the waves

I could just watch the ocean all day

black candy

There is a plum cake in my head, and I don't know quite how to get it to manifest in the real world. This first attempt isn't bad. I found a simple but elegant recipe, basically a variant of pound cake, and traded in some of the flours for darker flours, some of the sugars for darker sugars and I browned the butter.

I think the kamut flour adds an especially tasty element. Next time it needs a ton more fruit, and less cake, and I think maybe a little cardamom?

I made plum jam too. The trick is to use fresh plums as well as dried, I used the brooks variety of italian plum, both from the same farm. Red wine, lots of bay leaf, black pepper, a few apples from the yard for some extra pectin.

smile for the camera

tomato days

I can barely keep up with these little guys!

Dried these out low and slow while waiting for UPS last week, now happily packed with herbs in olive oil for rainy day pastas to come.

Whole wheat pasta, smoked pork cheek (I smoked it!), pesto, and these little sugar bombs, parmesan, always parmesan.

about town

We've been having a good weekend, hope you have too. I have pictures of a couple of delicious things we ate, but we'll get around to that after coffee.

isn't it obvious?

I didn't need to stop by this useful trailer at the state fair,

I already live there, duh,

This was the free weenie roast at the beach this weekend, and I would show you a picture of the smores too, but I had so much marshmallow and chocolate all over my hands that I thought maybe I should leave my camera in the bag for a bit.
The place we stayed was charmingly and efficiently all american, they pulled out a speaker and played taps at seven thirty, they kept the fire going and had plenty of marshmallows, plenty of cleverly repurposed wire coat hangers to roast them on.

J. and I poached an abandoned pile of embers and a couple of chairs much later, and listened to the waves and watched the clouds and the stars. It really was more than anyone could ask for.

I don't need to say it, do I?

you can hear the apples dropping when the wind picks up

The smell of fallen apples, I never go out without a scarf, the angle of the sun,

hello september first.

fortress, summer

This here is Fort Augusta, though the very next day it was sacked by the army next door and briefly became Fort Ruby & Zella, before it was abandoned in the twilight and once again became Fort dinner table.

And I know I've already gone into my amazement with the trombetta squah, but is this not out of control?

It was really good, once I could finally bear to cut it up, grilled and tossed with chives, mint, summer savory, parsley, shallots, lemon, olive oil. More about the peaches soon, maybe tomorrow.

treats

J. very obligingly made me graham crackers a couple of nights ago, to go with the peach ice cream he also very obligingly made me. I actually was going to make the grahams myself, from the recipe in that new book I was telling you about, but when I suggested replacing about 5 ingredients and at least one technique I was scoffed at and asked to step aside, probably for the best, but who knows, mine could have been genius. It's not that I didn't like the recipe, it's just that we didn't have all the exact ingredients and I didn't want to wait. You know, one dairy product is as good as another right? Apparently not, so he pulled out his very precise little digital scale and went to work. Results? Excellent.

These are the cookies he made during our informal bake-off the other day:

For the record, here are things I added and removed from my bake-off recipe:

added:

Strawberry jam, whole oats, buttermilk, extra flour, extra baking powder, extra egg

removed:

white sugar, candied ginger, whole milk

and it came out just fine, thank you very much, no scale required.

so close

we had a late, weekend, dinner

Let's see, boasting first, I grew the cucumbers and the sesame leaf. The sesame leaf I transplanted from J.'s father's garden for the second year in a row, wrapped in paper towels in my carry-on. I'm hoping it will establish itself and self-sow this year.

J. made dinner, of course, I propped up my bicycle, headlight on, next to the grill, good enough in a pinch.

It was delicious, if you aren't jealous, you really should be.