chez pim

shoo-fly pie

 

No scrapple yet--am promised one at breakfast tomorrow--but already three slices into Alice Ann's delicious Shoo-fly pie.  (I called it Fly Trap pie at least twice, but that probably had more to do with the Stoudts Lagers I drank...)  Shoo-fly pie is a sweet pie made with flour, butter, sugar, and "molasses" (not the southern blackstrap kind, but something more akin to darkish syrup.)  Simple ingredients that reflect the sensibility--and generally limited resources-- of the area.

It's tooth-achingly sweet, I concede, but also somehow had a complexity of flavor that belies the short list of ingredients.  I think the "molasses" is the key.  I'll see if I can find out the exact brand--each family recipe specifies a particular one, or so I was just told.

hand-cranked ice cream

 

Mennonite milk, fresh strawberries, two antique hand-crank machines--ice, salt, sugar, and some serious muscle power.  Simple as that, and it's one of the best ice cream I've ever had.  Simple as that.

another from the market

another shot from Renningers

Renningers market

I was hoping for some extemporaneous blogging today on my shiny new iPhone (with a shiny new Typepad app on it), but the first day in Pennsylvania Dutch country proves to be a bit of a sensory--not to mention gustatory--overload that I hardly had time for snapshots.  So I'm just catching up now before I'm off to bed.

The first stop of the day was at Renningers market, one of the many, many antique markets in this area.  I made out like a bandit, well, ok, not really, but I did leave with an antique bell for my cruiser bike at home, and a couple neat kitchen gadgets I must remember to show you later.

I just had to show you this Elvis poster now though, especially since a clam ( and corn) bake was in my immediate future!

eating in Pennsylvania Dutch country

Chez Pim is broadcasting from Lancaster county this weekend and for the next couple of days.  I followed David here for his family reunion.  His aunt Alice Ann who's a fabulous cook promised to cook us a lot of traditional dishes.  Actually she said she'd turn me "deutsche" before our stay is over.  That's a bit of fun trivia.  did you know that Pennsylvania Dutch is actually a bastardized form of the original term Pennsylvania Deutsche?  I certainly didn't know.

I'm also going to be blogging exclusively with the new typepad app for the iPhone.  That means spelling will be even worse around here than usual.  And the photos will be taken on the mildly crappy iPhone camera.  Just consider this a blanket apology.

Stay tuned, this is going to be fun!      

What's at Lulu's at the Octagon today? (Santa Cruz)

These buttery rustic tarts, with farm fresh nectarines and a smidgen of frangipane.  You can also find my earl grey madeleines and most fabulously delicious crumb cakes made with Andi Mariani's Gold Dust peaches.  We've been sending them to Lulu's at the Octagon, the artisanal coffee roaster/shop in Santa Cruz.  And they've been flyng off just as quickly as we could make them too.

Who's this "we" I speak of, you asked?  Pim et Isabelle, of course!

Do-it-yourself Vietnamese prawn summer rolls

Now this is the kind of thirty-minute meal even foodies-like-us will love.  Fresh ingredients, nothing pre-cut or pre-cooked, but still you can put it together in less than 30 minutes, ok, 45 with not-so-fast  knife skills.  The ingredients are not all that exotic either: if you can find fish sauce and lemongrass at your local market you're all set.

As we're getting deeper into the summer season, I'm always craving something light and refreshing.  This Vietnamese wrap dinner I put together the other day fits the bill perfectly.  And no, Adam, you don't need an outdoor grill to make this dish.  I grilled my prawn "kebobs" right there on a ridge pan on my kitchen range. It works just as well for this.  It's also a pretty low-stress dish, you don't even need to bother rolling each one before serving.  Just put everything on a big platter and set out some dry rice paper with a bowl of warm or tepid water.  Your guests can roll their own as they eat. It's more fun that way anyway.

Linky Tuesday

Coffee on ice
     No, not that coffee on ice

How not to bake a summer tart

Fourteen passive-aggressive appetizers

iPhone for foodies

Mysterious plague attacking French oysters

Blenheim apricots

The best thing about coming home from this trip--besides seeing my kitty Ella, of course--is getting back in time for tiny Blenheim apricots.  They are a specialty of the Bay Area, and their season is so short you blink and they go *poof*. 

The blenheims are an old-fashioned kind of apricots that are getting increasingly hard to find.  Fewer and fewer farmers grow them every year.  The reason for the diminishing supplies is definitely not the taste, which is just heavenly, but more because they are ever so delicate.  Just look at them funny and they bruise, we like to say.

In the world where everything has to look blemish-free and perfectly formed, these bruised babies hardly have a place.  As for me, I just adore the freckled imperfection and ther sweet, fragrant flesh.  They are tiny, and they taste like you take normal size apricots and miniaturize them, intensifying the flavor.  I don't mind the bruises here and there, they make them even sweeter I say.  The Blenheims don't last very long off the trees, nor after they are bought at the market, but somehow that's never been a problem for me either.  They are usually gone the same afternoon.

If you're in Bay Area, or just happen to find yourself here right now, look out for them at the farmers market.  You'll thank me later.