one long weekend

Over fourth of July weekend I took a trip.

A trip that involved lots and lots of driving with my dad.

We started out in Benicia, drove to Reno then the next day to Sun Valley Idaho. 12 hours or so total. One way.

My dad had won a contest and we got to stay at the resort, get a tour around the city and go fly fishing.

Reno was horrible. Just awful. 

It's not the city for me. Neon lights, drunk people, the whole city just seemed dirty to me. Not to offend anyone from there or likes to visit it, I couldn't get into in. i just wanted to leave the minute we got there.

Then it was a long drive across Nevada. Desert nothingness land. Then we finally made it to Idaho.

Sun Valley was gorgeous. Mountains, trees, rivers, a nice little downtown and their little legacy that Ernest Hemingway lived and killed himself their. We got to see his grave on our city tour, the memorial to him in some park and hear the gossip about him and his family from our tour guide.

Fly fishing was nice. My dad and the instructor, Carlos, waded in the water, throwing the line back and fourth, over and over for hours. 

I joined in for a bit at first but then just wandered around taking photos then finally feel asleep on the rocks by the river. Waking up with a bit of a sun burn and sweating like crazy in the big plastic overalls we had to wear.
 

From Sun Valley we went on the drive to Stanley that my dad had read about in some magazine, Via I think. Los of hills and mountains, a few small little towns and amazing views.

We go caught in a rain/thunder storm for a few minutes.

It was just a few days on the trip. A brief view of the area.

On our drive back we stopped at Craters of the Moon and saw lava beds for as far as the eye could see.

Then it was another 12 hour rive just a few short days later to back home in California.

plum cobbler.

Lets be honest. I made this like weeks ago. I think it might have been a month even. Just off my photo game sometimes and the photos just get uploaded to the computer, not to be touched again for a while. But here they finally are. 

They are plums that a girl from work brought over, since she had gotten this massive box full at some farm stand or something over her weekend. They were epically juicy and so sweet, in a good way.

So they got made into a cobbler, and a sorbet that all gotten eaten before a camera was even touched. It was brown sugar plum sorbet too. Damn that was good. Really tart but a bit caramely from the brown sugar. I really should break out the old ice cream maker to do it again. And to actually take photos of. Well see how much energy I can muster up with this heat. 

So the cobbler. It has a gingery cornmeal biscuit topping on it. Came out super tasty but we had just kinda messed it up right before baking. So you know how when you make biscuits or something like that, and you bake them right from cold so there are still the little clumps of butter in the dough? To make those little pockets once it bakes? Well, we didn't really remember about that. 

From working the butter in by hand, to it sitting out for a while on the table for me to photograph it, the dough was way too soft when we put it in the oven. All of the biscuits spread out like crazy and just formed this massive crust over the whole top. It still tasted awesome but just didn't look awesome. So if you make this, remember to chill it before baking! Which I included in the recipe.

So at work, lots, well not lots but a bit, is different now. 
The girl who was quitting is now actually staying. I don't have to work at 3am anymore. For her to stay, we switched around both our schedules to where she works evenings now and I work the morning. Instead of both of use working the morning. My horrible 3am shift got pushed back to 5am, which is still early for most but makes me feel like I am sleeping in most days now. All my early morning tasks got changed to her ending tasks in the late shift. It's a lot better for me now to actually. I don't have to rush around at the wee hours of the morning trying to make sure everything gets in the oven as quickly as possible. I just get to start working on production for whats on order for the next day. Way less stressful, loving it. 

Next saturday is Aran's, of Cannelle et Vanille, book signing and  cooking demo at Williams Sonoma in SF, anyone going? I'm going to head out to the city with my mom early that day to check out the farmers market then make our way up to Union Square for the signing at noon. Can't wait to go. Meeting Rohan, of Whole Larder Love, was beyond epic. Loving how all these bloggers are coming out with books and now I can actually meet the face behind all the amazing photographs.

Plum Cobbler
from Food & Wine

Filling:
4 lbs plums, in wedges
169g sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch

Topping: 
250g AP flour
85g cornmeal
169g sugar
2 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
228g butter, cold and cubed
6 oz cold milk

Oven 375F. Grease a 9x13 baking pan.

Toss plums with sugar and cornstarch, let stand while making the topping.
Whisk together cornmeal, sugar, ginger, baking powder and salt.
Cut in butter until coarse crumbs. ADd the milk and stir until moistened. 
Spread the plums in the baking dish and scoop out topping to cover all the plums.
Chill in fridge for 1/2 hour.
Transfer directly to the oven and bake for 1 1/2 hours. Topping should be golden and crisp. 
Let cool for about an hour before serving.

poppy seed, pistachio & pecan granola.

Ok, so this is pretty much the best granola I have ever had/made. I was up one hot night, mindlessly searching the internet because I couldn't fall asleep. Then I stumbled upon this recipe. Poppy seed granola. I thought it sounded interesting. I didn't know what to expect. Maybe it would be good. So I saw that I had all the ingredients and decided to whip up a batch. And I am so glad I did. It is crunchy, not too sweet and has a buttery taste. Make this. Now. Seriously. I just substituted in whatever nuts I had on hand, so feel free to do the same. 

I just got back from the long weekend with my Dad on our little road trip. Well I don't know if a 14 hour drive one way is considered little but we went to Idaho and back within just a few days. And coming back to work on Tuesday, I came back to the news that the other baker has put in her two weeks notice. So soon I will be left as the only baker. I found myself in this same situation last year. It took us what it seemed like months to find a replacement. Hopefully it won't take that long this time. I don't think I can handle that much overtime. So if any bakers are in the Napa area....

I also threw in some photos of some plums that were on the tree in my front yard. I picked tons down from the tree and was trying to decide what to do with them. Once I finally decided to make some sorbet, I went into the task of depitting them all. Only to find out that they weren't really any good. They were watery, really really watery. So much so that the flesh didn't really taste of anything and they just smashed to bits once I tried to get the pit out. So I ended up just giving them away, to be eaten by a cluster of backyard chickens.

Poppy Seed, Pistachio & Pecan Granola.
adapted from Food and Wine

180g rolled oats
64g chopped pecans
64g pistachios
78g AP Flour
100g brown sugar
2 tbsp poppy seeds
1 tbsp salt
114g butter
127g honey

Oven 300F.

Combine oats, pecans, pistachios, flour, sugar, poppy seeds & salt together in a large bowl. Stir till well mixed.
In a small saucepan, heat butter & honey until just boiling. Pour over mix & toss until combined.

Spread onto a parchment lined sheet tray. Bake for around 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Should be lightly golden. 
Then turn the oven off, leaving the tray in & the door halfway open. Stir every 10 minutes until completely cooled and crisp.

I've gotten a few emails lately about why I list the recipes in grams and not cups. Well, its because thats the way I bake everything. At work everything is always in grams and it's just so much easier and makes sense to me. Its a more precise way to bake, no doubting whether you packed the brown sugar in the cup too much or too little, forget what cup count you are on, etc.
It's just logical to me and I really recommend you use it too. Kitchen scales are way cheap, mine cost me only about 20 dollars and I've never had a problem with it. If you want to convert any of the recipes I use to cups, THIS website I have always found really handy. :)

little vanilla cakes

Summer is officially here. It is hot. Hotter than hot. 

Last night around 8, the temperature still clocked in at 95 degrees. I'm going through ice like a crazy person. 

So with the heat making me so exhausted making something that required any effort was a bit out of the question. I had recently found some odd like cake pans at the thrift store so I decided to use them to make little cakes. A vanilla cake, that could be topped with anything. The coconut was my favorite. I brushed the whole thing with a thin glaze, just powdered sugar, milk and vanilla then threw a bunch of shredded coconut over. The flavor reminded me of those old school cake doughnuts. Not too sweet and a nice crunchy outside.

Fourth of July is just days away and for the first time in a while, I don't have to work the holiday. I am going to be in Sun Valley Idaho! Random, eh? My dad's hobby is entering contests. 1000 a week is the goal. Yeah. So he often wins. You have to right, with entering that many? When its trips, its always trips for two. Which is great for my mom and dad but not always so nice for their two daughters. So when my mom couldn't get the time off work, I lucked out. My dad asked if I could get it off, my response was I'll tell them I'm taking it off, not ask. And a bit of aggressiveness worked and I now get a little mini vacation. 

We are starting the drive on Wednesday, going to stay the night in Reno then finish the rest of the drive on the fourth. We get to go fishing, which hopefully should be nice for photos, then I don't know, explore the area I guess. Then make the drive back home on Monday. A nice little mini break. Much needed. I the screen on my new fancy phone, so I'll have to commender my dad's iphone so I can instagram the trip.

little vanilla cakes

375g AP flour

281g cups sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

245g milk

170g oil, something neutral, I used grapeseed

2 tsp vanilla bean paste

zest of one lemon

oven 350

one 9x13 pan or divide among smaller pans

Mix dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder and salt) in one bowl.

set aside.

Mix wet ingredients (eggs, milk, oil, vanilla and zest) in another bowl.

Pour wet ingredients over dry and whisk until combined and there are no lumps.

bake 25-30 minutes for smaller pans, 55 minutes for 9x13 pan.

cool on rack for 15 minutes, remove from pan then cool completely on rack.

finish with a dusting of powdered sugar, glaze (powdered sugar, milk and vanilla), glaze then cover in shredded coconut or anything of your choice.

marble pound cake

Mondays are my first day back to work after my weekend. I start at 3am and only work with one other person for the rest of my 8 hours. An older man who is our dishwasher whom does not speak english. I do not speak spanish.

Despite our great age difference and language barrier, he is one of my favorite people to work with. We communicate in our own little way. We always say the same thing to each other every time he starts his shift. Hello, how are you? Good, you? Good. In spanish. Then it all transitions to unspoken communication. We always joke with each other, he pretends like he is going to knock over whatever I am measuring, pretends to grab what I am measuring out, etc. It's always fun.

I always make him baked goods. Whenever there is extra of something I made or testing a new recipe I give him it first. Then joke to my other coworkers Don Jose got his pick, now you guys can have the rest.

On Mondays, there is always a crazy mess of dishes left over from the weekend, ones that would take a seasoned pro like him hours. Then he helps me scoop my hundreds of cookies.

So on Mondays I always make him something special to take home. There has been banana bread, cinnamon rolls, a few cookies, normally just what we already make for orders. But today I decided to make him something completely different. An old fashioned marble pound cake. It one of those recipes I would call old school and have never actually made. I found a recipe and it came out amazing. Dense and buttery with a really defined contrast of dark and light.

So after it came out of the oven and I was showing off to him how pretty it looked, I shoved it toward him and said It's for you!
For me? he answered questionably. Yes!
Then I set it down to cool but there is still always that communication barrier that always means we really don't understand what each other is saying. So once it was cool, I wrapped in up and wrote a label on it with his name.

So as he was leaving he said again, For me?
Yes yes.
Oh thank you.
No, thank you.

Marble Pound Cake         

via Martha Stewart

406g AP flour

1 tbsp salt

454g butter, soft

450g sugar

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

9 eggs

59g cocoa powder

6 tbsp hot water

325F Oven. Butter and flour two 5x9 loaf pans. Set aside.

Beat butter and sugar together in a bowl with a whisk until light and fluffy. 

Add in vanilla then eggs one at a time.

Add in salt.

Gradually fold in flour with a spoon.

Divide batter into two. 

Combine cocoa powder and hot water, whisk until smooth.

Add into one batter portion.

Divide vanilla batter into the two pans, only pouring into onto one side.

Add cocoa batter to each pan on the other side.

Using a skewer or knife, gently swirl the sides together.

Bake for about 1 hour, until center of the cake is set.

Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

the weekend

This past weekend we went crabbing.

I had been once before. Long ago with someone else.

After waking up, way to early for my first day off in 8 day, we set out on the 1 1/2 hour drive to the water. A few stops for snacks and drinks, then we finally made it to the jetty.

Gathering up all the gear from the truck then we made the climb across the rocks to find the perfect spot. One that wasn't already full of people. I immediately laid down on the rocks and basked in the sun while he set up the traps.

It was a continual checking of all the traps every 10 minutes or so, while I was not helpful at all, just laying down or taking photos of everything. I do not kill crabs. He does.

I was more impressed by the seal that kept swimming by, while all the crabbers hated it since it would steal all their bait or their catches. 

I was proud of the seal.

After spending about 2 hours out their, he already had a backpack full of crab, still moving around everywhere. So after the mini trek back to the car, they got dumped into the cooler with a bit of water.

We drove through the little town of Bodega Bay. We stopped at one of the Kites and Taffy stores and stocked up on sweets. After some coffee, we drove up the coast trying to find a campsite that wasn't full.We didn't have much luck at first. Everything was full and the ones that weren't were pretty much parking lots somewhat near the water. 

We ended up driving the 30 miles up the windy coast highway to Salt Point Campgrounds near the town of Jenner. The sites were all tucked away better the trees it was the perfect place. Their sign said 'campground full' but we went to talk to the rangers and see if something opened up. With a little 'magic' on their end and the promise of crab from us, we got a campsite.

After setting up the tent, the slaughter was looming. They all got chopped in half then cleaned out I guess. It was one of those horrifying but fascinating experiences for me. So weird I couldn't look away, or stop taking photos.

They got boiled in salt water with hot sauce and butter. 20 minutes in the pot and then they were ready to eat. 

I had a salad.

He started not to feel well so we went to lay down for a bit. It was only 6pm. We ended up just falling asleep, only to be awaked hours later to raccoons eating all of our bread and scavenging through my taffy. 

After he cleaned up and I went back to bed, we woke up at 6am. 12 hours of sleep it was a bit much.

A crab frittata for breakfast then we were on the road. We drove a different way back and made a few stops. A few by the Russian River and one to walk around Calistoga. 

Back to work the next day. He went home with still a mountain of crab to eat.

the next morning.