From There to Here

On your last day with baby Hodge, you can sit under a tree. Until his mother urges you to sit in the sun to offset the beginnings of jaundice.

Your mother will send you home with roses and your brother will burn a CD of the Carpenters. Yesterday once more.
You warm a serving of Chicken and Rice Soup for your sister and everyone gets a baggie of Chocolate Charlies. And shelve The Bishop's School Cookbook that you had a lot of fun with.

Until we meet again.

Creamy Chicken and Vegetable Rice Soup
Makes 4 to 6 servings

1/2 C uncooked white rice
1 1/2 C water
4 C chicken broth
1/4 C chopped green pepper
1/2 C diced celery
1/4 C diced onion
1/4 C shredded carrot
1/4 C chopped mushrooms
1/2 t minced garlic
2 T butter, melted
1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 1/2 C shredded cooked chicken (white meat)
1/4 t salt
1/4 t white pepper
1 C evaporated nonfat milk

Combine rice and water in large saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes or less. Add chicken broth to rice in saucepan. Cover and simmer 30 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. Sauté green pepper, celery, onion, carrot, mushrooms, and garlic in butter in large skillet. Add chicken, salt, pepper, and rice to mixture in skillet, a little at a time at first, stirring constantly, so flour will not lump. Stir in evaporated milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently until thoroughly heated. DO NOT BOIL.

Chocolate Charlies
Makes 16 large cookies

2 oz unsweetened chocolate
6 oz semisweet chocolate
2 T unsalted butter
1/4 C all-purpose flour
1/4 t baking powder
1/8 t salt
2 eggs
3/4 C sugar
2 t instant coffee
1/2 t vanilla
6 oz semisweet chocolate chips
8 oz chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt unsweetened chocolate, semisweet chocolate, and butter in a small, heavy saucepan over very low heat, stirring slowly but constantly. When smooth, remove from heat and let cool. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a small bowl. Beat the eggs, sugar, coffee, and vanilla in a large bowl on medium-high speed for 1 or 2 minutes to thicken slightly. Then lower speed and beat in the cooled, melted chocolate and flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop heaping tablespoons of batter onto foil-lined cookie sheets. Bake until cookies look shiny outside and still moist, but not gooey inside, approximately 10 minutes for large cookies, less for smaller ones. Cool completely before trying to take the cookies off the foil. (The cookies have a crisp, chocolate, meringue-like exterior and a soft, fudge-like interior, irresistible to chocolate lovers.)

Spring in Saint George

It is perhaps the best time of the year to visit. When things are blooming. The weather is normal.

Mothers have their day.

And that makes one more little boy.

The Great Cake Bake

We convened Saturday evening at six. The anticipation, the ovens had been fired. I brought Carla's tomato bisque and we had two salads and someone opened and baked a canister of prefab bread dough. There were a variety of cake recipes and formats. I made a layer cake: the Lady Baltimore. It was fine but different if you know what I mean. Lots of almond extract and a whipped icing with raisins, pecans, and figs. I had never tasted it and wanted to. The other layer cakes were chocolate ganache and orange cake and lemon with candied lemon slices. The other cakes were a 9 x 13 grasshopper cake with chopped Andes mints, red velvet cake balls rolled in milk chocolate and served cold, and chocolate bacon cupcakes.

Lady Baltimore Cake
Charleston Receipts

1 C butter
3 C sugar
4 eggs
1 C milk
3 1/2 C cake flour
4 t baking powder
2 t vanilla
2 t almond extract
1/2 C water

Use electric mixer, if possible; cream butter, add 2 cups sugar gradually and beat until the consistency of whipped cream. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat thoroughly. Sift baking powder and flour three times and add alternately with milk, using a wooden spoon for blending. Bake in 2 11" greased cake pans in 350 F degree oven 30 minutes. Make a thick syrup of 1 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of water. Flavor with almond and vanilla. Spread this over your layers as soon as you remove them from the pans.

Frosting
2 C sugar
2/3 C water
2 egg whites (beaten stiff)
2 t corn syrup
2 C seeded raisins
2 C pecans or walnuts
12 figs
Almond and vanilla extract

Mix sugar, water, and syrup. Cook until it forms a firm ball in cold water. Pour gradually into the stiff egg whites, beating constantly. Now add raisins, pecan nuts, and figs all cut fine. Raisins and figs may be soaked overnight in small amount of sherry or brandy, if desired. Add almond and vanilla extracts to taste. Spread between layers, on top and sides of cake.

Mrs. Howard Read (Adelaide Higgins)

Receipts and Heritage: The Collection

Because I am insane, this week I acquired two new cookbooks. At least I can attest, they have been on my wish list. And, of course, the cookbook is useful. Especially those from The Junior League. My acquisitions are Charleston Receipts, the oldest Junior League cookbook still in print (appearing much older than its 1950 publication date), and California Heritage (Pasadena). As stated, I've had my eye on these for a long time. Laurie Colwin cites the Receipts in some of the best food writing we have in America. As it crops up everywhere, I felt it was an approved purchase. Since I grew up alongside Pasadena, the Heritage cookbook is on the shelves of most home kitchens. When I was served Swedish Cream at my reading society two months ago, we traced its origin to the Pasadena record. Last year I went into a Los Angeles County home kitchen which was circa their wedding year (about 25 years before) and the Heritage cookbook is in a little trough of cookbooks on display. I took it down and lovingly touched its leaves. The female of the couple made a comment I didn't hear as I was busy. I doubt she ever used the book . . . I am illustrating its widespread popularity in that geographical region. So, I ordered the new one, much preferring the old cover (above) mind you, and it arrived this week. The Receipts is in anticipation of the Lady Baltimore Cake I'll make this weekend for the Great Cake Bake. More to come . . . .

Wild Geese

by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting—
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

Happy Easter, Egg!

I made the assignments last week. Mother agreed to Baked Virigina Ham from the Contessa and deviled eggs. Robin took one for the team: starch and carbs. Her world famous rolls and scalloped potatoes, which morphed into funeral potatoes by Easter day. I had high hopes for Curried Pea Soup but forgot to purchase butter lettuce the day prior. I settled on Green Peas in Cream from Edna Lewis who always makes me feel like an American. That's the thing. Even international holidays make me feel like a patriot. I also tossed mixed greens, strawberries, toasted pecans, French feta, and balsamic olive oil mix in a wooden bowl. We finished with strawberry-shortcake cookies and chocolate cupcakes with Cadbury mini eggs atop.

A Fling for Spring

We had a fling this weekend. Jeff came for a good time and it was had by all. He drove down on Friday, joining me at work for the last few hours. He came to the temple on Saturday morning and we loved being there again. The rest of the weekend was made of quality time: long walks (day and night), church fun, and eating. In fact, he told me when he called on the drive home last night that the meals were a highlight. In addition to the other stuff that is. One of my favorite moments of the weekend was when he described to Cami how easy the apple pie was to make. Clearly, neither of them had ever made an apple pie and I chortled without ceasing. He lamented how long dough takes to make (I tried the TJs pie crust and recommend emphatically) and proceeded to list what goes in the pie, stopping after apples. Quite the time, my friends, quite the time.

Saturday saw us making meatloaf sandwiches. I will again state I am not a carnivore. But, I had made Lenny Schwartz's Market Street huge meatloaf on Thursday and had always heard tell of the appeal of a sandwich. I ended up using whole wheat kaiser rolls, havarti, and spreading mayo and mustard. We (ok, I) heated the loaf slices in a pan to warm and brown. Taken with Lay's Kettle Chips and veggie sticks. On Sunday morning we made sour cream pancakes (two pans going . . . it was fast and fun). Sunday evening we shredded pork from the daylong simmering crock-pot for Chile Verde. We were true to form, using a tortilla. The blessed tortilla. It is so precious.

Private View of a New Collection

A number of years ago, I planned a soiree. It was to be an Art Salon. Set off by the art show invitation in Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband, I set to work planning a small group of artistic friends who would create original art to be displayed against a backdrop of canapes and gougeres. The occasional man would sport an ascot. All men would wear jackets. The women in black and pearls or silk.

As this evening has not yet occurred, I have no doubt it will in future. Invitees will send the title, artist name, media, date of the art piece previous to the evening. A Q&A would ensue for all the artists.

Menu: nuts, olives, cheese plate, coconut chicken balls, and the gougeres.

I have doubt that the right people can make an evening.

Muffins: Back on Top

In the early years of college, I went through a muffin baking period. It lasted about a year. Since, I rarely bake muffins and avoid commercially baked muffins as I would a plague. I have a healthy fear of oil and that's what they taste like to me. The only muffin I have entertained in the last few years is a large muffin at Pannikin featuring nuts and dried fruit. It is a meal in itself. I couple it with euco-mint tea.

As our weather has been rainy these past few weeks, I've baked two kinds of muffins. One was for a luncheon with Simone. She had a field day with them. The topping is fun. I have written elsewhere that coconut will make anything better. She vowed to make the recipe that day after a trip to the store and make housecalls to her friends. I encourage this kind of enthusiasm. That's what an applesauce oatmeal muffin will do to a nice person.

Today I made spiced yogurt muffins from Food and Wine. I clombed onto this during a search for something else. I use plain yogurt for just about anything I can. And, again, the applesauce. I would still like to try the applesauce cake in Mrs. Piggle Wiggle.

But, I will include here the recipe for Rachel Broadbent's Mookies, featured in Sunset. They are the best oatmeal cookies you will eat, and have place here for their likeness to muffin tops. Thank me later.

Mookies
Makes 16 giant cookies

1 C butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 C firmly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 t vanilla
3 C rolled oats
1 C flour
1 t salt
1/2 t baking powder
1 C chopped walnuts
1/2 C sweetened shredded dried coconut
1/2 C raisins

Mix butter and brown sugar until thoroughly blended. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Combine oats, flour, salt, and baking powder. Blend oat mixture with butter mixture. Stir in walnuts, coconut, and raisins.

Pack cookie dough into an ice cream scoop (4-oz. size) or 1/2 C measuring cup, scrape dough level with rim, and empty onto lightly oiled baking sheets, spacing dough about 3 inches apart.

Bake in a 350 degree F oven until cookie edges are golden brown, about 20 minutes (if using one oven, switch pans halfway through baking). Cool cookies on a rack; serve, or store airtight up to 2 days.

Variety Spices My Life

The past year of my life was spent teeming with desire to organize my spices in a coherent, space effective, visually appealing way. Previously they perched, stacked on the edge of a high shelf, difficult to see, perilous to touch; I usually removed 8 vessels to find what I wanted.

My apartment kitchen is a galley, lined with tile and few expanses of non-tiled wall where I could insert a nail to hang shelves or a cabinet. The wall space we have is minimal and there is a large mirror on the wall at the end of the galley to maximize our illusion.

I have weighed options and prices. I liked the idea of a wall cupboard with glass to see inside the darling containers. I contemplated shelves, half enclosed shelves, etc. I found this easy tin box at Urban Renewal last week and the small price tag helped me decide what to do. Jeff drilled two holes in the tin and I fixed it to the wall and piled in my spices, marking the top of each with a sticker of it's own name.

Look, here's a close-up of the spice tray and sundries underneath including fenugreek, cardamom pods, and nutmegs. I have a bowl of peppercorns in the cupboard along with a bowl of vanilla beans, more cardamom pods, and pleasing powders.

Vintage Postcard

Cruising the old neighborhood streets of Glendale, you will most likely happen upon citrus trees dropping their liquid jewels.



Chances were also good for me that Amy would appear gem-like and pose in front of a preferred High Street.



We sheltered from the rain in her salon where I sewed a square of grandmother's flower garden and she discussed vampires with Kiki, her stylist. We visited the new Henry's and wove around Ikea. I bought only muted tones. In Pasadena, we weighed the cost of orange no-crack handcream and a tissue cashmere scarf. She perused salt cellars. I did not buy shelves for my spices. We acquired coconut products at The Body Shop. Peanut butter M&Ms spilled on the wet pavement. I did not lose the case for my phone. I came home with The Reliable Wife, a book Amy devoured in 1.5 days. My kiki was not found wanting. She grilled. A day and a half in the life.

The Great Rains

One year the long rains failed.
That is a terrible, tremendous experience, and the farmer who has lived through it, will never forget it. Years afterwards, away from Africa, in the wet climate of a Northern country, he will start up at night, at the sound of a sudden shower of rain, and cry, "At last, at last."

Out of Africa
Isak Dinesen

Oh, What Do You Do in the Wintertime?

When all the trees are taken down, the carolers wrapped and stored, and the car loaded with donations for charity, it is time to recap our weeks of holiday. I have seen loved ones: Susie and Rachel at Victoria's wedding in Portland

Donn and Nancy traipsing through Snow Canyon

Brendan and Karen and some gingerbread men all in the warmth of home, as well as the usual players in St. George.

I quilted a dark-toned quilt for mother and father during five hours on December 22, sewed the binding in secret until time ran out, and wrapped it with its pins for Christmas morning. A plush white confection of a dress jacket for Taylor. A Snowy Day for Buddy. Among the goods at Christmas were a miniature Victorian book to write one's Christmas gifts, all of Shakespeare's sonnets, three cookbooks: Ten, Apples for Jam, and Falling Cloudberries with its dreamy cranberry sorbet cover, gift cards, a phone.

Our favorites foods were cherries glacés, lamb with mint chutney glaze, tomato bisque, and seven-layer bars.

At our house the talk for days of neighbor Louisa's birthday and her prospective gift.

I learned to play Mancala. We played 20 Questions, the board game, where I guessed Charles Darwin in one clue and could not guess Shoes after 20 clues. And, Taboo. We tastetested Heath vs. Skor. Heath won from all but myself. They complained it stuck in their teeth. I expect that from toffee. Hummphf. The talk of the houses was eggnog. Who likes it (the boys), who doesn't (the girls).

Our Sadie was put under to remove a mole on her paw. We showered her with TLC.

For the remainder, I plan to cook with barley, try to finish the large jar of Spanish olives, hang two gourds, buy bike shoes, and snap a million photos.

Between the Lines

My favorite lines of the Christmas carol season are these:

We'll have to muddle through somehow.
The ox and lamb kept time.
I gave my best for Him.

Home On the Range

I housesit from time to time. There are perks, there are inconveniences. I want to share some of what I love about living in someone else's home as I spend quantity time with my young charges, Rocky and Bootsie.

central air and heat
washer/dryer
the feeling of a family
bottled salad dressing
good doors and windows (few drafts)
filtered water

A Little Teapot

Do you like herbal teas, tisanes, and cocoa? Me too! What luck I can share with you my favorite herbal tea, Sweet Thai Delight. Startling in its rounded taste to a milky coconut. Spices add. It is quite a delight. Surprisingly made only with water and a delicate tea bag. Steep on! Cup your hands around your warm drinking bowl. Recline with a soft blanket. Light a flame.

Blanket 2: Wool and Satin

My great aunt Beth presented this blanket to me last year. She is originally from Brigham City and has many blankets from this area's woolen mills. Over the years she has redone the satin binding several times and it fits a full-size bed.

I used it last winter and felt a heated difference. People who are allergic to wool should fold their sheet over the top of it. I like the stripes and find the feminine coral a nice light color for a warmish blanket. It was a treasure in Beth's home; I love to look upon it. And a word on satin binding: simply adore it.

Blanket 1: Indian Red and Coral

Because one of my favorite objects is a blanket, here begins a record of my favorites. When we evacuated for the fires a year or so ago, I brought my blankets. This blanket is a happy one. Who would have thought coral and red could be a tandem? Not I. The blanket is also very soft. It is about a twin size comforter. I found it in Jaipur and paid $20. Beside the colors and the feel, I love the weight of it. Soft and light and just cozy enough but not too warm. I took this to the Ritchies on one of my overnights and it was perfect to roll up in. For this reason, I have imagined it rolled like a taquito and strapped to a donkey. I must be riding the animal myself as who else would have this blanket. I think it would look nice in a pitched white tent, à la Out of Africa. In a modern setting, I'd fold it at the base of a clean white linen coverlet.

Flying Geese and Blind Meece

Don't you think every quilt has a story, even the new ones? Which thought necessitates that a story can stem from the creation. Which, in this case, it does. I have wanted to make a red quilt. And, I've wanted to make a flying geese quilt. I am not the visionary type and never plan anything out from beginning to end. I don't know how something will look until I'm looking at the finished product. So, my projects are always evolving as the stages progress, and sometimes end up quite different than the initial feel. I saw a flying geese set-up like this in a quilt pattern book. It's a take on an old find. I added white, brown, and red borders and edged it in brown, gold, and red floral.

The back is brown and white. The large sheaf design is a piece from T's warehouse sale. It is bordered in brown and white mini checks. The whole quilt sandwich was stippled. The quilt store made some changes to my top and bottom. To make the back and front an equal size, they cut off the bottom checks on the back. I would have evened out top and bottom checks instead. I am fine with it, because it is homemade. Second, they took apart the front and made it an even square of geese. My square of geese slanted up at the bottom. So, there are changes to this I didn't make but I am happy with the end result and want to wear it in. I love an old soft quilt.

I made the flying geese square initially and my roommate thought it looked like Christmas what with the green in the floral stripes. Horrors, I thought. This is not a Christmas quilt. I added the brown and now, I don't think of Christmas at all. I did scallop the edges and like this look. It works since everything else is so linear. Linear like the V formation of geese.

I Chop Some Parsley While Listening To Art Blakey's Version Of "Three Blind Mice"
by Billy Collins

And I start wondering how they came to be blind.
If it was congenital, they could be brothers and sister,
and I think of the poor mother
brooding over her sightless young triplets.

Or was it a common accident, all three caught
in a searing explosion, a firework perhaps?
If not,
if each came to his or her blindness separately,

how did they ever manage to find one another?
Would it not be difficult for a blind mouse
to locate even one fellow mouse with vision
let alone two other blind ones?

And how, in their tiny darkness,
could they possibly have run after a farmer's wife
or anyone else's wife for that matter?
Not to mention why.

Just so she could cut off their tails
with a carving knife, is the cynic's answer,
but the thought of them without eyes
and now without tails to trail through the moist grass

or slip around the corner of a baseboard
has the cynic who always lounges within me
up off his couch and at the window
trying to hide the rising softness that he feels.

By now I am on to dicing an onion
which might account for the wet stinging
in my own eyes, though Freddie Hubbard's
mournful trumpet on "Blue Moon,"

which happens to be the next cut,
cannot be said to be making matters any better.

His Favorites

driving
Zion Nat'l Park
reading, silently and aloud
volleyball
basketball
biking
camping
swimming
movies with popcorn and M&Ms
summer squash
Milk Duds
carrot cake
Fresca
second helpings of pretty much anything
poetry
short-haired pets
putting furniture together
holding hands
his happy girlfriend

So, A Needle Pulling Thread

I have posted a couple of quilts already. This small quilt uses snowball blocks. It is the same block but reverse colors as the Spice Cake quilt which uses dark centers and light corners. I used a light center and dark corners for this one which you can see, changes everything. M gave me a selection of blue fabrics (all her quilts are blue and red) to use. She also showed me how to scallop the edges and cut a bias binding. The backing is length of toile from T's warehouse sale.

Mother received it for her birthday in July. I put it together feverishly and it shows. Some of the blocks don't match up; the corners are dark. I like to think it is a homemade piece and who would care. This makes me feel it's something special and not a mistake. I think I should treat more life situations like this. Can we create our life? The realist dreamer says yes and no. Yesterday I was taken with this piece of writing (audio) from Blaise Pascal's Pensées, returning home from a very enjoyable three days in SG.

Let each of us examine his thoughts; he will find them wholly concerned with the past or the future. We almost never think of the present, and if we do think of it, it is only to see what light it throws on our plans for the future. The present is never our end. Thus we never actually live, but hope to live, and since we are always planning how to be happy, it is inevitable that we should never be so.

Light the First Light of Evening

What a handsome silvery sea urchin!

Anglais Mort A Florence

By Wallace Stevens

A little less returned for him each spring.
Music began to fail him. Brahms, although
His dark familiar, often walked apart.

His spirit grew uncertain of delight,
Certain of its uncertainty, in which
That dark companion left him unconsoled

For a self returning mostly memory.
Only last year he said that the naked moon
Was not the moon he used to see, to feel

(In the pale coherences of moon and mood
When he was young), naked and alien,
More leanly shining from a lankier sky.

Its ruddy pallor had grown cadaverous.
He used his reason, exercised his will,
Turning in time to Brahms as alternate

In speech. He was that music and himself.
They were particles of order, a single majesty:
But he remembered the time when he stood alone.

He stood at last by God's help and the police;
But he remembered the time when he stood alone.
He yielded himself to that single majesty;

But he remembered the time when he stood alone,
When to be and delight to be seemed to be one,
Before the colors deepened and grew small.

On My List: Golden September

1. Begin One Hundred Years of Solitude in earnest, i.e., stop reading the first line for the umpteenth time: "Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice."

2. Anticipate a month of Island Coconut at Golden Spoon.

3. Begin quilt class and complete a sampler quilt in 12 months. I will use reds.

4. Eek out all occasions to submerge in the warm water.

5. Watch for opportunities of change, including produce, people, and situation.

6. Make tarte tatin, autumn dessert of dreams.

Home Away from Home

Each Thursday I volunteer for two hours at my library branch. Can you spell happiness? I walk, cutting through this alley to admire four colors of bougainvilla.






Normally in a touch of a hurry, I arrive slightly sweaty and chipper. I head to the worker office (where I am privy to the door code) and drop my bag, sign in on the clipboard, and don a volunteer badge necklace. I grab a shelving cart and start organizing. I push the cart around the rows of books. I shelve, I align, I tidy. Normally I end in the children's library. There are so many books (since they are small, thin). At the end of my shift I check out whatever books I want on the computer, scanning barcodes, printing date due slips. It is a highlight. I love books. I walk home to lunch.

I Want to Write Something So Simply

I want to write something
so simply
about love
or about pain
that even
as you are reading
you feel it
and as you read
you keep feeling it
and though it be my story
it will be common,
though it be singular
it will be known to you
so that by the end
you will think—
no, you will realize—
that it was all the while
yourself arranging the words,
that it was all the time
words that you yourself,
out of your own heart
had been saying.

Mary Oliver
Evidence

Chocolate Gobs

When you have less than a stick of butter and no brown sugar, the hunt is on for a good cookie recipe. I went first to Baking: From My Home to Yours from our national treasure, Dorie Greenspan. She came through on page 70 where very rich looking Chocolate Chunkers nestle cozily onto page 71. Calling for 3 tablespoons of butter and no brown sugar but five kinds of chocolate that incredibly and embarassingly were on hand, I made them. Toasted pecans and golden raisins broke the chocolate haze and I did not faint. However, one is enough for now. I will now decide who among my sturdy acquaintances can stomach the remainders.

I am the first person to appreciate a recipe name and probably one of the first to pause in midstep at a clunker. Dorie's name of Chocolate Chunkers is a bee in my bonnet, avoiding as I do words like chunk or nugget for any food. We know they were once favorites at Soho Charcuterie (now closed) and still served at Sarabeth's where they are called Chocolate Chubs. Another word I don't use. At Soho Charcuterie, they were named Chocolate Gobs. Finally. I can approve as we recall Wonka, everlasting gobstoppers, and England's Roald Dahl. Chocolate Frogs. Chocolate Gobs.

1/3 C all-purpose flour
1/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 t baking powder
3 T unsalted butter, cut into 3 pieces
6 oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 oz unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2/3 C sugar
1 t pure vanilla extract
6 oz semisweet chocoalte, chopped into chunks
6 oz premium-quality milk or white chocolate, chopped into chunks
1 1/2 C coarsely chopped nuts, preferably salted peanuts or toasted pecans
1 C moist, plump raisins (dark or golden) or finely chopped moist, plump dried apricots

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment. Sift together the flour, cocoa, salt, and baking powder. Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Add the butter, bittersweet chocolate, and unsweetened chocolate and heat, stirring occasionally, just until melted—the chocolate and butter should be smooth and shiny but not so hot that the butter separates. Remove the bowl from the heat and set it on the counter to cool.
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together on medium-high speed for about 2 minutes, until they are pale and foamy. Beat in the vanilla extract, then scrape down the bowl. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the melted butter and chocolate, mixing only until incorporated. With a rubber spatula, scrape down the bowl, then, on low speed, add the dry ingredients. Mix just until the dry ingredients disappear into the dough, which will be thick, smooth, and shiny. Scrape down the bowl and, using the rubber spatula, mix in the semisweet and milk (or white) chocolate chunks, nuts, and raisins—you'll have more crunchies than dough at this point. (The dough can be wrapped in plastic and kept refrigerated for up to 3 days.)
Drop the dough by generously heaping tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheets, leaving about an inch of space between the mounds of dough. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 10 to 12 minutes. The tops of the cookies will look a little dry but the interiors should still be soft. Remove the baking sheet and carefully, using a broad metal spatula, lift the cookies onto a cooling rack to cool to room temperature. Repeat with the remaining dough, baking only one sheet of cookies at a time and making sure to cool the baking sheets between batches. If, when the cookies are cooled, the chocolate is still gooey and you'd like it to be a bit firmer, just pop the cookies into the fridge for about 10 minutes.

Blueberry Crumble and Chewy Chocolate

Some people are "chocolate eaters," eschewing most other desserts in a firm tone. Like saying you vacation in France and will not chance buying a ticket to Italy. I don't judge this stance. I grew up in an all chocolate family. We had such a self-proclaimed guest at the table this evening for a line of three desserts. Warm flan, blueberry crumble, and chewy chocolate cookies. Of course I played out the evening before it happened. Making sure the chocolate eater had plenty of chocolate to eat, knowing she would most likely invest only in it. Therefore, I was impressed when this guest took a second helping of the crumble. I guess I could excuse it saying blueberries are a superfood and the guest is health aware. I choose to think the taste was so pleasing, the chocolate (low-fat) cookies took second, which I kind of like. The blueberries were fresh, purchased for a song at Henry's. The crumble was plentiful and tasty, a hint of cinnamon. I baked it in my French casserole with its pleasing curves. The flan was also delicious and warm and nummy. I never make flan so it was a treat. We did not overeat. We sampled three dishes, and lived to tell.

Blueberry-Blackberry Crumble
Adapted from A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes by Davis Tanis

1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 C packed brown sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
8 T (1 stick) cold sweet butter, in small pieces
3 pints blueberries (I used only blueberries)
3 pints blackberries
1/2 C granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350 F. To make the topping, combine the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. Add the butter and work it in with your fingertips until you have a crumbly mixture. In another bowl, toss the blueberries and blackberries with the granulated sugar. Pile the sugared fruit into a large gratin dish or two pie plates. Mound the topping over the fruit. Bake for an hour, or until the topping is nicely browned. Cool for 15 minutes before serving, or serve at room temperature.

Orange Fire and Coconut

In case you are wondering I have spent the last few weeks doused in Feu d'Orange from L'Occitane and Exotic Coconut body cream. It seems I can't get enough of the scent of coconut. Spending some time in the hot air balloon of St. George, for once I didn't dry out totally what with the layers of body cream. We celebrated the 4th of July, mother's birthday, J's birthday, and summer days. Our menus included four kinds of cookies (seven layer bars from Greyston Bakery Cookbook, Katherine Hepburn's brownies, strawberry-shortcake cookies, salted peanut butter toffee cookies from Pure Dessert), coleslaw, green chile pork posole, guacamole, fresh bread, macadamia fudge torte, and carrot cake with fresh orange rind frosting from Sweet Melissa, in addition to Brian's famous Benihana rice which I ate for breakfast at least two mornings.

Chocolate in Doses

I make it a habit of copying pages from a magazine I like, rather than tearing out the pages. Certainly not everyone does this. If it's recipes I'm after, often they are online. Like this one. I tore out the page anyway. They are really chocolatey, and predominantly chocolate chips. I love the walnuts since I often need a foil for my chocolate. The first day, they were too rich for me; the second day I could take it. Then, they were gone thanks to a pile of gift bags. I must caution you against being a reducer, reuser, recycler with your parchment for this. Crumbs stick to the parchment producing a tiny burn on the bottom of the next batches. Regardless . . . .

Pretty Books in the Sun

I thought I would be very bold and recommend some books for summer. They are books both for the armchair reader and the traveler.

Italian Villas and Their Gardens by Edith Wharton with pictures by Maxfield Parrish
West with the Night by Beryl Markham
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Anything by E.M. Forster, E.B. White, and James Thurber

What reading do you recommend?

Footfall: Retracing My Steps

This morning I donned old flannel shorts, a half clean tee, and walking sandals. Taking my journal and a camera, I went down to the beach.



My camera is back after leaving it for dead the second time this year. At a cooking club evening on Cinco de Mayo. Theme: you guess. Martita quickly told me to make chilequilas which she demonstrated in her home. I did make them. Martha's are better, but is that news? I am the type of person who walks in the house with sand on her feet.



The hostess of the cooking club made cupcakes . . . her claim. I met her for the first time that evening in an overwhelming, amazing scene. So many dishes, most people I didn't know, and cupcakes by the name of Vera Cruz. Described by the creator as a sweet corn and cilantro cupcake with a hot pepper mousse and an avocado buttercream, garnished with a lime wedge and red salt crystals. For the numerous tastes and multiple ingredients, it worked. Each part stood alone. I enjoyed squeezing a lime wedge over the whole.

Another highlight of the evening was a warm casserole of flan put forth by a nice girl who had never eaten or made flan. It was delicious warm. I think I will always eat it thusly in future. Because we were cautioned not to bring dessert, imagine 20 savory dishes. A standout being cheese-topped guacamole. The title sounds gross and un-American to me too. I need to tell you it was a warm bath and a blanket by the fire is contentment. And I ate it lukewarm. The cook used real queso oaxaca which I would put forth as a must if you're attempting this. My friend G and I will probably not attend the cooking club again as it was so much to take in. It was a one-in-a-grand-while experience but simplicity is a good middle name.

Steamy Potatoes: A Departure

We held our picnic at Fletcher Cove, the only child in attendence being Baby A. Everyone brought their own "sandwich" and we all brought something to share. K had slipped her creation into a brown wax sandwich bag. Nicely crinkled, folded over at the top. I love waxed bags. Someday I'll get some and store candies and cookies and sandwiches in them. We also enjoyed a fine cheese thanks to a gift from another friend K. Caña de Cabra. It is a Spanish goat cheese, in a sliced round. The rind was a tree in shadow. A slice of bûche de Noël from the middle of the log, a grainy gelatin print. M made pesto and brought bread for dipping. I tried a new potato salad recipe in the vein of the picnic. After reading Diary of a French Herb Garden, I have had bay leaves on the mind. This salad smells like bay, rosemary, vinegar. I used a mediocre balsamic. If you have the sherry vinegar, I would suggest this first.

Potato Salad with Rosemary and Capers
Salade de Pommes de Terre aux Câpres et au Romarin
Serves 8

From The Provence Cookbook by Patricia Wells

2 lbs small yellow-fleshed potatoes, scrubbed but not peeled
1 fresh or dry bay leaf
1 t coarse sea salt
1 t extra-virgin olive oil

The Dressing
4 T extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, peeled, halved lengthwise, and very thinly sliced
Fine sea salt
2 T best-quality sherry vinegar (or substitute balsamic vinegar)
2 T capers in vinegar, drained
3 T finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves

Place the potatoes in a large pot. Add the bay leaf, sea salt, oil, and several tablespoons of cold water. Cover and cook over the lowest possible heat, turning from time to time, until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork and browned in patches, about 25 minutes.

While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the dressing: In a small saucepan, combine 1 T of the olive oil, the onion, and a pinch of salt, and sweat—cook, covered, over low heat until soft but not browned—for about 3 minutes. Transfer to a large mixing bowl. Add the remaining olive oil, the vinegar, capers, and 2 T of the rosemary. Toss to blend.

Once the potatoes are cooked, drain them. As soon as they are cool enough to handle (ha . . . love this line), peel them and cut into thin slices, tossing each slice directly into the warm dressing. Toss to thoroughly coat the potatoes with the dressing. Add the remaining tablespoon of rosemary and toss again. Taste for seasoning. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Where Was the Cake?

My friend K was in town this week and she is very good at cakes. In fact, I like to cook for her. I only got the chance once and it was unexpected she was eating with us since she was conducting a month-long juice-milk diet. That's right. Fresh veg juice and whole raw milk. All you can drink. But nothing to eat. Had I known she had stopped her regime the night before our dinner, I would have made Burnt Almond Torte from Greyston Bakery Cookbook. It is a recipe I have been itching to create. As it was, we enjoyed fish, fruit, and fennel salad and griddled goat cheese with spicy olives. I am a big fan of toasts. The dessert was not exciting but I am just now remembering I have Fleur de Sel Caramel Haagen-Dazs in the freezer. I had completely forgotten. Pardon me for leaving now, I am so busy . . . .

A Tide Turned

Thanks to a bittersweet chocolate-walnut meringue kiss, I have officially expanded my repertoire. I was a fast milk chocolate gal. Dark chocolate make me swoon (in a bad way), sometimes resulting in headache, or wooziness. It was so rich. Milk chocolate was food, not dessert. I clommed onto the Green & Black's Milk Chocolate bar and kept watch for its sale times at Henry's. I have a bar of it sitting in my fruit basket. To make the meringues, I bought the 70 percent Dark Chocolate. One chops it small for the meringues and then sprinkles more walnuts and chocolate over to serve. I started eating the small chocolate detritus after the meringues were gone. Now, I can eat it in moderation; it is lovely, fruity, a friendly dark.

I also took their online personality test and they tell me I am 70 percent dark: You are a solid individual who is well loved. You may be quite rich but you’re always in balance and never bitter. You are devoted to others and like to satisfy their needs whether it’s friends, a significant other or a favorite pet. Loyal, intuitive and caring, you always enrich the world around you. Your mantra: "Fore!"

My match is Espresso with whom I could conquer the world.

Cookie Sunday

One of the best humans, my friend S, has a birthday today. She makes a new cookie each Sunday for her clan. She is one who celebrates the joy of cooking. Haha. Her small daughter has a strand of real pearls. Her son has brightened us all his years. Her husband is impressive and good. Her extended family feels like my extended family. I could go on. I told a common relative recently, "who doesn't love s?" She is everyone's ideal.

I made this recipe today and thought I'd post it here since it is cookie Sunday in some homes.

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Toasted Almonds
from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book
Makes 24 cookies

1/2 C whole natural almonds, toasted
10 T unsalted butter, softened
1/2 C granulated sugar
1/2 C firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 t pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 2/3 C all-purpose flour
3/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
8 ounces best-quality semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped into 1/4- to 1/2-inch chunks

Position a rack in the center of your oven. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

1. Roughly chop the almonds into large pieces.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and beat for another minute.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
4. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three batches, mixing until no flour is visible after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
5. Remove the bowl from the mixer. Stir in the almonds and chocolate. Refrigerate the dough until firm, about 1 hour. (If you're really impatient or hungry, spread out the dough on a tray or cookie sheet, lay a sheet of plastic wrap flush against the surface of the dough, and freeze so it chills up fast.)
6. Once the dough is chilled, turn it out onto a clean work surface and divide it in half. Roll each half into a log about 12 inches long. Refrigerate the logs for at least 30 minutes before slicing. (At this point, you can wrap the logs tightly in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil and freeze for up to 1 month.)
7. Cut the logs into 1-inch slices, and place them about 1 1/2 inches apart on each cookie sheet. Bake for 13 to 14 minutes, or until the centers no longer have a glossy look of raw dough. They should be chewy, so do not overbake.

The cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. For longer storage, refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 weeks. Do not uncover before defrosting.