So Much To Do At The Zoo

I went to the zoo this week with my kids and granddaughter. I am blessed to live a short drive from the fabulous Woodland Park Zoo. I've taken my kids there since they were tiny tots and they've loved seeing all the changes that have happened at the zoo.

Since we started going to the zoo, they've made a beautiful African savanna exhibit where the giraffes can wander and nibble on the trees, hippos can wallow in pools, and zebras can strike a pose for the cameras.

The penguin pool has been revamped so that you can see the penguins climb the rocks, dive into the water, swim underwater, and receive their ration of something that smells suspiciously like fish. Actually, I'm pretty sure it's fish. If not, they might want to get their refrigerator checked, because something definitely smells fishy there.

A Northwest trail has been built to showcase wolves, eagles, and other critters from around my neck of the woods. Gorillas now have a large area where they can swing, rolls, play, cuddle, and hang out to groom each other, French braiding their back hair. Otters have their own slip and slide stream. And there is an awesome space for little kids to get in touch with farm animals, seeing how chickens lay eggs, pretend milking a cow, and petting goats and sheep.

The animal exhibits aren't the only thing that's changed at the zoo, though. My daughter pointed out something fascinating. Kids at the zoo have changed.

When my kids were vey little I'd bring along an umbrella stroller (the kind that's lightweight and folds easily), just for them to rest in. But as soon as they were walking, they didn't spend much time in the stroller. They were too eager to run and explore. There were places to climb, things to touch, and, oh yes, animals to see. Why sit still in a stroller when there was all that to experience?

What we saw a ton of at the zoo this week was kids in strollers as big as an SUV. And these kids were strapped in. And they always had snacks in front of them. Once it was pointed out to me, I was shocked. Kids are ALWAYS EATING. Even when they are too big to put in a stroller, they walk with food in their hands.

What are we teaching our children if we take them to the zoo, strapped into what's basically a couch, and put food in front of them? Honestly, you might as well stay at home, put the kids on a real couch, turn on the Discovery channel, let them eat cereal and candy, and save on the gas.

Doing the zoo this way does two things:

1- The kids never engage with the environment. Sure, it's a pain to constantly make sure your kids aren't getting into trouble, but the seemingly easy trade-off for not training your children to obey you is that you get passive, couch potato children. They are not going to be curious, eager learners.

2- They will get fat. No exercise plus food they're not hungry for is a recipe for obese kids. Didn't I hear somewhere that kids these days are getting fatter? Yeah. There might be a reason for that. Parent's are strapping their kids into mobile restraining devices and feeding them unneeded junk. (In my book, even "healthy" whole wheat Cheerios are junk.)

So stroller + snacks = passive and massive. Ugh.

"But," I hear those mothers saying, "my cherub gets so hungry! If I don't bring snacks she whines the whole trip."

Easy solution. Feed that child a nourishing, satisfying, nutrient dense breakfast. Then let them run and play at the zoo. They'll be too busy to even notice that they don't have their snacks in front of them!

Most mornings at my house breakfast is either eggs (fried or scrambled, sometimes with cheese and salsa on top), or smoothies made with bananas, farm eggs (raw), spirulina powder, cacao powder, grass-fed gelatin, homemade raw yogurt and homemade raw milk kefir. On Saturdays, though, I tend to put a little more effort into it.

This is a wonderful coffee cake that I made with freshly picked strawberries. My husband and daughter both asked for scrambled eggs to go with it, as they feared the carb crash that usually follows a coffee cake. Not to worry! Since it has coconut flour and a ton of eggs, it's hearty and satisfying and won't leave you feeling lethargic in a carb coma. Try it and see how much more energy you have for the day!

Strawberry Breakfast Cake

6 eggs
1/4 cup coconut oil or butter, melted
2 Tbsp raw honey (or maple syrup, if you're not on GAPS)
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk of choice (coconut, almond, raw dairy)
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1-1/2 cups strawberries, diced and divided

Topping:

1 cup nuts/seeds of choice (I used soaked and dehydrated almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds)
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut flakes
2 Tbsp raw honey
2 Tbsp butter or coconut oil
1 Tbsp cinnamon
pinch of sea salt

1- Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. Lightly grease an 8x8-inch baking pan with coconut oil.

2- In a large bowl mix together the eggs, oil or butter, honey, milk, and vanilla.

3- Add the coconut flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir until combined.

4- Fold in 1 cup of the diced strawberries. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

5- Combine all of the topping ingredients in a small bowl.

6- Spoon the mixture over the top of the batter. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup strawberries over the top.

7- Bake for 45 minutes, or until the a cake tester poked in the center of the cake comes out clean. If you need to bake longer than 45 minutes and the top is looking browned, cover it with a piece of foil so that the topping doesn't burn.

Party Paranoia

For the most part I am a fairly rational person. I can look at situations and think through the possible outcomes, arriving at conclusions supported by data, probability, and experience. There are, however, a few cases that defy logic. Heights, spiders, and birthday parties.

We recently visited Hoover Dam. Did you know that thing is freaking tall? And that above it they've built a brand new bridge that spans the gorge? And that unwary fools can walk out onto that bridge, cluelessly taking pictures, seemingly unaware of the perils posed by the combination of strong, gusting winds and extremely high bridge? I suppose they just think logically that, hey, if it was dangerous, people wouldn't be allowed to walk out there, right? Or that since thousands of people have done it before without dying, the odds are that they'll survive. I know all these things, and yet I just can't get my brain beyond, "high, windy, slipping, falling, plummeting to certain, splatting death below."

It's the same with spiders. I've been through the exhibit at the zoo, designed to soothe the arachniphobe with informational plaques about the harmless, beneficial spiders, placed right next to the case containing the "HOLY COW! There's no glass on this case! That huge, hairy spider could jump right out and land on my face!! What kind of place is this, putting innocent kids at risk?!! Someone give me a shoe so I can smash that thing!!" My husband had to escort me out and put a paper bag to my face so I wouldn't hyperventilate and pass out. (If I had, I'm sure the spiders would have rushed out and dragged my body away to be wrapped in the spider equivalent of Tupperware to be sucked dry at a more convenient time.)

Perhaps you're wondering why birthday parties might fall into the same category as heights and spiders. Let me clarify - it's not all birthday parties that reduce me to a quivering wreck, huddled in a corner, rocking and sobbing. Just the birthday parties that I have to put on for my children.

My first two children were born in the same month and it ruined that month for me. I dreaded having to put on their parties and the dread swallowed up the whole month in a cloud of worry, guilt, and dread. (Yes, I know I've said dread 3 times, but I really, really dreaded those parties.)

First of all, there was the question of theme. What would be fun? What would be different? What wouldn't break the bank? And what would make all the kids happy? I've done basket weaving, tie-dyeing, card making, nail decorating, American Girl doll, and several piñatas. There's been playland, beach, pool, and backyard parties. I've done theme cakes till I see Pixar toys in frosting in my dreams.

Through all my years as a party planner, I've learned that the key to happiness is low expectations. I no longer do huge shindigs. We alternate friend party years with family party years. And I strive for the lowest stress possible. For my youngest son's birthday we invited friends to come to the pool. I brought cupcakes and watermelon slices. They swam, opened presents, and ate cupcakes. Ahh, the sweet smell of another birthday party over!

I ended up making three different kinds of cupcakes. I wanted to make minion cupcakes, not because they fit so naturally with a pool party theme, but because they're cute. So I made Twinkies, doubling the recipe, and making cupcakes with the rest of the batter. Then I made strawberry cupcakes, because I had strawberries in the fridge that needed to be used up. Then I made chocolate gluten-free, egg-free cupcakes for a guest with special dietary requirements. After all, what fun is it to go to a party and not be able to eat cake?

Today you get the strawberry cupcakes and next time I'll give you the chocolate speciality recipe. So you'll be doubly prepared next time you're called on to throw a party. Do not fear, they're easy to make and even with lousy decorating skills like mine, you can still wow the crowd.


Strawberry Minion Cupcakes
- adapted from Sky High, Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes

1/4 lb strawberries, hulled and halved
2-1/4 cups cake flour
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
2-3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 large egg whites
1/3 cup milk

1 batch of Twinkies (preferably homemade)
1 batch of your favorite buttercream frosting
Smarties - yellow and white ones
Edible food pen
Thin black licorice ropes, or black gel paste food coloring

1- Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. Line cupcake pans with 18 cupcake liners.

2- Place strawberries in a food processor or blender. Process till no lumps remain. Measure out 3/4 cup puree and set the rest (if there is any) aside for smoothies or pouring over ice cream or french toast.

3- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

4- In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the butter. When it's fluffy, add the strawberry puree.

5- Add the dry ingredients and blend until light and fluffy (the batter will be very thick).

6- In another bowl, whisk together the egg whites and milk to combine. Add the whites in three parts to the batter, mixing only until incorporated after each addition.

7- Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 full. Bake 18 to 22 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

8- Let cupcakes cool in the pan 10 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.

9- To assemble the minions, cut the Twinkies in half. With the edible food marker, draw around the outside of 1/2 the Smarties and color in a circle for the eyeball. Then glue together pairs of Smarties with frosting. When the frosting has dried and the goggles are stable, use frosting to glue the goggles to the Twinkie halves. If you like, for some of the minions, use a single goggle, instead of a pair.

10- If you have the licorice, cut small lengths to use as goggle holders, smiles, and hair spikes. I didn't have licorice (my husband can tell you precisely how many stores in a 5 mile radius of my house don't carry it), so I used an ample amount of black food coloring gel with a small portion of the frosting to do the smiles and goggle straps. We had to make do with bald minions.

11- Frost the cupcakes and plant the minions into the frosting.

strawberry rhubarb crisp

In the 4th grade my teacher asked the class how many of us had grandparents living. I was one of the few in the class to raise my hand for having all four living. (Yes, I know, many people now in the age of blended or redefined families have 16 or so people they call grandparents, but back then, 4 was the normal maximum.) Many of my friends had only 1 or 2 grandparents living and this made gave me a strange impression that grandparents were ephemeral creatures who might at any time disappear without warning.

I decided that since time with the grandparents was obviously fleeting, I'd better invest in the relationships as much as was possible. Given that we all lived in different states, I started a letter writing campaign. I strove to write to my grandparents at least once a week, although it ended up being probably closer to once a month.

I would write long, chatty notes about what I was doing in school, my tough homework assignments, my dance classes, the boys I thought were cute, the onerous camping trips we went on, my bouts of stomach flu, and the funny things the dog did. In return I'd get nice, fulsome letters detailing their gardens.

Their letters would give status updates on the runner beans, how the tomatoes were coming along, and the awful things that late spring cold snap had done to the apricot blossoms. I decided that being an old person meant your life was extremely boring and you had nothing to live for except your garden.

My sister and I shared this view of gardening obsession and nodded knowingly to each other when our father's letters started being mainly garden-related. Yes, he was turning into an old person. Sure he can grow beans, carrots, and tomatoes like nobody's business, but it's kind of sad when you have nothing else to write about.

Then my sister and I were exchanging emails this past week, catching up on our schedules, the weather in our respective states, and how said weather was affecting our....gardens. Yes, it's true. We're old people now, too.

Luckily, I still have challenging, bewildering, frustrating, amazing, frustrating, and wonderful children to give me things to think about besides my garden. I say luckily because I'm a lousy gardener. Anything that goes into the ground is on its own out there. It had better be tough, hardy, and able to withstand unarmed assaults by armies of slugs. (Well, they don't have arms, do they? Just nasty, slimy feet and voracious, munching jaws.)

When my grandchildren write to me, I'm sure they'll be thrilled to hear back from me the details of how the blueberries, oregano, and rhubarb are doing, because that's all that survive my harsh gardening techniques (plant it and ignore it). Hopefully, they won't even have to have me write about it. If they live close enough, they can come over and pick blueberries to munch, oregano to put on a pizza, and rhubarb to put into a crisp. Because, really, wouldn't you rather eat from a garden than hear about it?

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

4 cups fresh rhubarb, 1-inch diced (4 to 5 stalks)
4 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
1 cups granulated sugar, divided
1 Tbsp Stevia Extract (not pure Stevia)*
1-1/2 tsp grated orange zest
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 cup all-purpose flour (you can substitute 1/2 with white whole wheat flour)
1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup quick-cooking (not instant) oats
12 Tbsp (1-1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced

*I buy the kind that's cut with lactose for table use. It's available at Trader Joe's. If you can only find pure Stevia, use about 1/4 tsp.

1- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees with rack in the center of the oven.

2- Toss together the rhubarb, strawberries, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, stevia, and the orange zest in a large bowl. In a measuring cup, dissolve the cornstarch in the orange juice and then mix it into the fruit. Pour the mixture into an 8 x 11-inch baking dish and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper to catch drips, in case the crisp bubbles over.

3- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, the remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar, the brown sugar, salt, and oatmeal. With the mixer on low speed, add the butter and mix until the dry ingredients are moist and the mixture is in crumbles.

4- Sprinkle the topping over the fruit, covering it completely, and bake for 1 hour, until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is golden brown. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Spring Takes The Cake

It's been a long, dreary winter. Here in the Pacific Northwest sightings of the sun have been few and far between. Many people are affected by SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) and become depressed and morose. I just get SOTSER (Sick Of The Stinking Endless Rain), which has essentially the same effect. What a lift it is to the spirits when finally the signs of spring start popping up! Birds have returned from their condos in Phoenix to serenade me in the morning. Tulips and daffodils wave their cheerful colors in counterpoint to the grey skies. And strawberries are back in the stores. Hooray!

What better way to celebrate the return of spring than to make a cake? Spring is perfect for baking as there are beautiful, fresh ingredients available and it's not so hot that you dread turning on the oven.

This cake is unique in that the cake layer and the meringue layer topping it are baked together. Then the layers are piled with cream cheese filling and strawberries. Plus, as a bonus, you end up with 5 egg yolks - ice cream time! Whether you're looking for a special dessert for Mother's Day or just want an excuse pick up a flat of strawberries, you won't regret trying this cake. Not too filling, not too sweet, not too fussy - just right.

Blitz Torte With Strawberries and Cream
- adapted from Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too by Susan Purdy

Cake:

1-1/4 cups sifted cake flour
1-1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp milk
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
2 large egg whites

Meringue layer;

4 large egg whites at room temperature
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup plus 1 Tbsp superfine sugar, divided
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup sliced almonds (I used toasted, slivered almonds, coarsely chopped)

Vanilla Cream Filling:

8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt, drained in a strainer for 15 minutes (I used plain whole milk yogurt, and added an extra bit of vanilla and sugar)
1 Tbsp granulated sugar, or to taste
1 tsp vanilla extract

Fruit:

2 Tbsp almond or hazelnut liqueur
3 cups fresh strawberries, rinsed, hulled, dried, and sliced
1 Tbsp granulated sugar

1- Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 deg. F. Coat two 8-inch round cake pans with baking spray, line the pans with parchment paper, and spray the paper. Dust the pans with flour and tap out the excess flour.

2- Prepare the cake batter: Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt onto a sheet of wax paper or into a bowl. Set aside.

3- In a small saucepan, heat the milk to just below a simmer. Remove from the heat and let cool until tepid.

4- In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the egg yolk and vanilla and almond extracts until blended. Add 1/2 cup of the sugar and beat until light in color. Scrape down the bowl and beaters. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the warm milk. Increase the speed to medium and whip until the sugar is completely dissolved. Scrape down the bowl and beaters.

5- In a clean bowl, with clean beaters, whip the egg whites until foamy. Gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and whip until the whites are stiff but not dry. Fold about one third of the whipped whites into the egg yolk mixture. Then alternately fold in the flour mixture and the remaining whites. Divide the batter equally between the prepared baking pans and smooth the tops. Set aside.

6- Prepare the meringue layer: In a clean bowl, using the electric mixer, whip the egg whites with the cream of tartar until foamy. Gradually add the 1 cup sugar and whip until the whites are stiff but not dry.

7- Divide the meringue between the cake pans, spreading it evenly over the cake batter. Combine the cinnamon and the remaining 1 Tablespoon sugar and sprinkle it over the meringue layers. Then sprinkle the sliced almonds over each layer. Baker for about 30 minutes, until the meringue top is ivory-colored and crisp to the touch.

8- Cool the layers in the pans on wire racks for about 10 minutes. Run a knife blade between the cakes and the sides of the pans, top each layer with a plate covered with foil or plastic wrap, and invert. Remove the pans and papers, invert the layers again onto racks, and cool completely.

9- Prepare the filling: Combine all the ingredients in a mixer or a food processor and process until completely smooth. Refrigerate until needed.

10- To assemble the cake, place 1 cake layer, meringue side down on a flat plate. Brush the almond or hazelnut liqueur over the cake. Spread the cream filling on top, then cover it with a generous layer of sliced strawberries. Add the second layer, meringue side up. Refrigerate until serving time. Place the remaining berries in a bowl, sprinkle them with the sugar and toss lightly.

11- To serve, place a spoonful of berries alongside each slice of cake.

I added a dollop of whipped cream to the top to pretty it up.

She's Baaaaack

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

As a student, I always felt that the compulsory first day back at school writing assignment was a time filler for teachers who had procrastinated on their lesson planning. As a teacher now, I see some value in it. It's helpful to look back at the blur that summer becomes in the rear view mirror of fall, to look back and sort through the days, giving weight to accomplishments and reliving the delight of the perfect days.

I have leapt full into the school year, as usual putting off ordering school books and materials until the last possible moment, as if the procrastination will postpone the inevitable return to structure, scheduling, and the straight-jacket of school. I look regretfully at the dark clouds lowering in the sky, echoing my mood.

Where did summer go? It went so quickly that it seems little more than an ephemeral mist lingering in the memory. Did I really have a summer?

Looking back at the calendar I recall that there were indeed things happening. I didn't go to Paris or Hawaii, but life happened.

My daughter had a baby. That's been a big part of the summer, helping her adjust to being a mom. Frequent visits to help, to visit, and to hold the baby. Lots of holding. We want her to know that she is loved.

We painted the deck. Again. Replacing the wood with something that doesn't need painting went up a notch on the priority list.

We had birthdays, but no parties. My son's pirate party got pre-empted by his niece's birth. I made him a cake to console him. My husband had a birthday with a zero at the end. I made him a cake to console him.

My son learned to ride his bike. We thought it would never happen, but this year he got the hang of it and is giddy with the freedom of riding all the way around the block by himself.

My daughter went to camp. Her dad almost called it off when we were signing her in - there were boys in line who shaved! Camp and a week of sickness meant she missed 2 out of the 5 swim meets for the season. It was a really lame year for swim team.

And me? I just did what I normally do. I worked out, ate blueberries from my bushes, watched some junk TV, went to the farmer's market, and baked. Since I was on vacation, I gave myself a lot of freedom in baking. If I'd made it before and had already blogged it, I could make it anyway. If it was ugly, I didn't have to take pictures. And it was too hot to turn on the oven, I didn't. It was really nice.

Now I'm back from vacation and I'm trying to carve out my new schedule and routine. I'll try to be faithful in posting. But if I miss a day or two, please understand. It's not that I don't want to share, it's just that life is going on. Not necessarily memorable, but day after day it goes on. And when baking is a part of that, I'll let you know.

Last Gasp of Summer Fruit Tarts
- adapted from Taste of Home


1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold butter
1 egg, beaten
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 tbsp lemon juice
Assorted fresh berries
2 Tbsp apricot preserves

1- In the bowl of a food processor combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Pulse to cut in the the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the egg and pulse briefly to blend. Shape the dough into a ball. Cover and refrigerate it for an hour to help the dough relax.

2- Preheat the oven to 350 deg. F. Grease six 4-1/2-inch tart pans.

3- Divide the dough into six portions. Press each portion into a prepared tart pan. Place the tart pans on a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

4- In a small bowl beat cream cheese until smooth. Beat in sweetened condensed milk and lemon juice.

5- Spoon 2 rounded tablespoonfuls of the cream cheese mixture into each cooled tart, smoothing the top. Arrange the berries over the filling.

6- In a small saucepan, melt preserves over medium heat. Stir until smooth. Using a pastry brush, brush the preserves over the berries.

The tarts can be served immediately or refrigerated until serving time.

2 Winners, A Break, and a Treat

First of all, the winners of the Gumzoobo giveaway are (drum roll, please) Hobby Baker and Scrambled Hen Fruit! Congratulations! Enjoy your game and be sure to tell all your friends how awesome it is!




I knew when summer started that it would be a very short summer. So much going on with kid activities, camps, chores, plus a new baby on the way, that I knew it wouldn't feel relaxing. I was right. And now I'm feeling fall breathing down my neck. Time to start on my school related chores - sorting through books, ordering new ones, trying to get life organized enough so I won't cry myself to sleep the first month of school. And I want a break. I want a vacation.

Right now I'm not inspired to blog. I still bake, I still eat, but my family looks at me strangely because I'm not compulsively taking pictures of everything before I serve it. I've got lots of recipes and photos in the queue, but my brain is strangely silent about them, so my time between posts is getting longer and longer. I think I need to take a break.

Because I don't generate income from my blog, it doesn't really matter if I go away for a while. Perhaps my two loyal readers might suffer withdrawal, but they can always email me. I'm going on a blog vacation. I'll be back in a while, when I feel like it. When blogging sounds fun again. When I'm bursting with new things to share with you. When taking the time to read other blogs is me time, rather than chore time.

So, to tide you over, I'll leave you with an ice cream recipe. It's wonderfully rich, creamy, and delicious. You'll be so busy enjoying the ice cream, you'll hardly notice I'm gone.

Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
- adapted from Taste of Home

Makes about 2 quarts

1-1/2 cups sugar
1-1/2 tbsp all-purpose flour
Pinch salt
4 cups whole milk
4 egg yolks
4 oz. cream cheese, cubed
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1-1/2 cups mashed fresh strawberries

1- In a heavy saucepan combine sugar, flour, and salt. Gradually add milk till smooth. Bring to boil over medium heat. Cook and stir 2 minutes until thickened. Remove from heat; cool slightly.

2- In a small bowl whisk the egg yolks. Pour a thin stream of the warm milk into the eggs, whisking constantly. Pour this mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly. Cook until the mixture coats a spatula.

3- Remove from heat and stir in the cream cheese until melted.

4- In a large bowl combine the vanilla and cream. Place a sieve over the bowl. Pour the custard through the sieve and stir well to combine. Cover the custard and chill overnight in the refrigerator.

5- Stir in the strawberries and freeze in an ice cream freezer according to the manufacturer's directions.

Note: My ice cream maker will only accommodate 1-1/2 quarts, so I poured the leftovers into popsicle molds.

Something Special For All The Ladies

It's funny having my daughter be pregnant. I get to relive the experience without having to live it. There's the cool parts, like feeling little feet pushing against your hand, hearing the heartbeat, and anticipating the little person's arrival. Then there's the not so cool parts like fatigue, heartburn, and swelling up so that when you turn sideways to scooch through a narrow space you realize that you're thinner face-on than sideways. And the comments.

I hated going out in public after my 5th month. I'm a short person and I carried my babies all out front. Waaaaay out front. At six months I started getting the "Any day now!" comments. I'd have to grit my teeth and say, "No, three more months," and try to pack as much venom into that statement as I could to alert the clueless listener that they were playing with fire if they uttered another word. Usually they would trip blithely on and say, "Gosh, you're huge!!! You're going to explode if you go three more months!"

When pregnant with my youngest daughter, I got so sick of the questions that I had a button made that read "I'm due in October. No, it's not twins." I wore it every time I left the house. It worked... some of the time. Until I reached November.

Also, there's something about pregnancy that breaks down normal social barriers and gives total strangers the freedom to touch your belly, ask personal questions, and relate their own pregnancy/birth sagas in graphic, often horrifying, detail. Really? In what universe it is OK to tell a stranger stories involving your lady parts with your hand pressed on the stranger's pregnant belly?

Almost worse than that, though, are the people who think they're being covert by not approaching you, but merely pointing and whispering. It's not covert and it's not polite. Pregnant women know what they're saying, even if it's in Korean.

One of the very best parts about being pregnant, though, is having a baby shower. Being surrounded by friends and family, getting gifts, having treat food, and being bathed in love. Just what a pregnant woman needs to recharge and be able to face that world of weirdos out there who say things like, "You're pregnant!" Optimum, response: "Wow, thanks. That explains so much."

For my daughter's shower this past weekend I made macaron pops. They were supposed to be a sweet baby pink and the powdered, dried strawberries colored the batter the perfect color. Unfortunately, baking turned them tan. So I compensated by filling them with pink cream cheese buttercream. They might not have been perfect, but they were pretty darn cute, if I say so myself.

Many thanks to Helen of Tartelette for her recipes and invaluable advice and to Bakarella for the inspiration.

Strawberry Macaron Pops

90 grams egg whites (about 3 large egg whites)
1/3 cup (or so) freeze-dried strawberries
20 gr granulated sugar
200 gr powdered sugar
110 gr almonds (blanched, slivered or sliced)


1- At least 2 days in advance you need to prep the egg whites. Put them in a clean bowl at room temperature, uncovered or loosely covered with a towel at least 24 hours. Refrigerate after that if desired. You can use eggs that have been "aging" for up to 5 days.

2- Place the dried strawberries in a zip-loc bag. Use a rolling pin to crush the berries into a powder.

3- Place the powdered sugar, almonds, and strawberry powder into a food processor and pulse until the nuts are finely ground. Sift a couple of times to remove the bits and pieces, regrinding as needed. You should have a smooth powder, with no nut chunks.

4- In a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites to a foam (like bubble bath foam). Gradually add the granulated sugar, beating until you have a glossy meringue (like shaving cream). Do not overbeat the meringue, or it will be too dry.

5- Add the nuts and powdered sugar to the meringue. Give it a quick fold to break some of the air and then fold the mass carefully until you obtain a batter that falls back on itself after counting to 10. Give quick strokes at first to breakt he mass and then slow down. The whole process should not take more than 50 strokes. Test a small amount on a plate: if the top flattens on its own, it's good. If there is a small peak, give the batter a couple of turns.

6- Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip (Ateco #807 or #809 - Note: I couldn't find those at the store, so I used my pastry bag without a tip. Those tips measure 9/16th and 11/16th of an inch, and that was the closest I could get.) with the batter and pip in small rounds about 1 to 1-1/2 inches in diameter onto parchment paper or silicone mat lined baking sheets. Let the macarons sit uncovered for 30 minutes to an hour to harden the outer shell a bit.

7- While the macarons are hardening, preheat the oven to 300 deg. F (280 deg. F, if using a convection oven). When ready, bake for 18 to 20 minutes, depending on their size. Let cool on the pan then remove to a cooling rack.



Dainty Pink Filling

4 oz. cream cheese at room temperature, cut into pieces
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
Scant 1/8 tsp pure almond extract
1 cups sifted powdered sugar
Red food coloring
Lollipop sticks
Pink ribbon (optional)
Edible ink pen (optional)

1- Make sure the cream cheese and butter are not too soft, or the filling will be too soft. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and almond extract on low speed. Slowly add the powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Add one drop of red food coloring and blend it in. To finish, increase the mixer speed to medium-high for 30 seconds.

2- Scoop the filling into a pastry bag fitted with a round tip (Ateco #12). Pipe the filling onto the flat side of one macaron. Place a lollipop stick onto the filling and give it a 1/2 turn, to the end is covered by the filling. Place another macaron, flat side down over the filling and gently push together. Lay flat on a baking sheet.



3- Chill the macaron pops several hours or overnight. If desired, you can draw on designs with the edible ink pen and tie on ribbons.

4- For presentation, push the bottoms of the sticks into a block of styrofoam and place the styrofoam in a basket or a tin.

Note: The filling softens up at room temperature, so if the room is warm, encourage guests to eat them right away. When the filling is very soft, the pops plop down to the bottom of their sticks.

She Who Kills Plants

When I went to summer camp, everyone got cool "camp names." The counselors would bestow a moniker based on a preference, an attribute, or just something weird. Then when you got home you could drive your family nuts going on and on about the great times you had with Poncho, Slipknot, Flames and Bubbles.

If I had a camp name today, it would probably be something like Black Thumb. I am one of the world's worst gardeners. Every winter the seed companies send catalogs which I thumb through imagining a beautiful, bountiful garden like those pictured. I think they must use some sort of hallucinogen-based ink, because I forget about my attempts at gardening that have ended in shriveled, withered, bug-infested pathetic bits of greenery and begin to think that this might be the year for me.

I've tried growing starts from seed, buying starts at the nursery, and have now graduated to buying and bringing home plants, which promptly die. Seriously, I just bought a lovely, big basil plant at Trader Joe's and in two days the leaves started turning black and curling up. It's now hanging on by a thread.

The only success I've experienced is with blueberries, my faithful friends that produce every year and require almost no maintenance. Also, a newcomer to my garden has surprised me. Rhubarb has come back two years running! I am so delighted to see the lovely, large fans of greenery waving to me from the back of the yard. They beckon to me, saying, "Hey, I'm here. I survived the winter and the weeds. Come pick me and enjoy a delicious treat!"

For my first rhubarb of the season I tried a new frozen dessert. Pairing rhubarb with strawberries is almost a cliche, but I can stand the sting of being unoriginal with a lovely bowl of strawberry-rhubarb sherbet in hand. Lighter than a custardy ice cream, it's lovely on its own, but also pairs beautifully with crispy sugar cookies, brownies, or a slice of strawberry rhubarb pie (just in case you can't get enough of the yummy flavor combo).



Strawberry-Rhubarb Sherbet
- adapted from Williams-Sonoma Ice Creams and Sorbets

2 Tbsp water
1 tsp unflavored gelatin
1 lb. (500 g) rhubarb, sliced
1 lb. (500 g) strawberries, sliced
1-1/2 cups (375 g) sugar
1-1/2 cups (375 g) whole milk
1/2 cup (125 ml) light corn syrup

1- In a small cup, sprinkle the gelatin over the water. Let stand for 10 minutes to soften.

2- Meanwhile, in a large heavy saucepan, combine the rhubarb and strawberries with the sugar. Place over low heat and stir until the strawberries release their juice. Turn up the heat to medium and stir until the sugar dissolves, about 3 minutes. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the rhubarb is tender, about 5 minutes.

3- Add the gelatin mixture to the hot rhubarb mixture and stir until the gelatin dissolves, about 1 minute.

4- In a food processor fitted with the metal blade or in a blender, purée the rhubarb mixture until smooth. Pour the purée into a large bowl. Add the milk and corn syrup and stir to blend. Refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour.

5- Transfer the sherbet mixture to an ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer's instructions. Transfer the sherbet to a container; cover and freeze until firm.

Makes about 5 cups (1.25 l)

If You Auto-translate, You Probably Won't Get It

If I told you a joke that began with "Two guys walked into a bar..." you'd know exactly what kind of bar I meant. Although they could have walked into a chin-up bar, clonked their foreheads and passed out, it's much more likely that they walked into an establishment that serves alcoholic beverages. Bar is a potentially confusing word because it has so many meanings. Bar the way into a room. A steel bar. A sand bar. A bar of light. Bar exams. A ballet bar. If you read music, you know what the bar lines are. A salad bar. Bar none. See what I mean?

When I found a recipe in a cookbook for Strawberry Rhubarb Bars, I felt I was on pretty firm footing. Obviously, a bar in a cookbook is going to be a cookie. That's a given. Even in a cookbook with no pictures. And since I'm all about cookies and I had some rhubarb gifted to me from a kind neighbor, I set about making them. Easy enough - a shorbready base, a fruit layer, and then crumbles on top. They smelled heavenly cooking, and I pulled them out of the oven and let them cool to room temperature.



But when I tried to slice my bars, what the hey? These are not cookies, people. This is a crumble. Or a slump, or a grunt, or a cobbler, or whatever you'd like to call it. But please do not call these bars! They just aren't. They're delicious, fruity, gooey, sloppy, oozy, but you would never mistake them for a bar cookie. You can't neatly slice and serve a bar of these. You just have to scoop some of the fragrant, tart-sweet fruity mess on a plate, preferably with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and dig in with a fork. Or a spoon. Just don't expect a cookie and you won't be disappointed.



Strawberry Rhubarb Bars
- adapted from Pure Flavor by Kurt Beecher Dammeier

1-1/2 cups plus 3 to 4 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp powdered sugar
1/2 tsp table salt
12 Tbsp (1-1/2 sticks) cold, unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
3/4 cup plus 1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp orange extract or 1 tsp grated orange zest
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 lbs rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 6 cups)
1-1/2 cups straberries, hulled and sliced, or frozen strawberries, thawed and sliced

1- Preheat oven to 350 deg. with a rack in the center of the oven.

2- In a large bowl, combine 1-1/2 cups of the flour and the powdered sugar and salt. Cut the butter inot the flour mixture using a pastry blender or fork. The mixture should resemble coarse crumbs and clump together when squeezed lightly in your hand. You can also do this in a food processor.

3- Put 2 cups of the mixture into an 8-inch square baking dish and press evenly into the pan with your fingers. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes, or until golden brown on the edges and light golden in the middle.

4- While the crust is baking, add 1/3 cup granulated sugar to the remaining butter-flour mixture and toss (or pulse in food processor) to combine. Set aside.

5- In a large bowl, combine 3/4 cup granulated sugar and the ground cloves. Stir in 3 to 4 Tbsp flour (adding more flour will make the filling firmer when cool), the orange extract or zest, and the vanilla. Add the rhubarb and straberries, mixing well to coat the fruit. Pour the mixture onto the hot crust, spreading the filling to the edges of the dish. Sprinkle the reserved sugar mixture over the fruit. Bake for 50 minutes or until bubbling around the edges and light brown on top.

6- Let the bars cool to room temperature before cutting and serving.

You Don't Know Till You Try

In high school I got invited to a formal dance by a young man who I was glad to go with because he was a lot of fun, but he was on the short side. If I wore my normal (for then) 3 to 4 inch heels, I'd tower over my date.

To solve this dating dilemma, I borrowed a cute little mandarin-style dress from my friend who was 2 inches shorter than me and I bought some super cute flat shoes. The shoes were black, satin sandals that were held onto the feet with long, satin ties that tied around the ankles like ballet slippers. As I said, super cute.

So I went on my date, thinking that this date would be great and my outfit was the cat's meow. As is so often the case in life, expectations were far greater than the actuality. I spent the majority of the evening bending over and retying up the silly ribbons that held my shoes on. I guess if I'd thought it through, I'd have known that satin's defining characteristic is slipperiness and a satin ribbon holding on a shoe was not a good design. I finally took the shoes off altogether and my date put them in his pocket and although my toes did get trod on a wee bit, we had a much better time.

This pie reminded me a bit of that date because sometime you never can tell how something's going to work until you try it out. I found the recipe for the rhubarb curd on Patricia's beautiful site (be sure to check out her gorgeous artwork in her shop!). I had the brilliant thought of putting it into my favorite strawberry pie, combining two great flavors together.

I made a crumb crust (too lazy to do the regular kind, plus I didn't want the crust to get soggy with the curd), spread in a layer of the curd, piled on sliced strawberries, and covered it in a beautiful strawberry glaze. I took some pictures of the pie after it had chilled, then prepared to get the money shot - the gorgeous piece of pie standing tall on it's plate.

I sliced and, um, no, that's not going on the blog. It oozed. I couldn't slice the pie. I had to scoop it out like a cobbler. It wasn't lovely at all. But it was sooooo good. Not one person complained about the look of the pie. Instead there were intense discussions about whether the stomach could hold seconds. Or thirds.

So, here's the recipe. Be forewarned, it's not company pie. Not glamorous at all. But your family will be pleased that you made it for them!

(Note: this is a multi-stage recipe, so you can do parts of it as your schedule allows, put it together early the day you want to serve it, and let it sit in the refrigerator till it's time for dessert.)

Strawberry Rhubarb Curd Pie

Crust:

1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
6 Tbsp butter, melted

Rhubarb Curd:

2 cups of rhubarb cut into small pieces
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
4 teaspoons lemon juice
4 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

Strawberries and Glaze:

2 to 3 cups strawberries, cleaned, hulled, and sliced
3/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp cornstarch

1- Preheat oven to 375 deg.

2- Combine all the crust ingredients in a bowl; mix well. Press firmly on the bottom and up the sides of a deep 9 inch pie plate.

3- Bake for 6 to 8 minutes, or until the edges are brown. Allow to cool to room temperature.

4- To make the curd, combine the rhubarb, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup water and lemon juice in a non-reactive saucepan. Bring to a boil over med-high until rhubarb goes completely mushy. Remove from the heat and let it cool to just warm. Put the mixture into a blender or food processor and process until smooth.

5-Whisk the yolks and sugar together in a heat-resistant bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Add the cooled rhubarb and the butter in pieces and stir until it is all combined and thickens. Cool completely and it will thicken some more.

6- To make the strawberry glaze, place one cup of the strawberries in a non-reactive saucepan with 3/4 cup water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

7- Mix together the sugar and cornstarch; add to the strawberry liquid and cook until clear. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

8- Spread the cooled rhubarb curd over the crust. Arrange the remaining strawberries over the curd. Pour the cooled glaze over the strawberries, completely coating the top.

9- Refrigerate until serving time.

Cleopatra's Sorbet

As a small child I had an every-so-often friend. She was the granddaughter of our next-door neighbors and I only saw her when she came to visit, usually once a summer. We'd play hide and seek, running around the adjoining yards, getting grubby in the dirt, and playing wildly imaginative games.

The neighbors had a patch of large rhubarb growing and whenever the granddaughter visited, we'd play Queen of the Nile with the rhubarb. With her grandmother's permission we could pick the largest stalks and leaves of rhubarb and one of us would be the queen and the other would be the slave girl, using the enormous rhubarb leaves to fan the queen.

When we'd exhausted the play potential of the rhubarb and the leaves were looking a bit wilty, we'd take our fans into the kitchen and her grandmother would chop up the stalks, throw them into a pot with some water and sugar, and cook them into a disgusting looking stew. Disgusting looking, but divine tasting. That dish of stewed rhubarb was the highlight of the visit, something I looked forward to every year and mourned when the granddaughter stopped coming to visit.

This spring I was tremendously excited because the rhubarb that my daughter's father-in-law (shouldn't there be a shorter way of saying that - parent in law?) gave me last year survived the cold winter and was actually producing! My first year to cook with homegrown rhubarb. Yeah! What to make first? My list is larger than my rhubarb patch, so I'll have to save some of the projects for next year.

For starters, though, I settled on Strawberry Rhubarb Sorbet from The Perfect Scoop (of course). It was a good choice. The sweetness of strawberries, the tang of rhubarb, and the delicious smoothness of the sorbet make this recipe go straight to the "keeper" file. So easy, refreshing, and delectable. Plus you can use those gigantic leaves to keep cool while you're cooking up the rhubarb.


Strawberry Rhubarb Sorbet
- adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

12 oz (325 g) rhubarb
2/3 cup (160 ml) water
3/4 cup sugar
10 oz (280 g) fresh strawberries, rinsed and hulled
1/2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

1- Cut off the rhubarb leaves and trim off the ends of the stalk. Wash the stalk and then cut into 1/2-inch (2 cm) pieces.

2- Place the rhubarb, water, and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes, or until the rhubarb is tender and cooked through. It will fall apart into stringy bits. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.

3- Slice the strawberries and puree them with the cooked rhubarb mixture and lemon juice in a blender or food processor until smooth.

4- Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, 4 hours or overnight. Freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

April Fools, A Bit Late

One of the best April Fool's pranks that I've ever seen was done by my husband. My 10 year old son wanted to do something funny to one of his buddies, so my husband called up his friend, David, and identified himself as a disc jockey from Radio Disney. My husband has a fabulous announcer voice and he really sold it.

With his suave patter, he told David that he could win a trip to Disneyland if he could correctly answer all the questions he asked. David was excited at this opportunity. First my husband asked him to name all the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. David was into the Turtles in a big way and had no problem with this one. Then several other softball questions followed to build David's confidence and excitement.

When he could almost taste and touch that trip to Disneyland, my husband hit him with the final question, the one that would clinch the trip for him. "David," he asked him, "what is the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle and how does it impact the orbit of sub-atomic quantum particles using non-Newtonian physics?" In the silence that followed we could almost hear David's face falling.



My husband, still in d.j. mode, said, "Oh, that's too bad, David. So close, so close! Just one more thing, David. April Fools!"

This April I had a Fool that was much nicer. It had fresh strawberries and cream. Mmmm. It was creamy, dreamy delicious. I only felt like a fool for not having tried this sooner.

Berry Fool
- adapted from Williams-Sonoma Desserts

9 strawberries (small to medium in size)
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup frozen blueberries
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
Pinch of kosher salt
1/4 cup heavy cream

1- Place a mixing bowl and beaters into the freezer.

2- Rinse, stem, and hull 7 strawberries, then quarter them lengthwise.

3- In a small bowl, toss together the quartered strawberries and the 1/3 cup sugar. Then using a fork, smash the berries until they are jamlike and mostly puréed. Add the blueberries and crush lightly with the fork. Stir in the lemon juice and salt. Taste and add 1-2 more tablespoons sugar, if desired.

4- In the chilled bowl, with a mixer on medium to medium-high speed, whip the cream until firm peaks form when the beaters are lifted. Scoop the chilled fruit onto the cream and with a rubber spatula gently fold the fruit into the cream, just until incorporated.

5- Spoon into dessert bowls or glasses and serve immediately or cover and refrigerate overnight.

6- To garnish, cut the remaining 2 strawberries in half and put a half on top of each fool.

More Cake, Please

I promised you in the last post that I'd show you two cakes, so here's the second installment. I owed my daughter a "cake with berries" since her birthday last summer. This one fit the bill nicely. Delicious, buttermilk cake, layered with strawberries nestled in billowing clouds of lightly sweetened whipped cream. Honestly, could you resist?

The only problem with this cake was in the cutting. It was not tidy. When I attempted to cut neat slices, they turned into the leaning tower of cake, collapsing on the cake plates in a jumble of cake, strawberries and cream. Good thing it was so tasty - everyone overlooked the presentation and dug in with "mmmmmm"s of enjoyment.

Strawberry and White Chocolate Buttermilk Cake
- adapted from Desserts By The Yard by Sherry Yard

cake:
2 cups cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
3 oz white chocolate (Valrhona is recommended, but I used Guittard)
6 oz (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1-3/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk

Filling;
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup creme fraiche
1 Tbsp sugar
2 pints strawberries, hulled and quartered

1- Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 deg. F. Spray a 12 x 17-inch half sheet pan with pan spray and line with parchment paper. Spray the parchment.

2- Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.

3- Melt the white chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl at 50 percent power in 30 second bursts, stirring in between. Be careful so that it doesn't burn.

4- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream together the butter and 1-1/2 cups fo the sugar on high speed for 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and beaters and continue to beat for 3 more minutes, until light and creamy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Whisk 2 Tbsp of the whipped butter into the melted white chocolate until blended. Scrape this mixture back into the butter and beat on low speed until well blended.

5- Add the egg yolks in 2 additions, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.

6- On low speed, add the buttermilk and flour mixture alternately in 4 additions. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.

7- In a separate large bowl, beat the egg whites on medium speed with a hand mixer until they form soft peaks. Slowly add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar while you continue to beat on medium speed. Beat until the egg whites form stiff, glossy peaks. Fold half the egg whites into the cake batter, then gently fold in the rest.

8- Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Using an offset spatula, spread the batter evenly over the pan. Bake until golden brown and firm to the touch, 25 to 30 minutes. rotating the pan from front to back halfway through. Remove the pan from the oven. Allow to cool in the pan. Lightly spray the back of a half sheet pan with pan spray and cover with parchment. Invert the cake onto the parchment-covered tray, remove the pan, and peel off the parchment. (I didn't have two half-sheet pans, so I turned the cake out onto a cutting board.)

9- When the cake is completely cool, cut crosswise into 3 equal pieces. To get precise cuts, measure the thirds and mark with toothpicks before cutting.

10- Whip the cream, creme fraiche, and sugar together to medium-stiff peaks.

11- To assemble the cake, place the first piece of cake on a serving platter. Spread 2 cups of the whipped cream evenly over the top. Lay half the strawberries in the whipped cream and spread a little of the cream over the strawberries. Lay the second cake layer on top, and repeat with 2 cups more cream and the remaining strawberries. Top with the last layer of cake and spread the remaining whipped cream over the top. You can garnish with a few whole berries, if you choose. Chill until ready to serve. The cake can be assembled up to 4 hours ahead.

Easy Gets It Done

A lovely lady once told me of an epiphany moment that she had had. She'd received several sets of hand-embroidered pillow cases as wedding gifts. Her mother had shown her how, after laundering them, she had to mist them with a water bottle, roll them up in a plastic bag and put them in the refrigerator, then carefully iron them on a pressing cloth so that the embroidered design would stand up.

She was in the midst of this process, dutifully ironing, while she watched the funeral procession of John F. Kennedy on television. Then it hit her. Why was she doing this? No one besides her husband was ever going to see these pillow cases, and they were just going to sleep on them. Life was too short to do stupid things just because someone says it's the right way.

That story has stuck with me for many years. I have a programmed desire to do things the "right" way, which curiously enough, is often the most difficult way. I have to revisit this lady's story from time to time to remind myself that life is short, and we're not graded on the difficulty of the things we attempt. Sometimes just attempting is good enough.

Case in point: puff pastry. Danish pastries were one of those mystery items that I thought could only be purchased in a store, like Jello or sausages. But then I saw a recipe for Easy Cheese Danishes in Barefoot Contessa at Home. Note the alluring use of the word "easy"? When is saw that I paused, rather than flipping past, dismissing the recipe as one obviously out of my league. The secret behind the magic word was frozen puff pastry.

I bought some. I made the pastries. My family raved. I felt fabulous. I'd made cream cheese danishes! Maybe some day I'll attempt the real deal, but in the meantime, I have my back-up in the freezer.

If you'd like to make puff pastry the "right" way, the fabulous Fanny at Foodbeam has done a gorgeous how-to write up on Puff Pastry. But if you're short on time, pulled in 15 directions all day long, and just want a weekend treat that will make your family squeal for joy, just go with the frozen stuff. I promise, no one's grading you except yourself.

Easy Strawberry Cheese Danishes
- adapted from Barefoot Contessa at Home by Ina Garten

8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature
2 Tbsp ricotta cheese
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 Tbsp grated lemon zest (about 2 lemons' worth)
1 cup strawberries cut into small chunks
2 sheets (1 box) frozen puff pastry, defrosted
1 egg beaten with 1 Tbsp of water for egg wash

Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.

Place the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and cream them together on low speed until smooth. Add 2/3 cup of the strawberry chunks and blend. The mixture will be a pretty pink. With the mixer still on low, add the egg yolks, ricotta, vanilla, salt, lemon zest, and the remaining 1/3 of the strawberry chunks and mix until just combined. Don't whip!

Unfold one sheet of puff pastry onto a lightly floured board and roll it slightly with a floured rolling pin until it's a 10 x 10- inch square. Cut the sheet into quarters with a sharp knife. Place a heaping Tbsp of cheese filling into the middle of each of the 4 squares. Brush the border of each pastry with egg wash and fold two opposite corners to the center, brushing and overlapping the corners of each pastry so they stick firmly together.

Brush the top of the pastries with egg wash. Place the pastries on the prepared sheet pans. Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry and refrigerate the filled pastries for 15 minutes.

While the pastries are chilling, preheat the oven to 400 degrees, with the racks positioned in the upper third and lower third of the oven.

Bake the pastries for about 20 minutes, rotating the pans top to bottom and front to back once during baking. The finished pastries should be puffed and brown. Serve warm. Makes 8 pastries.

Pink Ladies

My best friend growing up was a funny girl named Karen. She was infectiously cheerful and would really get into things. With her it wasn't "Oh, I like this song." It was, "Stop everything and listen to this song right now. I love it!!" She was exhuberently enthusiastic about whatever held her interest at the moment. From music to food to boys to movies, there was never any middle ground. It was love it or (rarely) hate it. It was no surprise to anyone that she went on to be a cheerleader in high school.

When she asked me if I'd seen the movie, Grease, I told her that I didn't like John Travolta. She said, "Oh, go see it! You'll really hate him then!"

I saw the movie and enjoyed it, although I still didn't like John Travolta. One of my favorite elements of the movie was the Pink Ladies, the cool, bad girls with teased hair, tight pants, strut and attitude. I wished I could have had an awesome, pink jacket like theirs to wear.

This is hardly a recipe, more of a throw-together for the end of a hot week. When you've been sweltering and deserve a little unwind time and want something with a bit more kick than lemonade, reach for the blender and try a Pink Lady to start the weekend off with some attitude.

Pink Ladies

1 (6 oz) can frozen pink lemonade concentrate, undiluted
1/2 cup rum
1 cup fresh whole strawberries, stems removed
Ice cubes

Combine first 3 ingredients in container of an electric blender; add ice to make 5 cups. Process until smooth. Yield: 4-1/2 cups. Note: you can substitute vodka for rum, if you prefer, and vary the amount of liquor, depending on how tough your week has been.