Nature notes, and cake

Early morning walk, so glad I pushed myself out before the heat set in. Me and many birds and frogs at the pond. There were a lot of branches down from the storm and many more frogs, leaping into the pond at my approach, clearly approving the weather. Three drakes fussing about there, too. I wonder if the ducks are home busy with ducklings.

More wild daylilies

 and the jewelweed has started

That pocket-shaped blossom is very much like the sage blossom. I must check the name of the shape and see if it's a family.

One of my neighbors not only plants herbs, she labels them 

This is the first sighting I think I've had of rue.

On the way home, dandelions added to the daily bouquet 

Home to read These Old Shades, ancient Georgette Heyer, and bake cake, which is called bread because I bake it in a loaf pan, but who am I kidding. 

Banana bread but with pumpkin instead of banana,  crushed walnuts, dried cranberries.  Very nutritious! I used whole wheat flour. 

Perfect breakfast food. Or afternoon tea. Any time, really. With a spoonful of yogurt mixed with lemon juice and cane sugar, it's dessert. It's the Swiss army knife of breads.

Happy day everyone, enjoy whatever you're up to, hoping it's trouble, sez 

Big U and Ted

Pumpkin walnut chocolate bread

But it's called bread so I can have it for breakfast. But then there are the spices, so I can have it for afternoon tea. And then it will go a treat with a glass of milk last thing at night. It's an all purpose food.

I used half the little sugar pumpkin I had on the step. The seeds are tossed for the birds, and the other half of the pulp is frozen probably for soup.

I'm glad I got two loaves out of the recipe, because it was labor intensive. Baked the whole pumpkin about an hour in a medium oven to soften the thing enough to cut into it. Then all the flour and eggs and spices and chocolate bits and walnuts and eggs. And the search for a recipe that used real pumpkin. This is from Alton Brown, credit where it's due.  Even the ones that want a can of pumpkin don't tell you how much that is. It wouldn't hurt them to just mention it.

Anyway, fyi, my 5lb sugar pumpkin gave me about six cups of pulp, three in the bread, the rest in the freezer. And a big bloof of seeds outside.

My neighbor is very happy I'm all tied up with baking because he had to go to work leaving the fridge man working nextdoor, and he knows I'll be here anyway to see all's well. He will probably get a slice of the bread in the deal, too. Neighbor, not fridge man.

So this is what happens when you frugally use up the fall decoration for food. Not a bit of bother. Hollow ghostly laughter.

Breakfast chez Liz

I just realized I never did a breakfast post. Probably because my eyes aren't fully open at that time.  But today there's a picture

pumpkin/walnut bread, toasted, with paneer, both homemade. I'd already made inroads on the bread before thinking of a picture, in case you think I have mice.  Nice strong cup of Vietnamese coffee, which I do by passing the boiling water once through the grounds, makes great coffee. Skim milk, no sugar, sugar ruins hot drinks for me.

 Paneer is almost too easy to need a recipe: boil your milk, sour it with lemon, save and drain the curds and press with cheesecloth, eat! save the whey for soups and sauces.

The bread was from America's Test Kitchen but the recipe had what I consider a major flaw: it called for a CAN of prepared pumpkin.  And failed to say how much volume that would be, for a girl like I with no kitchen scale and with homegrown and diced pumpkin ready to use.  So I guessed at it, and it worked out okay anyway. I still maintain that a can of something is not an ingredient, but that's me.

I took a dozen pieces of it in to the Bite Club as a sample last evening, and it all vanished pretty fast.  The BC is a wonderful group, and I've learned not to eat dinner before I go.  

Last night we had, all in samples: onion jam on cream cheese on crackers, beer cheddar mix with crackers, white bean and greens soup, chicken and fruit on sticks, poor man's beef stroganoff, sweet potato chips, beet chips, blondies and my pumpkin walnut bread.  

Massive exchange of ideas about the current series of cookbooks,all from America's Test Kitchen,  and what it's good at - ATC Family Book is a compendium of cooking tips which are great, Lost Recipes revived some recipes which are not, Vegetables did great job on vegetables, identifying, explaining, and so on.  

And we found that next month, baking and holiday desserts,  using books by Dorie someone and Martha someone, is the last currently planned meeting.

So we strongly encouraged the PTB to continue, since this has been such a success, hardly enough furniture to accommodate the people, even.  I guess they only scheduled a few meetings to see how well it went, so we're hoping they see it ought to continue. It's rapidly become one of my favorite events, even bringing me out on dark curvy roads in freezing weather like last night.

One of the teen volunteers did a series of pix of cooks with their dishes and candids of us all around the table talking and eating at once, so let's hope that ensures our continuing as a group.  I didn't do any pix, since I don't blog about people unless they agree, and it's a bit delicate when some people would rather not, but don't like to say, and so on.  So this is one of the times I just don't.

The Dollivers are wondering if they will get a trip there.  We'll see.