Showing posts with label recipe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recipe. Show all posts

Saturday, June 29, 2024

seagull season






i bought 
two small 
Jersey peaches 
at the 
west 97th street 
farmers market
yesterday morning.
they ripened by end of day.

for breakfast 
today,
i sliced one
into a favorite Astier dish
full of vanilla yogurt,
adding
a drizzle
of golden honey
from Lighthouse Keeper's,
a small batch 
food 
purveyor
discovered
while 
on Cape Cod
last July
to celebrate
my uncle's life
and remember my dad, too.

next, 
granola from Balthazar
scooped
from a bag
tied with 
signature cotton bolduc,
a convergence 
of worlds
in one little bowl,
the seagull 
postcard
on the butcher block
a souvenir 
from 
my mother's 90th birthday
last fall
where assorted favors
on the dining table
added 
a touch 
of 
needed whimsy.

she had admired 
the robin redbreast 
at a nearby shop,
it is a symbol 
of hope and happiness,
but there were not enough
to go around
so a colorful assortment
of various birds 
was made
and distributed 
to each sibling,
niece,
brother in law
and/or significant other,
to match personalities
and imagined preferences.

i gave the gull 
to myself 
as a secret 
reminder 
of the magical 
days of summer
and sandcastles
on Hardings Beach
built mostly 
by my father,
we kids
pressing perfect clam shells 
into the pyramids
with the palms 
of our suntanned hands,
decorating 
our shared masterpieces
with 
joy.

i am
only 
missing
the fresh mint
but 
will 
find some 
at 
Sunday's
market.

sweet
sweet
peach
sweet
sweet
summer.


#growmanhattan
#lighthousekeeperspantry
#terhuneorchards
#harmonybrookside
#johnderiancompany





 

Sunday, October 4, 2020

ginger

thank you, mom, for the ginger cookies! 




at home in new york

 

and, dear readers, here is the recipe! 



from cookies installment, mary cooks.....



Monday, April 27, 2020

when life gives you lemons...

my father is turning 88 years young tomorrow!

we will not be sharing a family dinner in new jersey but my mom is of course making him his favorite, lemon meringue pie.

he is a lucky guy to have her.

we are a lucky family to have him.

happy birthday, bob!

stay home!!

eat pie!




lemon meringue pie, from mary cooks....

Sunday, April 19, 2020

mary cooks continued: Easter egg cake and frosting recipes

hi again, fellow quarantinistas!

so, i found a great photo of my mother's mini egg cakes and also haver her reply to the questions posed in my pre Easter blog post asking her for the recipe and frosting details.

she writes from isolation with my father in New Jersey:

Hi,
The cake is a Dromedary pound cake (sadly extinct!) (she uses Betty Crocker now) 
The cookies are in the book--Veronica's Xmas cookies!  (referring to the cookies i asked about) 

The icing recipe is as follows: 
1 cup granulated sugar.
1/4 cup  unsalted margarine
1/4 cup shortening (I use Crisco)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk
3 cups confectioner's sugar
1 1/4 t. almond extract
Food coloring

Combine first five ingredients in saucepan.   Bring to a boil over moderate heat, stirring  constantly.  
boil vigorously 1 minute.   Remove from heat.   Beat in XXX sugar  and  almond  flavoring until smooth.
Tint with food coloring as desired.  Cool 2 or 3 minutes or until icing is a good consistency to use.
Using fork to hold cakes, cover top and sides with icing.  If icing gets too thick to pour over cake, reheat a fews seconds in microwave!  

If Decorating tops of cakes with rosettes, use buttercream icing!     
For chocolate glaze I use Shirley's glaze :  

XOXX Mom

Mary's mini egg cakes, Easter, 2017

here as well is the recipe for Shirley's chocolate glaze: 

1 pkg. (4 ounces) sweet chocolate (German's) or
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. water
1 cup powdered sugar
dash of salt
1 tsp. vanilla

Break chocolate and melt with butter and water. Remove from heat. 
Beat in sugar and salt til smooth . Stir in vanilla.


and the buttercream icing is:

3 cups XXX sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1t. vanilla
1-2 TBSP heavy cream (or milk)

Cream together butter and sugar. add vanilla then gradually add milk to desired consistency.

p.s. she adds, if you are doing icing for fewer eggs (i made 55 last time) you can probably half the recipe. or use leftover to ice cupcakes when you make them. (it can be frozen).



and while we are at it, Veronica's Christmas Cookies recipe follows as per below.
if you cannot read it clearly, let me know and i can always type it out for you! it is obviously adaptable to Easter, Valentine's Day, or any holiday or occasion for which you have a favorite cookie cutter!



butter cookies recipe
mary, with her granddaughters abby and charlotte and my sister eleanor


really. mom?  55 mini egg cakes?!  extraordinary!
xx

dear Gilli

found this in my blog drafts from April, 2014, not sure how it got stuck there!

the first time i visited Florence was possibly in the year 1995 (or was it 2004?) to meet up with my parents, sister and cousins who were already there, renting a house in the hills of Chianti. 

i remember that it rained for most of the trip, poured at times, and that my parents and cousins took us for coffee at Caffe Gilli on the morning i arrived.

we sat outside in the damp Piazza della Repubblica on cold, wet metal chairs. it was divine.

thought work took me to other areas of Italy, i  do not think i returned to Firenze until 2014, when i took a week or so to join a food tour coordinated by the daughter of a designer friend of mine.

we again stayed in a house just outside the city gates and had daily field trips into the hills for various culinary focused adventures. we also made it into the city several times as we were so close by.

i think i took this photo as we grabbed quick morning coffees at the little bar inside.

sending love and light to Italy!

stay safe!


caffe gilli, florence, 2014

Friday, April 3, 2020

six degrees of separation

six feet apart and third in line yesterday at the farmers' market, after mom, baby and Elmo....

She Wolf Bakery has been baking bread in Brooklyn since 2009, starting in a wood oven in Roman's, a Fort Greene restaurant. 

a natural leaven (sourdough culture) is used in most of the breads, with a fermentation process that leads to signature textures and flavors that have us happily waiting for the miche, pullman, sesame and classic batard loaves currently offered for sale under the bright blue tent.

a delightfully crumby treat for crummy covid times...








she wolf bakery
www.shewolfbakery.com 

www.grownyc.org 


Thursday, March 26, 2020

detox divine

yesterday was the 10th day of my stay home practice. 

i tried this divine little detox soak in the evening, suggested in one of the motivational email 'dailies' received from equinox fitness, exhale spa, and others.



notes:


finely grate your own fresh ginger (beyond beautifully fragrant) and mix with the salts and baking soda.
(you can use pre- ground ginger as well). 

scoop the mixture into warm to hot running water as the tub fills and then add the apple cider vinegar which fizzes and foams for a magical moment. then, just swirl your hand through the bath to mix it all and enjoy the zen! 

recipe says to hydrate pre and post soak as you will sweat out lots of toxins.

(you can rinse off for a second or two in the shower apres soak, and it takes no more than a few minutes to rinse the ginger residue from tub - no mess at all)! 

stay safe! stay home!! 





















ginger detox bath recipe, tried and true blog,
photos my own


Sunday, September 8, 2019