berry season!

Here in Virginia it has been raining like it is going out of style. It’s been a little bit of a drag for summer outings, but it has been GREAT for the wild berries that are suddenly growing absolutely everywhere! Steve, my sister, and I have been picking them like maniacs. We’ve seen neighbors out noshing, and birdies, and no doubt all sorts of nocturnal creatures are indulging in them as we sleep and STILL, there are SO MANY! Nature can be so generous!

Let’s think about how overpriced berries are at the grocery store, huh? High fives all around when we can pick them in the wild! Sure, there’s a lot of sweating… and there are brambles, so you should really wear longer legs and sleeves on your clothes… which is just as well since there’s also a lot of poison ivy around. Still, it’s FREE NINETY NINE!

Here’s the work of, oh, half an hour? (With, yknow, a little of the yield skimmed off the top in the form of snackage in the field)

   

Shining like beautiful jewels! The raspberries are quite abundant and the blackberries are still coming into season. So. stoked.

 

Steve and I spent a really adorable afternoon walking in the sunshine picking berries and then getting hilariously soaked when the aforementioned crazy rain appeared once again. Apparently it wetted my camera, which ruined the next few pictures. Blurry though they are, I have to share this fab breakfast.

We begin with:
- Wonderful farmer’s market yogurt
- Whole flaxseeds
-Rolled oats
-Almond butter

  

Then atop, you guessed it, big handfuls of ripe and delicious raspberries! Note: the berries are delicious but a bit tarter than the ones you’d find at a grocery store. They’re also a little seedier. I think this makes for a wonderful texture in yogurt bowls but I found it unpleasant when I added them to a smoothie. Just FYI.

 

Hanging out in a bowlful of dry rice restored my camera. Phew!

Something I’ve done twice now with these beautiful berries is make a beautiful pie!

And, shocker of shockers, I have a RECIPE! A legit RECIPE! For the first time in MONTHS! It’s adapted from Mark Bittman, natch, but I put enough tweaks on it that I can call it my own.

Berry-Buttermilk Pie
Adapted from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, by Mark Bittman

1 pie crust (I used a packaged one we had leftover, which is why it looks so BUSTED. The traditional pie crust was great, but you can also do a crumble type crust. See below for variation)
3/4 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup half and half
3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1/2 cup minus 2 T sugar
pinch of salt
heaping 3/4 cup of your choice of berries (I used a mix of raspberries and blackberries)

Generously poke the bottom of the pie crust with a fork, then bake the empty pie crust at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, until just lightly golden. Let it cool a bit while you prepare the filling.
Meanwhile, whisk together eggs, egg yolks, salt and sugar in a large bowl. [Tip: my pastry chef cousin taught me something important. Don’t dump the sugar on top of the eggs, or it’ll cause the eggs to get all clotty and coagulated. Instead, whisk continuously and gradually add the sugar as you whisk.]
Then, in a saucepan, heat together buttermilk and half and half on low heat until they begin to steam. Remove the pan from the heat. Add a small ladleful of the hot buttermilk mixture into the bowl with the eggs and whisk vigorously until combined. Then pour the egg mixture into the pan with the rest of the buttermilk mixture.
Get your pie crust, and scatter the berries all around the bottom, in an even layer. Then pour the buttermilk filling on top. NOTE: you will have more of the custard mixture than you need for the pie unless you are using a deep dish pie dish. You can put this mixture into ramekins and make custard at the same time as the pie if you wish. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the pie crust, on top of the berries, only until it is about 1/2 an inch under the top of the pie crust. Do not add any more than this or it will be impossible to get the pie in the oven without spilling, plus it’ll rise over the top.
Carefully put the pie in the oven and bake for about 40 minutes, until the middle is mostly but not quite set (it will cook a little after you remove it from the oven).

    

Note that when I made this beautiful fresh pie a second time, I used only raspberries (because the particular field I was picking in that day did not yet possess ripe blackberries). For the filling, I was lazy and out of eggs so I used Bird’s custard powder to make the custard. Howeeeeeeeeever, for the crust I kicked it up a notch and made a homemade crust. I’m kicking myself for not measuring, because it was wonnnnnnderful, but it contained approximately:
- 2 handfuls of walnuts
- 1 big tablespoon of cold butter
- 1 tablespoon or so of white sugar, plus another 1 or so of brown
- say 1/3 of a cup of oats?

I prebaked it in the same manner, then filled it, and WOW it was good. It had the texture and richness of those crumbly raspberry bars, but it wasn’t too sweet and it had the creamy custard and… mmm… Just it was good. Just trust me.

The day I made the pie was a crazy day because I saw not one but two of my friends’ babies! And by my friends, I mean my peers! One I’ve known since 7th grade, one since 9th! First I enjoyed salads at Sweetgreen with my friend Lauren, who had a sweet little girl named Aimee about six weeks ago. Then for dinner, I joined my friend Virginia, whose wedding I posted about in this blog, and her family. She has a 15-month-old named Charlotte (who’s walking and chatting and an absolute joy to be around) and is pregnant with her second child (!!!!!!!!!)

This is all a long way of saying that I told her to eat lots of pie because it had walnuts in them and omega-3’s are good for developing babies.

Back to the original pie. Original piecrust. My family thoroughly approved of this goodness.

It was delicious. Due to it being (vaguely) red, white, and blue, I brought it to the fourth of July celebration with my family. We enjoyed it after this fab dinner:

My once-a-year hot dog, corn on the cob, Georgian beans, a giant pickle, and the most exciting thing to the lower right hand of the plate. I’ve had papas huancaina, a heavenly Peruvian spicy potato and egg dish at La Limena, a Peruvian restaurant in Rockville and then made at potluck by my Peruvian friend David. Well, my aunt tried her friend’s version and loved it too, obviously. So she took a stab at it and PEOPLE OF THE WORLD: you have to try papas huancaina. My aunt is proof positive that one can google it and find a scrumptious recipe.

As usual, this blog post is all over the place with its train of thought. Returning to the wild fruit with which it began, I inquire the group: are these wild grapes?

They were growing on the same path as the berries. We aren’t complete lunatics and didn’t eat any, but we did break them open.

Any horticultural experts out there?

southern fried birthday

My baby sister graduated from college, turned 22, and recovered from knee surgery. So we had a party. Summer parties are the bessssst because you can set things up outside.

Let me tell you, trying to fit 18 people on our deck involved some exciting furniture movement. Thanks boyfriend, for bringing that extremely heavy bench up from the backyard with me! There was also rearrangement of the plants that usually take up most of the deck. An attempt to use a mosquito defogger resulted in some leaf trauma. Blessedly, they seem to’ve recovered.

Foodwise opted for a decidedly non heart healthy Southern theme. The menu included:

- Pulled pork barbecue on buns
- Coleslaw
- Creamed corn with bacon
- Cornbread
- Pimiento cheese with veggies (SO GOOD!)
- Green bean casserole
- Green salad
- Various pickly guys, in a vain attempt to contribute a flavor that wasn’t fatty :)

And then there was a whoooole saga with the baked beans that were also meant to be served. In that they cooked for like 15 hours and showed no softening whatsoever. Bizarre.

Anyway, it was still a heavily laden table. Because when we invite over 18 people, we make food for 50. Just in case.

    

Everyone knows you have to put the coleslaw on top of the pork, or there’s just no point.

My plate.Yknow, minus the gobs of pimiento cheese I’d already consumed. The cornbread was a definite highlight. So sweet and creamy and moist it was almost like little squares of corn pudding. There were lots of diabolical leftovers calling me from the kitchen at all hours.

 

Malindi’s godparents were nice enough to get her TWO cakes! One for birthday and one for graduation, I spose. Chocolate, pictured below, and a lovely lemon one as well. They were bee-yoo-tiful!

On Malindi’s actual birthday, I made her pancakes (by which I mean I got up four hours earlier than she and left pancakes for her in the toaster oven). Then I cursed a blue streak in my head prayed to the heathen chemistry gods suffered through took my organic chemistry final.

Blessedly, it was over. I went on a wonderfully carefree shopping spree for my sister. I’m proud of many of my purchases (a Snuggy magnet, attachable snakeskin gel nails, etc.) but the item I knew my sister would both love most and use a great deal was:

Yep. Then Malindi was off hittin’ the club with her friends that night, so I joined Steve’s cousin and we headed off to Freddie’s Beach Bar, the gay bar that employed my boyfriend for a few months this summer (he has now departed). It was a BLAST. There was karaoke! I sang Every Rose Has its Thorn. Naiiiiiiled it.

Since we’re discussing birthdays, why not include a belated Mother’s Day update? Sure! Our tradition is to get Vietnamese food, specifically banh mi at a great deli not too far from our house. Tragically, the last time I ate banh mi I was receiving injections of a medication that caused me to be intensely nauseous. So my stomach needs a little while to bounce back. BUT, I thoroughly enjoyed a Vietnamese iced coffee and the desserts we brought home to share:

 

On the right is a dish that’ll be familiar to some: it’s just coconut sticky rice wrapped around banana and steamed. That coconut milk by it is for optional dipping- highly delicious.

As for these taco-esque looking items…

A rice wrapper contained layers of rice and sweet bean; some sort of mysterious pancakey thing and coconut. The secret bringing it all together was the little baggie on the right, which contains sesame seeds, salt, and sugar. The combination of flavors (and the sesame crunch) elevates these little tacos to excellence.

Easter, etc.

Cookies!

 

Inquiring minds who want to know: oatmeal date nut cookies, which are already vegan, can also be made gluten free. They’re just a little crunchier and snappier, and who minds that?!

I baked those tasty things for a church choir potluck. For Easter! It being June as I write this and Easter, of course, not being a June holiday, let me clarify. I celebrate Orthodox Easter (the Easter of the Orthodox Christian church- if you have Greek, Russian, Lebanese, Romanian, etc. friends it may be theirs, too) and it’s on a different calendar than Catholic and Protestant churches. So it was a LOT later than American Easter. (Though, er, still awhile ago).

So anyway this Easter potluck was so we could practice the complicated and difficult music. Except only five people showed up (and two of us were related). So it was not all that successful, except the food part!

Making the food was actually a fun challenge since for food to be Lent-appropriate, it should be vegan (I don’t eat totally vegan during Lent because of calcium fears, but many in my church do, and the food served at the church itself should be supportive of the church’s official policy, obvi).

It also had to be gluten free (or should be, out of kindness) because both our church’s choir director John and his wife Betty have Celiac disease.

Also, Betty for charming reasons best understood by her had come up to me in the middle of church one Sunday and handed me this pad thai sauce container:

I appreciated her gift, and figured I might as well use it on something I could share with her.

So I cooked up some rice noodles, made some tofu:

threw in some veggies:

And voila, pad thai. Ish. No final picture- it was ugly. But good!

And we also brought, of course, dessert.

But the really exciting dessert was a week later, on Easter itself. Something I have allllllllllways wanted to make? Olive oil cake!

I discovered this scrumptious-sounding if ever so slightly vague recipe for olive oil cake and mostly followed it (subbing a mix of white flour, whole wheat, and semolina for the plain flour) then consulted this overly complicated but methodologically clear olive oil cake for timing (which caused me to let the cake rise for two hours before baking it) and anyway it was great!

Heat some olive oil

Infuse with lemon

 

Plus anise seeds (mm)

 

The recipe wasn’t clear whether or not you were supposed to strain out the seeds, and I thought a few might be nice to help retain the flavor, so I casually poured the oil mixture in the batter, leaving behind the lemon and approximately half the seeds in the pot.

Batter was SUCCULENT! Could’ve eaten the whole thing with a spoon. So dense and creamy.

Baked that off- it didn’t rise much but it was real tasty! For the finished cake, I improvised a glaze which involved orange marmalade thinned with water- not a lot more complicated than that.

This ended up REALLY good.

 

Meanwhile, right before Easter, we received a VERY generous Easter basket from a very sweet family friend. It contained this GI-NORMOUS sweet, almond-paste-studded Easter bread.

   

And the Easter celebration itself was at my sister’s godparents’ home. They had gotten a lot of it catered. The spread was quite beautiful.

 

They had requested that all the lamb be cooked well done (…) I snuck into the kitchen with the caterers and begged them to save a medium rare bit for me. They obliged, and were very very nice :)

My dinner plate:

Blessedly medium-rare lamb with scads of tzaziki (definitely eyes>stomach on that one, but Steve was nearby so all was good), grilled vegetables (done by caterers- EXCELLENT! Perfectly cooked!), spinach and cheese pies, roasted potatoes that were wonderful, and salad. And wine! Gave up booze for Lent. Such a worthwhile thing to do. I’m no lush, but I only want to drink when I feel like drinking, not when everyone around me is. It was a useful exercise in mindfulness.

Spent much of the meal lounging by their pool, looking at their e-normous house!

 

Believe me when I say this barely scratched the surface on dessert. Phase 1 was enjoyed poolside.

Gazillions of berries, koulourakia (traditional Greek cookies), some of my olive oil cake, one of Steve’s oatmeal-toffee cookies.

classy valentines

Though Steve and I have been together more than 2.25 years (!) we still get to learn all kinds of fun new things about each other. Like Steve is ticklish if you poke him under the ribs in just the right way, and other important things that will allow me to victimize him.

And there is still something very fun and exciting about going to a snazzy new place with someone, especially this glamorous locale.

 

True story: I am NOT a fan of Valentine’s Day. Like I hate other Hallmark holidays. While we’re on the subject, I’m disgusted by wedding expos and public proposals, and excessive quantities of Facebook posts using the word “husband” (no joke, I starting hiding all posts from a certain friend).

However, Steve is a true believer in love and destiny and all of those things, and is thus more tolerant of the ersatz expressions of love all around on Valentine’s Day because he still believes in celebrating the real thing.

Thus, our fancy fancy dinner!

You know you’ve got class when a restaurant is only named in numbers.

2941 is literally the classiest place you’ll get in the DC Metro area without actually going to DC. Well… okay, Beyonce and Jay Z stayed at the Four Seasons at Tysons (whaa? In a mall. Beyonce you are so above that. I would have let you stay at my house and renovated it in your honor and put in some kind of throne). But I still think 2941 is classier.

The outside is goooooooorgeous, on a lake (a fake lake, but cmon, it’s Northern Virginia, all the lakes are fake). There are koi ponds and enormous windows.

We were seated near an architecturally interesting and wonderfully warm fireplace, as well as a… geodey kind of thing.

  

Because of class schedules, we actually went out for our classy Valentine’s Day meal on the 15th, which ended up being kind of brilliant. No paying absurd prices for food that in all likelihood is probably worse than a typical day, no awkwardly overhearing the lovey dovey conversation of the couple next to you because they shove in so many tables for V-Day.

The menu was classy…

… unlike Steve and I, who were snorting under our breaths at “fingered citron”.

Bread arrived and was stupid good. STELLAR crust, with lots of seeds and things. Wonderful lightness within, even in the whole wheat! I have a special place in my heart for restaurants who take a stab at whole wheat, and they succeeded.

 

So the reason we were able to swing this classy classy restaurant was because of a Google Offer. I would never in a hundred bazillion years allow my boyfriend to drop the kind of bank required to swing the regular menu items.

For that Google Offer, we got a small bite and an appetizer to share, and two entrees.

The “small bite” was both of our favorite item!

Per the menu, Mushroom Tartine ricotta, sauteed mushrooms, parsley and garlic.

Well menu, WELL, what you neglect to mention is the TRUFFLE OIL ALL WHIPPED UP IN THAT AWESOMENESS!

Super awesome toasty crusty bread, heaven-truffle-cheese-whip, mushroom heaven, herbs. We were happy, happy campers as we ate this.

 

Now, let me mention our waiter, in that he was awesome. All of the waiters were, like, grownups there. And our guy was the most hilarious, charming, amusing, attentive without being hovering guy. I suspect he makes MAD TIPS.

So we told him we were just soooo overwhelmed by the delicious sounding menu and wanted to order all of these things, and he gave us our expertise.

Which is how we ended up with a half order of the pasta for an appetizer.

Butternut Squash Agnolotti fried Brussels sprouts, Parmesan cheese, fingered citron

 

Our waiter said the pasta was good but a little one-note with the sweet, creamy filling, and it was better to get as an appetizer portion. That made sense to us, and I was shocked how large the portion was for an appetizer.

The highlight of this? The BRUSSELS SPROUTS. They had this rich, intense, meaty flavor that was just crazy good. Our waiter saw us salivating us and went, “Aren’t they good?!” and we were like, “Yes! Yes!” and so he starts telling us how they make them:

“… So they deflower the brussels sprouts…”

Chortle chortle chortle. Steve and I are just incredibly immature. We belong together.

Round about this time we decided that a special meal should involve a special drink. And, quite honestly, I am such a lightweight that one drink generally goes right to my head, and Steve finds me to be a charming and amusing drunk. Eesh.

Anyway, I got an exceedingly exciting cocktail. I can’t find it on the online menu, but it involved gin, a French liqueur that was sort of herb-y, lime, and a hint of cherry (I had assurances it was not excessively sweet, which it wasn’t).

Glamorous.

Steve got a glass of Malbec, and I was glad to switch with him midway through the meal as I felt a bit wobbly.

As for the entrees, we got two to share.

Lobster Fettuccini Fideuá style, lobster ragú, saffron, pimento, chorizo

and

Grilled Rockfish squash, quinoa, salmoriglio sauce

And honestly? Not all that exciting. Good, well cooked, high quality ingredients, yadda yadda. Just nothing to write home about. Honestly, I find that to often be true at fancy restaurants. The chef uses up all of his or her creativity on the appetizers and the entrees were just, meh.

Both had their thumbs downs and thumbs up. The pasta tasted too distinct from the sauce it was in; my understanding is that it’s the common practice at restaurants to blanch the pasta before service but then finish cooking it in its sauce, and this didn’t taste like that had happened. However, the sauce, once the pasta was gone, was fab-u-lous and we sopped it up with a ton of bread. Meanwhile the rockfish was cooked well but didn’t have any particularly vibrant flavor; however the quinoa and vegetables it was on top of were peppy, flavorful, and texturally interesting.

Fortunately, we had to order dessert. Because it was Valentine’s Day! You HAVE TO!

Because our waiter was just generally so awesome, we told him we wanted a dessert to share and to bring us his favorite.

Ohhh, yes.

Chocolate Pecan Bar pecan shortbread, dark chocolate mousse, malted milk ice cream

Once it arrived, I actually remembered having read rave reviews of the fancy dessert that looked like a chocolate bar. HEAVENS this was good. Subtly salty cookie base, rich and wonderful dark chocolate mousse atop, intense shell that was still smooth (not hard like ganache gets). Heavenly. And then on the side, those little brioche bits that I swear tasted like classy french toast sticks. And that ice cream! Delightful.

A final adorable dessert note.

Cheap it isn’t, and the entrees weren’t earth-shattering like the rest of the food; still, for the sheer glamour of the experience- the gorgeous surroundings, the immensely likeable staff, and the dishes that DID wow us with their inventiveness- it was a wonderful, wonderful evening.

Happy V-Day kid.

(Final confession- all the giggling about double entendres in the menu? That was all me)