Autumn

Autumn is without a doubt my favorite time of year. The shadows are long, the light is golden and there is a sharp crispness to the air. Ruby reds, oranges and golden hues arrive in the color of fallen leaves and winter produce. For me, October clearly marks the transition into cool mornings and cozy evenings at home. Halloween in my favorite holiday and I look forward to preparing a Thanksgiving meal. 

This weekend we went to the John Muir house in Martinez and the grounds were full unkempt orchards of forgotten fruit trees. Old withering grape vines crept low to the ground, their gnarled trunks winding toward one another.  Quince and apple trees laden with fruit drooped with the burden of their bounty. Toward the back of the property, old fig trees reached upward, their limbs bejeweled with ripe figs. I liberated a few of these fall fruits and brought them home to paint. Coupled with rose hips from a roadside bush, I thought these two plants were the epitome of what Autumn has to share. 

I look forward to spending this time of year cooking with my family, making jam and photographing my favorite season.

A Day in the City

Had a day off with Aaron and we decided to spend the whole day walking around in San Francisco. Any trip to Sf requires a stop by Miette, our favorite sweet shop for some chocolate and les macarons.


We also tried out the new Crown & Crumpet teashop in Ghiradeli square. It was fabulous! Just the right mixture of old time British charm with pink polka dot sass. They have over 35 different teas to choose from and a delightful lunch and cocktail menu too!

Sticky Sushi Rice

Thanks everyone for all the support!  It helps tremendously!  I will be posting more regularly now. The last 10 days or so I have been hiding out at my boyfriend's restaurant and so I haven't been home much. Good stuff to come..

Went to Ichiban Kan (my favorite japanese dollar store) and bought these plastic molds for making rice balls and sushi. I made the girls avocado sushi for diner and they had cucumber rice flowers and hearts for lunch the next day. I had so much fun making them. I even have a little bird shape to try also. 

les macarons

Les macarons de LaDuree! Aaron's boss brought these back for me from Paris. I haven't had one since I was last there almost 5 years ago. These are my favorite cookies and this is actually how Aaron and I first met... over a conversation about les macarons. It was such a treat to have these with tea. Now I just need to plan a trip back to Paris!

A Summertime Treat

watermelon radish... delicious with a sprinkling of salt.

What's for dinner?

I bought these beautiful beets to watercolor, but wound up cooking them instead. There was a recipe for goat cheese and beet tart from Martha (good luck finding it on her website, because I couldn't). The pate brisee recipe she has is wonderful and works for both savory and sweet pies and tarts. This dish turned our beautifully, and tastes pretty good too. The only odd thing is the purple beets are so shockingly magenta that when they hit the melting goat cheese, the dish turns hot pink. Slicing this up looks like left over birthday cake...not so appetizing.

Gotta love those Martha pics... I was seduced by these honey drizzled golden fritters in the current issue, little fried rosettes, honey and walnuts nestled in delicate folds. Mine don't look as dainty, but they are pretty delicious. They remind me of the loukoumades I would get from the Greek Festival at the Greek Orthodox Church in the Oakland hills.

I make banana bread quite often, and this double batch was for my boyfriend and I and the workshop and MJ. I went to the workshop this morning to drop in on a watercolor class. I got to play for a bit, but am wanting to do more soon. I brought some banana bread as my contribution, since they let me join in. And tonight I get to go to MJ's for a sleepover!!!!
Ok, so I'm a bit old for it, but that's exactly the point. It will be nice to just veg and watch movies and eat s'mores and wake up and have banana bread for breakfast, besides which MJ loves banana bread. The recipe I use started out from something I found on the web, but I've modified to my taste. The best part is that no mixer os required. All the ingredients can be mixed in a bowl. Here's the recipe...

4 ripe bananas
1/3 cup melted regular butter (with salt, which is a big no no in baking, but it works in this!)
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg (beat before combining)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cup flour
nuts optional

Preheat oven to 350.
Mix melted butter with bananas. Mash the bananas with a wooden spoon while mixing in butter.
Add sugar, egg, and vanilla and mix.
Sprinkle baking soda over indgredients and mix in.
Add flour last, and mix together until combined.

Pour mixture into buttered loaf pan and cook 1 hour.
Best to cool before slicing or serving.

This is especially delicious with butter hot out of the oven!

Since I've been making so much jam, I though I'd try something a little different and make Mango Jam. I just received a new cookbook on canning and used a recipe from it. This is the first time I've used pectin, and I have to say I wasn't so impressed. I was reluctant to add anything besides fruit, sugar and lemon juice, but every recipe in this book uses pectin and the author swears by it.


The jam looks great, but I don't think it cooked long enough, so its a bit chunky and thin. It tastes great. I had to modify the recipe entirely by cutting the sugar in half, adding more fruit and tripling the lemon and lime juices.

It too made its way onto buttermilk biscuits, which made Nadia very happy!

Santa Rosa Plum Preserves

I am definitely on a jamming streak. I love the process of canning fruit and making jam! Today was Santa Rosa plums purchased from Monterey Market instead of picked like the apricots. The plums themselves were delicious, and their flavor didn't change terribly once made into jam. I used the recipe from the apricot preserves and just swapped the fruit.
I used about 10 0r 11 lbs plums (skinned and pitted), 3 cups sugar, 5 tbs lemon juice and lemon zest.
The plums shed their skin in the boiling water much quicker than the apricots did. Once skinned and pitted, the plums were tossed in a pot to boil with the sugar and lemon juice. A mass of plum pulp, not so appetizing at this stage.


This batch yielded 8- 8oz. jars of plum preserves!

Tonight was I enjoyed yet another Indian feast. My boyfriend is trying out a bunch of new recipes. Above is a Thai dessert, sticky rice with coconut sauce and mango. Delicious!


Chana Daal fried patties. A sort of Indian Falafel.


A dinner of Goan Bhindi or okra with cashew vinegar sauce accompanied by basmati and chana daal patties.