cucumber water

Note: I originally published this last August. This week, it has been so ridiculously hot, I felt it was appropriate to re-post. Maybe this will become an annual August beat-the-heat note? :)

I made this recently in the midst of an awful heat wave. Okay, so it was less of a heat wave and more of just what we call summer, but I do not think that makes me accept or love it any more. I felt a bit like those crazy sand people characters from Star Wars, only I was hiding in an air conditioned cave all day. I emerged in the morning and evening to water my garden. Every day, when I gave my tomato plants a good soaking, I'd wish them good luck and Godspeed.
When it is so hot, I crave simple, refreshing, pared down flavors. Enter cucumber water. It is delicate and lovely and seems somehow very refined. This also helps with the crankiness from the heat.
I first made this cucumber water for a trio of girlfriends, when we met together in my living room for a weekly writing club. They are all so clever and creative, I felt inspired to share something a little bit quirky and intriguing for a refreshment. It was very informal but wonderfully encouraging experience. We are now scattered all about the country and whenever I make this I think of those talented ladies and toast to them.

This idea is from Martha Stewart Living Magazine.

Cucumber Water

To flavor drinking water, add subtly aromatic slices of English cucumber (which are virtually seedless), instead of the usual lemon wedges. Float the thin rounds in a pitcher of chilled water. Garnish each glass with cucumber, too.

(even reading the recipe is somehow cooling, isn't it?)

Alaska, the beautiful

Friends, in a few days I will be in this lovely place. I am so excited I could scream! I hope to share a couple of notes while I am there.

jam thumbprint cookies

These little cookies would be perfect in a late summer picnic basket or first day of school lunch box.
Jeweled buttons of sweet jam (the ones pictured are raspberry and apricot) encased in hazelnut crusted shortbread.

The hazelnut is my addition. The recipe below calls for blanched almonds to be finely ground. I use hazelnuts. I wish I could say that they are used for some superior culinary purpose, but in truth, it was what I had available when I first went to make these cookies and it has stuck. Also, I achieve the "finely ground" texture of the hazelnuts by blitzing them in the food processor. The sound is similar to what I imagine it would be like if I put marbles in there. Somehow it is a very satisfying ruckus.

One of the things I love about this recipe is that the jam center actually does not bake in the oven. I have had versions of this cookie where the jam was baked in the oven and to me the resulting texture is too rubbery. If you have good friends who keep you in supply of homemade jams (my dear friend made the apricot jam pictured) this is a wonderful way to present it and celebrate the summer's bounty well into fall.

This recipe is from a fabulous special edition Martha Stewart Holiday Cookies issue from 2001. I have no qualms about referring to it all year long.

 

jam thumbprint cookies

1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup whole blanched almonds, finely ground (here's where I sub in the hazelnuts)
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
1/2 cup jam or preserves

1) Preheat oven to 325. Have ready two parchment-lined baking sheets.

2) In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and 1/2 cup sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg yolk and vanilla; beat well. Whisk together flour and salt, and add to mixture, beating on low until combined.

3) Combine almonds with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Form dough into 1-inch balls, and dip in egg white, then in almond and sugar mixture. Make a deep indentation in the center of each ball with your finger or bottom of a thick wooden spoon. Transfer to a prepared baking sheet.

3) Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven, and press down the centers again. Rotate sheets, and bake until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes more. Remove from oven, and place on a wire rack to cool slightly. Fill centers with about 1 teaspoon of jam.

Note: Have a bowl of ice water ready. When reshaping the thumbprint after the cookie has baked for ten minutes, dip your finger in the ice water for several seconds and dry before reshaping; this will keep your finger cool.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

guitar love

Every once in a while, it feels good to fail. To be fully and completely "uncool." That's how I feel about learning to play guitar. It is always something I wanted to do but never really jumped on.

A few weeks ago my husband and I went to a large music store. He has played acoustic guitar forever and was looking into electric guitars. For some reason we stumbled into the acoustic guitar section- a separate wood paneled room. Inside we spoke in hushed tones and admired the honeyed hues of solid spruce tops and warm toned rosewood necks. It actually kinda smelled like a forest; pine and must.
My husband pulled a guitar off the wall and showed me how to play a G chord. I sat on a low wooden bench strumming my fingers and listening to the strings hum. We exchanged a few sentences about how maybe now was time for me to learn guitar. I have heard different guitar players (friends) talk about the process of picking a guitar and they describe it almost like falling in love: how the guitar really picks you and some connection that is made. My husband had handed me a couple of different guitars to play and I wasn't really sure what I was looking for but about 3 guitars in, it all changed for me. Literally, the second I dragged my fingers across the strings of a spruce topped Fender, my eyes welled up with tears. The hit of emotion shocked me. The tone of this guitar was somehow different. It seemed so full and round and sunny. I honestly did not really know what to think about stumbling into love with a guitar, but I knew I needed to pay attention.

The guitar came home with me. My husband saw the love all over me and graciously assented to making the days purchase about me and this new discovery. Once home, we sat down and he taught me a few more chords.

Here's the interesting thing: I am just awful at it. Sincerely, my fingers are clunky switching between chords and I, who always prided myself on musicality, cannot keep a beat with the strum to save my life. I love it. I love the solitude of it when I spend 15 minutes in the morning before work stumbling through Coldplays "Fix You" and I love it when my husband gets out his guitar, teaches me a chord progression, and we jam away. By jam, of course I mean he sounds great and I skip every second chord just to make to every third. But still, it is so much fun. It feels good to love a thing for love and not as a measure of my talent or skill. (Also, I mentioned to someone at work that I had learned to play "Fix You" and they said that was the first song their daughter learned to play on the guitar. Is that like a thing? Like, the first song everyone learns on the guitar is "Fix You"?)

I realized that for all I know about myself, I still can be surprised by the way in which something can capture me.

oversized chalkboard

I love home decor that plays with scale and size. When my husband and I were house hunting, one of the features of our town home that I fell in love with are the large walls and vaulted ceilings. The actual footprint of the rooms are not enormous, but the high ceilings provide, as Anne would say, "scope for imagination".

I have seen oversized bulletin boards and chalkboards in magazines and always admired them. They are that perfect marriage of functionality and style. When we moved into our home I promised myself that I would not be overwhelmed with the pressure to furnish and decorate all the rooms at once. I wanted to be able to live in the rooms a bit, see how the light moved through them.

Recently, I felt ready to tackle dining room. There is a doorway from the dining room into the kitchen. It is a narrow space and I knew that whatever would go on that wall would need to be non-obtrusive. My husband helped me pick up a 4ft by 8ft piece of plywood from Lowe's. It laid on my dining room table for a week as we took turns first putting down two coats of wall paint and then later 4 coats of chalkboard paint. I am absolutely thrilled with how it turned out!

We talked about building a border or frame around it by using crown molding or trim pieces. In the end, I opted against it because I did not want it to extend in the walking space at all. I put two widths of painters tape around the edge of the plywood and after the paint dried, it left a very sharp edge.

To help keep the minimalist look, my husband attached it to the wall with screws through the dark chalkboard painted corners. He then went back over and dabbed chalkboard paint directly on the screws so they really blend in. I am grateful he has the patience to get the details right. I get too excited at the end of projects and just want to finish them, then later regret not taking the time to polish things up properly.

This week I had dear friends over for dinner and it was fun to write out the menu in large font on the board. I anticipate also using it for favorite quotes, grocery lists, and messages to my love.

strawberries, mascarpone and whole wheat bread

This could also be titled, "what you should be eating right now."

Whole wheat bread (lightly toasted), spread with creamy mascarpone cheese, and layered with ruby strawberries. For breakfast, for snack, for a quick tea sandwich.

It is just so lovely. I wish I could say I came up with this on my own.

Leopold (Hugh Jackman) made this for breakfast for Kate (Meg Ryan) in the movie Kate and Leopold. The thoughtful gesture moves her to tears and it is my favorite moment of the movie. (But I do get a bit obsessed with food ideas from movies. Do you have a favorite food/movie moment? I'd love to hear about it.)

I love the simple perfection of summer food.

lemon blackberry tart

This is gorgeous and simple. I have brought it out for a number of events and people always love the combination of the lemony curd and the buttery crust. I love it because the crust can be made well in advance and the lemon curd and berries are just assembled at the end.

These pictures are not too fantastic and simply do not do it justice. My excuse? This tart was mere seconds away from having the lid of my cake carrier snapped over it in a rush to get out the front door for work.

Do I think homemade lemon curd is better than store bought? Absolutely. However, when pressed for time, energy and plain sanity, there are a number of lovely options at the store. My personal favorite is Trader Joes lemon curd. (It made a memorable appearance here.)

The shortbread tart crust recipe is from the Barefoot Contessa.

lemon blackberry tart

3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
pinch salt
1 10.5 ounce jar of lemon curd
1 to 2 pints of blackberries

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter and sugar together until they are just combined. Add the vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt, then add them to the butter-and-sugar mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together.

2) Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and shape into flat disk. Press the dough into a 10-inch round or 9-inch-square false-bottom tart pan, making sure that the finished edge is flat. Chill until firm.

3) Butter one side of a square of aluminum foil to fit inside the tart and place it, buttered side down, on the pastry. Fill with beans or rice. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and beans, prick the tart all over with the tines of a fork, and bake again for 20 to 25 minutes mores, or until lightly browned. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Note from Ina: The tart shell can be baked a day ahead, and the tart can be assembled a few hours before serving. Never refrigerate a baked shell or a finished tart. (Ina is very correct about not refrigerating a baked shell. It gets very tough and seems to pick up every flavor in the fridge and not in a good way.)

4) Spread the tart with the lemon curd (about 3/4ths of the 10.5 ounce jar) and arrange the blackberries on top in whatever fashion you fancy. Sometimes I like a nice neat pattern, other times a shimmery jumbled heap of jeweled fruit. Serve immediately.