea
at the time but the remains of the magi
are at the Cologne cathedral.

Check out the website. They've got
a webcam so you can gaze at it any time you like.
You can also listen to the bells. They all have
their own names and you can pick which one
to listen to. The cathedral was bombed extensively
during WWII. It wasn't destroyed because the
towers were good visual guides for the allied pilots.
But how beautiful it is now!!!

In the gift shop they sold cookie cutters in the shape of
the dom.

I had to translate the recipe from german
so here goes:

200g flour
30 g rice flour
160g cold butter cut into pieces
1 egg
5 tablespoons parmesan
2 tablespoons finely chopped rosemary
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg with milk to glaze the biscuits

Sift the flours together. Take the rest of the
ingredients and mix in starting with an electric mixer.
Then knead by had for a bit. Chill for
an hour or so. Roll thin and cut out.
Paint with milk and egg mixture.

Bake at 350F for 15 minutes. (you'll have
to judge about the baking time. The recipe
said to bake for a lot longer but they got too dark).

Enjoy with koelsch beer!!! More about the beer later.

Lunch in Traben-Trarbach

2009-11-08T09:57:00.000-08:00

Market at Kollwitzplatz Berlin

2009-11-04T11:09:00.001-08:00

Yes, I've joined the ranks of the lucky ones
who get to travel a bit and take
pictures of glorious food.
These are all from Kollwitzplatz market in
Berlin. It's just the tip of the ice berg.

Treacle Tart

2009-10-11T11:50:00.000-07:00

When I was a bit younger, I had the good luck
to spend a whole summer in England in Oxford.
My daughter was young and I had wonderful
time spending every day with her. In the evenings
we would often go down to the local pub and
eat outside. We loved the sunlight that lasted till around
ten at night. My favorite dessert was the
treacle tart. They would heat it up and serve it
with whipped cream. An actual person made this
tart. And the actual person actually gave the
recipe.

In case you can't read the recipe here it goes:

Pastry to Line Tart

6 oz self raising flour
3 oz butter
2 fuid oz milk
Half an egg
Pinch salt

Filling

16 fluid oz (1lb) Golden Syrup
5 oz fresh white breadcrumbs

Top Pastry

4 oz butter
2 oz castor sugar
half an egg
6 oz self raising flour
1 egg to gild tart
2 teaspoons castor sugar

Preparation

Put breadcumbs in basin and pour golden syrup over.
Leave to stand.

Make the pastry to line tart by mixing butter
lightly into the sifted flour and then forming the mixture
into a dough with the milk, half an egg and salt.
Knead lightly and place in the refridgerator for 1/2 hr.

Make top pastry by creaming the butter and sugar,
adding half-beaten egg when thoroughly combined
folding in the sifted flour. Place in refridgerator to chill.
Pre-heat oven to 375 F or 5 gas.

Method

1 Roll out bottom pastry to a 10 inch circle.
Line 9 inch flan ring stading on a greasted tray.
Trim off pastry and prick base with end of a sharp knife.

2 Fill pastry case with combined syrup and
breadcrumbs.

3 Roll out top astry ona well floured board or
press out with hands -- roll lightly with the
rolling pin and then roll over pin.

4 Place gently over patry bottom and press edges
together. Trim off excess pastry. Prick surface, brush
with beaten egg and sprinkle with castor sugar.
Bake in oven for approx. 20 mins - 25mins. Remove from oven
and leave to cool.

Service

The tart must cool for 1 hour then can be reheated at
250 degrees F. gas 1 for 5 mins.

You will note that two pastries are used.
This si the vital secret of this superb English dish.

Wild Mushroom Pizza

2009-10-10T12:01:00.000-07:00

This recipe comes from Bon Appetit.
I used chanterelles for my mushrooms.
Usually they cost $20/pound but Costco
had a wonderful deal for a big box for just $9.

This pizza is especially good in the fall.

Mmmm chanterelles.

Putting together the pizza. I just make one big one
rather than two small round ones.

The problem is that we ate the pizza before we
had the chance to properly photo it.

Pickled Plums

2009-10-10T11:46:00.000-07:00

Yes we need more blue food. OK this is purple but its
close. This recipe comes from Nika Hazeldon's
The Swiss Cookbook.

The plums are very useful around Thanksgiving
and Christmas.

Take 3 pounds of purple Italian plum, wash them
and poke each of them with a needle a couple of times.

Boil 1 1/2 cup red wine, 1 1/2 cup red wine vinegar,
2 1/3 cups sugar, 15 cloves and a couple of pieces of
cinnamon sticks for 5 minutes.

Let the mixture cool. Then pour over the plums.
Cover and leave till the next day.
Pour off the liquid and bring it to a boil.
Let it cool and then pour it over the plums.

Next day SLOWLY heat up the plums
till they begin to tear in one or two places.
IMMEDIATELY remove the plums
and put them in hot sterilized quart jars.
Boil the rest of the liquid till it thickens a bit.
Not too much or there won't be enough liquid.

Pour the liquid over the plums and seal the
jars. Process them for 15 minutes.

See how one is torn. If you cook them too much they
turn to mush.

My dog loves them!!!

Comfort me with apples some more - Apple Pie

2009-10-06T12:54:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is apple season. I think the apples are pretty
good this year. I used a mixture of honeycrisp and
gala. All locally grown.

So make your pie crust.
I use 1 cup of flour and a 1/2 teaspoon of
salt. 1/3 cup butter and 3 to 4 tablespoons of ice water.
You know the drill. If not I'll be happy to fill you in.

For the filling I added some brown sugar, white sugar,
cinnamon, 1/4 cup or so of flour. Cloves and
the secret ingredient which you have no idea
how generous it is of me to divulge this:
rosewater. 1 tablespoon.

Roll out your dough. I only use 1 crust and curl it
over. So roll it out very thin and line your pie pan.

Put in the filling. I add about a tablespoon of
butter. Fold the dough over the
apples.

Bake at 400 F for 15 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 350 F
and bake another 50 minutes to an hour.

Soutenez-moi avec des gateaux de
raisins. Fortifiez-moi avec des pommes;
Car je suis malade d'amour

Anise Biscotti

2009-10-04T11:43:00.000-07:00

I can't remember how I found the blog site
64 sq ft Kitchen.
It's just one of those very lucky, serendipitous things
you come across on the web. It's absolutely gorgeous.

In the posting for these cookies, Warda, writes of her
grandmother and a dream
she had of her. I guarantee it is so beautiful
you will cry. So go check out her
site. You won't be sorry.

This is just the first of many things I intend to try
from her site.

Blue Gnocchi

2009-10-03T14:31:00.001-07:00

I thought with a new month I might move
on to a new color but it doesn't look like its going to
happen. I'm definitely in a blue period.

So for blue gnocchi boil 1 pound of blue potatoes.
Mash them up so they are not lumpy at all.
Add 1 1/2 cup of flour and a beaten egg.

Make a nice non sticky dough.

Roll into a coil about 1/2 inch thick.
Cut into 1/2 inch pieces of however big or small
you like.

This is where I fell down on my sword.
You are supposed to put an indentation in them
so they sort of curl up. I couldn't get the hang of it.

Bring a big pot of salted water to a boil.
Boil gnocchi till it rises to the surface.

I served it with some melted butter and sage.

Leek and Blue Potato Soup

2009-09-29T19:13:00.001-07:00

This is the last post for this September.
It has been a beautiful month. I thought
we should end with one more blue note.

Take two onions and chop them up.
Chop up 2 or 3 leeks. Sweat them
in 3 tablespoons of butter.

Chop up about 4 or so medium potatoes.

Add them to the leeks and onions. Put in a teaspoon of salt.
Add enough water to cover and cook until the potatoes
are tender.

Add about 2 cups of milk and 2 tablespoons of butter.
Taste for salt and pepper.

Sour Cherry Baklava

2009-09-29T14:44:00.000-07:00

Just a brief blog today. I got this wonderful
sour cherry pastry from a bakery in NY Gulluoglu.
It's on 52nd and 2nd. They have all kinds of baklava
as well as savory foods too. Supposedly the baklava
is flown over from Istanbul and it comes from
the largest baklava producer in Turkey.
Who knows! But what I got was delicious.

Comfort me with apples - apple dumplings

2009-09-28T12:49:00.000-07:00

It's fall now and apple season.
This recipe is adapted from Bill Neal's
Biscuits, Spoonbread, and Sweet Potato Pie.
This is an excellent cookbook. Full of all kinds of essential
recipes for baked goods, things like
biscuits waffles and all kinds of Southern goodies.

Make a recipe for pie dough. I use 2 cups of flour
2/3 cup cold butter and 6 tablespoons cold water.
Refrigerate.

Syrup: 1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
4 cinnamon sticks

Boil together for five minutes set aside.

Pare and core 6 small baking apples.
Take 6 tablespoons lightly packed brown sugar
and 6 tablespoons butter and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and mix together.

Roll out pie dough to a 7-inch square. Stuff each
apple with butter mixture. Wrap the dough around it sealing
it nicely. Put in a covered baking dish. Pour syrup over the
apples. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 F.

The sauce is wonderfully spicy and thick and caremelized.

Cranberry Beans

2009-09-25T13:40:00.000-07:00

Just a quick blog today.
Its fall now and cranberry beans are out.
Aren't they beautiful? I shell
them and cook them in a bit of
water with some savory and salt.
They lose a bit of their color
but they gain an incredible fragrance.

Here is my own private hill of beans. On top of
it is some of my own savory that I grew all by myself.

They kind of make you think of that poem
by Gerard Manly Hopkins about
praise be to God for dappled things...
Oh darn, now I have to go find the poem.

Pied Beauty
By Gerard Manley Hopkins

Glory be to God for dappled things –

For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;

For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;

Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;

Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;

And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;

Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)

With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;

He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:

Praise him.

Blue Cornbread Sticks & Blue Fried Potatoes

2009-09-24T12:25:00.000-07:00

And yes we have even more blue potatoes coming up.
I boil the potatoes until they are tender.
I fry up some bacon. Then I fry onions in some
bacon fat till they are nice and soft.
Brown the potatoes in some bacon fat.
Cook green beans till tender. Put them all together
and heat up and salt and pepper. Lots of pepper
please. Now you are a for real Southerner.

As far as corn bread goes my grandmother taught
me how to make cornbread. Please don't put
any sugar in cornbread it's just wrong.
You need a cast iron frying pan or
a cast iron corn stick mold pan.
When you go to preheat your oven
put the pan in the oven. To get a good crust
the pan must be very hot.

This recipe comes from The Joy of Cooking.

Preheat the oven to 425 F. It must really be hot.
Sift together 1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking-soda
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Add:
3/4 cup cornmeal (I used blue)

Combine and beat:
1 1/2 cups buttermilk or yogurt
2 eggs
3 to 4 tablespoons bacon drippings

Stir the liquid into the dry ingredients with a few swift strokes.

Put some bacon grease in the preheated pan
and then add the batter.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

Blue Potato Chips

2009-09-23T14:48:00.000-07:00

Continuing with our blue theme...
Blue Potato Chips

OK. Get some more of those nice
blue potatoes from the farmer's market.
Slice paper thin with a mandoline.

Soak in ice water for a little while.

Dry on paper towels.

Deep fry till nice and crispy.

And there you go.

Don't forget to salt them nicely.

Blue Polenta

2009-09-21T16:19:00.001-07:00

Yes, everything HAS to be blue this month!!!
Making polenta is a very good thing to do if you
are a nervous type. Its a form of meditation.
Take 8 cups of water and 1 teaspoon of water
and bring it to a boil.
Take two cups of blue (or any other cornmeal)
and add slowly to the boiling water.
Whisk until smooth. Continue cooking polenta
over a low heat for 40 minutes stirring most of the
time.

You can either eat it now or pour it into a buttered
cookie sheet and let it cool. When it is cool cut it into
squares and fry on both
sides until nice and crispy. You can also
cut it into nice little scalloped edged circles with
a biscuit cutter.

I admit that it looks a lot like fried spam.
This is a very inexpensive and healthy dish.
Cornmeal is a whole grain.

Blue Mashed Potatoes

2009-09-21T11:51:00.000-07:00

I think I understand now why September's birthstone is
sapphire: everything is a clear blue in September.
To celebrate we've been trying to cook anything
we can find that's blue.
Here again are those blue potatoes from
the Farmer's Market.

I like to rice my potatoes when I mash them.
I just use a little of the water the potatoes were
cooked in and some milk and salt and a few
tablespoons of butter. These potatoes
really are the best. The color is weird but
they are the most potatoey potatoes around.

We had some pork tenderloin and green beans with
onions and bacon, a Southern staple.

Blue Pommes Anna

2009-09-18T11:44:00.000-07:00

We get these fabulous blue potatoes at the
Farmer's Market. They may look funny but
they taste great. They taste very potatoey.
For the pommes anna it is nice to have
a special copper pan. My husband gave me this
years ago. Its probably worth a fortune now.

Line a pommes anna pan with parchment paper.
Slice the potatoes very thin on a mandoline.
You can do it by hand but a mandoline is best.

Melt some butter in the bottom of your pan.
Start layering potatoes putting butter and salt
and pepper between layers. Do this till the pan is
about 3/4 full. Put the pommes anna lid on the pan.
Bake at 400 F for about an hour.
When done, flip over the pan and... Voila!!!

Grape Sorbet

2009-09-17T14:40:00.000-07:00

You can't get much easier than this.
Take two pounds of concord grapes and
remove them from their stems.
Put them in a blender and puree
one pound at a time. Put puree through
a sieve to remove skins and pips.
Add 3/4 cup sugar to the puree.
Chill several hours. Freeze in an ice cream maker.

Its fun to watch the sugar disolving in the puree.

The resulting sorbet is not at all icy. It's velvety.

Very pretty color too. The recipe is from Gourmet magazine.

September Birthday

2009-09-15T12:13:00.001-07:00

For a special person's birthday we went to Mitsuwa .

View of NY on the way.

Got lots of wonderful stuff.

A lovely person bought some cupcakes
from Magnolia in NY.

Asters are of course a must!!!

And also the traditional birthday pie!!!

Balloons make things festive.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPECIAL PERSON!!!

Potato Salad - For Toru Okada

2009-09-14T18:49:00.000-07:00

Here is my entry for Autumn 2009 Novel Food.

Poor Mr. Wind-up Bird. He usually eats potato salad
when things go wrong. The first time
we see him eating potato salad his wife has left him.

There was nothing more for me to do.
I went to the kitchen, filled the kettle, and lit the gas.
When the water boiled, I made coffee
and sat at the kitchen table to take a sip. Then I
made toast and ate some potato salad from the refrigerator.
This was the first time in years that I had eaten breakfast alone.
Come to think of it, aside from a single business trip, we
had never once missed breakfast together in all the time since our marriage.
We had often missed lunch, and sometimes even dinner, but never
breakfast: it was almost a ritual for us. No matter how late
we might go to bed, we would always get up early enough
to fix a proper morning meal and take the time to enjoy it together.

But that morning Kumiko was gone. I drank my coffee and ate my
toast alone, in silence. An empty chair was all I had to look at...

The coffee seemed to have a soapy taste. I couldn't quite believe it.
Shortly after the first sip, I sensed an unpleasant aftertaste. I wondered if my
feelings were playing tricks on me, but the second sip had the same taste.
I emptied the cup into the sink and poured myself more coffee, in a
clean cup. Again the taste of soap I couldn't imagine why. I had washed the
pot well, and there was nothing wrong with the water. But the taste--
or smell-- was unmistakable: it could only have been soap-- or possibly
moisturizing lotion. I threw out all the coffee in the pot and started to boil some
more water, but it just wasn't worth the trouble. I filled a cup with water
from the tap and drank that instead. I really didn't want coffee all that much
anyway.

Later on Mr. Wind-up Bird spends about
three days down at the bottom of a dry well.
It's a long story as to why he's down there.
But when he comes up he's not hungry at first
even though he only ate a few crackers and lemon
drops while he was in the well.

Later on...

Then I opened a beer, took tomato and
lettuce from the refrigerator, and made a salad. Once I had eaten that,
I began to feel some desire for food, so I took out some potato salad, spread it between two pieces of bread, and ate it. I looked at the clock only once.
How many hours had I been down in the well?
But just thinking about time made my head throb. No, I did not want to think
about time. That was one thing I most wanted to avoid thinking about now.

OK Mr. Okada, aka Mr. Wind-up Bird, here's some potato salad I made for you. You boil a few potatoes. Cut them up, add some celery and some finely chopped onion. Dress lightly with mayonnaise and some yellow mustard. Decorate with green pepper slices and green stuffed olives.Give it a little dusting of paprika.

That's how my mother made potato salad and I don't know any body who makes it better. I hope this dish gives you some measure of comfort.

Club Sandwich

2009-09-05T12:55:00.001-07:00

Club sandwiches are just about my favorite.
When I was growing up and we happened
to be at a restaurant for lunch a club sandwich
was a little luxury. I like the way they are divided
in four pieces and you work your way through them
slowly. Its really a BLT with turkey too using 3 pieces of bread.
The best club sandwich I ever had was at the Dragonfly.
Its a restaurant on a golf course in Woodstock, NY next to a
little stream. They served theirs with avocado
and blue french fries. A total knock out.

I guess a humble diner grilled cheese
is my most memorable sandwich.
Its cut on a diagonal served with a
handful of potato chips and a small coke
and either a couple pickle rounds or a spear.
The only problem is you need to be four
years old and alone with your dad in upstate
New York to really appreciate it.

Molasses Cookies

2009-09-03T11:48:00.001-07:00

These cookies are soft and cakey. They are what
you hope gingerbread would taste like.
This recipe comes from a Crabtree and Evelyn cookbook.
I don't know the exact name because I copied the
recipe from it.

2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup molasses
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger root

Sift flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon,
and ground ginger.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together 1/2 cup
of the sugar and the butter until light and fluffy.
Add molasses, egg, and ginger root and beat until light.
Gradually add the flour, stirring until well blended.
Cover the dough and chill for at least an hour.

Form dough into 1-inch ball. Roll the balls in the
remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Bake at 350 F until the
tops are rounded and crinkled and cookies are just beginning
to color, about 12 to 14 minutes. Remove from oven and transfer to
wire racks to cool. Store in a tightly covered container.

Peach Pie and Peach Ice Cream

2009-08-25T15:17:00.000-07:00

I've been making this peach pie for years and years.
The recipe is adapted from The Joy of Cooking.

Line a nine inch pie dish with a pie crust of your choice.
I'd say you need around six ripe peaches.
Drop them one by one in a pot of boiling water
for a few seconds. Then drop them in a pot of cold water.
Remove the skins. I used to halve the peaches
and put them cut side up in the pie dish but
I think they look nicer cut in sixths and arranged
like flower petals. Take 5 tablespoons melted butter,
2 tablespoons flour, 2/3 cup sugar and one egg
and beat it together. Pour it over the peaches in the
pie crust. Bake at 400F for 15 minutes. Reduce
the heat to 300and bake for another 50 minutes.

That's it.

The recipe for brown sugar peach ice cream
comes from Gourmet. It has a pinch of
cinnamon and nutmeg but because of the
brown sugar kind of tastes like pie itself.

After Apple Picking

2009-08-23T07:59:00.000-07:00

On Sunday mornings during the summer we like to stop at the farmers' market in Morristown before shopping anywhere else. These are some pictures we took today - not only of the newly picked apples, which are beginning to appear, but other colorful fruits and vegetables as well.

The squash table (not for the game)

The pepper table

The berry table

The apple table

The peach table

The corn table

The bean table

Local poet picking (out) apples

And now another poet's take on picking fruit.

Robert Frost (1874–1963). From North of Boston. 1915.

"After Apple-picking"

My long two-pointed ladder’s sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still,
And there’s a barrel that I didn’t fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn’t pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.
I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight
I got from looking through a pane of glass
I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough
And held against the world of hoary grass.
It melted, and I let it fall and break.
But I was well
Upon my way to sleep before it fell,
And I could tell
What form my dreaming was about to take.
Magnified apples appear and disappear,
Stem end and blossom end,
And every fleck of russet showing clear.
My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend.
And I keep hearing from the cellar bin
The rumbling sound
Of load on load of apples coming in.
For I have had too much
Of apple-picking: I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.
There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,
Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.
For all
That struck the earth,
No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble,
Went surely to the cider-apple heap
As of no worth.
One can see what will trouble
This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is.
Were he not gone,
The woodchuck could say whether it’s like his
Long sleep, as I describe its coming on,
Or just some human sleep.

Guest blogger JAT

Honey Madeleines - For Creta Kano

2009-08-20T11:45:00.001-07:00

This is an entry for Autumn 2009 Novel Food.

I'm working on a series about food in
Haruki Murakami's novels. I talked about Creta
Kano in my posting on baklava.

Here we meet Creta Kano for the first time in The Wind-up Bird Chronicle.
She has come as a representative of her sister Malta.
Malta has been engaged by Mrs. Okada to find their cat.
The narrator is Mr. Okada aka Mr. Wind-up Bird.

So this was Creta Kano. I showed her in, had her sit on the sofa,
warmed the coffe, and served her a cup. Had she eaten lunch yet?
I asked. She looked hungry to me. No, she said, she had not eaten.

"But don't bother about me," she hastened to add. "I don't eat
much of anyting for lunch.

"Are you sure?" I asked. "It's nothing for me to fix a sandwich.
Don't stand on ceremony. I make snacks and things
all the time. It's no trouble at all."

She responded with little shakes of the head. "It's very
kind of you to offer, but I'm fine, really. Don't bother.
A cup of coffee is more than enough."

Still, I brought out a plate of cookies just in case. Creta
Kano ate four of them with obvious pleasure. I ate two and
drank my coffee.

She seemed somewhat more relaxed after the cookies and coffee.

So here we lay out the coffee and cookies for Creta.
They're really cakes but that's OK. They are made
with honey which as we know Creta loves.

Naturally I bring out the Havilland china for Creta.

After she tells her long story she vanishes.

This recipe is from French Tea - The Pleasures of the Table by Carole Manchester.

Madeleines au Miel
Honey Madeleines

3 large egg whites
1 cup sifted confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup finely ground blanched almonds
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 tablespoon honey

Preheat the over to 400F. Butter two madeleine tins.
(I used a silicone madeleine mold. I have bad luck
getting madeleines out of their mold.)

In a bowl, beat egg whites till they hold soft peaks.
Gradually add the sugar, and beat until the whites hold
still peaks. Alternately fold in the flour and almonds in
2 or 3 additions. In a small bowl, combine the honey and
melted butter. Gently fold the misture into the whites until
thoroughly incorporated. Spoon the batter into the madeleine
molds, filling them about two-thirds full. Bake for
8 to 10 minutes, or until the madeleins are golden at the
edges. (Mine came out too dark.) Let cool in the pan for
5 minutes, then invert them onto a rack and let cool.

Rosewater Almond Tea Cookies

2009-08-17T18:39:00.000-07:00

I first heard of these cookies from a photo contest on
the beautiful Palachinka.
They are from the equally beautiful Baking Obsession.
It is a very simple recipe but one of those
fine examples of something far exceeding
the sum of its parts.

I made a small addition to the recipe.
I covered each cookie with a little rose petal
preserves and added an icing made from
confectioners' sugar and rosewater.
And also a little piece of crystallized
rose petal. Talk about gilding the lily!!!

I got to use some food coloring that my daughter
brought me back from Italy. I love that kind of stuff.

Lemon Cake

2009-08-16T11:38:00.000-07:00

Sometimes lemon cake is what is in order.

Lemon cake goes very well with crystallized violets.

Here's the cake all wrapped up to go to a special function.
And here's a bouquet of flowers to enjoy.

I found this recipe in the New York Times.
It says it was adapted from Barefoot Contessa Parties!" by
Ina Garten.

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 1/2 cups sugar
4 extra-large eggs at room temperature
1/3 cup crated lemon zest (use one of the microplane gadgets, they're great)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup plus 3 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
3/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners' sugar

Heat oven to 350 F degrees.
Line two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pans
with parchment paper.

Cream butter and 2 cups sugar together for about 5 minutes
till light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time and then
the lemon zest.

Sift flour, baking powder, pabking soda and salt together.
Mix 1/4 cup lemon juice, buttermilk and vanilla. Add flour and buttermilk
mixtures alterately to butter and sugar mixture, beginning
and ending with flour.
Divide batter between pans and bake for 45 minutes
to 1 hour until a cake tester comes out clean.

Combine 1/2 cup sugar with 1/2 cup lemon juice in a samall saucepan,
and cook over low heat till sugar dissolves.

When cakes are done, let them cool 10 minutes. Invert them on a rack set
over a tray and spoon lemon syrup over cakes. Let
cakes cool completely.

For glaze, combine confectioners' sugar and remaining 3 1/2 tablespoons
lemon juice in a owl, mixing till smooth.
Poor over top of cakes, and allow glaze to drizzle down the sides.

I think crystallized violets are a must.

Pissaladiere

2009-08-15T12:25:00.000-07:00

I love black olives and anchovies. I never ever get to have
them when we order pizza so I have to make my own.

This recipe comes from A French Chef Cooks at Home
by Jaques Pepin.

For the dough 3 1/2 cups to 4 cups of all-purpose flour
1 cup lukewarm water
2 packages dry yeast
1/3 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Mix the water and yeast together until
the yeast is dissolved.
Mix all ingredients together until the dough is satiny
and smooth. Place in a bowl, cover with a towel and let rise
until it is i double in bulk.

Punch down the dough and divide into halves. Spread each
half on a cookie sheet. Spread to obtain two wheels, each
at least 12 inches in diameter. The dough will be thicker on the
edges.

I don't make mine on a cookie sheet. I use a preheated
baking stone. That way you get a really nice
crust.

Here you get to see how much my oven needs cleaning!!!

Filling
2 1/2 pounds onions peeled and sliced very thin
1/3 cup olive oil
1 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/16 teaspoon ground cloves (believe it or not this makes a big difference)
4 to 6 cloves garlic, peeled, crushed, and chopped fine

Place all ingredients except garlic into
a large kettle and bring to a boil. Let boil
on high heat until all the water has evaporated
(about 12 to 14 minutes). By this time the onions
are cooked. Keep cooking on medium heat to
brown the nions slightly (about 8 minutes),
mixing once in a while. Add the garlic, mix,
and set aside.

2 Dozen anchovy fillets in oil
1 cup of small dry black olives

Spread the onion mixture evenly on both wheels.
Arrange the anchovy fillets on top
in a crisscross patter and scatter the olives
on the surface. Cook in a preheated (IMPORTANT!!!)
425 F oven for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the dough
is nicely browned.

Baklava - For Creta Kano

2009-08-11T12:42:00.001-07:00

This is my entry for Autumn 2009 Novel Food.

The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
is one of my favorite books. Many strange things
happen in his books but the food is plain
and is an anchor in the storms of life.

I love the character Creta Kano. She is a cipher.
She has a very strange story to tell and
tells it in a dead pan manner that knocks you over.
Also, she enters in to people's lives with bizarre consequences.
In any event she likes honey. So I'm going to
find all the good honey recipes I can for her.

Here is an excerpt from The Wind-up Bird Chronicle:

"I am here today as the representative of
my elder sister, Malta Kano," she said. "Creta
is not my real name, of course. My real name is Setsuko.
I took the name Creta when I began working as my
sister's assistant. For professional purposes. Creta
is the ancient name for the island of Crete, but I have
no connection with Crete. I have never been there.
My sister Malta chose the name to go with her own.
Have you ever been to the island of Crete, by any chance,
Mr. Okada?"

Unfortunately not, I said. I had never been to Crete
and had no plans to visit in the near future.

"I would like to go there sometime," said Creta Kano,
nodding with a deadly serious look on her face. "Crete
is the Greek island closest to Africa. It's a large island, and a
civilization flourished there long ago. My sister Malta has
been to Crete as well. She says it's a wonderful place.
The wind is strong, and the honey is delicious.
I love honey."

I figure that baklava is a good place to start.
This recipe is adapted from Greek Cooking by
Ruth Bauder Kershner.

Honey Syrup:

1 tablespoon rosewater
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 2-inch piece stick cinnamon
4 whole cloves
1 cup honey

Combine the sugar, water, cinnamon and cloves in a
heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat
and continue cooking without stirring for 25 minutes.
Stir in the honey and rosewater. Remove the spices.
Allow to cool.

pastry:
1/2/ pound sweet butter, melted
1 pound phyllo sheets
3 cups finely chopped walnuts
1/2 cup sugar
1/1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Brush a 13x9x2 inch baking dish with some of
the melted butter. Brush a piece of phyllo
dough with butter, fold in half and place
in pan. Repeat.

Combine the nuts, and sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.
Take 1/2 cup of the nut mixture and spread over the dough
in the pan. Butter and fold 2 more sheets of dough.
Add 1/2 cup of the nut mixture. Keep putting 2 folded
pieces of dough and 1/2 of the nut mixture in layers till
finished. Top with at least two more buttered, folded
pieces of dough. Score the top of the baklava with a
very sharp knive to make diamonds.
Bake at 325 F for 50 minutes. Pour the cooled syrup over the
pastry and cool. Cover and let stand overnight.

Please note that the phyllo dough I used has been
cut in half and there was no need to fold it over.
So where I called for 2 folded buttered sheets of
dough I actually used 4 sheets of the smaller size.

Pastrami Sloppy Joe

2009-08-10T12:08:00.000-07:00

Sorry the pictures are so blurry.

When I was growing up a Sloppy
Joe was hamburger meat in
some kind of tomato sauce
served on a hamburger bun.
A Manwich is a kind of
Sloppy Joe. When I moved
to NJ a hundred years ago
I learned of a different sort
of Sloppy Joe. I've never
seen a sandwich anywhere else
like it except NJ.
You can order turkey,
ham, roast beef and
even pastrami Sloppy Joes.

The sandwich consists of 3
slices of rye bread, whatever meat you
have chosen,swiss cheese, russian
dressing and coleslaw.
They are usually cut in
three pieces because
the sandwich is so big. Also,
there are really and truly
probably close to 2,000
calories in them.

A lot of times people have Sloppy Joe
Platters where they are cut in small
rectangles and you have a variety of meats.

I love them. They are one of the few things
that make New Jersey bearable. My favorite
was always turkey but now since I was introduced
to pastrami by an officemate, I'll have to
say its pastrami.

Banana Pudding

2009-08-06T19:45:00.000-07:00

Banana pudding is a big favorite
at my house.I got this recipe
from the lovely Cafe Chocolada.
She puts hers in individual glasses.
I prefer to put mine in one dish.
This version of the pudding is
nicely flavored with cinnamon,
a vanilla bean and nutmeg.

Tennyson's Pudding

2009-08-06T15:50:00.000-07:00

Today is Alfred Tennyson's 200th Birthday. We thought it would be fun to honor him by posting an old recipe for a pudding that he supposedly enjoyed at a tavern in London called The Old Cheshire Cheese. The New York Times published an article about it in 1910, long before the days of the Travel or Food (now Dining) and Wine sections known to the readers of today. Today's readers might find some of the ingredients a little odd - how many of you have eaten anything lately made with sheep's kidneys and larks? - but the tone of the article itself has the familiar feeling of a travel piece reporting on the favorite haunt of celebrities abroad. Of course, in this case the celebrities ("well-known men" in the parlance of the time) include the likes of Tennyson, Dickens, and J. P. Morgan. Can it be that one must eat a lark to sing like a lark? In any event, here is a link to a PDF of the article: "World-Famous Pudding; Many Well-Known Men Have Enjoyed It." (March 20, 1910, Sunday Section: MAGAZINE SECTION, Page SM11, 1018 words.)

And here is something perhaps more savory: one of Tennyson's best known and loveliest poems.

Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean,
Tears from the depth of some divine despair
Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes,
In looking on the happy Autumn-fields,
And thinking of the days that are no more.

Fresh as the first beam glittering on a sail,
That brings our friends up from the underworld,
Sad as the last which reddens over one
That sinks with all we love below the verge;
So sad, so fresh, the days that are no more.

Ah, sad and strange as in dark summer dawns
The earliest pipe of half-awakened birds
To dying ears, when unto dying eyes
The casement slowly grows a glimmering square;
So sad, so strange, the days that are no more.

Dear as remembered kisses after death,
And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feigned
On lips that are for others; deep as love,
Deep as first love, and wild with all regret;
O Death in Life, the days that are no more.

From guest blogger JAT

Roasted Red Peppers

2009-08-03T11:56:00.001-07:00

Sunday was a dark rainy day. We went to the
farmer's market in hopes of getting some
organic milk. Alas, the woman was not there.
We did come home with these lovely red peppers.
What better thing to do on a very rainy day than
to roast red peppers. My husband is Italian and the
smell reminded him of when his grandmother used
to roast peppers. The smell is wonderful

Take your pepper and put it directly on the
flame.

It should be charred all over.

Put it in a paper bag for a few minutes.

The steam will help loosen up the skin and make
it easier to peel.

Scrape off all the charred skin.

Remove the seeds and cut into slices and
put in a dish and add a nice amount of olive oil.
And some slivered garlic too.

Quiche Lorraine

2009-08-03T11:38:00.000-07:00

I used to make this in a 10 1/2 inch flan ring but the dough kept shrinking
and the filling spilled all over the place. Its still good like this.

This recipe is from Jaques Pepin's A French Chef Cooks at Home.

Pastry:

1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons sweet butter
1 tablespoon vegetable shortening
1/4 cup cold water

Work the flour, salt, butter and shortening together until you have
a coarse yellow mixture. Sprinkle on the water
and gather together into a ball. Chill for 1 hour.
Roll out and line a 10 1/2 inch flan ring (I use a 9 inch pie
pan).

Filling:

1/4 pound bacon
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
5 ounces Gruyere or Emmenthal cheese, diced

Cut the bacon into small strips and blanch
in boiling water for 3 minutes.

Beat the eggs. Stir in milk, cream, salt and pepper.
Scatter the bacon and cheese over the bottom of the
pie, add the egg mixture and bake in a preheated 400 F
oven for one hour. Remove and let cool. It is best
after it has rested at least 20 minutes. Serve lukewarm.

Apricot Preserves

2009-08-02T08:50:00.000-07:00

There is nothing like the smell making apricot preserves. We used to live in a tiny little hideous house. There was one nice thing about it. We had a little apricot tree. One year we had a bumper crop. Maybe two dozen apricots. I made preserves with it. The whole house smelled wonderful. And they tasted wonderful too. I love the color apricot. I'm planning to paint my hall that color. Also, apricot blossoms if you are ever lucky enough to get a chance to smell them are lovely.

My mother loves my apricot preserves. This recipe comes from Delia Smith.

Take two pounds of apricots. Cut them in half and save the
kernels. Take two pounds of sugar. Layer the apricots and
sugar in a large pan and let sit overnight. Take the kernels
and crack them and blanch the pits.

The next day, bring the apricots and sugar to a boil slowly.
Boil them for about twenty minutes until set. That means that
if you pour a drop or two on a plate that has been in the freezer
and it keeps shape for a while and tastes kind of jelly like,
you know you are done. Add about half of the apricot pits.
They taste like almonds.

Put the preserves in steralized jars. Wipe off the rims
and seal. Process the preserves fo 10 minutes.

I got the apricots at the farmer's market.
Usually apricots are so expensive I feel bad
about buying them. But these were reasonably priced.

This recipe made 5 six ounce jars.

What a lovely color!!!

Banana Bread

2009-07-30T11:39:00.000-07:00

I had a whole bunch of overripe bananas.
I hate to waste food so...
brilliant idea...
BANANA BREAD!!!
This recipe is from The Joy of Cooking

I doubled the recipe. The recipe I am giving you
is for 1 loaf only. Line your 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 pan
with parchment paper.
Preheat oven to 350 F.

Sift together 1 3/4 cups of flour, 2 1/4 teaspoons
baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Blend until creamy:
1/2 unsalted butter, 2/3 cup sugar and 3/4 teaspoon
grated lemon rind.

Beat in 1 to 2 eggs and 1 to 1 1/4 cup ripe banana pulp

Add the sifted ingredients in 3 parts. Beat the batter
till smooth after each addition.

Add 1/2 cups broken walnuts.

As an added touch I covered the tops of the
dough with raw Hawaiian sugar. It gives it
a nice tecture.

Bake for 1 hour. Its easier to handle the next
day.

Blueberry Pie

2009-07-28T11:53:00.001-07:00

There are two kinds of people in this world. There are pie people and there are cake people. I am a pie person. My son is a pie person too. He always has a birthday pie rather than birthday cake.

Blueberries are very special to me. We used to go pick bushels of them every summer when we'd go to Bethany Beach in Delaware. When I was pregnant with my son, all I did was eat blueberries. I told everybody that this baby is going to have blue eyes. And he does.

The pie is made the same way as the cherry pie.
Make the crust. Take four cups of berries add sugar and flour etc. And bake the same amount of time.

Sour Cherry Pie

2009-07-23T12:46:00.001-07:00

Sour cherries are hard to come by. They are ephemeral. I try to get them every year at the farmer's market. There's a lot of competition for them. One year a woman was standing at my usual sour cherry supplier's stand. She'd obviously been there a long time. The bell for the market hadn't been rung yet. When it did ring she bought every basket of sour cherries there were. I thought that was incredibly mean of her. I see her around once in a while and give her the evil eye.

We try to have at least one sour cherry pie a year. If we are lucky we have two.

The hardest part of making the pie is pitting the cherries.
I use only one crust and fold it over. This way we all believe
we are being virtuous calorie-wise.

Make 1 pie crust:
Take 1 cup of flour and a pinch of salt. Cut in 1/3 cup
of cold butter till it looks like very coarse grain.
Then add three tablespoons of ice water. Mix it up
to form a ball that sticks together. Don't over handle or
it will be tough. Chill for at least one hour.

Filling:
Pit four cups of sour cherries.
Add about 1 cup or more if you like
it sweeter of sugar. Mix in 1/4 cup of
flour. Let sit for 15 minutes.

Roll out the pie dough very thin.
Line an 8 inch pie dish with the dough.
Add the filling and cover with overlapping
dough. Bake in a 400 degree preheated oven
for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat and bake for
another 40 minutes.

Ten Olives on Ten Fingers

2009-04-19T10:23:00.000-07:00

This is my entry for A Fruit A Month originated by Maheswari
of Beyond the Usual.
This month's host is Priya of Priya's Easy 'n Tasty Recipes.

This month's subject is olives.
The thing about olives is
that they are perfect on their own.
I always thought
of olives as a huge luxury, something you
get maybe at Thanksgiving.
I love black olives,
green olives, olive salad, when you are surprised by an olive in your salad,
anything olive.

When I was a child I lived for several years in Hawaii.
One day my mother said we were going to visit a woman
and her daughter. My mother told me the woman
was unbelievably frugal and made her daughter
comb her hair with a barrette. I never could figure that
one out. I was sure the girl must be a dork and I would
be bored out of my mind. When I met her she was
just ordinary looking. She was wearing a barrette and her
hair looked perfectly neat. While my mother and the woman sat
in the living room talking the girl took me into the kitchen.
She asked me if I liked olives. She went in the cabinet
and took out a can of black olives and opened it. A can
of black olives back then was an unheard of luxury.
Anyhow, we ate the whole can. She asked me if
I liked to drink the olive "juice." I told her I'd never tried it.
So we drank up what what was left in the can.
I was completely in awe of this girl after that.

So for my recipe. Take ten olives and stick one on the
end of each finger. This is easier to do if you are a kid.
Then eat the olives one at a time.

In honor of this month's fruit my husband composed the following poem.

Mémoire

An olive for each finger,
a finger for every year,
blossoms that do not linger
of cherry, plum, or pear,

sunlight on everything
about this little game;
of years long lost I sing:
and sunlight alone's the same.

How do you like my camel? He's made out of olive
wood from Bethlehem.

Butter Chicken for FBI Gloves

2009-04-06T13:30:00.000-07:00

This is my post for FBI Gloves sponsored by the beautiful
website Palachinka. The event is a lot of fun. Every month
a website is chosen and you make something from the site
and then blog about it. I missed the previous one
unfortunately. The website then wasCafe Chocolada.
But I made the banana pudding many times much
to my family's joy.

This month's site under investigation is
What's for Lunch Honey? , a very lovely site indeed.
The recipe I tried is for butter chicken.
I'd never made it before I think I may have goofed on the liquids
because the sauce was a little thin. However the spices flavor of
was good.

2009-04-01T16:11:00.000-07:00

This is my entry for Novel Food. Its from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Jane has a bad experience with oatmeal. To make up for it Miss Temple gives the girls a nice lunch of bread and cheese. I decided to give Jane a Ploughman's Lunch. A nice piece of stilton, some ploughman's pickle, some pickled onions and a roll. Yum!!! Following the quote from the book is a treatise on how to make oatmeal by my guest blogger husband. If only he'd been there at Lowood and they had a microwave they would never have had a bad bowl of porridge!!!

The refectory was a great, low-ceiled, gloomy room; on two long tables
smoked basins of something hot, which, however, to my dismay, sent forth
an odour far from inviting. I saw a universal manifestation of
discontent when the fumes of the repast met the nostrils of those
destined to swallow it; from the van of the procession, the tall girls of
the first class, rose the whispered words--

"Disgusting! The porridge is burnt again!"

"Silence!" ejaculated a voice; not that of Miss Miller, but one of the
upper teachers, a little and dark personage, smartly dressed, but of
somewhat morose aspect, who installed herself at the top of one table,
while a more buxom lady presided at the other. I looked in vain for her
I had first seen the night before; she was not visible: Miss Miller
occupied the foot of the table where I sat, and a strange,
foreign-looking, elderly lady, the French teacher, as I afterwards found,
took the corresponding seat at the other board. A long grace was said
and a hymn sung; then a servant brought in some tea for the teachers, and
the meal began.

Ravenous, and now very faint, I devoured a spoonful or two of my portion
without thinking of its taste; but the first edge of hunger blunted, I
perceived I had got in hand a nauseous mess; burnt porridge is almost as
bad as rotten potatoes; famine itself soon sickens over it. The spoons
were moved slowly: I saw each girl taste her food and try to swallow it;
but in most cases the effort was soon relinquished. Breakfast was over,
and none had breakfasted. Thanks being returned for what we had not got,
and a second hymn chanted, the refectory was evacuated for the
schoolroom. I was one of the last to go out, and in passing the tables,
I saw one teacher take a basin of the porridge and taste it; she looked
at the others; all their countenances expressed displeasure, and one of
them, the stout one, whispered--

"Abominable stuff! How shameful!"

A little later in the day Miss Temple comes to the rescue.

"I have a word to address to the pupils," said she.

The tumult of cessation from lessons was already breaking forth, but it
sank at her voice. She went on--

"You had this morning a breakfast which you could not eat; you must be
hungry:--I have ordered that a lunch of bread and cheese shall be served
to all."

The teachers looked at her with a sort of surprise.

"It is to be done on my responsibility," she added, in an explanatory
tone to them, and immediately afterwards left the room.

The bread and cheese was presently brought in and distributed, to the
high delight and refreshment of the whole school. The order was now
given "To the garden!" Each put on a coarse straw bonnet, with strings
of coloured calico, and a cloak of grey frieze. I was similarly
equipped, and, following the stream, I made my way into the open air.

The garden was a wide inclosure, surrounded with walls so high as to
exclude every glimpse of prospect; a covered verandah ran down one side,
and broad walks bordered a middle space divided into scores of little
beds: these beds were assigned as gardens for the pupils to cultivate,
and each bed had an owner. When full of flowers they would doubtless
look pretty; but now, at the latter end of January, all was wintry blight
and brown decay. I shuddered as I stood and looked round me: it was an
inclement day for outdoor exercise; not positively rainy, but darkened by
a drizzling yellow fog; all under foot was still soaking wet with the
floods of yesterday. The stronger among the girls ran about and engaged
in active games, but sundry pale and thin ones herded together for
shelter and warmth in the verandah; and amongst these, as the dense mist
penetrated to their shivering frames, I heard frequently the sound of a
hollow cough.

A few days later Mr. Brocklehurst has this to say about giving the girls bread and cheese:

"Well, for once it may pass; but please not to let the circumstance occur
too often. And there is another thing which surprised me; I find, in
settling accounts with the housekeeper, that a lunch, consisting of bread
and cheese, has twice been served out to the girls during the past
fortnight. How is this? I looked over the regulations, and I find no
such meal as lunch mentioned. Who introduced this innovation? and by
what authority?"

"I must be responsible for the circumstance, sir," replied Miss Temple:
"the breakfast was so ill prepared that the pupils could not possibly eat
it; and I dared not allow them to remain fasting till dinner-time."

"Madam, allow me an instant. You are aware that my plan in bringing up
these girls is, not to accustom them to habits of luxury and indulgence,
but to render them hardy, patient, self-denying. Should any little
accidental disappointment of the appetite occur, such as the spoiling of
a meal, the under or the over dressing of a dish, the incident ought not
to be neutralised by replacing with something more delicate the comfort
lost, thus pampering the body and obviating the aim of this institution;
it ought to be improved to the spiritual edification of the pupils, by
encouraging them to evince fortitude under temporary privation. A brief
address on those occasions would not be mistimed, wherein a judicious
instructor would take the opportunity of referring to the sufferings of
the primitive Christians; to the torments of martyrs; to the exhortations
of our blessed Lord Himself, calling upon His disciples to take up their
cross and follow Him; to His warnings that man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God; to His
divine consolations, "If ye suffer hunger or thirst for My sake, happy
are ye." Oh, madam, when you put bread and cheese, instead of burnt
porridge, into these children's mouths, you may indeed feed their vile
bodies, but you little think how you starve their immortal souls!"

Now my guest blogger will demonstrate how to make quick meals with three different types of oatmeal and a microwave oven.

The first type is steel cut or pinhead oatmeal, which is by far the trickiest to do with a microwave, as it requires more water and under normal circumstances at least a much longer time to cook. The first step is to measure out a portion (I use a quarter cup with this kind of oatmeal).

After quite a bit of experimenting, I developed this technique for softening up the pinhead oats. I use a metal measuring cup to crush the oats a bit before pouring in the water - just a quick crushing all around the bowl is enough - more if you prefer the oats to be softer. It could be done with a pestle, but I find the metal measuring cup convenient as I'm usually in a hurry.

With other kinds of oatmeal, I use twice the measure of water to oats, but with pinhead oatmeal I use three times the measure - i.e., for one quarter cup of oats, I add three quarters of a cup of water. Salt is a matter of taste and preference of course, but I love the taste of plain oatmeal, and the small measure of salt from the spoon of our "salt pig" is for me the perfect way to bring out the flavor. I add the same amount of salt for all the different kinds of oatmeal.

I cook the pinhead oatmeal a little bit longer than usual in the microwave. I put it on high for four minutes, and the result, stirred slightly, can be seen below.

The next type is the classic rolled oats (the type made famous by the regular Quaker Oats, though Quaker also makes pinhead now in smaller containers). For this I use whatever measuring cup is handy - in this case a plastic one, and I like to use one third of a cup of oats.

With one third of a cup of oats, I add two thirds of a cup of water and the usual salt pig spoonful of salt. (Many recipes suggest one half cup, in which case a full cup of water would be needed.)

I used to cook it on high in the microwave for three minutes, but now use the one button "popcorn" setting, which cooks for two minutes and thirty-five seconds, which I find sufficient. The result can be seen below.

The third type of oatmeal is made with "porage" oats. These are stone ground or milled and produce a softer, more densely textured oatmeal. As with the rolled oats, I use a third of a cup of oatmeal.

I use either two thirds of a cup of water or occasionally a sixth of a cup more, mixing in the usual amount of salt. As the picture below demonstrates, the porage oats immediately interact with the water, eventually absorbing it.

I cook the porage oats for the "popcorn" setting also. The finished product is stickier than the others, but equally delicious.

Finally, here is a picture of various brands that I have enjoyed.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

2009-02-18T14:23:00.000-08:00

I've been away for a long time. This is my first posting of 2009. To celebrate Valentine's Day I like to make sugar cookies. These are filled with homemade strawberry preserves. I used Tasha Tudor's recipe from Take Joy!

5 Cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 pound butter
pinch of salt
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 3 tablespoons milk.

Cream the butter. Add the sugar. Beat in the eggs. Add the flour and salt. Then add the vanilla and the baking soda and milk. Refrigerate for about 3 hours. Roll out very thinly and cut out
into desired shapes. I use two heart shaped cookie cutters. One large and one small. I cut out the middle of some of the hearts with the small heart. Then I make a sandwich using strawberry jam that has been melted down and cooled.

2008-09-21T07:53:00.000-07:00

This is my entry for Novel Food. It is from War and Peace by Tolstoy. Natasha and her brother have been out hunting all day long and go to visit their Uncle where they are given a feast of simple but delicious food. Its one of those days that stays with you your whole life. I would like to present you with the whole feast but I settled for biscuits (her's were rye) apples and honey in a comb.

Inside, the house, with boarded, unplastered walls, was not very clean; there was nothing to show that the chief aim of the persons living in it was the removal of every spot, yet there were not signs of neglect. There was a smell of fresh apples in the entry, and the walls were hung with foxskins and wolfskins.

The uncle led his guests through the vestibule into a little hall with a folding-table and red chairs, then into a drawing-room with a round birchwood table and a sofa, and then into his study, with a ragged sofa, a threadbare carpet, and portraits of Suvorov, of his father and mother, and of himself in military uniform. The study smelt strongly of tobacco and dogs. In the study the uncle asked his guests to sit down and make themselves at home, and he left them. Rugay came in, his back still covered with mud, and lay on the sofa, cleaning himself with his tongue and his teeth. There was a corridor leading from the study, and in it they could see a screen with ragged curtains. Behind the screen they heard feminine laughter and whispering. Natasha, Nikolay, and Petya took off their wraps and sat down on the sofa. Petya leaned on his arm and fell asleep at once; Natasha and Nikolay sat without speaking. Their faces were burning; they were very hungry and very cheerful. They looked at one another—now that the hunt was over and they were indoors, Nikolay did not feel called upon to show his masculine superiority over his sister. Natasha winked at her brother; and they could neither of them restrain themselves long, and broke into a ringing laugh before they had time to invent a pretext for their mirth.

After a brief interval, the uncle came in wearing a Cossack coat, blue breeches, and little top-boots. And this very costume, at which Natasha had looked with surprise and amusement when the uncle wore it at Otradnoe, seemed to her now the right costume here, and in no way inferior to frock coats or ordinary jackets. The uncle, too, was in good spirits; far from feeling mortified at the laughter of the brother and sister (he was incapable of imagining that they could be laughing at his mode of life), he joined in their causeless mirth himself.

"Well, this young countess here—forward, quick march!—I have never seen her like!" he said, giving a long pipe to Rostov, while with a practised motion of three fingers he filled another—a short broken one—for himself.

"She's been in the saddle all day—something for a man to boast of—and she's just as fresh as if nothing had happened!"

Soon the door was opened obviously, from the sound, by a barefoot servant-girl, and a stout, red-cheeked, handsome woman of about forty, with a double chin and full red lips, walked in, with a big tray in her hands. With hospitable dignity and cordiality in her eyes and in every gesture, she looked round at the guests, and with a genial smile bowed to them respectfully.

In spite of her exceptional stoutness, which made her hold her head flung back, while her bosom and all her portly person was thrust forward, this woman (the uncle's housekeeper) stepped with extreme lightness. She went to the table, put the tray down, and deftly with her plump, white hands set the bottles and dishes on the table. When she had finished this task she went away, standing for a moment in the doorway with a smile on her face. "Here I am—I am she! Now do you understand the uncle?" her appearance had said to Rostov. Who could fail to understand? Not Nikolay only, but even Natasha understood the uncle now and the significance of his knitted brows, and the happy, complacent smile, which puckered his lips as Anisya Fyodorovna came in. On the tray there were liqueurs, herb-brandy, mushrooms, biscuits of rye flour made with buttermilk, honey in the comb, foaming mead made from honey, apples, nuts raw and nuts baked, and nuts preserved in honey. Then Anisya Fyodorovna brought in preserves made with honey and with sugar, and ham and a chicken that had just been roasted.

All these delicacies were of Anisya Fyodorovna's preparing, cooking or preserving. All seemed to smell and taste, as it were, of Anisya Fyodorovna. All seemed to recall her buxomness, cleanliness, whiteness, and cordial smile.

"A little of this, please, little countess," she kept saying, as she handed Natasha first one thing, then another. Natasha ate of everything, and it seemed to her that such buttermilk biscuits, such delicious preserves, such nuts in honey, such a chicken, she had never seen nor tasted anywhere. Anisya Fyodorovna withdrew. Rostov and the uncle, as they sipped cherry brandy after supper, talked of hunts past and to come, of Rugay and Ilagin's dogs. Natasha sat upright on the sofa, listening with sparkling eyes. She tried several times to waken Petya, and make him eat something, but he made incoherent replies, evidently in his sleep. Natasha felt so gay, so well content in these new surroundings, that her only fear was that the trap would come too soon for her. After a silence had chanced to fall upon them, as almost always happens when any one receives friends for the first time in his own house, the uncle said, in response to the thought in his guests' minds:

"Yes, so you see how I am finishing my days.… One dies—forward, quick march!—nothing is left. So why sin!"

Here's my recipe for biscuits. Its from Bill Neal's Biscuits, Spoonbread,
and Sweet Potato Pie.

Buttermilk biscuits
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
5 tablespoons chilled butter
1 cup buttermilk

Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl. Add the butter
and work it all through the flour with your fingertips.
Add the buttermilk and stir vigorously until the dough forms
a ball. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured
surface. Knead lightly for 10 strokes. Pat the dough
out to about 8x7x1/4 inch rectabgle. Cut into 2 inch
rounds. Place on a baking sheet and bake in an oven 500F
for 8 minutes until lightly browned.

The Dog Ate My...

2008-06-15T12:25:00.001-07:00

Every year for my husband's birthday I make him a cassata.
Its based on his aunt's cassata's filling and a recipe
for chocolate icing that I found in a Time-Life Italian cookbook.
Its actually the best thing I make.
It takes forever to do.
Anyhow, I had it all made
and resting in the refrigerator.
My husband and I went out to get him
a present. I come back and...

Well this is my dog Blizzard.

This is what the cake is supposed to look like.

We came home and the refrigerator door was open
and a big piece of the cake was missing.
Please excuse the messy fridge.

Needless to say I was pretty upset.
Also, chocolate is very bad for dogs.
However, he didn't get sick.

I planned to blog about this cake but not under
these circumstances.

To make the cake you need a spongecake.
I use the one from The Fanny Farmer Cookbook.

Separate 5 eggs. Beat the whites
until they stand up in soft peaks. Beat in a tablespoon
at a time 1/4 sugar.

Without washing the beaters,
beat the egg yolks with 1 tablespoon lemon
juice until thick and lemon colored. Add 3/4
cups sugar gradually. Pour over the whites and fold
in gently. Sift together 1 cup flour 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Gently fold flour mixture into the egg mixture.
Pour into 2 nine inch cake pans lined with
parchment paper and bake at 350F for about 20 minutes.

Let cool and slice in half horizontally.

For the filing.

2 pounds of ricotta
1 cup of sugar
1/4 cup orange flavor liqueur (or any flavor you like)
1/4 cup finely chopped chocolate
1/4 cup candied fruit (I use candied grapefruit peel that I make
at christmas)

Beat ricotta till nice and smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients.

Assemble the cake. Take one later of the cake. Sprinkle
with liqueur put in 1/3 of ricotta mixture.
Put cake layer on top of that. Sprinkle with
liqueur. Put 1/3 of ricotta mixture. Another piece of cake.
SPrinkle, ricotta, add the lid.

I stick bamboo skewers in the cake to stabilize it.
Wrap in plastic wrap and put in the refridgerator
for 1 day!!!

Make the icing:
Over a double boiler melt 12 oz
semisweet chocolate. Add 2/3 cup
very strong coffee. When nicely melted,
turn off the heat and stir in a tablespoon
at a time 2 sticks unsalted butter.
When all done put in the fridge
to let it harden up. It takes a while
for it to become spreadable. Check it
out every so often and when its good
decorate your cake. The icing is like a
truffle filling. Really yummy.
The cake does well to rest for a while.

The Glass Family Gets Some Ice Cream

2008-06-15T09:28:00.001-07:00

This is my entry for Novel Food. It comes from
Seymour an Introduction by J.D. Salinger.
Here we meet Buddy on his way to the
drugstore to buy some ice cream. This must
have taken place in the 1930s. Since there
were seven Glass children and they were buying
Louis Sherry ice cream it must have been a
treat.

It's an Anecdote, sink me, but I'll let it rip: At about nine, I had the very pleasant notion that I was the Fastest Boy Runner in the World. It's the kind of queer, basically extracurricular conceit, I'm inclined to add, that dies hard, and even today, at a super-sedentary forty, I can picture myself, in street clothes, whisking past a series of distinguished but hard-breathing Olympic milers and waving to them, amiably, without a trace of condescension. Anyway, one beautiful spring evening when we were still living over on Riverside Drive, Bessie sent me to the drugstore for a couple of quarts of ice cream. I came out of the building at that very same magical quarter hour described just a few paragraphs back. Equally fatal to the construction of this anecdote, I had sneakers on - sneakers surely being to anyone who happens to be the Fastest Boy Runner in the World almost exactly what red shoes were to Hans Christian Andersen's little girl. Once I was clear of the building, I was Mercury himself, and broke into a 'terrific' sprint up the long block to Broadway. I took the corner at Broadway on one wheel and kept going, doing the impossible: increasing speed. The drugstore that sold Louis Sherry ice cream, which was Bessie's adamant choice, was three blocks north, at 113th. About halfway there, I tore past the stationery store where we usually bought our newspapers and magazines, but blindly, without noticing any acquaintances or relatives in the vicinity. Then, about a block further on, I picked up the sound of pursuit at my rear, plainly conducted on foot. My first, perhaps typically New Yorkese thought was that the cops were after me - the charge, conceivably, Breaking Speed Records on a Non-School-Zone Street. I strained to get a little more speed out of my body, but it was no use. I felt a hand clutch out at me and grab hold of my sweater just where the winning-team numerals should have been, and, good and scared, I broke my speed with the awkwardness of a gooney bird coming to a stop. My pursuer was, of course, Seymour, and he was looking pretty damned scared himself. 'What's the matter? What happened?' he asked me frantically. He was still holding on to my sweater. I yanked myself loose from his hand and informed him, in the rather scatological idiom of the neighborhood, which I won't record here verbatim, that nothing had happened, nothing was the matter, that I was just running, for cryin' out loud. His relief was prodigious. 'Boy, did you scare me !' he said. 'Wow, were you moving ! I could hardly catch up with you!' We then went along, at a walk, to the drugstore together. Perhaps strangely, perhaps not strangely at all, the morale of the now Second-Fastest Boy Runner in the World had not been very perceptibly lowered. For one thing, I had been outrun by him. Besides, I was extremely busy noticing that he was panting a lot. It was oddly diverting to see him pant.

Louis Sherry was a high end confectioner.
Ice cream, chocolate and jam. I'm not
sure when the business closed. Salinger refers
to his chocolates in Raise High the Roof Beam,
Carpenters. Boo Boo evidently liked
to squish them to see what was inside.
I got this tin of Louis Sherry chocolates (no chocolates inside)
from ebay.

I have no idea what kind of ice cream Bessie would have
wanted. Maybe vanilla? Maybe a couple of different
quarts? They were a large family.

I made peppermint ice cream. This is a favorite
of my family. We make it after Christmas
to recycle the candy canes from our tree.

The recipe comes from an ice cream calendar from
1983. Unfortunately when I was making the
ice cream we were having a heat wave
and it didn't harden up as well as it should
have and the candies weren't distributed perfectly.
For the ice cream:

2 cups milk
1 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup crushed candy canes
(or peppermint candies)

beat the egg yolks up and
add a bit of milk.
Over Low heat beat the milk and
egg yolks. Add the sugar. Heat
until it covers the back of a spoon.
(I hate it when people say that!!!)
What I mean is don't let it boil
or it will curdle. If you have a thermometer
heat till about 190 F. Immediately
add the heavy cream and take
off the heat. Add half the crushed
candy. Chill thoroughly and make
in an ice cream maker. Just
before its finished churning add the remaining
candy.

Laurie Colwin's Gingerbread

2008-05-04T09:39:00.000-07:00

Poor Laurie Colwin. She died way too young.
I believe she is the original blogger. Her cookbooks are
so in the style of a really wonderful posting. They
are personal and friendly and generous.
This recipe is adapted from her recipe for
gingerbread in Home Cooking.

She writes at length about molasses and cane syrup
which she uses to make her's. I use Lyle's Golden syrup.
She also talks about lemon brandy which is
just brandy with lemon peels in it. She uses that
rather than vanilla. I have used it in the past
and it is good.

Here goes:

Cream one stick of sweet butter with 1/2 cup of light or
dark brown sugar. Beat until fluffy and add
1/2 cup of Lyle's Golden syrup.

Beat in 2 eggs.

Add 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
and one very generous tablespoon of ground ginger.
Add one teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of
ground cloves and 1/2 teaspoon of ground
allspice.

Add two teaspoons of vanilla extract.
Add 1/2 cup of buttermilk and turn into a buttered
9 inch tin. I made cupcakes instead this time.
This recipe makes 12.

Bake at 350 F for between 20 and thirty minutes.

I make a plain old buttercream icing.
For this I used a stick of butter
and a little milk, and vanilla and
confectioner's sugar.

Pickled Peaches

2008-04-21T12:53:00.000-07:00

This blog is my entry for the Putting Up event
sponsored by Pixie ofYou Say Tomato I say Tomato.

This blog is dedicated to my stepfather Ed who is dead now.
He was probably the kindest person I've ever known.
He was infinitely generous, open hearted, compassionate
and while he could see bad in people he never looked for it.
He also believed in fruit and having it in abundance.
He bought a condo at the beach in Delaware so that
his stepchildren could go there every summer. He
would take us out to pick blueberries and blackberries
and always peaches. And he wouldn't just get a few
we would pick tons of them. I had so many I could easily
afford 8 pounds needed to make pickled peaches.
This jar is from the last time we went picking
with Ed before he died. I've had them for a couple
of years and probably they are too old to eat
but I like having them around to think of what a wonderful
person I was so lucky to know.

Here's the recipe:

Pickled peaches

8 pounds medium sized peaches (I prefer freestone, they give the
preserves a rosy tone)
2 tablespoons whole cloves
4 twi-inch pieces stick cinnamon
2 pounds sugar
1 quart white vinegar

Wash and peel peaches, leaving them whole.
For those of you who don't know, the easiest
way to peel a peach is to drop it in boiling water
for a few seconds, then in cold. The skins just
peel off. Takes spices, sugar and vinegar
and boil together for 10 minutes. Add the peaches,
cook slowly until tender. Don't overdo that part.
They should be just tender. Let stand overnight.
Next day, drain syrup. Boil syrup
till thickened. Put the peaches in sterilized
quart jars and pour over the hot syrup.
Seal. Process for 10 minutes. That means put them
in a big pan covered with an inch of water
and boil for 10 solid minutes.

Pearl Balls

2008-04-20T09:58:00.000-07:00

I think this dish is very popular with children.

This dish features dried shiitaki mushrooms. They are the what
gives the meat balls their good flavor.

This recipe comes from the Time Life Chinese Cooking.

1/2 cup glutinous (sweet rice) I use twice the amount maybe even more
because I like my rice balls to be all fluffy.
4 dried chinese mushrooms
1 pound lean boneless pork, finely ground
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon finely chopped, peeled fresh
ginger root
6 canned water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped
1 scallion, including the green top, finely chopped

I usually chop up a whole piece of pork in
my food processor. I also chop up all the other
ingredients in the food processor.

Soak the rice covered in water for at least 2 hours.
Soak the mushrooms with hot water for 30 minutes.
Drain them. Chop them up. You can get rid
of the stem if its too tough. Combine all the ingredients.
Drain the rice, put on a paper towel.
Form the meat mixture into balls and roll in the rice.

You need a big chinese style bamboo steamer.
Rinse out a paper towel and line the bottom of the steamer.
Put the balls in the steamer. Place the steamer over
a large pot of boiling water and steam for 30 minutes.

I serve them with little bowls of dipping sauce
made of soy sauce and toasted sesame oil.

Here' the finished product.

Pork on a skewer

2008-04-20T09:36:00.000-07:00

This is my first shot at weekend herb blogging. This weeks
host is The Well Seasoned Cook. The
herb involved in this dish the bay leaf and lots of them. I'd
like to put in my 2 cents involving buying herbs.
I don't know why bay leaves cost something
like $5 for a tiny bottle. If you go to go a
supermarket that has hispanic foods go to that
section and you can get two huge containers
for half of what you normally spend.
Its a very easy dish to fix and has a mixture of very savory flavors.
The recipe comes from
Italian Cooking by Mary Reynolds.

1 pound pork tenderloin
2-3 slices firm bread 1/2 inch thick (I get a baguette and slice it up)
1/4 pound prosciutto
Bay leaves
olive oil
salt a pepper

Cut the pork into 12 cubes. The recipe calls to cut off the
crust on the bread but I don't. Thread the skewers
as follows 1 piece bread, 1 piece prosciutto, a bay leaf,
a piece of pork another bay leaf. Repeat.
I don't really count anything. I just get as much
pork as needed and divide it up for as many
as I'm serving.

Anyhow, put the skewers on a well oiled
flat baking tin. Salt and pepper them and then
drizzle with olive oil. Bake at 375 for
30 to 40 minutes, turning once during the
baking. And that's it.

Pineapple and Violet Sweet Rolls

2008-04-06T14:12:00.000-07:00

I saw an allusion to some bread with violets and pineapple
on a blog somewhere. It may have been
Chocolate & Zuchinni. But I was looking
at the gorgeous Un Dimanche a la Campange
and she was referring to sucre parfume a la violette de
chez Lilo. Lilo has a picture of Hawaiian beignets.
That got me thinking of making something
with pineapple and violets. I've always been
mad for violets. My daughter brought me
back some violet syrup from France. I thought
I'd use that in the icing.

I wanted to make a kind of fritter with a whole
pineapple ring and then crush some candied
violets on top. But my son likes sweet rolls
so I used the hot cross bun recipe minus
the spices and stuffed them
with chunks of pineapple. I used the
violet syrup instead of the lemon juice
to make the icing.

I don't really like sweet rolls but I think this
came out pretty well. I'm going to continue
to experiment with the combination of
violet and pineapple. I'm thinking maybe
dried pineapple. But the cooked pineapple
reminds me of pineapple upside down cake.

Blogging By Mail Goodies

2008-04-05T12:57:00.000-07:00

I was scratching my head and wondering what to blog
about this weekend. I went out to get my mail and
guess what??? I received a wonderful package
from England all full of goodies. This is
my first experience of Blogging by Mail.
Its run by Stephanie at Dispensing Happiness.
I have to say its a wonderful thing to do.

The goodies come from Pixie of You Say Tomato... I say Tomato
And here's what I got:
Cupcake papers
Tea Towels (I totally needed them)
Chocolate scented candle
Nutella
Marmite
Star Anise (Check out my tea eggs posting)
Vanilla Beans (I would die without them)
Lots of interesting English Candy that I've never had before
like Flying Saucers, Poppets toffee, Dipper Licker (when I was
a kid that was my most favorite sort of thing), some chocolate
A whole lot of different kinds of tea
Some mustard, marmelade and preserves.

I hope I didn't leave anything out.

Several nice recipes including one for Maltese Pizza which
I am so going to try because anchovies are involved.

Anyhow, I am so pleased.

Homage to Ta Ta Part One

2008-04-02T15:50:00.001-07:00

This is a recipe from my grandmother Ta Ta.

It reads:

Ta Ta's Pimento Cheese

Brand I like Dunbars Cal-Sun sliced or diced
I suggest for birst batch use 2 4 oz jars.
Using a shallow dish, drain pimentos,
use for to mash them then add:
about 5 oz of sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1 hard boiled egg chopped
grated onion to your liking
little salt/pepper
enough mayonaise (I like Hellman's) to make
spreadable on bread.
And that's it!
I prefer grating cheese where the holes on grater
are smallest, but to save time use the
coarser part of the grater

I am fortunate enough to have most of
my grandmother's kitchenware. Here is her
little corning ware bowl and her sandwich spreader.

This One Takes the Cake

2008-03-30T08:56:00.001-07:00

This is my first Daring Bakers effort.

So far so good. I was a bit pressed for time

when I made it. Also, a good cause

I know asked for baked items they

needed for a function. And it was

the day before Easter. So I thought

I'd kill two birds. This is supposed to

be a lamb.

Please don't laugh too hard!!!

This truly takes the cake!!!

Flammkuchen

2008-03-29T09:41:00.000-07:00

I believe there are two types of people.

Sweet people and savory people.

I'm a savory person and this

dish is the definition of savory.

Flammkuchen

1 recipe of pizza dough

(I use 1 package of active dry yeast, 1 teaspoon

salt, 1 cup of warm water and about 3 cups of flour)

100 g. creme fraiche

100 g. sour cream

100 g. quark (its a kind of German yogurt)

1/2 lb. bacon

2-3 chopped onions

Heat the oven up to 450 F.

A hot oven is a must.

Spread dough out thinly on an oiled

baking sheet.

Mix creme fraiche, sour cream and quark

add pepper to taste.

Spead on the dough. Sprinkle onions on top.

Chop bacon into thin strips and put on top.

Bake for 15 to 25 minutes.

Happy Easter!!! Hot Cross Buns

2008-03-23T14:42:00.001-07:00

It didn't really feel like Easter this year because it was so early.
I read in the paper that it hasn't been this early since 1913.
Anyhow, Easter isn't Easter without hot cross buns.

This recipe comes from The Chesapeake Bay Cookbook by John Shields

1 cup milk 1/2 cup sugar
6 tablespoons butter
1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
2 eggs beaten
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
5 cups flour
1 cup raisins or dried currants (currants are better)
grated rind of 1/2 lemon
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon water

Scald milk and add sugar and butter.
Heat until butter is melted and transfer
to a large bowl. Dissolve yeast in water and let
stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. Add to milk.
Beat in the eggs.

Sift together spices, salt, and flour.
Beat into liquid ingredients, 1 cup at a time,
until a soft dough is formed. While beating sprinkle
in currents and lemon rind.

Turn out onto floured board and knead briefly
1 to 2 minutes. Place in an oiled bowl,
cover with a towel, and let rise in a warm place
until doubled in bulk, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Turn out onto floured board and knead briefly,
1 to 2 minutes. Return to oiled bowl, cover,
and let rise again until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350F. Shape dough into biscuits
(make 24) and arrange on buttered baking sheet.
(I use parchment paper and skip the buttering.)
Cover and let rise 30 minutes. Mix together
yoke and water and brush on buns.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes till golden brown.

For the icing I use about 1 1/2 cups
confections sugar. Juice of half a lemon
and 1 egg white. Mix it all together.
When the buns are fairly cool
make crosses on the buns.

Here's a little Easter tea party. I used rose petal
from Republic of Tea. Very fragrant with
loads of rosebuds in it.

The Portrait of a Lady

2008-03-19T13:03:00.000-07:00

This is my entry for Novel Food.
Its a little scene between Ralph Touchet and
Isabel Archer in the The Portrait of a Lady
by Henry James.

"There's no reason we shouldn't stay here--if you don't dislike it. It's very warm; there will he half an hour yet before dark; and if you permit it I'll light a cigarette."

"You may do what you please," said Isabel, "if you'll amuse me till seven o'clock. I propose at that hour to go back and partake of a simple and solitary repast--two poached eggs and a muffin-- at Pratt's Hotel."

"Mayn't I dine with you?" Ralph asked.

"No, you'll dine at your club."

They had wandered back to their chairs in the centre of the square again, and Ralph had lighted his cigarette. It would have given him extreme pleasure to be present in person at the modest little feast she had sketched; but in default of this he liked even being forbidden. For the moment, however, he liked immensely being alone with her, in the thickening dusk, in the centre of the multitudinous town; it made her seem to depend upon him and to be in his power. This power he could exert but vaguely; the best exercise of it was to accept her decisions submissively which indeed there was already an emotion in doing. "Why won't you let me dine with you?" he demanded after a pause.

"Because I don't care for it."

"I suppose you're tired of me."

"I shall be an hour hence. You see I have the gift of foreknowledge."

"Oh, I shall be delightful meanwhile," said Ralph.

I don't think that Isabel Archer ever got to eat this little meal.
I think Caspar Goodwood showed up and ruined her evening.

However, I did try to make some muffins for her.
This recipe comes from Joan Clibbon's Cooking the British Way

Muffins:
1 lb. plain flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 oz. yeast (I use a packet of the dry yeast) 1 teaspoon sugar 1/2 pint warm water (please remember a British pint is 20 oz.) Sieve flour and salt. Cream yeast with sugar and a little water. Mix flour with yeast mixture and 1/2 pint warm water to a rather slack dough. Cover and prove for 2 hours. Divide into eight portions, shape into round balls and leave to prove on a floured board for 20 minutes. Cook on a greased hotplate or girdle, for about 7 minutes on each side.

Some people can still remember the pre-war London Muffin Man who would tour the streets in the afternoons with a large tray of muffins on his head, and ringing a bell to announce his wares. This popular character has long since disappeared, but there is nothing to prevent your enjoying your own home-made toasted muffins, spread with plenty of butter.

I love it when I get to use my cool scale and weights.

Here they are proving.

Here they are on the "girdle". I found it hard to control the heat.
And they sort of blobbed up a bit.

I couldn't complete the meal for Isabel because I can't really poach eggs.
So I decided to make her some Lady Grey tea. The little blue specks
in the tea are dried cornflowers. I highly recommend this tea.
It smells wonderful.

What I got for my Birthday

2008-03-16T09:49:00.000-07:00

Beautiful delicious macarons.

Aztec hot chocolate from Mariebelle. This stuff is just shards
of chocolate that you mix with hot water. It is unbelievably rich.
Its like drinking a dark chocolate candy bar.

A lovely orange scented candle from Molton Brown. And a sweet Gerbera daisy

A Teaposy tea pot with flower bombs.
You pour boiling water on them and
they flare up into a fantastic under tea bouquet.

A yummy box of Belgian choclates.

Chicken Tetrazzini

2008-03-09T11:52:00.000-07:00

In this blog you get to meet Blizzard!!!
He is my beautiful Samoyed. He loves my
cooking.

This is one of those recipes that have
very few ingredients but come together
to make something more than the sum
of their parts.

This recipe comes from the Gourmet Cookbook Volume I.

Take two young chickens about 3 pounds each. Quarter them.
Put them in a large kettle and cover with boiling water.
Simmer them gently until the meat is tender. After
the chickens have begun to simmer, salt the water
a little. let the chickens cool in the broth and then
cut the meat into fine strips. Return the bones
and skn to the broth and bring it to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer
until only two cups remain (I have yet to do this. I find
that I have way more broth than this and it can
be put to good use in other things.)

Slice very thinly 1/2 pound mushrooms. Saute them
in 3 tablespoons butter over low heat until they
are soft and slightly browned.

Cook 1 pound spaghetti until it is tender.

In a saucepan melt 2 tablespoons butter
and blend in 3 tablespoons flour. Stir in gradually
the reserved broth, stirring until it is smooth and thickened.

Stir in 1 cup heavy cream and 3 tablespoons Sherry.
(I use medium Sherry). Add salt, pepper, and nutmet to taste
and cook over low heat 10 minutes. Mix half the sauce
with the mushrooms and the spaghetti and
pour into a generously buttered baking dish. Mix the
remaining sauce with the strips of chicken and
1/2 cup sliced truffles (I have yet to add truffles.)
Make a hole in the center of the spaghetti mixture
and pour into it the chicken mixture. Sprinkle the top
with 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese. Bake in moderate
oven (350F) till the cheese is browned. I usually cook
it for a half hour.

Chicken with Peanut Sauce

2008-03-09T11:31:00.001-07:00

This is a Mexican dish. It takes a bit of time to make but is well
worth the effort. Sometimes we make it and leave out the
chicken because the sauce is so good. There are layers
and layers of flavor each one better than the next.
You'll need a baguette to go with this. The recipe is from
Food and Wine April 2000.

2 ancho chiles, stemmed and seeded
boiling water
1 cup raw peanuts, shelled & skinned
(once I used dry roasted, I washed them off and didn't pan roast them)
2 large tomatoes, coarsley chopped
1 hard roll, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 small onion, coarsley chopped
2 canned chipotle chiles in Adobo
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon Ceylon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 3 1/2 lb chicken cut in 8 pieces (we use boneless chicken breasts!!!!!)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup dry red wine
2 tablespoons red wne vinegar

Soak ancho chiles in boiling water
till softened (15 minutes). Meanwhile in a large
deep skillet, toast the peanuts over moderately
low heat, stirring constantly, until golden
(15 minutes) Put on a plate and cool.
Drain anchos and put in food processor.
Add peanuts, tomatoes, hard roll, onion,
chipotles, garlic and sugar. Puree until smooth.

Combine cinnamon and salt and sprinkle over
chicken. Heat the oil in skillet. Brown the chicken
till golden about 6 minutes per side. Put on a plate.
Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the oil from the
skillet. Add the peanut sauce and cook over moderate heat,
stirring constantly, until very thick (15 minutes) . Don't
skimp on the time, I think
this is the most important step.
Add chicken stock, wine, and vinegar and
bring to a simmer. Nestle the pieces of chicken
in the sauce and simmer over moderately low heat,
turning occasionaly, until cooked through (25 minutes).
I actually cook it a lot longer until it becomes
very tender.

Tea Eggs

2008-03-02T12:21:00.001-08:00

These eggs have a lovely frangrance and a subtle taste.

The recipe comes from Irene Kuo's The Key to Chinese Cooking.

2 dozen small eggs
4 tablespoons salt
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 whole star anise
4 black-tea bags or 4 teaspoons loose black tea

Rise the eggs in cold water carefully to remove
any blemishes. To prevent cracking, puncture the wider
end of the eggs with a straight pin.
Bring 6 cups water to a boil, turn down the
heat to maintain a slow simmering, and lower the eggs into
the water with a spoon Simmer them about 5 minutes.
Place the pot under a running cold faucet
until the pot is full of cold water.
Soak the eggs in the cold water for a minute, then tap
each of them lightly with the back of a spoon
until they are covered with a network of fine cracks.

Put the eggs back in the pot and pour enough cold water
over them to cover. Add the seasonings and bring to a
slow boil over medium heat; adjust the heat to maintain
a very gentle simmering, then cover
and simmer around 2 hours. Remove the spices.
Let them soak in the brine in the fridge till
you are ready to use them.

This is the tea I used because like they say "good tea
tastes better."

Rice Pudding

2008-02-23T13:52:00.000-08:00

This rice pudding is actually my own invention.
I had the day off and was fooling around and was
trying to think of frugal ways of using what I had on hand.

One thing I've had on hand forever is a bunch of
preserved cherry leaves. I can't even remember
how long I've had them. I needed them for something
and can't remember what. So I took 4 cups of milk,
1/2 cup of sushi rice, 2 preserved cherry leaves and put
them in a double boiler. I cooked it for about an hour.
The results were a very creamy, subtly flavored and
nicely scented pudding. I chopped up some almonds for decoration.

Granola

2008-02-23T13:33:00.000-08:00

This recipe is based on Ruth Reichel's The Gourmet Cookbook
6 cups of rolled oats
2 cups unsalted cashews
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup maple syrup
2 cups chopped up dried apricots
1 cup dried cranberries

Mix the oats, nuts, salt, oil and maple syrup together.
Divide mixture between two parchment paper lined
cookie sheets. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.
After the first fifteen minutes, stir each tray and
switch positions in the oven.
When cooked add the apricots and cranberries.
I store it in a large tin and it keeps pretty well.

Pear Sorbet

2008-02-20T13:51:00.000-08:00

To make the sorbet you will need about 2 pounds of pears. Nicely ripe.

I use one not too ripe pear to make pear chips.
You will need a mandoline. Slince paper thin and lay on a parchment lined
cookie sheet. Bake them at about 250F for two hours. Then turn off the oven
and just leave them there.

You will need some lavender flavored cookies to go with the sorbet.
These come from Big Island Candies
They are located in Hilo, Hawaii and your really need to go
there and get some. If you can't you'll have to order
online.

Pear Sorbet (from Gourmet magazine, December, 1980)
Boil 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar for five minutes.
Peel, halve and core 2 pounds of pears. Dropin a bowl of water
acidulated with the juice of half a lemon. Puree the pears and the sugar syrup
in a blender with 5 tablespoons of lemon juice. Chill really
well and freeze in an ice cream maker.

Pumpkin Bread

2008-02-16T13:55:00.001-08:00

This recipe was given to me by my son when he was in nursery school.
It has been used hundreds of times.

The only change I have made to the original is the addition
of about a tablespoon of dried ginger.

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups flour
2 tsps. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsps. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tblsp. dried ginger
3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2/3 cup water
2 cups pumpkin puree (I use one small can of Libby's)

Sift dry ingredients together. Mix pumpkin, water, oil and eggs together.
Pour into dry mixture and mix well. Pour into 2 parchment paper lined
9"x5"x3" loaf pans. Bake in 350 degree oven 1 hour and 15 minutes.

And here is the result. It keeps very well.

Hawaiian Portuguese Bean Soup

2008-02-03T14:48:00.000-08:00

I first had this soup two years ago on the Big Island at the Volcano Golf club. As the name implies the club is right near the volcano. Geese walk around on the courses.
It's a poky little place with real unpretentious homemade food. Check out the menu. I had this soup and a half a tuna sandwich, potato chips, a pickle and root beer.
Probably the soup tastes better in Hawaii. Everything does.
I found this recipe at www.soupsong.com/rhawaii.html
There's a hilarious story about a Hawaiian, a Portuguese and a Japanese and their lunchtime woes in Hawaii.

My Legume Love Affair

Coming soon

2008-02-01T11:19:00.001-08:00

My New Year's resolution was to get this blog started.
Hoping to have a first posting this weekend.