Time for a Rest

[rinue]

One of my favorite things about rotini is when it has been reheated once too many and the corscrew breaks apart into single helixes. Rotini, I have extruded you.

Our day trip to Whintney was productive, although my stone-skipping skills are sorely atrophied. We lunched at a place called "Burgers n Such" and surveyed a dilapidated ex-minigolf course which the owner immediately tried to get us to buy. I saw a number of wildflowers I had never seen before, and spotted a respectable number of goats (not to mention turtles and wild turkeys). The big surprise was how nice it was to be out in the sun, not something I have traditionally welcomed. I see so little daylight these days I take vitamin D supplements.

Following that, Ciro and I headed to Lee Harvey's, an outdoor bar that feels more like a biergarden - lots of children and lots of dogs running around. Christopher and Thor's band played and sounded phenomenal. One dog in particular tried repeatedly to pee on my leg, which got other dogs curious about what was so interesting. Dogs are all right, but any time people try to convince me they're more advanced than humans, I have to scratch my head a little.

On our way out, we got a call from Rex to see if we might like to consume some salad, as he had made too much. We immediately headed across town, as Rex's salads are not to be missed, although I couldn't say why - it's just lettuce, tomatoes, avocados, olives, carrots, mushrooms, and sunflower seeds. I don't even put dressing on it; it's unnecessary. Either Rex is particularly good at choosing produce or he laces it with something. I have not come to a firm conclusion.

This morning I made the first foot journey to Chad's new apartment. It is only half a mile away, but I have always been leaving work or carrying a lot of things which nececcitated a car. Consequently, I feel as though I have transected the Amazon and I am slightly disappointed I have not been asked to present before The Royal Society.

The mulberries at Chad's are in full berry, and I feel I should harvest them and make a pie. The ground is already purple from fruit dropping off the trees. I could probably fill six pints in half an hour without even getting a ladder. Problem: my pie dish is still half full of the banana cream pie I made Saturday night. Spring is very hard on me.

Comments

[oddment.livejournal.com]

It's sometimes hard for me to picture the bits of Texas you're describing because I am used the lake-ful and live-oaks-everywhere outside-Austinish part, where, confusingly, there were also goats. I am happy your weekend seems to have gone well.

Also! I am now pretty enthusiastically in favour of this fake pie tart thing, because it can be baked on a cookie sheet and it also ends up being nominally less messy than real pie (once the slices are cold, if you made the folded edge deep enough, you can take one in your lunch even if you will have no forks available and probably it will be successful).

[rinue.livejournal.com]

I have been looking for this recipe for MONTHS. I had not actually seen it, but knew it had to exist and was trying to sort of improvise it, thus far unsuccessfully. I'm always running into recipes that are way too fussy and also limited. I am so terribly excited now, you have no idea. I am definitely making this tomorrow. Woooo!

Texas is weird because it is not only very large but it has several different land types - desert, prairie, mountain, forest, etc. Whitney is in the hill country north of Austin but south of Dallas, so it's kind of scrubland with lots of rivers and hills, and there's kind of a mixture of oak trees and cacti and brush, because it's sandy but wet. The animals are quite a mix too - goats, deer, horses, armadillos, eagles, hawks, turkeys, quail, bass, turtles, possums, and all manner of other things.

Dallas is quite different, partly because it's a city and partly because I think it's on the other side of the balcones escarpment, which means a totally different kind of land. (If you go north, you wind up in blackland prairie like Oklahoma, and we're a little more similar to that than down near Austin.) And there was a period when planting mulberries was popular, so we have a lot of mulberry trees in the older parts of the city.

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

If you are not intolerant of nuts, it is traditional (I believe) to put a layer of ground almonds, walnuts, or hazelnuts---ground to the fineness of coarse meal---mixed with a bit of sugar in the bottom, to absorb excess juice from the fruit. Prune-walnut (with fresh prune plums) is a particularly good combination.

[rinue.livejournal.com]

That is very cool, and since I have some almonds lying around awfully close to a pestle, I will implement this suggestion immediately. I am about to have the best day ever.

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

I just checked my cookbooks and a typical amount is 1/2 cup nuts (if walnuts, toast, because it gets the bitter oils out; if almonds, blanched look nicer but unblanched work just fine); 3 T flour; 1/4 C sugar. You can substitute arrowroot for the flour but I would personally avoid cornstarch as this takes too little time to cook for that to do well. If you like, e.g., a bit of cinnamon with peaches, adding it to this base can work well. We have sometimes used a little lemon zest or orange zest.

I've seen galette recipes that involve adding an egg and some butter to that fruit-base mixture to make an approximate frangipane, but I feel that's counter to the casual and fruit-centric philosophy of the galette. Once you add the egg and butter you are doing a real tart.

When I make galettes I brush the folded-over crust top with egg and sprinkle coarse sugar over before baking, but I don't use much sugar on the fruit to balance that.