I am a big fan of Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins and Joan Baez. This was just about as crazy as I got in my teenage years. Not too exciting, but the music was totally great. I thought of Joni Mitchell this morning and felt I should re-work a little of her lyrics. Cumulus are ok, I guess.
Well, needless to say, the weather has been crossed off my list when it comes to inspiration-providing criteria again for this week. Just in case you have missed my bias, I am sorry, but this is no small thing to me. If the sun is not shining, I am working at sub-par performance. I don’t think cloudy days are good for anything, except sleeping. It’s a brain chemical thing. I have been trying to figure out a solution to this problem for many years. This morning I am walking around the house turning on the lights and drinking a huge mug of serious coffee (I am a tea drinker). Yesterday, my yoga instructor, planted this – “just change it” about something that is in your mind. Today, I am going to try this, I have to – the forecast isn’t good for the week until Friday – seriously, where are we, Seattle??? I promise, after today – no more complaining about the weather unless it is directly related to the intended subject matter of this blog.
I had a lot of experiments to do this week involving baking. These are postponed until the air dries out. This is BECAUSE, you can’t get a good read on any recipes when it is humid. On Sunday evening, when it was nice, I made the cover recipe, chiffon cake, on Martha Stewart Living – June. This came out well, had good loft, crumb and structure, and is a good reminder of my Mom’s delicious sponge cake recipe. However, I thought it had a distinctively “eggy” aftertaste, and when I make it again, I will add the zest of a lemon to see if I can override this – as Ina does with her Angel Food Cake. (Maybe it was my eggs and Martha’s own fresh eggs don’t do this?) Also, I didn’t have a vanilla bean so I used the vanilla extract the recipe said was ok to substitute- the vanilla bean may have also helped a bit. When my Mom made this cake we just served a slice with a dollop of whipped cream and sliced fresh strawberries on top. Or, we had it plain. The cake should taste great on its own so you can grab a slice of it for a snack. I didn’t do the cream and strawberry layer thing as I hate to refrigerate a cake – a subject of great debate for me in pastry school. Anyway, by last night the top of this cake was wet and weepy – a huge shame as the top crumb, when it is nice and dry outside, is the best part – like muffin-tops and the crust on good bread! Keep this in mind when you are baking – I can’t think of anything that comes out well in this weather unless you are in a humidity-controlled kitchen and plan to stay there!
Yesterday, I started catching up on my reading. I was going through the March-April issue of Edible Manhattan – all about dairy. There are several great articles in this issue – the two I liked best were about Murray’s Cheese and Miles Cahn – the former owner of Coach leatherware and now making the celebrated Coach Farm Goat Cheese in the Hudson Valley. I am a big fan of the “Edible” publications and collect them wherever I see them. This concept is a great idea in the food media world and won the James Beard Award for Publication of the Year in 2011. It is hard not to want to subscribe to many of these issues – my favorites being Santa Barbara and Cape Cod, in addition to Manhattan and Jersey. Last night was the James Beard Foundation Awards Ceremony and Gala and while I abhor black-tie events, I really would love to go to this someday!!!! Can’t wait to see who won awards this year – especially for publications.
Well, reading Edible Manhattan got me thinking about two great books I have – one entitled, Goat Cheese by Maggie Foard and the other being Hudson Valley Mediterranean by Laura Pensiero. Tonight I plan to try the Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Strawberry Balsamic BBQ Sauce, a recipe in the Hudson Valley book. Both of these are great books, the latter having many post-its stuck to pages. One thing I plan to do today is look for a good chicken with goat cheese recipe to experiment with.
Also today, I am going to begin to look for places to go for fresh picked strawberries. I am guessing it is still early for this, but I am going to do some research. In many of my current magazines, La Cucina Italiana and Tastes of Italia, in particular, they are raving about the Italian strawberry harvests and festivals and showcase a lot of recipes. This makes me want to drive to the airport and get on a plane to Italy to explore the town of Nemi, which Mary Ann Esposito says features the “famed” fragoline di bosco” (aka fraise des bois in France). Gosh, everything about that country makes me totally inspired (well maybe except their Winter weather). Anyway, I plan to find some places to go that are closer to home. Will report back to you on this. Note to self – have to work on the revenue side of this vocation so I can finance all of my planned trips!
Yesterday, I planted my new rose, Sunsprite, (cv.KOPresia) in my side yard (photo above). This is an exquisite yellow rose, floribunda class, that I am hoping will work out well here. My roses are looking great so far – have tons of buds and robust foliage and I haven’t fed them at all. I have found the knock-outs to be especially successful and have many here and on Cape Cod. I am looking forward to having these come into flower and will post pictures when they do.
I also picked up some Heirloom tomato plants and a large, already fruiting, “Early Girl” – can you see those? They make me happy – aren’t they beautiful? So far, I have selected Yellow Brandywine, Mr. Stripey and Cherokee Purple. It is still early here to find a lot of heirloom plants, so I will keep looking and report back on selections and success. Tomatoes love hot weather so I am not so sure about the wisdom of buying a lot of plants now. But, if you wait too long, they are gone. Right now I am seriously hoping those “Early Girls” keep thriving!!!!
I’m off now to make my omelette of the day. Yesterday, it was tomato, basil, spinach, shallot and a hint of cheddar. I eat eggs for breakfast every morning and honestly need to find some new ideas. I want to experiment with a puff-pastry egg cup. Will let you know how this works out.
Below is a Dahlia I couldn’t resist. It didn’t come with a marker so I don’t know exactly which one it is, but it is my absolute favorite shade of pink. I think it is gorgeous and this plus fooling around in the kitchen will sustain me today! Ciao!
