a puu and a pig

the weekend scheme

2011-04-15T10:37:00.002-04:00

i made some huge progress last week, finishing up a few pieces to clear out a lot of space to finish up....a few more pieces. the week, however, didn't quite end up supporting much work after monday. these things happen sometimes. last night while sprawled on the couch i began to feel that it was time to get back to work.

decisions must be made, focus must be found. it's time to fish or cut bait on a few WIPs--the new 1940s sundress, the New Look sheath, and the vintage vogue re-issue that needs a hem. i will try to finish these during the weekend. if i start something new, i am feeling stirrings of interest in my minako 60s dress, which would be nice to pull out and work on, or perhaps one of my 1950s advance dresses cut out a few weeks ago (two of which need linings cut out first!)

working on a few pieces that require additional cutting may be a nice way to "get something done" tonight while i relax after the week, and will give me something to work on tomorrow during the forecast rain. since i also want to do some baking tomorrow, to make the rainbow cookies for passover, that could be a solid balance as each will require me to take a break from the other. and that kind of weather is perfect stay-at-home weather.

the winter-that-wouldn't-end dress

2011-04-14T10:42:00.000-04:00

Pattern Description:
(from etsy seller clovas)
Darling day dress with faux wrap bodice. The dress can be belted or tied. There is also the option of a scalloped or straight edging, so cute.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
yes.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
the faux-wrap gives the bodice a nice look while using less fabric (helpful in 1940s rationing and also when using liberty fabric!) than a traditional wrap. i like the looseness of gathers on these 40s bodices, and the scallop seemed like a great mate for the fabric i had chosen. in fact, this pattern lingered on my "favorites" list for months until i saw the fabric and immediately found inspiration.

Fabric Used:
liberty of london tana lawn, appropriately titled "winter stem", from purl in New York City

Conclusion:
here in the tundra formerly known as NYC, the weather continues to drag on and on as though no one has passed mother nature the memo that it is april and time for nicer weather! although i'd originally intended this dress to be a house dress, or a weekend dress, yesterday, the weather was raw, damp, windy and unpleasant and this seemed an appropriate dress for the occasion:
comfortable, a "winter" print, and yet colorful enough to impart some cheer. alas, the comfort factor on the dress made me realize how much i'd rather be at home, with a cute pair of leggings on under it and a much heavier sweater on over it, with my feet up and something hot and spiked in a mug by my side. all day, whenever i looked down at my dress, i longed to be home and even felt that not all 40s day dresses were created equal in terms of work-week wear.

i have not yet made the tie, although i intend to.

this dress was constructed on a whim one saturday evening a week to the day after i had taken the fabric home--the very day the pattern arrived in the mail. it was late--always a bad sign--and i was cutting. i'll just say that i had to cut the bodice more than once!

also--understitching scallop facing = interesting times...

Make again?
advance 3951 may not get made again, and this particular inclination of it will certainly be employed more on weekends than during the week. however, i continue unabashed my love and appreciation of these 1940s advance patterns. they are basic, a cinch to work with, and offer up loads of options because of their simplicity. prints, solids, stripes, it all works, it's all easy, and it's all fun to wear--if you wear it in the right environment!

the finished frankenpattern

2011-04-12T10:42:00.000-04:00

the ideal: McCall 6273, originally spotted on glass of fashion

ORIGINAL Pattern Description:
(from glass of fashion's etsy site)
Cute pattern by McCalls for a button through dress with gathered detailing on the bodice. Choose a high keyhole neck with bow detail or cut-out neck. Three sleeve variations: short gathered, three quarter gathered, or long and straight.

Actual Patterns Used:


Simplicity 3262 purchased from savagespider	McCall 6314 purchased from VintageJubilee

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
yes! in fact, i liked it even better once i decided to make the skirt have some extra fullness in the back, as suggested by McCall 6314.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
i decided that the gathers on the bust darts were too nice a design feature to ignore. of course, the instant i decided this, someone snapped up the pattern on etsy. six months later i finally had enough understanding of the pattern pieces, and additional patterns for inspiration and guidance, to attempt it on my own.

Fabric Used:
liberty of london tana lawn "hanako" from B&J in New York City

(image from tessuti fabrics)

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
simplicity 3262 had both the bust gathers i admired as well as a kimono sleeve, instead of the set-in sleeve on McCall 6314. gathering up the sleeve and tying it off was simple and easy and best of all, built into the sleeve on S3262. M6314 inspired a continuous gather going from the bust apex down to about the hip, which i found both flattering and aesthetically pleasing. also, i really enjoyed the skirt design on M6314, which gives one some extra fullness in the back.

obviously, looking at the pattern pieces, there is very little complicated drafting going on here, and given enough time i could have done it myself--maybe. (drafting is a bit out of my wheelhouse, but necessity may have surprised me...) still, i had these patterns in the stash, and why re-invent the wheel? the major "drafting" i did was to turn the v-neck into a sweetheart neckline (thank you, french curve) and to draft an extension beyond the CF point on the bodice and skirt pieces to accommodate a button front.

i shortened the skirt to go 22" down from my natural waistline instead of the period-appropriate below-knee length. but i'm beginning to wonder, given the prevalence of longer hems this season, if i may need to stop shortening my vintage skirt patterns!

Construction:
as has become my standard practice on these gorgeous 40s dresses, i didn't line or face anything but finished all seams (including neckline and armscye) with a bias binding. in this instance, i used a matching bias binding on all seams and finished the waistline seam with a bit of contrast grosgrain ribbon from Pacific Trimmings. the hem was turned up and finished with some basic wright's hem lace in the same color as the ribbon.

buttonholes thanks to jonathan embroidery. to make the front extensions work as a sort of makeshift placket, i took a strip of fusible interfacing tape, sewed it to the RS raw edge of the extension, flipped it over to encase the edge, and turned the entire bit over once more for a clean and "faced" finish. really, an adaption of the excellent facing techniques recently described on both the off-the-cuff blog as well as the male pattern boldness shirt sew-a-long.

feeling directionless

2011-04-01T09:52:00.002-04:00

a tough week at the machine.

i had a fantastic weekend. i finished both of my vogue 6043 tops, the skirt, and about 60% of the shorts. i had a breakthrough on my vogue couturier design pucci top and made very exciting progress-into a home stretch, now. i did an exhaustive clean-up of my sewing space and got the whole system under control. i whipped up the little new look dress in some Liberty print that may have been a mistake--should use the leftover for a simple top--and started my 2nd simplicity sundress with my modified princess pattern. (i will still need to dart in under the arms. *sigh*)

i managed to work in fits and spurts during the week but overall accomplished so little that the only thing keeping me sewing was knowing that if i took the week off, it would take me a while to get back into the swing. then on wednesday night i had a crisis of conscience. i was trying on my vogue tops and everything about them seemed wrong. i tried on my new look dress and it seemed wrong. and i remain paralyzed on what to do with my etro print and two of my puccis. last night i sat in front of my project board and stared helplessly at all of my marked projects. i pulled out the puccis, spread them out, folded them up, and put them away.

fortunately i managed to end up an up note of sorts--i retried my vogue tops and they fit, both of them, and fit nicely. so i will outsource the button attachment to the dry cleaner tomorrow and feel better about life.

weekend outlook? maybe the pucci top lining--i'm feeling ready to finish my bias-cut "purple chris" dress and to commit to what to do with the rest of the scraps--i feel ready to spend the hour (or less) it will take to finish the yellow dress with the cute floral inverted pleat. i'd like to cut the bemberg lining for my new project runway dress in the ian rhodes LoL print, because that dress will make up beautifully and easily and is perfect for april/may, before i allow myself to take the plunge on all the crazy and adorable summer pieces i am plotting.

it's time also to fish or cut bait on getting started on my chanel.

energy

2011-03-24T17:01:00.002-04:00

starting to feel some actual stirrings of actual energy. i've noticed this week that it's been marginally easier to wake up and that sleep has been more satisfying. i've been more interested in food. i've been more excited during the day about projects--not always a good thing, since i so often lose focus on the drive home.

not sure what my approach will be this evening. for dinner, i am thinking classic: grilled cheese and tomato soup. i ate some of my leftover burritos for lunch and they were satisfying and super-filling, which was unusual.

i do plan to do some work tonight. i have a feeling that if i let myself go with whatever strikes me, i could get a lot done. i pressed out the linings for both of my tops last night, although i didn't feel like dealing with the logistics of sewing them, taking them in, and figuring out the best way to attach them, but the time is drawing near. the skirt i can do easily, and i may finish my evening with that as it is relatively simple, relatively quick and likely to be something i can use to end on a high note.

i did some work also on my bias top with the rose-print liberty. it took me a few tries, but i understand the assembly procedure now and may be able to finish that as well, which would be fun. i'm not sure, but it may not need a zipper, which would, of course, be excellent.

i'm thinking toward the weekend. i may have no choice but to go out to the house because of my drivers license, which needs renewal. my ideal would be having enough finished to be able to go to jonathan and get the buttonholes on my mini-wardrobe, as well as my fake mccall dress, taken care of--then i could get out to the house and over to DMV before 1 (closing time). the best use of my time after that may be to do muslins on all of the fancy silk work i have been plotting for april, may and june. i can head up to jo-ann and get some cheap "silk" to play with, and maybe even do some work on my already-cut pucci top, which i've been considering hand-basting together. other than that, i am largely caught up on cutting, unless i want to jump ahead (which, yes, part of me wants to) to the three summer frocks i'm plotting with my new liberty acquisitions--but those are great, easy little frocks and i think they could be a great memorial day weekend project (all the more reason to cut them now? i'm not sure--but it seems premature).

heck, i should probably even do two muslins for the silk--one with muslin, to tweak any design issues and major fit changes, and one in "silk" to see how it plays out. the muslin would be easier to modify pattern-wise and i'll need to do something in silk to make sure that the drape is still appropriate.

getting back to form?

2011-03-23T10:11:00.002-04:00

i definitely have not been as focused as i might like this week. nonetheless, in spite of strange spring weather, lingering "jet lag" from the time change, and just general tiredness, i kept at my little tops and last night was rewarded with a burst of energy and interest just as i was getting ready to shut down for the evening.

perhaps the tops are not as skillfully done as they might be. i definitely messed up on the french darts, one of which is...awkward, but potentially fixable. but i have been practicing my islander technique, and i adjusted the fit of both tops so that i can be satisfied that they will be fun and whimsical and cute when they are done. i made the neck straps last night as well. now, only the linings remain!

since wednesday night is often such a good productivity night for me, i will go home, put on the NCIS marathon that inevitably airs on wednesdays, and go forth. i might even make some dinner.

since breakfast at aaron's on sunday i have been obsessed with food. it's a good feeling. it reminds me why i started caring about food in the first place. last night i made a delicious little burrito for myself and i'm already craving another one. i'm dreaming about getting some good bacon at the saturday market and maybe pulling some meat out of the freezer. i'm thinking maybe i will bust out the rancho gordo pack this weekend to try one of the yummy soup recipes in my "heirloom beans" book. we'll see.

back to focus

2011-03-21T14:55:00.003-04:00

staring at my project board last night, after an unusually successful day of planning on cutting on saturday, i started to feel the dreaded overwhelmed sensation again. i read these blogs--the sew weekly or what have you--and i know that i can, with direction, easily accomplish my goals if i can break them down into a discrete task and finish them within a week. a few weeks ago, i even finished an entire project in a night. and yet i continually flutter around from thing to thing until it all spirals.

that said, this week i hope to:
finish my 2 vogue liberty scrap tops
finish the purple shorts
finish the purple skirt
put buttonholes in: purple skirt and frankenpatterned ruched bodice dress.

knowing this will probably fail by tomororw, i offer myself the following schedule:

monday: vogue liberty tops
tuesday: shorts and/or skirt
wednesday: often my most productive night of the week, i will give myself sewer's choice. plenty of my cutting from the weekend was for simple, 1-session projects. perhaps i can tackle the new look dress or the simplicity sundress or the almost-50's project runway pattern, although i should really line that
thursday: assemble the front and, separately, the back halves of my march jacket, so i can investigate embroidery options on saturday.
friday: night off? what might be fantastic is actually to cook, and then catch up on my firefly re-watch while i do the hand-stitching on my cashmere dress. i began dreaming of this yesterday and still got sidetracked by determining if the cute bias-cut dress pattern i got will accomodate my etro charmeuse.

another advance 3929

2011-03-17T10:43:00.000-04:00

still loving this pattern, advance 3929. this time i made view 3, a sweetheart neckline with a cap sleeve. learning from my first outing i redrew the bodice pattern slightly, taking in the sides to more of a 32 bust range, and altering the waist gathers slightly to accommodate my figure. this had the added benefit of reducing some of the excess fabric i had seen across my shoulders in my first version, so, encouraged by success, i took apart and re-assembled my first version in order to make these fitting changes. it was love at first sight all over again!

fabric, of course, liberty of london tana lawn mystery print that i got at B&J in NYC. i first saw it late last summer and was struck by the whimsy and cuteness of it--it seems to be little birds (or bees) buzzing around a bit of foliage, interspersed over lovely pink polka dots. i can't find a picture or name for it online anywhere, and they do not seem to have it anymore at the liberty mothership in london, nor at shaukat. B&J, however, have it still, and in two colorways, no less, but the website is slightly out of date.

you can't see in the picture, but i finished this piece off with a self-fabric belt made by the amazing pat's custom buttons and belts in california. i cannot say enough about how positive an experience i had with this service. my full, gushing review can be found on patternreview, along with photos of the two other belts i had done and the 200 buttons.

"under the covers with a flashlight"

2011-03-10T14:52:00.003-05:00

It was a sticky, scorching summer, made worse for the fact that I had been relegated to the third floor of my family’s house: I had to give up my room for guests who had come to visit, and heat rises, as you well know. The pink room had sloped ceilings, but it was no bother because I was rather short back then. Okay, I’m still short. I’m painting a picture of nostalgia, leave me alone.

I was supposed to be asleep; my mom was directing a summer musical for kids and we started rehearsal bright and early every morning, so I had to be awake. But hey, I was on the third floor, and no one would be the wiser if I kept this light on for a little longer, right? I had to finish this chapter; Boba Fett was taking a team of bounty hunters to meet Gheeta the Hutt, and I just knew the job was gonna go wrong in a bad way. Sleep was not an option, not until I found out if my instincts were right.

My distinct memories from that summer are wrapped up in goofy costumes and musical numbers that I can still recall note for word, but also in staying up for hours after everyone else had gone to bed and reading the first installment of the Bounty Hunter Wars Trilogy while I ignored the discomfort of late night summer heat. They are special memories, ones that I can recall with alarming clarity—the scent of the book’s paper and ink, how badly I stuck to myself when I tried to shift positions, how low the light was coming from the old lamp on the bedside table.

I believe, more often than not, that where and when we read something has as much relevance as what we are reading. We associate certain tomes with different times in our lives, the same way we commonly do with music and types of food, scents and people. We can mark off chapters of our own stories based on the things we learned in the books we read, the friends or family members we read them with. For instance, when my aunt read James and the Giant Peach to me, I remember how the whole world got a little more magical—and was equally devastated when she couldn’t finish it before her visit ended, and my dad just couldn’t mimic her voices for the characters.

When I was ten years old, I sat on my bed at home and finished The Illustrated Man, my first Bradbury book. As I closed the back cover on a long exhale, I had a sense, then and there, that my perspective on the world had somehow shifted in ways that I wasn’t ready to understand. I can remember causing my mother so much grief for wanting to stay inside during our vacation: I was having plenty of fun on my own, thanks, learning all about the Improbability Drive and the reasons why I should always carry a towel with me. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was essential to my existence, and she couldn’t stop me from finishing that book by nightfall. Sunshine and beaches were for other people.

Of course, what we read as children has a profound impact, but I think this relevance continues into adulthood. That novella you read when you caught the plague at work and couldn’t move for two weeks. The collection of short stories you read with a good friend and the talks you had about it afterward. The book you read to escape a tragedy in your life. They connect you to your past in a powerful way, sometimes better than any pictorial or video evidence you have at hand.

When I was studying abroad for my junior year of college, I spent spring break traveling around Europe. I began Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell in Istanbul and finished it in Rome, the first and last destinations of my trip. That book will stay with me in ways that others cannot, and I’m sure that part of my affection is wrapped up in the simultaneous journey I was taking with the characters. Jonathan Strange lived a great adventure and so did I, at the very same time, in fact.

We were even in Venice together, a kind of magic that is nigh impossible to duplicate.

But my favorite memory of reading is probably the night of July 21st, 2007. That’s right, the final installment of the Harry Potter saga. I should begin by explaining the situation: my home town had a habit of transforming one of our main avenues into Diagon Alley when each book was released. Restaurants sold butterbeer, Hogwarts house colors were worn with pride and everyone partied in the street until it was time to get in the long line and wait for your coveted copy. That year, one of the churches had agreed to turn their basement into Azkaban prison. (Yes, you read that exactly right.) The high school theater department handed over some of their lighting and set pieces, three costumed actors were hired to play Bellatrix Lestrange, and Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, and my friends and I were called in to be “prison guards” and give tours to kids and families.

We each adopted a different accent (I was the irish guard… it’s a long story) and did continuous tours for five straight hours, going hoarse before we realized that it was nearly midnight and we needed to split quick. I went to the local independent children’s book shop and ended up with a shorter wait because I hadn’t pre-ordered my copy of the book—the pre-order lines were a nightmare. Reuniting with my friends, we adjourned to Sarah’s backyard, where her parents had been kind enough to put up tents and equip them with lamps (like real wizarding tents!) and food for a full-on battalion. We settled into sleeping bags and started Deathly Hallows together. Sarah, also the fastest reader of the group, frequently gasped and demanded that everyone let her know when they had reached this or that page. We grimaced and bemoaned her speed, desperately trying to catch up until we all finally succumbed to our drowsiness. The sun woke us in the morning and it was a beautiful day.

Each and every one of us has moments like these, times when a book becomes more than a book. It is a touchstone and the stories between the pages are reflections of us. They remind us of who we were, who we are now and how we got there. The next time you have a bout of nostalgia, I encourage you not to pull out the old photo album. Head to your bookshelf instead, and see what surfaces. I guarantee it will be more than you think.

The pen is mightier than a lot of things. The sword was just the first one down.

---

trying to think of some of mine:

flu with "the secret garden" in my old trundle bed on radtke rd

staying up to finish "the lost boys" and needing to read another book before i could fall asleep

dune; florida / ender's game; florida

EotW, winter afternoon--i remember my feet were cold--on the green couch when it was in the living room; also, EotW in kensington gardens, i think that was my first re-read and the first time it was really alive for me...

princess diaries in puerto rico, it made everything feel better

possession in boboli gardens, and listening to the church bells

the pursuit of happiness in the haymarket wagamama, also moveable feast!

star wars = high school, freshman year, tropical heat in winter thanks to the thermostat!

clear and present danger = popasson chair in the homewood, winter, sophomore year

goals today

2011-03-04T09:34:00.002-05:00

1 - simplicity dress skirt
2 - cut mini wardrobe purple shorts

bonus:
work on bias-cut mccall

a vast improvement

2011-03-04T09:30:00.002-05:00

last night i managed to sit down, breathe, and work--focused--on a few things.

1 - i settled my pat's order, finally. i was actually overwhelmed when i finally pulled all the fabric scraps apart--18 different samples! yowsers!

2 - finished the bodice of my new simplicity dress. i had hoped to finish the skirt as well, but i had to re-do the collar application 4 times. i tried first to ease it into the neckline, but it just wasn't happening--thank goodness i staystictched everything for a change! staystitching FTW! then i consulted my completed simplicity dress and realized that i had just left the collar edges hanging off the neckline, incorporated them into the facing application, and trimmed everything down, so that is what i did. AND i managed to keep breathing the entire time.

happily, i was determined enough to get all of the interior edge-finishing done, so it's all bound up in gorgeous red bias tape, even the collar edge.

trying too hard

2011-03-03T13:13:00.002-05:00

well, last night was a bit of a washout. i had been totally energized to get home and get to work when the signs began piling up that it wouldn't happen: i had to stop and get groceries, and none of the prepared food at WFM was suitable for a quick meal; the cable box did the weird thing where it was skipping sounds right in the middle of "jet lag," only my favorite NCIS episode ever and the start of a mini-marathon on cable where all of the episodes were not only watchable but were not annoying; the cat tried to eat my "appetizer" snack and made me drop it all over the floor; i felt overwhelmed when i looked at the small pile of fabric i had planned to cut.

still, i didn't want to be waylaid from my plans and set about trying to adapt, with at best acceptable results. i did end up making the bodice on my new simplicity dress as well as the bodice on my mccall pattern with the bias-cut chevron, but the sewing could have been a bit better, and i still have to finish the edges and make the skirts on both pieces. i did cut out all the pieces of the two vogue 6043 tops i am working on, and managed that tolerably well. i did eat dinner, i got the cable box restarted, i even finished the fitting on my 30s blouse from monday night.

it's just that throughout the process i felt like i was rushing, instead of the relaxed, easy accomplishments of monday and tuesday nights. i felt slightly overburdened by my project list even as i continue to make excellent progress on the idea board.

i ended the evening by slowing down and cleaning up, moving bits that just need hems over to the secretary desk, hanging a few things up, putting some books away, and cleaning off the table. it helped me calm down and i hope that tonight and tomorrow night i can focus more on completing simple, discrete tasks with more care.

i would like to assemble and complete my button-front frankenpattern so that i can get buttonholes made on saturday morning. and it's time to commit and organize my button/belt order from pat, so i can send that in and get it back!

what i've been focusing on

2011-03-02T11:31:00.003-05:00

"I break up my days into tasks I know I want to get done (i.e. finishing a chapter, hemming a dress, writing a post)."
(from gertie's new blog for better sewing)

i spent the weekend really trying to plan and then execute my "platonic ideal" of a sewing schedule. friday night i ended up doing....nothing, but i did clean up and set up some space for work the rest of the weekend, so i woke up saturday feeling energized and ready. i went up to paron's at 9:30 and had a fabulous experience there, picking up a lot of helpful fabrics for projects this spring, and popped in at B&J to splurge on some liberty tana that i didn't need for a project i don't really have time for...but with focus can probably knock out in a day anyway. i skipped Mood, for the time being, and headed back home to drop of my booty and treat myself to a pizza at cosi.

after cosi, it was warm enough that i finally had the energy to go down to container store and get myself a gigantic cork board for all of my pictures and swatches. i finished my mccall's sweetheart dress and went back out to Mood to get organza swatches for my "macaron" dress and ended up with two yards of pucci that have amazingly already told me what pattnerns they want. they have been added to the "silk cutting day" pile that i am planning for good friday weekend in april. then i went back to work finishing my mccall's and then i started putting together the pieces for my new liberty dress. i got the entire thing put together, minus the shoulder ties and the facings, which still need to be cut and interfaced and finished.

to wind down, i spent some happy time watching television and working on my inspiration board and went to bed after midnight feeling very satisfied. ended up not watching downton abbey as planned, though, because i didn't want it to degrade so quickly into "something i watch while doing something else."

sunday i set myself up for some serious pattern tracing. i've been noticing on my most recent cutting days that i was losing a lot of time and energy to pattern tracing and modifications, so i determined to get a jump on my spring wish list by tracing (if not modifying) the major pieces i knew i'd want to work on--mostly the vintage pieces of the silk dresses i have my eye on, and then i did two extra dresses and a pair of shorts. with judicious break-taking for breakfast and lunch, i even managed to cut two new dresses--my "freebie" from glassoffashion, which i used with the last of my liberty purple chris and also managed to squeeze some elements for a shirt out of; and another version of my favorite simplicity/project runway dress with the new liberty lawn i didn't need!

since the weekend, and i am sure this is because it's finally getting late enough in the winter that the days are noticeably longer, i have had enough energy to set and execute goals each night--monday night i measured the hem for my cashmere dress, and yesterday i made up another version of my favorite 30s mail order top in addition to marking the hem on my latest advance 3929. i also prepped and laid out fabric for the neck tie on my glassoffashion freebie and got out the interfacing for a host of small bits i hope to take care of tonight.

inspiration - fitting it all in

2011-02-25T14:07:00.001-05:00

As for my home life, I'm married but don't have kids. I imagine the "kid-free" part of the equation is what helps me pursue my hobbies more than anything else. I sleep about 7 hours a night. I absolutely don't do laundry! A grand thing about living in New York is that you can drop your wash off at the laundry in the morning, and pick it up, all clean and folded, on your way home. They charge by the pound and it's worth every penny. I wash my handmade dresses in a tupperware bin at home and let them line dry in the shower. I don't clean as much as I should and my husband does most of the cooking. (I wash the dishes.) I also don't go to the gym as much as I should.

The work week is pretty routine. I get home from work around 6:30 pm, and I usually have a little free time to relax. Usually this means sewing (or in the past week, painting a little), but sometimes it just means collapsing on the bed catatonically. After dinner, I get my second wind and that's when I get my real work done. I write a blog post for the next day and set it to go up at 7:00 am, a full hour before I even get up. I would say I work on my blog for 1-2.5 hours on the weekdays. If I have time left over after writing my post, I'll do something creative like work on a sewing project for a bit. Or sometimes Jeff and I put on a pot of tea, make some cookies, and watch sitcoms together. Then I shower and go to bed around midnight or so.

The weekend is when I get bigger projects done: working on my book, making a video tutorial, or just sewing for hours on end. I always sleep in. (People are generally worried about me being sleep deprived, but I'm really not!) I would say I put in a good 6-8 hours a day on the weekends working on various book, blog, and sewing projects. I break up my days into tasks I know I want to get done (i.e. finishing a chapter, hemming a dress, writing a post). Videos are quite time consuming, as you guessed. Even if they only take half an hour to shoot, the editing takes twice that usually. One thing that seems to fall by the wayside is answering reader's e-mails. (Sorry about that! I try; I really do.)

Those are the nuts and bolts of my schedule, if you will. But it's less robotic and much more intuitive and emotional than it sounds. My blog writing is generally about whatever I'm feeling most passionate about at the moment, whether it's shoes or bound buttonholes or silk painting. It's easy to be motivated when something is really speaking to you. I also keep pretty close tabs on how I'm feeling. Last week I got really overwhelmed (stressed, tired, and anxious), and that was what prompted me to take a week off blogging. I'm definitely ambitious, but I'm trying to learn when to back off and give myself a rest.

Simplicity 1309: 1940s Day Dress with Bow!

2011-02-25T10:10:00.002-05:00

Pattern Description:
2-piece dress front with shoulder and waist gathers, straight skirt, back cut on fold. 2 bow options: back waist or front neckline. side zipper.

Pattern Sizing:
34B, which, as usual, was too triangular for me up top and just right at the waist and hips. after much trial and error, i got it down to a good size in the top.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
definitely!

Were the instructions easy to follow?
given that this is an old pattern, the instructions were sparse--and yet still helpful. the benefit of a super-simple dress with only 4 pieces, i suppose.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
mostly i liked the simplicity and the fact that it is from the 1940s. now that i understand how common this shape of dress is, i actually like it even more, because this type of bodice is so adaptable. also, i love waist gathers.

Fabric Used:
liberty of london tana lawn, "caesar B", purchased at B&J fabrics in NYC.

one of the reasons i gravitate to liberty cottons for these dresses almost instinctively, despite the debilitating effects on my bank account, is that a print like this just calls to me as a perfect combination of classic vintage and yet still somehow with a modern twist. as soon as i saw this fabric swatch in the shop, this pattern popped into my head as its palette. also, given the delightful simplicity of so many of these old dress patterns, it's become a great playground for me to try busier prints, something i promise you i tend to avoid in my real, non-handmade life.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
none, although i did decide to cut the facings and the bow in contrast pink cotton. per usual, i finished the inside edges and the cap sleeve hem with contrast bias tape and completed the hem with hot pink hem lace.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
i've already got another version cut. this is going to become one of my go-to 40s dresses along with my beloved advance 3929.

Conclusion:
fun, fun, fun!

how we gonna pay?

2011-02-25T09:20:00.002-05:00

"That latest strategy is not without potential pitfalls. Audiences are fickle; “Rent,” an early ’90s love-and-loss story inspired by “La Bohème,” might seem old hat — it has toured extensively and a movie version came out in 2005 — even though this will be a brand-new production by the original director, Michael Greif. (Open auditions for a new cast will be held on March 18 for the production, which will start previews on July 14 and open on Aug. 11.)"

the catch seems to be that rent, while at the time awesome and daring and groundbreaking in both its treatment of its subjects (AIDS, homosexuality) and its minimal staging and on-stage "rock" band, these very aspects are what make the show seem dated in 2011 (or in 2008, when it closed)...how does one update a new production for a newer time (no AZT, for example) without ruining what was great about the original?

i can't help but remember the revival i saw in london in 2004, which was a complete disaster--the new direction was poor, the new staging was too much, they had edited and/or removed several of the numbers, and there was no noticeable improvement in the choreography.

Vogue Paris Original 2738 Nina Ricci Coat Dress

2011-02-24T09:31:00.001-05:00

Pattern Description:
Vogue 2738 Paris Original, 1972 Nina Ricci Coat Dress - Fitted A-line dress, mid-knee length, has asymmetrical front-buttoned closing, shaped collar, welt pocket and topstitch trim. (pattern purchased from Stitches & Loops)

Pattern Sizing:
sz 12/ 34B. i modified the front bust darts using the Sandra Betzina method outlined in "Fast Fit," i.e., slashing and overlapping the dart.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
close enough that i was pleased. it certainly resembles the photo of the garment more than the fashion drawing (so what else is new) and i was slightly disappointed at how pronounced and low-cut the v-aspect ultimately looked. i could not, for example, wear this without something under it. ultimately, however, i was pleased.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
surprisingly for a vogue paris pattern, the instructions were largely good. other experience with these types of patterns has shown me that the patterns are gorgeous and, as far as i can tell, well-drafted, but that the instructions are overly complicated. in this case, the construction of the shell was straightforward and the only major deviation i took from the instructions was in the insertion of the skirt lining, which they would have you do by hand and i did as a sort of reversed facing.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
i liked the styling of the pattern as shown on the envelope--it had a simple and clean design with a vintage vibe that was not overwhelming. i liked the asymmetry and the rounded edges on the skirt and lapels.

Fabric Used:
white (off-white) wool gabardine from NY Elegant Fabrics, NYC
printed silk lining from Mood Fabrics, NYC

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
i got in way over my head on this pattern, which i attempted a mere months into my sewing career. that said, the only major design change is the hard corners of the lapels, which was a necessary change after i made some serious errors in the collar construction. i actually had to run home to mommy on that one, and we sat in front of the machine beating the collar and the facings into submission.

also, i eliminated the welt pocket. too scary!

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
would not sew again as it is so distinctive, so complicated, and there are other projects to be tackled. but i would not hesitate to recommend it to a fellow coat-dress addict like myself.

Conclusion:
it's not an advanced pattern per se, but it did take more sewing chops than i had at the time. i ended up having to underline the gabardine, which i did inexpertly with muslin (it's more bunchy than i would prefer, although not in a way anyone that didn't make it would notice). i did teach myself some basic handstitching, like the catch-stitch, so that i could do some more advanced tailoring like taping the roll line by hand (thank you, roberta carr and smartflix!). i did use a fusible on the undercollar, which may have been a mistake.

positives: i piped the lining, always a favorite technique of mine, and these are the first sleeves in my sewing career that went in perfectly. i painstakingly gathered the ease in the cap and then steamed it over a tailor's ham to shrink the ease. voila! perfect sleeves.

overall i do enjoy this dress, flaws and all. in the few months i have been wearing it (although i finished it over the summer) it has become one of my go-to winter outfits on days i am looking for something warm, low-maintenance and yet still professional.

i think i learned a lot from this dress, and surprisingly, the most important lesson is that even though i was a beginning seamstress at the time, it was important for me to tackle this complicated project because i was passionate about it and it enabled me to learn a lot of things, not the least of which was perseverance!

eta: about an hour after this post i spilled hot chocolate all down the front of my dress!

Vogue 8615: my "one year later" dress

2011-02-22T09:34:00.000-05:00

behold, the saga of V8615, the modern-yet-retro piece from recent vogue catalogs. it seems tame, dubbed "very easy" by the wise folks at vogue. and yet, and yet...

in cutting the pattern, the fabric is folded on the crosswise grain and then the pieces are cut on the lengthwise grain as per usual. only somehow i misread the pattern layout and ended up one skirt panel short. only somehow, NY Elegant Fabrics were out of this particular shade of blue wool crepe. ONLY SOMEHOW, they were unable to order more. tragedy! cue me in tears in the wool crepe section at NY elegant, desperately trying to match my inspiration piece (a rich purple scarf with colored butterflies, paired with the butterfly brooches seen on my dress bodice) to another piece of wool in a vain attempt to somehow fix this tragedy.

and then, somehow, a week later, i am wandering through NY elegant yet again and i find, stashed away, a small bolt of the last remnant of this exact color wool. there was barely a yard left. (and, by the way, they still charged me for the entire yard)

then, when i cut out the new skirt panel and assembled my dress, assembled my lining, did some finishing on the interior lining and seams, i try it on to find that it looks like i wandered in from the casting of big love or something, so long and frumpy is the skirt on this dress. the pattern clearly says it is a mid-knee dress...color me confused.

i thought my heartache was at an end until i decided that i wanted to finish the dress with an exposed zipper to give it a modern flourish. i used the technique outlined in sewstylish, except that i didn't want to use 3/4" seam allowances. mistake! i soon realized there is a reason for the over-generous seam allowances. more tears nearly ensued as i attempted to trim the edges of the fused fabric-lining combo in order to get the raw bit under the zipper tape. i cut an honest-to-goodness hole in my fashion fabric, nearly ruining the dress (more tears). i should have thrown it away, but wool crepe is not cheap and i knew i had to finish this dress.

enter the applique scissors. my goodness, these are an amazing tool. i got the raw edges trimmed and tucked under the zipper tape. i stitched the zipper to the dress. and in doing so, i shifted the waist on one size almost half and inch apart from the waist on the other side.

and yes, this dress took me a year to complete, start-to-finish.

Pattern Description:
Lined, below mid-knee or below mid-calf dresses A, B have fitted bodice, back neckline is lower than front and three-quarter or full length sleeves, flared skirt has side seam pockets and back zipper. Purchased petticoat and belt. Separate pattern pieces provided for A, B, C, D cup sizes.

Pattern Sizing:
size 12, a-cup piece

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
yes

Were the instructions easy to follow?
the lining instructions, especially with the sleeves, were strange. why would i want raw edges on my sleeves like that?

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
see above about the lining pattern. also, i am not sure if this was my error, the stretchiness of my wool crepe, or the way the pattern was drafted, but i was trying to cut the mid-knee dress and it went all the way to my ankles. not the retro chic vibe i was looking for!

but, when finished, the dress does have a nice retro chic vibe and a lot of ways to make it interesting. my main combo on this dress will be vintage brooches and scarves.

Fabric Used:
sapphire blue wool crepe - NY elegant fabrics, NYC
silver/gray rayon lining - truemart discount fabrics, NYC

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
i shortened the skirt so that it was actually mid-knee, and i finished the lining hem with 1/2" horsehair braid to give the skirt a chance to show off its fullness without going full-on crinoline. to modernize the look, i went for an exposed zipper, which caused me so much heartache i literally almost broke out in tears at one point, but which going forward i feel able to do more confidently. i added a lot of hand-stiched "embroidery" on the inside, sort of going for a vibe i used to see in the finishes on high-end RTW garments (think elie tahari about 5 years ago), and added a waist stay to help support the heavy wool skirt.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
i might actually sew it again--we shall see.

Conclusion:
i LOVE vogue custom fit patterns. i am sure i am in a minority, but the A-cup french dart bodice pieces fit me so perfectly that they have become my go-to "sloper" when doing fitting changes on other french-dart patterns, especially vintage ones.

1940s Day Dress - McCall 3928

2011-02-18T09:31:00.000-05:00

The Facts

Fabric: Cotton
Pattern: McCall 3928, purchased at the NYC Pier Antiques Show
Year: 1940s
Notions: Metal zipper, 3 buttons
Time to complete: 4 hours
First worn: February 2011
Wear again? Yes

Pattern Description:
1940s day dress with gathered skirt, gathers at bust, waist and shoulders, button front convertible collar and waist ties. sleeves may be short, 3/4 or long. sleeve cap is darted for fullness.

Pattern Sizing:
14 - 32B
i made no changes! YES!

Were the instructions easy to follow?
the instructions were harmless. not the most useful, not the least useful. they guided me adequately through the dress.

Fabric Used:
liberty of london tana lawn, "akinobu," purchased at B&J in NYC

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
as usual, i finished the inside edges in contrast bias binding and finished the hem in a contrast lace. i understand that this can be a bit too crafty--or, as michael kors would say, "becky home-eck-y", but to me, it is a fun detail that reminds me that i made it myself, and it feels vintage, and i think it is sweet and cute, like wearing a pretty slip.

i ended up eliminating the ties because of a combination of laziness, confusion, and a determination that they weren't needed--but i still have the piece cut and may do that later. i also eliminated the upside-down pocket flaps (see above reasoning). also, i was tired. i didn't realize it at the time but i had a particularly bad case of mono, and this became the first of many garments i sewed in 10-minute to half-hour intervals during the 6 weeks i was sick.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
i'm torn on sewing it again. it was easy, and the gathers make for a great design detail, and i'd love to do a version in the 3/4 sleeve. on the other hand, when it comes to a TNT repeatable 40's day dress i think my heart is always going to be with advance 3929.

1950s Day Dress - Simplicity 1507

2011-02-10T09:30:00.000-05:00

Pattern Description:
1950's sleeveless dress with lowered waistline, waistband and below-knee pleated skirt. bodice is fitted with bust and side darts. version 1 has a bit of neck trim.

jacket is cut boxy with a shoulder dart in the front and no shaping in the back. collar and facing are cut-in-one and 3/4-length sleeves have cuffs.

Pattern Sizing:
size 15/B33

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
close enough for government work!

Were the instructions easy to follow?
yes. by the 50s, simplicity patterns seemed to be including more details with their instructions and better illustrations as well.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
the elongated waist immediately drew my eye because, as with many modern women, i've had a difficult time adjusting to the shorter waists of so many vintage styles. i loved the waistband and the change into a pleated skirt, and i was intrigued by the idea of doing two different orientations of stripes on the same patter, as depicted in the pattern drawing for view 1.

Fabric Used:
liberty of london tana lawn "purple chris", from purl soho in NYC
bemberg rayon lining, NY Elegant Fabrics

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
tucked out 1/2" on the bust darts and pulled in at the sides for a tighter fit. i wish i had altered the armscye as well, since it comes closer to the edge of my shoulder than anticipated and can be uncomfortable, almost like carrying a heavy bag, after all-day wearing. i may go back and re-fit this section.

i added interfacing to the bodice for greater stability against the tana lawn and lined the bodice with contrast bemberg, as well as adding a contrast waist stay and bias-binding the zipper with contrast tape, just for additional interest. i added a straight skirt lining, eliminating the pleats, and trimmed it with contrast lace hem.

i eliminated the neck trim because 1) the instructions didn't make enough sense and 2) with the busyness of my fabric, i felt i had enough going on.

i ended up hand-picking the zipper and adding beads because, well, i like the look, and it gave the back a bit of visual interest. also, the first time i tried inserting the zipper with my sewing machine i almost lost the garment.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
it's a great little dress and i can see myself doing it again, but right now i'd like to focus on completing the matching jacket. i had attempted one earlier this year but had a massive series of headaches, first with the incredible amount of wearing ease in the design (the jacket is truly *boxy!*) and then with construction errors (i may never attempt to "bag" a lining again!), but the dress really needs the jacket to complete it as a "look", especially if one wants to wear it at work, or in the winter.

i will grade the pattern slightly, adjust the sleeve and cap ease, and hand-attach the lining with some light tailoring according to kenneth d. king's techniques as outlined in his "tailored jacket" e-book.

Winter Outfit: Simplicity 2183 + Vogue 7131

2011-02-01T09:29:00.000-05:00

Pattern Description:
Simplicity 2183 (View 1): 1947; Teen-Age Two-Piece Dress: The long torso top, styled with a back neck and side opening, has gathers at the front side seams and darts at the back waistline. The flared skirt features and inverted pleat at the center front and back and joins to a yoke. In Style I, the top is accented with a Dutch collar and a bias fold at the lower edge. The three-quarter sleeve is finished with a cuff. Style II has long fitted sleeve and a high rounded neckline.

Vogue 7131: below waist jerkin with jewel collar and buttons at shoulders and side

Pattern Sizing:
12 - 32B (V7131)
14 - 34B (S2183)

Were the instructions easy to follow?
V7131 was kind of a blur, but also fairly intuitive. S2183 i barely used the instructions at all on the top, which is why i sort of bollixed the collar application, but i found the skirt oddly fiddly and the instructions came in handy.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
i loved the easy look of S2183, very vintage and very wearable--young but not too junior (minus the book binding accessory, of course!). V7131 evolved as i wanted something to complete the ensemble, pick up the lavender flowers in the liberty pattern, and to disguise the fact that i bollixed the collar application. this turned out to be wise mostly because 1) it is incredibly cold in my office and 2) without the vest, the look is super-casual. the top of S2183 is comfortable and cute but also too casual to wear untucked in a work environment.

Fabric Used:
lilac/lavender woven cashmere, B&J fabrics, NYC (V7131)
mystery fabric twill crepe with amazing hand and sheen, Paron Annex, NYC (S2183)
liberty of london tana lawn "Pelagia", Tissus Reine, Paris (S2183)

Construction:
almost the entirety of this outfit was constructed in 10-minute intervals while i recovered from mono between the US thanksgiving and new year. i had cut it months ago, over the summer, after acquiring the liberty print on a trip to europe. unfortunately, in my zeal to place the pattern pieces strategically over the print, i forgot to cut the sleeve and there wasn't enough to piece it properly. several months later the same Pelagia colorway finally arrived in stock at B&J and i was saved--although i still ended up piecing the sleeve.

sleeve: to keep the pieced sleeve from looking too unusual, i re-drafted the one-piece sleeve that was originally part of S2183, first removing 4" of cap ease from the top and then converting it into a two-piece sleeve. i have absolutely no drafting experience to speak of, so this involved modifying a tip from Pattern Review to shift the sleeve seam to the side and then use this altered one-piece sleeve to create an under sleeve piece.

i honestly have no idea how i managed this, but i muslined the sleeve and basted it into my garment. it fit and worked. i forged ahead.

bodice: S2183 is an interesting design because there are bust darts (which i altered, making a half-SBA following instructions in Sandra Betzina's "Fast Fit") but no waist darts. instead there are waist gathers. these are shockingly cute and comfortable and come really close to the waistline, accentuating the figure. i sort of love them.

collar: in working on the neckline and collar, i decided that i wanted to reverse the collar facing, so that the neck opening would be in the front instead of in the back, because i get very claustrophobic in jewel-neckline collars. however, in applying the collar to the neckline, i neglected to stretch the collar properly around the neckline, so there is a bit of an awkward gap for about 1" on either side of the CB seam. compounding this error, i attached, sewed and clipped the collar and facings in the wrong order so i ended up with a very awkward raw seam edge on part of the (now front) neck opening. i bound it with some hug snug, which i had also used decoratively on other parts of the garment, but it frayed rather depressingly right at the edge of the seam. hence the jerkin.

finishes: i completed all the seams on the top with flat fell finishes and used a cute metal zipper at the side placket. for the skirt, it was relatively straightforward: i finished all the inside seams with lavender hug snug, including the waistband finish. unusually for me, i left the skirt length where it was (below knee) which can often look a bit dowdy but on this skirt seemed both suitable and fun.

V7131 was very simple: three pieces joined to create the bodice, which has french darts. the muslin fit well and i liked the dart placement, although the final jerkin could have a bit less ease. i love the cashmere. i lined and piped the interior so that it would look like a complete outfit. i just hope it isn't *too* matchy-matchy.

1940s Advance Dress - Winter Liberty LOVE (It Has Unicorns)

2011-01-28T09:27:00.001-05:00

Pattern Description:
Advance 3929: 1940s basic dress with blousy bodice, straight 4-piece skirt, v-neck with neck tie and short, cut-on cap sleeves.

Pattern Sizing:
14 - 34B
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
yes

Were the instructions easy to follow?
i mostly left the instructions alone, since the construction was very simple, and used a completely different method of constructing and attaching the collar/tie piece. their method involved pressing and slipstitching, and i preferred to do it entirely by machine.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
it's a shape that i've come to associate with classic 1940s pieces and i knew the construction would be simple and the end result comfortable. i pictured it in a nice cotton as a perfect house dress or dress-down friday dress.

Fabric Used:
liberty of london tana lawn winter 2010 "Yoshi D" - B&J Fabrics, NYC

(image from True Up blog, Liberty Fall-Winter Swatches)

once i had selected this super-busy print, it was second nature to reach for this advance pattern with very little design detail.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
shortened the skirt significantly. i definitely prefer a shorter skirt, and this one hits me just at the knee. i took in the side seams significantly, which (unfortunately) has exacerbated the blousy-ness of the bodice. next time, flat pattern alteration instead of on-the-fly fitting!

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
i expect this dress to be a go-to (or TNT) for times when i have a cute cotton and just want a cute, simple dress. however, in future i will do better alterations to correct the amount of ease from the 34B bust size--i'm more of a 32, and an A besides, and there's more ease than i would like.

Conclusion:
love. and the Yoshi print has a unicorn on it. unicorns! and butterflies!

i love my red leather jacket, but then i remembered it was friday, and here in the tundra previously known as new york city, it's also pretty cold. and snow-covered. and i didn't have it in me to be all red-leather-jacket-y today. so i went with this:

i think it was one of the "queer eye" guys who put it best: doesn't everything feel better in cashmere?

Vogue 1160: Dress and Slip with Military Riff

2011-01-21T09:34:00.001-05:00

Pattern Description:
Dress, above mid-knee (front), mid-knee (back), has fitted bodice, front pleats, midriff, flared skirt with side front and side back seams, side zipper and short, two-piece sleeves with mock bands. Bias, flared, pullover slip, above mid-knee, has shoulder straps, front darts and raised waist.

Pattern Sizing:
AA - 6-8-10-12 - i cut the 10 on top and graded out to the 12.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
absolutely.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
sleeve was totally wonky. once i decoded the instructions and the pattern piece, the instructions made complete sense--so others may have no problem--but it took me about 2 hours of fiddling to have the light bulb go off and get the sleeves done.

everything else was a breeze.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
it's a perfect little dress if you're into the tights, leggings, or boots trends, and i am into all three. i wanted to riff on the military trend of last fall (2010) and i pictured a very feminine, whimsical fabric with black tights and an army jacket.

Fabric Used:
printed cotton batiste from mood fabrics, NYC

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
N/A

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
i might sew it again, because i am a big fan of this style of dress--flirty, feminine, playful and easy to wear--but it would depend on what else i have going on. the sleeve might be too recognizable to use for repeat performances.

Conclusion:
great pattern, easy to put together, and the sleeves are gorgeous once i figured them out.

back view

with army jacket

Very Easy Vogue 8442: Pilgrim Chic

2011-01-19T09:37:00.000-05:00

Pattern Description:
Lined, fitted A-line dress, mid-knee length has front and back yoke, short or elbow length sleeves, cuffs with link buttons and back zipper.

Pattern Sizing:
AA, 6-8-10-12. i cut a 12, but probably could have sneaked by with a 10. at the size 12, it's more semi-fitted than fitted.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
yes, especially because i didn't understand why the pattern envelope said "no stripes" when the photo had stripes--and i really wanted pinstripes.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
everything except the facing/yoke installation. granted, it was literally the second dress pattern i'd ever attempted to assemble, but the yoke/facing instructions completely baffled me. i ended up having to sort of reverse-engineer it, and i didn't know that it was possible to insert a yoke without hand sewing. frustration!

also, first project with fusible interfacing...exciting times. definitely part of the reason i have switched almost exclusively to sew-ins in the past year!

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
it had a simple, clean elegance that was appealing, especially when i got a vision in my head of this sort of suit-blouse alternative: oxford cotton shirting for the yoke and cuffs, and tropical wool suiting for the dress body.

Fabric Used:
blue tropical wool suiting with pink pinstripes, paron fabrics, NYC
hot pink acetate lining, paron fabrics, NYC
white oxford shirting, paron fabrics, NYC
lace hem trim for lining, pacific trimmings, NYC

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
contrast yoke and cuffs instead of main fashion fabric. i added some interior hand embroidery when i realized that i needed to sew the yoke/facing to the dress. i piped the interior yoke in contrast navy blue and ran a line of long basting with pink embroidery thread along the yoke/dress join edge.

finished the lining with a sweet bit of lace trim from pacific trimmings and covered the raw edge of my blind hem on the dress itself with the wright's hem lace stuff you can get at jo-ann's. LOVE that stuff.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
might sew again if the right fabric came along or i wanted something simple, but in general i have long since moved beyond this pattern. but for me a year ago (literally, when i started sewing the pattern) it was exactly the perfect task for a beginner with a long weekend to fill with a project.

Conclusion:
great little dress. no lie, i literally cut and constructed about 85% of this pattern in one sitting on MLK weekend, 2010...and then let it sit until the week before christmas, 2010...when i finished it in about an hour-and-a-half of hem wrangling.

More Tailoring Love: Vogue Couturier Design 2443

2010-11-29T09:33:00.000-05:00

Pattern Description:
Pucci - Misses' One-Piece Dress or Tunic and Pants. Semi-fitted, A-line coatdress in mid-knee length or tunic has bias collar, seven-eighths sleeves, front snap closing with button trim and center back inverted pleat. Inset band is high at front dipping to waistline area at back. Low-waisted pants (flared at back below knee) with side back seams and side zipper closing.

(I made the tunic-length dress only.)

Pattern Sizing:
34 Bust

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
yes!

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
The pattern is beautiful: simple and elegant and, in general, well-designed if not well-drafted.

The instructions were awful. They are overcomplicated and do not offer anything in the way of advice or tips; however, the drawings for the steps are occasionally very useful. The lining pattern and instructions are particularly un-helpful--the lining insertion is awkward and unattractive and the facing does not go all the way down to the hem. Also, the back pleat and underlay combo was confusing as anything. Thank goodness I didn't use any of the instructions!

Fabric Used:
"Muslin": Ponte doubleknit from Mood
Dress: Black cotton/poly/Lycra doubleknit from Rosen & Chaddick
Inset Band/Under Collar: Pucci-printed stretch Lycra from Mood
Lining: Silk charmeuse from Mood
Hair canvas from NY Elegant Fabrics
Fabric-covered buttons (made from Pucci scraps): Botani Buttons

I went with the more expensive R&C for my fashion fabric because you get what you pay for--it is richer, thicker, smoother and nicer to work with than the Ponte. (and twice as expensive!!) Also, R&C has fantastic service. Every time I went there I was served by one of the owners, who had a lot of helpful advice about fabric choices.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I worked on this pattern with Kenneth King and Susan Khalje at the August Sit n' Sew workshop in NYC. With Kenneth's guidance, I drafted a new lining pattern and facing piece as well as a more tailoring-friendly upper collar and lower collar combination with favoring built in to accommodate turn-of-the-cloth and encourage the lapel pieces to fall the way they are supposed to. We eliminated the back facing and reduced the sleeve cap ease. We also raised the armscye to facilitate arm movement.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I would not sew it again because it is a distinctive look and I think I am overcoming my love of coat dresses (this is my third one)--but it is certainly unique and distinctive and has a design that separates it from other, simpler coat dress patterns that I have seen from this era. I might try the trousers in the future.

Construction:
Following my experiments in tailoring with Simplicity 2723 I continued using the methods described in Kenneth King's "Tailored Jacket" e-book. I also shelled out for 1 yard of actual Pucci stretch knit from Mood and tried to think strategically: I ended up using it for the inset band, the under collar, and the buttons (and had enough left over to cut out a knit top and possibly a swimsuit). Obviously, slinky Lycra knit is not entirely compatible with beautiful and luxurious doubleknit, so I made a sort of sandwich using scrap doubleknit from my muslin, bias-cut interfacing and very careful thread basting to back the Pucci:

Fabric sandwich: Pucci Lycra over Ponte Doubleknit over woven bias-cut interfacing, basted together, stitched into the dress, with seam allowances clipped and catch-stitched in place

And then repeated the process with the under collar, except with padstiched hair canvas instead of woven interfacing:

Under collar smoothed and pinned in place--you can see the Moire pattern from the canvas through the Lycra! Fortunately this only shows up in the photo--it is a trick of the light.

To hold the collar in place, I catch-stiched both fabrics together at the collar roll line and then folded it over a tailor's ham to determine turn-of-the-cloth, which I then tailor-basted in place to make later sewing easier.

I went all-out on the padstitching and then steamed the lapels in place to mark turn-of-the-cloth.

I interfaced the lapel facings with hair canvas, which I think was a mistake and would not do again. Yes, it made for super-stable lapels, but overall I think it gives too much structure and stiffness to the garment. I think padstitched body interfacing alone would have been sufficient.

Lapel facings in place, thanks to my faithful assistant...

Who soon pooped out on me! :-)

1930s Tailored Blazer Love: Simplicity 2723

2010-11-19T09:33:00.000-05:00

Pattern Description:
"Slim Fit" suit with three pieces: skirt, blouse and blazer. Blouse has some Art Deco styling possibilities.

Pattern Sizing:
34 Bust

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
yes!

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
Love the antique styling suggested by the slimmer, smaller lapels. This jacket definitely looks and feels vintage even given the alterations I made to it--more on those below.

Fabric Used:
brown "denim" from Jo-Ann's sale; silk lining from stash (Truemart Discount Fabrics/NYC)
hair canvas from NY Elegant Fabrics

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I made serious fitting alterations given both the historic nature of the garment--tiny waist from old-fashioned corsetry and undergarments--and because I needed to do major re-drawing of the princess seams to accommodate small bust. Again, more below.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
This pattern is a gem, easy and well-drafted and I haven't had any of the usual issues I have with Simplicity patterns. I'm in love. I've already cut out and begun work on a coordinating skirt and blouse.

Conclusion:
Great 1930s blazer, easy to make (only four pieces, plus the collar) and a great exercise in tailoring techniques.

But wait, there's more...
This may be sacrilege to those in the community who participated in the Lady Grey sew-along, but I thought Gertie's sew-along tailoring instructions were not to my taste--too much happening, too complicated. Happily, I had the experience of the delightful Kenneth King and Susan Khalje to draw upon. Beginning back in August, I had an opportunity to participate in their Sit and Sew sessions at Sew Fast, Sew Easy in Manhattan. I really cannot recommend this workshop enough; it may seem like a lot of money (about $500) but I promise you they are undercharging given the amount of attention and assistance you get over the course of four days. Our class was particularly small, and I was by far the least experienced (and also the only one immediately interested in tailoring) so I got what was basically a private demonstration from Kenneth on the tailoring process he outlines in his book "The Tailored Jacket." Additionally, we spent the first day or so each working on a variety of muslins for fitting and patternwork, so Susan and Kenneth first helped me fit my muslin and then helped me re-draw the pattern and understand each fitting change made. Now I have an adaptable, perfectly fitted princess-line jacket pattern that I can use for just about anything. The original pattern was collarless, for an eventual Chanel attempt, but for this one I simply re-drew the Simplicity pattern pieces and then used my fitted shell as a guide to create the new pattern.

Ultimately, this jacket was just a practice run of Kenneth's tailoring technique described in "The Tailored Jacket," so I kept the materials simple and focused on understanding his process. It involves a lot of hand sewing and a lot of pattern marking, and it seems completely absurd, but using this technique he claims to be able to make a tailored jacket, start-to-finish, in about a day.

(after one day's work)

And you know what? Having tried it, I believe him. All of the hand-sewing and tacking and other work--the lining is inserted by hand, not machine, and there is no bagging involved--actually does save time and effort. Yes, it took me several weeks, but I got 75% of the jacket done in one six-hour work session on a weekend while I watched a DVD of Andrew Davies' "Bleak House" adaptation. The rest of the work sessions, about an hour or so each, ranged over the course of several weeks. Honestly, the thing that really inspired me to finish was the astonishing speed and diligence of the NewVintageLady in her tailored jacket (really, kudos on that--it is stunning).

And now I can laugh in the face of padstitching and get back to work on this beauty:

Vintage Vogue 2961 Re-issue from 1950

2010-08-02T09:26:00.000-04:00

Pattern Description:
vintage vogue re-issued pattern. halter dress that can be worn strapless with below-the-knee skirt, button front and boned bodice.

Pattern Sizing:
4-6-8-10.
i cut a 4 at the top and graded out to a 12 at the waist (my actual size) and the bodice across the bust was STILL TOO BIG. i have no idea why there is so much ease in these garments, but i am so glad i read PR first, with reviewers who warned to make a muslin (i made two) and be mindful of the excessive garment ease. even with all of that, i will never be able to wear this dress without the halter!

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
absolutely, and it was adorable.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
very easy to follow with no head-scratching techniques that i noticed. even the bodice lining was easy and practical.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
i liked the vintage style of the pattern and also the simplicity of the strapless bodice, which does not contain a corset.

Fabric Used:
liberty of london cotton tana lawn, "Pheobe A", purchased from B&J fabrics in New York City.

it reminded me of a field of poppy flowers i saw last spring in israel during easter week and passover.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
as described, i tried to take out some of the fullness in the bodice. i lined the full dress instead of just the bodice and included the recommended boning. having noticed in the PR reviews that other sewers had difficulty with the structure of the bodice, i.e., it didn't have *enough* structure, in addition to including the recommended boning i interfaced the entire bodice with sew-in interfacing. it gave the bodice beautiful body and structure...i highly recommend this. i hemmed the skirt just above the knee and finished the hem with 1/2" horsehair braid to give the skirt some shape without a petticoat. i love this look, although the natural drape of the skirt was beautiful even without the braid.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
it is unlikely i would sew it again, but i can happily recommend it. it came together quickly and beautifully and is a very cute dress.

i named the cat indiana

2008-06-01T21:37:00.000-04:00

ode to the first really nice day

2008-04-10T22:19:00.003-04:00

i have several tangential yet wholly unrelated thoughts to offer in honor of the first really nice day of the year.

there is something magic in the air--i feel it especially at night--every year in the early spring that call to mind remembrance of years past. it's fleeting, with no specific scent or identifying factor, yet i feel it triggering my sense of smell, followed by a trick of the light, and suddenly i am separate from all of my troubles and concerns for a few brief moments of undiluted joy. there is a lightness in my step and my mind goes racing, remembering that day i played hooky with D. and C. and went walking in central park. i wore my yellow skirt with the butterflies and i felt all cute and elegant, i remember telling my friend in florida, even though i am not, and have never been, elegant. the firefighters down the street all stared as they watched me skip down the street.

or i remember opening the windows of the gilman clock tower during a writing workshop, as we climbed on to the roof for a few precious minutes of sunlight--or the day i skipped class altogether to sit on the quad with the cute guy who lived on another floor in my building, or maybe the night L. and i sat in some random stranger's garden on calvert street until 4 in the morning.

nothing drives home for me how much i love new york like the first really nice day of the year. i breathe the air--although it is not "fresh" by any conventional definition of the word--and i start walking everywhere. today the realization hit me as i walked up sixth avenue and watch the sun set crosstown on 42nd street.

i feel as though i am emerging from a hibernation.

i have been remiss in not sharing some of my adventures this winter. in new york, it often seems as though the sun sets as early as 4pm because the buildings are so tall. this makes me tired and disinclined toward further activity--even cooking--once i have reached the sanctuary of home.

and so, i make an offering for the glory of springtime: my vegetable patch. i can't lie, it isn't new. i made these weeks ago after a really very unpleasantly difficult day at the office. i needed to do something whimsical and have colors and, as an added bonus, use my kitchen mallet to make a lot of noise. the cakes are zucchini bread--which is the only way i can actually eat zucchini--with chocolate chunks thrown in. i made a basic icing, using icing sugar and water, with some seriously bright food coloring. for added whimsy i populated my vegetable patch with several gummy worms slithering around the formerly-oreo-cookie dirt (this would be where the kitchen mallet made a cameo).

sometimes, you just gotta do what you just gotta do

2008-03-25T22:55:00.002-04:00

do you ever come home and just feel compelled to make a pie? because that is what happened to me today. i even found out-of-season rhubarb hiding among the vegetables at the WFM downstairs. i took a jar of sour cherries and a LOT of sugar and baked away. the crust, i think, was my most favorite part.

my most favorite risotto

2008-03-08T23:01:00.002-05:00

dinner with alicia

2008-03-05T22:52:00.000-05:00

chicken and honey tagine with my new tagine that grandpa gave me as a housewarming gift. alicia had never eaten tagine before so she didn't notice that i totally overcooked it.

three perfect words

2008-02-20T23:02:00.000-05:00

pancakes for dinner. orange ricotta with chocolate chips, sectioned blood orange and valhorna cocoa. who says you can't be decadent in the middle of the week?

the day that camille left me

2008-01-11T22:57:00.003-05:00

today C left me to go back to grenada. as much as i love being able to see the floor in my guestroom and not finding leftover cups of tea everywhere...i miss my camilleque. friday night dinner as usual only i set the table for a change to make everything look pretty. C made the muffins for me at 2am this morning, i think, because she needed a break from packing.

good morning, 2008

2008-01-01T22:14:00.000-05:00

I greeted the first morning of 2008 rather earlier than I would have preferred, when I rolled over at about 9.00a and garnered the attention of my cat who, sensing that I was awake, determined that I had stayed in bed quite long enough, thank you. He flipped over onto his belly and started purring in his stentorian way and, when that failed to command my notice, took the more direct approach of poking at my face with his paw until I finally threw off the covers in resignation, pulled on an acrylic-paint-stained pair of sweatpants and my knitted slippers, and crawled over to the couch. Where he followed me and jumped on my stomach, leaving several paw prints in his wake.

From this still horizontal and yet less cocoon-like vantage point, I sat and wakened—and watched the Law & Order marathon on cable—until I was able to savor the day. The fourth in a series of days that involved no office work whatsoever, and the first following a delicious meal with plenty of food, friends and wine, the day promised to be an excellent one in spite of the lousy weather. I spent several happy hours in my new darkroom, covering myself in acrylic paint with the smell of cooked eggs, from my tempera prints, perfuming the air.

Above all things, it was a brilliant day for leftovers. I saved the cooking liquid from my cassoulet pot and purloined two of the extra sausages I’d purchased, re-dedicating them to a new purpose. I threw in half a bottle of leftover Brunelo di Montalcino and left the entire concoction to simmer in a rice cooker for an hour.

The smell in the kitchen was unbelievable, the rice salty and sweet and rich with flavor. The sausages, I regret to say, did not fare as well, but I had no regrets as I ate my New Year’s Day dinner.

Then, heedless of my cat, I fell asleep.

NYCT&LC does NYE for the sixth consecutive year

2008-01-01T03:14:00.000-05:00

in the winter of 2002, i had just come home from a semester abroad. i was tired. like, existentially so. even a quiet day in london involved two hours' commute on the tube. most of my friends were five time zones away and my local ones tended to while away evenings chain-smoking hand-rolled cigarettes at the pub.

which is not to say that any of that was a bad thing.
:-)

but the point is, by december of 2002, i was eager to be back in a place where we drive on the right side of the road, where the sun set later than 4pm, where the food was edible at places other than wagamama. my friends and i wanted to have a grand celebration together for the new year. of course, grand ended up involving my parents' pied-a-terre in new york city. grand ended up ad-libbing a paella and having too many martinis and almost missing the new year's fireworks. but there is always a sort of grandeur in the birth of a tradition.

for the past six years, we've managed to spend new year's eve together. it doesn't always go well. people get sick, they get engaged, they break up, they get married, and sometimes, i am ashamed to say, my recipes don't work out the right way. but i always find that the key element is that we spend it together.

this year, that almost didn't happen. maybe it was the ad-hoc nature of the year, but we all looked toward new year's eve with a lackadaisical attitude and tended to assume, without actually planning, that we would be together. funnily enough, this did not get confirmed until this morning. by noon, i decided that i should get around to cooking dinner.

in contrast to earlier years, i decided to make a simple meal--and to clean out my fridge instead of adding to the clutter. from the depths of my freezer, i found 2 duck confit legs, several sausages, and a ham hock. a can of tomatoes turned up in my pantry. i snagged a can of beans at gristede's. my very first cassoulet was born.

my friend camille has been squatting on my couch, so we made the best use of our time and conspired together on the appetizers. camille was in charge of salad, and spend hours researching different flavor combinations and their new year's eve symbolism, settling on pomegranates, blood oranges, walnuts, gruyere and spring greens. for the gentlemen, we got escargot. camille utilized her artistic talents to put together a looker of a cheese plate, and i spent the entire day rolling puff pastry for a twelfth night cake, accompanied by a small batch of madeleines.

four bottles of wine later, i think we can call the evening a success. here's to tradition!

cassoulet
(recipe from January 2008 Martha Stewart Living)

Serves 6.

4 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 bay leaf
1 sprig fresh rosemary
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 celery stalk, halved crosswise
1 leek, dark-green part only, rinsed well
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 ounces fatback or uncured pork belly, cut into 1/2-inch dice
8 ounces pork shoulder, cut into 3/4-inch dice
1 whole clove
1 medium onion, halved
1 smoked ham hock
1 medium carrot
1 3/4 cups whole peeled tomatoes with juice, chopped (from a 14 1/2-ounce can)
2 cups dried navy, Great Northern, or Tarbais beans, soaked in cold water for 12 hours
1 garlic clove, halved
2 legs duck confit (homemade or store-bought), skinned and separated at the joint
8 ounces fresh garlic sausage (see the Guide), cut into 1/2-inch half-moons
4 cups coarsely torn fresh bread (preferably from a crusty, rustic loaf)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Bundle parsley, bay leaf, rosemary, thyme, celery, and leek to form a bouquet garni, wrapping kitchen twine around the aromatics several times to secure -- which ensures easy retrieval of the ingredients after they've infused the cooking liquid with flavor.
Warm oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add fatback or pork belly, and cook until it is golden on all sides and has begun to render its fat, about 5 minutes. Add pork shoulder, and cook until golden on all sides, about 8 minutes total.
Remove pot from heat. Discard carrot, onion, and bouquet garni. Transfer ham hock to a cutting board, reserving liquid, and let cool slightly. Trim meat and gelatin from the bone, dicing and returning them to the pot. Discard the bone.
Remove pot from heat. Discard carrot, onion, and bouquet garni. Transfer ham hock to a cutting board, reserving liquid, and let cool slightly. Trim meat and gelatin from the bone, dicing and returning them to the pot. Discard the bone.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Rub cut side of garlic clove over the entire inner surface of a small (5-quart) Dutch oven or other ovenproof vessel. This allows a subtle though distinct garlic flavor to infuse the resulting cassoulet.
Using a wire skimmer or a slotted spoon, place half the bean mixture in the Dutch oven, spreading it evenly. Leave the cooking liquid in the pot.
Arrange the duck confit and sausage on top of the beans in the Dutch oven to create a single, snug layer. Spoon the remaining beans over the meat, reserving the cooking liquid.
Add enough cooking liquid so the beans are almost, but not quite, submerged. Reserve the remaining liquid. Transfer pot to oven and cook, uncovered, for 2 hours. Check the liquid every 30 minutes to make sure it is no more than 1/2 inch below the beans, and add liquid or water as necessary. Do not stir.
After the cassoulet has cooked for 2 hours, toss bread and butter in a bowl. Sprinkle over cassoulet, and return to oven until beans are tender and bread is golden, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
Before serving, let cassoulet stand at room temperature for 20 minutes to cool and to allow the beans to absorb some of the liquid. You can refrigerate cassoulet in an airtight container for up to 3 days; rewarm in an oven heated to 300 degrees.

the inevitable end-of-the-year wrap-up

2007-12-31T11:06:00.000-05:00

above all things, i hate to be a cliche. i go to great lengths to avoid it in everything from my clothes to my shoes to the paint in my apartment and my plastic camera affections--and affectations. in this, however, i find that i can't help myself--this year has been full of too many changes--and too many culinary experiments--to go by unmarked. i find myself compelled to write a wrap-up of 2007. fortunately for you, you are free to disregard my musings as you see fit.

new year's is a peculiar time. it's all full of hope and optimism and promise for what is to come, but i always find myself looking back at the year gone by. this year saw a lot of interesting things for me: i changed my job--twice; several of my friends became engaged, or had children; i moved from washington, d.c. to west new york, n.j. to new york, n.y., and in the process i purchased my own apartment for the first time. i traveled a lot: twice to paris, 4 times to the hamptons, to west point, to california, back and forth to new york from DC i don't know how many times. i re-discovered and re-applied myself to my art and in the process pulled away from my kitchen--although that didn't stop me from attempting, among other things, macarons, croissants, puff pastry, layer cakes, 10 different types of risotto and a summer full of ice cream. i joined a CSA. i learned how to paint walls and install carpet and coordinate furniture and hang wallpaper. i got turned down for publication in a magazine, but i've been accepted into a group show at a downtown gallery. i made friends with a 4-star chef who lets me cook in his restaurant's kitchen. for thanksgiving, i made soup for 30 people and 3 kinds of dessert.

i find these "highlights" to be reflective of my journey through the year, as i lost the impatience of a kid with a new hobby and settled into a more comfortable and enjoyable role as an adult with one. i learned how to slow down, and plan, and anticipate. i learned the pleasure of a simple meal and how to practice a complicated one.

my highlights reel begins last year, on january 1, with my new year's eve dessert (molten chocolate cakes with lemon mousse, citrus compote and ice wine) and moves through the seasons and some of my favorite preparations, including: bulgogi beef, polenta with fried eggs, and my mis-construed "summer of gelato." i've concluded with the first meal i've prepared and served in my new apartment: fried chicken, latkes and sufganiyot in celebration of chanukah.

for next year, i hope i have half as much fun in the kitchen as i've had this year--then i can count it a success. and keep your fingers crossed on my next magazine submission!

an encounter with some beets (ew) and a case of overambition

2007-08-31T22:45:00.000-04:00

you ever get one of those random food ideas in your head and suddenly, you aren’t in the mood for anything else? you’ve got half a dozen possibilities, and suddenly, only the most impractical one makes any sense. that was me at 9.13 on this very fine friday evening, frantically stirring pastry cream for no reason whatsoever except that i had gotten this idea in my head to use up some of the leftover shortbread pastry for a mini basque tart.

the reason it seemed like a good idea was that i have been on this sort of spanish kick tonight, making a gazpacho with beets and cherries (which smelled so much like beets and vegetables that i couldn’t even swallow it) and roasting a chicken. this marks my second time roasting a whole chicken, and i’d have to say it was far more successful than my first time. i made a little paste of garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary and rubbed it all over the place including, for the first time, under the skin, and sprinkled a shower of paprika over the entire affair. while it was roasting, i sat watching the u.s. open and trying to decide what to have for dessert. i’ve got peaches, plums, raspberries and strawberries and some very sorry-looking cherries that have seen much, much better days. any other person would have thrown them away, but as i was paging through one of my journals i saw a note to my self: don’t forget about the leftover pastry dough!

and there it was, the obvious solution, a mini basque tart. at 9.13 in the evening, just as my dinner was roasting. i even tried to talk myself out of it but once i realized that i had all the ingredients i ran out of excuses.

it got even better when i pulled my pastry out of the refrigerator after the pastry cream had thickened and i realized that i left my rolling pin in sagaponack. fortunately i had a bottle of white rioja, left over from the chicken, handy.

oh, and did i mention that i’ve been making bread all afternoon? bread that was still rising? bread that needed the oven before the tart goes in?

right.

mini chocolate basque tart

leftover chocolate shortbread pastry crust
1 1/2 cups whole milk (i used half and half)
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons + 1 1/2 teaspoons flour

scald the cream.
mix the yolks, sugar and flour together.
temper the yolk mixture with some of the hot cream, then stir the cream over the stove until it thickens.
strain and cool.

line a mini tart pan with pastry crust.
(make sure to leave extra dough for the top piece)

preheat oven 350 degrees.
line bottom of pan with quartered bing cherries (you’re meant to use preserves, but i had very sorry-looking cherries that needed to be utilized)
pour pastry cream over top. add almond extract if desired.

seal the top layer of pastry to the tart.
bake for 35 minutes.
cool and eat.

the continuing adventures of the chief and the stick

2007-08-30T00:01:00.000-04:00

this week marked a major milestone for me--two, actually. firstly, i closed on my new apartment. my very first home. the first place where i get to own furniture and pick out paint colors and bask in the overhead lighting of my choice and tell my mother that no, mom, i really don't care what you think because i like that color better.

but equally important was this: my first vacation day in my new job.

i've never had a summer like this one. in school, of course, you get the summers off. for two years in the congress, we had four hellish weeks in july followed by five weeks of pure, sloth-like bliss that we fondly referred to as the august recess. last year, in fact, i was able to take off every friday in august and 2 of the mondays.

this year, i started my new job at the dawn of summer, the third week in may. under the strict HR rules of my new employer, that meant no vacation days for three whole months. three SUMMER months, during which every day brought sunshine, warm weather, new absences and vacations--from colleagues and clients--while i sat at my desk and tried to prove myself worthy of that prized three-month tenure and the hope of future vacation days.

so for this, my third weekend in the now-officially-misnamed summer of gelato, with my uncle the chief coming to visit with his family, i designated friday as my first vacation day. we had begun planning the menu months ago, but ditched it all in favor of a new and unusual idea during the cold spell that hung over the early days of the week: braising.

i love to braise. it is easy, and delicious, and makes me feel productive on a cold winter's evening when i can use my classic line--"i can't go out, i'm cooking dinner"--instead of getting all dolled up and facing the weather for overpriced, watered-down drinks and bad pickup lines. but who ever heard of braising in the summer?

it started on monday, when the weather here in the big apple was in the low 50's. all day i dreamed of a warm, quick, light but filling dinner, and set about making my fantasy into reality: potato leek soup, pastina with parmesan and butter, a salad with greens and cherries. the next day, as is my habit, i was detailing this menu to my uncle who shared a similar tale of midwinter-in-midsummer. by wednesday, i had gotten an email with a wild idea--something hot, soupy and stewy for dinner on saturday. by thursday the details were clear: pork, fennel, tomatoes and polenta. fabulously, this gave me a chance to complete my month's mission on behalf of the daring bakers, the perfect dessert for this misplaced meal.

this month's challenge came out of the beautiful, inspiring and deceptively easy tome by eric kayser, pies and tarts. the challenge was his milk chocolate and caramel tart, which consists of a chocolate shortbread pastry crust, a layer of caramel, and a layer of milk chocolate mousse. i, unfortunately, had to deviate from the cardinal rule of the bakers (FOLLOW THE RECIPE EXACTLY) because reality intervened. i'll tell you, so long as you promise not to confiscate my apron:

firstly, i couldn't use hazelnuts in the crust. i went to three stores out in the hamptons and came up empty-handed. had i known in advance, i could have brought my own, but i had to settle for almonds instead. i confess that i preferred this situation, since i find hazelnuts more intrusive than almonds. almonds tend to blend into the main flavor while hazelnuts challenge it more directly.

secondly, i omitted the cinnamon, simply because i cannot stand cinnamon.

finally, and most egregiously, i didn't use milk chocolate. i had several reasons for this omission, all of them good, i swear. my sister, who was visitng for the weekend, doesn't eat milk chocolate. we're not sure if she is allergic or what, but she won't eat it. more importantly, my uncle the chief scoffed at milk chocolate and caramel as a combo. he said dark chocolate or none at all. what could i do but acquiesce?

this tart began with an odyssey. although i had remembered to pack my fluted removable bottom tart pan, the fridge was depressingly devoid of the unsalted butter i needed for the shortbread crust. i ran out to the king kullen on montauk highway (where i failed to find hazelnuts) for 2 pounds. i made the shortbread before lunch and left it to enjoy the cooler climate of the fridge for several hours. i actually did ok with the crust, since i have a fair amount of practice by now, and i took this as a good omen for my completion of the challenge.

next came the caramel element. i'd been reading all month about caramel strategies, dry method versus wet method, and techniques complete with photographs. it was my intention to tackle the wet method, because it seemed like it had a higher success rate, but during my early morning sprint to the kullen i had forgotten to get corn syrup. dry method it was. i used a deep, 2-quart saucepan, and to my chagrin the sugar did not melt evenly--but it also didn't burn. i exhaled and left it to cool for a few minutes while i prepared the butter and cream. except that nobody told me what happens to melted sugar when it cools, so i turned around to find my wooden spoon standing straight up in a 2-inch thick hard candy caramel. i blushed and scoffed and fluttered around anxiously for a good five minutes before i remembered that i could melt the sugar again. unfortunately for me, this got me overexcited and i added the next two ingredients in the wrong order. i was left with a twisted, hideous siezed piece of hard caramel candy, which i threw away and then vowed to master the sugar. (after i spent 20 minutes cleaning the pot)

i began anew. using a wider, shallower pot, i melted another cup of sugar. on this larger surface it melted both more quickly and more evenly and turned a delightful amber color. i added the cream and the butter--in the correct order--and was rewarded with a golden cream caramel mixture which would form the base of the tart's caramel layer. while the crust baked blind, this mixture cooled and i began prepping the chocolate mousse.

for my next trick, i baked the caramel until it had a slightly springy top. i was surprised by how much the caramel had risen within the tart shell and worried that i made too much mousse. but, really, when does chocolate mousse ever go to waste? i couldn't wait for the caramel to cool completely, since dinner was nearly ready, but i stuck everything directly in the fridge after smoothing the mousse on top. i melted a few ounces of unsweetened chocolate into the leftover caramel cream with the hope of making brittle. this, unfortunately, did not set up before dinner, but they made lovely free-form truffles when topped with the leftover almonds.

and so i present this month's challenge: the milk (dark) chocolae and caramel tart, my fifth DB challenge and the first one i have managed to both complete and complete successfully. dare i take this as a sign that things are changing for the better?

(the other members who participated in this challenge can be found here)

Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart
Daring Bakers Challenge #9: August 2007

Hosts: Veron (Veronica's Test Kitchen) and Patricia (Technicolor Kitchen)

Allowed Modifications:
1. Caramel fragment toppings are optional but make sure that the caramel-cream and chocolate layers are true to the recipe

2. If you have no luck with the dry method of making the caramel, you may use the alternate method shown at the end of the recipe.

3. You may eliminate the cinnamon if you don't like cinnamon.

4. Recipe ingredient exception allowed only if allergy or an ingredient not available or cost prohibitive in your region

Recipe Quantity: One (1) 9" Square or one (1) 10" Round tart

Chocolate Shortbread Pastry
Note: The Chocolate Shortbread pastry can make 3 tart shells. So, if you want to cut that recipe into thirds then do so but Veron and Patricia are not promising it will scale down properly.

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Refrigeration: overnight
To make 3 tart shells: 9 ½ inches (24 cm) square
or 10 inches (26 cm round)

Ingredients:

1 cup (250g ) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (150 g) confectioners’ sugar
½ cup (50 g) ground hazelnuts
2 level teaspoons (5 g) ground cinnamon
2 eggs
4 ½ cups (400 g) cake flour
2 ½ teaspoons (10 g) baking powder
1 ½ tablespoons (10 g) cocoa powder

A day ahead
1. In a mixing bowl of a food processor, cream the butter.

2. Add the confectioners’ sugar, the ground hazelnuts, and the cinnamon, and mix together

3. Add the eggs, one by one, mixing constantly

4. Sift in the flour, the baking powder, and the cocoa powder, and mix well.

5. Form a ball with the dough, cover in plastic wrap, and chill overnight.

Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart

Preparation time: 40 minutes
Baking Time: 30 minutes
Refrigeration time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

½ lb (250 g) chocolate shortbread pastry (see recipe above)
1 ½ cups (300 g) granulated sugar
1 cup (250 g) heavy cream (30-40 percent butterfat) or crème fraiche
¼ cup (50 g) butter
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
2 ½ tablespoons (15 g) flour
1 ¼ cups (300 g) whipping cream
½ lb (250 g) milk chocolate

1. Preheat oven to 325 °F (160 °C).

2. Line the baking pan with the chocolate shortbread pastry and bake blind for 15 minutes.

3. In a saucepan, caramelize 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar using the dry method until it turns a golden caramel color. Incorporate the heavy cream or crème fraiche and then add butter. Mix thoroughly. Set aside to cool.

4. In a mixing bowl, beat the whole eggs with the extra egg yolk, then incorporate the flour.

5. Pour this into the cream-caramel mixture and mix thoroughly.

6. Spread it out in the tart shell and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

7. Prepare the milk chocolate mousse: beat the whipping cream until stiff. Melt the milk chocolate in the microwave or in a bain-marie, and fold it gently into the whipped cream.

8. Pour the chocolate mousse over the cooled caramel mixture, smoothing it with a spatula. Chill for one hour in the refrigerator.

Alternate Caramel Method:

If you have problems with the dry method, you may use this method.

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon corn syrup

Set mixture in a pot over medium-high heat and stir slowly. When the mixture comes to a boil, stop stirring and leave it alone. Wait till desired color is attained .

Proceed with the rest of the recipe.

Caramel Fragments:

Melt ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar in a saucepan until it reaches an amber color. Pour it onto waxed paper laid out on a flat surface. Leave to cool. Break it into small fragments and stick them lightly into the top of the tart.

a repetitive meal for a manic monday

2007-08-27T22:28:00.000-04:00

when you’re in school, it’s easy to feel like mondays are the worst thing invented, period. worse than tests and homework; worse than rainy days, bad cartoons, long car rides, furniture shopping, or waiting in the car while mom runs her errands. and yet nothing quite dwarfs that nascent sense of hatred like the dawning of a monday when it means getting up and going to work.

ugh, work.
give me a 7.26 first period bell any day.

it is at this point that a small voice inside my head thinks that life shouldn’t be this way; one should never, it insists, actually dread having to get out of bed in the morning. unfortunately, that little voice isn’t responsible for paying the rent, buying groceries or saving up for that really awesome jacket i saw in an east hampton shop last weekend. and so, every monday, we wake up, we shower, we get dressed, we close the door behind us, we realize we forgot our keys and open the door again--slowly, but slowly, we begin the trek for our daily bread.

about the only thing that gets me through these toils is thinking, in fact, about my daily bread. i eagerly anticipate lunch. i spend my long walk home contemplating dinner and, with a burst of workaday-repressed energy, gleefully list all of the tasks i will accomplish when i finally cross my own threshold. tonight was one of those nights, the list long. two stops on the way home. bags to unload. process film. clean out fridge. drool over the new nigel slater cookbook i special-ordered from england. salvage the leftover croissants and use up the extra heavy cream in a pain au chocolat pudding. use the blueberries before they ferment--blueberry-thyme cakes. and then dinner.

it’s one of those nights where i push the greasy french fries and sinfully, deceptively “healty” wrap i consumed at lunch, the polenta i had over the weekend, and the polenta i baked last wednesday to heat up a nearly identical meal: baked polenta, spinach, fresh mozzarella, proscuitto. it’s nearly identical to the concoction i pulled out of my oven last wednesday, only last wednesday i ate a salad and this monday i drizzle fresh pasta sauce and two fried eggs on top of the polenta before pushing the tines of my fork through the parmesan-sprinkled crust. there are days when you need to have a meal that can sit on its own in the oven for a few minutes while you rinse the fixer out of your bathtub, a meal that you know will deliver satisfaction, not epiphany. usually, we call these days “mondays.”

pain-au-chocolat pudding

4 stale chocolate croissants
3 eggs
2 cups milk
2 cups cream
3 tablespoons sugar
slug of vanilla
drizzle of leftover raspberry extract

tear the croissants and lay them in a baking pan (i used a 9x9x2 square). whisk the eggs and sugar in a bowl while the milk/cream mixture heats up on the stove. temper the egg mixture with some of the hot cream and mix it all together. add the extracts. bake 45 minutes at 350. faint from the unbelievable aromas wafting out of the oven as you pull out the pudding.

croissants, was re: the summer of gelato, #3

2007-08-20T14:08:00.000-04:00

it was a weekend ideal for a long, lonely cooking project: two days at a nearly-empty beach house with a spacious kitchen and a mile-long countertop, with only a few guests, lousy weather, and no specific plans. i had made it my mission to finally tackle the infamous tartine takes-three-days-to-make-them croissant recipe. i packed my yeast and my scharffen-berger 70%, my printed-out copy of the recipe, with kitchen notes, and my rolling pin. i was determined.

reality hits hard, though. this third weekend of the planned summer of gelato, much like its misnomer of a title might suggest, did not go according to the plan at all. wait, that is unfair. it did, in many respects, go according to the plan. i went out late on thursday night, conveniently missing dinner, avoiding the hellish dash from midtown manhattan to queens that had come to define my fridays. i came armed with my ingredients, although, did i mention that my mother told me not to pack my yeast? and then that she forgot to pick some up for me at the supermarket? so i didn't get to start on friday.

saturday dawned cool and cloudy and my first order of business was to head for the supermarket and my forgotten yeast. this accomplished, i left the starter of the croissants to proof for two hours under some warm lights in the kitchen. i came back to find a lovely, spongy dough-like creation which i dutifully scooped into my mother's no-brand mixer, and began incorporating butter and milk. by now i had an audience consisting of my mother, her parents, my dad's father, and my grandfather's lady-friend. the lady-friend in particular was entranced when i announced that the resulting dough now needed to proof again, for another 5 or 6 hours.

i could mention at this point the serious dysfunctionality of my family, but to explain it would get much too complicated and take away from my magnificent croissant project. i will just say that having four senior citizens loitering around the kitchen was not an experience i would describe as conducive to creativity and peace.

six hours passed, and i came running back to my dough, eager to start the plaque-making stages. this was the stage of which i was most afraid, this dreaded turning process. my dough fought me every inch of the way, although beating it occasionally with my rolling pin seemed to help. marginally. at length, i got the dough to the prescribed 28 inches in width, and began dotting it with butter. salted butter, a relic from last weekend's french-chef-inspired cooking. i worried about this, but not enough to defy the edit of my mother, who declared that having three pounds of butter in the house was more than enough for her, thank you, and that i had damn well better use what was there before getting more.

the method of making the butter plaque was fascinating and great fun. i pulled out the butter and my rolling pin, creamed it for a few quick minutes, and then pounded the crap out of it with my rolling pin. i took a perverse sort of glee in this, because no one was expecting it. but the butter needed to soften, so what could i do? i began spooning out bits of this softened butter and dotting it over two-thirds of the rolled-out dough. then i did the classic layered-pastry fold, like a business letter, and fought with the dough for another 15 minutes in an attempt to roll it out. again. ultimately i had to enlist the help of my taller, stronger male friend. please, sisterhood, forgive me. :-)

the dough went into the fridge to chill, prompting a "yet again?" round of comments from my audience as we sat down to dinner and i prepped my dessert (the buttermilk chocolate cake from the delectable chocolatechocolate by lisa yockelson, topped with strawberry compote and honey-cream from emily luchetti's passion for desserts). after about an hour, i pulled the plaque out for its final turn. this time i fought with it so hard that i nearly hurt myself, until i had an epiphany and realized that i already had it stretched to the proper dimensions so far as height went. so, sneakily, i turned it around another quarter-turn and rolled it from there. this proved much easier since i already had some leeway.

after leaving the dough in the fridge for the rest of the night, i awoke early, refreshed and ready to complete my task. i rolled out the dough. AGAIN. beating it a few times just for emphasis. my original plan had been to make an assortment--some plain ones, a few ham and cheese, and a few chocolate. but my sister argued, with surprisingly impeccable logic, that making an assortment would mean that there were fewer chocolate ones. so i made only chocolate ones. i cut the dough into more-or-less evenly-sized rectangles, put a few slices of scharffen-berger 70% in there, and rolled them back up to rise for about 2 hours while i played some tennis.

i came back to a marvel of baking science--beautifully-risen pastries, ready to pop in the oven. i felt emboldened by my success and the (relative) ease of the recipe. this is easy, i was thinking to myself. it's just something you have to plan for!

well, all of that was before these babies went into the oven. my major problem, as it turns out, was this: i didn't have proper baking pans. that is to say, jelly roll pans, with edges. all i had were cookie sheets. no problem, right? i wrapped them in a layer of aluminum foil and slid the pans into the ovens. that's right, ovens, because this beauty of a beach house has TWO.

then the oven caught on fire.

nothing major, just the butter dripping out of the laminated dough was so hot that it ignited, briefly, when it hit the bottom of the oven. my mother, seeing this and (understandably) panicking, opened the oven in question, fueling the fire and giving us a major scare. we pulled the croissants out and had an emergency strategy session. we lined the bottoms of the ovens with more foil to catch the butter and hopefully stop the intense smoking that was happening. this worked, to a point, except the foil started catching on fire. all in all, we had 3 serious scares.

but more importantly, the croissants were unharmed. i pulled them out in all of their glory:

now, back to that issue about the salted butter. it's true that i couldn't taste much of a difference within the layers, except that they were rich and savory (and, incidentally, would have been perfect for the ham and cheese croissants i had wanted to make). the problem was that the author of the recipe included a sprinkle of salt in the pre-baking egg wash. this threw the entire pastry out of balance (although, truly, i think i was the only one to notice). i was briefly upset about this until i considered the larger picture: i had made croissants. i had made croissants. me. by myself. in a regular kitchen. if i had done it once, i could do it again.

and this time, i would skip the salt in the egg wash.

for more information on this recipe, i would urge you to visit veronica's test kitchen. her replication of this recipe (for an original daring bakers challenge), complete with her cooking notes, where what saved me from myself as i made my way through each step.

how much do i love cherries?

2007-08-15T20:57:00.000-04:00

enough to buy four extra quarts of sour ones for freezing.
enough to spend an entire friday night pitting them.
enough to eat an undercooked, too-thick caflouti.

and, best of all, enough to try a new caflouti recipe from tartine. i was so happy to find this recipe, and i’ll tell you why: it confirmed what i had always had lurking in the back of my head: that a caflouti was really like a far breton, the cake that absolutely seduced me on martha stewart last winter and won over the hearts of a group of hungry photographers last february. the tartine recipe is lovely in its simplicity and elegance. my first attempt came out of the king arthur flour cookbook, and i think it was a bit too complicated. that’s even before i cooked it in a pan that was too small, and it had to stay in the oven an extra hour, and still came out undercooked.

this one was perfect. egg, some heated milk--almost custard-like--and just enough flour to hold it all together. i whisked it nice and smooth, and i pitted the cherries.

i know, i know, you’re not meant to pit the cherries. it robs the caflouti of its authenticity and, some say, it steals away some of the flavor. legend has it that the pits add some almond flavor to the custard. but me, i don’t like biting into a cherry and finding a pit.

i got a little creative, maybe too creative for my own good. my CSA this week included 5 perfect apricots, and i sliced and pitted those and threw them into the caflouti as well. count me in the camp of people who don’t really like apricots and never know what to do with them, even if they are looking all gorgeous and perfect at the farmers market (or, in my case, a corn-based plastic deli cup).

my creation is cooling even as i type. i am not sure what a properly finish caflouti is meant to look like, so i am still nervous.

my weekend with a four-star chef - the summer of gelato, week 2

2007-08-12T20:56:00.000-04:00

this was a weekend i’ve been looking forward to for at least a month. even still, i found myself getting nervous as friday approached. seems ridiculous to be nervous for a weekend, right? i mean, the weekend i went to visit an old pseudo-boyfriend after not speaking to him for almost three years, that was nerve-wracking. the weekend before my new job started? i barely slept. but this weekend, this was just a simple weekend out of the city with my parents and a few friends.

except that it wasn’t. one of dad’s friends happens to be a bona-fide four-star chef at a french restaurant in new jersey. and, to compound the issue, dad told him that i like to cook. so of course chef is all polite and tells dad that we should cook together. saturday morning, i was speechless all through breakfast because i wasn’t sure what to say. would i be expected to, like, know stuff? to be useful? to be a student? or to stay out of the way?

my answer came slowly as we sat by the pool. mom asked chef what he wanted to make for dinner, and my dad asked about dessert. my dad he who won’t eat cooked fruit, actually requested that chef make use of some of the fresh peaches, even if it meant pie or a tart. here was my moment of glory: “oh, i made a really excellent peach tart tatin this week.” chef looks at me and asks me what i used for a base--puff pastry? “no,” says i. “i made a pate brisee.” chef gives me this huge smile and says, “if we make a tart tonight, you’ll make the pate brisee?” “of course,” i answer. and suddenly i am not feeling so awkward. we spend several happy moments following this one settling on an actual dessert (white cheese citrus ice cream with a peach and blueberry compote) and determining our dinner menu (corn valoute with a fresh pepper relish, marinated skirt steak with red wine, garlic, ginger and thai basil, couscous with almonds and golden raisins).

our afternoon we gave over to the farm stand on route 27, getting corn, peppers, garlic, clinatro, and other staples. i found--oh joy--another yellow watermelon to cap my summer. we went home and began a very happily chaotic mise en place.

we started with the ice cream, since that would have to chill. chef made it up as we went along, starting with a simple syrup and ending with sour cream and candied orange peel. the ice cream base was born from the cross-breeding of a sorbet and a philly-style ice cream. the tang from the sour cream was shockingly pleasant as it was mixed with a lemon-sugar syrup. we decided to break as the ice cream cooled, but i couldn’t help myself. i made a ginger shortbread cookie (inspired by emily luchetti’s passion for desserts) and began dicing the peppers. after all, i needed the knife practice. i had only just finished when chef came back in from the pool and we began all over again. we had a list, but neither of us could keep track, and it’s nearly a miracle--except, of course, with a four-star chef at the helm, it’s not--that we got dinner on the table in time. i learned a lot about food plating. i was put in charge of the marinade. i got an extra smile out of chef when i asked him to describe what the corn valoute should look like as it thickened. “should it coat the back of my spoon?” i asked. the flanksteak was cooked to medium-rare perfection, and we soaked the golden raisins in some of the leftover simple syrup to bloom them for the couscous.

we macerated the fruit with some sugar and some cointreau. each plate got a scoop of the cream, a spoonful each of blueberries and peaches, and a sliver of ginger shortbread for a crunch.

for sunday, i desperately wanted chef to teach me how to make crepes. unfortunately, i had to settle--oh, the humanity!--for the secret to his life-changingly good french toast.

i found a yellow watermelon

2007-08-12T14:29:00.000-04:00

last summer, while i was still living in DC, i became an avid reader of the washington post--and with that affinity came exposure to the delightful kim o’donnell and her blog on washintonpost.com. it was through this medium that i first learned about the existence of the elusive yellow watermelon.

kim innocently posted a photo of a sliced yellow watermelon, fresh from one of her farmers’ market expeditions. i was capitvated at first site. something about the shock value of seeing the yellow flesh with the black seeds and the familiar green rind stuck in my mind and never left. i spent the rest of the summer fruitlessly seeking out the yellow watermelon. the closest i came to tracking it down was a king kullen store in long island, but the fruit was short on flavor and not what i had hoped for. i reluctantly put my hope for yellow watermelon aside for another year.

happily, that year was this one. a few weeks ago, kim o’donnell again blogged about the joys of yellow watermelon. working out of the divine david leibovitz’s perfect scoop, she experimented with making sorbet syrups and freezing them as popsicles. my obsession returned with a vengeance. best of all, i was once again headed for fresh fruit haven on long island, where farm stands dot route 27 all the way out to montauk. that first weekend, the kickoff weekend for my summer of gelato, i found a basket full of yellow watermelons right next to the sugar babies. i cradled it all the way home and immediately set to making kim’s (and david’s) sorbetto.

unfrotunately, the freezer had other plans and declined to properly freeze my ice cream bowl. undaunted, i took the mixture home and spent half a week looking for popsicle molds. i finally found them on thursday, and froze my pops straight away.

still, even with this pseudo-success, i was unsatisfied. what i really wanted was to make a proper sorbetto and serve it as part of our sunday lunch. on sundays in sagaponack, dad grills up “lamburgers” instead of hamburgers and i was convinced that a light watermelon sorbetto would be the perfect compliment to this relatively heavy midday meal.

this weekend, the pressure was on, because i was in the presence of relative strangers including--gulp--my dad’s friend scott who happens to be a four-star chef. the ice cream maker was still broken, but i had learned my lesson and started early enough to let a granita freeze instead of depending on churning for a timely sorbet. i boiled the syrup, threw in a squeeze of lime juice and a schlug from a bottle of grey goose. the ice crystals in my first granita were perhaps too large, but i shredded everything adequately and felt no shame as i appropriated david’s suggestion of replacing the seeds with mini chocolate chips.

i had saved the rinds from my watermelons and used the round bit as a bowl, and a few side slices as mini plates. i stirred in the chips and capped it off with another round end, and served it at the table. i got ooohs and aahhhhs, even from the chef.

and the granita? it was light and cool, with a perfect smoothness. maybe--just maybe--it had a splash too much lime, but it was, as i had hoped, a perfect compliment to a heavy lunch on a hot summer day.

Watermelon Sorbetto Granita
From "The Perfect Scoop," by David Lebovitz

Ingredients
3 cups watermelon juice -- from about a 3-pound chunk of melon, rind and seeds removed and pureed in a blender or food processor
1/2 cup granulated sugar
pinch salt
1 tablespoon juice of a lime
1-2 tablespoons vodka (optional)
1-2 tablespoons mini semisweet chocolate chips

Method
In a small nonreactive saucepan, heat about 1/2 cup of the watermelon juice with the sugar and salt, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and stir sugared syrup into remaining 2 1/2 cups of watermelon juice in a medium bowl. Mix in lime juice and vodka (if using).

Pour the mixture into a 9x13 glass baking dish, and stir it with a fork every half an hour or so in the freezer until there is a consistency you like. stir in chocolate chips and serve.

creme fraiche is the new green

2007-08-06T21:40:00.000-04:00

i’ve been so excited ever since meeta announced this month’s mingle that i’ve actually been almost afraid to sit down and write it. the theme, you see, is “earth food,” something i think about a lot. i’ve been accused of being a vegetarian, a vegan, a “crunchy granola hippie,” and a treehugger, and while none of that is true (especially the bit about the vegetables), it IS true that i think a lot about reducing my impact on the environment.

it actually began as a hobby of mine when i was quite young--12 or 13, probably--and started learning about global warming and holes in the ozone layer and how aqua net and styrofoam were really, really bad. like most things, environmentalism passed through my life as a phase, but a part of me never quite let it go.

and so now, being a grown up, or nearly so, contemplating my new, unfurnished apartment, favoring a 40-mpg-mini over the SUV that was the pride of my adolescence (i had, by far, the best car of all my friends, and we spent many happy days cruising back and forth from our tiny little suburban town to the shore, the catskills, and brian’s pool), and, worst of all, watching the energy policy debate as part of my old job in the U.S. Senate, i’ve drifted back toward my old tree-hugging ways. i use CFL bulbs. i recycle everything, even aluminum foil. i’ve sworn off water from plastic bottles. i’ve switched to organic shampoo. my house is filled with method cleaning products. i’m researching sustainably harvested wood furniture--i even got quoted on apartmenttherapy.com--and i keep my air conditioning above 70, with the blinds closed, at all times. all of my appliances are plugged into surge protectors, so that i don’t have energy “vampires.” (just call me buffy) i walk almost everywhere, always carrying an extra cloth bag in my purse in case i go shopping. i keep a bowl, spoon and mug at work so i don’t have to use plastic or styrofoam. i buy used books and used movies instead of new ones, and i read newspapers online.

and in the kitchen, bringing us back into the realm of culinary relevancy, i do my absolute best to find responsible groceries. for me, this year, that meant joining a CSA, shopping at farmers markets, and eating seasonally.

do i cheat? of course i do. i still love a big, disgusting fast-food hamburger for lunch, and let’s face it, my CSA delivery still needs to be driven in from long island. horizon milk might be organic, but it’s a factory farm, and my much-touted organic shampoo still comes in a big old plastic bottle. i think the key to finding one’s inner treehugger is realizing that there is no perfect solution, but making the effort to find your own way nonetheless. you’d be amazed at the viral effect of practical environmental evangelism. my mother started buying method cleaning products and biodegradable paper plates, just from listening to me talk about it. my dad, after making fun of me for spending the summer driving my old, now-reviled SUV, has since turned around and began working with the contractors at his real estate development company to investigate gray-water plumbing systems for their newest project. he’s learning about LEED certification while my mother is trying to find a brand of recycled napkin that doesn’t feel like cardboard.

and i continue to cook locally and seasonally. which brings me back to “earth food.” for the kick-off weekend of “the summer of gelato” (thus named because i promised my dad that i would make him fresh gelato every week with whatever looked tastiest at the farmers market), i decided to pair a raspberry gelato with a recipe out of emily luchetti’s a passion for desserts, which makes seasonal cooking easy by dividing each awe-inspiring recipe into an appropriate season. smack in the middle of “summer,” then, is this berry creme fraiche cake, which pairs buttermilk cake layers studded with poppy seeds and a plethora of summer berries, utilizing creme fraiche in the place of icing. in the spirit of meeta’s “earth food” theme, i used buttermilk, butter, cream and eggs from my CSA, and berries from the farm stand on sagg main road.

the best part about this cake, aside from, you know, the cake, and the berries, is that creme fraiche is a milder, tangier flavor than your basic buttercream icing, which makes it more palatable to folks like my family, who don’t eat a lot of sweet or desesrt-y things. i made the creme fraiche from scratch, letting it sit for two days to thicken and then beating it with some cream and just a tablespoon or two of sugar.

summer in sagaponack (AKA the summer of gelato); or, how i got my family to eat fajitas

2007-08-04T23:14:00.000-04:00

the classic question “what’s for dinner?” takes on an entirely new dimension when dealing with my family. my father won’t eat cooked fruit, spicy things, or things he can’t pronounce. my sister won’t eat things that are too sweet. my mother is in this phase where she won’t eat bread. i won’t eat things that swim, slither, have scales, or include anything my father might refer to as “pond life.” and that is just my immediate family. my grandfather can’t have salt. my cousin won’t eat fish, red meat, duck or vegetables. my parents’ closest friend won’t eat lamb, and my aunt, well, she doesn’t really eat at all.

talk about putting the “fun” back in dysfunctional.

this weekend marks the second annual kick-off of five weeks in the hamptons. it sounds impossibly swanky, and of course it is, but the real highlight is that all of us--family and friends--head out there every weekend (my mom moves out for the entire month) and on saturday nights, without fail, we cook. last year, this generally involved my mother letting me plan the menu and then regretting it later (as in the week we did paella and didn’t eat until midnight), while everyone else was so pleasantly drunk that they failed to notice; or me and my uncle horsing around in the kitchen (what he called imprisonment, since we barely saw any daylight) and being fed the leftover scraps of pasta and pizza we spent hours laboring over.

last year i was all about the breakfast foods. lots of muffins. some life-changing pancakes. several new additions to the ice cream repertoire. a few dinner successes, and i learned a lot about pasta.

this year, i decided i needed to relax and let things happen. not so many plans. not as many cookbooks. extra trips to the farmers markets for supplies and even, on occasion, doing some prep work ahead of time to avoid the pain of not being able to find a mixer or a spatula or a liquid measuring cup in someone else’s kitchen.

and so, the task of planning the first week’s menu fell to me. i pondered. i brainstormed. i made menus and discarded them. and finally, sitting by the pool on a sunny summer saturday, i found inspiration. what i really wanted, i mused aloud, was a fajita. i expected to be shot down immediately and was shocked when i saw some head-nodding happening. “we could do chicken fajitas,” i said, continuing my train of thought. “on the grill, with some veggies, and a big old pot of rice with some lime juice and cilantro.”

“we could make margaritas,” said our guest of the weekend. “or sangria.”
“daddy likes white sangria,” my mother offered, as i nearly died of shock.

“i could get some fresh corn,” i ventured even farther, “and some extra peppers, and onions, and potatoes. we could do a tortilla.”

“ron makes great margaritas,” said our guest.
“ron could make a great corn salad, i bet,” said my mom.

and there it was, in the space of a few moments, my shopping list. 3 farm stands, a specialty deli, a liquor store and a king kullen later, i had gotten my entire list and even found--oh joy--a yellow watermelon for sunday’s lunch. i came home and had just enough time to change and unpack the goods when the family began pouring back in the front door from their various saturday outings. the blender came out immediately, as did a bottle of petron. (in my family, when we drink tequila, we drink GOOD tequila) i started cooking a custard for some raspberry gelato. i set my mother to making some guacamole, and while the margaritas where whizzing away in the blender, ron began devising a corn salad. we cut up the chicken into bits and seasoned it with a taco seasoning mix. the grill was fired up, the custard cooled, we strained the raspberries in a french press when we couldn’t find a strainer.

by 8.30, we were sitting at the table, chowing down on fajita bliss. the corn was sweet, the chicken was moist, the rice had a hint of lime, the tortillas had been pan-warmed (along with my hand, which got in the way of the frying pan in question). even my sangria got high marks after i decided to omit the extra sugar and just soak some fresh fruit in the rioja, topping off the pitcher with a bottle of sparkling water.

the only downside--turns out, the freezer wasn’t cold enough to freeze the ice cream bowl. so what was for dessert? more on that later.

i could so be a browniebabe

2007-08-01T22:35:00.000-04:00

this picture is unfair, because this picture isn't going to win me any browniebabe accolades.

but it should.
seriously.

these were life-changing brownies, startling in their perfection, wonderous in their flavor, lick-up-the-crumbs-with-your-fingers delicious, reforming a man who hasn't eaten cherries since his colonoscopy.

ok, maybe i went too far with the bodily functions on that one.

for the third browniebabe challenge, after missing the first TWO in spite of my love for brownies, i am determined to submit a contender for august.

one of my goals for the summer has been to cook extensively using the most local, fresh, responsible and seasonal ingredients i can find. a side effect of this has been that my cooking has gotten simpler--nigel slater is, after all, my hero--but it's also given me a chance to systematically work my way through the brilliance that is emily luchetti's a passion for desserts.

i should mention also that i am obsessed with cherries. sweet ones, sour ones, queen annes or rainers. doesn't really matter. i've been hoarding them like a fruitarian squirrel (i feel like i have used that simile before, but it still applies). last friday, i came home from work after walking from 86th and the central park great lawn all the way down to columbus circle and then across town to 39th and 12th. i was exhausted. but i opened up the fridge when i made my way home and found myself staring down 3 quarts of cherries. no lie. i knew what i had to do, of course--i had to bake!

i'd been looking forward to saturday for the entire week because i had planned my most favorite activity: sailing. friends of my parents, who are practically my other parents, invited me and my sister up to their boat on the hudson for a sail and a picnic, so i promised to bring brownies. quick, easy, delicious. done. when i saw the cherries in the fridge, i had a flash of brilliance: black forest brownies a la ms. luchetti, using the cherries, giving me a snack worthy of the sail, and giving me a contender of an entry for the browniebabe event.

and thus i present my black forest brownies, inspired by ms. luchetti but executed in hybrid format. i used my staple brownie recipe, king arthur flour's on-the-fence brownies, and combined it with ms. luchetti's directions for adding cherries and flavors. i threw in a quick pour of kirsch and a quick pour of almond extract, because one of the new discoveries of my summer has been the magical mix that is cherries and almonds. they baked up so quick, i didn't even need to dirty any dishes because i could prep everything in the microwave. they smelled unbelievable. and they overnighted even better, because the kirsch soaked into the brownie batter and infused its flavor into every crumb.

i am telling you, this picture doesn't do it justice. but these are browniebabe-worthy brownies.

black forest brownies
(adapted from emily luchetti's a passion for desserts)

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
I ounce unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
4 ounces (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
8 ounces (about 24) sweet red cherries, preferably Bing,
plus 16 whole cherries with stems, for garnish
i 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs
i teaspoon kirsch
¾ cup all-purpose flour
'/4 teaspoon salt
'/2 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottom of an 8-inch square pan with
parchment paper.

TO MAKE THE BROWNIES: Melt the chocolates together with the butter in a double
boiler (see page 23). While the chocolate is melting, stem, pit, and cut the 8 ounces
of cherries into eighths.

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs. Whisk in the chocolate
mixture and the kirsch. Mix in the flour, salt, and baking powder. Gently mix in the
cut cherries. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out almost clean but still
with a little batter on it, 30 to 35 minutes. Let the brownies cool in the pan.

mirror cake tasting update

2007-08-01T22:31:00.000-04:00

last night, i gathered my courage and stared down the monster in the fridge, the strawberry mirror cake. it had already been a rough day--very long and intense at work, very hot, two hours of time sheet entry for the last day of the month, and chicken tikka masala with zucchini meatballs that proved yes, indeed, i still hate zucchini so much that i can barely force myself to swallow it.

i decided to salvage some of the day with a slice of cake. so now, at last, you have my verdict on the july DB challenge:

eh.

i was reading ivonne's post, and she described feeling like she did at the end of the crepe cake challenge: underwhelmed. i have to say that i shared her sentiments. i expected the cake to have more flavor, somehow. i understand now why the soaking syrup needed to be spiked with kirsch--because without it, there was almost no flavor, even with the mountains of strawberry bavarian creme. and all other things being equal, i think i would have preferred grand marnier instead of kirsch. i found the kirsch to be intrusive, and not close enough to strawberry to blend in. grand marnier's orange tinge would at least have complimented the strawberries!

a mirror for my ineptitude - july DB challenge

2007-07-30T12:05:00.000-04:00

it is my fourth month as a daring baker, and my third month in a new kitchen, my second month in a new job, and my first month after finding a new, permanent home (beginning in september). to recap, i missed the crepe cake challenge; i bungled the gateau st-honore; i was vaguely repulsed by the bagels. but i learned a lot of things, like the best way to make crepe batter; different techniques for making choux; and the proper way to feed yeast for bread. (i still have a picture in my head of the happy, happy yeast in my bagel dough).

i seem to have set up a streak for myself. in this fourth month, i again tackled the challenge—strawberry mirror cake--with alacrity. i set up my ingredients. i plotted carefully. i thought, for the first time, that i was prepared for the challenge. the trick to this challenge, i decided, was planning ahead and working in stages. accordingly, i baked the cake layers—soft, springy and gorgeous—as i counted down the moments until midnight on july 21^st. over the course of the next week, i made the bavarian crème base, the strawberry puree, and got ready to make the mirror.

here is where the customary bungling began.

it took me three tries to make the bavarian crème. i ran out of milk and eggs. i had to buy—i cringe to say it—a&p house brand milk instead of my beloved milk fresh from my csa delivery. i have a long history of seriously screwing up custard bases, to the point where i gave up making custard-base ice cream and despaired of ever getting proper pastry cream. it’s been a unicorn for me, impossible to catch, always out of reach. and people have been telling me for months that it is easy to make, they can’t understand why i continually fail and am quivering with fear at the mere thought of thickening eggs in hot cream.

now, i did, at last, find success. several of my fellow bakers offered this simple but shockingly effective advice: always bring the base ingredients to room temperature when making custard.

worked like a charm. i stared in amazement at the thickened crème, waiting to see the usual bits of curdled egg floating around. they never came. i felt emboldened, which led me to my next bungle—i added the gelatin mixture to the bavarian crème. days before i actually had a chance to spread it all over the cake. so while i sit here, drooling over the picture-perfect smooth creations of some of my compatriots, i am hiding with shame from the thick, somewhat lumpy mass on the bottom shelf of my refrigerator.

most appallingly, i failed to grasp the best possible strategy for the crème—the pouring of the cream over the cake layers. (of course, even had i realized this, i would have been unable to accomplish it, since my crème was perhaps a bit stiffer than the recipe intended, owing to its prolonged stay in my refrigerator) i was flustered by the fact that even with my nine-inch cake rounds, the cake was still smaller than my 9-inch springform. i didn’t understand (until about 11 last night, as i sat trying to watch pride and prejudice but really contemplating my errors), that the slight size discrepancy allowed the cream to pile smoothly around the cake, leaving a relatively clean surface for the mirror.

i, in my frustration, wrapped a layer of tin foil around my cake to contain the mirror, and needless to say, the mirror was neither smooth nor clean (although i will say that it was damn tasty).

i actually haven’t even had a chance to taste the cake as a whole. i know that the elements are delicious, however malformed they might be, so i am not afraid of what awaits me at home tonight.

but for all of that, i will steadfastly refuse to post a picture. if drooling is what you are after, check out some of the others…

Strawberry Mirror Cake
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
¾ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 egg whites
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
2 TBSP sugar
2/3 cup sifted cake flour
½ cup water
1/3 cups sugar
2 TBSP kirsch or strawberry liqueur

Strawberry Bavarian Cream

2 ½ TBSP unflavored gelatin
1 ½ cups strained strawberry puree(1 ½ baskets)
5 egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
1 ½ cups milk
1 TBSP lemon juice
several drops of red food coloring
1 ¾ cups whipping cream
Strawberry Mirror
1 tsp lemon juice
1 TBSP kirsch
1 TBSP water
1 TBSP unflavored gelatin
Few drops of red food coloring

Strawberry Juice

1 ½ pints of strawberries(18 oz)
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup water

1.Preheat oven to 450F. Butter and flour the sides of an 11-by-17 inch jelly roll pan(rimmed baking sheet). Line bottom of pan with a sheet of parchment paper cut to fit bottom pan exactly.
2.Beat eggs, egg yolks and ¾ cup sugar together in a medium bowl until thick and light. Beat in the vanilla.
3.In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy, ad cream of tartar and beat until whites begin to form peaks. Add the 2 TBSP sugar and beat until the whites hold stiff, glossy peaks(do not over beat).
4.Sift flour over the egg yolk mixture and fold in . Stir in one fourth of the whites. Then carefully fold in the remaining whites.
5.Spread batter evenly in pan. Bake until light brown and springy to touch(7 to 10 minutes). Cool in pan 5 minutes. Run a knife along edge to loosen. Invert cake tin to cut out 8 ¼ inch circles of cake. Wrap the cake layers, separated with waxed paper, and set aside. Cake may be frozen at this point.
6.To make soaking syrup: Combine water and the 1/3 cup sugar in saucepan; bring to a boil to dissolve sugar. Cool to room temperature; flavor with liqueur. Set aside or refrigerate in glass jar until ready to use.
7.To assemble cake: Brush sides of 10-inch springform pan lightly with flavorless salad oil or almond oil. Cut out a cardboard circle that is exactly the same size as the bottom inside of the pan; cover cardboard with aluminum foil and fit into bottom of pan. Center one layer of the cake bottom of pan. Brush the cake with some of the soaking syrup to just moisten(not drench) the cake; set aside.
8.Prepare Strawberry Bavarian Cream. Immediately pour about half of the Bavarian Cream over the first layer of cake in the pan. Set the next layer of cake on top of the cream. Pour remaining Bavarian Cream over cake and smooth top of the cream with spatula. Refrigerate until the cream sets(1 to 2 hours).
9.Prepare the Strawberry Mirror.
10.To serve: Wrap a hot towel around the outside of springform pan for a few minutes. Run a small sharp knife tip around the edge of the Strawberry Mirror to separate it form the sides of pan. Mirror will tear when sides are unlatched if it is stuck at ANY point. Slowly unlatch the pan and slide it off the cake. Slice cake in wedges and serve in upright slices.

Prep Work
Strawberry Bavarian Cream
1.Sprinkle the gelatin over the strawberry puree in a small bowl and set aside until spongy.
2.Combine egg yolks and sugar in a bowl' beat until light. Bring milk to a boil in sauce pan. Pour hot milk into yolk mixture ans stir with a wooden spoon(it doesn't say so but I would temper the egg mixture first to be safe). Return this mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until your finger leaves a clear trail in sauce when drawn across the back of the spoon.(Do not boil or mixture will curdle.) Immediately remove from heat and stir in softened gelatin mixture. Pour into a stainless steel bowl places over a bowl of ice water. Stir in lemon juice and a few drops of red food coloring. Cool over ice water, stirring occasionally, until mixture thickens to the consistency of softly whipped cream.
3.White gelatin mixture is cooling, whip the whipping cream until it holds soft peaks. When the gelatin mixture resembles softly whipped cream, fold the whipped cream into the gelatin mixture.

Strawberry Mirror
1.Prepare strawberry juice.
2.Place lemon juice, kirsch, and water in a small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over this mixture; set aside until spongy and soft.
3.Measure 1 ½ cups Strawberry juice into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer; pour over gelatin mixture and stir to dissolve gelatin. Tint to desired color with red food coloring. Place bowl over bowl of ice water and stir occasionally until the mixture is syrupy and just beings to thicken(do not let jell); remove from ice water.
4.When mixture is syrupy, pour a 1/16-inch layer over the top of cake. Refrigerate until set.

Strawberry JuiceWash and hull strawberries; coarsely chop. Place strawberries in saucepan; crush to start juices flowing. Place over low heat; add sugar and water; simmer slowly 10 minutes. Pour juice and pulp through damp jelly bag or cheesecloth-lined colander and drain into a bowl for 15 minutes(Do not press down on fruit).
Adapted from Cakes and Pastries At The Academy by the California Culinary Academy 1993

mid-summer update

2007-07-25T22:33:00.000-04:00

i’ve really lost track of my writing lately. the fact of the matter is, moving is unsettling in so many ways. it’s easy to lose interest in things that once kept you spellbound. it’s hard to maintain old habits as you settle into a new routine. with new causes of stress, the old cures can lose their potency.

but all of these are excuses.

happily, in spite of my appalling lack of daily writing--the major reason i started this journal--i’ve managed to keep cooking. not every day, not by a long shot, and not with as gung-ho a philosophy, but i think these have turned into favorables instead of unfavorables. i’ve stepped back and learned to approach things more calmly and more systematically. with my CSA, i’ve learned to eat new foods and seen new ways to cook old things. with all of the fresh fruit, i’ve got six kinds of ice cream in the freezer. i’ve made pies, and cobblers, fillings and flummeries.

best of all, i’ve finally gotten on my way toward two goals: cooking through the kitchen diaries, and cooking through a passion for desserts.

it’s true that i made a list. probably a bit anal, especially considering my generally sloppy tendencies, but it’s been invaluable to me. every time i pick up some fresh fruit or get a new CSA dropoff, i can look at my list and pick something accordingly.

i carry my list around with me like a kind of talisman. i stare at it and make grandiose plans or daydream on a boring day. i learn new techniques and add new tastes to my repertoire. this has been particularly true with ice creams. last summer, i had a few favorites that i made over and over. this summer, it’s like i’m trying a new one every day. i’ve been hoarding summer fruit in the freezer like some kind of fruitarian squirrel--sour cherries were my most elusive quarry, to be sure.

i’m not settled in yet. i look at the mess i call a pantry and long for the will and the time to pull it all down and organize it properly. i still hate doing the dishes and watch them pile up for days at a time. six types of ice cream have left my freezer with little space left over for real food, and i’ve fallen into bad lunchtime habits with a string of fast-food restaurants on west 48th street. my stomach rebels.

and in the interim, i keep working on my list.

Asian Wraps
Flaky Curry Turnovers
Lotus Chicken Packages
Curried Chicken Salad with Grapes
Curried Coconut Chicken
Tandoori Chicken with Mango Chutney
Seared Steak with Wild Mushrooms
Fried Wild Mushroom Rice Wraps

East & Southeast
Vietnamese Pork Balls
Bok Choy Rolls with Spicy Chicken
Bulgogi
Chinese Dim Sum
Indonesian Chicken Martabak
Japanese Soba Noodle Salad
Japanese Fresh Corn Soup
Vietnamese Pancakes
Braised Duck and Ginger

The New Spanish Table
Truffled Turkey and Wild Mushroom Croquettes
Patatas Bravas
Tomato and Bread Soup
Castilian Garlic Soup
Rosa’s Wild Mushroom Soup with Garlic Shoots
Potato Soup with Fried Almonds
Chicken Soup with Mini Meatballs
Cherry and Beet Gazpacho
Chilled Potato and Bacon Soup
Frisee with Pears and Honeyed Lardons
Potato Tortilla
Eggs over Smoky Bread Hasg
Pork Tenderloin with Lightly Seared Strawberries
Braised and Glazed Pork Ribs with Applesauce
Albondigas
Catalan Meatballs
Garlicky Roast Chicken with Apple Compote
Chicken Flamenquin
Chicken and Apples Braised in Hard Cider
Smoky Mashed Potatoes
Creamy Basque Smoked Cheese Risotto
Inma’s Baked Macaroni
Sauteed Wild Mushrooms with Ham and Allioli
Basque Cream and Cherry Tart
Yogurt Cream with Honey Gelee

My Vue
Potato Ravioli with Mushroom Essence
Morels Stuffed with Chicken and tarragon mousse
Wild Duck with Cherries
Duck a l’orange
Apple Crème Brulee
Madeleines

Everyday Pasta
Jamie’s Italy
Fried Ricotta with Tomato Salad
Baked Mushrooms Stuffed with Ricotta
Sliced Mushrooms with Melted Mozzarella and Thyme

The Kitchen Diaries
Lemon and Basil Linguine
Lamb Chops with Lemon and Mint and Potatoes Crushed into the Pan Juices
A really fast cake with blueberries and pears
Roast Pork with Lemon and Potatoes
Raspberry ricotta pancakes
A chicken roasted with new garlic
Chicken and rice salad
Vietnamese Beef Salad
Orecchiette with roast tomato and basil sauce
Strawberry Mascarpone Tart
Strawberry Water Ice
Roast Lamb Rolls with Oregano and Garlic
Lamb-filled flatbread
Peach and Blueberry Sour Cream Cobbler
Orange Yogurt Water Ice
Grilled Chicken with Garlic and Lemon Butter

A Passion for Desserts
Honey Cream-Strawberry Parfaits
Ice Wine Ice Cream with Strawberry-Rhubarb Compote
Strawberry Ginger Sodas with Orange Sherbet
Best-of-Summer Shortcakes
Berry Crème Fraiche Cake
Bing Cherry Filo Rolls with Ice Cream
Lemon-Raspberry Bread Pudding
Candied Ginger Shortbread Stacks with peach-blackberry compote
Peach Blueberry Trifle
Red Berry-White Chocolate Trifles
White Peach Melba

A Passion for Ice Cream
Blackberry Sorbet-filled Peaches
Bountiful Berry Compote with Buttermilk Ice Cream
Cherries Jubilee with Butter Crunch Ice Cream
Iced Bellinis
Apple Cider Sodas with Penuche Swirl Ice Cream
Very Berry Sodas
Lemonade-Strawberry Floats with Mascarpone Ice Cream
Tangerine Creamsicle Sodas
Profiteroles with Orange Custard-chocolate chip Ice Cream and Bittersweet Chocolate Sauce

The Perfect Scoop
Chocolate-Rasberry Ice Cream
Vanilla Frozen Yogurt
Orange Popsicle Ice Cream
Toasted Almond and Candied Cherry Ice Cream
Sour Cherry Frozen Yogurt
Blueberry Frozen Yogurt
Peach Ice Cream (Frozen Yogurt)
Strawberry Frozen Yogurt
Fresh Mint Ice Cream
Watermelon Sorbetto
Lemon-Buttermilk Sherbet
Cherry Sorbet

a truly exemplary summer sunday (HHDD - Sorbet)

2007-07-08T22:21:00.001-04:00

the day broke here in new york, hot and humid and sunny, the sort of day where one can barely see the skyline through the soup.

a perfect day for an outing and for something cool and icy.

after pancakes for breakfast, i set out for a walk with my friend aaron. we took the R down to city hall and spent the morning walking over the brooklyn bridge, stopping often in the shady bits for a respite and a few gulps of water. by the time we got over, it was lunchtime, and at his offer of lunch i suggested my favorite summertime splurge: ice cream instead of a meal. i must warn that this indulgence is not for the faint of heart, and its privilege is not one to be abused. it is for really hot, gross, sticky days full of exertion and good company ONLY. use with care. we stopped in brooklyn heights at the truly excellent creamery, where we each had the vanilla chocolate crunch. this ice cream was so pure that you could actually taste the cream in it, an oasis in a world full of edys.

this just got me in the mood for more frozen goodness, especially when i fell back through the door of my own apartment late in the afternoon, soaked in sweat and barely capable of forward movement. having had a milkshake for lunch, i couldn't justify another one, no matter how much the quart of homemade strawberry ice cream was calling me from the freezer. i turned, as ever, to my beloved kitchen diaries for inspiration and found what i was looking for: orange yogurt water ice.

i spent yesterday at the union square greenmarket on a quest for sour cherries and new summer garlic, but came home with 5 quarts of cherries, some fresh buttermilk and some fresh yogurt. i disposed of the buttermilk in the pancakes but when i saw this recipe i knew i had found the perfect vessel for the yogurt.

the technique is simple: prepare a simple sugar syrup, take several squeezed oranges, add some squeezed lemon, and the zest of one or two of the oranges. pour in the yogurt. stir vigorously and freeze. nigel writes, wisely as always, "it complements any summer fruit, but especially lusciously ripe peaches and aprictos. perhaps the prettiest way to serve it is as i did, the pale orange water ice surrounded by dark red cherries still attached to their stalks."

he's never steered me wrong before, and i did have all of those quarts in the fridge. i set to. the first swallow was fresh and cold with the smoothness imparted from the yogurt, cooling me to my very soul and making moot the fact that i skipped dinner.

i offer my water ice for this month's "hey, hey it's donna day -- sorbet," hosted by eat drink live.

the 4th on a wednesday??

2007-07-04T21:32:00.000-04:00

ok, i spent a nice chunk of last week--as did most of the 9-5 working world--railing against the idiocy of the 4th of july on a wednesday. i mean, how is a girl supposed to really enjoy the holiday when she only gets one day off?? and since i've only just started a new job, i'm ineligible to apply for vacation time for another 6 weeks at least. i was near despair, except for one thing: i was in desperate need of a day off.

not to get too personal, but i've been struggling with my new job and having a difficult time keeping track of all of my new responsibilities, and it's been weighing on me. monday i had my first really great day--i actually got through my entire list of tasks, and got them done properly. this was a big step. tuesday we closed early and although i felt similarly confident in my task list, it turned out--i realized with a stomach-dropping thud as i walked out of the locked office door and noticed that i had forgotten my keys--i forgot one small but (in the grander scheme of things) important task.

*sigh*

so i sat on the subway with a heavy heart on my way to columbus circle, but it only took a few minutes' time in whole foods to feel better about life. i'd decided to make up for my weekend-that-might-have-been and spend my extra daylight hours preparing a delicious meal to help me relax and get into the proper frame of mind. i made wild mushroom soup with garlic scapes, and catalan meatballs with veal, pork, pancetta and applesauce. i made a basque cherry tart (which, in retrospect, is much like the one peabody made, but it is a coincidence, i swear) which, for my first home tart-making experience, came out like a dream. and was super-tasty besides.

the weather, meanwhile, was humid but lovely, not too hot, and i enjoyed the afternoon of cooking with the windows open for a literal breath of fresh air. i eagerly plotted my holiday meal--lunch and dinner.

i took a page from nigel slater, my idol, and went for a long walk along the hudson river followed by a fresh chicken-pancetta-rosemary burger patty with some freshly shredded jack cheese mixed in. yum.

dinner, though, was my real triumph and ultimately the point of this writing. i got back to my oleana tome, spice, and pulled out my bookmarked recipes for fried haloumi cheese and cumin-tomato-brown butter-smothered skirt steak and spent several happy hours making a disgustingly large pile of dishes in the sink. i successfully browned butter. i ate sheep's milk cheese for the first time. i got to use my new all-clad grill pan.

and, best of all, i made ice cream, which i offer up for this month's mingle. in keeping with my middle-eastern theme, i decided to go for a flavor i usually save for the fall and the jewish high holidays, honey. i took out the last of my bottle of wildflower honey, some of my CSA milk, and a new container of , which i blended together in my mixer. to this i added about 3/8 of a cup of honey, a splash of vanilla and a splash of orange blossom water. while this was churning in the ice cream maker, i whipped up a batch of martha stewart's "cocoa bee cookies" from the recent color issue (which, by the way, if you didn't get a chance to see and drool, you missed out). the recipe was quite similar to the one in her baking handbook for chocolate wafers only it used brown sugar and extra molasses instead of regular granulated sugar. the molasses made the dough much more difficult to handle but in the end went much better with the honey ice cream.

which i drizzled with a few spoonfuls of pomegranate molasses.

is that good enough to share with the mingle, meeta?
please say it is.
:-)

editor's note - i think i left my camera at my parents' house when i was there last weekend, so this continues to be a text-only blog, at least for now...

my weekend that might have been

2007-06-29T16:33:00.000-04:00

here i sit, on my couch, in the middle of a law & order: SVU marathon on a gorgeous friday afternoon when, in fact, i should be at work. and, alas, much as i would love to say that i’m on vacation or better yet, playing hooky, i am sitting on my couch because i lack the energy to move anywhere else. and because my nose starts dripping like crazy when i try.

yes, i’m sick. if there is anything crueler than being sick and drippy when it’s warm and beautiful outside, i’ve yet to discovered it. it’s particularly painful on this pre-holiday weekend because i had grand, grand plans.

firstly, i was going to plunge in, headfirst, to a series of photography projects i’ve been slowly plotting and strategizing about over the past several weeks. i spent a very pleasant couple of hours last night in front of the computer, preparing a set of large-format negatives for alternative contact printing.

secondly, it is cruel because my illness has dulled my appetite to the point where cold, flavorless leftover chinese food is about all i can stomach, and i can barely even taste it. you’ll be weeping with me when i tell you my weekend menu, i promise.

picture me on friday night. my favorite night. the menu is planned: wild mushroom soup with garlic scapes. catalan meatballs with rice. basque cherry tart (all from the new spanish table). i imagine myself lighting my shabbos candles and starting by making the pie dough. probably in the food processor, because that is beyond easy. while the pie dough chills, i start the soup, on low, a back burner, and i start mixing the spices for the meatballs. meanwhile, the rice cooker bubbles happily in the background while i mix the tart filling--pastry cream with facuhon cherry preserves. i can picture myself sitting at my table like a civilized person, maybe watching a movie, perhaps continuing my re-read of harry potter and the order of the phoenix. i am happy. i am proud of myself. i survived the week.

but no. not tart for me. no fresh soup with CSA garlic scapes. no meatballs dripping with saucy goodness over a pile of white rice.
no. if i am lucky, it will be fresh macaroni and cheese. or maybe some polenta and an egg. if i am unlucky, it will be the closest bowl of cereal i can make myself grab.

it gets worse. tomorrow’s menu: fried haloumi cheese with pears and dates. smothered broiled skirt steak with tomatoes and cumin. honey-saffron panna cotta with chocolate spice cookies. (from spice, a delightful tome by the woman who runs oleana in boston)

sunday--i almost can’t even bring myself to write it--roasted chicken. new garlic. pea pilaf. rhubarb and sour cherry pie.

i bring myself this pain only because i feel like the excitement i had over my weekend menu, the plethora of choices, the unlimited potential for joy and disaster, must somehow be recorded for posterity.

feel sorry for me.

DB challenge #7 - Bagels

2007-06-27T21:40:00.000-04:00

they’re called real, honest, jewish purist’s bagels. they are basic, handmade, imperfect, boiled and baked.
they are plain.

growing up and going to hebrew school i would grab a bagel--30 cents--on my way in and spend the next hour or so making it last as long as possible. my favorite technique involved peeling off the boiled skin and leaving the soft, airy inside for later. the air would give the insides just the slightest hint of resistance. the only place worth getting bagels from was PK’s, home of gargantuan oblong-ish bits of dough that were boiled and baked to perfection. i admit, i always got a plain one.

i’ve spent the past 25 years growing up jewish and eating many a bagel feast, though, and i’m not sure i would classify these particular bagels as jewish based solely on their plainness. i admit that the author makes certain valid points--a biscuit cutter makes for a very goyishe bagel--but this jew likes her bagels with a bit of sweet, hebrew school traditions notwithstanding. i mean, the main thing i learned in hebrew school was that 9.00 is not too early for a candy bar to help you get through a talmud class.

i feel that my enlightenment came in college. i lived down the street from a lovely little bagel shop called sam’s, that, in addition to making twenty or so particularly delicious bagel sandwich options, also made chocolate chip bagels. it was a revolution for me. i built on this knowledge when i moved to washington, d.c. and discovered bagels etc lurking on a dupont circle street corner. not only did they have chocolate chip bagels, but they had cherry ones. my favorite treat became getting one of each and slathering them, a half at a time, with nutella on the cherry bagel and fauchon cherry preserves on the chocolate one.

so i was a bit disappointed when jenny and freya decided that this month’s DB challenge included a very strict--orthodox, if you will-observance of the bagel recipe. no cherries. no chocolate chips. no nutella.

in spite of these restrictions, i tackled the bagels with enthusiasm. on shabbos, if you please.
the recipe is simple. and not just simple, but easy. i had an epiphany while i was proofing the yeast by feeding it with honey and watched the very happy yeast foam like i’ve never seen yeast foam before. (clearly i’ve been proofing yeast the wrong way for years). i watched in amazement as the sticky, heavy and wet dough came together as i poured all 8 cups of flour into it. i barely had time to turn around and rinse the dishes before the dough had doubled in size--a perfect june day will do that to yeast, i suppose--and half-proofing quickly turned into full proofing as i formed the small holey spheres using the “poke” method.

the bagels weren’t perfect. they rose too quickly. they floated in the boiling water--maybe i didn’t have it hot enough? the shape was totally off and they flattened most unattractively in the oven. they also stuck to the sheet pans with troublesome stubborness.

the real problem, though, was that they just weren’t that good. i didn’t like the texture of the boiled skin, and i didn’t like the taste of the bagel itself. i was disappointed about the floating problem. they just...didn’t taste right.

you want to know the secret to honest, jewish purist’s bagels?
real jews go out and buy their bagels on sunday mornings.

Real Honest Jewish Purist's Bagels
Daring Bakers Challenge #7: June 2007

Hosts: Jenny (All Things Edible) and Freya (Writing at the Kitchen Table)
Post Date: Wednesday, June 27th

Allowed Modifications:

1. Topping of your choice, savory recommended, for the outside of the bagels only. No added ingredients or flavours inside the bagels.
2. Filling or spread of your choice for the outside of the bagel. (i.e. flavoured cream cheese or peanut butter)
3. Recipe ingredient exception allowed only if allergy or an ingredient not available or cost prohibitive in your region

Recipe Quantity: Fifteen (15) large, plain, Kosher bagels

Ingredients:

* 6-8 cups bread (high-gluten) flour
* 4 tablespoons dry baking yeast
* 6 tablespoons granulated white sugar or light honey (clover honey is good)
* 2 teaspoons salt
* 3 cups hot water
* a bit of vegetable oil
* 1 gallon water
* 3-5 tablespoons malt syrup or sugar
* a few handfuls of cornmeal

Equipment:

* large mixing bowl
* wire whisk
* measuring cups and spoons
* wooden mixing spoon
* butter knife or baker's dough blade
* clean, dry surface for kneading
* 3 clean, dry kitchen towels
* warm, but not hot, place to set dough to rise
* large stockpot
* slotted spoon
* 2 baking sheets

How You Do It:

Step 1- Proof Yeast: Pour three cups of hot water into the mixing bowl. The water should be hot, but not so hot that you can't bear to put your fingers in it for several seconds at a time. Add the sugar or honey and stir it with your fingers (a good way to make sure the water is not too hot) or with a wire whisk to dissolve. Sprinkle the yeast over the surface of the water, and stir to dissolve.

Wait about ten minutes for the yeast to begin to revive and grow. Skipping this step could result in your trying to make bagels with dead yeast, which results in bagels so hard and potentially dangerous that they are banned under the terms of the Geneva Convention. You will know that the yeast is okay if it begins to foam and exude a sweetish, slightly beery smell.

Step 2- Make Dough: At this point, add about three cups of flour as well as the 2 tsp of salt to the water and yeast and begin mixing it in. Some people subscribe to the theory that it is easier to tell what's going on with the dough if you use your hands rather than a spoon to mix things into the dough, but others prefer the less physically direct spoon. As an advocate of the bare-knuckles school of baking, I proffer the following advice: clip your fingernails, take off your rings and wristwatch, and wash your hands thoroughly to the elbows, like a surgeon. Then you may dive into the dough with impunity. I generally use my right hand to mix, so that my left is free to add flour and other ingredients and to hold the bowl steady. Left-handed people might find that the reverse works better for them. Having one hand clean and free to perform various tasks works best.

When you have incorporated the first three cups of lour, the dough should begin to become thick-ish. Add more flour, a half-cup or so at a time, and mix each addition thoroughly before adding more flour. As the dough gets thicker, add less and less flour at a time.

Step 3- Knead Dough: Soon you will begin to knead it by hand (if you're using your hands to mix the dough in the first place, this segue is hardly noticeable). If you have a big enough and shallow enough bowl, use it as the kneading bowl, otherwise use that clean, dry, flat counter top or tabletop mentioned in the "Equipment" list above. Sprinkle your work surface or bowl with a handful of flour, put your dough on top, and start kneading. Add bits of flour if necessary to keep the dough from sticking (to your hands, to the bowl or counter top, etc....). Soon you should have a nice stiff dough. It will be quite elastic, but heavy and stiffer than a normal bread dough. Do not make it too dry, however... it should still give easily and stretch easily without tearing.

Step 4- Let Dough Rise: Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, and cover with one of your clean kitchen towels, dampened somewhat by getting it wet and then wringing it out thoroughly. If you swish the dough around in the bowl, you can get the whole ball of dough covered with a very thin film of oil, which will keep it from drying out.

Place the bowl with the dough in it in a dry, warm (but not hot) place, free from drafts. Allow it to rise until doubled in volume. Some people try to accelerate rising by putting the dough in the oven, where the pilot lights keep the temperature slightly elevated. If it's cold in your kitchen, you can try this, but remember to leave the oven door open or it may become too hot and begin to kill the yeast and cook the dough. An ambient temperature of about 80 degrees Fahrenheit (25 Centigrades) is ideal for rising dough.

Step 5- Prepare Water for Bagels: While the dough is rising, fill your stockpot with about a gallon of water and set it on the fire to boil. When it reaches a boil, add the malt syrup or sugar and reduce the heat so that the water just barely simmers; the surface of the water should hardly move.

Step 6- Form Bagels: Once the dough has risen, turn it onto your work surface, punch it down, and divide immediately into as many hunks as you want to make bagels. For this recipe, you will probably end up with about 15 bagels, so you will divide the dough into 15 roughly even-sized hunks. Begin forming the bagels. There are two schools of thought on this. One method of bagel formation involves shaping the dough into a rough sphere, then poking a hole through the middle with a finger and then pulling at the dough around the hole to make the bagel. This is the hole-centric method. The dough-centric method involves making a long cylindrical "snake" of dough and wrapping it around your hand into a loop and mashing the ends together. Whatever you like to do is fine. DO NOT, however, give in to the temptation of using a doughnut or cookie cutter to shape your bagels. This will push them out of the realm of Jewish Bagel Authenticity and give them a distinctly Protestant air. The bagels will not be perfectly shaped. They will not be symmetrical. This is normal. This is okay. Enjoy the diversity. Just like snowflakes, no two genuine bagels are exactly alike.

Step 7- Pre-heat Oven: Begin to preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step 8- Half Proof and Boil Bagels: Once the bagels are formed, let them sit for about 10 minutes. They will begin to rise slightly. Ideally, they will rise by about one-fourth volume... a technique called "half-proofing" the dough. At the end of the half-proofing, drop the bagels into the simmering water one by one. You don't want to crowd them, and so there should only be two or three bagels simmering at any given time. The bagels should sink first, then gracefully float to the top of the simmering water. If they float, it's not a big deal, but it does mean that you'll have a somewhat more bready (and less bagely) texture. Let the bagel simmer for about three minutes, then turn them over with a skimmer or a slotted spoon. Simmer another three minutes, and then lift the bagels out of the water and set them on a clean kitchen towel that has been spread on the counter top for this purpose. The bagels should be pretty and shiny, thanks to the malt syrup or sugar in the boiling water.

Step 9- Bake Bagels: Once all the bagels have been boiled, prepare your baking sheets by sprinkling them with cornmeal. Then arrange the bagels on the prepared baking sheets and put them in the oven. Let them bake for about 25 minutes, then remove from the oven, turn them over and put them back in the oven to finish baking for about ten minutes more. This will help to prevent flat-bottomed bagels.

Remove from the oven and cool on wire racks, or on a dry clean towels if you have no racks. Do not attempt to cut them until they are cool... hot bagels slice abominably and you'll end up with a wadded mass of bagel pulp. Don't do it.
How To Customize Outside of Bagels: After boiling but before baking, brush the bagels with a wash made of 1 egg white and 3 tablespoons ice water beaten together. Sprinkle with the topping of your choice: poppy, sesame, or caraway seeds, toasted onion or raw garlic bits, salt or whatever you like. Just remember that bagels are essentially a savory baked good, not a sweet one, and so things like fruit and sweet spices are really rather out of place.

SHF: my one true dessert love

2007-06-25T11:23:00.000-04:00

i’m not sure i can pinpoint, exactly, my first experience with profiteroles. i *think* it was at chez jenny, an alsatian chicken joint in paris that my dad found in his dk guide, lovingly referred to as “the bible.” chez jenny is the perfect amalgamation of brasserie and hofbrauhaus, serving up that paragon of simple french artistry: the roasted half of free-range chicken.

with sides.

and, as it happens, with dessert. and here is where my crush began, as i looked skeptically at the dessert menu. it was my first night in paris, my first time in paris, and yet another family vacation that did not include a beach or warm weather. i was jet-lagged and suffering from sensory overload and looking at a dessert menu that i could not begin to comprehend. “what,” i am certain my 17-year-old self would have asked, “are profiteroles?” profiteroles au chocolat chaud, glace vanille, to be precise.

the exact mechanics of it escape my memory but i was, at length, persuaded that profiteroles would make an enjoyable dessert choice. and i was smitten.

my second most-memorable profiterole experience comes in london, several years later. it is, sadly, possible that i was unable to experience profiteroles at any time between these two events. this second encounter was nearly as inauspicious as the first one: a classically cold, rainy fall night in london, where the sun had set depressingly early. i had been meant to spend the day in paris, watching tennis matches at roland garros (this continues to be an ambition of mine), only the eurostar had been unexpectedly stopped due to some sort of calamity farther down the tracks. two of my friends, each of whom spent much less time wandering aimlessly around the streets of london than i, were content to follow me as i led them toward an italian place in seven dials i had been meaning to try.

dinner was simple and lovely, with wine on the side. and my heart leapt when i saw the dessert menu included profiteroles. these were positively smothered in hot chocolate sauce and delicious.

which is as a profiterole should be.

so you can imagine my great delight when i first began learning how to cook and saw, deep in the pages of my martha stewart baking book, a recipe for pate a choux…and profiteroles. i became determined to make a choux and yet for nearly two years could not find the time, the occasion or the inclination to do so. mostly i was concerned about leftovers (silly me).

then, last month, at the behest of daring baker helene of tartette, i undertook to make a gateau st-honore. and guess what one of the components includes?

this time, being free from all restraint, i pulled two recipes. one from the sinfully well-photographed seven sins of chocolate, for the choux. the second was from emily luchetti’s passion for ice cream, where she includes a profiterole recipe with orange custard chip ice cream.

i confess that i had originally tried ms. luchetti’s recipe, last week for my saturday dinner. my saturday dinner last week got turned on its head by the dying of my beloved mixer, right in the middle of rolling out fresh pasta dough. since my mixer is also my ice cream maker, i put the orange-custard-ice cream back in the fridge and watched my profiteroles, which were already baking, collapse because i slammed the oven door too hard.

i needed a clean slate this time. i rolled up my sleeves in my newly-cleaned kitchen and made the choux. the seven sins recipe is actually completely simple, eschewing the use of a mixer or anything fancy. i pulled out a wooden spoon, collected my csa fresh eggs, milk and butter, and set to with a vengeance, determined to get it right this time.

for ice cream, i took a pound of my csa strawberries and blended them with still more fresh milk, some sugar, and a squeeze of fresh lemon for a light and super-fruity philadelphia-style ice cream. i highly recommend this method—it was the sweetest, most strawberry-flavored ice cream i’ve ever enjoyed.

at long last, i pulled the choux puffs out of the oven and set them to cool. i was baffled at first by the moistness of the choux interior but eventually grasped that the delightful web of pastry forms as the choux cools. i left well enough alone and came back after dinner to slice the pretty little things in half, scoop a fresh bit of strawberry ice cream on them, and drizzle several generous spoonfuls of fresh strawberry-rhubarb compote (also from my csa) over the result.

wherein i rhapsodize about my CSA

2007-06-24T21:54:00.000-04:00

my one regret in leaving our nation’s capitol was leaving my farmers’s market in dupont circle, every sunday morning like clockwork for fruits, veg, meat, cheese, yogurt and most especially dairy.

it’s not like i’m crying over my easy access to the union square farmers’ market instead, just that i loved the convenience of throwing on a pair of shorts on a hot sunday morning with my pajama top and strolling the market for my week’s shopping. for the time being, at least during my pseudo-exile on the new jersey side of the hudson river, i am still without reliable farmers’ market access. union square is just on the far side of a lunch hour.

and then, as if by serendipity, my dailycandy delivered a solution: sweet deliverance NYC. kelly, a marvelous and creative woman, decided to place herself as a middle-woman between the garden of eve farm on long island and the snobbishly food-challenged here in the city. and best of all, she picks up the share each weekend and spends all day sunday cooking an entire menu of options for the week’s share.

for me, i went in for a vegetable, egg, fruit and flower share every other week until thanksgiving, and then sweet-talked kelly into letting me have an extra fruit share every week, raw, for my own cooking fantasies.

i debated over the veg share for several days before i signed up. i don’t usually believe in vegetables. especially green ones. or gourd vegetables, i don’t eat gourd vegetables. or asparagus. or...anything, really. but cooking has really expanded my food horizons and i hoped that maybe i could learn a few new things while forcing myself to each green and leafy plantlife. my skepticism increased when i saw the first week’s menu--there it was, in black and white, asparagus. but the other options included a quiche with arugula, tomatoes and bacon and braised bok choi with shiitake mushrooms. stir-fried kale with white rice and spicy pumpkin seeds. garlicky pea shoots.

for the past three weeks, meal after meal has just cooked itself, as i pulled together elements from my share and fresh groceries. sunday’s dinner? a nigel slater-inspired lamb-filled pita with farm-fresh butterhead lettuce and kale with white rice on the side. friday’s dessert? the tastiest strawberry ice cream ever, making use of a pound of fresh strawberries from long island. i had pasta and A SALAD for dinner last week, trying to use up the lettuce. strawberry rhubarb compote spooned over fresh profiteroles.

all i need are for the fresh cherries to start coming, and my life will be complete.

the second coming of sylvia

2007-06-23T21:08:00.000-04:00

i had my second new school class, in pies and tarts. ostensibly it was a seasonal class, using fresh fruits, but it was more of an all-around. it was particularly helpful for me to watch the pie dough being mixed and rolled, because now i’ve seen it done simply and properly. i had fun with the different kinds of filling, particularly the tarte tatin, which was delightfully simple to make and will be something to keep in the culinary arsenal come fall.

i also got some inspiration for the rhubarb i’ve got sitting in the fridge, leftover from last week’s supplementary CSA delivery. i’m going to sweeten the rhubarb with some dried sour cherries--or, if i really get lucky, some fresh ones. i want to make it to the union square greenmarket this week and check out the latest offerings. much to my chagrin, i have not yet visited since i’ve been back in the city. it’s just past the boundary of what can be accomplished during a lunch break and i usually prefer to stay out of the city on saturdays.

the catch, because there always is one, was the instructor of this pie class. i’ve never met a more unpleasant or disagreeable person. it’s like he starts out trying to be nice, and then gives up on it, and then realizes he’s been an ass and turns the vaguest hint of niceness back on. he was rude, mean, arrogant and impatient. he treated everyone in the class as if we were his personal assistants, and he couldn’t keep track of the varying instructions he was giving to everyone, so more often than not he gave contradictory instructions and then scolded the unlucky student for the mistake.

but in the end, it was worth it. i now feel comfortable and inspired to try my hand at pie making as the summer goes on.

the chief and the pastry puke

2007-06-09T21:49:00.000-04:00

mikey and i had a harmonious afternoon in the kitchen after suffering through six hours of the Bar Mitzvah from Hell (Part 2). the menu, i think, was perfect--mikey did his chicken tikka, some flanksteak with pimenton, a bit of tuna for mona, and a large pile of beets in honor of mom. mom seemed a bit nonplussed to have us take over the kitchen but got over it quickly and spent the afternoon in more comfort on the back deck.

we had an even division of labor. mikey did all the savory bits, and i tackled my agonized-over dessert menu. i wanted to incorporate something out of passion for desserts, specifically the red berry-white chocolate trifle. but i didn’t think my family were the trifle type. fortunately, inspiration arrived in the form of a new book, dedicated entirely to pies and tarts. i really thought i had hit paydirt when i saw a recipe for a shortbread pie crust.

the reason for this perception of salvation is simple: alain ducasse. the spring jules verne menu incorporated a frais du bose shortbread with a strawberry coulis and a rose petal ice cream. only the shortbread tasted like a light lemon sponge-y perfection. when i compared the photograph of the shortbread pie crust with the memory of the parisian shortbread crust, i thought i had found a way to recreate the wonder at home.

the dough was ludicrously simple to make and had a lovely smooth texture as i balled it for chilling--but it was a bear to roll out. i think there is so much butter in the crust, all you have to do is touch it to have the butter start melting. i ended up flattening a disc of it by hand into a sort of oversized cookie and using that as the crust. unfortunately, it tasted like a shortbread cookie instead of a magical cake.

as for the topping, i turned back to passion for desserts and used the red berry-white chocolate mousse as my tart. i’m embarassed to admit that it took me two tries to get the mousse to mousse. i’m not even sure what i did wrong the first time, only that i wasted over an hour trying to salvage it when it only took me 20 minutes to get it right on the second try. it was delightful when i got it right, though. light and airy, a hint of grand marnier, not too much white chocolate and a nice mousse texture. it was heaven with the fresh berries and the strawberry sauce, too.

i think the family were pleased with our efforts. nothing too heavy and a pleasant way to recover from the Bar Mitzvah from Hell (Part 2). what more can you ask for on a gorgeous saturday afternoon in june?

early summer "scoops"--or, diplomacy is overrated

2007-06-04T19:35:00.000-04:00

finding myself with a surfeit of diplomat cream was a bit of a dilemma.
for about five whole seconds.

on the advice of several of my fellow daring bakers, i decided to freeze the custard in an ice cream maker. but i couldn’t leave it at that, oh, no, not me. i poured in half a can of cherry pie filling and no, i’m not even a tiny bit ashamed of myself. it must have been the egg whites in the cream that made the texture so silky. the cream itself is very sweet, but fortunately i like that and i’m already plotting profiteroles.

for my next trick, i turned to emily luchetti and drew praise for her passions. what i failed to mention is that something seriously wonky has been going on with my ice cream maker.

both of them.

my first thought was that the addition of alcohol to the custard base lowered the freezing temperature of the ice cream to the point where it was just not going to happen. i arrived at this conclusion having churned the stuff for half an hour in mixer #1 and another 15 minutes in mixer #2. however, my next attempt, which was tonight, had similarly soupy results and like a lightening bolt struck over my head i thought to check the freezer temperature.

bingo! it was set at 1, the highest temperature setting out of 5. that would do it, all right. i adjusted the setting and turned my attention back to the almost ice cream. shrugging my shoulders, i poured it out of mixer #1, into mixer #2, and let it go until the condensation was nearly pouring off the bowl like water out of a tap. fortunately by this point i had a semi-solid cream, so i spooned it into a container and left it to temper in the freezer.

this was especially heartbreaking because this recipe was a total eureka moment, a perfect mesh of inspiration and leftovers. i took a small pile of the chocolate-covered coconut candy chunk cookies i’d made from chocolatechocolate, spooned in a pile of bittersweet chocolate chunks, and attempted to make an adaptation of my chocolate chip cookie ice cream recipe. unfortunately, i totally spaced out even while i was mixing the custard ingredients and added regular milk instead of the coconut milk i’d been saving. plus, i was out of coconut rum.

between this and the mixer fiasco i haven’t even had the heart to taste it yet...

a really fast cake with pears and blueberries

2007-06-03T20:30:00.000-04:00

nigel, oh nigel, how is it possible that i’ve left your kitchen diaries to languish on a shelf these past months when you had treasures such as these, waiting to be plundered?

first there was the lamb, seasoned with lemon, mint, salt and pepper and served over a bed of crushed new potatoes to soak up the pan juices. and while i may have undercoked the lamb and overused the lemon juice, the meal was still a revelation. or perhaps a re-awakening?

at any rate, it reminded me of your brilliance, your wit, your perfect recipes.

not to mention that i have discovered my go-to cake. this “really fast” cake, as you call it, took even less time than that--i creamed the butter as i chopped the pears, and poured the halved batter into a miniature springform in light of the fact that i was my only dinner guest. i love the way the blueberries sunk into the batter, becoming tiny blue jewels within the sweet and spongy cake. and while the pear-blueberry combination was divine, i still spent every bite salivating--if it is possible to salivate while you have your mouth full--over the possibilities that await when peaches make their debut.

first dinner party in the new apartment

2007-06-02T23:11:00.000-04:00

for once i actually plotted out an ideal menu, easy to prep, easy to serve, light and yet vaguely impressive.

first course: gazpacho with mozzarella en carozza dippers.
main course: gnocchi in a thyme-butter sauce
dessert: ice wine ice cream with strawberry rhubarb compote.

i turned yet again to giada for advice on the gnocchi. every time i make gnocchi, i feel discouraged at first as i re-read the recipe and then slowly empowered as i remember that it’s really not that much work after all. giada, with her microwave shortcut, would horrify a true pasta purist but saving an hour of heating water and boiling potatoes is right up my alley on a saturday that got swallowed by chores and laziness. for the first time, i get a truly lovely gnocchi dough, which is mixing just as my first guests arrive. in spite of this success, i am forced to classify gnocchi as a work in progress, since i still need practice on forming the dumplings properly.

meanwhile, ms. luchetti continues to inspire and amaze with her passion for desserts. i’ve been saving this particular recipe for the arrival of berry season and it was worth the wait and then some. it’s true i’ve been collecting ice cream recipes for nearly two years now, and i do have a few staples: my chocolate chip cookie ice cream, my raspberry linzertorte ice cream, my cannoli ice cream, my cherry fudge ice cream.

i am absolutely going to have to add ice wine ice cream to the list. the only thing i did is tweak the custard base in order to utilize my own super-duper-secret ice cream strategy. (picture me as the busch’s beans guy, only with a really fat cat instead of the talking dog--only me and indy know the secret, and he’s not talking!)

the tartness of the rhubarb, even when mixed with the strawberry, would seem antithetical to the sweetness of ice wine but when the two met it was like i could hear the romeo and juliet theme in the background, they were so well-matched. it probably helped that due to my secret strategy, the ice cream was uncommonly smooth and that due to my friend dino’s overcooking of the rhubarb compote down to rhubarb pie filling, the fruit was more like a sauce than anything else. we ended up slurping every drop out of the dishes and attacking the leftover fruit with a set of spoons.

Ice Wine Ice Cream with Strawberry Rhubarb Compote
(adapted from emily luchetti’s a passion for desserts)

ICE WINE ICE CREAM
I cup sugar
4 1/2 cups heavy (whipping) cream
Pinch of salt
¾ cup ice wine
STRAWBERRY RHUBARB COMPOTE
10 ounces rhubarb, cut into '/2-inch pieces
6 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons water
I pint strawberries, hulled and quartered

TO MAKE THE ICE CREAM: Warm the sugar, cream, and salt in a medium saucepan
over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until bubbles form around the edges, 3 to 5
minutes. Pour the cream in a bowl and cool over an ice bath (see page 28). Stir in
the ice wine. Refrigerate for 4 hours to overnight.

Freeze the cream in an ice cream machine, according to the manufacturer's
instructions.

TO MAKE THE COMPOTE: Cook the rhubarb, 5 tablespoons of the sugar, and the
water in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until the
rhubarb is soft, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and cool to room temperature.
Stir in the strawberries and the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar. Store at room tem-
perature until ready to serve.

PLANNING AHEAD: The ice cream can be made a couple of days in advance. For
freshness, the strawberry rhubarb compote should be served the day it is made.

wherein i feature my favorite night of the week (yet again)

2007-06-01T19:00:00.000-04:00

i spent the entire day planning a picnic dinner (kosher, even!!) for the opening night of the hoboken film festival only to be foiled by the lightest of summer showers as i walked crosstown toward the ferry. i had grand plans for another creation out of giada’s everyday pasta to be followed by a batch of easily portable yet oh-so-delicious vegan cupcakes (out of courtesy for my friend, who observes jewish dietary laws).

sidenote: everyday pasta has been my muse these past few weeks, since it is full of very simple, easily adaptable and completely edible ideas for dinners. i’ve determined to whittle down my summer books to just a few, all light and easy with the occasional weekend challenge thrown in: everyday pasta, my vue, the new spanish table, jamie’s italy, wagamama, the kitchen diaries, the perfect scoop, and both of emily luchetti’s passion books. my main challenges for the summer will be marshmallows, croissants (or danish), and chocolate making. i’m ,signed up for a class at the new school in just a few weeks, in fact.

anyway, by the time i arrived home, soaking wet and just as the rain was stopping, it was clear that there would be no picnic, no movie, and no outing. which was, perhaps, just as well, since i had an overwhelming day spent buried in our bloomberg terminal at work. i turned, as ever, to giada and whipped up a baked pastina with some leftover chicken. giada seems to have a bit of a soft spot for “pastina,” the little baby pasta stars i remember with horror from youthful meals of campbell’s chicken and stars soup, and having utilized them in several of her recipes i begin to see the appeal. they are small, easy to cook and have a nice, tender mouthfeel. the blend wonderfully into the casserole, soaking up the tomato sauce and the spices and forming small galaxies suspended in the mozzarella cheese.

a beautiful bread?

2007-05-28T21:49:00.000-04:00

i’ve been waiting for weeks and weeks, putting it off until i moved and then got settled, to start making bread again. having recently acquired a copy of beautiful breads and bountiful fillings, i was eager to inaugurate my metro-area bread making with a loaf of the concord grape bread. this was mainly inspired by the drool-inducing photographs of two sandwiches in the latter half of the book: the garden of eden, wherein ms. skye piles what seems like the contents of an orchard between two slices of concord grape bread and uses nut butter as the glue; and the grilled raspberry jam sauce with potato chip sandwich, which is exactly what it sounds like.

i’m honestly not sure where i went wrong. to the best of my knowledge, i followed the recipe exactly. it has an interesting ingredient list, going beyond the basics of yeast and flour and salt and encompassing such exotic components as boysenberry yogurt and vanilla soy milk. i chose a dry and calm day for the baking. i had a fresh packet of yeast and the proof gave off that delicious yeasty smell as it fed off the honeyed milk.

so why, then, did the bread fail to rise even when i alloted nearly triple the suggested time? i can think of only two reasons: the first is that i originally placed the bowl of dough in a warmed oven. this conceivably could have killed the yeast. the other--and i think perhaps more likely--reason is that i used the wrong kind of yeast. i like to keep a jar of active dry yeast in the fridge. i never have fresh yeast, and ms. skye does not specify her preference.

at any rate, my result was two loaves of rather flat and uninspiring bread. i dutifully sliced and froze them anyway, hoping that appearances would be deceiving and i had come away with a prize. unfortunately. the next day’s lunch (of the raspberry jam sandwich) was as near inedible as you can get and still be on this side of keeping the contents of your stomach from making a repeat appearance.

i admit that i’m discouraged. i had hoped to spend a few weekends now, early in the summer, making loaves of bread to keep handy for workaday lunches. now it seems a distant fantasy, especially with berry season knocking down the door and me with a pile of recipes i’ve been saving for nearly a year begging for my attention...

the tastiest failure ever - gateau st-honore

2007-05-26T22:43:00.000-04:00

my life is at last regaining a semblance of normalcy. my boxes are mostly unpacked, the kitchen is clean and well-stocked, i suffered through the week subsisting on a diet of fast and pre-made foods to shore up my strength for this weekend.

why did i need my strength? because this weekend brought upon me the latest challenge from the daring bakers. helene of tartette proposed that we make a gateau st-honore, a traditional french pastry in honor of the patron saint of pastry, st-honore. this was appropriate for my may on just so many levels--to begin with, i recently returned from paris, where i spent many happy hours strolling down the rue st-honore and sampling the various patisserie offerings. (especially the macaroons). secondly, although this jewish girl rarely turns to a saint for help, my pastry offerings continually fall short...

i should say at the outset that this particular offering was no exception to the falling short rule.

the recipe came in three parts: firstly, a puff pastry. secondly, a pate a choux. and thirdly, a diplomat cream--that is to say, a sort of pastry cream but with gelatin. ostensibly this is to help stabilize the cream but i confess i’d rather use cornstarch any day of the week. my diplomat cream, as is typical for my pastry cream efforts, did not quite thicken appropriately. i live in fear of curdled pastry cream. there have been times when, despite all of my practicing (and i practice this a lot) that i had to make a creme anglaise ice cream base three times and STILL failed. but the diplomat cream, even in its unthickened state, had a fantastic lightness of texture and flavor that i’ve never seen in a pastry cream. (i’ve got a large bowl of leftover cream that i am even now plotting what to do with)

here comes confession number two: i used store-bought pastry. i’ve found store-bought pastry to be tasty and easy to work with and i didn’t want to ease back into the kitchen after a month-long absence by trying to wrestle with a laminated puff dough. just the thought of working with that butter block makes me tremble a little bit. of course, having said that, i’ve only just this morning discovered a nigella technique to make puff dough in the food processor, so i expect that one of these days i will try that in order to overcome my fears.

i’ve seen a lot of recipes for gateau st-honore, most delectably photographed in the seven sins of chocolate, but helene was firm in her conviction that we make this a pure offering: no chocolate. this is really where the wheels started falling off the wagon for me.

well, that and the unthickened diplomat cream. after failling to adequately thicken the diplomat cream i turned my attention to the pate a choux. i’ve made a choux before, sort of. i’m not sure that kosher for passover really counts for much. but i was confident in the technique, at least. i got a nice choux which puffed up pretty well only i’m fairly certain that i didn’t let them cook long enough. a sample puff was a bit squishy and bland.

i assembled the gateau as follows: i cut out a circle of the puff, and piped concentric circles of the choux right onto it. i dotted the rest of the parchment paper with choux puffs to use as cream puffs and profiteroles and really just to have extra puffs. these baked while the cream was meant to be thickening, and then i filled the cream puffs with the diplomat cream and set them atop the circle of puff and choux. at this point, i should have carmelized some sugar to use as a bit of glue, but everything was such a shambles by now that i didn’t have the heart to play with fire--or at least to risk setting one in my kitchen from the burned sugar.

i ate the gateau in its naked form, with streams of unthickened cream running across it and filling my mouth as the puffs exploded.
failure never tasted so good.

Gateau Saint Honore:
Components and respective recipes follow:
Puff pastry
Pate a Choux – Cream Puff Dough
Saint Honore Cream
8oz sugar for caramel
1 cup heavy cream + 1 tsp sugar

Pate a Choux – Cream Puffs Dough

4 ¾ oz. all purpose flour (135 gr)
1 cup water ( 240 ml)
2 oz unsalted butter (58 gr)
¼ tsp. salt (1 gr)
1 cup eggs (240 ml)

Sift the flour and set aside.
Heat the water, butter and salt to a full rolling boil, so that the fat is not just floating on the top but is dispersed throughout the liquid.
Stir the flour into the liquid with a heavy wooden spoon, adding it as fast as it can be absorbed. Avoid adding it all at once or it will form clumps.
Cook, stirring constantly and breaking up the lumps if necessary, by pressing them against the side of the pan with the back of the spoon until the mixture comes away from the sides of the pan, about 2-3 minutes.
Transfer the dough to a mixer bowl. Let the paste cool slightly so that the eggs will not cook when they are added. You can add and stir the eggs by hand but it requires some serious elbow grease.
Mix in the eggs, one at a time, using the paddle attachment on low or medium speed. Do not add all the eggs at once. Check after a few, the dough should have the consistency of thick mayonnaise.
Transfer the dough to a piping bag and use as desired.

Pate Feuillete – Puff Pastry:

Makes about 2 1/2 pounds.
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface (420 gr)
3/4 cup cake flour (105 gr)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt (7 gr)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces, well chilled (60 gr)
1 1/4 cups cold water (295.5 ml)
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour (14 gr)
1 3/4 cups (3 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, well-chilled (405 gr)

1/ Make the dough package: In a large mixing bowl, combine both flours with the salt. Scatter butter pieces over the flour mixture; using your fingers or a pastry cutter, incorporate butter until mixture resembles coarse meal.
2/ Form a well in center of mixture, and pour the water into well. Using your hands, gradually draw flour mixture over the water, covering and gathering until mixture is well blended and begins to come together. Gently knead mixture in the bowl just until it comes together to form a dough, about 15 seconds. Pat dough into a rough ball, and turn out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Wrap tightly, and place in refrigerator to chill 1 hour.
3/ Make the butter package: Sprinkle 1/2 tablespoon flour on a sheet of waxed or parchment paper. Place uncut sticks of butter on top, and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 tablespoon flour. Top with another sheet of paper; using a rolling pin, pound butter to soften and flatten to about 1/2 inch. Remove top sheet of paper, and fold butter package in half onto itself. Replace top sheet of paper, and pound again until butter is about A inch thick. Repeat process two or three times, or until butter becomes quite pliable. Using your hands, shape butter package into a 6-inch square. Wrap well in plastic wrap, and place in refrigerator until it is chilled but not hardened, no more than 10 minutes.
4/ Assemble and roll the dough: Remove dough package from refrigerator, and place on a lightly floured work surface. Using a rolling pin, gently roll dough into a 9-inch round. Remove butter package from refrigerator, and place it in the center of the dough round. Using a paring knife or bench scraper, lightly score the dough to outline the butter square; remove butter, and set it aside. Starting from each side of the center square, gently roll out dough with the rolling pin, forming four flaps, each 4 to 5 inches long; do not touch the raised square in the center of the dough. Replace butter package on the center square. Fold flaps of dough over the butter package so that it is completely enclosed. Press with your hands to seal.
5/ Using the rolling pin, press down on the dough at regular intervals, repeating and covering the entire surface area, until it is about 1 inch thick. Gently roll out the dough into a large rectangle, about 9 by 20 inches, with one of the short sides closest to you. Be careful not to press too hard around the edges, and keep the corners even as you roll out the dough by squaring them with the side of the rolling pin or your hands. Brush off any excess flour. Starting at the near end, fold the rectangle in thirds as you would a business letter; this completes the first single turn.Wrap in plastic wrap; place in refrigerator 45 to 60 minutes.
6/ Remove dough from refrigerator, and repeat process in step 5, giving it five more single turns.Always start with the flap opening on the right as if it were a book. Mark the dough with your knuckle each time you complete a turn to help you keep track. Chill 1 hour between each turn. After the sixth and final turn, wrap dough in plastic wrap; refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight before using.

Saint Honore Cream (Rapid Chiboust or Diplomat Cream)
1 envelope unflavored gelatin (7 gr.)
1/4 cup cold water (60 ml)
1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons sugar (130 gr)
½ cup all-purpose flour (70 gr)
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 egg yolks
2 cups whole milk (500ml)
1 Tb. rum
¼ cup whipping cream (57 gr)
3 egg whites
dash of salt
1/2 cup sugar (105 gr)

Soak the gelatin in the 1/4 cup of cold water.
Put the sugar, flour, and salt into a saucepan and stir together with a whisk. Add the yolks and enough milk to make a paste. Whisk in the remainder of the milk.
Place over low heat and stirring constantly, cook until thick. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and the gelatin. Stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved.
Stir in the whipping cream.Set the mixing bowl in cold water and stir until the cream is cool. Place the egg whites in a clean bowl and using clean beaters, whip them with the dash of salt. As soon as the whites begin to stiffen, gradually add the 1/2 cup of sugar and beat until they are very stiff. Fold the egg whites into the cooled cream.

Caramel:
8 oz sugar (240 gr)

Assembly:

Roll the puff pastry out to 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick, 12 inch square (30 cm). Place on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate covered at least 20 minutes.
While the puff pastry is resting, make the pate a choux and place it in a pastry bag with a # 4 (8mm) plain tip. Reserve.
Leaving the puff pastry on the sheet pan, cut a 11 inch (27.5 cm) circle from the dough and remove the scraps. (An easy way to cut it is to use a 11inch tart pan as a “cookie cutter”). Prick the circles lightly with a fork.
Pipe 4 concentric rings of Pate a Choux on the pastry circle. Pipe out 12 cream puffs the size of Bing cherries onto the paper around the cake.
Bake the puff pastry circle and the cream puffs at 400F (205C) until the pate a choux has puffed, about 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 375F (190C) and bake until everything is dry enough to hold its shape, about 35 minutes longer for the cake and 8 minutes longer for the cream puffs (just pick them up and take them out as they are done)
Place about 4 oz (114 gr) of the Saint Honore Cream in a pastry bag with a #2 (4mm) plain tip. Use the pastry bag tip or the tip of a paring knife to make a small hole in the bottom of each cream puff. Pipe the cream into the cream puffs to fill them. Refrigerate.
Spread the remaining cream filling on the cake. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours to set the cream.
Caramelize the 8 oz. of sugar:
Fill a bowl that is large enough to hold the pan used for cooking the sugar with enough cold water to reach halfway up the sides of the pan. Set the bowl aside.
Place the sugar in a heavy bottomed pan and cook until the sugar until it has caramelized to just a shade lighter than the desired color.
Remove from the heat and immediately place the bottom of the pan in the bowl of cold water to stop the cooking process.
Dip the cream puffs into the hot caramel, using 2 forks or tongues to avoid burning your fingers. Place them on a sheet pan. The caramel must be hot enough to go on in a thin layer. Reheat if necessary as you are dipping, stirring constantly to avoid darkening the caramel any more than necessary. Also, avoid any Saint Honore cream to leak out of the puffs and get mixed in with the caramel while dipping as the cream can cause the sugar to recrystallize.
Whip the one cup of heavy cream and teaspoon of sugar to stiff peaks. Place the whipped cream in pastry bag fitted with a #5 (10mm) star tip. Pipe a border of whipped cream around the top of the cake. Arrange the cream puffs, evenly spaced, on top of the filling, next to the cream.

Option: Before filling the cake, take care of the cream puffs, dip them in more caramel, hook them up to the base. Fill with the cream filling and fill the holes with the whipped cream.

please check out helene of tartlette and anita at dessert first for the rest of the DB roundup. most of them, i am pleased to say, had far more success than i did!

a springtime night for light indulgence

2007-05-26T22:00:00.000-04:00

in preparation for my attempt this weekend of gateau st-honore, i decided to plan a small menu around it and sieze the opportunity to finally pull my vue out of its exile on the shelf. i first heard about this delightful book on the martha show, when i realized that for all of my pasta, pizza and wagamama books i have no tomes on basic french-inspired cuisine (even if, in this case, it came by way of australia). i liked shannon’s casual approach to his french food when i saw him on the show and i liked him even more as i perused his book for ideas this morning.

i settled on his pea soup creation when i saw the inscription for it: “perfect for a springtime night of light indulgence.” the recipe consisted of a very basic, very simple and very delicious pea soup with no fuss and no muss, to be accompanied by scallops wrapped in pancetta. here’s where i started making changes: i used chicken, because i had it in the fridge and because i don’t eat things that swim, and i also used proscuitto because while i do have pancetta in the fridge it isn’t sliced and i wasn’t feeling up to dealing with my mandoline and making slices.

that took care of the entree. for the hors d’eouvres--and this, i really thought, was inspired--i took a scrap of the leftover puff pastry and the leftover egg whites from my gateau and made a mini quiche lorraine. was it perfect? no. i didn’t pre-bake the puff crust enough. was it delicious? you bet your ass it was.

a triple celebration on a friday night

2007-05-25T22:52:00.000-04:00

it’s that most beautiful time of the week again, and a personal favorite of mine: friday night. i’ve written before about my love for this most sacred of days--in pretty much every sense of the word. in the past six months or so, i’ve been making an effort to literally separate the sacred from the profane on the jewish sabbath--not in an orthodox manner, per se, but by setting aside friday night as a night to relax, to rejuvenate, to cook and to enjoy the simple peace of a simple evening.

this friday night in particular was worth celebrating. i:

1. finished my first full week of my new job
2. made it to memorial day weekend, with three glorious days of freedom ahead of me
3. i bought a new apartment, free and clear, all mine, in the chelsea area of new york city.

i floated home as i walked down 44th street, stopping at the chelsea garden center and finding, oh joy, a small pot of thai basil, the one herb i’ve been unable to locate for my new kitchen garden. my office closed at two PM and i took advantage of the afternoon to clean up the apartment, the kitchen, to set up photography projects for the summer, and best of all, scout some seriously delicious tasks to keep me busy all weekend.

i began with a simple and delicious friday evening meal. while snacking on my favorite appetizer of fresh mozzarella and sliced proscuitto, i delved into giada de laurentiis’ new book, everyday pasta, and came up with a perfect springtime dish: lemon cream chicken with penne. since today was the first really hot day of the year, blasting through 90F on the thermometer, the lemon with the light sauce was an ideal way to go. the only thing i did wrong was to get a bit overzealous, as i always do, with the cayenne pepper...

dessert was equally simple and sublime. turning to that old seasonal standby, emily luchetti’s passion for desserts, i pulled out a recipe that had been languishing on my to-do list since last summer: strawberry ginger sodas. now that we’re finally entering strawberry season here in the US (although not here in new york city for another few weeks), i felt secure picking up a quart of berries from the supermarket and bringing them home with me, where i blended them into a puree and mixed them with a can of ginger ale. i topped this off with a few small scoops of orange sherbet (store-bought, but don’t tell anyone) and sipped pure summer heaven through a straw.

back on track with new ideas and inspiration

2007-05-18T09:01:00.000-04:00

since the move i haven’t been cooking, except for the night when i burned the quesadilla. i’ve wanted to, but i’m still feeling a bit overwhelmed from all of the packing and unpacking and trying, above all, to be logical and sensible and not squander this blank-slate opportunity to really set things up the way i want them. i’ve had my chocolate-coconut-cookie recipe from chocolatechocolate open on the counter for a week, and that’s even before i left for paris.

fortunately for me, the combination of paris and two donna leon books in a week has renewed my appetite for cooking challenges. i am now determined to renew my efforts and master croissants, crepes, marshmallows and macaroons. probably some madeleines as well.

and in order to keep my head from spinning overmuch, i’m going to emulate the cream puff in venice blog and concentrate on a “flavor of the month”--choose a cookbook and resolve to cook at least once a week out of it until i feel i’ve tried what i want to try. right now i’m leaning toward “everyday pasta” as my first selection. as far as my baking and dessert needs go, my supplementary flavor of the month will be “the perfect scoop” in preparation for summer, perhaps, or at the very least i will finally try that macaroon recipe i stashed away with the blood orange curd.

and of course, the mounds bar cookies.

easing back into it...

2007-05-08T22:16:00.000-04:00

so it's now been nearly two weeks since i've last cooked a meal and i've thoroughly proven that cooking is in no way whatsoever like riding a bike...

by burning my quesadilla.

that's right. i burned a quesadilla. and undercooked a couple of sausage links. the only thing that came through was my brown rice and i'm sure i owe that felicity to the rice cooker.

take a deep breath

2007-05-01T22:27:00.000-04:00

the boxes have been packed and taken away.
i've driven to my new apartment. i bought a shower curtain!
i had my fete for my co-workers.
i even scrounged up a fresh, last-minute treat for my fellow photographers (king arthur chocolate chip cookies come through EVERY TIME!).

the only thing i didn't get to do was my inaugural challenge for the intrepid daring bakers.
please, show them some support. this month's challenge...was a *challenge*!

and i will hopefully be back with some new pictures and some new cooking adventures and a brand-new, large, open and CLEAN kitchen by the weekend. i can't wait...

for the sake of my sanity

2007-04-25T16:38:00.000-04:00

i'm a failure.
i mean, not really. of course not.

but this week i am. i had so much i wanted to accomplish this week! there was going to be soup, and pastry, and brownies, and a delicious and funky dinner party menu.

in its place, all i have are boxes. piles and piles of boxes. and wayward interns at my job. and not enough hours in the day. and a landlord who wants to start showing my partially-packed apartment before i even move out. and dinner guests coming on friday. and ten hours of pounding pavement, apartment searching, with nothing to show for it.

oh, and a cold and allergies.

and so it is with a heavy heart that i announce that no, there will be no strawberry tart with marshmallows. and there will be no dinner party menu for friday. and that i have to bow out of my very first challenge as a proud member of the daring bakers.

for the next several days, i will be counting on vicarious cooking to get me through the pain. my kitchen, it is empty!!

SHF #30, or step 1 in a project i really don't have time for but am going to do anyway

2007-04-23T21:44:00.000-04:00

i've made it my mission to provide my fellow photographers in my weekly studio class with a bit of a snack. fine, right? some might even say friendly. and i like to do it, because it gives me an excuse to bake, and plus i end up with no leftovers. it's a win-win-win situation.

except this week, it's more challenging than that. because if i were really being conscientious--that is to say, if i were really being "focused," as my father would tell me--i wouldn't be baking at all, i'd be concentrating on packing for my impending move from our nation's capital to (IMHO) the greatest city on earth, new york. i'd be worrying about getting my boxes and finding all of my kitchen gadgets and emptying out the fridge and packing my clothes and all of those detail things that are really important when you move, like closing your bank account and changing your address and figuring out when to turn off the cable and the electricity.

but no, not me. i'm worried about what to serve my co-workers when they come for dinner on friday and how to use up those extra cashew nuts i found in the pantry and wondering if i can temper ghiradelli chocolate to make cashew bark (no, as it turns out, ghiradelli has too many emulsifiers to temper).

and i'm thinking about what to bring to class on thursday. this week, we're doing tabletop photography, so i want to bring something yummy AND photogenic so that i can work on taking my skills up a few levels and show my creations with a little more pride.

i'd been considering this recipe, from dorie greenspan's paris sweets, for a few weeks. at least, i'd bookmarked it and wondered if i'd ever find an excuse to make it. then, several factors converged and made my attempt inevitable. firstly, SHF 30 was announced as "flower power," which meant that i'd finally have a reason to try baking with some kind of flower water and which, coincidentally, this recipe calls for. secondly, i had a huge bag of potato starch leftover from passover that i don't feel like schlepping between cities. thirdly, i have several random packages of gelatin floating around that i similarly don't care to move. finally, i have this huge bag of frozen strawberries, which i'd purchased with the very healthy intention of making smoothies for breakfast, only to be thwarted by the fact that i can't drink cold things for breakfast when it's still in the 30s or 40s on my walk to work...

and so i present stage one of dorie's french strawberry marshmallow tart, strawberry-orange blossom marshmallows. (soon to be followed by the pie crust, pastry cream and finished product in time for thursday evening's class)

(from dorie greenspan's paris sweets)

Approximately 1 cup (100 grams) potato starch
8 to 10 ripe strawberries (about 3/4 cup; 100 grams), hulled
1 1/4 cups (300 grams) cold water
2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
Scant 1/4 cup (75 grams) light corn syrup
4 packets powdered gelatin
6 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 teaspoon orange-flower water

i. Line a 12 x 17-inch (30 x 42.5-cm) baking sheet that has a 1-inch (2.5-cm) rim with parchment paper and dust the paper heavily with potato starch; keep close at hand.

2. Purée the strawberries in a blender (traditional or hand-held) or food processor. You should have a scant 1/2 cup (100 grams); set this aside.

3. Put 2/3 cup (150 grams) of the water, 21/2 cups (500 grams) of the sugar, and
of the corn syrup into a medium saucepan and bring to the boil over medium
heat, stirring just until the sugar dissolves. Once the sugar dissolves, stop stir-
ring and continue to cook the syrup until it reaches 265°F (130°C) on a candy
thermometer, a process that could take about 10 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, sprinkle the gelatin over the remaining 2/3 cup (150 grams) col:
water and let soften for 5 minutes, then heat for 35 to 45 seconds in a microwav:
oven to liquefy (or do this stovetop); set this aside.

5. Put the egg whites in the clean, dry bowl of a mixer fitted with the whisk a:-
tachment and beat on medium-high speed until they form firm, glossy peaks
(Make sure not to overbeat, or the peaks will go dull.)

6. As soon as the sugar syrup has come up to temperature, reduce the mixer spee
to medium and add the syrup, pouring it close to the side of the bowl to avola
the spinning whisk. Using the same technique, add the dissolved gelatin. Beat
for about 3 minutes to fully incorporate the syrup and gelatin.

7. Switch to a large rubber spatula and very gently fold the strawberry purée,
well as the orange-flower water, into the hot batter. Turn the batter out onto the
potato starch-dusted baking sheet and spread it into one of the ends, making
sure it reaches into the corners. Continue spreading the batter, keeping it 1 inch
(2.5 cm) thick: you'll probably have enough batter to make a 12-inch (30-cm)
square. Lift the excess parchment paper up to meet the edge of the marshmal-
low batter and put something against the paper to keep it in place (a couple of
spice jars or custard cups or some dried beans will do the trick). Generously
dust the top of the marshmallow square with potato starch. Allow the marsh-
mallow to cool and set in a cool, dry place, about 3 hours (they can rest
overnight, if that's more convenient for you).

8. When you are ready to serve the marshmallows (or to use them in the tart, in my case), cut the square into lanyards or cubes using a thin-bladed knife or large scissors. In either case, moisten and clean the blade(s) of-
ten. Cut marshmallows should be dusted all over with potato starch and the
excess shaken off.

K E E P IN G Dusted with potato starch, marshmallows will hold up for a week
or more if you pack them in an airtight container and keep them in a cool, dry
place.

a note from puu: i'm honestly not 100% sure that these marshmallows turned out properly. this is the second time i've tried a dorie marshmallow recipe; the first time was a complete disaster. frankly, i've had better luck with lisa yockelson's technique from chocolatechocolate. but i figured that since these are for a tart anyway, not to be eaten plain, then perfection wasn't a prerequisite...

my plot to take over the world

2007-04-20T14:31:00.000-04:00

meet graeme.
graeme is a member of my weekly studio photography class.
graeme volunteered to bring his kilt to our portraiture session.
graeme, i am sure, regretted this decision when 10 photographers swarmed around him for an hour, popping flashes and strobes every which way, but graeme was very obliging to his fellow man and played along.

graeme, it turns out, is also a vegan, which means that my labored-over world peace cookies from last week didn't make it onto his dessert menu.

most people, i am sure, would throw their hands up and keep baking. but i, newly-minted member of the daring bakers and compulsive keeper of recipes, saw only opportunity.

yes, opportunity. at last, a tailor-made excuse to play with the vegan cupcake recipe i'd been dilly-dallying over for months, ever since the washington post did a spread about vegan cupcakes take over the world. i'd clipped it, then discarded it, then clipped it again, discarded it, debating between the perceived health benefits of using almost no cholesterol in my baking with the harsh caloric reality of margarine-and-shortening icing. and now there were no obstacles in my path (except a pernicious bout of allergies, and a very fat cat who took one look at my chocolate-covered hands and decided i was ignoring him).

so stocked up on soy milk and earth balance and spent a very miserable wednesday evening--miserable because of the allergies, NOT the baking--discovering the joys of vegan baking.

the batter was so thin it was almost soupy, but it had this nice foamy layer from beating the curdled soy milk. a whopping 1/3 cup of cocoa powder gave it a deep chocolate flavor, and the extra dose of baking soda make everything rise appropriately. the cupcakes were light, fluffy, cakey and delicious. one would never miss the milk, eggs or butter, that's for sure.

and the icing? the icing was a revelation. it was light and whipped and held its texture really well. it had an ideal icing consistency, and the use of confectioners sugar kept everything smooth and creamy. best of all--to me, at least--was that the icing tasted like icing, and not butter. one of my major gripes with cupcakes and cakes and similar confections is that i despise buttercream. all i can ever taste is an overwhelming flavor of butter, and i hate the feel of all that fat on my tongue. but the cookies and cream icing was sweet, creamy, and just a tiny bit crunchy from the bits of chocolate wafer cookies stirred in.

surely world domination will follow!

Cookies 'n' Cream Cupcakes

The Washington Post, November 29, 2006

1 dozen

For the cupcakes

• 1 cup flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch process or regular)
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract, chocolate extract or more vanilla extract
• 10 vegan chocolate cream-filled sandwich cookies, such as Newman-O's, coarsely chopped

For the frosting

• 1/2 cup nonhydrogenated shortening
• 1/2 cup nonhydrogenated margarine, such as Earth Balance
• 3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted if clumpy
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup plain soy milk or soy creamer
• 5 vegan chocolate cream-filled sandwich cookies, such as Newman-O's, finely mashed, plus 6 of the cookies, cut in half, for garnish

Directions:

For the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 12 muffin cups with paper or aluminum foil liners.

In a medium bowl or on a large square of waxed paper, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the soy milk and vinegar; set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil and vanilla extract and other extract, if using, and beat until foamy. Add the dry ingredients in 2 increments, and beat until no large lumps remain (a few small lumps are okay). Add the chopped cookies to the batter, stirring just to combine. Spoon the batter into the liner cups, filling them three-quarters full. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

While the cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl using a hand mixer, beat the shortening and margarine on medium-high speed for about 5 minutes, until well combined and fluffy. Reduce speed to low to add the sugar until incorporated, and then increase to medium-high speed to beat for about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla extract and soy milk or creamer; beat on the same speed for 5 to 7 minutes, until fluffy. Add the cookie crumbs, mixing well.

To assemble: Frost the cupcakes generously and top each cupcake with half of a sandwich cookie by inserting the cut end into the frosting. Store in a sealed container for up to 3 days.

Recipe Source:

Adapted from "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World," by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero (Marlowe & Co., 2006).

risotto #10 - comfort me with apples

2007-04-17T12:29:00.000-04:00

ok, seriously, WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE WEATHER?!
first it's all springy and gorgeous.
then the cherry blossoms are pulverized by frost, my parents have a foot of snow, and half of new jersey, it seems, has to be evacuated because of flooding.

then the wind starts blowing like a freaking hurricane, rattling the windows and terrifying my cat, and i was stubborn enough to wear a skirt to work anyway.

definitely the sort of monday that deserves warm, simple and delicious comforting foods. for lunch i made a toasted baguette with fresh mozzarella and pancetta crumbs, with a mug full of my sweet potato soup for extra warmth.

and i already knew what to have for dessert, since i had nearly a full loaf of chocolate chip brioche beckoning me from the kitchen table--bread pudding, obviously. and possibly some hot chocolate.

it was dinner that was causing me vexation. i thought if i had some nice beef, thai basil and some bird chiles i could whip up the warmest and tastiest stir fry i know, stolen from a cooking teacher at l'academie de cuisine in bethesda, maryland. but alas, i had none of those things.

i thought i could bake up some pitas and do a nigel-slater-style lamb-filled flatbread, but a quick recipe search of king arthur flour suggested that i would be better off making a sponge before work and baking it when i got home than starting from scratch at the late hour of 7.00pm.

finally, stuck in a late-afternoon daydream, i happened upon this recipe for apple risotto from kitchen unplugged. and suddenly i remembered that this apple risotto has been on my list of risottos to try for nearly a month, put on hold only because of the interference of passover and the cruelties of the calendar. my enthusiasm began to grow--until i remembered that i had no apples and no chicken stock at home. i tried to console myself with another kind of risotto, maybe a mushroom risotto (i did have mushroom stock and a pile of porcini), and remind myself that i've sworn off grocery shopping until i move.

no good. there was nothing for it but to stop at the grocery store on the way home and procure apples, stock, shallots and cheese.

at least it was a quick trip.

i came home and assembled my ingredients before me, but it didn't seem quite savory or comforting enough. i needed warmth of a more rib-sticking variety but still complementary to my planned dessert of bread pudding. my eyes fell upon the chicken breast leftover from sunday's chicken and miso soup. and the half-knob of young, sharp gouda. and suddenly i remembered a recipe from the new spanish table which used gouda instead of parmesan in risotto while my tongue reminded me of how incredibly good the apple-gouda combination tastes.

my path, at last, was set. i poached the chicken in a pot of slightly salty water for about 20 minutes while i prepped the risotto components and poured it all, you guessed it, right into my rice cooker. i shaved a solid 1/4 cup of risotto using my new and most miraculous microplane grater and smelled the sweet smell of browned shallots in the kitchen air.

confession time: the cheese melted most wonderfully and made up for the fact that i slightly overcooked the chicken. but the end result, as delightful as it was--and trust me, it really was delightful--could have used a little more zest.

puu's "comfort me with apples" risotto
(inspired by kitchen unplugged's apple risotto, williams-sonoma's poached chicken and carmelized onion risotto, and the new spanish table's gouda risotto and prepared according to beth hensperger's rice cooker technique)

1/2 cup arborio risotto rice
2 cups low-sodium chicken stock
1 shallot, finely diced
2 T olive oil
1 small apple, diced
2 T heavy cream
1/4 cup grated gouda cheese
2 T butter
1 chicken breast, poached and diced

coat the apples with the heavy cream. set aside.
turn the rice cooker on.

coat the rice cooker bowl with oil and brown the shallots, about 3 minutes. add the rice and saute until each grain is nearly translucent, with a white dot in the center. add white wine, if desired (i didn't) and pour in the stock, resetting the rice cooker for the porridge cycle. about half to two-thirds of the way through the porridge cycle, pour in the apples and cream and let the cycle finish. add the chicken and let it rewarm while the rice relaxes. stir in the butter, gouda, and salt or pepper to taste.

puu's WTSIM...Bread brioche cherry pudding
(adapted from the buttercup bakery cookbook)

2 cups of brioche chunks
2 cups fresh cherries, pitted
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
sugar to taste
chocolate chips for topping (optional)

preheat the oven to 350.

mix the sugar into the eggs. scald the milk and cream together and temper with the egg-sugar mixture before pouring it all over the bread crumbs (which you have hopefully placed in a 2-quart casserole dish, otherwise there will now be a huge mess of crumbs and eggy liquid all over your kitchen counter). add cherries and chocolate chips and mix it all together so that the cherries and chocolate are evenly distributed.

bake for 45-50 minutes, or until done.

long live the unhealthy snack club

2007-04-16T14:46:00.000-04:00

we're an office of snackers here on capitol hill. all day, all the time, someone in our office is toasting a waffle or some bread or muching on a hot dog for breakfast or a veggie burger for lunch or hoarding little bits of the random free stuff--candy, fruit, cupcakes, chips, and even beef jerky this one time--that makes its way through our office.

until one brave woman and several of her co-workers decided to fight back with the "healthy snack club." the purpose of this club was split amongst its members the duty of spending no more than $20 in a given week to bring in fresh, healthy snackables. apples, cheese, wheat things, granola, whatever, so long as it was relatively inexpensive and more healthy than the pile of ghiradelli truffles we got a few months ago, and didn't smell like the chicken fingers from the cafeteria.

and then i stepped up to the plate. i refused to join the healthy snack club, even though i'm as dedicated a snacker as they come. no, i had to take a stand! fight the power!
(or something)

so for almost two years now i've been counterbalancing the healthy snack club with the leftovers from my baking binges. usually this means cookies, but on occasion it has included cakes and cupcakes and goodness knows what else. in this most recent instance, it was brownies.

i knew last weekend that i wanted to go home on friday and relax. and even though i had a last-minute late dinner reservation to enjoy, i still determined to use a sliver of my friday to relax, bake, and fortify myself for the crazy weekend that was coming my way. i'm not really sure how the bee got into my bonnet to make brownies, exactly, except that it was in honor of a friend who always brings her fresh brownies and cookies to our office and whom i was going to meet for dinner. (naturally, the brownies weren't ready, cooled or set before i had to leave for kinkead's, but somehow i didn't let that stop me from baking away.) maybe it was the excellent new york times article from last week, all about brownies (for the record, i prefer mine on the cakey side, so none of those particular recipes especially appealed to me). at any rate, i came home on friday and spent a rapturous hour with dorie, using up all of the chocolate i could find in order to have a batch of her quintuple chocolate brownies.

and oh. my. goodness. what a result! i take it back about the cakey brownies, i swear! these were decadent and fudgy with a hint of cake and a slight taste of all five kinds of chocolate. i'll say it again--five kinds of chocolate. office reaction at first, i admit, was skepticism (probably because it was before breakfast) but as the day wore on i realized that if i were to taste my own creation i'd have to do a little hoarding of my own, because they were gone long before i packed up and headed out at 6pm.

quintuple chocolate brownies
(dorie greenspan, as published on NPR.com, from baking: from my home to yours)

Makes 16 brownies

For the Brownies

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

3 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons strong coffee

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

6 ounces premium-quality milk chocolate, chopped into chips, or 1 cup store-bought milk chocolate chips

1 cup chopped nuts

For the Glaze

6 ounces premium-quality white chocolate, finely chopped, or 1 cup store-bought white chocolate chips

1/3 cup heavy cream

GETTING READY: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Line a 9-inch square baking pan with foil, butter the foil and place the pan on a baking sheet.

Sift together the flour, cocoa and salt.

TO MAKE THE BROWNIES: Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and add, in the following order, the butter, the two chocolates and the coffee. Keeping the pan over low heat, warm just until the butter and chocolates are melted — you don't want the ingredients to get so hot they separate, so keep an eye on the bowl. Stir gently, and when the mixture is smooth, set it aside for 5 minutes.

Using a whisk or a rubber spatula, beat the sugar into the chocolate mixture. Don't beat too vigorously — you don't want to add air to the batter — and don't be concerned about any graininess. Next, stir in the eggs one at time, followed by the vanilla. You should have a smooth, glossy batter. If you're not already using a rubber spatula, switch to one now and gently stir in the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated. Finally, stir in the milk chocolate chips and the nuts. Scrape the batter into the pan.

Bake for about 35 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center comes out streaked but not thickly coated. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let the brownies rest undisturbed for at least 30 minutes. (You can wait longer, if you'd like.)

Turn the brownies out onto a rack, peel away the foil and place it under another rack — it will be the drip catcher for the glaze. Invert the brownies onto the rack and let cool completely.

TO MAKE THE GLAZE: Put the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Bring the heavy cream to a boil and pour it over the chocolate. Wait 30 seconds, then, using a rubber spatula, gently stir until the chocolate is melted and the glaze is smooth.

Hold a long metal icing spatula in one hand and the bowl of glaze in the other. Pour the glaze onto the center of the brownies and use the spatula to nudge it evenly over the surface. Don't worry if it dribbles over the edges, you can trim the sides later (or not). Refrigerate the brownies for about 20 minutes to dry the glaze.

Cut into 16 squares, each roughly 2 1/4 inches on a side.

SERVING: Serve straight up — whipped cream or ice cream is unnecessary with these. Well, a little ice cream is nice — why not?

STORING: The brownies can be put back in their baking pan, wrapped (without touching the glaze) and kept at room temperature for about 3 days or frozen — glaze and all — for up to 2 months.

i'm thrilled to report that this will also serve as my entry to the first ever browniebabe of the month blog event! hurrah for brownies! and babes, i suppose, who like to cook brownies (like me!!), because really, what's hotter than a girl with chocolate?! that's right...nothing, and you know it.

cooking through an april nor'easter (HHDD and WTSIM...#4)

2007-04-15T22:48:00.000-04:00

this past weekend was all kinds of wacky--all last-minute and busy and sort of strange, but in that way that ultimately works out for the best. friday night i did dinner at kinkead's, over in georgetown. i almost never eat out, firstly, because i prefer to cook; secondly, i don't like to eat things that swim (except for duck), and kinkead's is famous for its fish menu.

you know what else kinkead's is famous for? (at least to me)

creme brulee. the chef at kinkead's does this trio of creme brulee, from a perfect vanilla bean pastry cream to some kind of seasonal fruit and if i am a particularly lucky puu, a chocolate one to complete the trilogy. this particular evening, i was in luck. don't get me wrong, i scored big time with a tender, flavorful, un-freaking-believable porcini ravioli appetizer, with a light and perfect parmesan sauce. second course wasn't quite as special, but my pork loin with citrus BBQ sauce definitely had a fantastic sort of zing to it.

but it was the creme brulee that claimed my love from the first instant i spotted it on the menu.

that was friday.

saturday was just out of control. up early on the 7.30am train to NYC to spend the day apartment shopping, only to turn around and come back on the 5.05 in order to beat the storm that was hard upon my heels. also, originally, to meet a friend for dinner, but as she turned out to be ill i ended up with a fire in the fireplace and a late-night dinner of dunkin donuts bowtie and a bowl of that new chocolate special K. i half-awoke with a start from the middle of maltese falcon when i remembered that i wanted to start a loaf of brioche so that i could have french toast for breakfast, but i decided to keep it simple, have cereal for breakfast, and turn sunday over entirely to cooking.

which i did. as i pulled my box of cereal down from the shelf, i started gathering ingredients for a chocolate chip brioche (my entry for WTSIM...Bread). i've been reading a lot about brioche lately. seems that, in addition to my own personal deprivation of bread over the past few weeks, a lot of bloggers i enjoy have been playing with brioches. (allow me to direct you, in case you've missed it, to bea's brioche adventures). my other inspiration came from one of the most beautiful coffee table books i've ever seen, the seven sins of chocolate, and which i have yet to cook from; also, my new-found need to use up as much of my kitchen as i can manage before i move back to the big apple for my new job (yeast, bread flower, and chocolate chips: check, check, check).

i've been dreaming about brioche, mostly for things like strawberry-mascarpone french toast (forthcoming), bread puddings (also forthcoming, because i've been craving it for weeks, and it's so unseasonably cold around here), and a great afternoon snack with my usual hot cocoa.

since i got off to a late sort of start with the brioche, i adapted my seven sins recipe to fit with beth hensperger's bread machine guidelines. call it cheating if you must, but i promise i used good ingredients: organic bread flour, good-quality chocolate chips (ghiradelli's, if you must know) and home-made butter straight from the farmers market.

while the brioche was rising and filing the entire apartment with that delicious bread smell, i made lunch. two lunches, actually: sunday's and monday's. i marinated a chicken breast in a quick hoisin-mirin-fish sauce combo and while it sat in the fridge, i made a pancetta and sweet potato soup that i've been saving since passover. i figured it would be good for monday lunch with a baguette or a sandwich. because of the nor'easter, i also made soup for today: chargrilled chicken, soba and miso soup with a few browned shiitake thrown in just for fun.

i was so pleased with this soup! it was warm, but light. it had flavor but wasn't sticky or gross. (wagamama hits another home run!)

before i knew it, i was cleaning up the kitchen for the third time today in anticipation of dinner and dessert: roasted duck breast with cherry confit and my HHDD entry (hosted by my fellow daring baker, Helene): a chocolate mousse duo.

again, my chocolate mousse was inspired by my seven sins lust, although lacking any milk chocolate i had to reduce the recipe's triolgy of mousses (mice?) into a duo of white and bittersweet chocolate only. i messed around with the recipe proportions in order to get a respectable serving for one, and voila.

dried cherry confit
(as published on washingtonpost.com)

• 1 teaspoon rendered duck fat (rendered from the pan-fried duch breast preparation)
• 1 medium medium shallot, finely minced
• 8 ounces dried cherries
• 2 cups Marsala or Madeira wine
• 1/4 finely chopped thyme leaves
• freshly ground black pepper
• salt (optional)
• lemon juice (optional)

Heat the duck fat in a skillet over medium heat. When the duck breasts have finished cooking and have been transferred to a plate to rest, drain all but 1 teaspoon of fat in the pan and add the shallot, cook for 2 minutes over medium-low heat, stirring until translucent. Add the dried cherries and Marsala or Madeira and increase the heat to medium to bring to a low boil. Cook for about 20 minutes, or until the cherries are soft and glazed and the liquid has almost evaporated. Add the thyme, and pepper to taste. Remove from the heat; add salt to taste and a squeeze of lemon juice, if desired.

chocolate mousse duo
(adapted from the seven sins of chocolate "chocolate mousse trilogy")

2/3 cup heavy cream
1 oz white chocolate, chopped, melted and tempered
1 oz dark (bittersweet) chocolate, chopped, melted and tempered.

whip the cream until it forms stiff peaks, then divide in half. fold the white chocolate into one half and the dark chocolate into the other.

now, the recipe as written does this delightful bit of food presentation by serving each mousse of the trilogy in a shot glass, with a fruit coulis. here's the trickk--the author has put a bit of gelatin into each coulis, and layered that into the bottom of each shot glass. in the book, he pairs white chocolate with raspberry; milk chocolate with passion fruit; and dark chocolate with orange. i didn't do that. firstly, i didn't have shot glasses. secondly, i didn't have any milk chocolate, nor did i have any passion fruit. i did have gelatin, but a recipe designed for six people was overwhelming for this little puu. so i cheated. i did use raspberry and orange, but i got a little more silly with my presentation...

in depserate need of a little "peace"

2007-04-11T23:41:00.000-04:00

it's been a rough week. to begin with, i haven't been cooking that much because i sort of exhausted myself from all of the matzo meal last weekend. walking home from work on monday night, i decided that what i really needed, above everything else, was a little bit of comfort food and that meant macaroni and cheese, dammit.

so yes, i caved on the whole passover thing a day early. but it felt SOOOO good to have the warm cheesy white sauce sliding down my throat as i read a miss marple novel and watched law and order reruns on TNT.

secondly, it's been sort of emotionally intense because after nearly half a year of being determined to quit my current job and find a new one, i finally did. on tuesday. just like that, and bam, now i have an entirely new set of worries: giving notice, finishing projects, performance anxiety, packing, cleaning, moving, finding and apartment and dealing with the PSYCHOTIC LADY WHO LIVES DOWNSTAIRS FROM ME.

i'm not her only target, i don't think, but i'm pretty sure i'm her favorite. ever since she "caught" me, over the summer, adding a bag of trash to a pile that had not--let me repeat, HAD NOT--been collected on time, she's been on a crusade to teach me about "respecting my neighbors" and "valuing my neighborhood" and making me realize that "we do not live in a slum."

yes, news flash, turns out dupont circle isn't a slum.
sigh.

last week, for example, an amazon.com box got left behind by the trash collectors because, unbeknownst to me, they only take cardboard on friday. or something. at any rate, i came home to find a pile of neatly stacked cardboard and a note on top of a package that had arrived for me that morning. i took a deep breath, nobly refrained from leaving her a note telling her what she could do with the cardboard, and went on with my life.

until today. this time, it's the trash. tuesday morning, my trash got left out too late for pickup. not by me, please let me stress. my cleaning lady, who usually does an outstanding job of ridding my apartment of trash and dirt, took out the trash on her way out instead of on her way in and missed the pickup. i came home yesterday to a large note plastered on my front door, addressed to me specifically (because my psychotic neighbor had actually GONE THROUGH the trash in order to determine the culprit), reminding me that trash goes out on tuesdays and fridays. and something about rats. (in my own defense, it was an accident. and i know all about rats. i used to live in new york city. and baltimore. walking in flipflops after dark on my street used to be unwise, there were so many rats) fine. i took a deep breath. i walked upstairs. i crumpled the note in front of her door, and i decided to bring a little peace into my life.

this is all by way of saying that my only solace last night was the batch of dorie's "world peace" cookies that graced my oven racks before i went to sleep. i was fascinated by this recipe. of course, i've seen everyone blogging about it. it's true that they didn't catch my eye at first but what with passover finally being history, at least for this year, and me trying to clean out my pantry before i move, and needing to bring a snack to several hungry photographers at my studio flash photography workshop tonight, i decided that my time had come to test out this cookie recipe that is allegedly so good that a daily dose for the world could actually bring on world peace.

it took me until i was actually mixing the recipe to notice that there were no eggs. and since i didn't have any brown sugar, i decided to make some by mixing in a few teaspoons of molasses with plain white sugar. the dough mixed together in a most unusual manner, minus the eggs, and as i wrapped it in plastic in order to chill it i found myself wondering how it would ever come together. meanwhile, i fried up a cozy batch of potatoes, chorizo and sunny-side up eggs to tide me over during the 3-hour refrigeration period.

i cheated, and baked them off a little bit early, but only because i was getting tired and wanted to have dessert sometime before breakfast. once again i was surprised by the recipe. the cookies were such a peculiar consistency coming out of the oven that i felt certain i'd bollixed something up. but i had faith in dorie. and my faith was not misplaced. the cookies cooled into crunchy, chocolatey delights. i only nibbled at one, because i was trying to finish off the last of my passover brownies (and it was nearly midnight), but i felt content as i drifted off to sleep.

world peace? maybe not. but i had piece of mind for a few hours, and it was enough for me.

World Peace Cookies

Excerpted from Baking: From My House to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (Houghton Mifflin, 2006). Copyright 2006 by Dorie Greenspan.

Makes about 36 cookies

I once said I thought these cookies, the brainchild of the Parisian pastry chef Pierre Hermé, were as important a culinary breakthrough as Toll House cookies, and I've never thought better of the statement. These butter-rich, sandy-textured slice-and-bake cookies are members of the sablé family. But, unlike classic sablés, they are midnight dark — there's cocoa in the dough — and packed with chunks of hand-chopped bittersweet chocolate. Perhaps most memorably, they're salty. Not just a little salty, but remarkably and sensationally salty. It's the salt — Pierre uses fleur de sel, a moist, off-white sea salt — that surprises, delights and makes the chocolate flavors in the cookies seem preternaturally profound.

When I included these in Paris Sweets, they were called Korova Cookies and they instantly won fans, among them my neighbor Richard Gold, who gave them their new name. Richard is convinced that a daily dose of Pierre's cookies is all that is needed to ensure planetary peace and happiness.

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick plus 3 tablespoons (11 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or a generous 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips

1. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together.

2. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add both sugars, the salt and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes more.

3. Turn off the mixer. Pour in the dry ingredients, drape a kitchen towel over the stand mixer to protect yourself and your kitchen from flying flour and pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time. Take a peek — if there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple of times more; if not, remove the towel. Continuing at low speed, mix for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough — for the best texture, work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added, and don't be concerned if the dough looks a little crumbly. Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix only to incorporate.

4. Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together and divide it in half. Working with one half at a time, shape the dough into logs that are 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months. If you've frozen the dough, you needn't defrost it before baking — just slice the logs into cookies and bake the cookies 1 minute longer.)

Getting Ready to Bake:

5. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

6. Using a sharp thin knife, slice the logs into rounds that are 1/2 inch thick. (The rounds are likely to crack as you're cutting them — don't be concerned, just squeeze the bits back onto each cookie.) Arrange the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between them.

7. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 12 minutes — they won't look done, nor will they be firm, but that's just the way they should be. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the cookies rest until they are only just warm, at which point you can serve them or let them reach room temperature.

update: turns out my psycho neighbor is also clever. she called the D.C. department of health and they are threatening to fine me $1000. not that i can blame them, not really....

puu's passover weekend

2007-04-08T23:03:00.000-04:00

i’ve decided not to let passover keep me from baking my way through my “cooking wish list” and made bold plans for the weekend: matzo meal profiteroles. i promise, i didn’t make it up out of the clear blue sky but saw a recipe for them on the martha stewart homepage last week. her recipe made a daunting amount of puffs, though, so i combined her recipe with a technique i found on humble pie to make a small batch of chocolate matzo meal profiteroles, with white chocolate ice cream and a “very cherry cherry” sauce (from the “seven sins of chocolate”, alice medrich’s “bittersweet”, and emily luchetti’s “passion for ice cream”, respectively and inspired by david leibovitz’s sour cherry frozen yogurt profiteroles).

this very ambitious goal also allowed me to at last test out nigella lawson’s potentially revolutionary technique of making creme anglaise (or ice cream custard base) IN THE OVEN. no more scrambled egg custard for this lil puu! perhaps at last i can stop avoiding french-style ice creams...

i’m pleased to report that the profiteroles were a success. or at least, as much of a success as anything made out of matzo cake meal and egg can ever be. it’s true, i didn’t put enough cocoa powder into the batter, and the matzo meal made the choux a bit tougher than it ought to be, i daresay, but overall i had nothing to complain about. the white chocolate ice cream--i debated pulling the recipe from either “the perfect scoop” or “bittersweet” but gave in to ms. medrich when i saw that her recipe was more easily halved--was subtle, sweet and tasty even if i did foul it up by putting too many too-large chocolate chips into it as a last-minute whim. the cherry sauce was the closest i’ve come yet to replicating one of my favorite (now discontinued) products from the williams-sonoma shelves, the sour cherry compote that american spoon used to distribute via w-s. and yes, i could mail-order it, but that got to be too much of a hassle. i found a stash of frozen farmers’ market cherries hidden in the freezer and happily put a double-handful to boil in a pot full of water, splenda and a pinch of sugar (i’ve discovered that splenda doesn’t carmelize or reduce a sauce the way that sugar does).

dinner, unfortunately, gave me less to gloat about. it seemed to elementary, to make potato gnocchi and substitute matzo meal for the flour, but oy, vey! it’s very heavy on my heart. all told, i probably only made it through three or four spoonfuls before i gave up out of self-preservation. about the only upside of the effort was that it allowed me to practice my gnocchi-making technique, which i don’t use often enough because i always think it’s more work than it ever turns out to be. all of that and i found an excuse to have my favorite starter plate (ever since i saw it on every menu in rome) of fresh mozzarella with thinly-sliced proscuitto.

my goal for today was equally ambitious, but i must confess that i gave in to the lure of frozen baked potato skins lathered in cheesy goodness and bacon bits instead of the bangers and mash i had planned on. i also skipped breakfast, except for a glass of chocolate milk, instead of trying out ms. martha’s matzo meal crepes. too much effort too early in the morning makes me tired all day. i put my time to better use by accompanying the chocolate milk with a good book (the classic “hunt for red october”) and spending the afternoon making van dyke brown prints in my bathtub (as a side note, i did finish my entire weekend’s worth of spring sanity restoration to-dos off of my list!).

dinner i scavenged out of the fridge, pulling the ingredients together for a simple but really delicious stew of curried chicken in coconut milk. unfortunately i couldn’t dish this up with the plate of jasmine rice it deserved, so i had to settle for a small serving of coconut-infused quinoa (which, since it’s not technically a grain but actually a plant of some kind, is genuinely KFP).

i HATE quinoa. but between the coconut milk and the curry-stew sauce, i found i was able to get through it. and meanwhile the chicken was tender and juicy and had just enough heat from the spices.

oh, and did i mention that i set the kitchen of fire from making matzo brei?

puu's passover challenge, day 5

2007-04-06T19:49:00.000-04:00

my menu planning, which was seriously comprehensive as of monday and has been constantly updated since then, has been thrown off course by the fact that i missed dinner last night between my job interview and my studio flash class. this would be much more palatable--pun intended--if my lunch had not, once again, been an inedible disaster. this time i blame it squarely on kylie kwong. i think she intensely dislikes me, because this makes 4 recipes i’ve tried from her and 4 inedible disasters. i’d been saving a package of lovely ground beef to make her mongolian beef, even though, no, it’s not strictly KFP because of the shaoxing wine and goodness only knows what goes into oyster sauce (please don’t enlighten me. i’d much rather not know), but i felt that with a pile of kosher egg noodles it would pass muster.

it tasted like dog food.
which happens to be what it looked like, even with the noodles added to the mix.
blech.

so today i took it simple, enjoying my day off and working my way through my ongoing spring sanity restoration project to-do list (today’s tasks included doing the laundry, changing the sheets, cleaning out the closet, and working with my new terabyte network drive) and made a sublime little bacon turkey burger (atkins-style, with no bun) and a side order of sweet potato fries, my favorite. i had originally planned to take a leaf out of michel richard’s book and make potato “risotto” for my semi-weekly risotto dish, but i lost the will as the day went on and pulled out one last kylie recipe instead.

i swear, the only reason i did it was because of the duck breasts i had in the fridge. i couldn’t freeze them AGAIN and so i had to make use of them and here in front of me i had a duck with honey and ginger stir fry recipe. i braced myself for the worst even as i cheerfully used up the required ingredients (all, incidentally, off my list of things languishing in either my fridge or my “pantry”--and yes, i made a list, because without it i’m totally scatterbrained and inclined to stop at mcdonald’s much too often) and boiled the last of my kosher egg noodles.

you could have knocked me over with a feather as i savoured the first bite. it was light, and sweet with a hint of fire, and the duck was the perfect compliment for the honey marinade (even though kylie uses this particular marinade on all of the major meats within her book: chicken, beef, pork and duck), substantial without being heavy or meaty. even the kosher noodles (which, by the by, are a meager combination of egg and potato starch) seemed elevated by the spicy honey syrup.

for dessert, i broke out the ice cream maker for the first time all season. i pulled out the last of my stash of blood oranges (the bland ones i’ve been suffering through) and made a chocolate-blood orange sorbet (inspired by david leibovitz’s FANTASTIC book, “the perfect scoop”) to go with a plate of cacao nib meringues (inspired by a juvenile, but surprisingly delightful, book called “ice cream treats” which had a delectable photograph of the meringues sandwiching a scoop of raspberry sorbet).

so, a note about the meringues. i was emboldened to try them, even in my sucky oven, because of my recent mastery of macaroon technique, and figured that since i wussed out on SHF and used cocoa powder instead of making something nibby that i might as well give it a go. the meringues came off surprisingly well. i used my newfound egg-white-whipping expertise and a pinch of cream of tartar to make the batter and then threw in a handful of nibs. the recipe suggested that they be added after being “finely chopped” but i think, on reflection, that i should have rocked the mortar and pestle action a little bit and turned them into a powder. the nibs definitely added a deep, profound sort of flavor to an ordinarily simple cookie, but the actual experience of biting into bits of nibs (nibs of nibs, if you will) was decidedly unpleasant.

puu's passover challenge, day 3

2007-04-04T23:01:00.000-04:00

a tagine! i finally made that lamb recipe i bookmarked in my braising book all those months ago, and spent half of sunday gathering ingredients for, and it was delightful! i was so pleased with the way the flavors combined into something really light, citrusy and special, perfect for an early spring passover dinner.

my lunches, alas, have been an entirely different and much more melancholy story. i’ve had good ideas that have been executed poorly, i’m sorry to say. take yesterday’s turkey-stuffed portobello mushrooms. a really good idea, i think, and very easy to prepare, and a great way to use some of those incredible portobellos they are always hawking at the farmers’ market, but the turkey completely dried out in the oven and when i tried to reheat them in the toaster oven yesterday i was treated to a very dry, bricklike mass of what used to be turkey meat (i loved the worcestershire-basted mushroom as a base, though). so yesterday turned into a sort of throwback to my high school days, when passover meant that lunch generally got skipped.

puu's passover challenge, day 1

2007-04-03T09:45:00.001-04:00

growing up, i absolutely dreaded this time of year--which is really a tragedy because it's only now that the flowers begin to bud, the grass gets greener, the skies are bluer and the sun is more willing to come out and play. but ultimately i have to agree with t.s. eliot: april is the cruelest month.

although i doubt he and i use similar criteria when making that determination.

for me, it's all about passover. the dreaded eight days of the year when nothing containing or derived from chametz is permissible in a jewish kitchen. when i was little, we would take it seriously--up to a point. we'd expunge all of the flour, cereal, cookies and above all (and, in my opinion, most difficult to do without) corn syrup. and this would work for a few days, until my mother would inevitably get tired of my sister and i complaining about dinner, and would take us out for mcdonald's so long as we promised to get a hamburger and not eat the bun. my dad, usually around six days into the affair, would be so sick from the unleavened matzo that he would usually declare an end to our passover observation early.

passover was all about a damp matzo sandwich hiding in my lunch box--made damp from the sandwich meat, or the peanut butter, or whatever ingredient was selected in a futile attempt to give the stuff some flavor. it was about a matzo "pizza" or melting a piece of cheese over a few matzo crackers (again, with the dampness) and not being able to eat real pizza at my best friend's house when her mom would offer to have one delivered. by the time i was in high school and college, things had degenerated to a point where passover had turned into a sort of week-long fast. my weight, already on the dangerously skinny side, would drop even more after 8 days of near-starvation.

all of this changed when i learned how to cook, about two years ago. passover turned into this sort of challenge. i began to see that there are some interesting ways to adapt existing recipes for unleavened consumption. and i began to see that in comparison with lent, or greek orthodox lent, going atkins for a week wasn't really so bad--or difficult--in the long run.

that doesn't mean i've gotten any more amenable toward the deprivation, just that this year i decided to take a more pragmatic approach to the week. i began with my "spring sanity restoration project"--a multi-day, 3-page-to-do-list sort of spring cleaning, starting in the kitchen and working my way around the apartment (this, incidentally, is still under way, with a revised and expanded to-do list, over a week after its inception). i decided to pull out as many healthy and meatless recipes as i could manage (although i've already abandoned this in favor of using up some of the really high-quality meat i've been collecting from farmers' markets in an attempt to clean out the fridge and freezer), plan my menus carefully, do some good food shopping and even attempt some passover baking.

i'm pleased to report that after day 1, i'm doing a pretty good job. the kitchen is clean and organized, if not chametz-free. the fridge is empty except of all essentials. i wrote out a very detailed shopping list and stuck to it. and last night, in lieu of a seder, i made an israeli passover recipe i found on epicurious.com with great success.

and the baking? my passover brownies taste good enough to eat throughout the year. but i confess that i got a little over-decadent--i used the leftover scharffen-berger unrefined cocoa powder for the brownies. normally, i would never waste such a precious commodity on a mere brownie, but i figured that passover brownies could use all the help they could get! (this cocoa might not have been strictly KFP, but i figured that it stayed within the spirit of the halakha and was therefore acceptable)

roasted chicken with pomegranate sauce and potato rosti

For sauce
1 cup bottled pomegranate juice
1 cup sugar

For poussins
cut-up pieces of chicken (i used a butterflied breast, a thigh and a drumstick)
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon crumbled saffron threads
3/4 cup roasted walnuts
2 tablespoons or more vegetable oil, for frying

For rösti:
6 baby yukon gold potatoes, peeled and coarsely grated
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 tablespoons olive oil

Make sauce
In small saucepan over moderately high heat, whisk together 1 cup water, pomegranate juice, and sugar. Bring to boil and cook, uncovered, until thick and syrupy, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Make chicken
Preheat oven to 375°F.

Rinse chicken inside and out and pat dry. Cut out necks if attached and discard. In small bowl, whisk together salt, cumin, turmeric, pepper, and saffron. Sprinkle chicken with spice mixture; press to adhere.

Set large roasting pan on stove top, straddling two burners. Add 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and heat over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Working in 2 batches, sear chicken until well browned, about 5 minutes per side, transferring as done to large platter and adding more oil as needed. Return chicken to pan and pour pomegranate syrup over.

Roast 15 minutes. Baste chicken with pan juices and scatter walnuts around. Roast, basting occasionally, until instant-read thermometer inserted into 1 thigh (avoiding bone) registers 170°F, about 15 minutes more.

While chicken is roasting, make rösti
In large bowl, stir together grated potato, rosemary, salt, and pepper. In heavy 10-inch nonstick skillet over moderate heat, heat 2 tablespoons oil until hot but not smoking. Pour in 1/2 potato batter and lightly press to form even layer that completely fills pan. Cook, without moving, until underside is browned, about 12 minutes. Invert large plate over skillet and flip pancake onto plate. Add 1 tablespoon oil to skillet, then slide pancake back, uncooked side down, into skillet. Cook until underside is golden brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and keep warm, then repeat process with remaining oil and potato batter to make second pancake.

Cut into wedges and serve with chicken.

Makes 8 to 10 servings.

i also added a blood orange relish as a topper for the rosti. either i have really bad blood oranges (a definite possibility) or i just don't get into making sweet fruit into savory condiments, but the flavor combination was pretty interesting and definitely went well with the pomegranate.

DECADENT FUDGE BROWNIES
(adapted from a treasury of jewish holiday baking and the chocolate cake doctor)

2 cups granulated or brown sugar
1 cup ( 2 sticks) unsalted butter or unsalted Passover margarine, melted and cooled
3 eggs
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 scant cup matzoh cake meal
1/2 cup chocolate chips (not strictly KFP, i admit)
1/4 seedless raspberry jam, or seeded jam that has been melted and strained

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 7 by 10-inch rectangular baking pan, a 9-inch square pan, or an 8- or 9-inch springform pan.

In a bowl, mix the sugar into the melted butter, then the eggs, cocoa, salt, cake meal, and toasted walnuts, if using.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Drop the jam, approximately a teaspoon at a time, across the surface of the batter. Using a butterknife, swirl the jam into the batter and bake for about 25 minutes. Do not overbake. The brownies should be set and seem dry to the touch, but there should not be a crust around the sides. Cool in the pan. Cut into squares or (if baked in a round pan) into wedges.

dessert for breakfast

2007-03-30T10:42:00.000-04:00

i'm pretty well-known, at least amongst my friends, for my whimsical take on things. this can best be summed up by what i like to think of as my motto:

life is uncertain.
eat dessert first.

today, though, i am pretty sure i brought it to an entirely new level of decadence.
i ate dessert for breakfast.

it really started last night. the workday, as they are wont to do, was dragging on forever, and i was restless. the weather here in our nation's captiol was just barely warm enough to justify the three-mile walk home (plus a detour to whole foods). as i started my walk, i had all of these virtuous plans to make a quick, wholesome dinner--a miso soup, with some soba noodles and chargrilled chicken, and maybe a handful of mushrooms and a few bird chiles for spice. the farther i walked, however, the less enamored of this idea i became, and even though i picked up a chicken breast at the store i found myself unable to summon the will to cook it by the time i arrived home. the chicken went back into the fridge, to be replaced on the counter by milk, cream and a pile of chocolate croissants.

have i mentioned that i am completely smitten with nigella lawson? because i am. i love the way she writes, and i love the way she cooks, and most of all, i love her attitude toward eating, which is that eating is a pleasure. so last night, in desperate need of comfort after a useless day at the office (plus day 5 of my spring sanity restoration project, plus packing to head north yet again for the weekend), i took a page out of her book and whipped up a pain-au-chocolat pudding. i have to admit, i seriously considered eating this for dinner all by itself but i managed to exercise some restraint at the last minute and reheat some leftover polenta and chicken.

oh. my. goodness. my first bite of the cream-soaked baked croissant practically made the ickiness of my day banish all on its own (although it helped that i had put my SSRP on hold for the evening and cuddled up in bed), even if i had poured too much of the cream mixture into the pan.

after sleeping the sleep of the chocolately sated for an incredible 8 hours, and finding myself completely unable to get out of bed until 45 minutes after my alarm went off (making me, yet again, late for work) i decided that the croissant pudding deserved an encore performance. what better way to feel good about your day than to start it off with a bit of chocolate, i say.

pain-au-chocolat pudding
(adapted from nigella lawson, how to be a domestic goddess)

6 mini chocolate croissants, sliced into chunks
1 cup skim milk
1 cup heavy cream
2 eggs
1 very large schlug of vanilla (nigella suggests 1/2 teaspoon)
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

preheat the oven to 350.
place the croissant chunks in a heatproof bowl (i used a disposable loaf pan). meanwhile, simmer the milk and cream together in a pan on the stove. whisk the two eggs, adding the sugar. slowly pour the simmering milk mixture into the egg and sugar mixture, whisking constantly so the eggs don't scramble. add the vanilla, and pour the liquid over the croissant chunks. give it a few minutes to absorb the liquid before placing the pan in the oven.

oven times might vary--i halved nigella's orginal recipe, so i started checking the pan after about 20 minutes. i decided it was finished after about half an hour.

enjoy with a cup of chocolate milk or hot chocolate.