use real butter

It’s cold. I mean, it’s the kind of cold that will make our roof pop and make loud cracking sounds in the night because of shrinkage. But it’s beautiful outside.

yes, that thermometer reading was zero as of this afternoon

experimental recipe
I had fresh cranberries to use up and I wanted to bake something to warm the house a little. I wasn’t interested in the ubiquitous orange cranberry bread that’s all over the web. So I found a recipe that was more bready than quick bready - if that makes any sense. I didn’t have lemon rind on hand, so I used lime.

cranberries are beautiful in cross section

chopped cranberries and grated lime peel

steaming hot out of the oven

The verdict - we like it! The recipe calls for rose water, which I don’t taste much of. I also used nutmeg instead of mace (mace is milder than nutmeg). Now the house is filled with the smell of baking and Jeremy is happy because he ran up to the oven to catch the residual heat under his shirt.

I had told my physician that I worried about getting enough calcium because I am lactose intolerant. She asked what I normally eat and I gave her a rundown of a typical week. She told me that dark leafy greens were a good source of calcium and that some asian cultures have shown to have better calcium intake in their diets because they ate foods high in a vitamin I have since forgotten which helps calcium absorption. All I remember is that, yes, I eat plenty of that too.

I picked up some lovely organic kale the other day at Whole Foods Paycheck. Growing up, I remembered seeing kale as a garnish. One curly sprig with some pathetic half-dried cherry tomato or orange slice on the side… My mom was a wonder with vegetables. She not only cooked a ton of them, but she cooked them so they retained a brilliant healthy color, great flavor, excellent texture, and were totally nutritious. Boiling To Death was not an option in her kitchen.

fresh kale

washed and ready

I like to sauté my kale in a little vegetable oil. It’s like a thicker cousin of spinach and cooks down to a fraction of the raw volume. I usually saut&eacute spinach with garlic and a little salt, but I tend to prefer my kale with just a touch of salt. The flavor is subtle, but delicious and it doesn’t leave a gritty film on your teeth like spinach does. Of course, you have to chew on it longer because it is tougher. I like to pretend that I am a manatee munching on seaweed when I eat kale…

it’s good for you and it tastes great too

I served that alongside some angel hair pasta with mushroom, zucchini, and italian sausage tomato sauce. I love me some vegetables.

Most of the desserts I like to make involve eggs. Well, they either involve whole eggs or egg yolks. Like soufflé uses yolks and whites separately, as does key lime pie, chocolate mousse, and chocolate cream cake. Then there are those that are heavy on yolks like crème brûlée, tiramisu, flan, cheesecake, and pastry cream. I hate to throw out good egg whites, but the only desserts I know of that use egg whites exclusively are meringues, angel food cake, and macaroons.

The tiramisu I made earlier this week required 8 egg yolks, which left me with 8 egg whites. I’ve been plagued with the fear of attempting meringues at elevation because I still don’t know what flops and what doesn’t compared to sea level. However, consultation with Donna Hay’s pavlova recipe and comparison to a high altitude cookbook recipe for meringues lead me to a successful experiment today. I opted for individual pavlovas because they take less time to cook and because I had no idea how many I’d produce (8 egg whites produce an assload of mini pavlovas).

piped meringue - not so aesthetically pleasing

i prefer the spooned meringue’s free form look

Although I noticed that my meringue is a slightly beige color and the whipped cream is white, whereas Donna’s meringue is bright white and the whipped cream a slight beige color. I probably needed to lower the temp and let them cook for longer, but what the hell… Hats off to Oz, this is the unofficial national dessert for Australia. Had I passion fruit, I would have used that too, Kell.

Snow is in the forecast and temps are dropping, thank goodness. It’s been unseasonably warm and sunny. However, my composting is looking more like compost and less like fuzzy mold - hurray!

Kaweah is having puppy dreams.