Peach Butter? Jam? Compote?

I'm not exactly sure what to call this. I intended it to be peach butter but it didn't really turn out that way. The peaches are from the farmers market and some of them had gone south already so I had to toss them into the compost. With what was remaining (maybe 7/8) I blanched them to get the skin off and cut them up into bite-sized pieces. I added about 1 1/4 cups of sugar, a little almond extract, and the scrapings of 1/2 a vanilla bean. There was supposed to be lemon juice too but I forgot to add it. I boiled it for 10 minutes and it got too thick too quick, so I added about 1/2 cup of peach schnapps to thin it out. I'm sure orange juice or peach nectar would be fine too. Then I simmered it on medium/low for about an hour. The result is a very sweet (could have used a little less sugar) stewed fruit concoction. I think it probably more closely resembles a compote than anything. It's really, really good warmed just slightly and served over vanilla ice cream. Other possible uses include pound cake, parfait, waffles, etc. The color is a little off but that's because I forgot the lemon juice. Might try this again with less sugar and orange juice instead of the schnapps.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Classic Banana Bundt Cake

First of all, this week's selection was chosen by The Food Librarian, one of my favorite TWD baker/bloggers. She makes things that look so good I want to lick my computer screen.

I don't have a traditional bundt ban but I do have a rose-shaped Nordicware pan which I previously used for the Kugelhopf. And I'm positive this would have been pretty baked in that rose pan. However, I was making the bundt cake to share so I made it into cupcake/muffins instead, making it loads easier to transport.

Putting the batter together was fairly simple, dry ingredients, butter + sugar, eggs, etc. I did add a splash of almond extract and only had 3 bananas instead of 4 but those were my only changes.

Out of the batter I got almost 24 cupcake/muffins and one smallish loaf cake. The glaze was a super simple lemon juice and confectioner's sugar glaze, which didn't taste weird with the banana at all.I kept a few of the cupcakes myself, I ate one while it was still warm and oh-my-gosh it was good, very moist and bananay. The loaf cake went to a co-worker and the rest of the cupcakes were dispersed amongst my knitta friends. This recipe's a keeper.

Kind-of lazy and sickly weekend

The couch got a lot of use this weekend, I was laid up there, with knitting in hand for quite a while. I developed a sore throat Friday afternoon and was scared I was getting a cold so I started taking an over-the-counter meds in hopes of warding off any more sickness. Truly the sore throat and a two day long headache were my only symptoms. Saturday morning I still woke up early and went to the farmer's market. I bought peaches, red potatoes, figs, black-eyed peas, a bar of soap, coffee and some zinnias. I think I may try to make peach sorbet and peach butter later this week if I can find the time.

The zinnias are so pretty, it's too bad they only lasted about 15 minutes after I snapped this shot before the cats decided to see how they tasted.

Later in the morning the generous and thoughtful macaron fairy stopped by and brought me some macarons from Pix, which I had missed while in Portland because of their ice cream social. A few were broken because of traveling across the country but that didn't affect the taste, the margarita one and the one with chocolate filling tied for my favorites. I still intend on attempting to make macarons, even after my failure earlier in the year.

Saturday afternoon I watched Welcome to the Dollhouse for the millionth time. Kind of the female precursor to Napoleon Dynamite, only a little um, edgier? I worked on Woodland Shawl I started on my trip. And I developed cast-on-itis and started a garter stitch shawl with Sunshine Yarn in the Forks colorway. It seems to be pretty mindless and simple, which I wanted since the yarn is really variegated.

Last Tuesday was Doug’s 40th birthday and he really didn’t want a lot of fuss, so we went out to dinner that night and I planned on making his favorite meal this past weekend. He loves lasagna and requested a coconut birthday cake. The lasagna recipe is from Epicurious and is delicious. I don't normally cook with sausage but this made the dish. The cake recipe is from Ina Garten aka Barefoot Contessa, it calls for a grand total of FIVE sticks of butter - FIVE. I was confused at first, was this really a Paula Deen recipe? In the interest of heart health I halved the recipe and only made one layer. And then I forgot the cream cheese for the original frosting recipe so I just made a plain-jane buttercream frosting but with almond extract. We didn’t have any candles so I decorated the top with woodland creatures from my Bake It Pretty stash. He loved it.

Battered Suitcases Part II

So here's the second part of my Pacific Northwest adventure.

Saturday I got up early, planned my bus route and headed to Division/Clinton Streets where they were having a street fair. I had to change buses on this trip, not too much of a pain. though I had a mocha and a scone at Flying Cat Coffee and spent a good hour walking up and down Division Street. There were a few thrift stores and a few other random spots I poked around in. I picked up some vintage hankies at Time Bomb Vintage, had organic lemonade, watched the street parade and got a shot of the mayor of Portland riding a bike. Also this dude who was dressed as a ladybug...

Lunch was eaten at Little T American Baker, which was crowded (as any place would be on a Saturday at brunch/lunch time) but was sleek, modern and very affordable. I had quiche and a salad. Pix Patisserie was on my list to visit for macarons but they were having an ice cream social that day so I didn't get any macarons.

That afternoon I headed back to the Alberta neighborhood to go to Bolt and Close Knit. Both shops were small but filled with gorgeous yarns and fabrics. At Bolt I bought one of the Colette patterns I've been stalking online. I'm months, maybe many months, away from being able to actually sew this pattern but I can still look at it longingly. Close Knit was having a sale yet I still only bought one hank of yarn. Seriously. Lynsey and I met up again and grabbed a snack at Fuel Cafe (my snack was actually a huge spinach salad). And we ended up back at Random Order and this time I got a piece of strawberry rhubarb pie, which I later ate with my hand in my hotel room because I didn't have a fork.

Saturday night Ted's band, Satan's Pilgrims, played at Doug Fir, which conveniently was a part of my hotel. They were excellent but I left early because the combination of sunburn + alcohol made me a little woozy.

Sunday I had breakfast at Doug Fir before taking a cab to the train station to travel back to Seattle. Again a nice train trip, still no window seat though. My friend Regina picked me up at the station in Seattle and took me to West Seattle, where there's a beach and a string of restaurants/shops. We spent the afternoon catching up, having fish and chips, coffee and cake before I had to go check-in at the lovely Holiday Inn since I had a 6AM flight. It would have been even lovelier if room #706 had a been a little less 'rambunctious'.

I made it back to Memphis safely on Monday night, after a short delay in Dallas. My PNW trip was fantastic and I have such sweet and thoughtful friends to thank. Hopefully Doug will be able to come with me next time and maybe we can make it to the coast, I'm dying to go to Astoria (Goonies anyone?)

Battered Suitcases Part I

I've been and gone and come home again. I left last Wednesday for the Pacific Northwest, flying from Memphis to Chicago and then Chicago to Seattle, then taking the train from Seattle to Portland. It was a long day and by the end of it I was smelly and sweaty and hated almost everyone. Flying is not my favorite activity, especially the 3 hour + flight to Seattle. But once we flew into view of Mount Rainier and Mount Baker I was a little less nervous. The mountains are breathtaking, I can't imagine I'd ever get tired of looking at them. Once I landed in Seattle I took the bus to the Amtrak station to wait for the train to Portland. The station seems to be mostly original but based on what I saw they're doing some construction and repairs. The inside has beautiful old moldings and fixtures. The train trip itself was excellent, if all trains were like the Amtrak Cascades I'd never travel any other way. I didn't get a window seat but I was able to get a decent view of the landscape. Again, more breathtaking views of the water and the mountains. Loved it.

Once in Portland, my friends Lynsey and Ted picked graciously picked me up and took me to dinner at Apizza Scholls. There was olives and pizza and hard cider. Later, Lynsey and I went to Powell's Books and I almost fell into a book coma. Holy hell, the books. Completely amazing, sadly by the time we were at Powell's I had been awake since 6:30AM Tuesday with about a 3 hour nap and I didn't remember to take any pictures. I bought some Ralph Waldo Emerson and George Eliot for the library and bought Doug a children's insect book and the new Bukowski book.

Thursday morning Ted and Lynsey picked me up at my hotel, the Jupiter and we went for waffle sandwiches at Flavour Spot. As if I needed another reason fall madly in love with Portland, oooooh the waffles. We shared one with Nutella and raspberry, one with sausage and whipped maple butter and one with ham and some sort of cheese that I can't remember right now. Words cannot describe how awesome these were. I have dreams about them now. They drove me around some Portland neighborhoods and the Pearl District. There was a visit to Knit/Purl for yarn and Josephine's Dry Goods for fabric and notions. I restrained myself and only bought *three* skeins of yarn.

A mid-afternoon snack at Por Que No Taqueria on Mississippi and I had quesadillas with squash blossoms and a blueberry margarita, which was pretty and delicious. Doug had requested 'fancy' salt so I found The Meadow, also on Mississippi, and bought him a starter set. I've never seen so many kind of salt and pepper in all of my life. They even had salt bricks. I won't bore you with the other details but I had a fabulous day with friends in Portland. By the end of the day I had also been to Petite Provence, (one of these is called a 'Monkey Bomb' and it had a coconut macaroon base, banana custard, banana slices and a chocolate shell), Random Order Coffeehouse, the Grilled Cheese Grill (bus), walked around the Alberta neighborhood of Portland (everyone has these amazing gardens), seen some people playing unicycle polo and had a late night snack of Belgian frites with rosemary-truffle oil ketchup at Potato Champion.

Friday I was on my own, I didn't rent a car because everyone told me the PDX public transit system was excellent. It was, before I left Memphis I downloaded the PDX bus app for my iPhone and it was spot-on. All I had to do was type in the address I was at and the address of where I wanted to go and it gave me perfect directions. However, if you get distracted and don't pay attention to what direction you're going you may end up in the Portland 'burbs instead of downtown. Everything was a little more low-key on Friday, I wandered around and took in the scenery. I found out that The Thermals were playing for free at a record store a short bus ride away from my hotel so I went. The band was good but the store was packed with sweaty people and after six songs I had to leave because it was so hot and I was hungry. I ate dinner at this place, I just happened to stumble upon after I left the record store. Wine and a prosciutto and apple panini for dinner. For some reason I ate a lot of pressed sandwiches while in Portland, they were all good though.

More next post (I can't promise I won't talk about more food and yarn and bus trips and you might find it boring)

Tuesdays with Dorie: Vanilla Ice Cream

Sorry I was MIA last week, I was getting ready to go out of town and got too busy to bake/make. But I did make the vanilla ice cream at the beginning of the month, in fact it was so good I made it twice in July. Considering the 'eggy' flavor of the honey-peach ice cream I was a concerned the vanilla ice cream might have the same issue since it's also made with egg yolks. But I had no need to be concerned. I used a vanilla bean and let it steep in the cream/milk mixture for 45 minutes. The ice cream was beyond delicious, it oozed vanilla flavor and didn't taste eggy at all. Great selection from Lynne of Cafe LynnyLu, thanks!

Weekend in pictures

Ate cherries, lots and lots of cherries (using the berry bowl from Bridgman Pottery!)

Spent 80% of the weekend knitting in an attempt to finish up my Ophelia cardigan. Casting off today, seaming & blocking tonight and maybe, just maybe, I can wear it tomorrow night.

Drank grape soda in a glass bottle. Had forgotten how good grape soda in a glass bottle is.

Cooked some tasty things, including Shrimp and Grits (used Bobby Flay's recipe), Cherry-Almond Cake (from Martha) and threw together a mozzarella, tomato & basil pizza. And we are more purple pole beans from the garden. Yum.

It was bizarro world in Memphis the last few days. The humidity was practically non-existent and the weather was so gorgeous and the highs were in the 80's, almost unheard of in the middle of July. I tried to spent as much time as possible in my red wicker chair outside. Mosquitoes were unfazed though and still found time to munch on me.

Make this!

So what's a girl to do when her husband is off playing D&D? Make chocolate sorbet, that's what. Last night I was home alone (which I enjoyed) and I wanted to make something sweet but it was nine-million degrees outside and turning on the oven was the last thing I wanted to do. So I pulled out the ice cream maker and poked around online. Smitten Kitchen had a posting from exactly one year ago yesterday for Chocolate Sorbet from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop. I happened to have all the necessary ingredients on hand so I got to making sorbet. I used up the last of the Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder for this so it was extra dark and chocolaty. I licked the spoon and the bowl and the ice cream paddle and the bowl again - you get the picture. Even in non-frozen form it was damn good. It also took *maybe* 15 minutes to put together (not including the time for cooling the mixture, running the machine & freezing). It was even better when we dug into it tonight. Delicious. It melts quickly though but if you eat it as fast as I did that won't be a problem.And in further poking around online today I found Cake Wrecks. I'm probably the last person in the universe to see this but I have been reading it all afternoon and my ribs hurt from laughing so hard.

Garden Update: Week 13.5

I harvested my first cucumber last Sunday, which I promptly used for a cucumber salad. I also picked the last few mature beans and gave them to my mom because we were kind of 'beaned out' for now. They're blooming again so I'm sure they'll be more beans in no time.Tomatoes are getting so tall, still only little green tomatoes though. The Green Zebra Stripe tomato plants are dying though? I have no clue why, they're in the same bed as the other tomatoes and they all seem to be doing well?Eggplants are getting bigger and more have started...Bush beans have teeny tiny beans on them

All the squash relations (cucumber, butternut & pumpkin) have developed what appears to be powdery mildew. I'm going to attempt an organic remedy for this, we'll see if it works. All the little cucumbers are growing in misshapen and discolored and I'm sure it's from the mildew.Roma tomato (from the compost tomato plant) is ripening

Bell peppers are starting to ripen tooEverything else is growing no really significant changes just bigger and/or bushier.