Stephanie says

This morning, a general futzing around:   watering the garden; cleaning house; performing a couple small repairs.   All put aside for an interlude of movie watching this afternoon.   I am delightfully alone in my clean house, (and even a tidy house if my peripheral vision is blocked from the stack of toys piled in a corner.)   My daughter and her family have been here for five weeks.   I love my daughter.   I’m enjoying getting to know her husband.   I’m bonding with baby Henry.   Then again, I savor my alone-time wholeheartedly.     All is good, he's got his rock.

Recipe by Martha Stewart Bought a crate of Red Haven peaches at the fruit stand yesterday.  Yep, a crate.  We cannot possibly eat that many fresh peaches so I'm scrambling to find uses.  I'd make a peach pie but I'm holding out for delivery of my high-powered Cuisinart Food Processor to make the crust (which is currently langoring at the post office.  Oh sure, I get a notice for pickup but being Saturday, the post office is closed...I want it.  I want it.  I want it now.) So it's upside-down cake. It came out of the pan perfectly! INGREDIENTS 5 1/2 ounces (1 stick plus 3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened 1 cup sugar 3 medium ripe peaches (about 1 1/4 pounds), skins on, pitted, and cut into 3/4-inch wedges 1 cup coarse yellow cornmeal or polenta 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 2 teaspoons chopped fresh lavender, or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried lavender 1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt 3 large eggs 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract...

Sinfully rich I could talk about attending the Country Fair in Veneta yesterday, an alternative kind of fair with all sorts of spectacles catching my attention.  But instead, I'm talking about desserts again. I had two at the fair!  I've been craving chocolate pudding in my indulgent dessert obsession.  I was certain Deb at Smitten Kitchen would have a suitably rich pudding recipe, and I was right.  Alas, I only had four ounces of bakers chocolate so added two ounces of really good cocoa (whisked in a separate bowl with some of the milk mixture then added to the pot when the spoon stage was reached.  This is soooo chocolatey! Serves 6 to 7 - maybe in some universe.  At my house, it serves three. 1/4 cup (30 grams) cornstarch 1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar 1/8 teaspoon salt 3 cups (710 ml) whole milk 6 ounces (170 grams) semi- or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (or 1 cup good chocolate chips) 1 teaspoon (5 ml) pure vanilla extract Comb...

We've been on a dessert binge. I don't worry about having to eat an entire batch of whatever (so it won't go bad...) with Tyler and Ryan here.  They both have a sweet tooth.  For tonight folks, Terry made cinnamon ice cream.  It is wonderful.  First bite:  "Ahhhh."  Smooth with a bite of cinnamon.  Second bite:  "How about paired with apple pie?"  Terry has stated as fact that he makes a thoroughly exceptional pie.  So, how about it? This was my serving.  Note the restraint!

Blazing hot weekend.  We went to Sunset Beach on Friday - where it was 30 degrees cooler. Stopped at U-Pick blue berry fields on the way, which yielded Blue berry crumble, vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce.  Yum. Yoncalla parade.  Camels?  Yep. Off to the rodeo.  Here's Henry sporting a sun hat. Larkspur A lot of naps, lots of seafood.  Ahh, a fab holiday weekend!

Some time ago my daughter requested a home-made cake for Henry.  With Frosting.  For the adults really as she is loathe to give the baby processed sugar.  She reconsidered in the end, but it was miserably hot and he was not interested.  The adults were though! I had plenty of time to ponder the cake flavor - I considered hitting the internet for inspiration but as it turned out while I was researching a recipe for fruit curd (like lemon curd, but using other fruit) I stumbled across a white cake mixed with berry puree.  Perfect. I also found a recipe for blackberry curd.  I made it for the cake filling from my stash of berries in the freezer.  Same for the puree.  The cake turned out nicely.  I sliced both layers in two then filled each layer with blackberry curd, and was pleased there was enough as Ty and Ryan had been sneaking bites of the curd, or in Ryan's case, spreading curd on toast. Brats. Topped the whole thing off with 7-...

Recipe as promised, finally.  I found this recipe last summer, during the height of the corn harvest.  It sounded so good so I gave it a try.  Except with typical distraction, I husked the corn before roasting, then read the recipe again where it clearly states "place unhusked corn"...  The end result was delicious regardless.  I made another batch a couple weeks ago using (gasp) frozen corn as it's too early in the season for ears.  The end result was delicious. Corn season will be here very soon, at which time I'm going to follow the recipe exactly.  Really.  Here's the recipe from Two Lazy Gourmets Roasted Corn Salad with Chiles, Lime, and Parmesan Cheese Author:  TwoLazyGourmets.com Serves:  4   In this salad, deeply sweet corn kernels are bathed in rich butter and tangy lime juice; flecked with freshly picked chives, minced jalapeno, and crushed red pepper; and topped with a cloud of finely grated ...