Cherry chomper

OK, I have no idea if this works or not, but I really, really want it to work, because...well, because.

If you have to sit and pit cherries, as I did recently (check in tomorrow), you might as well be amused at the same time. To work the Cherry Chomper, you stick a cherry in his mouth and press down on his head. A plunger pushes the pit out of the cherry and into the chomper's belly. Apparently it works for pitting olives, too.

My great-aunt Nan used to pit cherries with a hairpin. She dug the U end of the hairpin down into the cherry until she got to the bottom of the pit, then she pulled the hairpin back up on the other side of the pit. She worked like lightening with her gnarled arthritic hands. It was really something. She probably would have been disdainful of the Cherry Chomper.

Toasted Oat Egg Bread

There's nothing more satisfying than making a braided bread. No matter how bad the braided dough looks to you, the baked-up loaf always comes out looking swell. My son (under the tutelage of his girlfriend Katie, who is a terrific baker) made his first braided bread a couple of weekends ago and I think he wowed even himself.

The braided bread pictured here, which I made earlier in the spring (round about Easter time), is an egg bread, but I threw in a little turmeric to give it more of an eggy golden glow.

Toasted-Oat Egg Bread
The toasted oats give the bread a nice rich flavor, but also--and the real reason I added them--a good dose of soluble fiber. Be sure to measure the flour by spooning flour into a measuring cup and then leveling off the top.

3/4 cup quick-cooking oats
2 packages (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast
5-1/4 cups flour*
2 tablespoons sugar
2-1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup very hot (120° to 130°F) water
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons water
*Flour measured by spooning and leveling

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spread the oats on a baking pan and bake for 5 to 7 minutes or until lightly toasted. Measure out a generous tablespoon of toasted oats and set aside to sprinkle on the loaves before baking.
2. In a food processor, combine the yeast, 2-1/2 cups of the flour, the remaining toasted oats, the sugar, salt, turmeric and butter, and process to distribute the butter evenly. Add the hot water and pulse to blend. Add 3 of the eggs, one at a time, pulsing to thoroughly combine. Separate the last egg. Add the egg white to the processor and set the egg yolk aside in a small bowl.
3. Add 2-1/4 cups flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until the dough forms a rough mass. The dough will be soft.
4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Using only as much of the remaining 1/2 cup flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking, knead for 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Lightly grease a bowl. Add the dough and turn to coat. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and set aside until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
5. Punch the dough down and divide in half. Divide each half into 3 pieces and roll each piece into a rope 12 inches long and tapered at the ends. Lay the ropes parallel to one another and press together the points at one end. Braid the ropes and pinch the ends together. Tuck the pinched ends under. Transfer to a greased baking sheet.
6. Beat the water into the egg yolk. Brush the loaves with the egg wash. Sprinkle with the reserved toasted oats. Set aside in a warm, draft-free place to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
7. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until nicely browned and the bottom sounds hollow when thumped. Cool on wire racks.

Makes 2 loaves

K.A.T.E.S. Eggplant-Bacon Sauté with Kale

Kale Apple Tarragon Eggplant Smoked bacon

The second recipe from the Alphabet Challenge:

Come up with recipes using only ingredients that start with the letters that spell out my name K + A + T + E + S (the first initial of my last name to give me a total of 5). Oil, salt and pepper do not count.

So I made a little eggplant sauté that was surprisingly yummy (it got better and better as it sat). But in the interest of full disclosure, the next time I make it I will leave out the kale, which was really only there because it got me the letter K. Another bright green garnishy thing might be fine in its place, or nothing at all.

Eggplant-Bacon Sauté with Kale
Peel or don't peel the apple, your choice. I left it on for a little color,

5 large kale leaves, stems discarded
3 slices smoked bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 cup water
1 eggplant (about 1-1/2 pounds), peeled and cubed
1 apple, cubed
1/2 teaspoon tarragon
1/4 teaspoon salt
Generous pinch of pepper

1. In a vegetable steamer, cook the kale just until limp and bright green (to tenderize it). When cool, cut into thin shreds.
2. In a large skillet, cook the bacon over medium-low heat until crisp, about 10 minutes.
3. Add the water, eggplant, apple, tarragon, salt and pepper, and toss together. Cover and steam over medium heat until the eggplant is softened. Remove from the heat, stir in the kale, and let cool to warm.
4. Serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled.

Makes 4 servings

Fun with Food: cuddly cream puffs

A bento artist named Anna the Red took a break from her lunchbox designs to come up with these cute little cream puffs (though I guess cream puffs are inherently cute, no?). Anna's post is quite detailed on how she set about making them.



The cream puffs are actually representations of an anime character named Totoro. You don't really have to know who Totoro is to want to make these cutie-pie pastries, but just for a frame of reference here is the real Totoro.

The pumpkin tree project

A couple of years ago I planted a type of gourd called a birdhouse gourd (well that's probably not its botanical name) that you can turn into a birdhouse: You dry it out so you can cut a small hole in it to act as a front door for the birdies.

The gourds I grew weren't quite up to snuff birdhouse-wise, but that's not the point of my story. The point is that the gourd plant decided it didn't have enough sun where I had put it, so it simply grew up a tree. It made lots of little gourd fruits, all dangling from the branches of an evergreen tree.

This inspired me to make this happen on purpose. Today--Memorial Day--I planted two kinds of baby pumpkins at the base of the same tree (photo above). I'll report on the progress. I'm aiming to have a hilarious picture of the pumpkin tree in September.

For the record, I planted 2 pumpkins: one called Sweet Lightning, which produces 3- to 5-inch fruits, and one called Wee-Be-Little, which makes 3- to 4-inch fruits. They're both from Jung Seed.

Orange-Honeydew Licuado

The first time I went to Mexico I had been properly warned to not eat street food. It was a fear that I respected until I met the licuado, a blender fruit drink.

There was a little store (term used loosely) that was just a window onto the street with a counter. Lined up behind the serving guy was a cornucopia of tropical fruits. In front of him was a blender. You went up and asked for the fruit you wanted (which in my case meant pointing since I didn't know what a lot of the fruits were) and poof you had a licuado.

It became a minor addiction. Anyway, without further ado, here's a licuado I made the other day.

Orange-Honeydew Licuado
A licuado can also be called a batido, but I'm not sure if there's a distinction. It might be that a batido has milk and a licuado does not? If anyone out there is versed in the linguistic or culinary differences between the two, I'd like to know. Don't try to make more than 2 drinks at once. Just make multiple batches.

2 cups honeydew chunks
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon orange liqueur or honey (optional)
4 ice cubes

In a blender, combine all the ingredients and puree until thick and frothy.
Makes 2 servings

While I was looking around for pictures of honeydew melons (since I hadn't photographed the drink itself), I ran across a chef from Thailand named Krongjit "Kacie" Chatuparisoot (Thai names always make me laugh; they're so silly and jolly sounding) who specializes in carving food. Here's what she did with a honeydew melon.