August 2010 Archives

Popovers

By Marcella on August 30, 2010 9:50 AM | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks
Last month my husband took me out for a fancy lunch on my birthday.  The restaurant we chose serves hot popovers with strawberry butter rather than the usual bread basket.  

We, being we, talked about how long it had been since we'd had popovers.  They are so good yet is seems that they aren't too common.  I used to make them occasionally with dinner.  Because I didn't own an actual popover pan, I simply used a muffin tin and they were fine.  In a muffin tin they do end up a bit wider and not quite as tall, but they are still delicious.

Because we love nothing more than a good souvenir to commemorate just about any event and actual popover pan went on our shopping list.  A few days later I found a mini sized pan. The regular pans make 6 huge popovers, this one is the same size pan but makes 12 still large popovers.

popovers.jpg
Maybe because they are so closely identified with ladies who lunch and bridge clubs they aren't more popular.  However, they are much easier to make than most breads served along side a meal.  All the ingredients go into a bowl together and are given a quick whisk and baked.  That's it!  No creaming or cutting in, no kneading or rising.  Just mix, pour, bake and eat.

Seems like we should all be baking these more often.

Plain popovers are wonderful with butter and jam.  If you prefer more savory options stir in some cracked pepper and parmesan cheese, or toss in some chopped herbs.  The different combinations could keep us in popovers for a long time.

Popovers

Adapted from the packaging of a mini popover pan.  Makes 12 smaller popovers.

For years I didn't own a special pan to make these.  A muffin pan will work instead, the popovers will just be a bit wider and shorter.  



2 T butter cut into 12 pieces

1 1/4C flour

1/4 t salt

3 eggs

1 1/4 C milk

1 T butter, melted


Preheat oven to 400 degrees.


Place a piece of butter into each cup of the pan and place in the oven to pre-heat.


Whisk together flour, salt, eggs, milk and melted butter until smooth.


Remove popover pan from the oven when the butter is melted and bubbly.  Pour batter into the pan so that each cup is half full.  


Return pan to oven and bake for 20 minutes.  Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees and bake an additional 20 minutes.


Serve hot with butter, jam or other favorite spreads.


printable version:  popovers.pdf


-- marcella


Ouch!

By Marcella on August 25, 2010 1:07 PM | 6 Comments | No TrackBacks

Last week we had Christine Barnes as the guest speaker at quilt guild.  She gave a wonderful lecture on using color in quilts and followed it the next day with a workshop on luminosity.


The idea is to use warm and cool colors together so that the cool colors make the warm colors glow in the quilt.


Class was great fun.  I had brought my collection of batiks.  I know, I'm not much of a stash person, but over the years my sister has given me quite a few fat quarters for gifts and I've acquired a few more as door prizes and other gifts.  While the teacher seemed to think I didn't have quite enough for the quilt, others in the room had lots and lots of fabric and were kind enough to share to fill in some holes I had. 


The initial blocks went together quickly and Christine would grab finished blocks and take them around the room to show them off.  Even though we were all working with mostly batik and hand dyed fabrics it was amazing how different each persons blocks looked.


After lunch we had enough blocks to cut up and start playing.  There was a large flannel board so as four blocks were arranged it was held up and we could see each project.


Me, being me, I had to have all 16 blocks sewn before I started cutting things up.  I wasn't able to finish them all in class, but I did sneak in a little sewing time over the weekend and got them all completed.


Monday it was HOT.  Hot, hot, hot outside.  As the afternoon heated things up, sewing seemed like a good option for being a little productive without getting too warm.  I cut up the blocks and started playing.  Here's how they look up on the board.


luminosity1.jpg

Pretty fun!


I was anxious to put them together so I could really see them.  Tuesday was even HOTTER - seriously we have been complaining all summer about how cool it has been.  The weather guy has been proclaiming some months the coldest on record.  How quickly things change!


Another hot day meant another good time to do a little sewing.  I was sewing and pressing merrily along when I noticed an awful lot of lint on the presser foot.  And then time slowed down.


Have you ever done something and known as you were doing it that it was a really bad idea but your brain just couldn't stop your body from doing it?  Yeah.  Well...


I saw that lint.  But instead of waiting until the seam was done to blow it away.  Instead of just blowing it away.  I reached forward to brush it off.  Yep, while sewing.


My brain said "bad idea", my finger kept moving and I sewed right through the side of it.


And there I was, at one with my sewing machine.


Seriously, it didn't hurt but I was trapped.  Oh, and just so you know, at times like this you might just regret that clever little needle down position on your sewing machine.  I was good and stuck.  As I pondered how to get out I couldn't help but think how stupid I'd feel if I couldn't get out.  After all, it's not like I could reach the phone and call for help.  


With gritted teeth I chose the fly wheel option over the needle down button option because sometimes I push the button too long and the needle goes up and back down.  At this point I was taking no chances at a double piercing.


Bandaged up I decided that perhaps I'd done enough sewing for one day.  Were I a cool twenty something I'd probably stick a steel bar though my finger and start a whole new trend of digit piercings.  I'm just not that cool, though.


-- marcella

Summer Corn

By Marcella on August 23, 2010 2:54 PM | 2 Comments | No TrackBacks
We love to go to the farmer's market on Saturday morning.  Even if we really don't need anything because we get both a box of vegetables and a box of fruit delivered every week, we sometimes go anyway.  It's so fun to walk around and see what there is.  Even when the refrigerator is bursting with produce we at least bring home a loaf of really good bread.

In the summer the corn man comes.  He is a really popular vendor.  We know he has arrived when a long line snakes around the end of the farmer's market and into the parking lot.

If you were a fan of the TV show Seinfeld, you likely remember the Soup Nazi.  Step up, state your order clearly and move aside.  No debating, no stalling or you get booted.

That's how the corn man works.  Ok, I've never seen him actually boot anyone out, but he does get a bit impatient if you aren't ready when it's your turn.  He and his workers aren't really in the mood to be chatty.  Frankly, the people in line behind you don't want you to be chatty either.  They don't want to talk about how their corn is grown or how many weeks more they will be around or how sales are going.  They just want you to tell them how many ears of corn and which variety.  Then hand over your money and step aside.  Because it's California and a certain amount of pleasantries are required he will hand you your bag with a "see you next week".  He doesn't wait for your response though.  Step aside, because he's waiting on the next customer.

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One of my favorite ways to use corn is in these soufflés.  They are dead easy to make and yet seem so fancy.  Add a salad and some of that farmer's market bread on the side and dinner is ready.

Soufflés have a reputation for falling.  It's well deserved because that's what they're designed to do.  For happy soufflés, just whip the egg whites until they are in stiff peaks. This ensures a good rise in the oven and the soufflé will make it to the dinner table just fine to be ohh'd and ahh'd over before eating begins.

The only other trick is to be sure your soufflés have plenty of room to rise.  They can go as high as two inches above the rim of the dish.  Let's just say that experience teaches us that cleaning baked on soufflé out of the top oven element is no fun.  

Corn Soufflé

Adapted from a recipe from Café Jacqueline in San Francisco  printed in Saveur magazine.  Serves 2


4 T butter

1/2 C grated cheese*

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 C fresh corn kernels

1/2 t grated fresh ginger

salt and pepper

2 1/2 T flour

3/4 C milk

3 eggs, separated

additional butter and grated parmesan cheese for prepping soufflé dishes


Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.


Butter two individual sized soufflé dishes.**  Sprinkle in some grated parmesan cheese and rotate the dish so that the sides and bottom are coated.  Shake out any remaining cheese.


Melt 2 T butter in a skillet.  Sauté the corn and garlic until fragrant.  Season with salt and pepper and set aside.


Melt 2 T butter in a saucepan.  Add flour and cook, stirring until thickened.  Whisk in the milk and cook, stirring, until thickened.  Season with salt and pepper.  Remove from heat and stir in the egg yolks.


Beat the egg whites until still peaks are formed.  Add the egg whites to the milk mixture in batches.  Fold gently to incorporate the egg whites without deflating them.  Gently fold in the corn and grated cheese.


Spoon into soufflé dishes.  Bake until browned, about 18 - 22 minutes.  Soufflé should be firm in the edges but still slightly jiggly in the center.  Serve immediately.




*Swiss or gruyere cheese is traditional, but other favorite cheeses work well too.  We like parmesan or if we're in the mood for something spicy pepper jack is great.  Regular monterey jack or mozzarella are both mild and really let the corn flavor shine.


** My soufflé dishes hold 1 C to the lower rim.  They measure about 3 3/4" across and 2 1/2" high.


printable version - corn_souffle.pdf


-- marcella

On the Hunt, Day 2

By Marcella on August 4, 2010 9:17 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
We decided to stick close to home for our second day of hunting.  We started right at the entrance to Bear Valley.  Under a rock we found this little tube.
entrance.jpg
Rolled inside was some paper to sign.  Too small for trinkets.

Just up the road at the next turn out and tucked between two large rocks was this:
roadside.jpg
We signed the paper inside, stopped to read a historical marker and a local marker and headed back down the highway toward Lake Alpine.

We pulled off the highway at a turn out and crossed the road.  After circling a few large rocks we found this jar tucked away in a hole.

turnout.jpg
From the top of a boulder my son spotted a stream so we wandered over to take a peek. It was so pretty.

Back in the car and up the hill to a small campground.

We parked where it was clearly labeled "Parking" only to be told that it wasn't for us.  When we told the campground person why we were there and that we wouldn't be long she relented and let us stay in the parking spot.  She also said she knew where we were headed but had never in her 6 years living there actually walked up the hill to look for it.  I have to wonder at someone with so little curiosity.  

The hike was short but rather steep.  The view over the valley was beautiful.  Six years and never took the walk?  Amazing.

upthehill.jpg
Worth a 5 minute walk, wouldn't you say?

After a short hunt we found this under some rocks.
campground.jpg
The trinkets always amuse me.  I'm amazed at all the little toys and things that either remind me of my childhood or are something I have never even seen before.  Apparently the idea is that you take a trinket to remember the site by and leave a trinket in exchange.  We have yet to come up with the perfect trinket to leave so we never take anything.  It looks like people leave things more often then they take them, because some boxes get quite full.

Down the road and at the edge of the lake we found a really nice bike trail.  If you looked up you could see the very tall sign that labeled it as a cross country ski trail in the winter.  For us, it was a nice, flat easy hiking trail.

In the hollowed out stump of a tree we found this one.
biketrail.jpg
It was getting hot and we were getting hungry so we headed back home for some lunch.

After lunch we decided to venture out to one more place.

This spot was actually in the lodge area.  We drove through the cabins as high as we could to the end of the road.  Seriously, I cannot imagine staying way up there.  The roads were steep and in the winter aren't plowed so snowmobiles are used. We walked across a lot for sale. If a home gets built there that may be the end of this spot or the owners will have to be happy about random people walking through their yard to get to the trail.

Maybe trail is too nice a word.  Footpath?  Narrow, rocky and really slippery whatever it was it hugged the edge of a steep hill.  Oddly there was a cable that crossed our path and headed up to the top of the hill.  Seriously, what could that be?

Up, up and up we went.  There was a warning on the clue to stay away from the edge of the cliff.  They should really skip those warnings.  Why?  Because people like me would never dream of getting near the edge of a cliff even without a warning and the daredevils seem to take it as a challenge.  Like this one.
rocks.jpg
A few feet to his right is a drop off designed to terrify mothers who watch their child slip and slide near the edge.  See how happy it makes him look?  He had to scramble back on hands and feet across all those slippery stones that kept rolling off the cliff edge.  First mosquitoes, then thinking you are going to watch your child plunge to his death.  This is why I love camping.

Once everyone was back on reasonable ground we found this tucked in some tree branches.

cliff.jpg
The men also went up the rest of the way to the top to try and solve the cable mystery.  It was attached to nothing.  It looked like it could have been hooked up to a nice antenna for someone who likes ham radio.  It sure was a long cable just hanging out up there.  Glad I didn't have to haul it up there.

hole.jpg
One last look out and we headed back home.

-- marcella
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