King Cake...Ka-ching!

I got the coin in the King Cake! Along with the possibility of heavy metal poisoning (note the pretty green oxidizing surrounding the coin)  I guess it signifies wealth a-comin' at me in the new year! I'm just grateful I did not break a tooth...total score! Except, it's a Euro. So I can't actually spend it, dang! Is this some kind of sneaky zen koan?

Here is the cake before it was cut up, a real beauty made by my friend Helen. And it was delicious too (once the coin-y and bean-y bits were excised!) King Cakes often have pastel colored icing or bright sugar toppings, but Helen is an artist as well as a natural foods enthusiast so she went her own way with this, to great effect. Here's a recipe for anyone interested: http://southernfood.about.com/od/cajuncuisine/r/bl80104b.htm

Cupcake Day!

Today was Cupcake Day for students at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts! Rainbow-tinted fun. Here is Cupcake Day: The Photoessay:

My own personalized cupcake (there was a toppings bar!)

Peach Season

Peach season is just starting here in the mid-atlantic, and oh how I love it! There's nothing like a good perfectly ripe peach, with it's velvety skin, tender flesh and sweet-tangy juice.  But I am a bit of a peach-fusspot, I will only eat a peach when it is perfectly perfectly ripe. My husband and sons laugh at this, they don't mind chawing at a rubbery unripe lump, or slurping up a peach with deteriorating flesh-quality. Their random grabs at the fruit basket leave me frustrated, as I may be waiting with eagerness for a peach to get to the perfect pitch and before it is quite there, maybe it is even close, wham...they've gone ahead and eaten it. Or they'll crunch up a bunch of very unripe ones, leaving a batch of ripe ones...half of which will "turn" before I can attend to them.  Okay, yeah, fussy fussy fussy. I know. And I don't really care.

Let's see if this signage helps! ;-) Anything goes in my pursuit of the perfect peach!

Love Loaves

My Sourdough Adventure continues! I decided it might be nice to have loaf shapes rather than the boules I have been making. For these loaves I used the King Arthur Rustic Sourdough recipe with a few home modifications. Instead of free-form (i.e. rustic) loaves I used loaf pans, and I also changed the recipe from all-white to multi-grain. These loaves include whole wheat flour, oat bran and ground flaxseed meal. I meant to dust the pans with cornmeal too, but forgot. I also added a 1/2 teaspoon of sour salt (aka citric acid, or vitamin C crystals) to boost the "tang" factor. It all worked out beautifully, this time at least! I've made several clunker batches too as I forge ahead on my sourdough adventure. Those loaves don't get blogged about, but they do get eaten, all the same. Homemade bread, even if far from perfect, still tastes good.

Now for some bread art shots...I just think the whole structure of bread is so gorgeous! It's like an art project you can eat!

Macro shot of the crumb form. Click to enlarge.

My peanut butter jar full of starter continues to do just fine, living in my fridge with only sporadic feeding. I can be a bit scatter-brained so I thought for sure I'd kill her dead in no time but so far she seems perfectly content and healthy!

Somebody asked, so thought I would mention that yeah, I'm using NO fancy or specialized bread-baking equipment. No french bannetons, no danish dough whisk, no scoring knife, no kitchenaid dough hook, no proofing container, no dough-raising bucket, no silpat kneading mat, no baking stone etc etc.  All that stuff does sound great but at the moment I am just having fun, enjoying a free-form free-for-all using only common kitchen utensils. I don't even weigh my ingredients the way real bakers do, although I may come to that in future. :-) Who knows?

A Sourdough Baker's Dozen

This is my second attempt at sourdough baking, using starter passed along by a local foodie acquaintance. My first attempt was disappointing, but this loaf: wow! It looks a complete little world. I used Jim Lahey's no-knead recipe for this try, substituting 1/2 cup of starter for the dry yeast.

And it tastes just the way you think it does....!

Big Momma

I just got my hands on some sourdough starter or "mother" from a generous foodie acquaintance. I love to bake bread and am good with yeast, but have absolutely no experience with sourdough wrangling. I love the flavor of sourdough, and was inspired by hearing Michael Pollan interviewed on NPR yesterday...he waxed enthusiastic about the superior health benefits of fermented foods. I look forward to the adventure! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Last night the house smelled divine as Paul and I took turns at the oven, preparing special treats for today's holiday. I was struck by the glorious colors on the kitchen counter as I put together a butternut squash and apple casserole that is in great demand at family gatherings. I got the recipe years ago from one of my sister-in-laws, and I was preparing it to bring to my other sister-in-law's kitchen today. Thoughts of family, the heady fragrance of cinnamon, nutmeg and mace intermingling, and the bright colors of the ingredients sent me into a happy little cooking trance.

May everyone everywhere have a peaceful and happy day today, filled with blessings and gratitude. ☆¸.••*¨*•♫♪♡♥♡♪♫•*¨*•.¸☆

Italian Penicillin!

Mmmmm...!

I woke up dismally sick yesterday (just that bad cold that is making the rounds) and a very kind friend brought me some homemade Italian Wedding Soup and orange slices...wow! Yummy Italian penicillin!  

The only thing wrong with this soup is that there isn't enough of it to last me several days, so I crawled out today and bought myself a few cans of the Progresso brand. Not as fantastic as homemade but not bad either! 

I looked at some recipes online for when I am feeling better and want to make some myself and this recipe looks good:  http://www.recipegirl.com/2011/01/24/ina-gartens-italian-wedding-soup/

Anyone have a recipe for this soup that they love and want to share?

We Have A Winner (yawn!)

Well, even if nobody else cares, I was pretty excited to win the weekly Trader Joe's drawing! ;-)  I've been filing in those little raffle tickets (for bringing my own bags) once or twice a week for several years now. I might have been suspicious that nobody ever wins except that my friend Carol Peterson won once, back when the store in our neighborhood was new. She won like $50 and had her picture on a poster. It was all very exciting!

But now, years on, and hundreds of weekly winners later, nobody cares and it is only a $20 gift card.  They barely bothered to make eye contact today at the store's service desk, had to root around for the Winner Cards in a drawer, started chatting amongst themselves even as they were sliding the card across the counter to me and basically were pretty yawn about the whole thing. However, I got great props from another customer waiting in line at the desk who exclaimed and congratulated and said Wow! People actually win this thing? No way! That's so great!  and etc. Thanks, dear unknown shopper lady, for making my win more festive for me.  ;-)

In fact, despite the Trader Joe's managers' lack of enthusiasm, I was pretty thrilled. Ironically, they'd called to tell me I won on the same day last week that I had rotator cuff surgery! When I'd gotten home after a day in the hospital and was lying upstairs groggily (on my bed of pain...violins please) my son H told me the good news, with a pleased smile on his face, and you know, that was really a sweet little thing to hear! Something nice, some random stroke of virtue rewarded, that's always going to be kind of nice, however small. A quiet yay! 

A Turnip Bouquet

It's not every day
a bouquet of fat turnips
is laid at your door

(I have such cool neighbors.)

Fruit in Winter

this winter orange-
so many long sunny days
now oozing sweetness

First Cookies!

Yum!

Paul made his first batch of cookies, ever, yesterday! And they were delicious. Way to go, honey! Now that you've "cracked the code" I look forward to many more delicious cookie appearances!

Le chef!

MIT cake

Any excuse for cake, right?

Congratulations Peter Louis Downs, we're all so proud of you!

Cupcake Social

Netta with Cupcake

There is a seemingly never-ending barrage of social and instructive events for us students at PAFA. There are so many opportunities and offerings that  I am almost finding it a bit distracting. But it's all very fun, tempting stuff, like today's Cupcake Social at 4 pm. Hundreds of cupcakes, scores of toppings to customize them, and gallons and gallons of strong coffee. End of day bliss! Could I have squeezed in an extra hour of painting instead of consuming empty calories and socializing? Yes! But it was darn fun.

Cheese Sculpture

Turn your back for one minute in this crazy house and people are making art out of whatever comes to hand! In  Henry's case, a purloined hunk of aged, extra-sharp Cheddar. Notice the fine "tooth-mark" detailing characteristic of this artist's technique. ;-)

Saturday Morning Tabletop

Morning in summer-
fruit on the breakfast table,
big bright day ahead

Unhappy Eggs

The latest batch of hard-boiled egg faces came out a little sad and angsty this time. Perhaps in preparation for a new dish:  oeufs durs et tristes?

Happy Saint Cupcake's Day!

Can you tell which one is mine? ;-)
On a hunt for a particular kind of cupcake (for painting purposes) I went cupcake shopping four frustrating times before striking it lucky on the fifth attempt. My friend Mary W finally clued me in as to where to go! Being shopping-avoidant myself it is great to have friends who know what's out there!

Hard-boiled Fun

The latest batch of hard-boiled egg faces.

Evil Cookies!

BWAHAHAHA!

"Death to all diets!" scream the collected hordes of leftover Holiday Treats. They are led by this devious looking fellow...Sugarnut McButterfat. His motto "C'mon, just one won't kill you!"