Wise up.*

Pink peonies.

Well, it's been a slow few months here. I have not taken on too many Chefty challenges, I suppose my sails have been wanting wind, and now fall has pretty much arrived, if the cool temperatures and cloudyish skies are any indication.

I went back to the market this weekend after being on vacation and was really beside myself with delight. The bounty of gorgeous fresh food in this part of the country never fails to thrill me. Sometimes it feels like the saving grace of this place. Tables and tables piled high with peaches and plums and armloads of lettuce and beans, baskets of curly lettuce and buckets of dahlias and sunflowers, bright waxy peppers of all shapes and colors and flavors, heaps of berries all lined up in pints and flats. Everywhere! I will try to document what I'm talking about this weekend. Every farmer has everything, it's so hard to know where to shop. This past weekend, I did buy two different sets of wax beans (my most favorite) from different vendors to see whose might be better. I've yet to try the second bunch, but the first was near-perfect--they didn't need anything after a quick steam but a drizzle of olive oil and salt. I also bought a box of peaches--fourteen! That may have been a little ambitious of me--and they are huge, each weighing close to half a pound and perfectly drip-down-your-chin juicy. I froze half of them so that some time in winter when it's miserable and wet here and all I can eat is kale and apples, I can make a pie to remind myself of what's to come.

Peaches, arugula, and chevre.

Tomatoes are also unbelievable. I picked up a few little heirloom tomatoes with the plan of having them in a salad, but last night I chopped them up to braise with some chicken, onions, and garlic. Now, you know what a bad tomato tastes like, right? Mealy and bland and just plain awful. These. Were not that! Entirely the opposite: deep ruby red, tangy and sweet. Flawless.

I've taken to having yogurt & fruit for breakfast lately, instead of my usual cereal. I used to hate plain yogurt, but I'm quite fond of it now--I suppose luscious blueberries and a dose of honey don't hurt--and so this weekend I thought I'd try my hand at making yogurt at home. It was a lot of waiting (and then, straining) for a pretty low yield--one quart of milk made about one cup of yogurt. My yogurt didn't taste like anything the store-bought yogurt I used to "pitch" it. In fact it tasted more like ricotta cheese, with a vaguely fermented aftertaste, so I'm not sure where I went wrong. Ultimately, tasty, but I'm not sure I'll be doing that again anytime soon.

What's next, then? Well, current fridge contents include purple cauliflower (huh?), more of those wax beans (potentially inferior), kale and chorizo (for that cold-weather staple: lentil soup!), blueberries and strawberries. And about four more peaches. We'll see what I can cook up this weekend. I feel like I should give canning another go, but I might just end up with a peach & blueberry concoction. In the meantime, feast your eyes on some recent-ish pretty things. (Please forgive the blurry ones, the lighting in my kitchen + my limited photography skills = uh, blurry pictures.)

Buttermilk pie with strawberries in red wine syrup.

Jacques Pepin's oeufs Jeanette with arugula.



Thin spaghetti w/roasted cherry tomatoes, breadcrumbs, and arugula (a regular Chefty star)

Cheesecake--and I have to say, a perfect, crack-free cheesecake--with minted blueberries

The only unbroken ranbow I've ever seen, and the brightest--taken from my deck. That's the Fremont bridge in the background.

*Not a recommendation to anyone (except maybe myself!) I was listening to Aimee Mann is all.