on news stands now!

I am posting this on the eve of the wedding of my sister in law Iris to her fiance James. There is much anticipation in this family filled house in the New Hampshire woods. For the union of two lives, for the gathering of good folk and the delight of an afternoon and evening spent in a field with music, dancing... and the gastronomic joys we are in for are just the icing on the cake. I can not wait to tell you all about it and post photos. But for now....

Here it is, if you haven't seen it yet! Our spread in Seattle Met Bride & Groom. Our wedding coordinator thought the photos of our big day would look great in a publication, so she submitted our most intimate day to SMB&G. They thought it was something special too! 

Our photographer Tony Asgari captured the day beautifully. I did spend the better part of two years planning the shindig and the week before baking my little heart out to make the goodies. Butter Scotch Caramels, Butter Pecan Cookies, Molasses Cookies, Spoon Brown Butter Cookies, Oat Crackers, Marshmallows and the Cake.

We even made cave aged cheese! My sister in law Iris and her soon to be husband James have connections at Vermont Shepard. They were kind enough to include me in a day of cheese making. 4 months later they brought the cheese we made to be served at the wedding!

 But what really made this day special? My Groom. And the fact that I now have the honor of calling him Husband.

cake. It means I Love You

I have not been in a professional pastry kitchen for almost 3 years. That is the longest I have gone without a pastry job since I was 16. Yes there would be the few odd months when I would move or travel and be in between jobs, but this. This is serious. I have moved on. It's official.

 I grew up with a mother who decorated beautiful cakes for my brother and I every birthday. She strongly encouraged hands on learning in any situation. So naturally I had taken over the cake decorating from my mother by the time I was 5. If there was a cake to be frosted or icing to be piped, I got the honors. And I loved every moment. Unfortunately my talented mother never got to decorate a cake for us again!

 My point being, that cake is in my cell memory. Like the protein bubbles that form the crumb of a cake. Sugar, butter, eggs, flour seem to have formed the structure of my life.  At the end of the day, I feel a bit inadequate for not having produced hundreds of cookies, piles of cupcakes and at least a special order cake or two. 

  What I get to do now, is what I always said I wanted to do. When anyone would ask if I wanted to open my own pastry shop, I would always reply that that would be nice, but what I really want to do, is bake for the people I love. To have the time to cook for family and friends. Cake, it means I love you.

 Here is one of my favorite chocolate cake recipes. This came from a woman I worked with back in the good ol' days in Seattle. I think she found it in a magazine or cook book... I believe it has it's origins on the east coast, possibly a famous tavern in NY?

 Chocolate Stout Cake

1 cup cocoa - for best results use valrhona or cocoa berry 

3 cups cake flour - you can sub unbleached AP flour if you do not like the prospect of using such a  highly processed product

3 cups sugar

1.5 cup veg oil

3 eggs

1.5 Tbs soda

1 tsp salt

1.5 cups butter milk

1.5 cups stout beer

1 Tbs vanilla x

Sift the flour, cocoa, soda and salt. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs oil. Working quickly, add butter milk and beer, whisk until fully incorporated. Then dump in the dry ingredients and stir until fully incorporated and there are no lumps. Pour into two 9" pans with parchment lined bottoms. Bake at 350 for approximately 40 minutes. This cake pairs well with fillings that involve espresso, Irish cream, whisky, chocolate, whip cream and strawberries.

I like to cut each cake layer in half, so you end up with a 4 layer cake. Anything less than 3 layers is just not impressive!

whipping up butter cream frosting

this beauty has 6 layers...

Can you feel the love?

the Yard

Today I putzed around in our new yard. The 5,000 square feet of land on Oahu that we now own is bursting with life. Of that 5,000 square feet, 1,200 is taken up by the house. Every inch that is not house, is garden. When I walk out in the morning it can be counted on that some bush needs trimming, leaves need raking or delicate seedlings need watering. 

stag horn fern

Fern fronds unfurl in the blink of an eye. Curling vines wrap themselves around frantic to engulf any thing in their path. Palms bend in an aggressive stretch to get as close to the sun as possible. I am padding around the yard bare foot. The grass is so soft, and cropped short, almost like a putting green. But the grass is sturdy, succulent and cooling my steps in the warm afternoon heat. Anole lizards trip about. Skittering this way and that from my movements. If I am still they will crawl out from cover for a meal. One will quickly catch a little black ant then spend the next five minutes adjusting it's jaw,rolling a wary eye ball around at me disjointedly in its socket,showing a red dewlap and tapping off a telegram using Morris code, up and down twitches of the head.

avocado

The glory in all of this pushing, straining, drinking, growing, tapping. The beauty is that... as I walk quietly and watch, and tend and water... A branch reaches out, an avocado on the tip of his green fingers. For me. The passion fruit blossom smiles, and if I look carefully where her curly lashes direct my gaze... she coyly shows me the freckled green orb dangling under sun dappled leaves. Fruit that will ripen to a blushing purple pink soon. 

lilikoi blossom

lilikoi not yet ripe

lilikoi ripe

As the evening sets in and the sky through the canopy overhead becomes a canvas of blue and pink with clouds back lit by the dropping tropical sun, the dusty peach flower of the tobacco plant cordially opens his buds. The tobacco thrusts out it's stamen. I crouch down to peer at his face. Dashing and brave as he protects the other pants from pests. And I see Mr. Lizard with a mouthful of spindly legs and shiny wings. A cockroach for dinner. Well done! I feel like Alice in Wonderland, and tomorrow, when I wake up I get to see all of this wonder again...

tobacco

cacao

plumeria