It’s Tuesday and I’m balancing multiple project deadlines, staying one step ahead of potential disaster (much like this aerial acrobat, but with a tad less flexibility)!
Hope you are too:)
* * *
Posts Tagged ‘#365Ways’
Me Today
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, #avoidingdisaster, work on September 14, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Good to Know!
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers on September 13, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Fruit Torte
Posted in Food and..., Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, baking, inspiration, roadtrip, yay on September 12, 2021| 3 Comments »
Yesterday: a pretty fall day + road trip + Les Fruits du Poirier pick-your-own fruit farm = fun 🙂
This particular farm has the usual apples, pears, raspberries, etc. but they also specialize in the less usual. Not everything was in season, but they also grow fruits like haskap, sea buckthorn, gooseberries, and northern kiwi. Yes, that kiwi! The northern variety is smaller than the imported variety you find in stores, but it is sweeter, with thinner skin and no fuzz, which means it doesn’t have to be peeled.
We had to look up half of what we saw, either because we didn’t recognize the plant or because we’d never heard of it before (jostaberry?). We used a click to ID app called Picture This (free to use but you have to navigate a maze of “sign up now!” screens, but I’m sure there are others.
The day was beautiful and it was great to get outside and into the country. Recommended.
* * *
Today: baking.
I had some plums waiting for a recipe, and I ran across this one for plum torte. The original was a wildly popular New York Times recipe that ran for years. This version is slightly modified and includes comments to help triangulate your own changes.
Best Plum Torte Recipe – How to Make Marian Burros’ Purple Plum Cake
It’s easy and delicious. There’s a little magic involved. The fruit starts on top but slowly sinks into the batter and turns into a delicious, jammy treat. Of course I added a few minor adjustments.
I made a plum version a few days ago, and today I made a plum with cinnamon, a peach with cinnamon and cardamom, and two mixed berry* tortes with cinnamon and just a splash of Grand Marnier. They also freeze well.
* * *
Fruit Torte
(by way of Food52’s adaptation of Marian Burros’ Purple Plum Cake)
— makes one 8″ or 9” layer
Ingredients
- 120g / 1 C. all-purpose flour, sifted
- 5g / 1 t. baking powder
- pinch salt
- 150g / 3/4 C. sugar
- 115g / 1/2 C. butter, room temperature
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 t. vanilla (or somewhat more Grand Marnier)
- ~ 150g of fruit (see note)
- ~ 2 t. sugar and ground cinnamon for sprinkling
Directions
- Heat the oven to 350° F.
- Prep an 8 or 9-inch cake pan. I used a round of parchment paper and buttered the interior, then dusted bottom and sides with a mix of sugar and cinnamon to avoid sticking.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
- Cream the sugar and butter until very light and fluffy, about 5–7 minutes with my mixer. I recommend mechanical means unless you want to be there all day.
- Add the dry ingredients, eggs and vanilla all at once, and beat until combined, scraping down the sides a couple of times.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Arrange the fruit on top of the batter. Sprinkle the top with sugar and cinnamon.
- Bake 40 to 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cool the cake in its pan for 10 minutes, and then remove. Invert onto a cooling rack, then flip back onto another rack to finish cooling.
Notes
— The recipe called for a springform pan but they aren’t my favorite. (Although it would make cooling easier.) I used a 9” cake pan.
— Fruit options: this recipe has worked with every kind of fruit I’ve tried so far. Plums, peaches and pears are all very good. Pit and quarter lengthwise if small or chop into smaller pieces. Berries are also excellent, and I’ve had great luck with frozen blueberries although starting from frozen added a few minutes to the baking time. For any of these options, if the flavor’s flat then season with a little lemon juice, sugar and cinnamon to taste. Grand Marnier is also very good with berries. Just saying.
— One batch of batter weighs ~475g, in case you’re doubling the recipe.
* * *
* In addition to pints of red raspberries, yellow raspberries, pears, apples, and kiwi, we picked up a haskap pie (no judgement, they were baking and it smelled amazing), and a frozen bag of haskap, red and white currants, raspberries, gooseberries, and Saskatoon berries.
* * *
Twenty Years
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, 9/11, remembrance, Thoughts on September 11, 2021| Leave a Comment »
To Democracy
Posted in Likes, Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, democracy, Thoughts, vote!, yay on September 10, 2021| Leave a Comment »
What We’re Made Of
Posted in Likes, Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, characters, creativity, family, Fiction, inspiration, Thoughts, travel, writing, yay on September 9, 2021| Leave a Comment »
It seems we each have a fundamental core where we feel most comfortable, or most ourselves. It may come as no surprise to those who have spent any time on this site, but for me, it’s books and food.
Those aren’t all I’m made of, of course, but those two elements were established early, before my memories became fixed. I don’t remember a time when I didn’t love books and food. One of my first real recollections is sitting on the side steps of the porch eating an artichoke with my father, and it’s hard not to feel happy in a kitchen or library.
Now, if I’d had different experiences growing up I might have become an engineer or a tailor or a computer scientist. I make things and sew and code but not with the intuitive ease some have. Instead, it’s books. And food. I’m ok with that.
* * *
I’m in the middle of a writing class, designing story ideas and characters. It got me thinking about how experiences become preferences and worldviews underpinning our actions.
My father and I visited the Grand Canyon once, road-tripping north to the South Rim to hike and camp. The trip was great, full of summer heat and happiness, astonishing vistas and challenging trails.
I may also have spent some of the visit sitting by the edge, reading a book. Because we had a few minutes and that’s how I roll.
* * *
Like places, people have layers. Understanding how time and exposure, pressure and purpose combine makes it easier to build complex and interesting motivations, or to understand our own.
We just have to sit back and consider what we’re made of.
* * *
Happy Star Trek Day!
Posted in Entertainment, Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, inspiration, science fiction, sff, star trek, Thoughts, yay on September 8, 2021| Leave a Comment »
It’s September 8th, and the 55th anniversary of the first airing of Star Trek: The Original Series. Now, I was always a Star Wars fan first and foremost* but Mr Man persuaded me to revisit and reassess, and I’m glad he did. The more geeky space fun, the better, as far as I’m concerned.
Want to know more, or commune with fellow Trekkies basking in the glory that is the Trekiverse? Click through for links to the annual Star Trek Day celebration:
Star Trek Day 2021: Celebrate 55 years of Trek with live panels and more tonight | Space
In closing…
(You know what I’m going to say, which also says something about the remarkable reach of this show into the global consciousness.)
Live long, and prosper.
* * *
* * *
* The show had ended by the time I was ready for such things, and without a television even reruns were off the table. Hard to obsess over a series that you can’t watch!
Maybe Someday!
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, Fiction, inspiration, phdcomics.com, Thoughts, writing on September 7, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Not that I’ve let Alexa into my life or anything, but this might be the one ability that would convince me to do it!
A Good Day
Posted in Holidays, Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, Return of the Jedi, Thoughts, yay on September 6, 2021| Leave a Comment »
I would have liked to have some profound thoughts for you today, but instead it’s been a morning of work, a drive in the country, a bit of sunshine, then adult beverages and Return of the Jedi.
So, a good day:)
* * *
A Touch of Magic
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, inspiration, nature, writing, yay on September 5, 2021| Leave a Comment »
“A well-composed book is a magic carpet on which we are wafted to a world that we cannot enter in any other way.”
― Caroline Gordon
* * *
-
Recent Posts
She Said, He Said
-
-
Favorite Posts
Archives
Categories
It’s All So Random
What I’m Reading
You must be logged in to post a comment.