the baby of cakes

Clearly this blog has fallen by the wayside. I've a new job that's keeping me busy and our oven is not working which has put us on baking hiatus. But one event that did happen this month ,which I was able to bang out a cake for, was my niece's first birthday.

It's not often that I have an excuse to make a giant cake. (This was the equivalent of 48 cupcakes.) Four layers of vanilla cake, vanilla buttercream, blackberry preserves, and colored sprinkles! An abundance of pink, yes. Aside from upholding gender paradigms (gotta start em early, right?), I wanted to make the quintessential big birthday cake. And in the cartoons, they're always white with pink frosting. They're also usually two or three tiers, but I didn't figure a one-year old needed that much cake.

Especially since she was really only interested in the frosting.

looking for something

In beginning to document my food, I've learned I do things in seasons. When it is cold, wet, blustery outside, I make the indoors cozy with the scent of cookies or soup. I can spend an evening on a cake or cooking food for a party. I'll labor in the kitchen because there is no other place I'd rather be. That is, unless the sun is shining and my time is open and my head is aching from the city. Then I'll take green green green as far as the eye can see. I will point to this weekend as a perfect example. Best friends with their backpacks stuffed into a small car driving into the woods is better than pie. Hiking miles into the wilderness on a dusty trail is better than cupcakes. And just about anything you can cook on a whisperlite stove tastes better by the campfire.

Red Onion, Green Pepper, Avocado, & Tomato

I'll take the woods over concrete buildings any day you ask. And if I'm living in the woods (even just for a night) out of the back of a car, I won't complain. Backpacking, though, has a special charm. It makes one feel resourceful and tough. You have to think more, make lists, pack sparingly because you must carry it all on your back, on your own two legs. This is true especially of the food you take. Whereas packing in a car, you can add bags of chips, boxes of cookies, and bottles (and bottles) of wine, the food you take in your backpack must be more closely calculated. On this trip, a one-night stay near Greenwater, Washington, on the Pacific Crest Trail, we took a small supply of trail mix, Primal Strips, apples, crackers, hummus, and the fixings for burritos.

We "roasted" a green pepper and red onion. In this, I mean we laid them on the rocks around our campfire until we could stand our growling stomachs no longer. They were just beginning to blacken at the edges. We warmed our tortillas in a similar fashion and boiled water to add to instant black beans. With a small can of salsa to round out the burritos, it was some of the best damn camping food I've had. Everyone ate their fill and it was a perfect meal to top off a three-mile hike.

Just because we were backpacking, does not mean we should go without a sweet trifle after dinner. One chocolate bar split four ways and a few sips of coffee went well with the trance of flames.

Cream & Peebs, sans backpacks

The next day, after eating the last bits of our food and packing our bags, we trekked the three miles back to the car and drove East for some sightseeing. We hiked a few more trails in search of a view of the mountain and, though it felt especially nice to walk without thirty pound packs, our short jaunt yielded little, but more trees and a beautiful blue sky. So back in the car and, after a minute or so of driving, we hit the jackpot:

Mt. Rainier

We couldn't have asked for better weather and it was all around a perfect trip. After the first full week at a brand new job that can, at times, make my head spin, this was a badly needed detour from Seattle. And hopefully illustrates to you an agreeable alternative to things like baking and blogging.

cupcakes for a cause: the final dozen

Mint Chocolate Chunk Cupcakes
with Vanilla Mint Buttercream

Long overdue, here's a photo of the last batch of cupcakes I made for the Summer of Cupcakes Auction Winner to benefit the Northwest Network of Bi, Trans, Lesbian, and Gay Survivors of Abuse. Dark chocolate cupcakes with mint extract and roughly chopped bars of Endangered Species Dark Chocolate with Deep Forest Mint, topped with minted buttercream and another wedge of chocolate for good measure.

With all the auction cupcakes ferried away I have to bake for selfish reasons now. Like my own stomach. Thankfully, I'm armed with a circle of friends, sweet tooths all of them.

sweet valley high

One weekend last month, we went on an adventure with two dear friends; our goal was simple--find wine and drink it. Chris and I drove to the oasis of Olympia where we were treated to a fine, heaping barbecued dinner straight off the grill and a huge bottle of wine. With the question of where exactly we wanted to look for wine looming before us, it only made sense to sip the stuff while we pondered our next day's journey.

In the last decade, Washington wineries have been sprouting up in every nook and cranny of the state. From Olympia, we could toss a rock in any direction and it might hit a bottle (granted, we'd have to be able to toss really far.) After considering going south to Oregon, north to Skagit Valley, and various Eastward routes, we settled on one destination: the Yakima valley.

Although we set out to make a weekend of wining, it seemed to me that we spent more time deliberating over food. As a vegan (or even vegetarian), eating anywhere to the east of the Cascade Mountain Range, can prove difficult. After searching downtown and eschewing a ritzy, inauthentic Mexican joint, we fell upon this gem: Tequila's. Located in two old train cars with a big wooden deck surrounding the restaurant, we ate our fill of chips with salsa and pico de gallo. What's more, the vegetarian section of the menu offered more than just the requisite burrito: i.e. the elusive veggie chimichanga.

And now, food aside, let me tell you about our bittersweet trips to the wineries. Our first destination was Sagelands Vineyard. Everything we tasted was great, the woman who helped us was terribly friendly (so friendly that she was telling us about her laser arm pit hair removal!), and the showroom was devoid of the cheap kitsch that some wineries tend toward.

I could really get behind this place if not for one little detail that got under my skin. It seemed wonderful at first--they were offering snacks in return for a donation to the Humane Society of Central Washington. I was pleased as punch until I began to inspect the snacks. The food that really bothered me was set out on a plate next to the register closest to the donation can--mini hotdogs. Offering dead animals as a means to secure donations for other animals is such a backwards, disconnected practice of hypocrisy.

I didn't say anything and Chris still bought two bottles of their wine--Merlot and a blended Red Table Wine. But, suffice it to say, we probably won't be going back there.

Merlot from Sagelands Vineyard
with Poppies and Persian Violets from our garden

The second winery we visited, Windy Point, had a beautiful view of the valley. And that's about the nicest thing I can say about it. I would've liked their wine, would've even bought a bottle or two, but we were snubbed for a bachelorette party in summery, spaghetti-strap dresses. I guess our tattoos and jeans weren't up to their expectations.

But thankfully, a good time is not made in purchases. On our way home, we stopped at fruit stands for peaches, berries and corn and took a detour to make a scenic trek up through a pitch-black cave in the Wenatchee National Forest. And then, finally back in Olympia, we bookended the trip with one last barbecue. In spite of the snooty winery and nasty hot dogs, it was a lovely weekend all in all.

one more garden shot: Persian Violets (or Love in a Mist)

cupcakes for a cause: part 3

Fauxstess Cream Filled Cupcakes

The third installment of vegan-cupcakes-as-auction-prize for Northwest Network. This week: the final dozen (mint chocolate chunk.)

If you have a moment, read Emilie's post on (200+ amazing) cupcakes for a cause and her thoughts on veganism and animal testing.

After a busy month of leaving town nearly every weekend and spending as many afternoons in the sun as time would allow, I've finally got some spare moments. The weather is cooling today and the ripe bananas on my table tell me some bread is in the works. Perhaps you'll be seeing a bit more of me. Or rather, a bit more of my food.

like a year without summer

Summertime meals beckon to be eaten outside and I find myself preferring portable dinners in weather that just can't be wasted at the dinner table. While pasta is nothing extraordinary and not quite fit for a beach picnic, it is portable insofar as my back porch is concerned. This was the perfect meal for a July evening. Linguine with tomato sauce (the simplest I've made in a long time and perhaps one of the best--canned tomatoes and paste with sauteed onion and garlic, salt and pepper, a dash of brown sugar, and garden fresh herbs--rosemary, thyme, oregano and basil) and mixed greens with balsamic vinaigrette. The key here to a perfect dinner, if one so desires and against what MFK Fisher advises, is a quiet back porch, two or three chairs (two at least for you and a loved one to settle into, an optional third as a table or cat perch) and a good glass of wine to sip after you've cleaned your plate. Preferably, wine will be taken with a green view of your garden, though a patch of grass or a blooming window box will do as well. No TV blaring, no lawnmowers growling, and no talk of work. Just food and wine and air.

salad, salud

Produce from our Full Circle Farm CSA box: baby bunch carrots, celery, broccoli, green beans, sunburst squash, roma tomatoes, purple onions, cauliflower, red beets, romaine lettuce, garnet yams, limes, and cherries.

It's my mum's birthday today (first as a vegan!) and, though there are no cupcakes to show for it, here's a brightly colored salad. That's festive, right? If you squint your eyes it sort of looks like confetti. Confetti with beans... Happy birthday, Mom.

Fresh Corn Pico de Gallo
(dressed up here as a salad
with pinto beans, lettuce, and avocado)

I could eat this every damn day. It's certainly a summer dish, one that should be thrown together when you can find corn on the cob in season (or in your garden!) You can mix black or pinto beans into it for a little added protein.

Fresh Corn Pico de Gallo
makes 6-8 cups

2 ears yellow corn on the cob, husked
4 tomatoes, diced
1 sweet onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 bell pepper (orange, red, or green: you pick!)
2 cups finely shredded green cabbage
4 oz. pickled jalepenos, diced (reserve juice)
juice of 2 limes
salt and freshly ground pepper
large bunch cilantro, chopped

Bring salted water to a rolling boil. Cook corn for 8 min; remove and let cool until easily handled. Using a sharp knife, shave kernels from cob. Add fresh corn to large bowl with remaining ingredients. Salt and pepper to taste (though I recommend heavy on the pepper.) Let chill 4 hours or overnight. Tastes best next day. Serve with tortilla chips.