A Journey To Meet A New Friend and Oma Treats

Jet lag be gone!  I woke up with Mom about 7:20 am.  While she showered I went downstairs and looked at some news on my iPad, tried to WhatsApp Kenji, but he didn’t respond, and greeted Herbert when he came down a few minutes later.  When Mom and Anja came down I went quickly upstairs to get dressed.  We left immediately after to go into town to the Bakeri shop where we bought several variety of Bröetchen.  I didn’t know there were different varieties!  I had only ever known the plain kind.  We bought a few different kinds.  Anja asked me if I wanted a chocolate drizzled one and I said yes, please.  I was surprised when we got home to discover that what had been purchased was instead a chocolate croissant.  We also went to local meat market (Metzger - butcher) where they had several types of wurst, salami, prosciutto and other raw and prepared meats as well as some prepared foods like potato salad, coleslaw and beet salad.  Anja bought a few different hunks of wurst as well as some marinated chicken breasts for another time.

When we got home with our treasures Herbert had the table laid out with cheeses of a few varieties, the homemade jam and jelly from yesterday as well tomatoes and sliced cucumbers.  Anja laid the wursts out on a plate for our selection and put all the breads in a basket.  We sat down to a sumptuous feast along with cappuccinos and lattes from their machine.

After breakfast was cleared, Anja offered to do some laundry for us.  We gathered what needed washing and when it was done we hung it on a portable, foldable, multi-strand stand in the backyard.  It’s not sunny today.  I’ll be curious to see how long it takes to dry.  My guess it won’t be dry by the time we need to leave to go to their friend Irma’s house at 3:30 pm.  I took advantage of nothing going on for a bit and wrote my blog for yesterday and started today’s.  Lunch was simply sliced strawberries as I get the feeling dinner will be an event since we are going to a nice restaurant with Irma later.  

Anja, Mom and I went to the cemetery in Remscheid to see the family plot and tend to the flowers there.  The cemetery was amazing!  It was in a lush garden setting, with lots of trees and winding paths, not at all like the cemeteries in the US that I’m accustomed to seeing, large areas of flat space and headstones laying flat in the ground. The plots were typically about 4 feet wide and 6-8 feet long.  They all had headstones that noted the Family name and then there were individual stones with the people’s names.  Some had dates of birth and death on them, many did not. Mom told me that most people are cremated and their ashes are buried here.  We watered the flowers on Eva’s family area and Anja picked a few weeds and dead leaves.  We then made our way out by a different route, viewing all the plots and noting the different ways people listed family members and decorated the plots.  There were 2 sections for soldiers, one from World War 1 and one for soldiers from World War 2.  These areas were laid out more like American cemeteries, all in rows and not grouped with their families, with simple crosses, but the area between all the crosses told me that their ashes were buried here, not their whole body in a casket.

We had a piece of homemade Kuüchen (cake) that Herbert had made a few days ago.  It was a vanilla/chocolate swirl cake with the chocolate being a layer of melted/hardened chocolate and a chocolate shell on top.  It wasn’t super sweet and was delicious! Anja transplanted some baby lettuce she bought previously into small pots to await room in her garden to transplant and allow time to grow fully before picking for some meal in the future.  It was laid back late morning-early afternoon and soon it was time to get ready to leave and sure enough most of the laundry was dry!  We brought the drying racks inside to finish drying while we’d be gone.

Just moments before we were to leave the house at 3:30 a massive downpour of rain moved in. I went back upstairs to get my umbrella and honestly, truly I tell you, as soon as we opened the door to step outside the rain stopped and started again as soon as we got in the car.  It reminded me of the time I was at the Easter Service at the Vatican in Rome and it was raining until the Pope emerged from St. Peter’s and it stopped while he was walking to the covered area in the square where he was conducting the service and as soon as he was safely under cover it started raining again.  I knew we were going to be in the car for about an hour, which meant we’d be going on the Autobahn, which scares the bejeezus out of me.  If you aren’t familiar with the Autobahn, it’s a freeway with NO speed limit.  Seriously.  I’ve seen Herbert go 160 km, which is just under 100 mph. While I think it would be thrilling to do so, the other cars make it a terrifying experience for me. One false move by either and the unspeakable would happen.  They all also change lanes within inches of each other’s bumpers which scares me.  So I sit in the back seat so I don’t have to watch.  Unfortunately for me, I sat behind Anja and had a prime view of the speedometer. I prayed, indeed I did. And it was raining, and not just sprinkles, this was a full on downpour.  At least he slowed it down a bit to 130 km (80 mph) for the slick roads.  Yikes!

We arrived at Irma’s unscathed and I did truly thank the Lord.  Oh!  I forgot to mention that we brought Naila along.  Irma apparently loves to spoil Naila and Anja says Irma is Nadia’s Oma (grandmother) in that way.  When she got out of the car and realized where we were, she got very excited and was pulling on her leash excitedly, eager to get to Irma and whatever doggy treat her Oma had for her.

Irma is Eva’s (Mom’s German sister) best friend, so she’s Mom’s age.  Greetings were exchanged and Naila began to wonder where her Oma treats were.  She hadn’t yet been given a wurst and she’d been there a full minute already!  We moved to the sitting area of Irma’s 2 room apartment and she offered us some chips and some candied nuts.  Herbert got a bottle of what looked like pink champagne out of the bag they brought along and poured us each a glass and we skoll’d to our time together.  We sat at Irma’s chatting, Mom translating along the way, me assuring her that I really did follow what it was they were talking about without knowing the specifics. After we emptied the 1st bottle another appeared and we all received refills.

After a little more than an hour there we began to make our way out and to the restaurant.  It wasn’t far and they had a lovely outdoor seating area and I was wondering if my light sweater was going to be enough, assuming with Naila along we’d be sitting outside. That was not the case, apparently.  We strolled up to the hostess desk and and we’re shown a table inside. Naila laid down by Anja’s side and stayed there the rest of the night, except when Anja took her out for a potty/smoke break. I decided to have some fun and try out a little German and asked the server if he had a menu in English. Kenji and I have a fun story about doing that when we were in Tokyo, so I thought I’d try it here.  The man told me, in English (!) no, but he’d be happy to help by translating whatever I’d like to know about. They truly had everything on this menu, pizza, pasta, fish, lamb, chicken, with extensive sections for beverages of all varieties. Somehow small glasses of champagne appeared for each of us and again we skoll’d, looking each other in the eye when doing so as is the custom.

I wanted to try some fish and Herbert showed me one item that he translated to salmon, so I ordered that.  First, though, the appetizers arrived.  Herbert had ordered bruschetta for himself, me & Irma and sautéed mushrooms for Mom.  She remarked when it arrived that it could easily serve as her whole meal!  For an entree he had a mixed grill with chicken, beef and turkey with a Bernaise type sauce and rice, Anja had what looked and tasted like New Orleans-style barbecue shrimp in a Cajun sauce, Irma had lamb kebob and Mom had the steak, which was huge!  We all laughed when the largest plate arrived in front of the smallest person at the table! My fish turned out to be sand dabs in a lemon aioli-type tartar sauce.  It was very good, but definitely not salmon.  All the entrees came with a mixture of cooked tomatoes, red bell peppers and potatoes that was simple but yummy!

The time passed quickly as we chatted, translated, laughed at funny misinterpretations and stories of our lives.  We inevitably got around to politics as Irma was curious about our thoughts of what’s happening in the US these days.  We shared frankly that we are angry at the way the country seems to have taken a turn away from the path we’d been on of protecting individual rights with topics like abortion while expanding rights to owning guns and limiting protections for the climate, all of it going in directions we don’t agree with.  Mom states she is sad to return home to a very changed America than the one she left almost 4 weeks ago. We live in a bubble in California of protected rights we share values with, but feel we must do more to expand those rights to all in the US, not just the few who live in California. Our work is cut out for us…

Irma looked at me when it came time to possibly order dessert. I was so full but always have room for a bite of something sweet, so I encouraged her to order what she’d like and I’d like to taste it.  She told me the items that were available and 1 of them, appfelstruedel, caught my attention.  When in Germany, one must have appfelstruedel, which I love anyway.  Herbert translated puff pastry for me but pronounced it “poof” and after I told him how to pronounce puff we had a short discussion about how “puff” means prostitute in German and we ended up laughing about that until Mom said I was turning as usually happens when I get to laughing so very hard. It felt good to to laugh like that!  The appfelstruedel came with a crème anglaise and Anja thought it was funny that I asked the server for enough forks for us all to have to share the dessert. It was wam and melted in my mouth and the crème anglaise was creamy and smooth, just as it should be and it had full, plump raisins in the strudel.  Anja ordered a peach schnapps for herself and 1 for Mom, who objected, but I said I’d share it with her. She liked it, but I easily drank half of it.

I’m not sure how the topic came up, but before I knew it, Mom was saying she wanted to give her VW Bug to Anja and how could we accomplish that.  Herbert did a quick internet search about transferring cars from the US and talks quickly escalated until I finally had to let Anja know that this is NOT an historical family car, that Mom only bought it like 15-20 years ago. The major item Mom needs to research is where was the car built, Germany or Mexico.  That will help Anja decide if she wants to pursue trying to get the car from the US to Germany.  We shall see what happens…

After we left and heartily thanked Irma for her generosity for the meal (when Mom expressed to Anja that she would like to pay for the meal Anja explained that the custom is when someone invites you out, they pay, and Irma had invited us, so it would be impolite to try and pay) we went back to Irma’s place and sat on the glass window enclosed patio and talked for a little bit before coming home.  She is a warm, kind person and I understand why Eva was liked her so.

I sat behind Herbert on the way home so as to not be able to see the speedometer while we were on the Autobahn and we made it home safely.  After a long 7.5 hours trip away, we all fell into bed quickly.

My journey today was a slow day of waiting to meet Irma, who was a most beloved person to Eva, who was a most beloved person to our family.

A Journey To Find A New Routine

My day started at 3 am, thank you Jet Lag.  I came downstairs and wrote my 1st blog post and WhatsApp’d with Kenji as it was 6 pm back home.  I finally was tired enough by 5:30 am to back to bed and slept well until 7:30 am.  The home we are staying in has no curtains or blinds on the windows, only pull up blinds for halfway up from the floor so Naila can’t see cats or other animals crossing through the yard to prevent unnecessary barking and scratching at the doors.  It makes for bright and early mornings with the sun rising around 5 am.  We are so far north that it doesn’t start to get dark until 10:30 pm.

I had been asked prior to arriving what I would like for my 1st breakfast, Broetchen (a German crusty bread roll that is pillowy soft inside) or Museli with homemade yogurt and fruit.  I LOVE Bröetchen especially when it’s served traditionally with meats like salami and wurst, cheeses, tomato and sliced cucumber.  Bröetchen was my answer and the toppings offered were cream cheese and homemade strawberry/rhubarb jam as well as homemade elderberry jelly, but I wished later I had known Bröetchen was their tradition for Sat. breakfast and I’d be having it then, for I would’ve chosen Museli.  Mom had Museli and I tried a bite and it delicious!  They have an espresso type machine and I had a cappuccino. Anja says she has 8 coffees a day!  I was surprised until I realized they were all cappuccino sized.

I showered after breakfast and then Anja (I realized I didn’t clarify the pronunciation of her name yesterday.  It’s An-ya). Mom and I went to the city center to shop the Farmer’s Market for ingredients for dinner.  We were in search of zucchini and bell peppers.  We did not find any bell peppers, but we did pick up some sugar snap peas, almond stuffed green olives, tomatoes and fennel.  We walked by a drug store and I told Mom I wanted to go in and find an eye pencil and lipstick as I had left mine at home.  After testing several colors on my hand I found a shade I liked as well as an eye pencil that was similar to one I left at home. We made our purchase and I was extremely grateful to have Mom’s German-speaking ability along!

We went home and relaxed a little before a light lunch of more Bröetchen along with the anticipated tomato, cucumber and cheese.  After lunch Mom and I went to Remscheid, the neighboring town where Mom lived with her German AFS family (Anja’s mother is Mom’s AFS German sister) in the summer of 1956 and where Anja and Herbert (pronounced Hair-bear-t)lived in the family home until Anja’s mother, Eva, died 3 years ago.  Mom and I explored the city center while Anja was at her PT appt.  Our only task was to find bell peppers at the small Farmer’s Market, which we did and we picked up some strawberries, too.  We walked a Santa Monica Promenade-esque street with clothing stores, street food type stalls with hot dogs, frites (pronounced fry-ts in Germany) and currywurst as well as pizza and ice cream and coffees.

We found a stationary store and Mom expressed a desire to buy a birthday card for a friend as well as thank you cards for Anja and Herbert.  We spent some time perusing the cards and finding the best ones, Mom translating them for me.  I was surprised to see how many cards said “Happy Birthday” in English on the front of the card.  Inside the message was in German.  We wandered through the Allee Center, the local mall, and went to City Hall, where Anja and Herbert were married.  Mom and I did a whirlwind 4 day trip in May 2002 to come to their wedding, 6 months before Kenji & I were married.  There was a celebration in front today that looked to be a post-wedding one as well.  It is common in Germany to have the legal ceremony take place at City Hall and have the reception later elsewhere, as we did with Anja & Herbert 20 years ago.

We found our way back to the car park and reunited with Anja and went home.  We got Naila into the car and went for an hour long walk in the nearby forest that surrounds the local reservoir.  It’s a chance for Naila to get out for an extended period of time and for Anja to continue Naila’s training, always training, she says.  A ouch off dog treat is reached into often when proper behavior is exhibited.  We pass many people in the forest and Anja keeps Naila on a short leash right next to her at the times and allows and much longer leash when we are alone.  Naila is prompted to jump up on tree stumps on wood benches along the way and she eagerly does so and receives a treat as a reward.  The forest was so lush and quiet, beautiful, peaceful and unlike anything near our home in Pasadena.  I am envious of the deep green I see everywhere here and no need to be careful with water spenditure.  The temperatures are low-mid 70’s.

When we got home from our walk it was time for a piece of cake that Herbert had made a few days ago and a coffee.  I passed on the coffee and after sitting still for a bit and not being on the go, jet lag caught up with me and I decided to take a nap.  Mom woke me at 6 pm and said dinner would be at 7, that Anja was preparing it now and I got up to go see how she was going to put all the ingredients together.  When I got downstairs I saw she had already put some macaroni-type pasta in the bottom of a roasting pan and was slicing up the zucchini and yellow squash to put on top.  The red bell peppers were added as well as carrots, the sugar snap peas and fennel that had been blanched.  Sliced tomato was scattered around and the almond stuffed olives were tucked in here and there.  Dried herbs were shaken all around and Emmental cheese was grated over the top.  Anja made a crème fraishe, egg and corn starch mixture and poured it all around to bind the casserole type dish all together.  It was baked for 30 mins and then fennel fronds were sprinkled all over and it was served.  Delicious!  The 4 of us ate almost a whole pan of it, leaving only 2 small servings for possible lunch tomorrow.

Herbert seems pleased that I drink wine.  :) I had red wine with dinner last night and 3 small glasses of a sweet white wine tonight.  He drinks wine while Anja is a beer drinker.  We sat outside for serval hours talking around their fire pit.  It is simple, small and square, very heavy and Mom wants one.  I have my marching orders for Christmas!

Herbert was interested in the 2nd half of the German/Denmark Women’s soccer match taking place as part of the European Football Competition taking place in England.  Mom wandered inside every so often for a score update.  I am eternally grateful Anja’s English is as good as it is.  My German is nowhere near as good.  I can understand a topic being discussed but not any details.  She shared what’s been going on with her the last few years and her struggles with work and mental anguish after her mother’s death.  She does not currently work and Herbert is retired.  His health issues have forced him to not be able to be active anymore and she is sad for their loss of bike riding together and being outdoors doing sports together.  She says she needs sport in her life to keep busy and not overthink things and life.  Being home during the pandemic has been most difficult but necessary.  She is annoyed at people here who are not wearing masks indoors anymore.

We are farther north than I am at home and it really didn’t start to get dark until 10:30 pm here.  We sat at the fire pit til late and after brushing our teeth, Mom and I crawled into bed at 11:30 pm.  Here’s hoping I don’t wake up too early tomorrow and am able to go a full day without a jet lag nap and am fully acclimated to the time change!

A Journey to Germany

My journey to be reunited with Mom began, as many of you who have flown out of LAX recently can attest to, frustratingly.  The amazingly, horrifically long lines at check-in were overwhelming.  It took me an hour 20 to get to the front counter.  While I was in line it was suggested to me that perhaps because I wasn’t checking a bag (my plan was to take my small suitcase as my carry-on and my backpack as my personal item) and that I had already printed my boarding pass that perhaps I didn’t need to be in this long line.  So I went to ask. It turns out everyone had to be in this line for passport check anyway, but the  airline rep told me that “things had changed” and I wouldn’t be allowed to take my suitcase on with me after all and I’d have to check it.  So back to the line I went, and the kind gentlemen in line behind me let me have my place back.  When I got to the counter I hurriedly filled out several luggage tags as I hadn't put any on the suitcase, thinking I didn’t need them as I was planning to keep the bag with me.  I told him that my TSA Pre-check # didn’t print on my boarding pass.  He tried to add it but was ultimately unsuccessful.  :( He weighed my bag (8 kg on the dot for their limit for a carry-on, according to their website, thankyouverymuch) and said it was fine to keep it with me.  Ha!  Take that other rep who chad caused me much anguish and distress!

So, off to TSA I went.  The line could’ve been worse.  It wasn’t as great as Pre-check, but I was just happy to keep my suitcase with me that I didn’t mind the line.  Off came the shoes, the iPad came out of my backpack and I sailed through with no mention of the hair gel, hair spray or any other toilets in my carry-on.  I had gone to great lengths to make sure I met all the requirements.

The rest of the trip was uneventful.  My seat was the 1st row behind 1st class, a bulkhead type row with no built-in screen because there was no row in front of us.  Instead our screens were tucked into the armrest between us.  I read a bit and dinner was served shortly after take-off.  An unobjectionable penne pasta with red bell peppers and mushrooms (gross) with a small salad, roll and butter and some brownie/fudge hybrid that was not to my liking so I didn’t finish it.

The woman next to me was on her way to India as her father-in-law had just passed away and she was going to be with her husband.  She had only purchased to ticket the day before!  She would be traveling for 29 hours, she said.  Yikes! The man on the aisle was going to meet his brother in Barcelona for a couple of weeks as he does every summer.

I had put my allergy med  (which knocks me out) in a Ziploc along with earplugs so I could try and go to sleep earlier than usual.  I took it about 7:30 pm PST and tried unsuccessfully for the next 3 hours to go to sleep.  In the end I estimate I got, less than 2,5 hours sleep before I was aware I was awake and too uncomfortable sitting upright to get back to sleep.  After going to the loo the cabin lights came on and “breakfast” of an egg salad sandwich on bagel thins with fruit salad arrived shortly after.

After landing and debarking I ended up in the wrong passport control line, found the right one, waited an immense amount of time (2 reps working was certainly not sufficient), found the train ticket machine and bought a ticket, got to the train station and had 90-ish minutes to wait.  When I realized I was getting sleepy and needed to make sure I didn’t fall asleep or I’d miss my train, I went to the nearby snack shop and got a croissant-like sweet and a banana.  Shortly after it was time to go to the platform and get my train!

A woman spoke to me in German and when she saw the incomprehensive look on my face and before I could stammer out Ich nicht sprecken Deutsch she spoke in English and asked if my flight had been cancelled, too. I said no and we had a nice conversation until our train arrived shortly after.  Finally on my final leg of the journey to be reunited with Mom!  The countryside was gorgeous and green and the high speed train took only 51 minutes to go the 110 miles.

I saw Mom shortly after getting off the train and it was so amazing to hug her again after 3.5 weeks! Anja and Herbert (her husband) came shortly behind.  She is the daughter of Mom’s German AFS sister, who passed away about 4 years ago.  At the car I was asked if I wanted to sit in front or in back with Mom. Fearing we’d be taking the Autobahn, and having previously been in a car with Herbert driving on the Autobahn I chose to sit in back. It turns out we were taking a back way back because it was rush hour and the Autobahn was too crowded.  Phew!  seeing the sights of the city of Koln (Cologne) was nice but we eventually did get on the Autobahn once we had passed the slow section.  Herbert got the car up to 160km but evened out at 130km.  Yikes!  I closed my eyes and prayed.

We arrived safely at their new home (they’ve been here 3 years after leaving Anja’s childhood home following her mother’s death. I was immediately introduced to Naila, their Belgian Shepherd, who barked furiously at me until reassured by Anja that I was ok and welcome by them.  Anja prepared dinner of chicken breast, sausages and a lulu-like mixture in a kebob form.  The meats all went on the grill and I was shown their induction cooktop and they explained how it works. We also had roasted potatoes and a salad with items from their garden along with a carrot salad.  It was so very fresh and delicious!

I went with Anja to take Naila for her final walk of the night and we afterwards got a tour of the backyard and garden.  I finally went to bed at 10:30 pm, hopeful for a long night’s rest.  However, I was not surprised to wake up at 3 am, unable to get back to sleep, so I decided to come downstairs and write my 1st blog post about this journey25+ hour journey.

My journey today has been one of excitement, trepidation at not having traveled alone since 1994, relief to have this part behind me, and as every Mom is familiar with, a lack of sleep. How I’ll recover remains to be seen.  Perhaps a journey into a nap later today…

A Journey with Nectarines and Blueberries

While cleaning out my freezer recently I came across a large container of blueberries that had been there awhile.  I didn't have the heart to throw it away.  Then a few days later I saw a recipe online for a Blueberry-Nectarine Crisp.  That sounded so yummy and do-able!  But, then I procrastinated and didn't get the nectarines at the my local farmer's market.  Until this past Saturday when I did get some.  And I knew what I was going to do with them.

I found a recipe that I already had all the ingredients at home for except for one.  Slivered almonds.  That was do-able!  I could easily pick up a small bag of those and be making these shortly!  And that's what I did.

Blueberry-Nectarine Crisp

I've always liked the recipe websites that start out showing you all the ingredients in one place that you'll need.  The recipe actually calls for 1 pint of blueberries and 2 nectarines, but I had twice that, so I doubled the recipe.  More crisp!

Here are frozen blueberries (see the ones that look lighter than the others?  That's the light frost from the freezer.  Yum.  Or not.) I'm going to mix them with the sliced (not peeled) nectarines, zest and juice from 1 lemon.  The recipe calls for a Meyer lemon.  The tree in my back yard is NOT a Meyer lemon tree.  I used what I had.  Remember, I had all of this on hand except the almonds.

When you make this, mix the fruit and juice together before adding the other ingredients, as I've done here.  I didn't, but wished I had.  I think it would've been better for all the fruit to have been coated with the juice before incorporating the other ingredients.

Here I mixed them all together and set them aside.

Now for the dry ingredients.  Since I was doubling the wet ingredients I also doubled the dry ingredients.  This half is waiting since my food processor is small.  Turns out the bag of almonds I got was enough for 1 batch of crisp, not enough for the doubling I was doing.  Oh well.  Maybe I'll remember to pay attention to that sort of thing next time.

Here's the first batch in the food processor.  Flour, oats, salt, almonds and cold butter.

Here's what each batch looked like after a spin in the food processor.

The original recipe calls for the fruit to be put in individual ramekins.  I knew I had way more than would fit in ramekins, and I wanted a pan of the crisp, so I started to put the fruit in an 9x12 pan and realized it wasn't very thick, the fruit was quite spread out.  This was not what I wanted, so I transferred it to a smaller 11x7 pan and started to crumble the topping over the fruit.

Here's what it looked like all covered, before going into the oven.

A side shot.  You can see some of the topping has filled in the crevices around the fruit.  Yum!

And voila!  Out of the oven looking GBD!

Dessert that night was fantastic, despite the fact that I didn't do the sweetened mascarpone the recipe calls for!  Although, admittedly, Cub didn't care for it.  Not sweet enough for him (eye roll).  Perhaps that had to do with my eagerness to make it and not waiting long enough for the nectarines to ripen.  You'll wait long enough when you make it though, right?  They should be soft and juicy.  And my blueberries were old and frozen, not at their peak.  *sigh*  Oh well.  I will triumph and make this again sometime.  Or another crisp.  I actually didn't need to double the topping recipe.  I now have enough for another crisp.  So there's that.  I won't use every bowl and appliance in the kitchen next time around.

Enjoy!

Recipe courtesy of Anne Burrell at Food Network

Filling:
1 pint blueberries
2 large ripe nectarines, pitted and cut into thick slices
1/2 Meyer lemon, zested and juiced
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup tightly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
Pinch Kosher salt

Topping:
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into pea-sized pieces
1/2 cup almonds
Pinch Kosher salt
1 to 2 tablespoons cold water
1 cup mascarpone cheese
1 tablespoon sugar

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the filling: toss the blueberries and nectarines in a large bowl with the lemon zest and juice.  Add the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine.  Divide the filling among 4 (6-ounce) ramekins.

For the topping: Combine all the ingredients in a food processor except the water.  Pulse until combined, this will take about 30 seconds.  Add the water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the mixture is clumpy but crumbly.

Top each ramekin with the topping.  Be sure to loosely sprinkle the topping and not pack it down.  The idea is to look very crumbly and craggy.

Place the ramekins on a sheet tray and bake in the oven until the filling i hot and bubbly and the topping is brown and crispy, 20 to 25 minutes.

Sweeten the mascarpone with the sugar.  Onto a small sheet pan or plate, neatly spoon 4 small portions of the sweetened mascarpone and chill until ready to serve.

Top each crisp with a quenelle of cold mascarpone.  Serve the crisps warm.


Karin's Notes:

Next time I'll do the normal recipe size since no one in this house but me wants any and I guess I will use ramekins for easy portion control.  I'll also use riper, fresher fruit.  I'll also not completely cover the top of the fruit with the crumble mixture, allowing some of the fruit to peek through and bubble up.  I'll start earlier in the day, too.  I bumped right up against the time I needed to start dinner and felt rushed and hot.  But, all in all I'm really pleased with this one!

My journey today was one of incredible mess but a really nice reward.  I love summer fruit!

A Cottage Pie Journey

Whoo whee!  2 posts in one day.  I'm on fire!  Ha!  I told you I've been doing a lot of scratch cooking lately.

Tonight's dinner is a kicked up version of something I've been making since my bachlorette days.  Y'all have heard of Shepherd's Pie, right?  Well, technically that's made with lamb.  I don't cook lamb on a regular basis.  In fact, I don't think I've *ever* cooked lamb.  But, I do cook a lot of beef.  So I make what's called Cottage Pie, which is the same as Sherherd's Pie but instead of lamb you use beef.

In my bachlorette days I didn't want to make a whole casserole dish of it, so I'd bake a russet potato, dress it with butter and ranch dressing (for added flavor vs. sour cream) and put ground beef over that and top it with canned corn.

I kept making it this way for my family.  Until tonight.  I decided to make an actual casserole dish of Cottage Pie.  Ooo!  Ahhh!  But, I didn't want to just put ground beef in there, I wanted to transform it a little.  So after consulting food network dot com, I decided to take inspiration from a couple of different recipes and go my own way.  Here's what I ended up with.

Karin's Kottage Pie (ha, ha, ha.  See what I did there?)

I first boiled the Yukon Gold potatoes (I think they make smoother mashed potatoes than russets).  Of course, as I get more accustomed to this blogging thing I'll remember to take pictures of each step...

After browning the ground beef and draining off the grease I added beef broth, tomato paste and chopped garlic.

Then after combining those ingredients I added some flour to thicken the sauce.

I used a lot of butter and some cream in the mashed potatoes.

I began to build the casserole by layering the ground beef mixture in the bottom of an 8x8 pan.

Then I spread canned corn (drained) over the meat.

Then I forgot to take a picture of the finished dish before putting it in the oven.  *sigh*

Ta-da!  The finished dish after some time in the oven to heat through and brown the potatoes on top.

Here's a slice view after we cut into it.  I definitely need to up the ratio of meat mixture to potatoes, but again, I'm calling this a success as it was yummy, flavorful and Camera Guy liked it!  Cub liked the potatoes, as long as he didn't have to eat a brown part on top.  *sigh*  He's 7.5, what do you expect?

Here's the recipe:

Karin's Kottage Pie

Meat Mixture
1.25 lbs ground beef (80-20)
1 cup beef broth
4 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour
Pepper to taste

Potatoes
4 Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, diced
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy cream

1 can corn

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Add potatoes to water.  Boil until tender.

While the potatoes are boiling, brown ground beef in skillet, remove grease when done.  Add broth and tomato paste.  Whisk til incorporated.  Add garlic.  Stir.  Sprinkle flour around pan.  Stir to coat.  Lower heat to simmer.

While the meat mixture is simmering, drain the potatoes and mash.  Add butter and mix in until smooth.  Add heavy cream until creamy.  Set aside.

Layer meat mixture in 8x8 glass ungreased casserole dish.  Drain canned corn and spread corn on top of meat mixture.  Add mashed potatoes on top of corn and meat mixture.  With a spatula gently spread around pan, covering entire layer of meat and corn.

Put on foil lined cookie sheet and put in oven for 20-30 mins.  Turn oven to broil until top has a few golden brown spots.  Take cookie sheet out of the oven and allow to rest for 15 mins. before cutting into it.

Enjoy!

Karin's Notes: next time I'll add diced onions while browning the ground beef.  I left them out because I thought there might be more of a chance of Cub eating it if he didn't see onions.  No go.  He didn't like it anyway.  If it's not sauce on a pizza or ketchup for fries, he wants nothing to do with anything remotely having to do with tomatoes.

I'd also add the garlic with the onions and beef, allowing it time to develop it's flavors.  I might even try a splash of Worchestshire, again I left it out this time because to Cub.

Tonight's journey was a fun one that I've been wanting to take for a while, but time always seemed to get the better of me.  Today I set the time aside to do this.  I had all the ingredients already and was pleased I didn't have to run to the store "for 1 thing".

I also learned tonight that a lot of the pictures I take on my phone are blurry.  I journied tonight to the realization that for blogging purposes, I need to wear my glasses while taking pictures so I can tell immediately if it's too blurry and I need to take it again.  *sigh*  Getting old ain't for wimps.

A Journey with Blueberry Scones

Wow.  It's been almost 2 years since my last post.  I knew I'd been busy, but wow.  I didn't realize it had been that long.  I hope to correct that now and keep it from happening again.

Y'all know mostly what my family and I have been up to by following me on Facebook, but I decided to start posting pics of my scratch made food here now, too.  I've been doing a lot of it lately and what I made today really made me proud and I wanted to share it it with the blogosphere.

It was overcast and drizzly when I took Cub to summer camp this AM and I was contemplating stopping for a latte on the way home.  I decided against it, remembering I wanted to make scones instead.

After the requisite cleaning of the kitchen (which didn't happen after dinner last night (*sigh*)), I was ready to get started.

(Very) Blueberry Scones (I added the "Very" part to the title because I used twice as many blueberries as the recipe calls for)

(recipe from Tyler Florence)

Here is the cold, cubed butter before I cut it into the already sifted, dry ingredients.

This is the mixture after I cut in the butter and after I folded in the blueberries and mixed in the heavy cream.  I added 2 cups of blueberries, whereas Tyler's recipe called for 1 cup.  I had a lot of blueberries that needed to be used, what can I say.  Also, if some blueberries are good, more are better, right?  Right.  I'm glad you think so, too.

Pictures 3 and 4 are after I pressed the dough together and cut the scones.  I forgot to take a picture of the dough before I cut the scones and put them on the cookie sheet.  (Sorry.  I'll try to remember to take pictures of ALL steps in the future.)  I need to remember when a recipe calls for the item to be put on a "ungreased cookie sheet" I need to use my Silpats.  I've not done a whole lot of baking, so this item isn't stuck in my brain yet.  I bet it will be after I have to scrub the backed-on blueberry goo off my cookie sheets.

Then I brushed the tops with more heavy cream and sprinkled them with sugar for a little extra sweetness and they turned out GBD (golden, brown and delicious)!

Next time I'll try and press the dough into a little more of a uniform thickness and edges as I got various sizes and thicknesses in this go 'round.  They're yummy, but I think I'd add a tad more sugar IN the dough next time.  I'm glad I put in the extra blueberries as the help lift the sweetness left lacking from the measly 2T called for in the recipe.

All in all, I'm calling this a success!  We'll see what Cub and Camera Guy think.  If they don't like them, all the more for me!  Ha!

I encourage you to try making them.  They're easy-peasy, lemon squeezy!  Which reminds me, Tyler also lists a lemon glaze to top the scones with, but I didn't do that, so that part of the recipe isn't shown or listed here.

Here's the recipe (courtesy of Tyler Florence):

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into chunks
1 cup fresh blueberries (I used 2 cups and am very pleased I did)
1 cup heavy cream, plus more for brushing the scones

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Sift together the dry ingredients: the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.  Using 2 forks or a pastry blender, but in the butter to coat the pieces with the flour.  The mixture should look like course crumbs.  Fold the blueberries into the batter.  Take care not to mash or bruise the blueberries because their strong color will bleed into the dough.  Make a well in the center and pour in the heavy cream.  Fold everything together just to incorporate; do not overwork the dough.

Press the dough out on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle about 12 by 3 by 1 1/4 inches.  Cut the rectangle in 1/2 then cut the pieces in 1/2 again, giving you 4 (3-inch) squares.  Cut the squares in 1/2 on a diagonal to give you the classic triangle shape.  Place the scones on an ungreased cookie sheet and brush the tops with a little heavy cream.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until beautiful and brown.


Karin's tips:

Use 2 cups of blueberries if you really like blueberries, or an extra tablespoon of sugar in the dough.  Use a Silpat or parchment paper to line the cookie sheet.  Sprinkle sugar on top of the scones after brushing them with cream.

Enjoy!

My journey today has been a pleasant one that let me get my hands floury, sticky dough under my nails and I expanded my repertoire of baked goods I feel comfortable making and that feels great!  Lunch with Camera Guy topped off a great morning!

Oh, and if you're new to reading my blog, the URL to read all the older posts, too, is journeyhalfthefun.blogspot.com.  If I recall there are some fun ones in there.

A Journey with Pixie Dust

What's a 40-something Mom and a 5.75 year old boy to do on a Sunday afternoon when there's nothing on the calendar that needs doing?

Go to Disneyland, of course!

Long story short, I didn't tell him where we going and by taking a circuitous route to get there, trying to throw him off, resulted in it taking far longer than it should have.

After we arrived I said I needed to go to the bathroom.  As we walked into the ladies' room I almost literally walked into a good friend of mine, Jen!  We pointed at each other and said "You!"  We laughed.  Ok.  *That* made the extra traffic and time on the road worth it.  If I had taken our normal route we never would've bumped into Jen and her family.  We had known the other would be there that day, but had totally different plans and didn't think we'd see one another.  How fortuitous to run into some of our favorite people!  We spent a little time together so Cub and her son could have time to play while the adults talked.  They went to their special event and we headed into Disneyland.

The first stop every time with Cub must be Star Tours.  It's his favorite ride.  Sorry, Camera Guy.  Attraction.  It was very crowded on Sunday.  An 8 out of 10 on the Crowd-o-Meter!  Needless to say, we didn't get on too many attractions.  When we got over to Haunted Mansion the line was extra long because of the overlay of Nightmare Before Christmas.  I asked the CM (Cast Member) at the end of the line how long the wait was and she replied "1 hour."  I turned to Cub and told him the line was SUPER long today and asked did he want to wait or go to the Pooh ride.  He said Pooh.  At which point the CM asked if it was just the 2 of us.  I replied that it was indeed, just the 2 of us.  She indicated for us to follow her.  She led us past the long line of people waiting and past the hearse, up the stairs to the front of the line!  We were escorted by another CM into the first chamber within a minute!  What a kind thing she did, letting us go up to the front of the line!  She didn't have to do that.  But, sprinkling pixie dust is a perk of her job.

Pixie dust is Disney-speak for creating magic for someone.  By her taking us to the front of the line and not have to wait, she made magic happen for us!  we didn't think we were going to be able to ride that ride.  It's not something the CMs are able to do for everyone every time.  That's part of what makes it special.  We floated through the attraction as if Tinker Bell herself had sprinkled us with her pixie dust and taught us to fly!

As we moved through the park after that we headed to the Winnie the Pooh ride.  The CM was just moving the rope across the entrance, closing it.  I asked what happened and she explained it was "down" (not working).  Ok, we said, we'd go wander through the store at the end of the ride (most Disney attractions have a store at the end that you have to walk through in order to get back out into the park) and see if the attraction was working again when we came out.  It was not.  However, Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore were in their Meet-and-Greet spots.  We hadn't taken pictures with them in a long time!  Cub was up for waiting to see them after we learned they were about to go on a break.

So wait and see them (except Pooh) we did.  When we got to the spot where Pooh would've been we were told his break was a little longer and they were sorry, but we couldn't wait where we were as it was a hazard.  Huh?  Um, how about if we wait over here to the side?  Another family in front of us got angry and huffy with the CM who was trying to explain to us the situation.  We got neither angry nor huffy and after that family left the CM let us stay, albeit a little more out of the way, for Pooh.  It would be about 10 mins. we were told.  15 mins. later, Pooh emerged.  Cub had been a trooper about waiting!  Of course, having the iPad along to play with helped.  :)

So I got pictures of Cub with Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore!  Hooray!  What luck!  Or was it more pixie dust?  I choose to believe the latter.  That's what it sure felt like, anyway.

The line for Buzz Lightyear attraction was shorter than we had seen it the whole time we were there that day, so we hopped in line and rode the ride, feeling pixie dusted not to have waitied as long as we might have earlier in the day.

I asked Cub if we could ride Pirates of the Caribbean before we left.  I know he's a little scared of the waterfall drops.  He was a little hesitant but said ok.  As we approached the queue I was shocked (shocked, I say!) to find it completely empty and not roped off!  It had just come "back up" from being "down" and there was no one waiting.  We almost ran through the queue to get to the front!  We were on in no time!  How lucky were we?  Wait, no, I think pixie dust was at work again for us, knowing that Cub was starting to wear down for the day, growing increasingly tired as we neared bedtime.

He snuggled in close and buried his face in my side as we approached the first, and admitedly, larger, of the 2 waterfalls.   I LOVED IT!  Having him still want to snuggle to me to feel safe, left me choked up.  Afrer the seond, smaller waterfall he rode the majority of the rest of the attraction with his hand resting on my leg.  I felt warm and loved.  This was my favorite memory of the day.  But, I knew he was done and needed to get to the car quickly when he lay down on the bench-seat of the boat and lay his head in my lap after we went up the waterfall to disembark.

My only disappointment of the day was I tried unsuccessfully to purchase a limited time only ceramic mug fashioned to look like Minnie Mouse as a pumpkin.  I was told they were out resort-wide.  That would've been the icing on the proverbial cake of my day.  But, upon reflection, and discussion with Cub today, we both really had a great day together, just us, no Camera Guy for a change, and made some fun memories, just Mommy and Cub.

It was by far one of my favorite days with Cub in memory.  Our journey was sprinkled with pixie dust from the minute we stepped out of the car.