Tuesdays with Dorie: Katherine Hepburn Brownies

I actually made this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe last weekend, but with all the "I'm going to LA" excitement, I forgot to post yesterday!

Instead, I was busy buying those tiny travel-sized toiletries, getting a haircut, picking out new shoes, deciding what to wear, fretting about getting on a plane, charging camera batteries, downloading music & movies from iTunes, finding my iPod earbuds, printing my itinerary, doing laundry, packing...

But, I think I'm ready to go now. I'm excited and nervous, trying to think all good thoughts for the plane ride (I can't explain how terribly AFRAID I am of flying)! Please send good vibes my way!


Lisa of Surviving Oz, who designed the new TWD logo, chose Tribute to Katherine Hepburn Brownies as this week's recipe. Go read her post; it's hilarious!


Apparently, Hepburn used to make brownies like these. They are SO good...thick, rich, gooey, fudgey, and full of nuts.

GREAT NEWS!

Earlier today, I posted a comment on Jaden Hair's blog Steamy Kitchen to win a trip to LA for an exclusive screening of the new film Julie & Julia. The film is based on Julie Powell's blog-turned-book, which inspired me to cook more and create my own food blog.

When I left the comment, I never thought I would win. In fact, I almost DIDN'T post a comment. But then I thought "what the hell" and wrote about how when I separated from my husband and was living alone for the first time in 13 years (without television or Internet), I started cooking and blogging as a form of entertainment and therapy.

Tonight, when I got home from dinner at a friend's house, I learned that I had WON THE TRIP!

So, I'll be flying to LA on Wednesday, attending a variety of movie/food-related events on Thursday, coming home on Friday, then posting all about it on Steamy Kitchen.

As soon as I found out, I quickly replied to Jaden's email and sent a few messages on Twitter, including a link to my original blog post about Powell's inspiration on me. Someone replied with this: "Awesome beginning! I see your post was over 2 years ago. So, what has your food blog done for you?"

What had it done for me?

Well, most simply, cooking and blogging has been my saving grace. It gave me something creative to do, something with instant gratification, something satisfying.

You see, I am an English teacher. After 8 years of teaching college composition and literature, I went back to teaching high school because I couldn't support myself on a college adjunct's pay. While I absolutely LOVE teaching English, high school is very challenging. It was a trying year, a year of many doubts, tears, and ENDLESS hours of planning and paper grading. (Whomever says that teaching is easy because teachers are done at 3:00 each day and get weekends & summers off is FREAKIN' CRAZY.) Cooking, on the other hand, was...IS...my solace.

Since I've started blogging, I've also gotten a job working part-time at a cooking school/chef's shop in St. Louis called Kitchen Conservatory where I teach cooking classes. I've gotten involved in the St. Louis food scene, joined the local Slow Food chapter, met some of the best chefs in the city (including Gerard Craft of Niche, who was named one of Food & Wine's best new chefs last year and was nominated for a James Beard Best Chef Award this year), spent a day in the kitchen at Monarch with the genius Chef Josh Galliano, who was also in the running for a James Beard Award this year. And, I was asked to write an article for Sauce Magazine, St. Louis's food magazine.

So, my food blog saved me. It defined me. I know it sounds corny, but it's true. I've found my calling, and for the first time I am truly happy with where I am in life right now.

Now...let's see if I can get over my very serious fear of flying!!

Cooking Fails & Roasted Carrot Dip

Not all of my kitchen experiments are successful.

For example, on Friday I decided that I wanted to do some cooking to use up the produce I bought at the farmers market on Wednesday. So, I invited people over for an impromptu party and planned on trying a few new recipes.

MENU

Roasted Carrot Dip with Cumin & Feta, Pita Chips
Green Tomato Tart with Caramelized Onions & Mozzarella
Roasted Garam Masala Chickpeas
Sticky Sesame & Soy Cocktail Sausages
Truffled Popcorn
Assorted Olives
Brownies
Strawberry Limonade Cocktails

I also planned to use the tiny patty pan squash with blossoms still attached, stuffing the flowers with herbed ricotta & deep frying them squash & all. But, all the other cooking took longer than I had expected so I never got around to making the those.

I had wanted to try roasted some chickpeas, a recipe I keep seeing, and I had been eyeing Nigella's cocktail sausage recipe for a while. The green tomato tart was an idea I had to use up some of the green tomatoes in the fridge.

And, I wasn't too happy with any of these recipes.

Despite my roasting the chickpeas (which were coated in olive oil & garam masala seasoning) for over an hour at 400 degrees, the beans didn't get crunchy. Sure, they tasted okay, but I hoped they would be really crunchy like nuts.

Nigella's sausages (standard cocktail weinies baked with a glaze of sesame oil, soy sauce, and honey) tasted good but they too took longer to cook, to get sticky with the glaze, than I expected. And as they cooled on the table, they became encased in a pool of congeled fat...not the kind of appetizing snacks I had planned to serve my guests.

The green tomato tart was soggy in the middle, mostly because of my errors. I parbaked the puff pastry, like I recently did with an asparagus tart, to prevent it from getting too soggy once I added the toppings. However, I forgot to dock the dough so that it didn't puff up in the middle. Nevertheless, I pushed the dough down after about 10 minutes of baking (though, I should have let it bake for 15 minutes), added caramelized onions, thin slices of green tomato, a sprinkling of salt/pepper/dried oregano, and fresh mozzerella cheese. While the tart looked good, the middle was so soggy it was difficult to cut & serve. I think I sliced the tomatoes too thickly, and their juices made the tart too wet. I should have used a mandolin to get paper-thin slices instead.

But, at that point, I was a few strawberry vodka & lemonades (and at least one "dirty Palmer") in to care all that much.

Out of all the dishes I made that day, the best ones were the roasted carrot dip & the gooey brownies (check back tomorrow for THAT recipe).

I bought some gorgeous purple & orange carrots at the farmers market. Some of them were a deep purple all the way through, while others were purple outside but orange inside. I wanted to make something that would showcase the vibrant colors, so I decided to make a version of a roasted carrot dip I found on A Veggie Venture.

Roasted Carrot Dip with Cumin & Feta

1 pound carrots, trimmed & peeled
2 tablespoon cumin
1 cup chicken stock
3 tablespoons orange juice
4 tablespoons plain, nonfat yogurt
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
extra-virgin olive oil
salt & pepper
1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
toasted pita chips

• Cut the carrots into larger pieces & place in a roasting pan in a single layer. Season with 1 tablespoon of cumin and a sprinkling of salt & pepper. Add the chicken stock. Cover with foil & roast at 400 degrees for about an hour (or until the carrots are soft). Remove from oven, remove foil, and let cool to room temperature.
• When cool, pulse the carrots (without the stock) in a food processor until smooth. Add the remaining cumin, orange juice, yougurt, oregano, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt & pepper and pulse until combined. Taste as adjust seasonings as needed.
  
• Continue pulsing as you drizzle in some olive oil until the desired consistency is attained. Keep in mind, though, that the carrots will not get completely smooth like hummus.
• Transfer the dip to a small bowl, top with feta cheese (and another drizzle of olive oil if desired). Serve with toasted pita chips.

Blueberry Yogurt Pancakes

My mind is full of rambling thoughts lately...

It's the 4th of July, which to me means summer is half over and I'll have to go back to work soon

I can't seem to motivate myself to complete the projects I said I'd get done this summer, like cleaning out my home office.

I need to organize my school stuff and start planning for fall semester.

There are so many recipes I want to make with fresh summer veggies, but I'm tired of making dinner for myself when Jerad's working late.

I hope I have enough money for my Chicago trip at the end of the month.

We need to get a hotel room for the Great Taste of the Midwest in Madison, WI, next month.

I really need to get up to Springfield to visit my grandmother.

I hope my Sauce Magazine article is what they wanted and not too long.

I really shouldn't have eaten White Castles at midnight last night.

It's ironic that I ate fast food 6 hours after joining the Slow Food group.

I wish my cat would stop pissing and pooping on the floor.

I need to read more often, so that I can make a dent in my summer reading list.

I'm excited to see the new Harry Potter movie.

I haven't been to the movies in over a year.

I need to make an eye doctor appointment.

I need to get my yearly blood work done.

I wish I could sell my house and move to the Soulard Market Lofts.

I love blueberries, particularly fresh from the farmers market blueberries.

Blueberry Yogurt Pancakes
(adapted from Martha Stewart’s Original Classics Cookbook
via Smitten Kitchen)

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups plain, non-fat yogurt

1/2 cup fresh blueberries

DIRECTIONS:

• Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl. Add the eggs & yogurt and whisk to combine.
• Heat a non-stick pan with 1 tablespoon of butter over medium-low heat. Pour 1/4 cup of batter into the middle of the pan (or pour two pancakes if you have a big pan); be careful, though, this batter spreads. Arrange some of the blueberries on top of the pancake.

• When the pancakes have bubbles on top and are slightly dry around the edges, about 2 1/2 minutes, flip over. If any batter oozes or blueberries roll out, push them back under with your spatula. Cook until golden on bottom, about 1 minute.
• Repeat with the remaining batter. You can keep the finished pancakes on a heat-proof plate in the oven at 175°F.
• Serve with a drizzle of melted butter and a sprinkling of sugar.

A Rant at Ruhlman & A Sour Cherry Clafouti

I'm miffed at Michael Ruhlman.

It all began with this tweet by Ruhlman:

what summer looks like to me, photo by donna: http://blog.ruhlman.com/
10:07 AM Jun 25th from TweetDeck

The link to his blog featured a post titled Cherries Are Here! with a close-up picture of cherries on a tree and the caption "One of my favorite times of year, sour cherries are here! Thanks for gorgeous shots Donna. Time to make pie!"

Five minutes later, my friend Steph (aka Iron Stef) replied to Ruhlman's tweet with a link to my recent sour cherry cocktail recipe:

@ruhlman here's an idea! RT @barbaricgulp Sour cherry cocktail: Delightfully tart! http://tinyurl.com/n5sfs3 (via @chzmongerswife)
10:12 AM Jun 25th from web in reply to ruhlman

A couple hours later, Ruhlman posted this tweet:

cherries from a neighbors tree, pits pop right out, love the sour cherry cocktail idea. think i may need to come down with some writers bloc
11:24 AM Jun 25th from TweetDeck

Noticed that he used the words the and idea--"love the sour cherry cocktail idea--as if he had read Steph's reply. I then replied to Ruhlman:

@ruhlman: Sour Cherry Limonade Cocktail http://tinyurl.com/m2j4xn
12:09 PM Jun 25th from web in reply to ruhlman

Later that afternoon, Ruhlman wrote:

it's writer's block time! have posted a sour cherry cocktail to confound those who insist on being productive! http://blog.ruhlman.com/
4:02 PM Jun 25th from TweetDeck

His previous "Cherries Are Here!" blog post now included a cocktail recipe similar to a mojito made with muddled cherries, rum, & simple syrup.

While it's not EXACTLY my recipe--which was inspired by Annie's recipe and which I clearly credited in my post--I think it's fairly clear from the Twitter updates that Ruhlman got the idea for a sour cherry cocktail from the link Steph sent.

So, I'm a little miffed that he didn't have the courtesy to credit either Annie or me for the inspiration. Did he plagiarize? No, of course not. But it IS nice to at least include a link to where you got an idea for a recipe even when you adapt that recipe.

I know that there are numerous websites out there that blatantly steal blog posts, pictures and all. I know that Ruhlman posted a different recipe, but it just seems to me that he got the idea from us. I would just like a shout-out from him, since he's a big guy and we're just wee little guys. Some blog love would be much appreciated.

ANYWAY...I still had cherries left and since I can't live on cocktails alone, I finally made a clafouti. Clafouti (pronounced kla-foo-TEE) is a French dessert of fruit--traditionally cherries--baked in a custard-like batter.

Sour Cherry Clafouti
(adapted from Ina Garten's Barefoot in Paris)
[See how I gave credit to my source?]

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1 /2 cups heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (or vanilla bean paste)
zest of one lemon
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons amaretto
2 cups pitted sour cherries, mixed with 2 tablespoons sugar
powdered sugar

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 10 x 11 1/2-inch round baking dish and sprinkle the bottom & sides with 1 tablespoon of the sugar.
• Beat the eggs and the 1/3 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until light & fluffy, about 3 minutes.
  
• On low speed, mix in the flour, cream, vanilla, zest, salt, & amaretto. Set aside for 10 minutes.
• Arrange the cherries (without any of their juices) in the baking dish in a single layer. Pour the batter over the fruit & bake until the top is golden brown and the custard is firm, 35-40 minutes.
• Serve warm or at room temperature, sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: A Moveable Feast

Foodbuzz sponsors a monthly event that features 24 bloggers from 24 cities around the world who prepare unique meals during the same 24 hours. Earlier this month, I submitted a proposal for a meal inspired by Ernest Hemingway's memoir of 1920's Paris, A Moveable Feast...and my proposal was chosen!

"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."

-Ernest Hemingway, to a friend, 1950

A Moveable Feast is Hemingway's story of living as an expatriate writer--part of what fellow writer Gertrude Stein termed "Une Generation Perdue," The Lost Generation.

"That's what you are. That's what you all are," Miss Stein said. "All of you young people who served in the war. You are a lost generation."

"Really," I said.

"You are," she insisted. "You have no respect for anything. You drink yourselves to death. . . ."

Though not a cookbook or food memoir, Hemingway's narrative includes many descriptions of the things he drank and ate in friends' homes and in various French cafes.


Though I originally planned to have dinner outside to emulate a Paris cafe, the heat index in St. Louis was over 100 that day, so I moved the meal inside. I tried to create a cafe feel with red plates, mismatched wine glasses, & an Eiffel Tower lamp on the buffet!

I invited fellow food & literature enthusiasts (from left): Jerad, Andy, Ellie, Bill, me, Stephanie, & Maggie (who took this pic).

M E N U

(recipes follow)

Aperitif:
Eau-de-vie
(strawberry-infused vodka)

My wife and I had called on Miss Stein, and she and the friend who lived with her had been very cordial and friendly and we had loved the big studio with the great paintings. It was like one of the best rooms in the finest museum except there was a big fireplace and it was warm and comfortable and they gave you good things to eat and tea and natural distilled liqueurs made from purple plums, yellow plums or wild raspberries. These were fragrant, colorless alcohols served from cut-glass carafes in small glasses and whether they were quetsche, mirabelle or framboise they all tasted like the fruts they came from, converted into a controlled fire on your tongue that warmed and loosened it.

Hor d'oeuvre:
Les Huîtres Crues avec Mignonette
(raw oysters with Mignonette sauce)

I closed up the story in the notebook and put it in my inside pocket and I asked the waiter for a dozen portugaises and a half-carafe of the dry white wine they had there. After writing a story I was always empty and both sad and happy, as though I had made love, and I was sure this was a very good story although I would not know truly how good until I read it over the next day.

As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and to make plans.

Maggie reading the oysters passage.


Maggie eating her first raw oyster!
(Bill is in the background, twittering about how we made him drink Barefoot Bubbly.)

Premier Cours:
Cervelas Remoulade, Pommes a l'huile
(sausages with mustard sauce, marinated potato salad)

We were halted by rain about an hour north of Lyon. In that day we were halted by rain possibly ten times. They were passing showers and some of them were longer than others. If we had waterproof coats it would have been pleasant enough to drive in that spring rain. As it was we sought the shelter of trees or halted at cafés alongside the road. We had a marvelous lunch from the hotel at Lyon, an excellent truffled roast chicken, delicious bread and white Macon wine and Scott was very happy when we drank the white Maconnais at each of our stops.

* * *

“We’ll come home and eat here and we’ll have a lovely meal and drink Beaune from the co-operative you can see right out of the window there with the price of the Beaune on the window. And afterwards we’ll read and then go to bed and make love.”

“And we’ll never love anyone else but each other.”

“No. Never.”

“What a lovely afternoon and evening. Now we’d better have lunch.”

“I’m very hungry,” I said. “I worked at the café on a café crème.”

“How did it go, Tatie?”

“I think all right. I hope so. What do we have for lunch?”

“Little radishes, and a good foie de veau with mashed potatoes and an endive salad. Apple tart.”

Dessert:
Tarte aux Pommes, Café au Lait
(apple tart, coffee with milk)

It was a pleasant café, warm and clean and friendly, and I hung up my old waterproof on the coat rack to dry and put my worn and weathered felt hat on the rack above the bench and ordered a café au lait. The waiter brought it and I took out a notebook from the pocket of the coat and a pencil and started to write.

My favorite pic of the night!

R E C I P E S

Strawberry-Infused Vodka:

An eau-de-vie, which Gertrude Stein served to Hemingway on numerous occasions, is actually a clear, colorless fruit brandy. However, I decided to make my own fruited liquor by infusing vodka with fresh strawberries.

This is so delicious yet so easy! Simply cut up a large container of strawberries (de-stemmed) into quarters. Pile into a pitcher and top with an entire bottle of vodka. Let sit at room temperature for a few hours (or in the fridge overnight), then strain back into the vodka bottle (or another decorative vessel). The result is sweet enough to sip straight from danty stemmed glasses.

NOTE: Do NOT store the finished vodka in the freezer. It will freeze solid (I learned that lesson this morning)!

Mignonette Sauce:

This is my favorite accompaniment to serve with raw or lightly steamed oysters.

Mix 1/2 cup champagne vinegar with 2 tablespoons finely shopped shallots, 1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper, & the zest of one lemon. Spoon over raw oysters before eating.

Sausages with Mustard Sauce & Marinated Potato Salad:

I sauteed Italian sausages in a bit of olive oil until they were brown and cooked through. I turned off the heat and let them sit in the pan while I made the mustard sauce & potatoes. When I was ready to serve, I quartered the sausages.

For the mustard sauce: mix 1 cup of mayonnaise with 1 tablespoon (or more to taste) Dijon mustard, 1 minced garlic clove, juice of half a lemon, a pinch of salt & freshly ground black pepper. Serve on the side.

For the potato salad: boil whole red new potatoes until just tender on the inside. You wante them to be retain a little firmness. Drain. While still warm, but cool enough to handle, thinly slice the potatoes and transfer to a bowl. Add a finely chopped shallot (or green onions) & a handful of chopped parsley. Sprinkle with salt & pepper, then drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil & red wine vinegar. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Truffled Roast Chicken with Radish & Endive Salad:

For the chicken: Wash & dry a roasting chicken. Rub olive oil all over the skin & sprinkle liberally with truffle salt. Roast at 425 degrees for about an hour (for a 4.5 pound bird), or until the skin is browned & crispy and the juices run clear (meat should register 160 at the thickest part of the leg). Remove from oven and let rest while you prepare the salad. Serve with a small carafe of black truffle oil that your guests can drizzle over their chicken.

For the salad: Slice endive heads & radishes thinly. Season with salt & pepper and dress with a simple vinaigrette. I used the leftover Mignonette sauce whisked with some olive oil.

Apple Tart:
(recipe from The Pioneer Woman)

This was my favorite dish of the night, partly because it was so easy to make & partly because if was pretty tasty!

Thaw a puff pastry sheet, unfold it, cut it in half, then roll each half to form two larger rectangles.

Cut 2-3 apples in quarters & cut the core out. Thinly slice the apples & transfer to a bowl. Add 1/4 teaspoon of salt & 1 cup of brown sugar. Mix well to coat. Layer the apples, in one over-lapping line down the center of each pastry. Bake at 415 degrees for 18-20 minutes, or until the pastry is puffed & browned. Remove from oven & transfer the tarts to a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature, sprinkle with powdered sugar just before cutting.

Sour Cherry Limonade Cocktail

Last week, Annie (aka The Cheesemonger's Wife) twittered about having great cocktail recipes, including one made with sour cherries. Since I'm always looking for new things to do with cherries (Jerad's parents have a tree in their front yard), I asked Annie to please pass along her recipes, which she posted this week.


I played around with the sour cherry cocktail a bit. Here's my version:

Sour Cherry Limonade Cocktail

• Using a shot glass to measure, combine 3 parts sour cherries with 1 teaspoon of sugar & the juice of one lime in a cocktail shaker. Muddle until the cherries are mushy & juicy.
• Add three parts vodka, a splash of Cointreau, and a few ice cubes. Shake.
• Strain the mixture into two martini glasses, filling about 3/4 of the way full. (I placed a small strainer over each glass to ensure that no bits of cherries were left floating around.)
  
• Top off each glass with some sparkling French limonade. (If you don't have this, get some! Or just use a sweeter sparkling wine.)

Summer Corn Salad

Last night, we deep fried a turkey.

Yes, I know it's stiffling hot outside...but it was much nicer to have NOT heated up the kitchen for dinner.

Since I wanted to avoid the traditional--and heavy--turkey fixin's like mashed potatoes & stuffing with this meal, I made this instead:

Summer Corn Salad

Ingredients:

4 ears of corn
1 cup haricots verts (tiny whole green beans) *
1 orange (or red or yellow) bell pepper, seeded & chopped
1 small package of grape (or cherry) tomatoes, quartered
3 green onions, sliced
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
olive oil
salt & pepper

* You can find these in the frozen veggie section of your grocery store.

Directions:

• Blanch the corn in boiling water. You want it to be cooked, but still retain its crunch. Remove from water & plunge into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking.
• Steam the green beans in a colander over the corn as it cooks. You also want them to stay crunchy and green. Plunge them into the ice water with the corn.
• Cut the kernels off of the corn cob by standing it upright into a bowl and using a sharp knife to cut down the sides of the cob...or use a corn cutter.
• Combine the corn with the green beans, bell pepper, tomatoes, and green onions.
• Gather the basil leaves into neat pile, roll up like a cigar, and slice into ribbons. Add to the salad.
• Dress the salad with the lemon juice, a few tablespoons of olive oil, salt & pepper to taste.

This salad keeps well, so you can make it ahead of time. And the next day, you can use it to make one hell of a frittata (add bacon, of course).

Sparkling French Limonade Cocktails

Each summer, Kitchen Conservatory stocks large swing-top bottles of Lorina Sparkling French Limonade ($5.50 for 750 ml).

This summer, I added booze to it.

First, I mixed the limonade with Absolut Pear vodka.

Then, I muddled some mint with a wedge of lime in the bottom of a glass. I added a shot of white rum, filled the glass with ice, then topped it off with some of the limonade.

I am going to stock up on this stuff. It's all I plan to drink this summer.

Just don't shake any of it in a cocktail shaker. The fizziness of the limonade makes the top of the shaker kinda explode off. Trust me. Learn from my mistakes.

Now, get yourself to KC for some of this and make your own tasty drinks!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Honey Peach Ice Cream

This week's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe was chosen by Tommi of Brown Interior. Here's a crappy, dark cell phone picture of the churning ice cream:


I wanted to take a better picture, but I can't find my camera. I looked for it last night when I dished up the ice cream. I looked for it again today but had no luck. It's difficult to be a food blogger with no freakin' camera! *sigh*

I've been losing lots of thing lately. A few weeks ago I lost a brand new cooler bag. I can't remember exactly when I last used it or where I might have left it. I THINK I left it at a friend's house after a party, but they don't have it. I hate to think that someone at the party picked it up.

This week, I lost the book I was reading. I had it at work on Thursday, then I couldn't find it at home the next day. I looked all over the house, then all over the shop at work on Friday. I asked my co-workers if they'd seen it. Then last night, I remembered that I left it at Jerad's parents' house Thursday evening.

This morning, I couldn't find my keys. Eventually, I found them in the middle of a stack of papers & mail in the dining room.

Sheesh. I must be getting old.

Anyway...

This ice cream is made by cooking peaches (I used nectarines because you don't have to peel them) and honey until soft. The fruit is pureed, strained, and mixed with a custard base. It's pretty yummy...and perfect for summer. Check out Tommi's blog for the complete recipe.