Sunday, August 26, 2012

End of Summer, Stone Fruits and Pound Cake

Whew!  The past nine days have been lovely.  Lovely because, despite several inches of rain and quite a bit of the usual humidity, our day and night temperatures have been surprisingly low for August.  Low enough to actually cook!  So after months of take-out and stovetop-only cooking, I’ve been baking: pumpkin bread, one batch with plums, another with blueberries; salmon with lemon and lots of pepper; and a delicious pound cake.

Pound cake in summer?  Most folks seem to prefer sponge or angel food cake, but I’m a fan of pound cake.  The perk of living in the southern end of the Mid-Atlantic is that we can grow a wide variety of fruit trees: apples, pears and cherries, of course, not to mention the wonderful stone fruits of late summer: peaches, nectarines and plums.  And it’s hard to improve on pound cake with sliced peaches or nectarines.  I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
We're lucky enough to have 5 family orchards within 20 miles.
This is the closest; they offer pick-your-own peaches, nectarines and apples.
Or you can just buy already-picked fruits from their little market.
Plus they have great views to the Southeast...
the Southwest...
the Northwest...
and the Northeast.
The pretty weather also blew in some dramatic skies.
My favorite pound cake recipes come from the April 2000 issue of Cooking Light.  And perhaps the best of the bunch is Brown Sugar Pound Cake.  It reads as follows:

Cooking spray
3 tablespoons dry breadcrumbs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup butter or stick margarine, softened
2 cups packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 large eggs
1 cup fat-free milk
1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Coat a 10” tube pan with cooking spray, and dust with the breadcrumbs.

Lightly spoon the flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife.  Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl, stir well with a whisk.  Beat the butter in a large bowl at medium speed of a mixer until light and fluffy.  Gradually add brown sugar and vanilla, beating until well blended.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with milk, beating at low speed, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.

Spoon the batter into prepared pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 5 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack, and remove from pan.  Cool completely on a wire rack.  Sift powdered sugar over top of cake.
I basically follow the recipe as written, except
  • I use an old-fashioned 12-cup Bundt pan and reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees.  The flutes of the Bundt make it really easy to cut small slices of cake.  Sometimes I can slice 24 for a party.
  • I grease the pan with butter.  To be honest, I’ve never gotten the hang of cooking sprays and just make a mess.  You can use graham, butter, or whole wheat cracker crumbs for your dry breadcrumbs.  This time I used the crumbs from the bottom of my box of Grape Nuts!
  • I don’t worry about fat-free milk.  I just use what’s on hand… this time – 2%.
The Black-and-White Pound Cake is also great and would be delicious served warm with peach ice cream and drizzled with a little chocolate syrup.  The recipe is similar.

Cooking spray
3 tablespoons dry breadcrumbs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup butter or stick margarine, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 large eggs
1 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
¾ cup chocolate syrup
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Coat a 10” tube pan with cooking spray, and dust with the breadcrumbs.

Lightly spoon the flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife.  Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl, stir well with a whisk.  Beat the butter in a large bowl at medium speed of a mixer until light and fluffy.  Gradually add granulated sugar and vanilla, beating until well blended.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with milk, beating at low speed, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.

Spoon two-thirds of the batter (about 4 cups) into prepared pan.  Add syrup and baking soda to remaining batter in bowl, stirring just until blended; spoon on top of batter in pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until cake pulls away from sides of pan.  Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan.  Cool completely on a wire rack.  Sift cocoa over top of cake.

Pound cake is easy to freeze for later.  Once the cake has cooled, but before you have sprinkled it with powdered sugar or cocoa, slice up what you think you can’t eat in the next day or so.  Place slices in heavy-duty zip-lock plastic baggies.  Two slices will usually fit in a sandwich size.  Thaw by just bringing to room temperature.  Once thawed, you can also heat them up in the microwave for 15-20 seconds.
Brown Sugar Pound Cake with fresh sliced nectarines and a dollop of yogurt.
So take advantage of your local peaches and nectarines while you can.  Share them with pound cake and friends.  Yum!

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Precious Pepper

It was just about four years ago, on a ridiculously hot weekend in August, that we brought Pepper home from the SPCA.  And our lives have never been the same!
Pepper on her first day home
Both Walter and I have had wonderful cats in the past… brilliant, beautiful cats who were fierce hunters and defenders, who explored fearlessly and who grew up and grew old with us.  But I can honestly say that none were quite as joyful as Pepper or quite as entwined with our daily lives.
Pepper by Beate Casati
Pepper reminds us that it is often the little things, just like her, that bring the greatest happiness.

Pepper would tell you…
Eat when you are hungry… a bit now and a bit later is fine.  You don’t always have to clean your plate.
But lick your lips and drink a lot of water.  It’s okay if it dribbles off your chin.
Naps are good.  And you feel better if you stick to your same bedtime every night.
Clean between your toes.  And don’t forget to stretch.
Pepper still stretches like this!
Pay attention.  The world is an amazing place.
Smell the flowers, literally.  I often find Pepper face-down in a blossom.  Ajuga and Abelia are some of her favorites.
Speak up.  Let someone know when you need help or a cuddle.
In fact, cuddle every day.

Don’t be afraid to jump for a sunbeam, even if you look a little silly.
Sometimes you need to run all out.
And sometimes you need to lie down, right now, right where you are.
I’ve been known to worry aloud, “What if we never found each other?”  Not only was Pepper abandoned at birth, but by the time we discovered her at the SPCA, she had already been adopted and returned by a family who thought her too rambunctious.  Too rambunctious?  Umm… isn’t that the point of kitty cats?  Walter and I think so.

Pepper’s job is to play.

Although her favorite things tend to wax and wane with the seasons, they are all about play and include
  • Sparkles:  She spends a couple hours every morning and evening chasing the sparkles on the wall cast by the reflections or headlights of passing cars.
  • Squirrels:  We don’t talk about squirrels unless there is a squirrel for her to see.  It’s just too exciting.
  • String:  As my brother says, “Man, that cat loves string.” She can entertain herself for hours with a shoe string… throwing it, catching it, running with it.
  • Bees:  Yes, she gets stung every year.
  • Butterflies are mesmerizing.
  • Birds are fascinating too... but rather noisy, especially the tiny ones.
  • And lately, she has been obsessed with snails and cicadas.
The truth is that she’s not a sophisticated hunter.  She’s interested in the search not the kill.  She’s inquisitive, within bounds, and always inventive when it comes to play.  I’ve watched her chase the shadows of big, fat bumblebees when the real things were beyond her reach.  Pepper loves to pounce on billowing sheets when we make the beds.  What fun!  Hiding, jumping, rolling.

My mother lost her patience on a recent visit.  “She needs to learn – not everything is play!”  Oh, I hope not.
Of course, we haven't been able to hang our glass Christmas ornaments lately.
But they look so pretty in bowls and cases.
A lot like shiny toys.  Right Pepper?
While Pepper may not always get her way, she never stops trying.  And we’re okay with that too.
If the word “spoiled” comes to mind, well, you can think what you like.  Pepper is allowed to keep her favorite stick in the dining room.  But it’s an absolutely PERFECT stick.  She has a bed, cat-size, of course, on each floor of the house, and a place to sit up high, at least table height, in almost every room.  Her daddy enclosed the back yard, mainly with a mesh fence, so she is protected from busy traffic but can still watch the goings-on.
And he just built a small flight of stairs so she can reach her favorite tall window.

It might seem like a lot fuss.  But what Pepper gives us in return is incomparable.  And I can’t imagine these past four years without her.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Beautiful Butterfly Bounty: Schumacher and Lulu DK

F. Schumacher & Company is perhaps the most revered textile business in America.  Established in New York in 1889 by immigrant Frederic Schumacher, it remains a family-owned and run business even after almost 125 years.  While Thibaut originally focused on wallpaper production, Schumacher first imported fine fabrics, trimmings and rugs from Europe.  In 1895, they started manufacturing their own fabrics, then wallpapers, and carpets.  Over the years, Schumacher has acquired other important, traditional companies including Greeff and Decorator’s Walk and built an amazing library of textile designs.  Needless to say, they include some of the most enchanting butterfly motifs.

Leafy Arbor, seen here in parchment… a warm, almost tea-stained palette, literally envelopes you in its garden trellis.
Leafy Arbor in parchment
Consider papering a sun room or family room.  Add stone or ceramic tile floors, plump sofas, a little leather and The Elizabeth Lucas Company’s canvas-gauze-burlap pillows.
Butterfly 2 pillows by The Elizabeth Lucas Company
Very comfortable living that’s wonderfully pretty without being too feminine!  Leafy Arbor is available in three other, slightly clearer, icier colors.

Shadow Vine wallpaper is more contemporary, and perhaps, more magical with silhouettes of ferns, trailing autumn clematis, and of course, butterflies.
Shadow Vine in chartreuse
It comes in four colors, including chartreuse, and would be stunning in your foyer lit with a pair of vintage, French sconces from Le Breton Interieurs in San Francisco.
Detail of Shadow Vine

Fabulous brass sconces from Le Breton Interieurs
Highlight the rather citrusy green and brassy yellow with an Aesthetica Mosaic by Christopher Marley.
Aesthetica Mosaic

The not-so-little Goliath Birdwing
His studio, called Pheromone, collects butterflies, moths, beetles, bees, wasps, flies and damselflies from around the globe and then creates these mesmerizing collages.  Your foyer would celebrate the strange and wonderful beauty of insects and make you happy everyday!

The 1960s classic Birds and Butterflies, available in wallpaper or cotton chintz, originated from Decorator’s Walk and is now a mainstay of Schumacher’s collection.
Birds and Butterflies
I appreciate its quirky duality.  It seems at once brilliantly bold and whimsically old-fashioned.  To be honest, Birds and Butterflies really commands a room, but here are a few accessories that can hold their own with the confident pattern.

Imagine Birds and Butterflies in a breakfast room with black and white ticking and Caskata’s lovely Butterfly dinnerware.
Or use it to upholster a large screen in a guest bedroom.  Add linen euro shams from Design Legacy.
Butterflies for Brains, a sculpture from Global Views, would look perfect flanked by wing chairs in Birds and Butterflies.
And last, but hardly least, the tiny, handmade Butterfly Mosaic chandelier, from New York-based Canopy Designs, echoes the textile’s bright blues and golds with just a bit more sparkle and glamour.
Since 1925, Schumacher has collaborated closely with important designers, architects and institutions to develop special collections.  Lulu DK’s sprightly Butterfly was created for Schumacher’s children’s line of fabrics, but it could easily enliven any grown-up room.
Butterfly by Lulu DK for Schumacher
Think about floor-to-ceiling draperies or a skirted side table in the colorful poplin.  Increase sophistication with Carson and Company’s chocolate Bettylou lamp or frame their Mackenzie silk charmeuse scarf for a dramatic focal point.
Carson and Company's chocolate-y Bettylou lamp...
and sunshine-y Mackenzie scarf.
In so many ways, Lulu deKwiatkowski reminds me of butterflies and their remarkable dichotomy of fragility and vitality.  Lulu grew up in a wealthy and artistic family and must have been influenced by her cosmopolitan parents and stylish grandmother.  But she was also allowed time to play and explore nature.  She studied fine arts at Parsons School of Design and decorative painting in Paris but still regularly finds inspiration in everyday scenes and objects from her travels throughout the world.  And I think it is this openness to ideas, this true joie de vivre that makes her such a terrific artist.

In addition to her work with Schumacher, she has designed bed linens for Matouk, furniture for Elite Leather and china for Neiman-Marcus.  Lulu’s Byzantine and Petals dinnerware patterns are based on her fanciful watercolor paintings.
Byzantine...
and Petals...

would be perfect with the Cracked Glass Butterfly napkin ring from Dransfield and Ross.
And I think her original endeavor – her signature collection of hand-printed fabrics – is still her most appealing.  The aptly-named Dreamers comes in 4 gorgeous color combinations.  In crystal, it goes perfectly with Benjamin Moore’s Silvery Blue, like the small butterfly native to western America, and a duo of vintage lamps from Dragonette Limited in Los Angeles.
Dreamers in crystal
Silvery Blue 1647
Beautifully hand-painted butterfly lamps from Dragonette
Detail of vintage lamp
Dreamers in kelly green is equally charming, especially when matched with The Natural Light’s simple Garden Gourd table lamp.  So very pretty… in the very best sense!
Dreamers in kelly green
Garden Gourd from The Natural Light
And you know, there’s nothing wrong with pretty.  We need sweetness in our lives.  And we need butterflies… for pollination and plant control and for what they represent and inspire.

So, plant a butterfly garden.  The National Museum of Natural History’s Butterfly Habitat Garden, between the Museum and 9th Street, provides a lot of great ideas for what can grow in a harsh environment and relatively small space.  The Bristow Butterfly Garden, part of the Botanical Garden in Norfolk, Virginia, is significantly larger at 2 acres.  But the goal is the same: to support butterflies and moths in all stages of life.

Even if you don’t have a garden of your own, you can get up close and personal with butterflies by participating in a butterfly count.  The official counts are wrapping up here in Central Virginia, but you can always organize a count of your own in a neighborhood park or open space.  Check with your local Audubon Society or state Department of Conservation for guidance.