From time to time, I have the chance to work from home - which makes me giddy like a small child at Christmas for two reasons:

1. It's another 30 or 40 minutes wrapped in the cocoon of my duvet. Bliss.

2. I can make lunch at home and eat something that I wouldn't normally even think about bringing into the office.

Cherry and goat's cheese salad from The Sunday Times (Style section), Lucas Hollweg

Serves 4 but it's pretty easy to cut down to one

You'll need:

2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper
2 big handfuls of baby spinach
4 handfuls of cherries, pitted
200g soft white goat's cheese (the stuff that comes in plastic tubs, not the rinded logs)
2 handfuls of whole or flaked blanched almonds toasted in a dry frying pan until tinged gold

1. Whisk together the vinegar and oil, and season well.

2. Toss in a salad bowl with the leaves and cherries. Add the goat's cheese and gently fold in, then scatter with the almonds. Serve.

Cook's notes

Oops - I misread the recipe and used two tablespoons of sherry vinegar. Happily, this turned out to be a good thing as I hate oily dressing anyway.

I only had the oozy, gooey type of goat's cheese in the fridge and the recipe was none the worse for it.

Lucas also has a rather tempting-looking cherry frangipane tart in the same article. I think I've got enough cherries left over...

• 1 cup butter
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups sifted flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup maraschino cherries cut into pieces
• 1/2 cup flaked coconut
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cream butter. Add sugar gradually. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Stir in sifted flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in remaining ingredients. Press into 11x16 greased pan. Bake at 375F degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool slightly and cut into bars.

The first time I had a clafoutis was a couple of weeks ago. I purchased one from a small locally owned pastry shop. They jazz it up by adding a shortbread tart crust, brandy custard, with pistachio whipped cream, chocolate lace, and a cherry. Extremely pretty dessert. Very nice flavor not too powerful. But they use canned cherries, and I am all about fresh especially if it is in season. For this recipe we are just going to tone it down and go back to the basics. Just vanilla custard with dark sweet cherries baked in. Sounds good to me :).

Time to have some cherry pitting splatter fun :) YAY!!!!

You know what I have discovered. The best part of pitting cherries is the little bit of left over cherry flesh that is left on the bottom of the seed. Call me crazy, but picking off that little piece and eating it gives me a little bit of joy.

Okay, sorry, I am crazy.

But DAMN those cherries are yummy.

After it had baked and come to room temperature, I was finally a able to taste the clafoutis. Not too bad on my first try. Like anything custard you have to be careful for how long you cook it for. Since this was my first time I didn't expect the center to still look unset when it actually was. That threw me for a little loop. It ended up being cooked a little too much. The flavor was nice, it had a hint of cherries and a vanilla background. Maybe next time I will use a little less vanilla bean paste. I used that instead of a vanilla bean. Also, you are supposed to sprinkle sugar on top and place it back in the oven and wait for it to caramelize. This took forever and didn't turn out right, so I got out my kitchen torch and finished the work :).

Clafoutis

From Tartine

2 cups whole milk

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 Vanilla bean

pinch of salt

3 large eggs

1/3 cup + 1 tbsp all-purpose flour

2 cups/12 oz cherries, pitted

1/4 cup sugar for toppping

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Butter a 10-inch ceramic quiche mold or pie dish.

In a small saucepan, combine the milk, sugar, vanilla bean, and salt. Place over medium heat and heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar, to just under a boil. While the milk mixture is heating, break 1 eggs into a heatproof mixing bowl, add the flour, and whisk until the mixture is free of any lumps. Add the remianing 2 eggs and whisk until smooth.

Remove the saucepan from the heat, and remove the vanilla bean from the milk mixture. Slowly ladle the hot milk mixture into the eggs mixture while whisking constantly. Pour the mixture into the prepared mold and add the fruit, making sure that the fruit is evenly distributed.

Bake until just set in the center and slightly puffed and browned around the outside, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove the custard from the oven and turn up the oven temperature to 500°F. Evenly sprinkle the sugar ove the top of the clafoutis. Return the custard to the oven for 5 to 10 minutes to caramelize the sugar. Watch carefully, as it will darken quickly.

Let the custard cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes before slicing. Serve warm or at room temperature.

I found this recipe in a cookbook called Cape May Fare and it's surprisingly good. I guess all the cherries in the TWD weren't enough, LOL! At least this time, the recipe called for cherry pie filling so no pitting involved.

The recipe is easy and I experimented with 2 different sizes of turnover and it's definitely easier to make with the bigger size. I like the smaller size better and I think they would be great for a party or cookie exchange ~ just something different. The recipe called for squares but I used a couple of sizes of round biscuit cutters instead.

The dough mixed up in my KA:

Cut out rounds ~ I did about 2 inch and 3 inch:

Ready to go in the oven:

Out of the oven, cooled and sprinkled with powdered sugar:

Ready to eat:

Cherry Cream Cheese Turnover Cookies

1 (8 ounce) cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
pinch of salt
1 can cherry pie filling (I had about 2/3 left over)
Powdered sugar

Blend the cream cheese and butter. Add vanilla and blend well. Add flour and salt and mix well. Pat in disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Roll out on a floured surface and cut into 2 or 3 inch rounds. Place 1 or 2 cherries from the pie filling into the center and carefully fold over and seal edges with a fork.

Place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350º for about 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely as filling is HOT. Dust with powdered sugar.

Made about 28 cookies.

Happy Cooking!

It was the summer of 2004 when I first read about a young woman running for the title of National Cherry Queen while battling an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.  The young woman’s story inspired me to research lymphoma, and since I was an NMC student at the time, I entered non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma into the online medical journals and discovered immediately NHL is the cancer most often associated with agricultural regions. 

That winter, after learning the young woman had passed away, I began to research further the increased incidence of NHL and the use of organophosphates and organochlorines in the orchards.  My paper, More than Cherries was published later that year and examined specifically how increasing toxicity over time affects the children of residents and workers living in and around orchards.  A year following the publication of my paper, I was diagnosed with the very same form of lymphoma as the young cherry queen contestant. 

Like many life-long residents of the Grand Traverse region, I grew up living next door to the growing expanse of apple and cherry orchards and while in college, I spent a few years living on a conventional cherry farm.  I love farming and consider it a noble profession – one that impacts and supports our community for the better, but after my own diagnosis, I became increasingly aware of the dangers inherent in spraying large expanses of land near homes, schools and businesses with chemicals designed to kill biological organisms.    

After talking with several farmers at length about the chemicals sprayed in the orchards, I am equally aware of the difficulties in moving from conventional methods into alternative methods that are less effective.  With costs rising and profits falling, the industry is under attack by economic forces beyond our control.   That said, it is still important and vital we begin a discussion about changing farming practices over time to account for healthier soil, better quality produce, higher profits and most importantly, the health and well-being of our community. 

Not long after my cancer went into remission, I began a new mission in my life inspired by my experience with ‘the pesticide cancer.‘  I began Healing Tree Farm in my own backyard, employing the principles of permaculture to grow fruit-trees without chemicals.   Permaculture is a “do no harm” approach to farming that seeks to mimic a mature eco-system relying less each year on the farmer for water and nutrients and becoming increasingly a biologically diverse habitat while also supplying food for the community. 

It’s a simple concept:  Grow food the way nature intended it to be grown.   Fruit trees in the wild are not in neat, clean rows that stretch out for miles.  They appear in the midst of layers of vegetation all with individual and vital functions for the overall environment.  In the permaculture orchard, trees are grown in guilds, or groupings separated by hedge-rows and surrounded individually by edible bulbs, nutrient-rich deep-rooted plants that may be composted in place, and a few plants that take in nutrients at different intervals than the tree, but serve to attract beneficial insects. 

That’s right, in the permaculture-orchard, insects and birds are welcomed guests. Since 90% of insects found in the untreated orchard are either beneficial (meaning they eat the “bad bugs”) or benign, encouraging bugs like predatory wasps and lady bugs to thrive in your edible forest garden will significantly and naturally offset aphid populations.  Growing extra fruits to encourage birds like the cedar waxwing -the bird known affectionately to farmers as “cankerbird” - will reduce cankerworm populations.  And encouraging healthy bacteria in the soil will help offset the types of fungus that often overwhelm fruit trees. 

It’s not an exact science, but it is a forgiving practice.  Nature is always striving for balance, so when we farmers miss a step, nature will fill in the gap.   The end result is a landscape that is beautiful, healthy, vibrant and bountiful. 

Still, I’m not so naive as to imagine conventional famers will immediately invest in practices so foreign to them.  I hope farmers will continue to phase out harsher chemicals and I hope for the sake of our community this will not be an issue overlooked any longer, but examined closely and discussed openly- Not in the my-side-against-your-side fashion, but as an exercise in building on the success of our community with future generations in mind. 

Let us not abandon our farmers who continue to struggle and who allow us to preserve an age-old way of living even in glum economic times.  At the same time, Farmers, let us not forget the community who support and engage you in change. 

We are the Cherry Capital of the World, but those of us who have lived our lives in Traverse City and outlying areas know we are so much more than the fruit we’re famous for.  Our region is rich with ideas for more sustainable practices in agriculture and beyond.  We may be the world’s largest producer of sour cherries, but more than that we are a close-knit community known for thinking outside the box; known for our pioneering spirit and dedication to our people and our wild spaces.   And for this home-sick girl miles from any orchards, Traverse City will always be one of the most beautiful places on earth.  

My trip to London and the interview are approaching quickly now. I read everything I can about the organization so that I can answer advanced questions, and I follow the news religiously as my job will involve researching news stories, meaning I'll have to be up to date on everything. No doubt they'll test me on that! Had an interesting conversation with TJ about what we were gonna do when I got back. I've never had a threesome before and he wants to try that with me. Once with a woman and once with a man. The woman is Polish and a professional so no emotions there and the guy he has in mind is mixed race Jamaican like him. The thought of a threesome excites me and scares me at the same time. I've demanded we do it with the guy first as I've never had sex with a girl and I would feel better trying it out with two guys. Besides, I love the thought of having two men all to myself. They won't be doing anything to each other, so I'll get all the action. Two men sucking on my breasts, I giving one of them head while the other one makes love to me, getting lots of oral sex! mmmm. The thought makes my pussy throbbing and my nipples hard. But first though TJ and I will have our single. He's promised me an all night thing when I come back. I would very much like that to involve chocolate, strawberries and champagne, so it's lucky I'll have the opportunity to go by tax-free at the airport.

The summer come and goes and now it has returned again. Mum, Grandma and I went for a long walk last night with our neighbour VV. her mother has no less than six cherry trees in her garden, so we ended the whole trip by eating cherries. We began by doing that too, but that was somewhere else. I've never eaten so many good, juicy sweet cherries in one go! We ate, ate and ate and the rest of the night I was full as if I'd eaten a big meal.

Today Joy's coming over for dinner and I plan to introduce her to TJ on skype like she introduced me to Blackprince last week. Hopefully it'll go well.

Guess what ya'll! It was my turn to choose the Tuesdays with Dorie recipe! I had a lot of trouble deciding on one and finally settled on Dorie's Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler since I've recently become obsessed with rhubarb.

I had these great fantasies of having a gorgeous picture of this cobbler and making everything perfect since it was my week and all. Yeah, didn't quite work out for me. The cobbler was delicious (even the rhubarb hater that I call husband liked it) but it just didn't turn out pretty for me.

I adored the topping of this one. The whole wheat flour gave it a totally different texture from the usual cobbler toppings and really enhanced the whole thing. The rhubarb was amazing. The cherries were fabulous. I'm not a fruit person but I loved this cobbler. I even made some rhubarb ice cream to go along with it. (It melted very quickly...)

Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler
Baking:From My Home to Yours

Filling:
1 pound cherries, pitted & halved
12 ounces rhubarb, trimmed, peeled & cut into 1 inch pieces
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon ground ginger

Topping:
¾ cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons (packed) brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
3 ounces butter, cut into 18 pieces
½ cup milk

Make the filling:
In a small bowl stir together the sugar, cornflour and ginger until well mixed.
Place the cherries and rhubarb into a large bowl, sprinkle over with the mixed dry ingredients and stir well. While making the topping, stir from time to time.

Make the topping:
Put the flours, sugar, baking powder, salt and ginger into a food processor. Pulse to blend. Sprinkle the butter pieces over the top, then continue to pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Drizzle in the milk and continue to pulse until it forms moist clumps.
Turn out onto a very lightly floured board.
Cut into 20 pieces and shape each into a ball.

Assemble the dish:
Place the fruit and any juices that have been released into the baking dish. Spread it out evenly. Top with the prepared dough balls.

Bake for 35-45 minutes or until the topping is golden and fruit bubbling.
Cool the cobbler for at least 20 minutes.

It depends on what you think the bowl of cherries represents.

I think most people assume it represents pleasure and fun and ease, bringing a life that, as Paul Simon wrote in a song, "rolls easy as a breeze, drifting through a summer night, heading for a sunny day." But Simon's song makes the counterpoint: "Most folks' lives, they stumble, Lord they fall, through no fault of their own." I think that most of us identify with the stumble far more than the breeze, even if we can look back and say that we've done all right. In the Bible, Ecclesiastes certainly illustrates many ways that life is, by its nature, hard and unfair and, in the end, meaningless.

But what if the bowl of cherries instead represents the good things we sometimes get, gifts of temporary pleasure that we get to enjoy while they last? Cherries are sweet while fresh, but even if you refrigerate them, soon enough they shrivel up and grow moldy. So it is with all of life's gifts – and there are such gifts, even for one whose life is mostly about stumbling. Ecclesiastes also tells us over and over that while we're here we get many good gifts – food and drink, our work, our spouses, our possessions – and we should enjoy them while we have them. I think the Depression-era lyricist understood this when he wrote:

Life is just a bowl of cherries.
Don't take it serious; life's so mysterious.
You work, you save, you worry so,
But you can't take your dough when you go, go, go.
So keep repeating it's the berries,
The strongest oak must fall,
The sweet things in life, to you were just loaned
So how can you lose what you've never owned?
Life is just a bowl of cherries,
So live and laugh at it all.

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection of Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler comes from Amanda of Like Sprinkles on a Cupcake.  The TWD group just recently made a Cobbler back in June (see Mixed Berry Cobbler) but I definitely didn't mind making another one.  These are the types of desserts my boyfriend will eat. Any time I don't have to severely cut down a recipe to try to get as few servings as I can for just myself, it's a good baking day.  Plus, this cobbler recipe is very different from the last one we did.  The obvious difference is the fruit that's used but maybe less obvious is how different the topping is.  The Mixed Berry Cobbler topping was plainer and was rolled out like a pie crust. The Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler topping is 1/2 whole wheat, jazzed up with ginger, rolled into little balls of dough and placed over the filling.

Rhubarb was a challenge to find.  I went a couple places around here looking for it, but no rhubarb.  Then I thought about trying a store near where I worked instead. The town I work in is a little fancier than the town I live in and the store I went to down there had absolutely EVERYTHING. Rhubarb, Dulce de Leche, Grape Leaves, Figs, Mascarpone, all kinds of jams and spreads... everything I've needed that I've had serious trouble finding.  All in one place. The rhubarb I got was expensive but it was as big as a sword. I could've had a good old fashioned rhubarb fight. I've only ever seen it little celery sized stalks so that kind of surprised me.  

What I changed:  I used soy milk instead of regular milk in the topping.  I used frozen cherries instead of fresh.

What I did:  I followed the recipe exactly, except for using soy milk. One tiny mistake I made was I added the milk to the topping mixture before I was supposed to. I just dumped all the ingredients in and mixed at the same time. This gave me no problems, it turned out fine. Dorie says to peel the rhubarb but I only peeled it a little bit. I just took off any of the outside that looked like it needed to be removed. It just seemed like too much of a hassle to do the whole thing.

What I thought: I preferred this at room temperature instead of warm. The ginger gave it a real kick and a little bit of an aftertaste, but it wasn't too much or overwhelming. I liked the addition of whole wheat flour in the topping a lot. The rhubarb and cherries together was an interesting flavor combo. I've only ever had strawberry and rhubarb. At times, the filling was kind of tart (which I expected it would be), but the crust did a nice job of evening out the taste.

This marks my 20th completed Tuesdays with Dorie recipe (which brings my total to 23 recipes made from Baking From My Home to Yours). I still have every intention on catching up on recipes that I wasn't a member for, but I've taken a couple weeks off on the "Blast from TWD Past" posts. I'm getting extremely busy now that summer is in full swing and my stomach is pooching out a bit more than usual from all the good food that's been created in my kitchen lately. Once things slow down and my three mile long walks become a habit, I'll get back to the catching up posts. I've only got ten more recipes to go. That's nothin'.

Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler comes from page 415 of Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours. Head on over to Like Sprinkles on a Cupcake to see how Amanda's Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler turned out and to see the recipe. Then make your way to the Tuesdays with Dorie site to take a look at everyone else's Cobbler creations.

Next week, Michelle of Michelle in Colorado Springs has chosen Summer Fruit Galette. See you next Tuesday!

when i got back, alan and eleazar called me. and today (yesterday) was obon and the chinatown parade. and i went, to the dislike of mother. again, we JUST got back and she thought i was tired. and i was. but how could i NOT go?

it was pretty fun, but nothing out of the ordinary. actually, it wasn't that fun at all. haha, i was just there.

heh, forget it said anything.

blog later, thanks for reading.

We recently moved my grandmother into assisted living. Never an easy move, but her new two bedroom apartment is almost as large as the old house where she had lived since she got married in her 20's. She has high ceilings, windows in three directions, and lots of light. She's also made some new friends and really seems to be doing well. However, the old house is still full of junk so my mother flew in from The Netherlands to help us sort through old boxes, photographs, and so on.

Together we went through endless dusty basement boxes with doll clothes, photo albums, ancient sleeping bags, and seemingly endless rows of empty canning jars. Each type I pulled an old cardboard box or plastic bag out of a dark corner under the stairs, I was afraid I might open it up to discover dead animals, raccoons, or pet cats that disappeared before I was even born. Fortunately we suffered nothing but some hilarious discoveries of old 1950's/60's cookbooks, food with expiration dates going back as far as 1988 (!!), and most notably: A box of "Sparkles". Apparently my grandparents used to arrange dances for friends in their basement (my mom says she and her sister were never allowed to attend), so they would spread these shimmering flaky 'sparkles' across the floors to make them smooth. I'll try to get a picture of them if they're still there next weekend. At least the sparkles are prove they were indeed dances that they were keeping my mom and aunt out of, and not some secret Lutheran cult celebrations of self-denial.

Many hours and torn up embarassing family photos later, we finally called it a day. We loaded up the cookbooks, photos, a working refrigerator from the 50's and the collectibles that I was taking, and picked out some of my grandmother's dozens of garden hoses and shovels to use in our own garden. (God knows why an elderly woman needs 18 garden hoses, 11 shovels, 5 hoes, and 3 wheelbarrows; it was like one of those "historical museums" full of donated farm crap. Monetary value: zero. Emotional/cultural value: Oh, wait... also zero.)

Just as we were about to get back in our car, my mom mentioned that the cherries were ripe. Never one to pass up cherries, I rushed out to the back to find the tree completely covered in perfect, luscious sweet cherries of the Royal Anne variety. Nearly every single cherry was ripe and untouched by insects. We picked everything we could get our hands on, and filled our mouths and bowls. My husband even climbed into the tree to get more. Finally, after filling some bowls and eating plenty more, we decided it was time to head home. We're going up there again next weekend, and I can only hope that the cherries will still be good. And if we're really lucky, the numerous figs on my grandma's tree will also be ready for picking. They may need a little more time.

A few years ago I gave my mom a cherry tree for Mother's Day. It was a stroke of genius. Now every year my mom sends me several pints of cherries that she cans. What started out as a gift for mom turned into a gift for me. The pint jars are full of ruby red sour cherries. They make a beautiful addition to the pantry -- lined up in a row on the top shelf they are a constant reminder of home. And every time I open the pantry door I start to think about what I can do with all those cherries.

The first jar had to be used for something special, but I couldn't think of a thing to make. I realized that I've never cooked with cherries. Usually when I buy them, I can't resist eating them as is. They are always gone in a flash leaving no time to create anything with them. That being the case, the plan was to go with something classic. Is there anything more classic than cherry clafoutis?

Before this experiment, I had never had clafoutis so I had no idea what to expect. Everything I read indicated that I would end up with something between cake and custard. I was excited and so was S. The batter was simple to make, and it's always fun to cook with whole vanilla beans. They fill the house with their lovely fragrance. I bought mine not too long ago from Penzeys Spices, and I never skip a chance to use them in something. It always feels extra special to make a dish with whole vanilla beans. The little black seeds were speckled throughout the batter, and the rich vanilla flavor they added to the finished clafoutis was delightful.

Now for the bad news. Both S and I were underwhelmed. The finished product was much more custard than cake (I'm sure this depends on the recipe you use). If custard isn't your thing then this clafoutis is not for you. That said, I wasn't completely disappointed. The cherries tasted fantastic, and the vanilla was very nice. I think S was right when he said that if you are not a custard lover then this dish won't make you one. Sigh. I still have lots of jars of cherries left and maybe next Mother's Day I'll give my mom an apple tree.

Clafoutis
Excerpted from Tartine

2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 vanilla bean
pinch of salt
3 whole large eggs
1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 cups cherries, pitted
1/4 cup sugar for topping

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Butter a 10-inch ceramic quiche mold or pie dish.

In a small saucepan, combine the milk, sugar, vanilla bean, and salt. Place over medium heat and heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar, to just under a boil. While the milk mixture is heating, break 1 egg into a heatproof mixing bowl, add the flour, and whisk until the mixture is free of any lumps. Add the remaining 2 eggs and whisk until smooth.

Remove the saucepan from the heat. Slowly ladle the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture while whisking constantly. Pour the mixture into the prepared mold and add the fruit, making sure that the fruit is evenly distributed.

Bake until just set in the center and slightly puffed and browned around the outside, 30-35 minutes. Remove the custard from the oven and turn up the oven temperature to 500 degrees. Evenly sprinkle the sugar over the top of the clafoutis. Return the custard to the oven for 5 to 10 minutes to caramelize the sugar. Watch carefully, as it will darken quickly.

Let the custard cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes before slicing. Serve warm or at room temperature.

The recipe being decided and the few extra ingredients purchased, I took a good look at those beautiful cherries and suddenly realized, duh, they have pits! Do I have a cherry pitter? No, which explains why I don't cook with cherries. Fortunately, my friends D & J have a nice assortment of gadgets they are willing to share. I specifically knew they had a cherry pitter because just last weekend they bought a full case of cherries, pitted them, and froze 'em for a rainy day. (Industrious friends, they are.)

Cherry pitter in hand, I got to work. D, my grown son, was over and found it quite interesting, and ended up pitting most of the cherries. From there, this recipe was easy as pie.

Fresh Cherry Crisp

INGREDIENTS

* 4 cups pitted sour cherries
* 1 1/2 cups white sugar
* 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
*
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 cup old-fashioned oats
* 1 cup brown sugar
* 1/2 cup butter
* 1/2 cup shortening

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl 9 by 13 pan, combine cherries, 1 1/2 cups white sugar, and 4 tablespoons flour. Pour into 9x13 inch baking dish. In a medium bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, oats, and brown sugar. Cut in butter and shortening until crumbly. Sprinkle over cherries.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until topping is golden brown.

The result? Beautiful! I enjoyed a sample lakeside after a dinner of BBQ ribs and corn. First bite was divine, second was crunchy, and then ... yuck! I got a gob of that awful shortening in my mouth. Egads, what a terrible mouth feel! That being said, by simply swapping out the dreaded shortening for some more butter (Paula Deen would approve) I think this is a winner. Easy, tastey, and really shows off those beautiful cherries.

For as long as I can remember my mom has been lamenting the price of corn. She can't buy corn without remarking that it used to be a dozen for a dollar. Never mind that corn hasn't been a dollar a dozen for at least 20 years. Yesterday it was two for a dollar.

All of the most delicious summer treats are in season now, and its hard not to get carried away. I got my first tomatoes of the season and a big bunch of basil. I just might have to make a pizza tonight despite the fact that it's about a hundred and twelve degrees in my kitchen right now without the oven on. I got another big pile of fava beans and a bunch of garlic scapes. When the scapes are left on the garlic plant to mature, they develop these cute little tiny heads of garlic on top.

I hear that this week will probably be the last for cherries, so I got one last pint. I got lots of peaches and some apricots and two kinds of plums. I got osme bright yellow ones that I'd never seen before, and some tiny, dark purple sugar plums that were so delicious they didn't make it into the photo.

Albo i autumn, ponieważ śliwki również już są.

]]> http://cookingllama.wordpress.com/?p=73 Sat, 19 Jul 2008 22:02:24 +0000 cookingllama http://cookingllama.wordpress.com/?p=73 This recipe is adapted from the Better Homes and Gardens New Baking Book I found on the kitchen counter of the literary house at Washington College while I was there working as a camp counselor with the Upper Chesapeake Summer Center for the Arts. Yes, I baked cookies instead of doing my TA job. But no one complained after they'd tried them! They're cute and dainty and deliciously almond-y. I dyed the frosting yellow and added blue colored sugar to some and green to others, going for a summery (and vaguely Pushing Daisies-inspired) color palette. Instead of sugar, some of them got cherry halves. I liked this addition because it made them look distinctly boob-like. :]

Cookies
1 cup butter
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp salt
1 cup oil
2 eggs
2 tsp almond extract
4 1/2 cups flour

Beat butter. Add sugar, powdered sugar, baking soda, and salt; beat until fluffy. Gradually add flour. Chill dough, covered, 30 min. Shape dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Flatten on cookie sheet. Bake 350° for 10 min. Cool.

Almond Frosting
1/2 cup butter
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2- 3 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
3 tbsp milk/light cream
food coloring (optional)

Beat butter till fluffy. Add almond and vanilla extracts. Alternate gradually adding sugar and milk. Add food coloring as desired.

Frost cookies. Add sugar/sprinkles/cherry halves/crushed candies/whatever. Enjoy!

But I did take pictures. I was hungry, so I went into the kitchen where I got a plum. And I bit into it, and it had this really nice red color, so I went onto the balcony and took some photos. I really like them :) I think because I remembered the idea with the pill cereal, that I kinda relaxed a little... and I just had luck :)

Plus my room is almost completeley "decluttered". I'm in the last phase, which I like to call the "surface". It means that I cleaned out everything and sorted it (like in the drawers/shelf etc.), but that the items that were in the wrong place, and don't have a category yet, are still lying around because I couldn't put them back in the shelf/drawer after sorting them out. So my room actually looks quite messy, but in reality, it's not :) It's all an illusion, an illusion I tell you!!

hokai, I'm getting a little overdramatic here o.O

But what I wanted to say, is that cleaning my room probably helped too. And I packed most of my clothes, so they're out of the way. And I put all my tchotchke in the empty drawers, so they won't catch too much dust while I'm away for a year, and then when I come back I don't have to dust them :)

I just watched "What happens in Vegas" on the internet. I kinda like it, it's cute. Even though I usually don't really like those kind of movies.

I'm gonna go to bed now.
I really like plums. Why do only cherries and strawberries get attention? Plums are sweet too! And they have a nice color. And an interesting skin. And apples too. They're crunchy. Seriously? What is it with strawberries and cherries? I mean I like them too, but other fruits exist too ya know.