Christmas 2009

Oh, ignored blog...
Here are few Christmas tidbits...

Crepes for Christmas breakfast.

Mmmm.... savory vs. sweet......?

Nina

Embroidered tablecloth I made for my mom's birthday.

Embroidery Detail

Roasted red and yellow peppers with fresh mozarella!

Coconut Meringue Experiment

Kahlua Caramels
(Finally successful on the second try...)

Ornament my dad and I made many years ago.

Birthday Yule Log Cake I made for my mom.
Meringue mushrooms and marzipan vines and berries.

Whipped chocolate ganache frosting flavored with cardamom
and lavender. Before rolling the ganache with the sponge cake,
I brushed cake with orange-flavored simple syrup.

This was my first attempt at making a rolled cake!

Some Fall...

Ocean Grove & Asbury Park, NJ

Picking rose hips for tea...

Bartlett Orchard, Richmond, MA

More than friends?

Sheep & Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY

Morris Dancing missed birthdays cake!

Fall Baking

Just some things I've been baking since the start of September. I can't wait to do something with pumpkin soon... Maybe pumpkin cornbread?

Carrot-Apple Spice Cake
Decorated with lemon frosting and whole star anise

Something like a potato-arugula basil cheese pie,
but without a crust. Came out quite nicely despite bad picture here...

Ha! I think I perfected cornbread. Recipe below...

I used pignoli nuts and cumin seeds on the
bottom which added a wonderful toasted flavor.

Extra Yummy Cornbread

Preheat oven to 400˚F
When oven is heated, place buttered medium cast-iron pan in to pre-heat

Dry Ingredients – Wisk together:
1-cup cornmeal
1-cup flour
1-tbs baking powder
Pinch of salt

Wet Ingredients – Beat together:
2 eggs
1-cup rice milk (soymilk, milk…)
¼-cup agave syrup (honey or maple syrup)
¼-cup oil
Large handful fresh arugula, chopped (or use basil, spinach, other flavorful greens…)
1 large clove of garlic, minced

Additional Ingredients:
Pignoli nuts
Cumin seeds

Wisk dry ingredients together, and then add beaten wet ingredients to dry mixture. Remove pan from oven and generously sprinkle pignoli nuts and cumin seeds along the bottom. Pour cornbread batter into pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Serve hot with butter ☺

August Cakes, 2009

Some variations on a theme... Lately I've been fascinated by peeling citrus rinds into fine spirals and using them in different ways to decorate my cakes. Both cakes pictured are chocolate flourless, with some sort of goat cheese frosting, a substitute for the usual cream cheese.

Hannah's Birthday Cake
Flourless Chocolate-Lemon Cake with Monterey Chevre Orange Frosting
Decorated with Wild Flowering Purple Raspberries, Orange & Lime Rinds

Business After Hours Cake
For The Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce BAH Meeting
Hosted by Hammertown
Flourless Chocolate-Orange Cake with Ricotta-Goat Cheese Lemon Frosting
Decorated with Orange Rind Roses & Lime Rind Leaves

Some Nature Pictures

Why I love the Berkshires...

Where to Go?

I learned to can cherries this year.

Boston Events

I went to go visit my friend Jessica in Boston this weekend and she made the most lovely rose and yogurt cake. The yogurt she used is homemade and sold at a little Greek market near where she lives.

We went to the Natural History Museum to their exhibit of glass flowers, made between 1886 and 1926 by the naturalists and glass artisans Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka. Yes, these flowers are all made entirely of glass!

A few other shots from the museum:

This last shot is not from the museum...