Campout

This weekend, after saying we were going to for more than a year, we finally took our tent trailer camping.
Let me emphasize the finally.
See, we bought this thing more than two years ago and this was it's maiden voyage. Well not maiden, since the thing is from the 1960's and has, as is evidenced by it's many many patches, seen many a camping days. But for us it was our very first excursion with her.
It isn't like we haven't tried. Will bought the trailer, which is a crazy cool 1964 Heilite Valient (we think) for a Mother's Day gift for me when Evie was a baby. I had been angling for a tent trailer for years. It's how I'd grown up camping and it seemed like the perfect combination of ease and roughing it with kids. Will had resisted, claiming that it was whimpy to camp with a trailer of any form until he ran across a photo of a Heilite, and the lure of "cool and vintage" trumped "man with a tent". I would like to be one of those hard core campers. The ones who pack in everything on their backs, have special soap and freeze dried food and hike all day. But you see, just thinking of hiking kinds makes me want to crawl in bed with a good book. And until (and probably long after) my kids can pack in their own gear, food and tents, it's wimp camping for me.

So there we were, bitchin tent trailer, willing kids, beautiful Oregon campgrounds aplenty. And then we moved. And just the getting ready for moving and selling the house took up most of that summer. And last summer. Well, I'm not even sure what happened. We did go camping once but couldn't get a hitch that fit our car (three hours of my life spent on the phone with Uhaul trying to emphasize the difference between a Volkswagon WAGON and a Volkaswagon SEDAN "You have a Volkswagon" "yes, a Volkswagon WAGON" "right, a Volkswagon four door sedan." "No a Wagon!" "right, a Volkswagon, sedan" -not my favorite moment) And by the time we got a hitch made for the car it was just too hot to camp.

I do love camping. I can't remember many childhood vacations that didn't involve camping or hanging out at my Grandparents Cabin in Northern California. I'm sure we camped because it was the least expensive form of vacation available to us, but I'm glad we didn't have the money to jet off to France for the summer (although that would obviously have been lovely) because I think those many many weekends of roughing it were some of the best of my life. Except maybe for the one time it was like 110 degrees and we ended up going to see Dances With Wolves in a nearby town because it was the longest movie we could find in the blissfully air conditioned theatre. But come to think of it, even that time was pretty memorable.

So when our Dinner Club decided on a camping trip for the July get together we were gung ho on board. Nell and Steve kindly let us camp out at their property up near Sherando Lake since, being Fourth of July weekend, we weren't likely to get three spots together at any campground in the country. Camping at their place was even better since they are renovating an old farm house there and have already installed kitchen appliances and a bathroom. It was even better to be near a house when it poured down rain Saturday night and into Sunday. Nothing like a rainstorm to break up a campout, unless you can move indoors for breakfast and then sit on the covered porch, coffee in hand, and watch the kids run around screaming in the rain.

The perfect end to the perfect campout. Good friends, good food, great card game (Oh Hell or Dammit depending on your name preference) and tired kids who slept all the way home and then some.

We are the Kings and Queens of Pizza

Last night, after a few delays and a trip to the emergency room earlier in the day for one of our party, our supper club got together for our May dinner. (Don't worry, only a minor eye injury, everyone is fine!)

We almost forgot about it, well, really, we didn't realize it was coming until Thursday morning during the bus run. So with only a little time to spare for planning we decided on pizza. But not just any old pizza's. We decided to try pizza recipes we'd never attempted before. So, much to Will's disappointment, no pepperoni (wimp!)

I have to say, I think I'll never look at pizza the same way again. In fact, I know it. I've been through a similar experience before. Right after high school graduation I spent three months living on the island of Sardinia in Italy. (I know, rough life) It was an unreal kind of summer. Did you ever watch the Gidget movies? Well, my life was pretty much Gidget Goes Abroad that summer. Sitting on the beach, singing songs, playing guitar and, oh yeah, the pizza. The first time I went to eat pizza in Italy, I actually ate before hand because I had never been a big pizza fan and I thought I'd just have a small slice. So when it turned out that everyone got their own pizza, and I don't mean a little personal pan pizza type thing, I mean a big old pizza, all to ourselves, I was a little overwhelmed, but not as overwhelmed as I was when I tasted it.

I literally spent the first two years of college not eating pizza because I knew it just wouldn't compare. Yeah, I was the only college kid who never ate pizza. It took me a long time to even think of ordering pizza in America again, and I'm still pretty snotty about pizza being good, so when I say what was made last night was great, I mean it was GREAT.

Each family brought dough and toppings for a pizza. I won't give you a rundown on pizza dough because, well, who makes their own these days. Our local grocery store actually makes a pretty decent dough that we use all the time, including last night.

The three pizza's that appeared on the table last night were a roasted egg plant and red pepper pizza with marinara sauce and feta cheese. A shredded zucchini pizza with caramelized onions, herbed goats cheese and olive oil (no red sauce, just the oil for a base) and a divine fig and prosciutto pizza that Stephanie pulled from a Todd English cookbook. Now, as we know, I love figs. So anything with the word "fig" in it is just fine by me. But this was honestly one of the best things I've ever eaten in my life. It's a little time consuming but TOTALLY worth the work. And the hard part, the fig jam, could easily be doubled (or tripled or quadruples, it all depends on how much you love it !) and frozen for future use, in which case the pizza would be a snap to whip out. Even Will of the "I only like pepperoni" school of thought liked it, actually he liked them all, which just goes to show you sometimes funky and weird can be better than normal.

Fig and Prosciutto Pizza

adapted from Figs Table

First you need the fig jam:

1 teaspoon canola or vegetable oil

3 shallots, diced

1 cup red wine

1/2 cup chicken stock

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves

1/4 cup sugar

1 rounded cup dried mission figs, quartered

Saute the shallots in the oil for about three minutes, until soft then deglaze with the wine. When the liquid has reduced by half add the stock and the vinegar and again, reduce by half. Add in the rosemary and sugar and reduce heat, stirring gently, until the sugar has dissolved. Add the figs and cook for about 10 more minutes on a low heat. It should still be fairly runny, not a true "jam"

Now you can make the pizza. You'll need

1 ball of pizza dough (the original called for a pizza stone but we used a pan)

2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

2 pinches salt

2 pinches freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves

1/2 cup Fig Jam

4 ounces Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled into pea-sized pieces

3 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto

1 scallion, thinly sliced lengthwise, for garnish

Roll the dough out and coat with oil. Sprinkle the garlic and rosemary evenly over the oil. Dollop the jam around the pizza and then spread slightly. Crumble on the cheese and then top with prosciutto. Bake in a 450 degree oven. Check the pizza at the 5 minute mark and decide how crispy you want the crust. If the crust is thin or you don't want it very crispy, you may only need another minute or two, otherwise put it back for another 5 minutes. Garnish with the scallions and dig in!

The waffles! Oh the waffles!!!

After weeks of rain and far to cold for my taste weather, we woke up Sunday morning to find the sun shining. Beyond the fact that I had some major much spreading, weed clearing, onion set planting to do, the sun was a welcome treat because our little cooking/dinner group had decided to have brunch this month and Sunday was the day. Evelyn and Briton got to wear new spring outfits picked out by my mother when she visited last week so they looked sparkly and bright and we were bringing Mimosa's which, frankly, are the best way to start of a sunny Sunday.

Steve and Nell had thoughtfully brewed a huge pot of coffee AND made plain waffles for the kids so while they ate, we chatted, woke up with some excellent strong coffee and watched Steve make the most WONDERFUL waffles I've ever had. The other Steve, who arrived on crutches due to a bicycle accident a few days prior (when his bike slammed into the first Steve's car, as a matter of fact, I tell you, this is a SMALL town!) and Stephanie had made a beautiful fruit salad with strawberries, blueberries and kiwi. And can I just say, I love a fruit salad that has loads of the good fruit, you know what I mean. I'm always a little disappointed when a fruit salad has like ONE strawberry cut up into tiny bits and the rest is grapes and banana. Not that I don't like grapes and banana, I love them, but I REALLY love strawberries, blueberries and kiwi, so Stephanie's salad was perfect!

In addition to Mimosas, we also brought along some gin and had Champagne Fizzes from a recipe I found in Will's old Bartenders Bible. I was sorely tempted by a drink called Skip and Go Naked, but it contained a lot of pink things, in fact, I think it was described as coming out hot pink. And while my daughter is a big fan of pink, it just didn't seem like a first thing in the morning kind of drink.

But Back to the waffles. I'm a huge waffle fan. WE had them all the time as a kid and up until this weekend, I had though the best waffles in the world were the street waffles in Paris with their thick, almost yeast like dough. But I think I've moved onto greener pastures. These were seriously good. We ended up with a choice of blueberry, maple and huckleberry syrup but honestly, I think they would have been awesome on their own as well. Steve used a Belgian Waffle Maker but I imagine it would do just as well with a regular one. I hope so, because I plan to try it out when Will's family visits week after next.

Gingerbread Waffles

2 Cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 Cups fat free buttermilk
3 T canola oil
3 T molasses
2 tsp finely grated peeled fresh ginger
2 large egg yolks
4 oz applesauce
3 T minced crystallized ginger*
2 large egg whites

Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup and level with a knife. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and stir with a whisk. Combine buttermilk, oil, molasses, fresh ginger, egg yolks and applesauce in a small bowl and then add to dry ingredients. Stir just until combined before adding crystallized ginger

Beat egg whites at high speed until soft peaks form and gently fold into batter

Coat waffle iron with cooking spray and preheat, spoon about 1/3 cup per 4 inch waffle and spread to edges. Cook for 5 minutes or until steaming stops.

*Crystallized ginger is really expensive if you buy it in the spice aisle at the grocery store but is pretty affordable if you buy it in bulk at the health food store. I've also gotten big packets of it in Asian food stores.



Champagne Fizz

3 ounces orange juice
3 ounces champagne
1 ounce gin
1 ounce lemon juice
Serve cold

Really, this is just a mimosa with a ounce each of gin and lemon juice. So I made a pitcher of mimosas and then set out the gin and lemon juice so people could choose.


Also, on the subject of waffles. One of our favorite weekend lunches is waffle sandwiches. We used to go to a great waffle sandwich stand in Portland but since we're here, we have to make do with homemade versions. Our favorite combination is gouda, maple syrup and bacon but we've also done muenster and breakfast sausage, ham and cheddar and peanut butter and jelly which is simply divine.

In Good Company

I have no excuse for writing this almost TWO WEEKS after the fact. All I can say is that the night of this dinner it snowed and kept snowing which made me want to hole up and read and play cribbage and THEN the sun came out, WAY out and gave us almost five days of summer weather and I went outside. The good news is that I got our back yard cleaned up from the winder doldrums and rolled out 400 square feet of sod so we'll have actual grass this summer instead of wispy bits of green in a sea of dirt. The bad news is I haven't been blogging. Well, now it's snowing again. And this time, it's nasty dirty slushy snow not pretty go out and play snow, so I'm writing. Granted, Evelyn is, at this moment sitting it my lap singing "Twinkle Twinkle" and trying to keep my fingers away from the keys so she can play, but I'll give it a go.

So..... A long long time ago (two weeks this Sunday) in a galaxy far away (known as Steve and Stephanie's house up the road) we had the inaugural dinner for our new cooking club. Stephanie and I have been talking about it for months and finally set a date to get us started (thank you Stephanie for making me just DO it!) The idea was that we would get three families together, each family would bring ingredients for one course of a meal and we'd cook while the kids played. For the third family we asked our neighbors Steven and Nell and their daughter Mei Ling. Steve and Nell, besides being excellent cooks (as I know from experience, best moussaka I have EVER had!) are some of the nicest people I know so it was a great group that gathered at Stephanie's that night. Steve and Nell brought fixings for stew which Steve proceeded to cook with that professional flair you see on the food network and I can only dream of. Stephanie and Steve provided salad and bread and wine (and their house!) and Will and I brought ingredients for a blood orange curd tart.

We spent a few hours cooking and chatting and laughing and sipping wine and then sat down to a truly fantastic feast. It was, I think, the most enjoyable dinner party I've ever been to. Eating with friends is fun, cooking with friends is a riot of fun. I cant wait for the next meal!

With Steve's permission I took notes about his stew, hopefully I didn't miss anything in the midst of the wine and conversation!

Beef Stew a la Steve

3 lbs chuck steak, fat trimmed and reserved, cut into cubes
3 boxes beef stock
3.5 pounds of potatoes, peeled and chopped
3 cups mixed chopped carrots, onions and celery
1 bay leaf
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb mushrooms
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 bag of frozen peas
1 cup ketchup
cornstarch

Saute the meat in batches, rendering the fat and then removing the chunks. Steve did this in a frying pan and added the meat to a big stew pot with the stock and potatoes in it as each batch finished. In the same frying pan saute the mirepoix (veg :)) and add to the pot with the bay leaf. De glaze the pan with wine and add the liquid to the pot. stew for a bit then add mushrooms, ketchup and a tablespoon of cornstarch mixed with a little warm water. just a few minutes before serving add the peas and season to taste with salt and pepper.

This was a wonderful stew! Rich without being overly heavy and perfect for a snowing late winter night.

Blood Orange Curd Tart

I got this recipe out of Nigella's How to Eat and overall it was good. I thought the tartness of the orange was a good paring with the stew. BUT If I were to make this again I think I would do half oranges and half lemon and I would use all white sugar because I felt that the brown sugar overwhelmed the flavor of the orange a little bit. Also, I make lemon curd in the microwave rather than a pan as the recipe calls and next time I would follow that procedure because I think it's faster, easier and produces a better result, but for posterity, I'll give you what I made that night. Originally the recipe called for Seville Oranges but, although it was February and theoretically the season for them, I couldn't find them and so substituted blood oranges.

3 whole eggs
2egg yolks
1/2 c white sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
juice and zest of 5 blood oranges
10 T butted cut into cubes
1 pastry shell, blind baked (I used a purchased pie crust that I baked in my tart pan. I've almost given up on making pie crusts, my hands are just too hot to get a good result)

In a sauce pan whisk together the eggs, yolks and sugars until amalgamated (Nigella's word, not mine) Be sure to scrape the sides clean as you stir. Add the juice, zest and butter and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Do not allow it to boil. Pour into pie crust and chill till ready to serve.

So again, I think I would do all white sugar and maybe 3 blood oranges and 3 lemons. I'm also going to include my grandmothers microwave Lemon Curd which is super easy and great on toast, scones and I would imagine, in this tart.

1/2 cup bitter
2 c sugar (white)
3 yolks
3 eggs
juice and zest of 3 lemons

Melt butter in microwave safe bowl. Stir in juice, zest and sugar until well mixed. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and yolks and slowly add to the butter/sugar mixture. Microwave for about 10 minutes, stopping every thirty seconds to a minute to stir vigorously. It will reach a jelly like consistency. Cover and chill. This looks so pretty in small jars and makes great gifts. You have to store it in the fridge since it's not processed like jam. My notes say that it keeps up to 2 months in the fridge but we generally eat it all long before that!