Today I relished the fact that even though it is Saturday and I haven't had a job to go to for five days it still feels like the weekend. I was up early, even earlier than the week days, and watched the sun rise slowly and faintly over the Willamette River. Then I ventured off into the chilly morning to a yoga class, and finally to the farmer's market where I bought ingredients for a birthday dinner (Italian plums, sausage, garlic, cheese) and a huge (really, really big) bunch of vibrant purple dahlias.
I spent a quiet afternoon at home ... hot shower, warm greens and tomatoes for lunch, and hours and hours of pouring over M.F.K. Fisher's lovely words and thoughts. Feeling a little rebellious, a little indulgent, a little naughty, I took advantage of the lengthy Saturday and poured myself a glass of red wine, and then after a few minutes, another. I don't normally drink during daylight hours but there are times when it feels ever so nice to sit at a beautiful table with an abundant bowl of fall fruit, and blooming flowers. The September light was flooding in and I was so content to be a grown up lady, happily alone, enjoying a glass of wine.
Changes are good and I am ever hopeful for more afternoons like today.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Lady Insane's Goat Cheese
I have a friend who is even more interested than me in quirky food projects. Lately her obsession has been goat cheese. Rather than happily buying a fresh log or a fragrant round of goat cheese she wanted to make her own.
She drove an hour and a half each direction to obtain the purest, unpasteurized goat cheese and then took it home to make the magic happen. She told us in detail how she made the goat cheese but all I remember is something about the ramekins of goat milk and enzymes sitting overnight in a cold oven. In the morning -- goat cheese!
I might have listened more carefully were it not for the sampler of goat cheeses that lay out before me: there was lavender goat cheese, rosemary goat cheese, Italian goat cheese, and plain. I went back and forth between each before deciding I liked them all equally. Mild and creamy and tart they were truly a treat.
There is nothing, yes nothing, like a meal outside on a September evening with rose and olives and hazelnuts and bread and dish upon dish of delectable treats made by hand by the girlfriends you love.
She drove an hour and a half each direction to obtain the purest, unpasteurized goat cheese and then took it home to make the magic happen. She told us in detail how she made the goat cheese but all I remember is something about the ramekins of goat milk and enzymes sitting overnight in a cold oven. In the morning -- goat cheese!
I might have listened more carefully were it not for the sampler of goat cheeses that lay out before me: there was lavender goat cheese, rosemary goat cheese, Italian goat cheese, and plain. I went back and forth between each before deciding I liked them all equally. Mild and creamy and tart they were truly a treat.
There is nothing, yes nothing, like a meal outside on a September evening with rose and olives and hazelnuts and bread and dish upon dish of delectable treats made by hand by the girlfriends you love.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Living in a Slow Food Nation!
A few snapshots from my weekend at Slow Food Nation in San Francisco. What a trip!
Bake zucchini bread today! Give it away tomorrow!
Each morning on the way to work I drive past a building supply store called Elmo Studd's. Though I have never been there, Elmo Studd's seems to me to be the epitome of a great small business, efficient and useful, with a honest and ever changing billboard erected on an ever busier corner.
The billboard does not advertise nails or lumber or staple guns for sale. Instead it announces the opening of the newest play produced by the community theatre and tells the high school kids to drive safe and have fun at prom. In late summer Elmo advises the masses to bake zucchini bread. Zucchini is abundant, so abundant that Elmo says to give the bread to those you like, or those you don't like. Whatever it takes to unload loaf after loaf of expertly tin foil wrapped bread.
And so I did it. Even though zucchini bread is not my favorite, I baked. It seemed the right, most civic minded thing to do, especially since I had two rather thin and delicate looking zucchini perched in my produce bowl just waiting for something to be done with them.
I must say, the bread was divine. Apparently delicate zucchini produces delicate zucchini bread that is brown and good and flecked with amazingly green morsels of shredded zucchini. On a whim, and because I was out of walnuts but had blueberries, I added blueberries to the mix with very pleasing results. It is the only blue and green bread I've ever eaten, but I dare say I'll make it again soon, and not just because a billboard told me to.
Blueberry Zucchini Bread
Adapted from Magnolia Bakery's Zucchini Walnut Bread recipe
1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup shredded zucchini (include the skin!)
1/2 to 3/4 cup blueberries
Preheat oven to 350
Grease loaf pan (9 x5 x 3 size) and line with parchment.
In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon and set aside.
In a larger bowl, on medium speed of mixer, beat together the oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and thick, about 3 minutes. Stir in the zucchini.
Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add the blueberries and stir very gently.
Pour the batter into a prepared pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes. Let cool for at least one hour before cutting or serving.
This bread is very moist and almost cake like. Make sure bread is really done before removing from oven.
The billboard does not advertise nails or lumber or staple guns for sale. Instead it announces the opening of the newest play produced by the community theatre and tells the high school kids to drive safe and have fun at prom. In late summer Elmo advises the masses to bake zucchini bread. Zucchini is abundant, so abundant that Elmo says to give the bread to those you like, or those you don't like. Whatever it takes to unload loaf after loaf of expertly tin foil wrapped bread.
And so I did it. Even though zucchini bread is not my favorite, I baked. It seemed the right, most civic minded thing to do, especially since I had two rather thin and delicate looking zucchini perched in my produce bowl just waiting for something to be done with them.
I must say, the bread was divine. Apparently delicate zucchini produces delicate zucchini bread that is brown and good and flecked with amazingly green morsels of shredded zucchini. On a whim, and because I was out of walnuts but had blueberries, I added blueberries to the mix with very pleasing results. It is the only blue and green bread I've ever eaten, but I dare say I'll make it again soon, and not just because a billboard told me to.
Blueberry Zucchini Bread
Adapted from Magnolia Bakery's Zucchini Walnut Bread recipe
1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup shredded zucchini (include the skin!)
1/2 to 3/4 cup blueberries
Preheat oven to 350
Grease loaf pan (9 x5 x 3 size) and line with parchment.
In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon and set aside.
In a larger bowl, on medium speed of mixer, beat together the oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and thick, about 3 minutes. Stir in the zucchini.
Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add the blueberries and stir very gently.
Pour the batter into a prepared pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes. Let cool for at least one hour before cutting or serving.
This bread is very moist and almost cake like. Make sure bread is really done before removing from oven.