Archive for July, 2008
While everyone has enough room to plant a little windowsill collection of herbs at home, not all of us are lucky enough to have space for a full garden, let alone an orchard or a farm. Growing and picking our own fruits and vegetables is not always a viable option. There are alternatives to packing up and moving out to where farm space is affordable. One is to frequent farmers markets and try to develop relationships with suppliers. Another is to pay a visit to a Pick Your Own farm, where you can walk through the fields/orchards and pick your choice of seasonal fruits and vegetables.
The question here is why on earth would you want to go out and pick your own fruits and veggies when you can much more easily head to the nearest market and pick some up? There are many answers to this question. Some will tell you that it’s fun, which it is. It is also a good experience to have especially if you have kids and want to give them a hands-on illustration of where food comes from. Both are true. It can also be less expensive than going to a store or farmers market since you’re paying the farmer directly and no travel is involved. Plus, it gives you a chance to pick as much fruit as you want or need. You’ll never get something fresher than a peach, blueberry or other fruit that you pull off the vine yourself.
Early in the summer, strawberry picking is pretty popular out here in southern California because there are tons of strawberry farms just north of Los Angeles, in and around Ventura County. The Pick Your Own website lists farms in every state that you can pay a visit to to pick your own. The farms’ contact information is given, as well as information about the crops you can pick there and when they’re in season. Most farms specialize in one or two crops, from blackberries to pumpkins, and are only open part of the year. A few branch out from fruits and veggies into other things, letting you select anything from a live Christmas tree to a live organic chicken for dinner.
The beautiful thing about a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie is how white chocolate and macadamia nuts work so well together. They’re even appealing to people who aren’t big fans of either of the major components. On their own, white chocolate is too sweet for some and macadamia nuts can be too rich. Together, the creaminess of the white chocolate matches the crunch of the nuts, and the mellow flavor of the macadamias cuts the sugariness of the chocolate. In short, they’re just really good.
I wanted to add a little something extra to the classic flavor and opted to mix some lime zest into the cookie batter. The lime give the cookies a bright, zesty touch and almost makes them seem a bit tropical. I think it’s a flavor that works great with each of the components individually, as well.
This recipe makes fairly soft cookies that aren’t too sweet on their own. I felt like this was a good backdrop for the sweet white chocolate and the crunch of the nuts – plus, I really wanted something that I could dip into my afternoon coffee as I snacked. The cookies are soft and moist and, while I wouldn’t call them cake-like, they might turn out that way if they are overbaked. Keep an eye on these while they’re in the oven and look for them to be just lightly browned around the edges and on some of the protruding ridges on top of the cookies. They’re good when they’re still slightly warm and should keep well in an airtight container for at least a day or two.
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Baking at high altitudes can be a real challenge – especially since most cookbooks are written for those of us baking at, or near, sea level. It’s hard to get reliable recipes and good tips that will guarantee good results when you live 5,000-ft. or more above the ocean. I’m a sea-level baker and, while I would love to take a several month long sabbatical into the mountains to perfect some higher elevation pastries, I just don’t have time at the moment. Fortunately, there are some cookbooks already out there that have already tackled the topic, like Pie in the Sky: Successful Baking at High Altitudes, which is full of recipes that have been successfully tested in ovens from 0 to 10,000-ft.
The recipes in the book cover a fairly standard array of baked goods, from butter cakes and pies (not surprising, given the title) to cookies and cheesecakes. But it is not the recipes themselves that really make this book a good one: it’s all the extras. Author Susan Purdy packed this book with stories that recount her successes and failures at high altitude baking. Not only does this give the reader something to relate to, it also provides a great jumping off point for explanations of the science of high altitude baking. The changes needed to make a “standard” recipe successful high in the mountains are explained well and – better still – all the conversions can be taken and applied to recipes from other sources, as well. This means that in addition to getting this one cookbook, other cookbooks are made to be more accessible.
While many books include tips and hints that make baking from other recipes easier, this is one of the few that can actually be said to serve as a guidebook. Definitely a good way to get a fresh start (and a good rise) from some high elevation baking.
Banana bread is one of those recipes that is a classic just as it is and, while it’s fun to tweak it every once in a while for variety, I find that I always go back to the original. Of course, that was before I tried playing around with coconut in my banana bread. I think I have a new “basic” now.
Coconut is a great inclusion in breads because it is so versatile and adds a great flavor. Shredded coconut contributes a nice texture to the bread and adds some moisture. Unlike other nut additions, coconut seems to blend better into a loaf and seem more like a part of the bread, rather than an “add-in.” Coconut milk is another way to add coconut flavor to a recipe. The flavor of it is much milder than that of shredded coconut, but it has a unique richness that carries through to the finished product. I used both types of coconut in this bread. As a result, the loaf was very moist, with a fantastic flavor and texture. The coconut breaks up the bread a little bit, making it a bit more tender than many banana breads.
Coconut and banana seem to complement each other well and, while they often appear in a sort of “tropical” pairing (cocktails, etc.), I don’t think that this bread has a tropical feel to it at all. It just tastes well put together, like it was meant to me – hence my description of it as a new basic banana bread recipe. I also like the fact that this bread comes together very quickly and dosn’t require the use of an electric mixer.
I used low fat coconut milk and it worked out very well here. You can use the full fat variety or, if you really don’t have any on hand, you can try substituting regular milk or buttermilk. Plain milk or buttermilk will give you a slightly different finished flavor, but both will still work out in the recipe.
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A straw generally serves to help you get liquid from point A to point B with a minimum of fuss. The most basic straws are straight and the most widely used are designed to have a slight bend in the neck, which makes them slightly easier to drink from. The coolest straws are crazy straws, however. These straws have twists, turns, loops and other fun shapes that the liquid of a drink is forced to travel through on the way from A (your cup) to B (your mouth).
As a kid, I kept my eyes peeled for these in shops, as they just seemed like the coolest drink accessory available. I never had the opportunity to make my own, but I definitely would have wanted a Constructible Drinking Straw Kit if they had been available at the time. This set comes with a number of curved, angled and multi-directional rubber joints that will perfectly connect standard-sized straws into something much more impressive. You can even build your straw so that you can drink from multiple cups at the same time!
The set was designed by Frank Frisari and John McCoy and all the pieces are made of nontoxic materials. They are also all dishwasher safe, which gives this kit a big leg up over preshaped straws, which were either not dishwasher safe or just never seemed to get clean even after repeated cleanings.
via boing boing
