A Certain Mood

Photo Credits & Original Sources:

1. Blood Orange

2. Olaf Wipperfurth Photography

3. Paper Lanterns

4. Lychee Fruit

5. Pu-erh Tea

6. Papilio Ulysses Butterfly Wing

7. Paper Lanterns

8. Olaf Wipperfurth Photography

9. Candied Ginger

A Random June Night in My Kitchen

Grapefruit Yogurt Cake

My Art blog is fast becoming a look what I made for dinner blog! I have been finding so much peace over the past few weeks in measuring, dicing, combining, stirring, sauteing, charring...

The science of the kitchen.

The various textures of fresh summer vegetables & herbs... the broiling Tucson heat, the view of the mulberry tree from the kitchen window, the acrid smell of onions, the spongy quality of eight ball zucchini, the heat and smokiness of various types of chilies and grapefruits straight from the grove.

As a starving artist I had been subsisting, mostly, on bread, pasta & processed cheese-so to have fresh ingredients in the house has been heaven.

There is something SO satisfying about cooking with simple ingredients. I love rustic galettes, big bubbling pots of beans, herbs & chilies and coarsely chopped vegetables-I love cooking Wabi Sabi style.

There is something strange about citrus at night (I've always associated it with morning/sunlight) but I couldn't resist the idea of fresh grapefruit cake as a finish to a LONG hot day...

Playdough for Grownups

Green Onion Pancakes

with

Ginger Chili Dipping sauce

There was an ENORMOUS bunch of green onions in my CSA share this past week; a testament to 'Growth' despite our hostile desert environment! (actually, onions like it here don't they?) I'll happily sprinkle a few here & there but this glorious bunch called for something special. Found this easy step by step recipe (with pictures!) at MOMOFUKU for 2. There are SO many recipes out there for green onion pancakes! I chose one of the first recipes I came across which looked good and didn't require the purchase of any ingredients I didn't already have on hand. (Good recipe but the dough tends to dry out very quickly in my 80 degree/table fan cooled kitchen so a few minor adjustments will have to be made next time-maybe a little oil in the mix.)

Fun fun fun with dough! While needing, rolling and forming the dough into green onion filled coiled buns; I couldn't help but think of playdough. I've seen (and made) my share of this magical dough as I taught preschoolers for over four years. (A long, long time ago!)

Ah, playdough!!

A childhood next door neighbor (and partner in many an escapade!) and I got into a great deal of trouble for throwing a lump of homemade playdough with great force straight up onto the ceiling! We were pretty young so I can only surmise that we were testing the limits of our little universe with this experiment. The trouble, and reason we got caught, was that it was REALLY sticky and it didn't come back down! There it was s-l-o-w-l-y stretching down from its point of contact; suctioned onto the popcorn ceiling. Our giggling was abruptly silenced when we were discovered by parents-we gave ourselves away in the hilarity of it all! (But than again how could we have denied involvement if we hadn't gotten caught red handed? "Nope I didn't have any playdough... how on earth did it get up there?!!?") The logic of childhood!

Crooked Sky Farms-Promoting Kitchen Creativity (one share at a time)

Sorrel

Gnocchi in a Sorrel Sauce

I've waited SO patiently for enough funds to start a CSA session and finally I was able to commit! It was explained that our first share was a little more scant than usual due to a difficult growing season but even so I was thrilled! (Grapefruit, Peaches-small but REALLY good, Green Onions, Red Onions, Dried I'itoi Onions, Sorrel, Wheat Berries, 3 types of Summer Squash & Red LaSoda potatoes.) The Sonoran Spring has been longer and cooler this year which is fine with me-I'll gladly wait a week or so for corn & cucumbers in exchange for cool weather!

I have fallen head over heels for the simple & lovely sorrel sauce found in Eric Pateman's The British Columbia Seasonal Cookbook. (recipe above.) The cream based sauce is actually really light-the fats are tempered nicely by the acidity of the sorrel. The lemony flavor of the sorrel was perfect on a warm evening. Made a few minor tweaks to the recipe-I used a tad bit more sorrel, cut the heavy cream with whole milk and added a couple of pinches of sea salt to the finished sauce before adding the gnocchi. (I also pan fried my gnocchi in a little butter to brown them-they are too squishy for my tastes if I don't!)

Red Onion

Red Onion, Feta, & Olive Tart

I prepared this quick & easy puff pastry 'tart' that I found on the BBC Good Food magazine site for lunch today. I caramelized my onions a little more-tasty but not as pretty as their finished tart! I used a light feta cheese & Moroccan cured black olives (to add a little more salt) and balance out the sweetness of the onions.

I feel really grateful for all of the time spent creating in the kitchen. I have been struggling with art materials-so not much has been actualized lately! Waxes and gelatin capsules behave VERY differently here in the desert than they do in the Bay Area!! My working process is slowly evolving to produce the desired results here in the dry heat. In the meantime I'll use a zucchini as my muse!

The Flavor of Calm

Wilting in the Afternoon Heat


Fresh Mint Ice Cream

After enduring the first of many 100+ degree days here in the desert-I felt like we needed a simple lift of our spirits. My dust covered ice cream maker has been taking up space at the back of a cupboard for a VERY long time. Why I haven't pulled it out sooner is a mystery as this is the hottest most miserable clime I have ever set up home in. Sticky, half wilted and very cranky I have not yet resigned myself to the conflagration that is Summer in Tucson.

There has been much distress over the past few days-nights kept awake by money worries and mosquitos. The horror of oil drenched birds and the blatant neglect & demise of so many riches in the Gulf is weighing heavy on me. (this is another post altogether) I could write for hours about my feelings regarding this but I just need to take a moment to exhale.

Now, it seems a little convoluted to self medicate with ice cream in the face of so much misery but my spirit tends to get really heavy on occasion. I sometimes find myself sponging up all of the stress & emotions around me and have to remember to clear the whole cloudy mess out of my system and reground myself.

(I need a good tickle and ice cream.)

Actually, it was the need for a calming cooking project that brought the ice cream maker out from its darkened corner. I headed for the sanctuary of the refrigerated produce room at 17th street market and the familiar blended smell of various varieties of asian produce which always reminds me of living in Oakland. I remembered on the drive home just how soothing fresh peppermint is. The atrocious heat in the truck was made bearable by the release of the cool scent of green. Peppermint grew like mad in my garden in California so it seems a shame to purchase a bunch! I really need to start my herb garden-there is no excuse!

I found late afternoon peace in the rinsing and preparation of the leaves and the stirring of cream.



(This particular recipe turned out to be REALLY rich!!! Heavy cream & whole milk definitely tipped the scales of decadence! Next time sorbet!)