I am generally not a huge fan of roses, preferring instead wilder, more unusual flowers. But when they are half-price (and not red) at Wegman's, I can't resist.
08 August 2010
07 August 2010
Peaches 'n Cream
Sometimes cupcakes and I do not get along. It's not that I don't love eating them, but sometimes the baking poses a problem. I have pulled my fair share of sunken, not-done-in-the-middle cupcakes out of the oven after leaving them in for well over the recommended baking time. I believe this has something to do with the amount of moisture in the batter.
Then if I add fruit into the equation, the results tend to be even worse. Ever made banana bread with too much banana? It doesn't cook in the middle. It never will. You could leave it in the oven forever and it still would not be done.
With these failures in mind, I set about making peach filled cupcakes yesterday. The recipe, which I followed to a T (whatever does this cliché mean?), is from the August Martha Stewart Living, on the back page (not yet available on the website). I take it back. I did not follow the recipe exactly because I swapped peaches for nectarines, but Martha said it was okay. My batter only made 10 cupcakes instead of 12 also. Maybe my tablespoons are bigger than Martha's.
You assemble the cupcakes before baking by putting one tablespoon batter in the muffin tin and then one tablespoon of the chopped peaches. Remember what I said above about adding fruit to baked goods? I was certain of an uncooked disaster. After the peaches, you add two more tablespoons of batter, then bake.
I left them in the oven for two minutes longer than suggested, just to be safe.
None sunk!
They all came out perfectly. And they were delicious.
The frosting is whipped heavy cream, sour cream, and sugar, and perfectly compliments the peaches.
05 August 2010
04 August 2010
Remembrance of Chickens Past
Despite the happiness I feel at being back at home, I miss some things from Minnesota (things other than my lovely family of course).
1. My mom's mad grilling skills. Move over Bobby Flay!
A close-up of that fabulous chicken (sorry vegetarians!)
3. Fitger's beer.
4. Swimming in the clean waters of northern Minnesota. Water is an agate's throw away from just about anywhere.
03 August 2010
A Pair of Pears
I cannot remember the last time I saw a pear tree. I don't know why, but pears are one of those fruits that I can't imagine growing on trees. They seem too delicate and blushing for such a rigorous existence. Well, I saw a pear tree in a backyard in Milwaukee. It did not seem loved, but I knew that we could not get it on the top of our Subaru and back to Buffalo in one piece.
Study of Two Pears
I
Opusculum paedagogum.
The pears are not viols,
Nudes or bottles.
They resemble nothing else.
II
They are yellow forms
Composed of curves
Bulging toward the base.
They are touched red.
III
They are not flat surfaces
Having curved outlines.
They are round
Tapering toward the top.
IV
In the way they are modelled
There are bits of blue.
A hard dry leaf hangs
From the stem.
V
The yellow glistens.
It glistens with various yellows,
Citrons, oranges and greens
Flowering over the skin.
VI
The shadows of the pears
Are blobs on the green cloth.
The pears are not seen
As the observer wills.
Our other exciting find in Milwaukee, not counting our great friends and the pear tree above, was a labyrinth on the grounds of Mount Mary College. It was patterned after the labyrinth on the floor of the nave of Chartres Cathedral. While that one is grand, this one is humble. While that one requires a transatlantic flight, this one waits unassumingly for anyone to stumble across.
It pleased me.
Labyrinth at Mount Mary College, Milwaukee
Pattern for labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral, France
The dog didn't quite get it.
02 August 2010
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