Hilarity

As both a literary nerd and a food lover, I find this highly amusing:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/katieheaney/imaginary-food-diaries-of-famous-authors

Also, I made this:

Notice the lovely filter?

This, my friends, is a flatbread from Target (Archer Farms brand, FYI), covered in a layer of Parmesan, and then topped with prosciutto, sliced nectarines, ricotta, and basil, and finished with a balsamic reduction and a drizzle of olive oil. It was delicious. Notice to lovely board that my dad made me for Christmas last year -- gorgeous, isn't it?

And finally, can I just say that summer in California is the absolute best, food-wise? We had corn on the cob at the market this weekend, and it was awesome. I am surrounded by stone fruit, cherries, strawberries, fresh herbs, and early tomatoes. It is kind of what I imagine heaven to be like.

That is all.

An All Over the Place Update

Busy, busy times these days – you gotta love summer. There is just so much going on, so much foodie-ness to bask in. Often times it seems like it is just flying by, but the good news is that I’ve been doing my best to take advantage of it, and I have a ton to update you on.

So, first things first – the cookbook project. I know many of you probably thought I’d abandoned said project, but I haven’t. It was on hold for a while (work has been out of control busy), but I’m back in the game. As I mentioned before, I’m kind of trying to take in chapter by chapter, starting, of course, with desserts. I’ve managed to complete three recipes lately – Coeur la crème, plum-raspberry crisp, and meringues Chantilly (pictured below).  A useful hint about Coeur la crème – when the recipe calls for heavy cream, it means heavy cream. Half and half will not be an adequate substitute and the Coeur will not set up. Not that I speak from experience…ahem. So anyway, making good progress there and I’ll be back with another update soon (I hope).

In other news – I saw Michael Pollan speak last week! It was awesome – he’s a fantastic speaker – funny yet obviously incredibly well-versed and knowledgeable. I found his talk to be both incredibly entertaining and inspiring. He was speaking as part of the Contra Costa County library summer reading festival, and to celebrate the library’s 100^th birthday. As such, the tickets were incredibly cheap ($12!) and the venue was very cool – the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek – which, by the by, apparently has great shopping and was a surprisingly cute town.

Fruity update

I don’t know if it is just me, but so far it seems that this summer has been excellent in the produce department (and we’re only half way through). Last summer, New England had a terrible strawberry season – too much rain led to mushy, moldy berries. Although the season was short this year, it certainly yielded some delicious fruit. Already blueberries have been pouring in – you know its summer when blueberries are buy one get one free at the grocery store! And last year, every peach and nectarine I bought turned to mush before it had a chance to properly ripen – not so this summer! I’ve had some of the best stone fruit in my memory over the past month (now, it’s not native yet, so I can’t report on western Mass’s crop). I had planned on entering a pie contest, although in the end a work event interfered, but it gave me a chance to completely perfect my peach pie recipe. Soooo good.
Of course, local farms are providing more than fruit – I have had some excellent sweet corn and some really nice herbs so far as well. I also have had a few zucchini’s – my mother would be so ashamed (she abhors squash in all shapes and forms). I have a recipe that I picked up in Burlington (remember that cooking class I went to a while back?) for egg-battered fried zucchini. Come on, mom – anything deep fried can’t be too bad! I also made a loaf of zucchini bread to share with my grandparents that came out pretty well.
Right now I'm getting really excited for my triumphant return to Vermont! Danielle's birthday is in a few weeks, so I have plans to visit her for the weekend. We're going to see Grace Potter and the Nocturnals perform on the waterfront, tour a few vineyards, and yes, we already have plans to have dinner at the Bluebird Tavern. Yummmmm.