wanderlust and appetite

...and, back in Copenhagen!

2011-10-18T23:17:00.000-07:00

After several days of day tips, I settled back into Copenhagen for my final 3 days of vacation.

Friday was (comparatively) nice and warm, and I wandered through the Vesterbro neighborhood on my way to meet my exchange-sister Helle, who lives in Copenhagen (and has an adorable 4 month old!) at Meyer's Deli. A large part of the appeal of Copenhagen for me was the opportunity to visit with Helle, so I took advantage of that with walks through town, lunch, and dinner at her place the night before I came home. It definitely made the trip all that more special!

There were a bunch of fun shops and art galleries in the area (I bought a lot of gifts), so I was almost late to lunch! Meyer's Deli is a mix of a cafe, grocery store, and a take-out deli/bakery. It's owned by the superstar Danish chef, Claus Meyer, who is probably best known at the moment for being co-founder of Noma (voted best restaurant in the world in 2010 & 2011).

We got a table and I sampled the meatballs with lingonberries (yum) and a plate of sliced red deer meat with berries and their fantastic rye bread. Beautifully presented and tasted great, too. Also had a fantastic cafe latte, which made me happy.

lunch!

After eating, I browsed the store and bakery, which were loaded with top-knotch products that would temp any foodie. I couldn't resist the cherry dessert wine (Frederiksdal Kirsebærvin ’Sur Lie’) and raw licorice powder - I'm not planning on using them at the same time, but you never know).

the inside of Meyer's Deli store

After eating, we took a long walk back through town, with a shopping stop at Illum Bolighus, which is loaded with danish designed home wares. Evil, evil store, it could have eaten most of my bank account if I hadn't had to worry about, you know, emptying my bank account of breakable stuff I'd have to carry on a plane. Still, it was very fun to drool over the beautiful things!

As darkness started to fall, we took our leave and I headed back to the hotel to put on a few more layers before venturing out for a big night on the town.

I randomly ended up booking my trip so that I was there for Kulturnatten, the one night each year where pretty much everything in Copenhagen, from public buildings to museums, is open until midnight. Some, like the Danish Parliament, only open to the public that night. It was really, really packed and a lot of fun. It was also the only time I felt a little lonely, because it really wasn't as fun alone as it would have been with a friend. but such is life of an intrepid world traveler - I managed to recoverwith a bacon-wrapped hot dog (with fried onions and pickles - bliss), beer, and a flødebolle (soft whipped egg whites covered in chocolate) each from a different food stand.

flødebolle, a very traditional Danish treat

My adventures that night included watching a girl stacking milk crates 20+ high under herself while standing in a long line to see the inside of Parliament, the Paul Gauguin exhibit at the Glyptotek, and, best of all, randomly wandering into some sort of Danish Ren-Faire village (blacksmiths! leather trousers! candy apples! get your name written in Elvish!) that was somehow combined with a troop of Confederate soldiers, who later took part in a full-blown American Civil War reenactment, including a cannon (I can't make this shit up, people). I wandered into a lot of buildings, saw some cool art, and generally enjoyed being out and about. If you ever have a hankering to go to Denmark in the fall, I'd highly recommend timing your visit for Kulturnatten.

In the morning, I got up and decided to head to the Cisternen glass museum in Søndermarken park. It is, literally, an old underground cistern (water storage) that has been converted into a museum exhibiting Danish glass artists. The glass was just ok, but the museum was really cool - very dark, with water all over the floors and dripping down from the ceiling.

Entrance to Cisternen museum

Afterwards, I wandered round the park for a while, and then slowly headed back towards them ore central part of the city. I found a really cool store, designer zoo, where I confirmed my love for Danish design. I managed to restrain myself, more or less, and continued on my journey. I ended up in Nyhavn, where I had a quick lunch.

Nyhavn

After Nyhavn, I wandered around a bit and then made my way to Conditori La Glace, which was founded in October 1870 and claims to be the oldest confectionery in Denmark. The place was a mob scene, but I managed to find a table and place my order (in the wrong sequence, apparently). I was having a hard time deciding among their gorgeous offerings, until I saw the Det Gyldne Tårn (named after the iconic tower in Tivoli) - rhubarb compote, white chocolate lemon cream, lemon meringue on almond layer cake. It was a no brainer- I love rhubarb & had to try this cake. Let me tell you, it was oh-my-god-amazing. I ate teeny tiny little bites to try to make it last longer. Too soon, it was gone into my belly.

Rhubarb and lemon cake from La Glace. I thought I had died and gone to cake heaven.

So, I'm (not) ashamed to admit I ORDERED ANOTHER PIECE OF CAKE AND ATE IT, TOO. I was on vacation & yup, I'm a glutton! It had been so long since I'd have a truly fantastic European cake I just couldn't help myself. This place definitely brought back memories of my first trip to Europe, driving around in Germany with my parents & stopping for cake a couple times a day.

The second cake I tried was the , which is the specialty of the bakery & is made of crushed nougat, whipped cream, macaroon and choux pastry balls (like a creampuff). I have to admin I wasn't enamored with it. too sweet for me, plus it was a lot of cream. Good, not great.

Sportskage

In a bit of a sugar shock at that point, I went back to Illum Bolighus & the shopping district and managed to complete the bulk of my Christmas shopping. Yey, me!

At this point, it was getting on towards 7pm and I was feeling a little footsore and tired, so I went back to the hotel to deposit my purchases and take a break. My plan was to head back out to dinner, but I was so stuffed from my cake orgy that I decided to skip dinner and just hang out at the hotel.

My tiny, but very comfortable & functional room @ Wakeup Copenhagen

Sunday morning, I got up and pcked up my luggage - I had an early flight on Monday morning so had decided to spend the night at a hotel close to the airport with a free shuttle service. I checkedo ut and placed my luggage in a locker provided by the hotel, and then headed off to freetown Christiania to explore the unique neighborhood. It was pretty closed down and deserted on a Sunday morning, but it allowed me to wander around and take in the unique architecture.

Christiania gate

I also visited the Church of Our Saviour (Vor Frelser Kirke), also in the Christianshavn city district,

the tower of Vor Frelser Kirke offers great views of the city

Then, it was back into the center of town for the last of my sightseeing.I visited the Danish Museum of Art and Design and walked to the Amalienborg Palace. i made a few stops on the way - including another stop at La Glace for rhubarb cake and tea. It was practically empty, since all of the shops are closed on Sundays, so that definitely is the time to visit. Still just as good the second time.

the Royal Library


Old Stock Exchange, with a dragon tail twisting around the spir						e

Frederiks Kirke, popularly known as Marmorkirken (marble church)

It was getting on towards late afternoon, so I headed back to the WakeUp Copenhagen, picked up my bag, and took a cab to the new hotel. After checking in, I went to Østerport station to meet Helle. We had a nice dinner & visit at her house. I was really happy to get to spend time with her and little Leah.

Copenhagen is beautiful and a great place to visit. I particularly loved my day trips, both Helsingør and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art were standouts. The food was amazing overall, and Geranium was worth every penny. Denmark is very, very expensive, though - I'm still having sticker shock even thinking about the prices ($5US for a bus ride. $5 for a hot dog. $12 for a beer. Yow). i'd also highly recommend Wakeup Copenhagen, the room was small but well appointed and I loved the ambiance, wifi, and warm bread at breakfast (although the coffee was horrible).

Helsingør & the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

2011-10-14T21:56:00.000-07:00

Another day trip, this time to Helsingør (known as Elsinore in English, courtesy of William Shakespeare) & then to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk. I decided to visit Helsingør first, because the museum is on the way back to Copenhagen and is open until 10pm.

Outside of Denmark, Helsingør is mostly known as where Hamlet was set. However, the town is a lot more than just a fictional characters castle!

Due to the fact that it sits on one of Europe's most strategically important straits, Øresund, Elsinore was once one of Denmark's most important cities. During the 15th century, King Eric of Pomarania build two fortifications; Krogen in Elsinore, which would later become Kronborg castle, and Kernen (Kärnan) across the strait in Helsingborg, Sweden (which was part of Denmark at the time). He also imposed the Øresund tolls on passing ships, which they had to pay at the docks of Elsinore, and this led to most of them using the city for provisioning.

I took the regional train for Copenhagen, which is about a 35 minute journey. I bought the wrong kind of ticket and had to get off the train at the first station to buy the correct one (or get a huge fine, oops). so much for relying on the advice of the online guide.

Helsingør train station

The train station was built in 1891, and is in the same style as the Rosenborg Palace.From the front of the train station you can see the castle clearly.

Kronborg Castle

Kronborg Castle was built in the 1420s, and suffered a fire that destroyed everything but the current chapel. In 1585, Kronborg was rebuilt by Frederick II into a magnificent star-shaped Renaissance castle. The castle was added to UNESCO's World Heritage Sites list in 2000.

Maritime Museum, designed by Bjarke Ingel

The city is in the process of renovating the old shipyard directly adjacent to the castle. The plan is to add public spaces, museums and cultural venues designed by some of the country's top architects, including the Maritime Museum by Bjarke Ingel.

outer moat of Kronborg Castle

I proceeded to walk about 1k to the castle entrance. The castle is guarded by a good-sized moat and fortifications, some of which have been altered over the years (part of the renovations are to restore the castle walls closer to the original state).

Looking back into town from the bridge over the first moat

Once inside, there is a cafe and quite a few artist workshops and galleries, outside of the second moat guarding the castle proper.

the inner part of the castle

I enjoyed browsing around the artists workshops & stores before heading into the castle proper.

There are artist workshops and galleries on the castle grounds

The interior moat. They were serious about defending this place!

View over the sound to Sweden

Helsingor is only 2.5 miles from Sweden. In this photo, you can see the Swedish coast across the sound.

Bridge over the inner moat

The castle surprised me by being fairly sparse - plain wooden floors, not a lot of decorations. The docent of the tour I caught up with explained that the castle never recovered fully from the fire, and that it would have had painted floors and the walls would have been covered with tapestries and art. However, a lot of the art from the castle was captured by Sweden during one of the many wars fought between the two countries.

Interior of the castle. The floors would originally have been painted.

One of the large halls

After the tour, I walked across the large, open courtyard in the center of the palace (which seems to be common in Danish palaces- I wonder if it is because of the lack of light in the winter), and went to the chapel, which is the only part of the original castle that survived the fire. It is much more ornate, full of fantastical carvings and painted wood.

Interior courtyard of the castle

carvings in the chapel, the only part of the original castle still intact

I also went into the extensive underground casements (used for storage and as living quarters for servants and guards). It was very dark (I did not get one of the flashlights they were selling) and a little creepy, especially since I was the only person wandering around down there! I'm glad I skipped the flashlight, as it was fun to be down there with the dim lights, as it must have been back in the day (albeit a lot less smokey and smelly).

The casements

There is also a famous statue representing Ogier, a legendary Danish king who was supposedly taken to Avalon by Morgan le Fay. He rescued France, then traveled to Kronborg castle, where he sleeps in the casements until he is needed to save his homeland.

statue of Ogier

After thoroughly exploring the castle, I went back into town for lunch.

reused shipping containers seem to make up a lot of construction offices

I ate lunch at Madam Sprunck, a hotel/restaurant/cafe in the center of town. I decided to get smørrebrød at the cafe - they had a special of three small pieces which included smoked salmon, shrimp and hard boiled egg, and pickled herring, all on traditional rye bread. Much to my surprise, the herring was absolutely delicious. It was not overly fishy, and was a little sweet, with the strong flavor of spices. this is one of the things I love about traveling - discovering something that you are initially leery of actually tastes great. I'm not sure of this was just an excellent version of pickled herring, but I am willing to try it again to find out.

After lunch I wandered around town - which has great, bright colored buildings and a lot of charm.

However, I had another destination planned for the rest of the day, so I headed back to the train station for the short trip to Humlebæk and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. The name of the museum came from the first owner of the property, Alexander Brun, who named the villa after his three wives, all named Louise (how weird is that?).

Despite the odd name, the Louisiana is the most visited art museum in Denmark, with an extensive collection of modern and contemporary art from World War II to the present. They also have an amazing program of special exhibits, as I was fortunate enough to discover. The museum is considered a milestone in modern Danish architecture, for the synthesis it creates of art, architecture and landscape. The location and grounds are gorgeous; the museum is right on the coast, so many of the gardens and sprawling buildings have views of the water.

Miro

"My Home, My House, My Stilthouse" by conceptual artist Arne Quinze

The two main exhibitions were Paul Klee and the Cobra group, and LIVING Frontiers of Architecture III-IV.

Before I went through the museum, I was most excited about the Klee exhibit - he is one of my favorite artists, and I was really looking forward to the show, which showed the influence Klee had on the Cobra artists, who were from formed by artists from Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands. It was a really good show, focusing on the influences of children and childhood had on Klee and the other artists.

However, that exhibit, and even the museum grounds, were totally overshadowed by LIVING Frontiers of Architecture III-IV. It featured a mix of architectural projects, photography, art installations and case stories from various places in the world and was divided in three overarching themes: The Dream, Cell/Network and Homeland. It was amazing. So amazing, in fact, that I went all the way through and then went back through the whole show a second time. Interactive, thought provoking, and inspiring, it really was one of the best museum shows I've ever experienced. I was really sad that the English version of the exhibition catalog was sold out; I'm still regretting not just buying the Danish version. There is a good video on YouTube by the museum that shows a little of the exhibit, which sprawled through more than half of the very spacious museum.

Close to 9 pm, I jumped on the train and headed back to Copenhagen. A fantastic day!

Geranium; Copenhagen, Denmark

2011-10-14T00:32:00.000-07:00

While in Copenhagen, I figured I should take advantage of the fact I was in the hottest food destination on the planet. Yes, Copenhagen is the hottest food destination on the planet. Even better - it deserves its reputation. It not only has the "Worlds Best Restaurant," Noma, but also boasts 37-year-old chef Rasmus Kofoed, of Geranium, who won the prestigious Bocuse d'Or culinary competition in 2011.

While I couldn't get a reservation at Noma, I was able to get into Geranium.

Geranium serves New Nordic Cuisine, which started as a literal culinary revolution in 2004 by 14 top Scandinavian chefs who signed a document known as the Nordic Cuisine Manifesto. It basically offers rules for using fresh, local ingredients in translations of traditional Nordic food. The results have been stunning. I had some memorable and amazing meals in Denmark, and the pinnacle was my experience at Geranium.

The restaurant is located on the 8th floor of the soccer stadium (yes, really), in a beautiful, modern, and spare dining room. Very Danish. Stone, dark wood, lots of white and clean, clean edges.

Upon arrival, I was seated in the lounge and given a menu and wine list. I elected to get the Universal menu, which included a few extra dishes - I figured I might as well just go for it.I picked out a nice white wine, and then the "snacks" started to arrive, one by one.

The first snack was a crispy potato cracker with seaweed (yum ), followed by a sphere of carrot and sea buckthorn (an ingredient I had never encountered before this trip). The texture was a little chewy but the flavor was great. At this point, realizing this meal was going to be epic, I put away my normal distaste of food photography, pulled out my camera and snapped away. I'll apologize in advance for the quality - I just took a quick snapshot of each dish, because I damn well wasn't going to allow it to get cold while I fussed around trying to be Ansel Adams.

Snack #3: Crispy Pig ear with sorrel. Tasty.

Snack #4: Seasalt Cheese and Ramsons (wild garlic). Excellent. Beautiful presentation.

Snack #5: Razor clam. This dish was awesome all around. Gorgeous presentation, especially the fake,edible clam shell. The taste and texture were outstanding. This was one of my favorite dishes of the night.

At this point, I was invited into the main dining room, which offers a view of the open kitchen & the chefs hard at work.

On to the main portion of the meal!

Dish #6: Walnut and Jerusalem artichoke. You can see the beautiful presentation in the back - the whitish twig is the "cracker" you used to scoop up a lovely Jerusalem artichoke dip.

A close up of the garnish for this dish

Dish #7: King crab with smoked cream cheese. This was really nice, the smokiness of the cheese and the sweetness of the crab went surprisingly well together.

Dish #8: Cold tomato juice, wild flowers and gelled ham. This seems to be one of the signature dishes at Geranium, and was really lovely and different. I would actually describe it as a ham meringue. The flowers and herbs (I identified thyme, verbena, calendula, arugula) gave it a really nice flavor and texture. Very fun.

Dish #9: Marinated cucumber, frozen oyster, dill. This was the only dish I did not like. Using liquid nitrogen is great for texture and presentation (you can see little wisps of fog drifting off the dish if you enlarge the photo), but it was so cold it froze everything to the plate and burned my tongue on the first bite.The cucumber was delightful (once it thawed), but the oyster was a little overpowering.

Dish #10: Lightly smoked cod and scallops with ymer and horseradish - exquisite. Lovely flavor and texture.

Dish #11: Bread with emmer and spelt. Holy mother of dog, this bread and accompaning butter mixed with buttermilk & watercress was amazing. I loved everything about this dish. I would have thought that nothing could ever top the butter at the French Laundry, but this comes close. Really, really close.

One of the the waiters brought me a (complimentary) glass of organic Danish cider (made from apple trees originally from Normandy but grown in Denmark) to pair with the next course.

Dish #12: Onions & melted hay cheese. Different kinds of onion (red, baby leek, etc) with fried bread crumbs, hay cheese sauce, and a pea shoot. Exquisite. Really, this was amazing. And yes, the cider put it over the top, a perfect counterpoint to the heat/bitter/bite of the onions.

Ha! The waiter tried to take the bread away while there was still some left. I made him put it back.

Dish #13: Cabbage sprouts & flowers, bleak roe, crispy potato, potato foam. Note to self - cabbage sprouts and blossoms are yum. I am going to plant plenty of cabbage in my garden this winter to be able to experiment with using the flowers. This dish is beautiful. Really lovely all around, the roe wasn't too fishy, everything went really well together. I also started a new glass of wine (a 2009 Bouzeron from La Maison Romane), lots of oak with hints of mango and pineapple - it really shone with this dish.

Brilliant meal so far.

Dish #14: Langoustein, beets, cherry, vinegar and hazelnut. At first I didn't like this - the hazelnut oil overpowered everything and the beet is really strong compared to the delicate flavor of the langoustein. It did grow on me, but I still don't think it was the best pairing of flavors. The fresh hazelnut has the most amazing texture and was, sad to say, the highlight.

Dish #15: Herbgarden. This dish is probably the signature dish of the restaurant. First, they brought out a glass teapot which was filled with herbs, and added a broth made with a smoky lamb bacon. The smell was amazing.

After the broth and herbs steeped for a few minutes, they brought out a dish with lightly cooked carrots and flowers, to which the broth was added.

This was very good. The sweet carrots provide a nice counterpoint to the salty broth. Alone, the broth is quite salty, but somehow, paired with the herbs and vegetables it is just right, even though I felt like I needed a full glass of water as a chaser from all the salt.

Dish #16: Pork, Jerusalem artichoke, parsley. This could have been served hotter, but it was very good all the same. The pork neck meat was very tender, and the Jerusalem artichoke "chips" had a strong but very sweet flavor. Nice.

At this point, I had to say no to the add-on cheese course. Just too much. The food was surprisingly light but there are a lot of courses.

Now on to the sweet dishes!

Dish #17: Apple gelee, verbena, apple foam.
Mouth orgasm. Mouth fucking orgasm. Wow. That dish was amazing. Tart foam, very much fresh apple, julienned fresh verbena.

One thing I love about this meal is that the flavor of verbena has been in so many dishes. I love verbena and grow it at home - I am pretty sure I will recall this meal whenever I smell or taste verbena. I definitely will be thinking of how I can add verbena to more dishes I make; it is a lovely flavor counterpoint.

Dish #18: "Green stuff." Celery, green tomato, chervil, cucumber, white chocolate mousse. Very interesting, but I can't say I loved this. I could have bought into it more without the spheres of cucumber and small slices of green tomato. Was very unique, and certainly not bad tasting, by any means.

At this point, I was well over my alcohol consumption limits, so I ordered a pot of herbal tea. It happily turned out to be verbena. Joy!

Dish #19: Pear poached in elderberry juice, raw pear, nougatine, "snow" of sheep milk yoghurt with a pear mousse underneath. The sheep milk yogurt was very strong flavored, but it went very well when combined with the other flavors. In this case, I liked how they used liquid nitrogen to freeze the yogurt - I think it helped that it was allowed to thaw a bit before arriving at the table. Very nice.

Dish #20: Milk Mysterious Ways. This dish included several different "milk" flavors and textures. Caramel, ice cream, mousse, cake, and a topping of crunchy dried milk "chips." I loved the texture of this. Crunchy, smooth, cold, spongy. There was just enough sour flavor to keep it balanced. Really really excellent. I could have eaten more of this. The apple dish still won overall, though.

Dish #21: Caramel with chocolate and pine. Ok, this was another wow. The pine was amazing. I wanted a box of those to take home.

Time at dinner: 5 hours. Price: gulp. Experience: totally worth it, totally wonderful.

Rothskilde, Denmark

2011-10-13T12:07:00.000-07:00

Roskilde is a small town dating back more than 1,000 years, to the Viking age. In the 12th century, the cathedral was built and it became the seat of the bishop and was one of the most important towns in Denmark until the reformation. The two main sights are the Viking Ship Museum and Roskilde Cathedral. I wanted to get out of the big city, and also check out the Viking museum, so I decided to take the 30 minute trip by train from Copenhagen.

In one of those wonderful coincidences life can provide, a friend happened to be transferring between Copenhagen airport and Roskilde airport that day, so we met up and had lunch before he headed off. I then explored the town, starting with the cathedral.

Roskilde Cathedral

The original Cathedral dated back to the 10th century, but was replaced with the present version in the early 13th century, and is on UNESCO's World Heritage List. It is where Danish kings and queens have been buried for a thousand years (20 kings and 17 queens). It is not ornate or heavily decorated.

The town of Roskilde is really adorable, and I really enjoyed wandering around and looking at the houses!

I then walked the 1km to the Viking Ship Museum, which is really cool. They not only have several Viking era ships they recovered from the harbor, but there is a shipyard where they build faithful reconstructions of Viking Ships, using what they have learned of the original techniques.

recreated Viking boats

recreation of small Viking fishing boats

Viking ship in process!

The exhibits about ship building were really informative and interesting. I'm happy I took the time to go out there and see it.

Roskilde glaswerk

A glassblowing shop right by the Viking museum. I stopped in and chatted as much as my lack of Danish would allow.

Roskilde Cathedral


Roskilde

I then headed back into Copenhagen to meet up with my former exchange sister and her 4 month old daughter!

Copenhagen, day 1

2011-10-11T11:56:00.000-07:00

Hello, Copenhagen! My first day dawned bright but not clear - it was supposed to rain. Undaunted, I wore my boots, packed my umbrella, and headed out!

Museum located at the edge of the Tivoli amusement park, in the heart of Copenhagen

My hotel, WakeUp Copenhagen, was located on the edge of the central part of the city, near the train station, but a short walk to pretty much anything a tourist would want to see. I walked around Tivoli and checked out the Town Hall.

building off of the Town Hall Square

I then headed down the pedestrian shopping street Strøget and made my way towards the Round Tower. It started pouring rain about 1 minute after I entered the Tower, so my timing was excellent!

Interior of the Round Tower (Rundetårn)

Built in the 17th century as an observatory, the Round Tower offers great views over central Copenhagen, especially once the rain stopped!

Church of Our Lady - Copenhagen Cathedral

the windmills of Østerport (a neighborhood in Copenhagen)

Typical Copenhagen Street

It was time for lunch, and I wanted to try the national dish of Denmark - smørrebrød (open sandwich). A classic smørrebrød is rye bread covered with meat or fish and topped with pickles or dill.I chose to eat at Slotskælderen hos Gitte Kik, which is an institution for locals in Copenhagen and popular with politicians from the nearby Danish parliament. You choose from a selection of display dishes laid out on the bar in the back of the restaurant., they then make up a fresh one for you and deliver it to the table. I chose shrimp with hard boiled egg, a slice of tomato, and mayonnaise on the traditional rye bread. It was excellent!

Slotskælderen hos Gitte Kik

Thus fortified, I walked to my next destination, the petite Renaissance-era Rosenborg Castle. On the way, I spotted the Royal Guard, heading back from their duty at Amalienborg Palace.

Rosenborg Castle

I liked how the Palace was decorated to show several hundred years of Danish royal history (each room is representative of the era of a specific monarch).

Throne Room

Once I finished the tour of the castle and the Royal Treasury in the basement, I wandered around the Kongens Have (King's Garden), as it had turned into a beautiful day!

Rosenborg Castle - it even has a moat!

Kongens Have (King's Garden)

After wandering in the garden for a long while, I took to the streets of Copenhagen and walked around without much of a goal, other than visiting the Danish Design Center (very disappointing, only the bottom floor has historical objects on exhibit). I did some browsing in the stores and tried to get the layout of the city figured out. It's a pretty and easily walkable city, although the Danes obviously love their bikes!

Tomato dinner, featuring recipes from the French Laundry

2011-09-26T23:02:00.000-07:00

I've always harbored an ambition to make a dinner featuring all 7 of the tomato-based recipes from "The French Laundry Cookbook." When I began being overwhelmed by the bounty of tomatoes from the garden, I finally felt that it was time. So, I invited 10 people to dinner and got to work!

The prep spanned 6 days, with a few hours each evening leading up to the big day. I had the dinner on a Sunday so I had the whole weekend to prepare. The nice part was that most of the dishes were served at room temperature or cold, so once the guest arrived most of my work was assembling and not cooking.

Unfortunately, I was my usual sucky self at documenting everything in photos, but at least I remembered to have someone take pictures of the finished dishes!

Green tomatoes, with skins removed

Ingredients for the green tomato confiture

cooking down the green tomato confiture

Home made brioche, used for croutons and grilled cheese sandwiches

Brioche croutons go into the oven to toast

gazpacho before it is pureed

Pureed and strained gazpacho

Tomatoes in their ice bath, after a dunk in boiling water to loosen the skin

tomatoes with skins removed

Skinned and seeded tomatoes, ready for roasting

Tomato slices (for tarts) draining

a jewel box of heirloom cherry tomatoes from my garden

Cherry tomatoes, with skin removed

garlic tuiles, ready for baking

Baked garlic tuiles - or, as they were quickly dubbed, crack

Whew! That's just a sample of the preparation work that went into this dinner!

I started off with two dishes served as appetizers.

The first was the Gazpacho.

Components:

gazpacho (tomato, tomato juice, cucumber, red bell pepper, onion, garlic vinegar, salt)
balsamic glaze (reduced balsamic vinegar)

The Gazpacho is one of the easiest recipes in the cookbook, and a great summer recipe, both for the ingredients and the fact it is served cold. The combination of vegetables is really refreshing. This recipe is unique for using tomato juice (I made my own) and the fact that you let it macerate overnight before pureeing. I strained the soup through a tamis (s fine-mesh screen) to give it a nice smooth texture, then popped it back into the refrigerator until time to serve. I topped it with reduced balsamic glaze.

gazpacho

At the same time, I served a big plate of Blini with Bottarga di Muggine and Confit of Tomato.

Components:

blini (Yukon gold potatoes, eggs, crème fraîche and a little flour)
confit of tomato (tomato, butter, stock, olive oil, parsley)
bottarga (dried cod fish row, from Italy)

The blini are essentially potato pancakes, made with Yukon gold potatoes that are boiled and then pushed through the tamis to form a silky smooth potato puree. When mixed with eggs, crème fraîche and a little flour it makes a creamy pancake batter. I made quarter-sized blini.

The confit is essentially a scrumptious tomato butter. The recipe in the book calls for putting the confit on the plate, then topping with a few blini and a grating of bottarga (in small doses it adds a lovely, briny flavor). I decided to make this a passed appetizer, so I put a dab of confit on top of each quarter-sized blini, then grated a little bottarga on top. Delicious! These were inhaled pretty quickly.

blini with tomato confit

Next, we moved on to the plated courses. I decided to start with the Salad of Petite Summer Tomatoes with Vine-Ripe Tomato Sorbet. I made the sorbet about a week ahead of time, which reduced somewhat the work that went into this dish.

Components:

brioche, cut out into croutons and toasted
tomato coulis (tomato, olive oil)
tomato sorbet (tomatoes, onions, orange peel, vinegar, sugar)
skinned cherry tomatoes
garlic tuiles (parmesean cheese, garlic, butter flour, sugar, rosemary, parsley,salt)
basil oil

I baked the brioche & made the basil oil and tomato coulis (basically, a sauce of tomato and olive oil) the night before. A few hours before guests arrived I toasted the croutons, removed the skins from 60 cherry tomatoes, made the garlic tuiles.

To plate, I spooned out a ring of basil oil and filled it with the tomato coulis. A brioche crouton went on top, then a pile of multi-color naked cherry tomatos, a scoop of tomato sorbet, and a garlic tuile on the top. A-ma-zing. I am a little sad I served this first, because it really is a showstopper of a dish, There were a lot of leftover garlic tuiles, so I brought them out, too, and they were devoured in minutes! I am contemplating using the tuile batter to make cones and serving the tomato sorbet in it.

Plating the dish

Salad of petite tomatoes with tomato sorbet

Next up, Heirloom Tomato Tart with Niçoise Olive Tapenade, Mixed Field Greens, and Basil Vinaigrette.

Components:

puff pastry
tapenade (niçoise olives, anchovy, olive oil)
roasted tomato slices
drained tomato slices
mache
basil vinagarette (basil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar)

I had roasted 12 thick slices of tomato the day before, so Sunday morning I just had to cut out rounds of puff pastry (purchased, the only thing I didn't make from scratch; I'm not - quite- that much of a glutton for punishment), topped each with a tomato slice, and baked until the pastry was a nice golden brown.

when ready to serve, I topped each tart with a teaspoon or tapenade, 2-3 slices of tomatoes that had been salted and drained on towels for a few hours to remove some of the moisture. The garnish is a handful of mache dressed in the basil vinaigrette.

Tomato tart

Salad of Haricots Verts, Tomato Tartare, and Chive Oil. I've made this several times before and it is one of my favorite summer dishes, as well as being one of the easier resipes from the cookbbook.

Components:

chive oil
tomato tartare (roasted tomatoes, chives, shallots, balsamic vinegar)
blanched green beans
cream desssing (whippig cream, red wine vinegar, salt)
frisee tossed with olive oil & salt
tomato powder (dehydrated tomatoes I turned into a powered in a spice grinder)

The tomato tartare is made by roasting skinned and seeded tomatoes on low heat for several hours, until they dry up a bit - they end up having a texture similar to lox, with an intense tomato flavor. The roasted tomatoes are then chopped and combined with shallots, balsamic vinegar, and chives.

The chive oil is made ahead - blanch chives and then blend with olive oil and draining through cheesecloth overnight to get a clear, bring green oil.

The haricots verts (green beans) also came from my garden - chopped into 1-inch lengths, blanched for 1-2 minutes and cooled in an ice bath, then drained. They are tossed with cream whipped with a little red wine vinegar and salt.

To serve, I spooned a ring of chive oil on the plate, then used a metal 3" ring mold to make a perfectly circular layer of tomato tartare. The beans were tossed with the cream and piled on top of the tartare. The garnish is frisee tossed with a little olive oil and salt, and a sprinkling of tomato powder.

salad of haricort verte and tomato tartare

The last savory course was a Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Tomato Consomme. I was a little disappointing with this dish; it was good but nothing stellar.

components are:

Tomato consomme (tomatoes, salt)
Peeled cherry tomatoes, preferably of different colors
Grilled Cheese (farmhouse cheddar, brioche, butter)

The tomato consomme was interesting. The recipe calls for chopping up a bunch of tomatoes, but I used the seeds and pulp from all of the tomatoes I roasted for the rest of the dinner. These are pulsed in a processor and then placed into a cheesecloth bag and drained overnight - the clear liquid that drained off became the consomme. It has a lovely, light tomato flavor, and is garnished with three naked cherry tomatoes.

that's a lot of sandwiches!

grilled cheese with tomato consomme

The finale was a dish I've wanted to make since I got the cookbook many years ago - Nectarine Salad with Green Tomato Confiture and Hazelnut Sabayon. I haven't ever had enough green tomatoes in nectarine season to make this, so I was very excited to finally try it. It might sounds strange, but it is wonderful!

Components:

Green Tomato Confiture (green tomatoes, orange, lemon & lime zest and juice, dried peaches, golden raisins, brown sugar, ginger, white wine vinegar)
Hazelnut Sabayon (roasted hazelnut oil, egg yolks, sugar)
Almond dacquoise (almonds, sugar, cornstarch, egg whites)
Nectarines (thinly sliced)

The confiture was fun to make, since I leaned a new trick - how to sear the skin on the green tomatoes using a gas flame until it blackens all over (exactly the way I roast peppers) and then scrubbing the skin off. It also tastes amazing - sweet with just a little tartness and citrus. I have a plan to make a huge batch of this and jar it.

I was a little worried about the dacquoise, as meringues are pretty difficult to get right. These, however, turned out lovely, and stayed crisp for days. The sabayon is fantastic as well; the hazelnut flavor was much stronger then I anticipated, but balanced perfectly with the rest of the ingredients.

I used half white nectarines and half yellow, and alternated the thin slices to reform the shape of the fruit. The photos really don't do it justice, it was really pretty.

Words really can't describe this dish. So good!

nectarine with green tomato confiture

Tomatoes!

2011-09-24T11:21:00.000-07:00

Even after losing several plants to blight, I've got a lot of tomato plants. We finally had several days of warm weather (until today, which is solid fog, grr) and the tomato plants finally got to it. This is one days harvest, with probably 4x still on the plants waiting to finish ripening.

In the wicker basket: Nyageous, Black Prince & Brown Berry (cherry). On the table are Black Oxheart & Ludmilla's Pink Heart. In the green plastic pints are Isis Candy & Gajo di Meon (orange), green zebra cherry & green doctors, white cherry & ghost cherry (light yellow), Rosalita (red), black cherry (in the green basket above the white cherry), and the rest are Indira Gandhi (black rippled), Juanne Flamme (orange), Matina, Stupice, Northern Lights

Ludmilla's Pink Heart has been the biggest surprise out of the tomatoes. These fruits are HUGE and the plant is very productive. Fruits are tasty and have hardly any seeds. Definitely a winner.

Easy Peanut Butter Cookies

2011-09-11T11:09:00.000-07:00

This is my new favorite cookie recipe. So easy and tasty (and gluten-free, to boot)! You can also use almond or hazelnut butter, if you are not a peanut butter fan.

Easy Peanut Butter Cookies
Makes 18 cookies

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Mix sugar, egg and peanut butter until smooth and all ingredients are incorporated. Add chocolate chips. Roll into walnut size balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten with a fork. Bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes. Let cool slightly, then remove from the cookie sheet with a spatula.

Kao Soi (Northern Thai Chicken Curry with Noodles)

2011-08-29T22:49:00.000-07:00

I fell in love with Kao Soi when I visited Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. A rich coconut milk-curry broth, chicken, boiled AND fried egg noddles- what's not to love? It fell off my radar once we got home, since I haven't seen it on any menus and the recipe from my Thai cooking class was a little too vague to motivate me. However, I was recently gifted a cookbook (Thai Cuisine Beyond Curry) by Chai Siriyarn from Marnee Thai, which is my favorite Thai restaurant in the Bay Area), and it just so happened to have a recipe for Kao Soi. Whoo hoo!

After learning how to make curry pastes at a cooking class in Chiang Mai, I can't really bring myself to use purchased curry pastes. The cookbook has recipes for red, green, and yellow curry paste, but I decided to use the recipe from my class, even though they are almost identical (I will get around to trying chef Chai Siriyarn's recipe). I also made yellow curry paste instead of red; mostly because I wanted to try the yellow curry recipe (and I did do a little internet research; there is a specific kao soi curry paste and it seems more similar to the yellow curry than the red). It's really, really good. Spicy, though, so be aware of that if you use the recipe I list below.

I also modified the garnishes slightly - I fried the shallots and used kimchee instead of Chinese pickled mustard. It might not be completely authentic, but it sure tastes good.

I also decided to make home made Chinese egg noodles for this recipe, mostly because I was too lazy to go out to the store (yes, dear, I find it easier to make noodles from scratch than go out and buy them. I know, I'm crazy. I blame being part Italian on my noodle-making proclivities)

Anyway, the noodles came out fantastic - I'm going to make and freeze a huge batch of them, so I will always have them on hand.

The dish received rave reviews all around - it's truly fantastic!

Khao Soi (Northern Thai Chicken Curry with Noodles)
Serves 2 as a main course

4 tablespoons vegetable oil, separated
2 tablespoons minced ginger
1 tablespoon yellow or red curry paste (recipe in Sauce section)
3/4 lb boneless chicken, cut in big bite-sized chunks
1 16 ounce can unsweetened coconut milk
3 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
3/4 tablespoon palm
1 1/2 tablespoon fish sauce
1 pound fresh Chinese egg noodles (recipe in Pasta section)
1/3 cup thinly sliced shallot
1/4 cup kimchee, sliced into thin strips
1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
1/3 cup thinly sliced green onion
1 lime, cut into quarters

To make the garnishes, heat 3 tablespoons of the oil in a wok over high heat. Add the shallots, and cook, stirring, until they are an even golden brown. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon, drain well and spread out to cool on paper towels. Reserve the remaining oil in the wok and return to the heat. Separate out about a handful of the fresh noodles and carefully add the handful of noodles to the hot oil in the wok. Turn with tongs until the noodles are crispy and a pale golden color on both sides. Remove from the oil with tongs and transfer to a paper-towel lined plate to cool.

Cook the noodles in a large pot of rapidly boiling water until tender but still firm, as 1-2 minutes for fresh noodles. Drain, rinse well in cold water, drain again and divide the noodles among individual serving bowls.

Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, and then add the ginger and curry paste. Cook for 30 seconds, then add 1/2 of the coconut milk. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes, until the mixture is reduced and the oil begins separating out.

Add the chicken and stir well to coat, cook 1 to 2 minutes.

Add the rest of the coconut milk, chicken broth, curry powder, turmeric, sweet soy sauce, sugar and fish sauce. Stir well. Bring to a gentle boil and adjust heat to maintain a lively simmer. Cook about 15 minutes until meat is cooked through.

Cook the noodles in a large pot of rapidly boiling water until tender but still firm, as 1-2 minutes for fresh noodles. Drain, rinse well in cold water, drain again and divide the noodles among individual serving bowls. Top with some kimchee and fried shallots.

When the curry is finished, ladle it over the noodles and top with cilantro, green onions and the crispy noodles.
Yellow Curry Paste

4 tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon shrimp paste
10-15 red dried chilies (depends how hot the chilies are, and how hot you want your curry paste)
3 tablespoons chopped shallots
50 g chopped galangal (Thai ginger)
1 tablespoon chopped lemon grass
1 teaspoon chopped kaffir lime peel (use leaves if you can't find the peel)
1 tablespoons chopped coriander root or stems
2 tablespoons chopped fresh turmeric root
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon curry powder

Equipment: large mortar and pestle or blender

Place the garlic and shrimp paste in the mortar and pound/grind until it is a smooth paste. Add chilies 1 or 2 at a time and grind into the paste. Add the rest of the ingredients, one at a time, pounding until smooth before adding another addition.

If you do not have a mortar and pestle, put all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.

Chinese Egg Noodles

2011-08-29T22:28:00.000-07:00

I used these noodles in khao soi, a noodle curry from Northern Thailand. They would be great in almost any recipe calling for Asian or Chinese egg noodles.

Chinese Egg Noodles
Makes enough for 2

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup bread flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
approximately 7 tablespoons water
1/8 teaspoon sesame or vegetable oil; plus 2-3 tablespoons for tossing the finished noodles

cornstarch or flour for rolling the noodles

Blend the flours and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and crack the egg into it. Add 5 tablespoons of the water and blend it first into the egg and then incorporate the flour. Add a little more water if needed - the dough should be moist but not sticky. Turn the dough onto a floured board and knead at least 10 minutes until the dough is satiny and does not stick to the palm of your hand when held for 15 seconds. Or, use a stand mixer with a dough hook and knead for 15 minutes.

Separate the dough into 4 parts. Using a pasta roller, pass the dough through the first through the 3rd notches. Dust the flattened dough liberally with flour or cornstarch and pass through the spaghetti roller. Be generous with the flour/cornstarch; you don't want the noodles sticking together. Repeat with the remaining dough. Place the noodles in a bowl and toss with sesame oil. Cook as soon as possible; if not using immediately cover with plastic wrap.

To cook, bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. cook the noodles for 1-2 minutes. Drain, then run under cold water and drain again.

One day's worth of tomatoes

2011-08-27T20:13:00.000-07:00

Pretty!

They are all mixed up in the basket, but my haul includes Black Prince, Brown Berry, Sungella, Matina, White Cherry, Green Doctors, Rosalita, Green Sausage, and Stupice.

Tomatoes

2011-08-16T20:59:00.000-07:00

The tomatoes are starting to come in slowly. The weather is still crappy so they really aren't ripening much, and the forecast is for the weather to keep like this for at least the next week or more. Sigh. My poor plants are getting moldy from all the moisture and cold. I did get the first of the pickling cucumbers in, though! Pickles will be made this weekend.

Clockwise, Japanese Oxheart, Black Prince, Black Cherry, Rosalita (pink oblong), Green Sausage, one Gajo de Melon above the Rosalita, and 2 Matina in the center.

I love how the multicolored tomatoes look together.

Greek salad! The tomatoes and Armenian cucumber are from my garden.

Garden Update 7/31

2011-07-31T16:33:00.000-07:00

Even though the tomatoes take up most of my attention, the rest of the garden is also doing amazingly well.

The pickling cucumbers are coming along nicely (that is a Northern Lights tomato in the background). the vines are happily climbing the tomato cages and producing tons and tons of little baby cucumbers.

The mystery heirloom squash are two different types of zucchini and a summer squash. The one in the barrel was stunted until I transplanted the one in the foreground into a separate container. However, it is now growing with frightening speed, and I need to transplant it, too!

One variety of Zucchini

Baby summer squash

My chilies are also doing surprisingly well, especially since they are crowded in with the rest of the plants and really don't have a lot of space or sunlight. I've been eating these Padron's right off the plant!

Beans and kale in the tomato beds (bean vines grown right up the tomato cages). Got my first handful of green beans yesterday! The organic caterpillar killer worked wonders, and both of these are now thriving.

Tomatoes! 7/30

2011-07-31T15:23:00.000-07:00

631 in-process tomatoes! Hopefully, they all actually ripen, given the crappy, cold weather we are having in San Francisco.

I did get my first ripe Green Sausage. It basically looks like a long, skinny Green Zebra, which is nice because all of my zebra varieties (black zebra, green zebra, green zebra cherry) aren't doing squat! The black prince, black cherry, and Matina are all ripening pretty well, but the others are on slow speed (although the brown berry and gajo de melon are both changing color, so I'm hopeful).

Green Sausage on the plant

I'm very impatient for the Ludmilla's Pink Heart to ripen up. The tomatoes just keep getting bigger and bigger - the photos really don't show how huge these fruit are! I have to say, this plant is shaping up to me the nicest surprise plant - I had no idea it would produce so well, or that the fruit would be gigantic. Now, if they would just get ripe so we can EAT them!

Ludmilla's Pink Heart. There are a ton of tomatoes on this plant, too

The White cherry is going to town! The fruit clusters on this plant are pretty amazing.

White Cherry

Huge cluster of fruit on the White Cherry plant plant

The garden has matured a lot in the last 2 months, that is for sure! You can barely squeeze between the rows on the bottom terrace, and quite a few of the plants are up above the cage tops (the beans are, as well).

Wall of tomato plants!

Quite a few of the plants are over the 5" tall tomato cages. I'm pinching off the shoots to keep them from getting much taller, since I can't get a ladder in between the rows (oops, small oversight, there).

Brownies!

2011-07-30T11:42:00.000-07:00

Cooks illustrated really came through with this brownie recipe. Not too fudgy, not to dry, just right. I topped them with the leftover mocha buttercream I'd been keeping in the freezer (it thaws perfectly, by the way). The original recipe calls for unsweetened chocolate and more sugar, but I wanted to use what I had.

Classic Brownies
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated

1 1/4 cups (5 ounces) cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
6 ounces semi -sweet chocolate, chopped fine
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into six 1-inch pieces
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour 13 by 9-inch baking dish

Whisk to combine flour, salt, and baking powder in medium bowl; set aside.

Melt chocolate and butter in large heatproof bowl set over saucepan of almost-simmering water, stirring occasionally, until smooth. (Alternatively, in microwave, heat butter and chocolate in large microwave-safe bowl on high for 45 seconds, then stir and heat for 30 seconds more. Stir again, and, if necessary, repeat in 15-second increments; do not let chocolate burn.) When chocolate mixture is completely smooth, remove bowl from saucepan and gradually whisk in sugar. Add eggs one at a time, whisking after each addition until thoroughly combined. Whisk in vanilla. Add flour mixture in three additions, folding with rubber spatula until batter is completely smooth and homogeneous.

Transfer batter to prepared pan; using spatula, spread batter into corners of pan and smooth surface. Bake until toothpick or wooden skewer inserted into center of brownies comes out with few moist crumbs attached, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool on wire rack to room temperature, then cut brownies into 2-inch squares and serve.

Ripe Tomatoes

2011-07-24T10:33:00.000-07:00

Clockwise, the red is Matina, Black Prince, Black Cherry.

I've got 392 fruit on the plants (!!!).

The ripe Black Prince is 4 ounces and around 2 1/2 inches wide. The Matina is smaller, about 2 1/2 ounces and 1 3/4 inches. Still, tomatoes! The rest of the fruits are just getting going, so I think it will be at least another week until we have another round of ripe ones. Still, you CAN get tomatoes to grow and ripen in San Francisco!

The aphids seem to be laughing at my organic pest control. I'm not sure, but I think one of them made a "bring it on" sign when I was out there with my sprayer full of watered-down dish soap. I'm starting to get some sick plants from them, so I might have to take things up a notch. It is really hard to control for pests when you have neighbors with totally overgrown and uncontrolled yards, though - the bugs just move on over as fast as I can kill them off. sigh.

Cabbage worms are the devil. They are all through my bean plants, and you really haven't lived until you have spent hours on end turning up leaves and squishing little green worms. UGH! The worms/caterpillars really squick me out. hate them.

White Cake with Mocha Buttercream

2011-07-22T22:22:00.000-07:00

It was my boyfriends birthday this week, and he requested a birthday cake - white cake, mocha frosting. I used a lemon cake recipe, reducing the sugar and substituting water for the lemon juice. It turned out great; nice and moist, and it slices wonderfully. The mocha frosting is from The Essential Baker by Carol Bloom, and uses whole eggs and yolks instead of the traditional egg whites. I was really happy with the way this icing came it, it is really smooth and rich, and easy to work with.

I had found these really cute bomb candles (which were supposed to sparkle), and had planned on a black and white motif for the cake. However, I totally forgot to reserve some of the white icing before adding the coffee/chocolate mixture, so it really reduced my decorating options (I was planning on piping on white icing decorations and writing, whoops). Brown frosting doesn't take color well, so I ended up with a salmon-pink flowers and black tinted writing. It still turned out good, just not exactly what I had in mind!

On the plus side - my first ever frosting roses that didn't just look like blobs of frosting. Whoo hoo! Yey for the internet and YouTube!

White Cake
adapted from Bon Appétit, July 2000
Makes 10 to 12 servings.

3 1/3 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup water
1 vanilla bean
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 large eggs
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour two 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 2-inch-high sides; line bottoms with rounds of parchment paper.

Sift first 4 ingredients into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Gradually add sugar, beating until very fluffy, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add to the butter mixture. Beat in water, then eggs 1 at a time, continue to beat until well incorporated. Beat in dry ingredients in 4 additions alternately with buttermilk in 3 additions. Divide the batter between the cake pans.

Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on racks.

Mocha Buttercream
from The Essential Baker by Carol Bloom
Makes enough to cover and fill a 9-inch cake

2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
2 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 pound (2 cups, 4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, very finely chopped, melted and cooled to room temperature
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
1 tablespoon water

In a small sauce pan fitted with a Candy Thermometer, bring the 1 1/4 cups sugar, water and cream of tartar to a boil over medium-high heat. If any of the sugar crystals get onto the side of the pan, be sure to wipe them down with a wet clean pastry brush. The sugar needs to cook until it hits 242° F on the thermometer. This takes several minutes.

While that is boiling, place the eggs, egg yolks and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer and whip on medium speed until they are thick, pale in color and hold a ribbon when the beater is lifted. Once the sugar syrup has reached its temperature of 242° F, slowly pour it into the bowl of whipped egg yolks while the beater is going on slow. Be sure to pour it along the bowl so that the hot syrup doesn’t hit the beater and splatter! Allow the eggs and sugar mixture to beat on medium high speed until the eggs have cooled, about 8 minutes.

Add the butter 2 tablespoons at a time. The buttercream will go through a stage that looks soupy and curdled, but continue to add all of the butter and it will come together. The finished buttercream will be smooth and silky.

Add a tablespoon of water to the espresso powder and dissolve. Add to the melted and cooled chocolate, then add to the buttercream. Mix to combine.

The buttercream will freeze if you have any left, wrapped really well in plastic. Just allow it to come back to room temperature and whisk it on low speed to smooth it out.

Tomato mystery solved!

2011-07-18T16:27:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure I figured out my mistake with the tomatoes. Somehow, I mixed up the Rosalita and Black Prince.

The top photo is from my garden, the second is a photo of the variety from the internet. Seems pretty obvious to me!

It sure looks like the same tomato (Black Prince):

and these sure look a lot more like the Rosalita!