Time's a Crooked Bone

At school, I'm reworking the morning work routine my students go through every morning. I've decided that they no longer deserve fun worksheets: coloring, connect the dots, etc. I'm changing the routine to a week rotation of activities - writing, drawing, letter formation practices, etc.

One thing I try to work with them on is nursery rhymes. Children no longer know nursery rhymes. I was shocked when they knew the words to "Down By the Bay." Studying the letter Qq limits you to nursery rhymes - all except "The Queen of Hearts."

Which got me thinking - tarts. I have frozen raspberries. I have dough materials. Let's set on out!

Queen of Hearts Tart

Dough:

• 1 and 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp of salt
  
• 1 stick of butter, chilled, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
  
• 1/8 to 1/4 cup ice water
  

Blend the flour, sugar, and salt into a mixing bowl. Transfer to a food processor. In the food processor, add the chilled butter. Pulse for 30 seconds, reaching that consistency of clumpy brown sugar. Add vanilla and 1/8 cup ice water. Pulse until pastry forms together, if necessary, adding the additional 1/8 cup of ice water.


Drop pastry dough onto saran wrap. Form into a ball, and chill for 1 hour (at least). I really wish I had a special shirt for this time that says "GLUTEN SAYS RELAX."



After chilling the dough for at least an hour, roll out on a floured surface. I rolled mine into 1/4" thick, creating a diameter of at least 10". Fold the edge of the dough over, creating a crust that's about 1 1/2 " in length. I folded mine into 5 sections, one overlapping the next. Sprinkle 1 tbsp of sugar over the tart.

Filling:

• 2 cups raspberries, cleaned and stemmed
• lemon zest
• 1 tbsp sugar
  

Clean the raspberries and remove all stems. Beginning from the middle of the dough, place the raspberries in the tart, stem side down, until the entire tart is covered. I went in a circular motion - it was pretty! Grate some lemon zest, and sprinkle on top of the tart, along with 1 more tbsp of sugar.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Bake for 20 minutes, or until crust browns. Serve with mascarpone cream sauce (juice from 1 lemon, 5 tbsp of mascarpone cheese, 3 tbsp of heavy cream - whip together and chill).


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Title: Andrew Bird "Armchairs"

Wake Up Its Time to Rise

No twenty-two year old should be at home on a Friday night, sitting in an oversized chair, wearing her pajamas, and starting a blog. However, no one should suffer the same head cold as me. I'm in a constant state of watery eyes, itchy throat, and stuffy nose. Colds generally call for soup, tea, and more soup. The older I get, the more fond I become of soup. This warm winter has been no exception.

Early in December, Evan made an excellent vegetable soup with Napa cabbage. I ate it for days. Earlier in February, I made daal one afternoon for the heck of it. Alex and I devoured it at 2:00 on a Sunday afternoon, and it left me unable to eat dinner at a reasonable hour.

One soup that I will always love is an adaptation of mine from Deborah Madison's cookbook Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. The concept is really simple: bring 2 quarts water and 1 can vegetarian broth to a boil. Add 2 lbs of 1/4 inch thick sliced potatoes (I like red skin potatoes for this). Reduce the heat and allow mixture to thicken (20 minutes). Add 1 cup of chopped parsley and 2 tbsp butter. Continue to simmer for 10 minutes. Add 2 tbsp of heavy cream, salt, and pepper. I usually add a bit more parsley, as well. Serve.

There's something wonderful about the parsley in the soup. The only other time I eat parsley is in tabbouleh, which is often so overpoweringly acidic, I tend to stray away from eating in on a regular basis. But parsley gives the potato a really fresh feeling - despite the fact that its laden with carbohydrates. Also, minimal cream in the soup keeps it from tasty like a can of "chunky" soup.

A bowl of this soup would have been wonderful today. But it didn't happen. I have very little food in the house, and after 7 hours with five year olds, I did not have the strength to fight the "after work store rush." So I settled for a tempeh sandwich:

A Feeling of Defeat: Tempeh Salad Sandwich

• 1 package of tempeh (I prefer the "three grain" type, opposed to the soy)
• 1 carrot
• 1 lemon
• 1 tbsp mayonnaise, yogurt, or other white, fluffy stuff
• 1 tbsp tahini
• 1 tsp chopped dill
• 1 garlic clove

Really simple - chop the tempeh into bite sizes. Shred the carrot. Juice half of the lemon into a bowl with the mayo/yogurt and tahini. Mix with a whisk. Add tempeh, carrot, dill, and garlic.


I ate mine on a piece of Trader Joe's Garlic Naan, with some spinach leaves. Not potato soup, but I definitely ate it all. And maybe one day I will purchase an actual camera, and not use my Mac and Photobooth.

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Title from: http://www.myspace.com/natbaldwin