Only Dogs Can Hear

Donuts

I admit it. I love donuts.  But not like Krispy Creme or something like that.  I like cake donuts.  My favorite kind is a nice blueberry cake donut.  There's this family owned donut shop in town that sells cake donuts.  It's the only place in town that sells cake donuts.  I love that place.  I rode my bike over there today to get a couple of blueberry donuts.  They always slip a few donut holes into the bag with your order.  Just a little extra donut-y love for the day.

Standing behind me in line was a man with his two kids.  A little boy, couldn't have been much more than a toddler, and a girl, probably 7 or 8 years old.  She said, in a very loud whisper, "Blueberry, yuck, that sounds gross."  Her dad tried to shush her, maybe even hoping I hadn't heard.  I turned around and said, "Oh but blueberry is my favorite.  It's SO good."  She said, "I don't like blueberry, I think it's awful."  Her father said, "Isn't it lucky that we don't all like the same kind?  That means she didn't take the ones you like." 

As I walked out the door she threw one last insult to my blueberry donuts, "Blueberry is the worst kind of donut."  I giggled.  That kid really has it in for blueberry donuts.  Lucky for them they have me.  I should learn to make blueberry donuts.  Now there's a baking project.

Artichokey goodness

I made this artichoke frittata for Saturday brunch.  We used dill instead of Italian parsley.  It was really yummy.  It was also yummy cut up straight from the fridge into a salad for Sunday lunch.  Finally a way to use up a whole can of artichoke hearts all at the same time.

Sunday baking

When I finally did get back from the east coast Friday (flight was canceled Thursday), the refrigerator smelled like the rotten death of old produce.  While we finally figured out that the smell was coming from an old bottle of fish sauce (eww), we also found ourselves with bananas and strawberries nearly past their prime.  So yesterday and today were dedicated to both cleaning and finding productive uses for my potentially sketchy produce.  Banana bread is a no-brainer.  But the scone recipe for strawberry shortcake was a bit of a question mark.  Thankfully, they came out beautiful!  I think I should make scones more often.

Rhubarb bread fiasco

My mother sent me a recipe for rhubarb bread yesterday.  I had mentioned plans to bake with rhubarb over the weekend and she suggested baking a little sweet bread.  Sounds great right?  Not so much.  Let's just say that recipe is for CAKE, not bread.  And I should've trusted my instincts when it looked like way too much batter for a bread pan.  Thirty minutes later I have an overflowing mess of rhubarb cake all over the oven.  Forty minutes after that, I give up the idea that I could at least finish baking what's left in the bread pan.  K helped me dump the evidence of the debacle into the garbage. 

Lesson of the day: if it looks like too much batter, use a bigger pan.

French bread-y goodness

I went to bed last night with a wickedly painful sore throat and woke up with not only a painfully sore throat but also total congestion.  You know that far away feeling you get when you're really stuffed up?  Like you're going through the day in a fog?  Nevertheless I promised I'd make French bread this week.  I'd forgotten how the scent of baking bread can fill up a house and make it seem so cozy and warm.  Plus that first piece, still warm from the oven with butter melting into it, pure heaven. 

TodaynI looked at the ingredients and wondered how on earth it occurred to someone to put all of these things together.  Baking is a science and an art.  It appeals to my sense of order and my sense of creativity.  I know that when I follow the recipe, the end product will be pretty close to what my mum made when I was little.  But there is still an element of discovery.  The potential that I can do something new, bring some change to the recipe that will make it even better.

I've never made this particular recipe before, so the loaves aren't straight and even.  But the magic of baking hangs in the air anyway.  Making this flu I have seem insignificant.    

Pizza!

K and I love pizza.  When I last lived in the US and in Kenya, I regularly made pizza crust from scratch.  Somewhere in those years spent in Afghanistan and Sudan, I lost all of my motivation to bake anything, let alone pizza crust.  In prep for visitors I decided it was time to try pizza crust again.  Last night was a trial run.

The first crust I made straight from the recipe (the same recipe from my mothers recipe box that I used in my previous baking life).  The second I decided to be a bit more creative and added a 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese and a tablespoon of garlic to the dough.  We decided that the parmesan crust was a big winner. 

Lazy bake

Ok, so I originally had much more creative visions for what I would bring to the vegetarian potluck at my yoga studio.  A short list of potential contributions: irish soda bread, wild blueberry cake, bean and cheese enchiladas.  I was lazy though.  I made coffee cake.  The easy kind.

Thanksgiving 2008

This is the first time since 2000 that I have been in the US for Thanksgiving.  It feels odd to be in the US at all for the holidays.  I just don't have the holiday spirit thing going on anymore.  I left it somewhere in South Asia, then I became a Buddhist. 

This year though, K and I were invited to celebrate Thanksgiving with friends who will be visiting their family in the US between assignments in Afghanistan and El Salvador.  We were really happy to get the invitation and are very much looking forward to going. 

So in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I'm planning to cook yummy things to add to their table.  Specifically I'm attempting this and this.  Here's hoping both recipes turn out ok!