Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

My first ever solo pie endeavor was a success!

The rhubarb and strawberry combination is one for which my mom is infamous, at least in my family. So in addition to rhubarb and strawberries being in season, Mothers' Day was the appropriate occasion for taking my own stab at it. And boy did I eventually stab at it!

I followed Mark Bittman's (all butter) pie crust recipe in addition to some over-the phone advice from Mom. My mom uses shortening but Bittman's recipe is all butter. I have no regrets about straying from the family tradition on this one. She coached me on the water ("very cold, with ice cubes!") and urged me to include some orange zest in the fruit, which surely makes a difference. With mom's blessing, I stayed true to Bittman and used the food processor to incorporate the flour and butter. I love my Cuisinart!

Ok, I'm going to get one little critique in before I rave about my success...
I didn't use enough water so the dough was a bit crumbly when I tried to roll it out. And maybe the recipe was scant or my pie plate was too big. Ok, enough of that.

I'm a pie-spert! (or will be someday if I continue at this rate)

The Farmers' Market is open!

Wooohoo! My neighborhood farmers' market opened last weekend.

Last week I bought rhubarb (my hands-down absolute favorite VEGETABLE masquerading as a fruit), asparagus, and beautiful Russian kale.

Asparagus is very spring-y and delicious roasted and grilled, but I was looking for a new platform and I found it in the Simply in Season cookbook: asparagus soup, which is not very photogenic, so I'll spare you. Unfortunately I made what seemed like minor revisions to the recipe, but they had measurable results.
1) I cooked the veggies (celery, potato, onion) in too much water and then included all this water when pureeing. The soup ended up much too thin.
2) Used too much celery, which--I read somewhere recently--has a tendency to make dishes bitter.
3) Substituted yogurt for dry milk. The recipe called for yogurt in the bowl when serving, but I blended it into the soup in place of dry milk. This last misstep was probably trivial, but since I’m splitting hairs…

My beloved rhubarb found its way into muffins, also a recipe from Simply in Season. These moist muffins contain no butter, some oil and a good bit of yogurt so it doesn't take much convincing to believe they are healthy. I will make them again, and photograph next time!

I received this beautiful cupcake Teacher Appreciation day on Monday.
As I took my first bite, the pleasure-seeking area of my brain was confused because rather than butter and chocolate and...well...flavor, I only vaguely tasted anything; maybe it was oil and corn syrup. No human made this cupcake from anything resembling real food. I suspect a chain grocery store was behind this unfortunate mislabeling of the food "cupcake." Without much of a second thought, I exchanged the cupcake for a muffin, my second of the day. This speaks very highly of the muffin, because anyone who knows me knows that I will eat just about anything that someone else gives me especially when I'm at work and especially when it's baked goods. Disclaimer: I am by no means ungrateful for the cupcake!

When I stayed home sick with a cold the next day, I ate at least three muffins. I can’t say they healed me, but they did prevent me from the fate of a frozen burrito.

This week's farmers' market finds were more rhubarb and asparagus and strawberries. I just pulled a rhubarb-strawberry pie (my first solo pie ever!) out of the oven! Stay tuned!

Birthday Party!

All week I thought about the menu for my birthday party. I knew I just wanted to have a BBQ, but I felt like I had to make it special. I worried about the vegetarians; I considered fish tacos; I toyed with making extra dessert (i.e. in addition to birthday cake). Then I realized that as much joy as I get over preparing food and sharing it with friends, I really needed to focus my energy on enjoying my birthday and not stressing out. So I (eventually) relaxed.

There were no culinary masterpieces...at least not made by me. The baked brie was made by a dear friend upon my special request, and it was greatly admired and appreciated!

Here's the brie before the oven:
And after being attacked by revelers:

Here are some photos from the spread, regrettably absent: my spectacular (half carrot-half chocolate torte) birthday cake and the bison burgers. Take my word for it, Yum! In their place, a photo documenting my boyfriend's sense of humor. You'll know it when you see it...it's also the last photo. Oh, ethnic grocery stores.

Cookbook Birthday Presents

Do my friends know me well, or what?!

I am so excited to get in the kitchen with my two new cookbooks, The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham (today's Fannie Farmer) and Simply in Season by Mary Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman-Wert.

My mom has a shiny gold copy of The Fannie Farmer cookbook. It always seemed slightly magical in its shimmeriness. I imagine my mom's copy used to have a dust cover on it, but it was long gone by the time I ever saw it. (Its chocolate chip cookie recipe is our family go-to.) Marion Cunningham is responsible for editing the Fannie Farmer cookbook in 1979...so maybe my mom's copy predates Cunningham's contributions. Several Christmases ago my mom gave me my own copy of The Fannie Farmer Cookbook (the Cunningham edition) along with Joy of Cooking.

I'm particularly looking forward to having friends over for brunch so that I can try Cunningham's Shirred Eggs with Mixed Herbs (eggs cooked in the oven in little ramekins or a muffin tin), Bridge Creek Fresh Ginger Muffins, Rhubarb with English Custard, and Chocolate Walnut Butter Bread French Toast, and everything else!

Simply in Season is organized by season with straightforward, one-page recipes that highlight produce that is...ahem...in season. So basically, its title is incredibly descriptive. I can't wait to make its Rhubarb Muffins (I'm really pining for rhubarb these days.), Velvety Vegetable Soup, Shiitake Mushroom Pasta, and Sesame Chicken Couscous Salad (peas!). I haven't even peeked at the Summer section. Patience is a virtue.