~Carrot Cake~

I made this cake last Easter and had people asking for the recipe! It is the best carrot cake I've ever had and I thought it was about time I shared the recipe!

Queen Anne's Cake
from "A World of Cake" by Krystina Castella
The original recipe also has 1 20-oz can of crushed pineapple and 3/4 cup golden raisins, which I omitted when I made this cake, but you can add them at the same time as the carrots if you wish!

Ingredients
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
5 eggs
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups corn oil
2 1/2 cups finely grated carrots
1 1/4 cups chopped walnuts

2 cups cream cheese frosting
(recipe follows)


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour 2 8-inch fluted, round cake pans.

 Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate medium bowl, beat the eggs, granulated sugar and brown sugar until thick, about 2 minutes, then stir in the vanilla. Slowly mix the oil until blended. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture, stirring until blended. Stir in the carrots and walnuts and mix until evenly distributed.

Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove the cake from the pan and set on a rack to finish cooling.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese
6 tbs (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3 cups confectioner's or "powdered" sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Makes about 4 cups

Cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Slowly sift in the confectioner's sugar, and continue beating until all the lumps are gone. Add the vanilla and mix until fully blended and smooth.

Be sure to share this cake with your friends, they will thank you for it! ( :
Find a link to the cookbook in my book section here.

messin around with the camera

I decided to take the camera and try to capture some fall spirit outdoors. I took some Shone farm organic apples with me as props and wandered off into the yard.
Enjoy!

My grandpa and dad used to keep parrots in this little barn.

Three little apples.

My brother looking at the mushroom.

Cutie

Fall, aka Autumn

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Gratitude Bowl

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Thank-you!

Currant Scones with Lemon Curd

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Quinoa Patties

I had a pot of quinoa on the stove when I decided to look in Heidi Swanson's "super natural every day" for a quinoa recipe. It included a recipe for quinoa patties. I didn't feel in the mood for them until I saw that she recommended drizzling them with hot sauce. I caught the bottle of Tapatio out of the corner of my eye and I knew it was meant to be.

As I said, I adapted Heidi Swanson's recipe on the fly, because once you have the idea of mixing eggs and cheese with quinoa, you can create these a hundred different ways with whatever is in the kitchen. She recommends adding any vegetables and serving them with a variety of condiments.

Recipe:

I took 2 cups of the cooked, drained quinoa and mixed it with white cheddar cheese. The quinoa was still hot, so the cheese melted and helped to hold it together. Then I added 1 egg, some flour, salt, freshly cracked pepper, paprika and a spoonful of crushed garlic. Then, you simply drop spoonfuls of dough into a hot frying pan with a little bit of oil. When you flip them, be sure to flatten them out so that they get cooked through.

Elderflower Italian Soda

There was a pro-choice rally at school today, which was pretty exciting! I held up a sign between classes. It was SO hot out. When I left school, I remembered that I had heard on the radio that Traverso's was going out of business. My grandma used to take me there when I was little. I remember that it was kind of dark, with lots of salamis hanging from the ceiling, big barrels of pickles and a meat counter. The family owned business has been in the county for 90 years! So, I decided to run by and see if they were still there so I could buy some elderflower syrup that I spied there a few months ago.
I fell in love with elderflower soda in England, where I tasted it at....a Starbucks actually. There, they served it in small bottles that in no way quenched your thirst for the addictive beverage. I tried it in cans as well, but the bottled beverage tasted better.
I told my mom when she visited that she had to have some because "It tastes like magic", which I think may have left her slightly concerned!
Anyway, I bought the syrup and some San Pellegrino at Traverso's which was happily still open. They had all kinds of cool imported things. I fell in love with a gorgeous ceramic jar of Italian wild cherries in syrup but was discouraged by the pricepoint. After buying my beverage fixings, I told the owner to keep the change and that my grandmother used to bring me there at which he handed me a tiny box of almond nougat candy along with his appreciation.
I couldn't stop grinning at this. There's something about being given a treat that is incomparable to any other feeling. It's not the same as when someone is handing out free candy and you think "ooh, this is my lucky day". When someone really wants to give me a delicious gift, it just makes me feel warm and fuzzy.
I got a little crazy with my camera, hope you enjoy the pictures. I sure had fun taking pictures of all the bubbles!

To make this drink, I poured a measure of syrup into the sparkling water, but it sank to the bottom, so if you try this yourself, be sure to stir it up before drinking!

I found a great recipe for elderflower syrup here.

Las Vegas

I just returned from a trip to Las Vegas with my family and was so impressed by some fantastic shows and meals that we had!
I am inspired to cook some new things for my family when they return. I'm just compiling a list at the moment. I had forgotten how many great cookbooks I have collected. I keep them on a shelf across from my bed so I can look at the spines while I fall asleep, but it has been a while since I took down some of the older additions to my collection.
One of the things that I loved in Las Vegas (at the Four Seasons hotel) were currant scones with lemon curd. Instantly, I was transported back to London to some tea shop, revelling over a cup of English breakfast tea, taking a welcome break from the cold. I believe it may have been at a Patisserie Valerie, probably the one on Torrington Place, near our school (although it is a chain and there are many) that I had a scone like this; what set it apart is that they were fresh from the oven. I don't like raisins, but there is something exotic about currants that commends them.
Hopefully I'll be posting a recipe for currant scones and lemon curd very soon!

Grilled Peaches with Cardamom Whipped Cream

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Thank-you!

Simplicity and Tomatoes

Today, I watched the film "No Impact Man" and the film "Eatrip" which is a Japanese film about the rituals of eating.
I went into our family's garden this evening and watered it , then went to pick the new tomatoes that were ripe. I am not much of a tomato person, but I tried one of the tiny tomatoes, smaller than your fingernail. It tasted like a grape; it was so sweet!
This day made me think about the things that are most important in life and why I love food. I think it is because it can be beautiful; that is pleasing to your eyes, your sense of taste and smell, even pleasing to your ears and to the touch, but above all, to your soul. I thought about the fact that eating with others is a common tradition around the world. I think that eating with others has something to do with that satisfaction of the soul. Not just when you feel full, but when you feel happy and changed after a really good meal.
Here are some pictures of the tomatoes, which I shared with our dog Macy ( :