Novel Eats

Don’t hesitate to make this moist, rich and sweet dessert – a perfect complement to coffee or tea.

If you were to ask me what my favorite food is, I’d probably reply – without hesitation – that it is steamed artichokes with a bit of lemon butter for dipping. It’s rather interesting, especially since there are so many ways you can devour them, but so far for me this is the way to eat an artichoke.

Farm season is well upon us again, which means we have been getting fruit for a few weeks now in our local community supported agriculture program. We have participated in our local CSA for a few years by getting vegetable shares, but last year another farmer joined in the fun and was providing us with fruit, so we got a fruit and vegetable share last year. Holy cow. We got some of the most amazing fruit, so much so that this year we’ve said good bye to the vegetable share (Good bye! Perhaps we’ll see you another year!), and said hello to two fruit shares.

The first couple of weeks we didn’t get a whole lot of fruit, but the last couple of weeks we’ve gotten more than our share (hehe) of peaches and plums. As soon as I saw the peaches I couldn’t think of anything else but when I was growing up next to Grandma.

This post is a few weeks after the fact, but it was really so nice to be home for the Fourth of July. I started a new job a few months ago, so I am still at the beginning of accruing vacation and sick days. When I left my last job I was very sorry to see all the days I earned go (although I did get my vacation days in the form of a nice check). So now, I have to be careful how many days of anything I take, and when there is a holiday that the company gives, I find myself appreciating it so much more.

Anyway, we didn’t do anything lavish or go see fireworks, although if you look out the window in the right direction you’ll see some fireworks through some trees off in the distance (yes – we have trees in NYC!). But I did make the usual big meal, which translates to – too big of a meal for two people, but a lovely amount of leftovers for a couple or three days. We had corn on the cob (a requirement of the holiday if you ask me), homemade bread, chocolate pie, and potato salad.

Ever since I saw what this month’s challenge would be with the Daring Bakers, I kept trying to decide if I would do it or not. It wasn’t so much because it was challenging and time consuming. It was more about the fact that I’ve already gained a couple of pounds recently and it was clear this was going to be a calorie-filled pastry. Sure, I can share my creations with other people, but usually my husband and I willingly devour what we make.