One of my favorites.
Happy New Year! Here are some photos from my lovely trip to visit my mom’s family in Richmond, North Yorkshire. My very talented brother, Ben, took these.
I hope 2012 will be a wonderful year for everyone!
Most Amazing Dinner Ever
I just made myself legit one of the best dinners I have ever made and had to share the joy. We had some fresh mozzarella in the fridge which I find to be delicious and wanted to incorporate. I toasted a couple pieces of bread and covered them with the sliced mozzarella and sliced tomatoes. I put these in my panini press on ‘melt’ (the press was my birthday present last year and was the best gift EVER). After the mozzarella melted and the tomatoes crisped on top, I took off the toasts and threw a little oregano and aged balsamic over top. SO AMAZING. Seriously, I usually don’t like tomatoes but with the melty cheese and vinegar I loved them. I am always of the opinion that good aged balsamic improves everything… even vanilla ice cream or strawberries (seriously, try it).
Perhaps a little low in protein but fresh mozzarella is fairly low-fat as cheeses go and I got my vegetables in so I’m calling it a success!!
Book Time.
A few more classics that I have finally gotten around to reading and loved:
1. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
2. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway (swoon)
3. Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquéz
Read. You shan’t regret it.
Since I can’t cook my own thanksgiving dinner this year, I am dreaming of it instead. Eat your heart out, kids.
Girl Holding a Balloon During the Water Festival by Phnom Ben.
AMAZING. I can’t believe this champ is my brother.
Sorry about the long lull in postings. Happy Halloween everyone! Costumes? Traditions? This year I was jamir: not Jake or Amir, but Jamir, the concept. It wasn’t super exciting, I just wore the oh sheesh y’all shirt from bustedtees and sweatpants.
More important than costumes, FALL FOOD!
1. Brown Butter, Ginger, and Sour Cream Coffee Cake
2. Apple-Walnut-Ginger Galette
3. Warm Apple Cobbler
Happy fall little lovers!
As promised, a picture of my pear and ginger jam. It is sooooo good. I’m still working on my food photography, I really want to be better so that I can post things that actually look as delicious as they are.
Pear and Ginger Jam
So I’ve been trying to break into the world of canning for a long time and this weekend I finally made it happen. I was at a farmer’s market and saw some lovely pears which I thought might be very nice in a jam or preserve. As I later found out, pears have a low amount of pectic, and are therefore among the hardest fruits to preserve. It made for an interesting first attempt at canning.
The process was very long- I had to leave the mixture of pears and sugar to sit overnight and then simmer it for six hours the next day. There were several moments of stress, the most significant of which was when the mixture would not reach the “jellying point” no matter how long it boiled. It turned out well though. I now have seven jars of pear and ginger jam. I have no idea what I am going to do with all of them, I should probably just give them to the teachers whose homework I sacrificed to make the jam this weekend. Once I have prettied them up with a ribbon or something I shall post a picture.
The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.
—Horace Walpole
