Oyster Club

setting up the line

first night of service

So, I'm in Connecticut these days, weird.  These are some not so great photos of the restaurant, Oyster Club, I just helped open.  That first photo is of our tiny, tiny line before it was ever cooked in.  In fact, that picture is from a time when the five of us running the kitchen were starting to feel like we'd never open or cook anything.  Now I think we're all wondering when we're going to get a break from the madness. 

Bike Rides and Bread

My broster rides his bicycle fast. Makes me a proud sista.

Missin' standing by the oven in the cozy bakery. Feeling a little meaningless without work. I'm so bad at the no schedule lifestyle.
These are some pics from my last Friday at the bakery.
I'm officially out of Cress Spring bread :(
On the upside, my kitten cat is becoming friends with the family dog. Big ups.

A Little Break

I am thrilled to report I am enjoying, like laughing, lounging, playing enjoying my temporary unemployment. This is big for me; I'm not good at no schedule, no paycheck, no structure. Granted it's been less than a week of this luxurious lifestyle, but I just wanted to let ya'll know I'm happy.

I also made chocolate babka last night. It's my family's new obsession. New house staple. You know what the key to really good babka is? It's not hard to guess, but the answer is obscene amounts of chocolate. I'm talking find a good recipe and then multiply the chocolate called for by two. Double that shit. You can do this. Trust me. A streusel topping doesn't hurt either. Oh and brown the butter before you brush it on the dough and sprinkle the chocolate. Loads of chocolate and brown butter=great babka heights, spiritual level heights.

Oh, and if you have some part time work let me know. :)

Council Bluffs, Iowa

So, what do you do when you are stuck for four-ish days in Councinl Bluffs, Iowa? Duh, start blogging again. I have had a long absence for various boring reasons, but here I am in Iowa and thinking about what I will cook if I finally make it back to California in one piece with a working vehicle. Strange girl.

So, a little context is needed. I was on the first leg of my drive from Wisconsin to California. I quit the Bakery because I missed friends and family and that beautiful coastline. There I was westbound on highway 80 with everything I own plus my kitten in my car (purchased only 2 months ago). Suddenly I hear this terrible noise underneath my car, clunking that could only mean bad news. Then the stick shift seized up and I quickly got to the side of the highway and contemplated my fate. It was late at night, not a good time to hitch a ride and the cherry on the cake was that my cell phone had no service, shitskies. So I figured I might as well get as comfortable as possible and call it a night.

It's funny when life gets really tough, like I don't think this could get any worse tough, that a little gift from heaven drops into your lap. That night my guardian angel was Tim, a state trooper who saw my car and pulled over to see what was up. He sat with me while I called every number remotely connected to my family. Anyhow, without all the tumultuous details, I was able to get my car towed 90 miles West by Troy, the toothless second angel, to the closest large town and here I am. And here I will remain while my car parts are being shipped and replaced and I contemplate this unexpected financial blow and hang with my kitten.

I guess I should say something about food. On a more cheerful note, I traveled with enough bread to last me months, so I've got that. I'm looking forward to that first home cooked meal, hopefully I will be home by Friday for roast chicken and challah.

Pictures for you

Ok I felt guilty/inspired so I took some pictures. The morning light was pouring into the bakery, so it seemed like a good moment to capture. It's not clean at the moment because the market was yesterday, but...

Changes

I know I've been gone for like...ever, but I did move and start a new job. Is that a good excuse? I'm finally in Wisconsin, still can't really believe I live here. It's quite a place I tell you.

I started my job at Cress Spring Bakery about a month ago. I'm learning a lot and making a lot of mistakes, but I love the work and where I live. I'm living directly above the bakery; it's quite a nice little commute walking down the stairs every morning. We bake in a large wood-fire oven and make all kinds of delicious breads and pastries. I'm just starting to learn how to load and unload the oven, which is pretty thrilling. We sell at the Madison farmers market every Saturday, but we actually have this week off. I'm going to stay here and explore my new home.

I will take pictures soon. I live on a beautiful farm--we have a vegetable garden and organic pastry fed pigs. Ta Ta for now.

wanna see something cute?

F.U. Farm Day 2

Hey, It's my birthday! Pretty exciting, 23 years of being alive.

A recap of my first day at the farm:

I cleaned garlic in the farm store which is quite satisfying in an I was once dirty, now I'm clean and you didn't even have to think kind of way. Then a few of us went for a lovely bike ride and jumped in the river, that's what summers all about right?

I made dinner with as many veggies as possible which meant frittata with onions, garlic, chard, corn, summer squash, cilantro, and cheesyness on top with roasted potatoes, beets, and garlic and sweet yellow watermelon. Yum.

Today we don't have too much that has to happen, but a big crate of baby chicks should be arriving in the mail today or tomorrow, super exciting. The first thing you have to do with new chicks is teach them where the water is by dipping each of their beaks into their water so that they don't die of thirst.

We harvested for the farm store this morning and it was the worst harvest ever. The misquitoes were absolutely nuts. It was unbearable to stand in one place for even a moment because they would swarm in and attack. So we grabbed what we had to as quickly as possible and got the hell out of the garden.

Since the garden was so uninviting, I decided to do some indoor projects, namely playing a game--me verses the vegetables where they win if they sit and rot and I win if I make then into something tasty. So, I went through a five gallon bucket full of tomatoes and made them into sauce with a ton of fresh basil. The game plan for tonight's birthday dinner is garden vegetable pizzas.

That's all for now, just sittin' in the farm store where we get great internet and reading/chilling.

bye bye.

a new leaf

packed: check

very hot and sticky: check

jumping out of my skin to move on: check

What the heck? It's super hot here again and I'm not diggin' it. I'm not gonna lie, I'm sort of over summer, at least sweltering, humid, buggy Vermont summer. Gosh, I really HATE bugs, like the biting ones. I wish they would all just go suck their own damn blood .

Enough kvetching, I'm actually really excited for the next, and hopefully long, phase of my life. Sparkle (my trusty powder blue Honda) is $800 dollars more reliable with three spiffy new tires and new front axles. One more day of work and it will include more biscuit making, so it's bound to be sweet and lovely, as long as I don't get a sacrificial pie in the face or some comparably thoughtful farewell.

My transition will actually be 3-fold, because, well, my life is never simple. First I drive south a little past Burlington to stay and work at Freedom and Unity Farm for a little over a week, then it's off to Wisconsin (about 20 hours), then a few days later off again to California for a short visit with the fam and a very exciting wedding.

The farm will include:
getting dirty in a non frostingy, buttery, sugary, floury way, but like dirt dirt. Man, I miss that.

presearving the summer's bounty as fast as we can before it turns to chicken feed or compost. meaning: tons of pickling (we're even experimenting with pickling summer squash, green tomatoes, and kale among other strange things we're not quite ready to give up), zucchini bread up the ying-yang, and freezing just about everything our limited number of pans and freezer space will allow
yummy dinners featuring too many vegetables. The game plan when making a meal at the farm is: what can I make that will use up the most vegetables?

other surprises I'm sure

5 Days and Counting

Yes, that's right, five more days of work. I am SO excited for multiple reasons, but high on the list is to be able to get back on a relatively normal sleep schedule. A few days ago I woke up at 3:30am to go to work and two of my housemates were up cleaning from a party the night before. It really makes me feel crazy when I am leaving for work and see people who have yet to go to sleep.

On another note, yesterday I made sweet biscuits for strawberry shortcakes and they were like woah yummers, the best I've ever had I think. After living in the South for 5 years, I take pride in making a good biscuit. However, although I have made some damn good ones, none were good enough to brag about. Sorry I don't have a picture, I guess I was too concerned with eating one than photography. The recipe came from good ol' Martha Stuart, gotta love the woman. I wish I could say it was from Edna Lewis or some other really wonderful, traditional Southern cook, but I'll take a great recipe where ever I can get it. These were BIG and tall and fluffy and with a crunchy sanding sugar covered top, almost cloud-like, but satisfyingly cloud-like, not like eating air cloud-like, got it? It was Martha's sweet shortcake version of her basic baking powder biscuit. I plan on making the none-sweet version next to see if they make me rant like this too.

Lastly, in the spirit of off-loading the randomness that is my brain, I have been thinking about nostalgic foods again. I know, I've written about nostalgia before and I'm sure I will again because so much of our personal food preferences and excitement is rooted in warm memories, tradition, childhood, and habit. Just like all our other preferences, they act as a way we define ourselves; as silly as it sounds, the foods we like and don't like are part of what we call our "identity." Enough philosophical ramblings for the day, onto what I really wanted to talk about--the foods I have been thinking about making when I go home to California in a few weeks. I have been making a mental list over the past couple weeks, but have been meaning to make a formal list because my memory is complete shit and thus lists are my friends. However, while I'm at it and haven't blogged in ions I thought I would share it with all of you because I am confident you care...a lot.
Foods to be prepared, enjoyed, and consumed while home with the fam:

1. Something AMAZING to bring to my friend Natalie's pot luck wedding. This is very important and I've drawn a blank so far, but I'm hoping inspiration will hit before the big day.
2. Mama's mac and cheese (it has gruyere and fontina people)
3. Mama's corn pancakes with salsa and sour cream
4. Our famous taco shuffle, a.k.a. the meal we make when we know we are going to be feeding a crowd, which is pretty much always. It's perfect because everyone gets to assemble their own tacos and picky eaters (Danya, though I believe she's starting to warm to vegetables/colorful foods), former Vegans (oh my God, that's me), etc. are all happy. Plus it's fun to fill the table with as many wacky toppings as possible and then send them around the table (clockwise) until we've all gotten our fill.
5. Beet salad
6. Coleslaw
7. Challah french toast...and regular french toast.
8. Lotsa different kinds of pancakes I've been hankering to try--I love getting up early and making special breakfast for the siblings before they go to school; always more exciting than cereal or toast.
9. This isn't really cooking, but is seriously nostalgic--sitting on the huge green couch in our living room and savoring Mom's famous DARK coffee and talking really fast about life, philosophy, anything because we're so caffeinated and thus a little crazy and excited. This is the reason we're all addicted, it's pretty much the best part of the day.
10. Making lots of homemade ice cream; I have some special flavors in mind.
11. Chocolate spice cookies with Danya; we made lots of these last winter and couldn't get enough of them. I'm teaching her how to be a neurotic baker like me.
12. Egg in a hole, Noah's first culinary masterpiece and one of my favorite breakfasts.
13. Lots of chicken, the meat my family just can't get enough of--I think because my Mom can always seem to find a new, crazy yummy chicken recipe, thus we never get bored.
14. Pesto pasta.
15. Burgers on english muffins.
16. That salad with with avocado, shrimp, corn, and other yumminess that I can't recall at the moment.
17. My sister Kyle and I have the mission of recreating a favorite childhood drink that we used to get as part of a family food co-op when we were kids. It hasn't been on supermarket shelves for more than 15 years, but it came in capri-sun type bags with a straw and were carob-mint-malt flavored rice milk (or some other kind of alternative milk, we can't really remember). Wish us luck.

Ok, I'll stop now. We'll see if I can fit that all into a weeks worth of eating. The lift will help I'm sure.

Tootles.

Challah and Mixed Berry Pot Pies

Yesterday my lovely friend Emma and I made my Mama's challah recipe, which is infamous in my family; from what I hear, the news is spreading fast. I hate when people claim a recipe to be "the best," but I don't care because I can without a doubt (I've surveyed the challah eating population) tell you that this is the best challah ever. No joke, this is some kind of revolutionary bread material. It's not dense like many homemade challahs and it is also not too airy or dry like most store bought ones. It is fluffy, but not too fluffy, perfectly eggy, has that wonderful pull-apart crumb characteristic of a good brioche, and it makes ridiculously tasty french toast. That said, I'm not giving you the recipe, I'm sorry. Usually I'm the sharing type, but this one you have to earn; it's not the kind of thing you just throw around on the internet.
Now that you all think I'm mean, I'll tell you about these little guys: Mixed Berry Pot Pies. First off, I am never making these again! Not because they aren't wonderfully delicious and crazy precious, but because they are stupid labor intensive. I made the dough in four batches in the robo coupe, weighed them all into 3 oz balls, pressed them into 4 inch circles, wrapped them and threw them in the reach-in for 4 hours. To assemble I had to roll out each piece again and cut into 3 1/2 inch rounds and then carefully assemble these little babies. Halfway through making these, I came close to loosing my sanity. That said, these would be a breeze to make at home. The recipe itself is not difficult, it's only get crazy when you try to make enough for 150 people.

Unlike a typical crisp or cobbler, the filling has tapioca as thickener along with the cornstarch and also has a splash of cream and a pat of butter on top before the pastry dough goes on top. The dough is especially wonderful because it involves lots of cream cheese. It's like a rich, sweet, creamcheesy biscuit dough. The guests are in for a special treat, because this is a one time menu item.

bakery snapshots

Chocolate chip cookie dough. You would not believe how fast we fly through this stuff. It's a little disturbing if I stop and think about it.
Bittersweet Chocolate Tart...yes those are greasy butter stains, but what's a good dessert without lots of butter?
7-Layer Bars. Aight, I'm not gonna lie, these are kinda like crack. These bars are not for the faint of heart; literally, if you have high cholesterol I wouldn't go near these...well, maybe not. These things are crazy sweet, almost cloying in my opinion, but when that's what you're looking for these hit the spot. Graham cracker crust on the bottom followed in order by: chopped walnuts, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, caramel chips, toasted coconut, and then smothered in sweetened condensed milk, get the picture? Chewy, buttery, nutty, chocolaty, coconutty...yummers.
Coconut Lime Scones.
Oh so sweet local peaches. Summer in fruit form. Their fate? Rhubarb peach pie with crumb topping.

story of my life

Number of hours I waited to see a doctor yesterday: 3

Number of doctors I saw: 0

Number of crying fits yesterday: 2

Hours of sleep I've gotten in the past 4 days: maybe 7 (maybe that's why I feel sick?)

Number of days since I've written a post: a lot

Number of injuries I currently have on my hands: 6 including: small cuts, burnt finger tips,
ingrown finger nail (this one's the worst)

Number of times I've seen the new twilight movie: 2 (I'm on team Jacob if you were wondering)

Ok, I'm done complaining now. I don't have any new dessert pictures for you; I'm sorry. Misha=careless blogger.

This picture above is from my favorite children's book, Need a House Call Ms. Mouse. My sister sent me this a while ago and it makes me very happy. The book is now out of print and the only copy we have is warped and full of basement mold, but if you can get your hands on a copy you won't be sorry. The book is about this mouse who's an architect (this may be why I wanted to be an architect when I was little) and she designs houses for other animals taking into consideration their specific needs. Bear's house is under ground of course, the picture above is of frog's house, worm's is up in a tree inside a giant pear and has a special food storage area, spider's house has lots of computers and technology and makes webs for him, rabbit's has a giant garden, Miss Piggy's is huge and fancy, etc. It's pretty much the best book ever.

The end.

Tired...

bittersweet citrus tart.
blueberry pie.

chocolate pot de creme.
strawberry rhubarb crisps.
pumpkin teacake
molten chocolate cakes with raspberries
strawberry rhubarb jam bars.

I'm too tired for coherent sentences, but this is some of what I've been up to.

Blogging

I've been thinking about my little corner of the internet lately. Blogs are really weird; posting lots of personal information about your life to the world and wanting people to read it baffles me. For all I know google blogs probably owns all my writing and pictures now, maybe even my soul. For quite some time, I slowly got addicted to reading food blogs (the good ones are like free, unedited, and frequently updated cookbooks), but I had no interest in starting my own. Then it sort of just happened one snowy weekend and was sort of exciting for reasons I can't quite explain.

Most days I do think it's great that there is a "community" of people now sharing information, experiences, and passions. These days connecting with people via the internet is common place, which I still find a little strange. But, when I stop and think about it, I have found most of the jobs I've had through the internet and my car and bikes (thank you craigslist). Technology is quite the conundrum, I don't want to like it, but I'm indebted, reliant, and addicted to it.

Anyhow, despite pondering blogging for a while now, I have yet to come to any profound conclusions. Most of the time it's rewarding, it's also a little embarrassing. Sometimes I read old posts, turn red and wonder what I was thinking. Also, ever since I started this blog I have noticed that my mom doesn't call me as much (no hard feelings mom!).

After all that babble, I guess I will keep sending personal information into cyberspace despite my sporadic misgivings.

Today's baking adventures

Vanilla bean cupcakes with maple cream cheese frosting.
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie.
Brownies.

Unfrosted waiting patiently.
Chocolate chip cookies.

Oh my, pie

Key Lime pie.
Blueberry pie.

Pies seem to solve all problems. They're lovely any time of day, they are homey yet elegant, and even better with a scoop of good vanilla ice cream. I'm a fan.

Things are going better in the kitchen these days. My menu is coming together; I'm figuring out what works and what doesn't. I also got out at a reasonable hour today, which is quite nice indeed. It's a rainy day and I think I'll take a nap this afternoon, I need it.

Friday night I only got 3 hours of sleep because I was at the Jazz festival in downtown Burlington with friends from Wilson, but it was wonderful to see them and I realized I know more people in Vermont than I thought.