Berry Week 2013 - PNW 75

Iiiittt'ssss.... BERRY WEEK!

I've always loved berries. Growing up, I would have thrown my brother over a cliff to take his share of straberries. He would have willinginly done me in for my share of devonshire cream. In the end, our cahoots and loittering would have been better matched except that we seemed to care more about the other failing than succeeding ourselves (ah, childhood).

As I've grown up, my love of berries hasn't waivered. While strawberries are still my favorite, my time in the northwest has cultivated a special love of blackberries. After my recent trip abroad, I already shared the magic that is tea-based simple syrup. As we started talking about berry week, and with a case of home-sickness after being out of town for most of June, I really wanted to play homage to the Pacific Northwest. It didn't take long for me to arrive at a Pacific Northwest version of a French 75.

French 75s are fantastic little treats that (like many things I've come to love) sounded terrible at first. The cocktail consists of gin and simple syrup mixed with champagne, finished with a lemon twist. Since initially hearing about this concoction, I remained weary until I was able to try some truly fantastic options at classy bars. By using a dry champagne, the sweetness of the syrup does not overpower. And also it turns out that I haven't met a glass of bubbles (in any form) that isn't my BFF. In this cocktail version, I substituted lemon for blackberry, and used some of the reserved simple syrup from the link above.

I've included two versions below - one more traditional style using just gin, and a second version substituting some of the gin for a tea-infused vodka I found while wandering around the liquor store. I thought the gin version was great - but the tea flavor was not as strong as I prefer. My favorite part about the vodka was that it added more tea flavor without sweetness. But even as I wrote out the recipe, the combination of vodka and gin sounded... terrible. It is not. And I didn't even get a hangover after drinking testing two whole cocktails. 

After having a little sip on this cocktail, don't forget to check out the other wonderful contributions (edible and drinkable!) for Berry Week!

Monday: Comfortably Domestic-Fresh Strawberry Pie / La Petite Pancake-Berry Sangria
Tuesday: Inside NanaBread's Head-Annie's Blackberry Cake / From My Sweet Heart-Summer Berry Terrine with Mascarpone Whipped Cream
Wednesday: Climbing Grier Mountain-Vanilla Gelato with Peach-Blueberry Compote & Honey Whipped Cream / Tenaciously Yours-Strawberry Smash
Thursday: Country Cleaver-Berry Sorbet Float / The Girly Girl Cooks-Strawberry-Rhubarb Stuffed French Toast
• Friday: Buffy and George-Black Raspberry & Cherry Pie with a Gluten-Free Crust/ Pineapple and Coconut with Blackberry Cobbler Ice Cream / The Grommom-Berry Crisp
Saturday: Munchin' in the Mitten-Cherry Clafoutis / Decadent Philistines Save the World-Raspberry Marshmallows (served two ways)

PNW 75
Makes 2 cocktails
3 blackberries
1 jigger earl grey simple syrup
1 jigger Tanqueray gin
1 jigger  Absolut Wild Tea vodka
Champagne

In a cocktail shaker, muddle 3 blackberries with some ice. Add in the syrup and two liquors. Top with ice and shake vigorously until the shaker is frosty on the outside. Strain the mixture between two cocktail glasses. Top with champagne (almost 1:1 ratio). Sit back, sip, enjoy. 
Repeat as needed following travel.

The Traveler Returns

Let me start by saying that a lot has happened since I truly gave a detailed share-time here.
For starters, I was laid-off back in March. It was a terrible learning experience. I'm still learning from it... The most scarring part of the experience was that the news came in the middle of my incredible trip across Israel. It soured the second half of the trip. I have enough trouble focusing on the moment due to my mild anxiety, but this was truly distracting. Luckily I met some wonderfully amazing people who helped me talk myself up and even comforted me during my unannounced sobbing panic fits on the plane ride home.

I sat at home for 7 weeks.

I cleaned, I cooked, I cried, I did laundry, I organized my spice cabinet, I cried some more, and I dusted the tops of book shelves. And when Monday was over...

That is only a slight exaggeration. Most of my days included about 12 hours of job hunting/networking/resume writing and rewriting and over analysis of what I would wear on interviews. Occasionally, I would get an interview.

I pictured myself blogging a lot more during that time. But frankly, I was feeling pretty sorry for myself in between my bouts of panic and while I did plenty of cooking, photographing, and eating, I didn't really feel up to writing about it.

But on the 8th week there was work. And it was good. The natives rejoiced throughout the land.

And I haven't stopped moving since. Since May when I returned to work, I have been to Las Vegas, Prague, Vancouver BC, Australia, Portland, and the Washington coast. All of the international trips were for business and took up most of June. Honestly, it's taken me until about last week to truly recover from jet-lag. My hubs has been incredibly patient while I have no desire to cook and we went through a particularly shameful week of eating out for every dinner. When my job isn't sending me around the globe in 21 days, I'm working long hours and spending most of my creative juices on impressing my boss instead of sharing here. If you remember that I'm an introvert, this makes sense. Trust me.

But as I dusted off the blog to ready my typing fingers for Berry Week, I found myself wanting to talk. So here's a little bit about Australia (including a cocktail!) and hopefully I'll soon share the rest of my travels.

I spent a week between Melbourne and Sydney. And as glamorous as that sounds (and I never tire of saying it), I assure you it was not. The working days (all but one) were spent at the hospital, averaging 10 hour days. It's winter time down undah, so the days were shorter and colder. I had essentially zero time in Sydney. We drove past the opera house, but was working the rest of my time there. I was lucky enough to walk a bit around Melbourne, though.

Melbourne is a stunning city. It reminded me of a larger Portland with the liveability and culture. As a foodie, I was truly impressed. I experienced a wonderful tapas meal with Spanish wine and such care and civility to the dining experience that exceeded my best experience in Barcelona. I sneaked a snap of the menu so I could remember it.

Bunuelos de bacalao, caballa ahumado, queso, pollo escabache al miguel, bistec tartar de wagyu, setas asadas con jerez, and cecina were all gorged on.

Right around the corner from our hotel was an amazing breakfast place who grew their own honey on the roof. They had other impressive qualities, like locally source ingredients and a seasonal, low impact menu, but I was entranced by their honey. On my first visit, I was foolish enough to order "just" a latte. My colleague ordered a milk 'n honey (steamed milk with honey and cinnamon) that was so fragrant that I could smell it over my french toast and bacon. The next trip, I asked them to add honey to the latte and suddenly the world shattered around me and I found my new favorite morning drink: Milk 'n Honey Latte. Seriously you should try it. Starbucks in the states will even make it (I've tried). But everywhere I went in Melbourne had honey at hand and could whip me up one of these special treats. I'm in coffee love. It's like experiencing coffee all over again. I had fabulous quinoa, coq au vin, chicken parmagiana, benedicts, pork-fat-fried potatoes, and risottos. I was never hungry. Except for that one time we went shopping walking and forgot to eat and found out the hard way that most places are closed between 2 pm and 5 pm.

Bikes abound, polite locals, and beautiful foliage framed by time in town. One of my favorite meals all week was at The Aylesbury. The lunch featured a roasted carrot on a bed of creme fraiche with quinoa, sunflower seeds, and pomegranate seeds. The bread was... out of the this world. Unworldly. But I had a supremely executed cocktail and if it wasn't for the fact that I was dining with my boss and it was 1 pm, I would have had 2 more. They called it a "My Name is Earl". Served in a tall glass, it contained gin, creme de peche, earl grey tea, and lemon. It was surprisingly tea-like and not too sweet or alcoholic. Definitely one to go down smooth. Below I tried to recreate it.

After a week of hard work, which came hot on the tails of two other business trips, I was so ready for bed. I slept on the way home and was welcomed to a weekend of fundraisers and bridal showers across two states. But nothing was warmer than finally being in my husbands arms again. And two cats who didn't notice I was gone.

Below is my recreation attempt at the Aylesbury's drink. Mine came out more of a sweet tea, but was still very tea-like. I don't care much for real sweet teas, but I didn't find this version bad at all. It's a wonderful accompany to your porch-side evenings this summer!

Sweet Earl
Makes 1 cocktail (and extra syrup)

For Earl Grey Syrup
1/4 cup loose Earl Grey tea leaves
1 1/4 cup boiling water
1 1/4 cup sugar

In a large mug, place the tea leaves. Cover with boiling water and let steep until very strong (5 minutes). Strain the loose tea out and pour the tea into a small saucepan. To the saucepan, add the sugar and stir to combine. Place the saucepan over medium-high heat until the sugar dissolves completely and reduces slightly (5-10 minutes). Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

For the Sweet Earl:
1 1/2 jigger gin
1 jigger earl grey syrup
3/4 jigger peach schnapps
2 jiggers brewed earl grey tea (cooled)
Lemon slices

In a tall glass, add ice. Pour all liquid ingredients into the glass and stir to combine. Add the lemon slices and serve.

OKMH Reveal: June 2013

It's my new favorite holiday: OKMH Box Reveal!

The Women

The huge hearts and open kitchens of these seven women come together to give gifts of wonder and delight every other month. And this month's theme is oh-so-summer appropriate: Picnics!

This month I received from Mads and I am (as always) so thrilled and giddy with the contents.
Here's the haul:

Contents include the bare essentials (except for the cheese) that you would need for basically the best picnic ever: Wine. Oh, and plates, napkins, tablecloth, and some food and witty tea towels. But let's focus on the essentials: WINE. Travel size wine. If there's two things I love, it's wine. Let me start over... If there's two things I love, it's wine and travel-sized things.

Classy wine, classy meat, and classy crackers

There's not a lot of sun in Seattle, so planning for picnics is difficult when you also need a blue tarp, rain coat, and the flexibility to eat soggy sandwiches when your sunny picnic falls on one of the 300 rainy days we get in a year. But with just a few essentials, I can basically keep an "Emergency Picnic" kit in my car, set for those rare sunny days (let alone on a weekend!).

Now, as I write this, we are mid-way through a sunny, warm streak and Seattle is actually seeing some summer weather that so-often eludes us. So you might think that I'm exaggerating when I say that picnics (or any other activity) often get rained out here. That's fine. I don't mind when you sit there being wrong in your wrongness. But since we can't relate and are now fighting, I'm going to share my wine with someone else. Like... my other hand.

*UPDATE: Mads also included some out-of-this-world chocolate chip cookies. They're not pictured because I had to eat them immediately.

Don't mind me... I'm just delusional and belligerent from a weekend of more sun than I've had the rest of the year and my skin is now a sassy shade of pink (a side effect of impromptu picnics... pack sunscreen, too!)
And without further ado... check out what the other gals sent/received for picnic month!
I sent to Kirsten at Comfortably Domestic.
Kirsten sent to Jeanne at Inside NanaBread's Head.
Jeanne sent to Megan at Wanna Be a Country Cleaver.
Megan sent to Allison at Decadent Philistines Save the World.
Allison sent to Kat at Tenaciously Yours.
Kat sent to Mads at La Petite Pancake.


What are your picnic essentials?

Pro-Tip: Boxed Brownie

Okay, I know I already posted today, but I just had to share.

Today, I made brownies. Not for any special reason, except that the boxed mix in my cupboard was just past expiration so I thought I ought to use it.

I also had a half-used package of toffee bit left over from last holiday's Bake-All-The-Things adventures. I prepared the mix per the box, and folded in the remaining package (about a scant cup) just before pouring the whole thing into the prepared greased pan.

The end result is delicious. Rich, yet still simple without the mess of cream cheese or spooning peanut butter into the batter. Added benefit of using up odds from the pantry. Downside: now I have to eat a pan of brownies. Luckily the Hubster likes them, so he can bring them to work. I can't wait to be back in an office where I can pawn these things off on my coworkers...

Caramel Week: Red Wine Caramel Sauce

Welcome back for my second recipe as part of Caramel Week!

Truth: caramel making always made me super nervous. The molten sugar? The burning? The crystalizing? Cleaning?!? No thanks. Obviously I was missing out on some crazy mouth parties.

I've seen a great many fruit-flavored caramels, and several booze caramels, but it wasn't until I had a half a bottle of red lying around (trust me - a rarity) that I wondered if I could combine that with caramel. Yes - it took booze to help me take the risk of making a caramel sauce. And I don't mind telling you that I failed THREE TIMES before I finished. But when I did...

 

So worth it. First I tried cooking a simple caramel before adding wine and butter... but without the fat to bind to the sugars, I got lumps of sugar in my wine. The second time, I tried a recipe without water in the sugar, it didn't melt - I just got a giant disc of hard sugar. The third time burned (from amber to burned in the blink of an eye). 

But the third time, I finally had it figured out. First the wine was reduced by half while being infused with a little bit of vanilla bean. Then, and a basic caramel was started (sugar with a little water). Then, the wine was added to the cooked caramel - the reduction helped create a homogynized mixture. A little cream, butter, and grey sea salt finished off the sauce. The dark wine (I happened to have malbec on hand) created a very deep flavor despite not creating a very deep caramel color. The final texture is somewhere between "pourable" and "spreadable". It would be great in pie, dipped with fruit, licked off fingers... really anything.

Be sure to check out the other caramel week contributors, as well!

Monday--Comfortably Domestic-Crockpot Dulce de Leche / La Petite Pancake-Caramel Banana Bread Pudding

Tuesday--Decadent Philistines Save the World-Salted Caramel Pork Loin with Shaved Brussel Sprout and Apple Salad / Bakeaholic Mama-Chewy Rolo Brownies

Wednesday--Inside NanaBread's Head-Chocolate Alfajores with Salted Vanilla Bean Caramels / Comfortably Domestic-Alfajores Caramel Sandwich Cookies / The Girly Girl Cooks-Caramel Ice Cream Crunch Bars / Climbing Grier Mountain-Dulce de Leche Milkshakes with Caramel Drizzle

Thursday--Tenaciously Yours-Popcorn Crunch Sundae  / Kvetchin' Kitchen - Red Wine Caramel Sauce

Friday--Country Cleaver-Pear Caramel Mini Cheesecakes / Munching in the Mitten-Caramel Cake

Saturday--Comfortably Domestic-DIY Dulce de Leche Coffee Creamer

Red Wine Caramel Sauce
Adapted from Epicurious.com

1/2 Vanilla Bean, halfed lengthwise and scraped
1 cup red wine (I used malbec, but about anything would do)
1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
2 Tbls butter
2 Tbls heavy cream
Pinch grey sea salt

1.  Add the vanilla bean pod and scrapings into a small saucepan. Add the wine. Simmer over Medium-Low heat until reduced by about half (mine took ~10 minutes).
2. Meanwhile, add the sugar and water to a separate pan. Stir to dissolve. Over Medium-High heat, melt the sugar until it forms a pale amber color - it will continue to deepen as you remove it from the heat.
3. Remove the pods from the wine reduction discard. Add the wine to the caramel by pouring it down the side of the pan. Stir thoroughly to combine. Add the butter until melted and combined. Finish with the cream. Add a heavy pinch of grey sea salt (to taste, of course).
4. Pour into a mason jar to cool. Will stay about 1 week in the refrigerator.

Caramel Week: Caramel Apple Pie

Iiittt'ssss..... CARAMEL WEEK!!

I have to admit that while caramels have been my favorite addition to chocolate for as long as I can remember (Rolos and Milky Ways were GOLD at Halloween). Recently, the hubster and I took a mini-vacation to a nearby mountain town, Leavenworth, WA. The town is just adorable - it's a Bavarian style village that always has string lights up and a decorated tree, year-round. While it's not for everyone, it's one of our favorite little get-away spots - close to some other friends, and just far enough away to give us a break. Do you have any spots like that??

On this recent trip, we found a chocolate shop we'd never found before: Schocolat. We tried some incredibly delicious, hand-made treats. In addition to the lovely chocolates (my favorite was an earl grey truffle - WHAT??), they also make a chocolate sauce and a caramel sauce. But the caramel sauce was not your ho-hum-run-of-the-mill jarred caramel sauce. Oh no. It is a scratch-made pear cinnamon caramel sauce. You can even buy if for yourself here (scroll down near the bottom).

The sauce was incredibly complex and, at first, I was at a loss with what to do with it. There are obvious things like drizzling on ice cream (which I don't eat), in hot cocoa, on the tops of cakes... But for the first treat that popped into my head was a caramel dutch apple pie. While I'm not great at crusts, I didn't want to risk a top AND bottom going wonky, so I chose a crumble topping, instead. This dough did not come together recipe - so if you have dough that works well for you, I suggest you go with what you know.

I demand pie, as well. K, thanks.

I really enjoy the extra salt in the crumble topping to offset the added sweetness the caramel adds. Any caramel sauce would be excellent in this pie, as well - jarred or scratch-made. The pie itself I adapted from a caramel apple pie recipe from Tyler Florence. The serving size for a heaping 9" pie is 4-6 servings. I laughed and laughed when I read that. Eight servings would be the minimum, based on how I normally eat pie. I ate one slice, gave two to Megan, then told the hubster he could eat at will. Within 18 hours (lunch the next day), there was one teensy sliver left. He managed to consume over half the pie as breakfast and lunch, meaning the suggestion of 6 serving sizes was eerily accurate.

I wouldn't recommend that two people consume an entire pie within 24 hours... but it happened. Good news: hubster actually liked a recipe. Bad news: he consumed the equivalent to a stick of butter on his own. He doesn't see a problem with this, though (maybe also a problem?). Looks like I'm going to have to better moderate his dessert portions...

In addition to this beautiful pie, a bunch of my closest blogging buddies are also participating and creating some delicious creamy caramel alternatives:

Monday--Comfortably Domestic-Crockpot Dulce de Leche / La Petite Pancake-Caramel Banana Bread Pudding

Tuesday--Decadent Philistines Save the World-Salted Caramel Pork Loin with Shaved Brussel Sprout and Apple Salad / Bakeaholic Mama-Chewy Rolo Brownies

Wednesday--Inside NanaBread's Head-Chocolate Alfajores with Salted Vanilla Bean Caramels / Comfortably Domestic-Alfajores Caramel Sandwich Cookies / The Girly Girl Cooks-Caramel Ice Cream Crunch Bars / Climbing Grier Mountain-Dulce de Leche Milkshakes with Caramel Drizzle

Thursday--Tenaciously Yours-Popcorn Crunch Sundae  / Kvetchin' Kitchen - Red Wine Caramel Sauce

Friday--Country Cleaver-Pear Caramel Mini Cheesecakes / Munching in the Mitten-Caramel Cake

Saturday--Comfortably Domestic-DIY Dulce de Leche Coffee Creamer

Caramel Apply Pie

Adapted from Tyler Florence and 365 Days of Baking & More
1/2 recipe of your favorite pie crust (or the one from Tyler Florence) - let it rest in the fridge while continuing

Prepare about 1/2 cup of caramel sauce (either store bought as I did or homemade). Set aside.

3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 Tablespoons melted butter

1 lemon, halved
8 Granny Smith Apples (or a combination of your favorites)
1 Tablespoon flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

1. In  a medium bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, four, and cinnamon. Drizzle the melted butter over the mixture and use a fork or your fingers to cut together until well incorporated. Set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 350* F. 
3. Fill a large bowl with cool water and squeeze the lemon into the water. Peel and core each apple and slice thinly by hand or with a mandolin. Add the slices to the water (the lemon prevents browning so you don't have to rush!)
4. On a well-floured surface, roll out your dough and press into a 9" pie pan.
5. Drain the apples and sprinkle with flour and cinnamon. Toss to make sure they're all coated.
6. Place one layer of apples in the dough. Dollop caramel all over the apples, then put another layer of apples over the caramel. Repeat until you run out of apples and and caramel. Dot the top of the pie with the remaining 1/4 cup butter.
7. Press the crumble over the top of the pie.
8. Place the pie on a baking sheet and pop into the oven for 45-50 minutes, or until top is deep golden brown.
9. Let the pie cool, then serve. It may be hard to resist - but cooling will REALLY help with cutting!
10. Enjoy!

April OKMH

It's that time again!

It was a very happy month! Mostly because Allison really embraced my nerdom and spent so much lovely time on mine! I don't have much to say on it because there was so very much squeeling and screaming during the opening process. Megan helped with many of the photos, so there's a lot of my face squeeling, as well.

For starters there was a hilarious cat card. Who doesn't love static cats?

Then I had a little jamming karaoke time with a highly realistic microphone that was HAND CRAFTED just for me by a certain lovely 4 year old.

And then, squeeling of all squeels... where... here's the video.

 

I was excited. For those who can't understand the video... she made me a scarf. Which is an EXACT. REPLICA. Of the 4th Doctor Who's scarf!!! And if you don't watch The Doctor, we can't even be friends anymore. Okay, fine, we can be friends, but I'm going to talk about it a lot and try to get you to watch it ALL. THE. TIME. So buckle up.

I also got some of these (also hand crafted just for ME) - TARDIS coasters. The drink is bigger on the inside.

And to keep in theme with our shared interest in #catsarejerk (Because... obviously.) So Allison also sent an adorable, hand-made Jewish kitty that I can vent to about my jerky cats (who have most recently eaten a foam roller for my running stretches...).

Finally, this woman knows her audience. She handmade a whole mess of class mustached disguises to warm my upper lip on my chilly runs. Believe me, my clever disguises might confuse you, but that's actually me in every snap below!! (gasp)

And not pictured because I eated it all... a homemade assortment of lemon and raspberry marshmallow and some prickly pear jammy jam (GET IN MAI BELLY).

Thank you SO MUCH to my friend Allison for sending me so many incredible treats. 

Check out my "box" to Megan here.
Check out Mads' reveal from Megan here.
Check out Jeanne's reveal from Mads here.
Check out Kat's reveal from Jeanne here.
Check out Kirsten's reveal from Kat here.
And check out Allison's reveal from Kirsten here!