Breakfast, Lunch and Tea

Hot out of the oven

Last week I made an Apple and Almond Torte.  The recipe is from the book Breakfast, Lunch and Tea – The Many Little Meals of Rose Bakery.  This book has become one of my favorites, not only because of the beautiful photography, but also the recipes are hard to beat too.  Rose Bakery is located in Paris and wandering through this book is a little like taking a mini vacation for me.  The funniest part is that I've never actually been to the bakery in person, but everything about the beautifully photographed, unpretentious presentation and wonderful food reminds me of that wonderful city.

This recipe was pretty straightforward and the end result was really good.  The final product wasn't sweet in the American dessert sweet style, more mildly sweet like most European pastries - so keep that in mind if you want to try it.  

I substituted whole wheat flour for white flour and don't know if I would do that again.  Maybe I would only sub half of what the recipe calls for.  And I squeezed the heck out of the grated apples, in anticipation of them making the end result to runny, or the crust soggy; but I found that I might have been a little too overzealous in that regard.  Mine was a little on the dry side... but nothing that a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream couldn't help. And lastly, I used this long rectangular tart pan as it was the biggest one I have, and I think it could have used an even larger pan... the crust to filling ratio was a little off.  

Anyway, here is the recipe; courtesy of Breakfast, Lunch and Tea.

Enjoy.

Apple, Nut and Spice Torte

Serves 8

1 lb. 2 oz sweet pastry for the top and 1 uncooked Sweet Tart Case (see below)
all purpose flour for dusting
10 apples
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup of superfine sugar
grated zest of one lemon
1 cup roughly chopped almonds
scant 1/2 cup of ground almonds
1 handful of golden raisins (optional)
1 egg beaten 

Roll out the pastry for the top on a floured surface to a thickness of 1/4 inch and the diameter of the tin being used.  Chill this and the tart case in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Grate the apples into a bowl (skin included if you wish). Squeeze the extra juice out to make the apples as dry as possible.
Add the cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar to the apples
Stir in the lemon zest and the chopped and ground almonds. You can also stir in the raisins, if you are u sing them.
Brush the base and sides of the uncooked tart case with beaten egg, particularly the edges to make sure that the top is well sealed.
Spoon the apple mixture into the case, making sure it is raised and fills the case as the apples will shrink upon baking.
Carefully life up the pastry for the top with a rolling pin and place it over the filling. Seal the edges well and cut a little hole in the middle to let out the steam.
Glaze the top with beaten egg and bake the torte for about 1hour or until the pastry is golden brown and well cooked.
Cool on a wire rack and serve at room temperature.

Sweet Pastry and Sweet Tart Case

Makes enough for two tart cases

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
generous 2/3 cup of superfine sugar
1 1/2 cups of unsalted butter (10 minutes out of the fridge)
pinch of salt
1 egg
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

If you are using a food processor, process the flour, sugar, butter and salt for about 10-12 seconds until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, then put the mixture in a bowl. Otherwise, put the flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl and cut the butter into pieces and work it into the flour with your fingertips.
Now make a well in the middle of the flour and butter mixture and add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract.  Stir with a fork to incorporate the flour evenly until you have to begin using your hand.
Using one hand only, bring the dry and wet ingredients together.
Dust your work surface with flour and then remove the dough from the bowl and knead it on the floured surface for a few minutes until it is smooth and homogeneous.
It is now ready to be rolled out. 

Sweet Tart Case 

Divide the dough in half and work on a well floured surface one half at a time. Once it is rolled to a smooth 1/4 inch thick, lift it with the rolling pin and place it gently into the tart tin.  (For the tart above, refrigerate for 30 minutes.) For other recipes it could be blind baked at this point. For the case, roll the other half out in the same manner and refrigerate until you are ready to seal the tart closed.

Greening – Spring 2013

White Oak

Last weekend we spent some time in the country and I was totally unproductive; it was lovely.  It's been raining, raining, raining for what seems like weeks on end.  And although the weather was a brisk 50 degrees and drizzly most days, it's so nice to see things coming back to life.  Cross your fingers that it dries up a bit... we got over an inch or rain this week again...

Green

Mom's lilacs

Fresh Glass

Hollow lovelies

Hot out of the kiln from last weekend, I bring you some new glass beads.

My glass setup is in a little room off of our house that doesn't enjoy the benefit of heat or air conditioning, so working with glass is really, really unsuccessful in winter months.  The temperature difference between the torch and the air in the winter causes the glass rods to literally explode = not fun.   So one of the many welcome changes in spring is the re-opening of the glass setup.

Teal green bubbles

So I'm taking advantage of some nice spring weather and the couple hour naps the kiddo still takes in the afternoon and this was the net result.  I've got some ideas for earrings with the coral lined pink beads and I'm thinking of stringing these green hollows into a simple single strand... thoughts?

Coral lined pink solids

Signs of Spring

We're finally feeling like spring in St. Louis. The zoysia is the only thing that isn't yet greening up, I made to commute to work this week without needing to don a wool coat and my girlfriend and I made our first Saturday morning trek to the farmers market.  And I think we came home with some of the best that this season has to offer.

Two springtime favorites

The daffodils are amazing, and they smell as good as they look.  And asparagus... I think I could eat it every day.  I'm never really mind winters but lots of family and friends have commented about how looooong this winter felt.  I actually hadn't minded it so much, but it felt so, so good today to feel spring coming on.

I'm off to plant the pansies and sweet peas that we bought too in hopes that we have a little garden for our girl to tend and this summer.  Enjoy your weekend! XO – Faye

Hand-spun scarf

Mini Scarf – just in time for spring.

I've always admired the two-ply, two-color yarn that is most often hand spun.  I think it makes the most beautiful yarns.  So I was excited to buy this skein from "Spun Monkey" last summer at Squam.  I wish that I had photographed it in it's un-knit glory, because it's something that I think was almost more beautiful before it was knit.  (Is it a crime to admit that?)

Handspun yarn loveliness.

I did knit it though.  The small fry asked me for a scarf and I think she liked the color variation in this yarn.  She's little enough to think that some of what I wear is worth mimicking and I love to wear scarves.  And as you might guess, I was happy to oblige.

She's a character this one.  And you knitters out there will appreciate this:  when we dress her in the mornings, if she ends up wearing a sweater, she asks if I knit it.  Isn't that funny and wonderful?  I love that she understands that people can make things - useful things - like clothing, and art, and birthday cakes.  She's a good girl, if I do say so myself.  (And as I re-read this, I realize I sound about as objective about her as my own mother is about me.  Ha.)

Gorgeous colors, right?

The scarf is a simple one.  It was cast on size 8 needles, and began with 4 rows of seed stitch, and then I continued up the scarf with the first two and last two stitches in seed stitch and the center in stockinette.  I finished it with 4 rows of seed stitch to try to prevent too much rolling.  I highly recommend this yarn, it's beautiful and even more so in the skein.

Baby shorts

Cute pants on cute "Jack and Jill" chair.

How about these for a cozy baby bum?  I was so enamoured of the photo of Baby Shorts in the Debbie Bliss book, that I thought I would cast these on.  (I have a strict personal rule about wearing anything knit over my own backside, but I think that people in diapers are able to carry it off.)

I knit these out of some leftover Louet Gems that I had purchased a few years ago from a sale bin.  I was able to get an aran sweater out of it, and now these... I don't remember what I paid for the yarn, but it's netted a couple really nice little finished projects.

These knit up really quickly, and cleverly use short rows for extra length in the back of the pants... to accommodate the diapered bottom.  The finishing was really simple, as there was only the seam down the center front and back and the short inseam between the legs. The legs are finished nicely with a picot edge.  If you haven't knit a picot edge before, I'd recommend trying it.  It's really very simple and the results are very satisfying and make a really nicely finished edge.

Picot edge.

I wanted to mention this little chair too.  Isn't it darling.  I picked it up in the best little antique store... more a boutique than a typical antique store.  They have a knack for selecting and artfully arranging really fun and eclectic pieces.  It's called Roots in Maplewood.  If you are ever in St. Louis, you should check it out!

I hope that you and yours are keeping warm in your respective regions.

Quill Cowl

Quill - can't wait to show you
in better lighting

I am a long lost illustration student. I love details and fine work. And I started quite some time ago drafting an illustration that I could translate into a two-color piece of knitting.  Needless to say, it grew and grew and is now an unwieldily chart.

But I just love the image and the fluid repeat.  And I think it turned into a really nice cowl.  There will be a pattern coming soon, until then, here is a sneak peak...  it reminds me of paper quilling.