Archive for March, 2006
When I started running again this summer out in Mill Valley, I’d jog past the fragrant, flowery gardens trying to inhale enough of their scent to bring back to San Francisco with me.
Our city neighborhood would not win any beauty contests. The pastel-painted houses are a bit shabby, the shops (for the most part) are old family businesses that aren’t trying to attract new customers. But I love it. We can walk to everything we need (except Trader Joe’s) and hear people speaking half a dozen languages while we’re out and about.
My run takes me through a commercial strip out toward the ocean and lately I’ve been paying attention to what’s open for business at 7:30 in the morning. If I had the inclination, I could stop and buy:
a draft beer
a donut and coffee
a vacuum cleaner
a steamed pork bun
a haircut
a fruity bubble drink
a plane ticket
a 20-pound bag of rice
See? Everything we need!
March 12th, 2006
stree—eet sweepers
they clean the street
stree—eet sweepers
they clean the street
some are different colors
some are the same
words&music (c) 2005 by Ben
March 11th, 2006
One of the many shelter magazines that keeps coming to the house (we just finished a big renovation) reports on a recent Gallup survey about kitchen use. Only 24% of those surveyed use their kitchens just to prepare food; 35% use their kitchens for “heated discussions” (literally?). And “nearly half the world’s kitchens have a junk drawer.”
Well, of course. We’ve only been back in our house 6 weeks and ours is bursting at the seams:
3 potholders
1pair of scissors
1 measuring tape
1 roll of blue tape
1 package of freezer paper (I don’t believe I bought this, but it looks useful for art projects)
3 super balls
17 teeny-tiny bottles of bubble stuff
1 hammer
1 roll of electrical tape
4 sharpies
3 plastic forks
1 screwdriver
1 tarnished silver ladle
1 bottle of ibruprofen
business cards for “Geo. B. Hill, Painting Decorating and Paperhanging” who lived in our house two owners, and perhaps fifty years, ago
7 packets of soy sauce
a “CPR Tree” and instructions on how to treat a choking infant
5 extra drawer pulls, in case we decide to install some more junk drawers, I guess.
March 9th, 2006
Ben turns four tomorrow and, because he is my son, we have been discussing the birthday party menu for a couple of weeks now. At one point, he was lobbying for an all-blueberry menu (blueberry cupcakes, blueberry muffins, blueberry cake, blueberry madeleines), but I have managed to redirect him somewhat. Currently (and I hope this doesn’t change much in the next 12 hours), we’re planning to serve tofu dogs, peanut butter and jam sandwiches (though Ben, a good friend and gracious host, reminded me last night to use sunflower seed butter for M, who might be allergic to peanuts, and “creeeeamy” peanut butter for S, who doesn’t like peanut butter with “seeds”) and carrot sticks.
Then, for dessert! Chocolate and vanilla cupcakes. I’m planning to make a bunch of cream cheese frosting, dye it different colors and put it into small ziploc bags to let the kids frost their own cupcakes, and set out various toppings (blueberries, chocolate chips, sprinkles, jimmies and the like) to let the kids decorate them, too. We’re hoping for a sunny day so that they can make this mess on the picnic table outside.
I also made blueberry madeleines, but he doesn’t know this yet. The recipe, from Joy of Cooking, is kind of a nuisance, insisting that you cream the butter by hand (and I do! because if Irma tells me to do something, I obey!), then let the batter rest for half an hour before baking. Of course that direction is buried in the text, so even though I’ve made these once before, for Ben’s birthday last year, I forget about the resting and the oven has been up at 450 for a good hour before the cookies go in it. But Ben loves them, and he only asks for them on his birthday, and they are particularly delicious. All that butter, painstakingly creamed by hand, no doubt.
The cupcakes and madeleines are for the lunchtime party, so of course we also need a dinner-time birthday cake. Ben and I made that together this morning, Nigella Lawson’s old-fashioned birthday cake. It’s not my very favorite chocolate layer cake, but it’s about the easiest (dump all the ingrediants into the food processor, dump batter into pan, bake) and it tastes just fine.
March 3rd, 2006
I know, I know, we all need another muffin recipe as much as we need another chocolate chip cookie recipe. Which is to say, a lot!
Saturday morning when Ben crawled into bed with me, he actually cuddled up very quietly for a while and I thought maybe we’d get to go back to sleep. But then he sat up and said “Let’s make muffins, Mama! No, let’s make cookies! No, let’s make muffins and cookies!” He was so delighted with his idea, he barely waited to see if I was following him out of bed. But even though it was 6:30 a.m., I was climbing out of bed and pulling on my robe. Because that voice clamoring for muffins and cookies? It’s in my head, too.
I knew we had some bananas going brown, so I headed into the kitchen thinking banana muffins, and went straight to the cookbook produced by Berkeley’s amazing Cheese Board bakery. We are lucky to live just blocks away from The Cheese Board’s little sister bakery, Arizmendi, so I don’t actually use the cookbook much; besides, I was initially so appalled by the quarts of buttermilk, the pounds of butter and gallons of sour cream in each recipe for scones or muffins, it almost spoiled the bakery for me. But I got over that. This recipe is particularly tasty — tangy and not too sweet–and you can make it with nonfat yogurt and lowfat buttermilk and pretend it’s good for you.
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 c yogurt or sour cream
1 c buttermilk (or 1 c regular milk + 1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 c flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c white sugar
1/4 c packed brown sugar
1/2 c (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 c coarsely chopped walnuts
sprinkles (optional, unless you are in preschool)
Preheat oven to 375. Generously butter or spray the top and cups of a 12-cup muffin pan (if you have another muffin pan or small loaf pan handy, get it out; I wound up with 12 big muffins and 8 mini-muffins)
If you are making your own buttermilk, combine the milk and lemon juice or vinegar and let sit for 10 minutes while you assemble the other ingrediants. You could also toast the walnuts in the oven while it preheats; not necessary, but a nice touch.
In a medium bowl, combine the egg, egg yolk, bananas, yogurt, buttermilk and vanilla. Whisk until blended.
Stir the flour, baking soda and baking powder together in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the salt and sugars and mix with the paddle attachment until combined. Add the butter and cut in on low speed until it is the size of small peas, about 4 minutes (you can do this all by hand, of course, using a whisk and then a pastry cutter or a couple of knives). Mix in the walnuts. Make a well in the center and pour in the wet ingrediants. Gently combine with just a couple rotations of the paddle, taking care not to overmix the batter.
Fill the prepared muffin tins and, if you are 4, sprinkle generously with multi-colored sprinkles. Bake 25-30 minutes, until the muffins are deep golden brown. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then unmold the muffins onto a wire rack to cool.
March 2nd, 2006
Next Posts