The Sweet Life

Prairie Fruits Farms Dinner , August 7, 2010 It’s now the end of the summer.  Though not officially Fall, I can feel a change in the atmosphere signaling it's quick arrival.  My blog has been untouched for a while.  It’s not that I haven’t been busy, on the contrary.  In between 8- and 10-day weeks, I’ve squeezed in a few projects and many sleepless nights.  It’s just now that I’ve really been able to catch up on rest.  Last week I took the ServSafe test, and to my surprise got a 3-day weekend (as a reward?), and after two days of social obligations and light housework I took Saturday as my "Me Time" day.  That's right, 24 hours of bad tv-Lifetime had a marathon titled You Can't Handle the Youth -staying in bed, and eating whatever I found in the fridge. Roasted Peach Chevre Tart with Cornmeal Crust The August dinner at Prairie Fruits Farms was a success and a blast!  I hardly remember much of it since the Saturday prior I had a...

It's a holiday.  People should be out cooking over an open flame, enjoying a beer maybe, watching fireworks, chasing kids with water balloons.  But, there are those who choose to enjoy their holiday at a fine dining establishment.  Why?  Who are these people?  Seriously folks, it's an outdoor fun holiday!!!!!!  I am working, but I did manage to make cupcakes for C.'s outdoor extravaganza.  S. will be delivering them while I'm waiting for people to choose their desserts for the evening.  Should I mention that these will be enjoyed out-of-doors?  Maybe peeps will pick up on that and take the hint for next year. Ganache filled . . . 'Mallow topped . . . Torched!!!! Have a safe and fun filled 4th!!!

It's summer.  I've had a birthday.  I've changed shifts at work.  I'm getting used to nights.  I'm visiting the farmers markets.  I'm trying to start a new venture.  I'm baking cupcakes for C.'s parties.  I'm surviving.  I'm missing the summer.  I bought myself a great birthday present.  I'm learning how to shoot with my new Nikon D5000.  I'm learning to see things in a different way. I'm torn.  I'm excited to cook with the beautiful produce available to me at this time of year, and yet I want to spend as much time outside as possible.  I managed to bake myself a birthday cake, and make some fresh fruit tarts. Projects abound: two weddings, a birthday.  Cakes to make and decorate, candies to package as favors.  Ideas to sketch and execute, details to go over.  S'mores cupcakes to make for a Fourth of July party this Sunday.  Up early Saturday to shoot the market.  Friday before work, it's the T...

I'm known as the Cupcake Lady in a certain circle.  This is the third year my friends Corey and Marcy have hosted a Crawfish Boil/Joint Birthday Bash, and as usual, my cupcakes have been requested.  This time I made PB&J and Coconut cupcakes. My trend lately has been making desserts and pastries that I didn't like very much or eat as a child.  First, the variation on the Pop-Tarts , and now PB&J.  See, I didn't like jelly, and occasionally eat it as an adult on toast (mostly after a night of drinking when we hit the 24 hour breakfast spot), but I decided to make a cupcake version.  Instead of using jelly, I cooked some grape juice with agar agar to make a fluid gel.  I baked a vanilla cupcake, cut a cone out of the top, filled the hole with the gel, then topped them with a peanut butter buttercream.  Not peanut butter and confectioner's sugar, but the real deal!  I also tried out a coconut cupcake recipe I've been sitting on for a while ...

I've been in a candy-making mood. Yesterday I made nougats, and these coconut bars. I'm not sure how I decided to make these bars, but I do know that I have been sitting on some cherry blossom extract that Rachel of  La Fuji Mama sent me ages ago. I figured that this would be a good way to use some of it. Although we make these bars at work, I found another recipe online. I was feeling a little lazy, so instead of scaling down one recipe, I just used one from Martha Stewart's website. It is best to use dessicated coconut, not fresh, though I have one in my photo. The extra moisture in the fresh coconut will not allow the bars to set. I just happened to have a whole coconut on hand and decided to use it for some "background noise". I found dessicated coconut at Whole Foods in the baking section. It is unsweetened which is important because the sweetened condensed milk and chocolates have enough sugar in them for the recipe. I know that Martha's or...

What is comforting to you? Specifically what food does your body long for, and do you have any traditional ways of serving that food? I am flying back to Chicago and reading The Gastronomy of Marriage, A Memoir of Food and Love and the following line prompted me to think. Michelle Maisto writes: Where do our ideas about what’s comforting come from? Is it what we’re fed when we’re young? When we’re sick? Is it the foods of our families?” I had these grand ideas of what I would cook for my mother when I went to help her. But after I cooked a dish that was new to me, now known as Mom’s Mexican “bowl” according to her specifications, she liked it, and thanked me. “That’s comfort food,” she said, “It comforts me.” She told me the same thing after I’d cooked a casserole she’s so fond of. These certainly weren’t foods that her mother cooked for her; in fact, these dishes were new to her repertoire; something she’d discovered after I had moved out. When I’m ill, whether it’s...

Today is my last day with my mom and the cats. I came home to help her when she had rotator cuff surgery two weeks ago. Though I am leaving, I am worried about her. She still can't move her arm to drive, cook, clean. I sincerely wish I could stay, but the decisions I would have to make are hard, and negotiating more time off from work wouldn't be fun either. It is tempting to just let it all go and be here with her. I am grateful for the time I had here, yet I feel like it wasn't enough. I didn't do enough to ensure her comfort after I leave. I didn't cook enough, plan enough, set up enough of a support structure for her in my absence and that weighs heavily on my mind. I know she says that she'll make it, but she deserves more than just "making it." My biggest fear is that the woman who brought me up to be independent will push herself a little too hard and hurt herself. But I know that I have to trust that everything will be ok, but knowled...