Thanksgiving. This year has given this holiday tradition and word all new meaning for me. In years past, I admit I did not get into the holiday spirit as much as I could have–(or would have liked too because I love the holidays). My family went through some pretty hefty transitions over the past decade–kids moving out (and back in and then out again) of the nest, divorce, marriage, death, and moving; all major and stressful life-transitions a person or family can go through.
It was a confusing time and difficult to understand, much less swallow. Thanksgiving dinners always seemed to get stuck in my throat–I couldn’t let anything nourishing or warm into my heart, because it hurt so much. But honestly, if we hadn’t been through those dark days, gone through the hard times, and seen the darker aspects of ourselves and life, we wouldn’t be who we are today. And from all of those major occurrences, I now know that it wasn’t just me who has grown. This thanksgiving was healing in that way.
I went across the country back home and had two thanksgivings–one with my mom and her family, one with my dad and Kim, my stepmother, and her family. I didn’t cook this year–which was actually a big challenge for me. But I realize it wasn’t about the food or what it tasted like, much less what exactly was being served. It was about (re)connecting, (re)affirming long time bonds, and being with people whom I have loved indefinitely for my whole life. The food was only an excuse–a catalyst–in a much larger, much deeper familial healing and ritual.
I also realized that my parents, in their own quirky ways, have given me so much. I know it isn’t uncommon to focus on the more annoying qualities of the people who raised you–I do it all the time! And there is even an old saying: No wonder our parents can push our buttons; their the ones that installed them in the first place. So true! But something this thanksgiving happened–like a shift of some sort–and that nagging, tugging, not-so-nice feeling I get in my gut or heart when I start to get really annoyed with them seemed to switch on something new: what if I was to look at my parents beautiful qualities, just as people? Strip away the history of flawed parenting, hurt feelings, and easy button-pushing, and just see them? This is what I saw and realize I am so thankful for in them:
Dad–his positivity is infectious, he sees the bright side and tells you about it; he will encourage you, even if he doesn’t understand exactly what you are trying to do but he does understand it means a lot to you; he loves to learn and isn’t afraid to tackle something new; he’s a mover and is really active, he loves walking, exploring, and getting out; he is fun to be with and super social; he always has a smile for you, always–and it’s a big one.
Mom–she doesn’t sweat the small stuff; she loves to have fun and has taught me the importance of doing things I love; she has a great artistic eye and knows how to make a space feel like home; she loves foods that are nutritious and simple and introduced me to this way of eating at a very young age; she isn’t afraid to try new things; she always has a story to tell; and she loves going places like the museums or the theater.
Kim–she’s been a successful business owner for the past 23 years which is hugely cool; and she loves my dad.
Food is easy for me to do. Eating, creating, and making are not challenges for me, or where the real art was for me this time around. Rather, it was the people I was with that I focused on this time. They were the ones who posed challenges which allowed me to creatively reconnect myself with them and with my past. The food, for once in my life, became secondary.
Image via here (because I didn’t get a chance to take a snapshot of this before it was eaten!)Cranberry Upside Down Cake, via The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters
*I did make this cake for my thanksgiving dinner at my mother’s, per her request which I was all too happy to comply. She found this recipe in the November issue of Eating Well, one of her favorite magazines.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Measure into an 8-inch cast iron skillet or if you don’t have one, just use a small sautee pan. (You can bake the whole thing in a round cake pan with a removable bottom if you don’t have the cast iron skillet–that’s what I did and it worked out great).
4 tablespoons butter (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
Cover over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the butter melts and starts to bubble. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Heat together in a small saucepan:
2 3/4 cups fresh cranberries
1/4 cups fresh orange juice
Cook until the cranberries just start to pop. Remove from the heat and our evenly over the cooled caramel (in the cast iron skillet or the sautee pan).
Separate:
2 eggs, at room temperature
Measure:
1/2 cup whole milk, at room temperature
Measure and stir together:
1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
In another bowl or in a stand mixer, beat to lighten:
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
Add:
1 cup granulated sugar
Cream until light and fluffy. Beat in the 2 yolks, one at a time. Stir in:
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
When well mixed, add the flour mixture alternately with the milk, starting and ending with one third of the flour. Stir until the flour is incorporated. Beat the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Fold one third of the egg whites into the batter and then gently fold in the rest. If using the cast iron skillet, pour the batter directly on top of the cranberries and caramel mixture and then stick the whole thing in the oven. If using a round cake pan with removable bottom, scrap the cranberries and all the caramel goodness into the cake pan first, then pour the batter over it. Don’t worry if it doesn’t spread to the edges, it will while it bakes. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan. Invert onto a serving plate and enjoy with some rum or vanilla flavored fresh whipped cream!
Happy Thanksgiving!
The past weeks have been full–full of experiences, firsts, and learning new things. September was a rare month where I had an amazing opportunity to really begin working on realizing my dream of becoming a small business owner. So that’s all I’ve been doing really! Creating a business plan, working on a website, etc, etc–basically a crash course in business! It has been so interesting but also a ton of work. I am not complaining–I have a side of me that compulsively really loves to work. But I have been so in the midst of this that when I finally looked up and looked back at what I’ve been doing, I couldn’t help but be excited and a little surprised 
.
The official launch of this new endeavor will be happening early next week and I can not wait! It is so gratifying–and even a little scary–to see your dreams come to fruition. I sometimes have to pinch myself. I will make a special announcement about it right here, so you’ll know all about the new launch!
In the meantime, I found myself flipping through some of my cookbooks after the event I did up in Seattle. The day after a big event like that always lets me feel a little deflated–not in a bad way, but just those initial transitional moments of winding down from something big can be trying. Something I do to help segue those moments is to bake something and keep my hands busy. I find that when I am done, it is so much easier for me to focus and reflect on the previous event. I learn all that I can from that experience and apply it to my next events–and it is a nice way to find closure after something so big.
The spiced pear cake was one of the best things that have come out of my kitchen in months, I swear. It is super moist and fluffy, spicy, with a variety of textures that come from the pieces of pear, the moist cake, and the crumble topping. (Dad–I’m making this over the Thanksgiving holiday for all of us, you’d love it:). This cake will turn any fall day–sunny or rainy–into a great fall day! When I bit into it, I thought “THIS tastes like fall!” It has a home-like flavor, something about how the spices mingle with the pears and fill your entire house with a lovely aroma. Sure, there are many tastes of fall. For some reason though this taste resonated differently–it was softer, subtler, not like biting into a crisp apple, that kind of fall taste–but rather it was sophisticated and warming, all in one. The spice pear cake cake calls for a few friends, neighbors, or family members to enjoy it with you too (make it and you will smell/taste/know why 
. It is a social cake that will grab the attention of your guests (and you) when they are least expecting it! And they will be forever grateful for this slice of fall-heaven. So will you . It is just that good.
Bon Appetit!
Pear Spice Coffee Cake,
adapted from Beth Hensperger’s The Bread Bible
Crumb Topping
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter
Cake
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs
2 pears, peeled, cored, and finely diced, preferably Bartletts
Preaheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease the bottom and sides of an 8-inch springform pan.
Make the crumb topping: In a medium bowl combine the sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or just using your hands until the mixture forms coarse crumbs.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and spices. In a different large bowl using an electric mixer, combine the sour cream, butter, and eggs. Then combine the wet and dry ingredients until smooth and creamy. Fold the pears in, mixing until distributed.
Pour batter into the prepared pan, smooth out the top, sprinkle with the crumb topping and place on the center rack in preheated oven. Bake about 55 minutes to 1 hour (I had to go about 15 minutes longer, but I am quickly finding that my oven in my new place is not true to what it tells me the heat temperature is…). When a toothpick or butter knife is inserted into the center and it comes out clean, the cake is done. Let it cool for about 15 mins in the pan. Remove the sides and let cool completely, or in my case, eat while warm (amazing!) and serve thick slices with tea to your friends. Enjoy!
One of my very dear friends, the lovely Chelsea, had a birthday last week. I decided a while back that she needed a surprise party–but a surprise party that was especially about her! So I set about making it happen. It was so much fun because she has so many fun interests and wonderful qualities. It was hard to pick just one. Chelsea is an artist, designer, and a wonderful gardener. She spends hours in her garden delicately tending her nasturtiums, lettuces, figs, and squash. She, like many of our generation, has had a pretty mobile life–moving from one place to the next, across the country and back, then back again, looking for a place to be for a while. But each place she settles, roosts in for a while, she immediately starts growing things. Sometimes they are in pots and if she stays for a while longer, they get a piece of her yard. Gardening grounds her. It is a way that she literally places roots in a place for herself. Therefore, the food that she eats inexplicably connects her to the very earth she lives on in that place.
Taking this love of gardening, I asked each guest to bring a botanical-reinterpretation of her. I was thinking of those old Victorian era associations and meanings they had with flowers: if you give someone a yellow rose, it means friendship, etc. One friend brought a daisy crown (perfect for Chelsea’s obsession with wearing floral crowns!), another a hand-made pin of an over sized sunflower (mirroring the ones in her garden) that she can wear, and another a painting done with scented oils. I made her a cake .
For her cake, I went with the never fail Mary Todd Lincoln recipe for a lovely white cake. This cake is amazing, light, and aromatic. I usually omit the almonds in this recipe so Andrew can eat some, but I do add extra vanilla in its place which I believe to be even better! Chelsea loves all things vanilla and really doesn’t like dark chocolate. I wanted the cake to resemble a garden of sorts (making dark chocolate perfect for icing–to resemble healthy dirt!) but I knew this would not do. So, I compromised and made a milk-chocolate french butter cream frosting. Then, I dusted the top of it with cocoa to give it a bit more of an earthy look . I even raided her garden that afternoon and clipped some lovely nasturtiums, Thai basil, and chamomile to decorate it with. Flowers on a cake always bring out the inner-fairy. When we eat flowers, it usually has nothing to do with nutrition of our bodies. Rather, it is more of a decadent act; it makes you feel special in ways that other foods can not, feeding other aspects of our selves. Flowers nourish the spirit .
On the table, I drew her favorite flower, the Paper White and wrote quotes from different poems about gardens and gardening. Some were really funny. Others, were quieter, more soft, and beautiful. I also made a ratatouille (it doesn’t get much more vegetable heavy that that!) out of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, some toasted slices of baguette with olive oil, and a nice, fresh ricotta mixed with fresh thyme herbs and sea salt. We ate it all!
Mary Todd Lincoln’s White Cake
Adapted from “Lincoln’s Table” by Donna D. McCreary
Ingredients
1 cup blanched almonds
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
2 cups granulated sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup milk
6 eggs, separated (best when eggs are cold)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Confectioners’ sugar
Method
Using a food processor or a spice grinder, pulverize almonds until they resemble coarse flour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a Bundt cake pan.
With an electric beater or stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light yellow in color and fluffy.
Sift flour and baking powder three times. (I don’t make a rule of this practice, but with three cups of flour, it seemed like a good idea to incorporate some air and help make this cake as light as possible.) Fold flour mix into creamed butter and sugar, alternating with milk, until well blended. Stir in almonds and beat well.
In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until they have stiff, firm peaks. (Use egg yolks for another use – French toast, possibly?) Beaters must be washed and dried thoroughly before whipping egg whites or they will not stiffen properly. Fold egg whites gently into batter with a rubber spatula. Add vanilla extract.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for one hour, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Cool for at least 20 minutes before inverting, then allow to completely cool before serving. Sift confectioners’ sugar on top.
Makes about 12 slices.
Italian inspired and wonderful any time of year, this cake…well…takes the cake! I made it for a dinner I had last night with my aunts, uncle, and little cousin. I was first introduced to this cake by my friend Chelsea. She spent a few summers working different farms in Italy and first ate it there. When she got back, she found the recipe in Nancy Silverton’s Pastries from La Brea Bakery.
Recipes are like 100 year old sourdough starter–they come with stories and memories, have been slightly changed by time and handling, but have always been intricately and intimately part of people’s lives by the time they reach you. Once you have that recipe, it becomes a part of your life too, putting your story on it’s map–part of a history and continuing into the future.
With this olive oil cake, I imagine tasting Tuscan hillsides, hard work, sleepy kitchens, and sprightly conversation. I can see it eaten in big wedges from a large farmhouse table, people hungry at the noontime meal, as well as dainty ladies stopping for a mid-afternoon tea, picking up each small piece without the use of her pinkie. The taste of this cake is cross cultural, bi-lingual, and ageless. You make it in one bowl, with one spoon, and eat it in big slices. It is so good you might just finish the whole thing in a day. Don’t say I didn’t warn you .
(you can see the tiny flecks of orange zest, yum!)Olive Oil Cake with Orange Zest, by Nancy Silverton
2 cups + 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cup whole milk
1 cup + 2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons orange zest (about 2-3 oranges)
Sift together all the dry ingredients in a bowl. I usually just throw them all together then fluff/whisk them all together with a whisk. Make a well in the middle, add eggs, milk, and olive oil. Stir with wooden spoon to combine, add the zest and stir until mixed in. Pour into a round baking pan that has been buttered and floured. Bake for about 50 mins or until toothpick comes out clean at 350 degrees F.
I like cake, sometimes I sometimes even dream about it. I do not put more importance on cake than any other sweet, but it does have a special place in my heart. I used to be intimidated by the cake, it’s fickleness in how it would turn out used to stop me short of letting myself make one. It’s different from the cookie where the butter, eggs, and milk need to be a room temperature where as cookies are best when the dough is kept cold (or even refrigerated for a few days prior to baking). Not to get too scientific on you, (but this stuff fascinates me!) cold butter has a shape, even if it is ‘creamed’ into the batter. The tiny shapes of the butter allow for more air flow and tiny pockets for breathing, giving your cookies life and softness. If the butter is warm, the fats do not take a shape, rather they are more blob-like and don’t allow for the necessary air flow to get through the cookie. The cake, however, needs that blob-like consistency because there are other ingredients which help form and give the cake that lightness we all love (like milk, egg whites, and usually a little more baking powder than a cookie).
My good friend Leela (who is also a very talented cook, photographer, writer, teacher…well, she pretty much does everything! and has a great blog to boot:) is getting married in a week! She is getting a box of these cupcakes for some good ol’ fashioned comfort food before she flies off and becomes a Mrs! I am so happy for her and D. They are both such wonderful and talented individuals, their marriage will only strengthen their awesomeness and make this world an even better place .
Vanilla Bean Buttermilk Cupcakes
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
¼ cup butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1 vanilla bean, cut lengthwise and tiny vanilla beans extracted out with your thumb nail
1 cup buttermilk
Preheat oven to 350F. Place liners in a 12 cup muffin tin.
In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until it looks creamy. Beat in the egg and the vanilla and almond extracts until mixture is smooth. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until almost combined. Add buttermilk and stir, again, until almost combined. Add the rest of the flour and stir until all ingredients are mixed in.
Divide batter evenly into muffin cups.
*optional: add one raspberry, strawberry, blueberry (whatever berry you fancy!) to the top of each cupcake before you put it in the oven. It will sink to the middle and will become a nice surprise when you take a bite from it when they are done!
Bake for 18-20 minutes at 350F, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. When they are done and slightly cooled, I dabbed a tiny bit of honey on each cupcake top to keep the single raspberry on top to stick. Then dust a little powdered sugar on top for a wonderfully, light, and fragrant summer cupcake!
Makes 12 cupcakes
Cheers!
The summer solstice has been in full effect bringing a wave of energy and lots of things happening with it. That’s why it was so wonderful to be able to hang out, cook, and eat with a big group of friends a few nights ago. Leif Hedendal was back in town so he, my friend Lauren (the big bread baker!) and myself hosted a small gathering of peeps and food. Held at Lauren’s house right in the heart of the Mississippi neighborhood, we wanted to eat outside in the lovely June evening air. So we pulled most of her tables from around the house together on her breezy side porch to seat everyone. It was pretty magical, course after course was brought out of Leif’s wonderful food and there was ample good conversation, company, and wine to be had as well.
Leif made a farrow, snap pea, herb, and hazelnut salad, red lentil soup, grilled up a bunch of fresh veggies like garlic-scapes, zucchini, and asparagus, a cherry clafoutis, and we had a team effort making the chocolate truffles. Lauren made fresh bread and two versions of homemade butter with different salts: one a more smokey salt, the other a flaky sea salt. This meal was like a breather amidst a busy storm. It just reestablished how important it is for me to pause and enjoy things in the moment and there isn’t a better way to do that than through food.
Cherry Clafoutis
I made a apricot honey cake that was delicious. It had that rustic flavor that comes with what fresh fruit and a little whole wheat in baking bring. It was something I imagined a farm wife in Provence would serve her hungry family with a dollop of lavender whipped cream. The honey infused with the apricots as they sank to the bottom of the cake while baking (like an upside down cake), making a beautiful caramel-like layer along the bottom and a shimmering honey glaze on the top of the cake. It was the perfect June dessert!
Honey Apricot Cake (inspired by Molly Wizenberg)
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour or ground pistacios
1 cup unbleached flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
5-7 ripe apricots, washed, halved, and pitted
local honey
Set an oven rack to the middle position, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9 inch round pan.
If you use pistachios, use a food processor to finely ground them. To test if they are fine enough, take a pinch between your fingers; if they feel too course, keep going, but if they feel fine, like sand, they’re ready.
Otherwise, in a bowl, add the 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour, regular flour, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt, and pulse once or twice to mix.
In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and vanilla, beating well after each addition. Add the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk, mixing at low speed to just combine. Do not over mix.
Using a spatula, pour and spread the batter into the prepared pan. Arrange the halved apricots cut side up on the top of the batter. Using your finger, dollop some honey in the center of each apricot half. Bake until a toothpick comes out of the center clean, about 35-40 minutes. The apricots will have sunk into the batter, but don’t worry: they will reveal themselves like little presents in each slice! Serve with a dollop of lavender whipped cream either warm or room temp.
Bon Appetit!
Last night we celebrated my birthday with a few close friends and a ginormous cake (which I made, but of course!). I insisted on making my birthday cake which actually became the catalyst for having a party at all. I knew I wanted to try something over the top, like with three tiers, Italian meringue butter cream icing, and edible flowers. I also knew I wanted each of my guests to come away from the party with a little something, why not give them something that relates directly to what I was most excited about? The cake! So I made “to-go” boxes for each of my guests so they could take a slice of this special cake home with them. The boxes were screen printed on both the front and inside. On the inside is a description of the history of the birthday cake, why it is round, and the tradition of candles on top of it! It was so fun to do, I love learning/doing things like that.
The cake itself was a simple white cake. I used one of my favorites, the Mary Todd Lincoln white cake and doubled it to make the tiers. The icing is a bit more tricky and have only learned how to do it with practice and messing up quite a few times. An Italian meringue butter cream icing involves boiling the sugar with some water until soft-ball stage (approx 238 degrees F) then pouring in a slow and steady stream into your stand mixer with whipped egg whites. Once that has cooled a bit, then you add (a LOT) of butter. This icing, unlike traditional butter cream, does not taste like a stick of butter. It is lighter (due to the egg whites) and more fluffy, but still holds its shape and taste quite wonderfully.
Sometimes I swear chocolate has magical powers. And I mean this in the most matter of fact ways. Yes, there have been studies which prove the chemical reactions that happen in people when they eat chocolate, but that is the last thing I am thinking (or feeling) about when I have a chocolate craving.
Chocolate, in it’s purest form, is something of a treat for me. I use chocolate as a compliment in many things I make. However, something solidly chocolate is not usually on my baking rounds. But ever since making this cake a few months back, it has become my turn-to, catch-all, never-fail chocolate recipe.
I first read about this cake in Molly Wizenberg’s book, A Homemade Life. The cake is called Winning Hearts and Minds Cake, and boy does it ever. Not only does it win hearts and minds, but bodies and souls as well. It is easy to make and perfect to freeze; it is dense, rich, and amazing. It has won me over in totality not just as a woman who appreciates good chocolate but as a baker and a person with a busy schedule.
Tomorrow I am going to be needing to win over some hearts and minds at my oral defense. I couldn’t think of a better ritual to prepare myself for such an event, thus making this cake. Sometimes it is imperative to woo oneself before one tries to woo others; what I mean is if I don’t feel great, my audience certainly won’t feel great after the presentation either. And this cake makes me feel fantastic. (I wish I could serve it at the defense…that would be amazing!) Alas, I can not, but must speak for 30-40 minutes about my work, my journey into eating design, the how, what, and why I am doing what I am doing, get questioned and finally graded on my efforts. Public speaking has always made me nervous! But this time around, I am feeling more ready than ever. This is such a great opportunity for me to share and celebrate in what I have done in the past few years, explain to people and bring them in, giving them entry and maybe even excite them about it .
Well I accomplished the first step by winning over my heart and mind (and made a chocolate cake to go with it). Tomorrow it’s time for step two: winning theirs (sans the chocolate cake). Wish me luck!!
The Winning Hearts and Minds Chocolate Cake, Molly Wizenburg
7 ounces (200 grams) best-quality dark chocolate
7 ounces (200 grams) unsalted European-style butter (the high-butterfat kind, such as Lurpak or Beurre d’Isigny), cut into ½-inch cubes
1 1/3 cup (250 grams) granulated sugar
5 large eggs
1 Tbs unbleached all-purpose flour
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, and butter an 8-inch round cake pan. Line the base of the pan with parchment, and butter the parchment too.
Finely chop the chocolate (a serrated bread knife does an outstanding job of this) and melt it gently with the butter in a double boiler or in the microwave, stirring regularly to combine. Add the sugar to the chocolate-butter mixture, stirring well, and set aside to cool for a few moments. Then add the eggs one by one, stirring well after each addition, and then add the flour. The batter should be smooth, dark, and utterly gorgeous.
Pour batter into the buttered cake pan and bake for approximately 25 minutes, or until the center of the cake looks set and the top is shiny and a bit crackly-looking. (I usually set the timer for 20 minutes initially, and then I check the cake every two minutes thereafter until it’s done. At 20 minutes, it’s usually quite jiggly in the center. You’ll know it’s done when it jiggles only slightly, if at all.) Let the cake cool in its pan on a rack for 10 minutes; then carefully turn the cake out of the pan and revert it, so that the crackly side is facing upward. Allow to cool completely. The cake will deflate slightly as it cools.
Serve in wedges at room temperature with a loose dollop of ever-so-slightly sweetened whipped cream.
I made little mailer packets as my show card(s) for the year end show. They were really fun to do! I screen printed everything, so they all have that nice tactile feeling of the screen print paint-ink on the different papers. I used a nice textured paper for the mini-bread (ha! my favorite) and on the back of it, it says “copain…”, index cards for the red circles of information, and Rolodex cards for my personal info. I then wrapped the cards in newsprint and used the stickers that will be used in my show to seal the home-made envelopes.
Along with the book I just printed for the show, I am also curating an experience-design piece by a London-based designer, Alexandre Bettler. When I discovered what he was doing, I could not stop thinking about it.
“The Bread Friend Map is using bread to improve communication. It is based on the French word for friend, ‘copain’, describing someone you share your bread with. Co-’ standing for ‘with’ and ‘-pain’ for ‘bread’, a friend is someone you share your bread with, and is the level of communication explored for this project. For Gradual, each visitor is offered a slice of a single piece two meter long rye bread, everyone sharing a slice of the same bread. In return, you are asked to add a sticker with your name on yourself and one on the Bread Friend Map, and to trace (dotted line) the link to anyone you know on the map. This will show your connection to other people who you shared the bread with. If there is anyone you fancy, find his/her name on the sticker s/he is wearing and use the map to connect to her/him or any other visitor in the room, everyone being the friend of a friend. The shorter the bread goes, the bigger the map becomes and more friends there are. It reveals the process of design – the physical act of creating – through generating and experimenting rather than finishing and polishing the work.”
For months, I would go back to the Bread Friend map, mull it over, and revel at how it not only connected with what I was doing and believe in pertaining to design, experience, and food, but how it connected on so many other levels as well. First, the entire basis of the Bread Friend Map is that it is all about connections and watching them happen in real time. Second, the map speaks to processes, in particular, the process of design and it’s ebb and flow of many participants, users, and ultimately, people as designers. Third, the connection that the BF map will make between two countries/cities/communities is really neat. Everywhere the BF map is done, it will look, grow, and feel different. This is because no two places are alike, the BF map becoming a visual representation for the differences but also commonalities we share as people. And last, the amazing connection of the internet. I found Alexandre via the web and if either of us did not have a website with our work on it, we may not have ever had the chance to share experiences like this. That is one of the neatest things I think .
As I continue to formulate my ideas around what it is I do, community is one of those things that I keep coming back to. Sometimes that word, I feel, is abused. It’s like the word sustainable, or green. It’s a buzzword that we all have an idea about what it means, but actually holds different meanings for different contexts. I define community as a group of people who share something in common: it could be anything from living on the same street or in the same country, working in the same profession, your children go to the same school, sharing in the same hobbies, or going to the same place for breakfast every weekend. Even for me, community means something different each time I think about it. But what I find most interesting about community is the individuals who make up our communities, because the individuals themselves can belong to multiple communities. Something that I’ve been exploring, especially with The Favorite meal series, is the individual who makes up our communities. I will continue to do these Favorite Meals, amassing a bunch of them while looking for connections or patterns in how we belong, interact, and change the communities we reside in. Let me know if you are interested, I am looking for a few people to do one this summer. You don’t necessarily have to be local either, that could make things really interesting!
So it all comes back to connections: what they are, how we find/make them, who is involved in the connecting, and the ways to communicate in order to make those connections are all of deep interest for me. This particular series in my Eating Design process has been about connecting people with themselves and with others. It has been so fulfilling to know more about myself throughout this process but also be able to create a framework for others to do the same.
I made that sweet potato cake again the other day. Sheer comfort food! And was it ever comforting:). I am warning you though, you may not be able to stop eating it, so if you make it, have some place to take it to or have some friends over. It’s great with coffee or tea as the nutmeg compliments both drinks. I’m going to go eat some right now. Cheers!
For the past few months, I have found myself cooking and baking more frequently at Andrew’s than my own place. There are many reasons for this: his place is very central, located downtown he lives about three blocks from the main building of my school and where I do my screen printing projects; I live with five people (including myself) in a huge old 1920′s house in a great neighborhood in NE Portland, however it’s a few miles bike ride from most places I need to be; and sharing a kitchen (that is most of the time pretty messy just because of the sheer numbers using it) with five people can be a bit of a trial. I tried not to let it get to me, but when I started doing a few baking projects at Andrew’s, I realized how much easier it was when I did not have to clean the kitchen before and after I did a project. Sweet! Plus, sharing my baking treasures with him is so much better and much more fun than with anyone else! He’s a good taste tester .
This brings me to the ergonomics of baking in his kitchen. It is not much bigger than a postage stamp and I work with only two utensils: a wide metal bowl and a wooden spoon. Most of the time, I find myself “creaming” the butter and sugar together with my hands, getting really messy and kneading the batter together (super fun!). I didn’t even think twice about what I was doing until one day I was telling my friend Chelsea about it. She laughed and said, you’ve got to write about that! And the more I thought about it, the more I realized how strange it is these days for any cook or baker to have only a few tools they use in the kitchen. I mean, kitchen utensils are addicting! (don’t let me near a Sur La Table or William Sonoma!) I am sure many of you have plenty of gadgets and tools around our kitchens that lay dormant for most of the year, if not for years. But we may find ourselves going back to our same favorite bowl, spatula, and pan to cook and bake with endlessly. I know I do, despite having many odds and ends around the kitchen. I do own a hot pink (yes, that’s right, it’s hot pink!) kitchen aide mixer that I am just waiting for the motor to burn out one of these days from it’s overuse! However, it has gotten a good break for a while. I foresee some quality bonding time with my mixer in the near future. Perhaps after my oral defense! A baking flurry will be in the midst .
I made banana bread again. This is a great recipe! Especially when you need something comforting while you are practicing for your oral defense…
Cheers!
