I’ve always wished that I was one of those people that had three hours in the morning before work (or no work at all) to have a leisurely morning that included a few cups of high-quality tea or coffee and an elaborately prepared multi-item breakfast – you know, the freshly baked rolls or muffins, omelets made to order with lobster or shrimp and seasonal vegetables, handmade breakfast sausages, just-squeezed juice. But I’m not. To be perfectly honest, I usually crawl out of bed a half hour before I have to leave the house to catch the train. Between showering, dressing, blow drying my hair and applying makeup (so I even look presentable to be in public in the first place) I’m lucky if I have time to grab my lunch (if I was smart enough to pack it the night before- if not, it will be an ATM-funded fast-food nightmare) and bag, that hopefully has the big four already in it – transit card, ATM card, cell phone and keys. And I god help me if I don’t have my book and mp3 player. Every thing else is peripheral. But, I digress. The topic at hand is breakfast.

I used to be a breakfast skipper. Actually, in highschool and my early college days (ah, the nostalgia) I used to down a can of Coca-Cola around 8:00 am and call that breakfast. But somewhere along the line, skipping breakfast lost its luster. I’m hungry when I wake up. My body demands food, and my brain agrees – I actually do want to eat, and preferably before 10:00 am. And recently I discovered a wonderful thing. Warm buttered French bread and an espresso. Filling, caffeinated and the absolute perfect combination. It’s always the simple things, no? The great thing is the bread is made in advance. You can make two loaves on Sunday afternoon, and stored properly, they will stay fresh for 3-4 days (if you don’t eat it all immediately). Espresso takes a few minutes to brew. We start it before the shower. We also pop the bread in the oven to warm at 350 for about 10 minutes, so the butter just melts into it. And if you don’t have a leisurely hour or two to enjoy it, you can certainly be satisfied in five minutes with two slices and a cup. And if I can fit an extra five minutes into my morning, anyone can.

Admittedly, I am not the baker in the family. Now, I can do decent cakes and cookies, but when it comes to bread product, husband reigns supreme. He’s just got a natural knack for it that it’s going to take me a lot of time and effort to learn. This is the basic French loaf recipe that he favors:

Baguettes

1 ¾ cups water

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

4 cups flour

2 teaspoons salt

1.) Proof the yeast in the water with the salt until the yeast is bubbly (5-10 minutes).

2.) Add the flour and mix until thoroughly combined. Knead the dough until smooth and elastic, 10-12 minutes.

3.) Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a towel and set in warm place to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

4.) Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface, punch down, and divide into two equal portions. Round each piece into a smooth ball, cover with the towel and let rise for another 30 minutes.

5.) Shape each round into a rectangle about 8 inches long on a baking sheet. Cover with a towel and let rise again, for 1 hour.

6.) Preheat oven to 425. Score each loaf 5-7 times with a sharp blade. Brush each baguette lightly with water. Bake for 30 minutes. During the first 5 minutes, baste each loaf with a little more water. When done, they should be golden brown on top and sound hollow when you tap their bottoms. Cool slightly on wire racks before slicing.

Ah, cooking. One of my most ardent passions. In a moment of inspired boredom during my day acting out my office gnome responsibilities recently, I jotted down five three-course menus that I think are worth a mention to you all. For the ones I haven’t cooked, recipes will be forthcoming as soon as I do.

Menu A

Pancetta-wrapped dates with a balsamic vinegar drizzle

Palette de porc a la biere (pork shoulder braised in beer with a bread crumb/Dijon mustard crust)

Vanilla crepes with strawberry filling

Menu B

Salade Lyonnaise with lardons (basically thick center-cut bacon)

Coq au Vin  with wild mushroom couscous

Chocolate mille crepes (crepe cake with chocolate cream filling)

Menu C

Risotto croquettes

Boullabaise

Apple tart with cognac

Menu D

Heirloom cherry tomato salad with basil

Perch buerre blanc

Walnut custard

Menu E

Brussels sprouts with duck confit and a honey mustard vinaigrette

Braised lamb shoulder with rosemary and roasted root vegetables

Chocolate lava cakes

YUM! Food is a beautiful, wonderful thing.

I forgot to mention that a few weeks ago at our first picnic that we saw a red fox! We were sitting on the grass in front of the breakers by the lake, and all of sudden, it charges up through the rocks, barking at a dog that was passing by. It stood its ground and barked at the dog until it passed then scurried back into the rocks. She must have a den down there (which seems like a pretty good location). She was beautiful, still with her thick red winter fur, and just sleek and fearless. All these years in the city seeing nothing bigger than garbage squirrels and we’ve got wildlife right outside our door. Who knew?

Friday night, husband and I made a nice French-inspired meal together, and it turned out pretty good. We did an onion tart, a simple salad with a red-wine vinaigrette and French bread with espresso for dessert. Husband made the French bread, and though it didn’t rise quite as much as he would’ve liked, the flavor and texture were fantastic. The onion tart came out decently, though I’ll do a few things differently next time. We used 5 small red onions and diced them – next time I think leaving them in longer julienne would be better texturally. The onion filling was quite simple – I diced three bacon slices and fried them until just crispy, then added the onions. I seasoned with salt, pepper and thyme and cooked them down for about 10 minutes until they were slightly caramelized and translucent. Next time I’ll let them caramelize more because they still had a little bite to them, instead of being wholly sweet. Still good though. We used a standard pie crust recipe, which we baked blind (without the filling) for about 10 minutes at 400 in the oven. Next time I’ll extend that time to 15-20 minutes just to get it a little more done. After that we added the filling to the crust, reduced the oven to 350 and baked it for another 20 minutes. It came out quite good, and with the variations I just mentioned above, I feel like it will be perfect next time. The salad was simple also – mixed greens and big pieces of center-cut bacon (four slices) fried until just chewy with a red wine vinaigrette. No matter what type of vinegar you use, making vinaigrettes from scratch is simple – it’s just a 3-to-1 ration – 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar. So I used 3 tablespoons olive oil to 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, and seasoned with salt and pepper. Simple and good, yes. So we had the salad and tart with a bottle of red wine for dinner, and had warm buttered French bread and espresso a little later for dessert. Isn’t it delightful how life’s simple pleasures are more often than not sharing a good bite of food with someone fantastic?

Speaking of food, this spring and summer I’m going to take a few cooking classes, to hone my skills and learn new things. The first class I’m going to take (in May) is a knife skills class. I can hold my own with a knife, but I know I could learn to do it more safely and efficiently if I have someone show me. I’m definitely a visual learner. I’m going to do the classes at The Chopping Block. They have a location near my job downtown and a second location in the neighborhood we’re looking to move into this summer, so it’s convenient. They do wine tastings that husband and I would like to go to, and they also have date night classes we’re interested in. In May, there are three that we’d like to go to (although we’re likely only going to do one per month – it can get pricey!) – Slow Food: Roman Cuisine, Tuscan Olive Harvest and Basque in the Food of France. The first two classes are hands on, meaning you get to participate in the cooking, while the last class is demonstration, so you watch the chef prepare the meal and then you get to eat. We’ll probably do Slow Food: Roman Cuisine, because we both know absolutely nothing about it and the menu sounds tasty – bruschetta with veal caponata, veal and spinach-stuffed manicotti with tomato sauce and a ricotta and pine nut tart. Okay, so dairy products aren’t great for us, but you can’t avoid them entirely and just having them every now and again doesn’t wreak too much havoc on our respective systems. I’m excited – I love to cook (as if you didn’t notice) and getting out and doing it amongst others will be fun.

I’m still on my quest to re-learn French – I’m going to do a language lesson with my book and dvd this afternoon! I’ve also joined a Francophile group and am going to start going to their meetings, which are on Wednesdays I think. And I try to buy printed things that are French or bilingual. I was pleasantly surprised to find out the most of my sewing patterns have bilingual French instructions, so I can kill two birds with one stone in that regard. And I found a bookshop that sells foreign language everything, and I’m hooked on the French version of Saveur magazine now. Immersion is the key to success!

What a shocker – this is some machine! It’s a White cabinet sewing machine that was purchased in 1953 at the Famous Barr department store. It’s a handsome dark wood cabinet that has a storage tray, fold out work surface, and storage in the seat. The entire machine itself is not only metal, but cast iron – this machine is a true workhorse. Not a piece of plastic on it. It came with all of it’s accessories (in red Bakelite storage containers!) including a button holer, foot zipper thing and numerous other pieces and parts that I have no idea what to do with at this point.

It also came with the original manual (including 3 untouched sewing patterns), an additional sewing book and the original warranty receipt. This baby has provenance. It came to me through my husband’s aunt by way of Mrs. Potts’ son (they own a lake house with them) – she died a few years ago, and are finally selling her old farmhouse. The sewing machine was in the basement of the farmhouse, and was given to my husband’s aunt. They were just going to throw it out! So thank you Mrs. Potts – it’s an honor to have such a fine piece of furniture in my own home. And it’s great to be able to have the story that goes with it. (Oh and pictures coming soon! I have them taken, but WordPress “upgraded” the upload process and un-tech-savvy me has to relearn it.)

I have a ton of patterns just waiting to make their debut. They range from the super easy to the difficult, but I plan to start simple and work my way up. The easiest pattern I have is for tote bags – the Butterick Yes It’s Easy See & Sew B4169. You can make a standard tote bag, a square tote bag and a round drawstring-style bag with this pattern. For clothes, I have the following patterns:

Shirts

Butterick Six Sew Fast & Easy B4684 – six variations of a tunic shirt.

McCall’s M4455 – five variations of a corset-style top.

Skirts

Butterick Fast & Easy 3061—three variations of an A-line skirt.

McCall’s M4925 – six variations of a pencil skirt.

Butterick Fast & Easy 3526 – five variations of a wrap skirt.

Dresses

Butterick Yes It’s Easy See & Sew B4492 – two variations of an A-line summer dress.

McCall’s M4826 – three variations of a 1950’s style halter dress.

Butterick Retro ’57 B4513 – three variations of a flared ‘party’ dress.

Costumes

Butterick Making History B4212 – two variations of a Victorian dress.

Butterick Making History B4669 – four variations of a peasant corset.

Butterick Making History 6630 – two variations of a Renaissance lady-in-waiting dress and coat.

Butterick 6698 – four variations of Japanese kimono.

McCall’s Costumes 3674 – four variations of a Wild West style can-can dress.

McCall’s Costumes M4626 – men’s and children’s pirate costume.

Okay, so some of those are pretty out there and advanced – but I fully intend to become an accomplished sewer in a few years. And I’ve got no excuse! I’m going to start with the tote bag and the A-line skirt. I have some cute fabric for both – I have some red ticking that would look cute as the bag, and some blue calico-inspired floral on white that would be great as a swingy summer skirt. After I learn those, I’ve got some black pinstriping that would be perfect for a pencil skirt.

Oh, and I also some patterns that I found on the web – there are some really great resources for free patterns. I have the following:

Fitz Wrap Skirt

Fitz Long Wrap Skirt

Shift Dress

Linen Pouch

Obviously, Fitz has some good stuff for download. They’ve got new/different stuff on their website now, so I’ll post my pdf links as soon as re-figure out how too (see lament about pics above).

There are also a ton of fabrics I’d love to add to my drawer, and my favorite online store for fabric is Ladybutton Fabrics.These are the ones I covet:

Dumb Dot in chocolate/white by Michael Miller

Eiffel Tower Crème Toile by Michael Miller

Forget Me Not Boutique Stripe in pinks/browns by Robert Kaufman

Small Pastel Flowers on Crème

Sushi on Wasabi by Timeless Treasures

Wonder Dots in pink/brown by Michael Miller

So let the sewing begin! Well, as soon as I read the manual and learn how to thread the thing… J

It’s chilly again. Actually, it’s downright cold. There’s a rumor circulating that it’s going to snow tonight after raining all day. I can’t deal with more winter. But, as always, the cold does especially put me in the mind to cook. This afternoon for a late lunch, I made a pot of leek and potato soup drizzled with balsamic vinegar. For a late dinner tonight we are having a salad composed of refrigerator leftovers - mixed baby greens, button mushrooms, carrots, sweet peppers, ham cubes, artichoke hearts and capers accompanied by some croissant rolls. I crave the greens after a winter without them! Tomorrow will be a big cooking day though - I’m going to bake like crazy so we have good breakfast food for the work week. Apple cider doughnuts (using my new-old doughnut cutter that I haven’t tried out yet), snickerdoodles, chocolate chip cookies and some type of muffin - probably pumpkin spice mini muffins. I love the bite-sized! For dinner tomorrow I plan on making my standard fare pasta bolognese, which I eat with alarming regularity. It’s just so good. And if I get more ambitious than all that, I’ll have more dirty dishes than I know what to do with!

These are excellent for picnics because they’re portable and they’re good both hot and at room temp. And they’re great for either weekday dinners or dinner parties - puff pastry seems to have that effect. They’re one of my favorite things to eat in the whole world.

1 package of frozen puff pastry

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 red onion, diced

1 pound beef, cubed

1 cup beef stock

1/2 cup red wine

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons butter

1.) Thaw the puff pastry at room temp for an hour.

2.) Cook the onion in the oil until just translucent. Add the beef and brown well.

3.) Add the wine, Worcestershire sauce and tomato paste and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.

4.) While the beef is simmering, make a beurre manie by smooshing the flour into the butter with a fork until the butter absorbs all the flour. This will thicken your sauce.

5.) When the beef is finished cooking, remove from the heat and whisk in the beurre manie.

6.) For a standard box of frozen puff pastry, you should get 6 individual beef pies. Seperate each section, and cut these in half short-ways. Spoon a dollop of beef on a layer of pastry, top with a second layer, and then seal the edges with a fork .

7.) Bake for 15-20 minutes at 400.

I speak a very basic level of French and I’d like to get back into it and become super fluent. So I stopped into our local foreign language bookstore (which is a great place) and picked up a few things. The children’s books (except the Wilder one) I’ll be passing along to my niece one of these days so I can start teaching her a little bit (she’s barely two - I’ll give her a head start on English first).

La Petite Maison dans le Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Le Chat Chapeaute by Dr. Suess

Le Sauvetage de Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans

… I realized I’ve been a bad blogger lately. Dear regular readers, please forgive me. Sometimes “real” life gets in the way.

The husband is going through a job transition, so we’ve been dealing with that. But other than that, nearly a year out of college, my social life has finally found a good, happy medium, i.e I have one again. We’ve been dining out once or twice a week, cooking proper dinners at home the rest of the time, having drinks with friends, and finally enjoying our grand city. For the longest time I’ve had this love/hate relationship with urban living (our locale in particular) but it’s finally creeped up on me - it’s home. That feels good.

In other news… don’t hate me- because I was adament I was going to do it by now, but I’m going to be honest with you guys - I haven’t started my seeds yet. Everything is ready to go, I did prep my seed flats, and plan out what I’m doing, I just didn’t actually stick the seeds in the soil. As I was prepping the flats, I way overwatered them, so I wanted to let them sit and dry out just a touch before planting so the seeds didn’t rot… and well, they sat for much longer than I anticipated. This weekend. Saturday night when I get home from work and a visit to the conservatory. I swear, because if I wait much longer I might as well not bother. Yes, I’m a bad Apartment Farmer. But better late than never right?

In other news, I am super excited because I’m FINALLY getting a sewing machine! Husband’s aunt came across a vintage 1950’s model (don’t know the particulars yet) in perfect working order with an instruction manual, that she is giving it to me for nothing (despite my offering payment - she scoffed at it; she’s so great). I’m getting it at the end of next week when they come out for a visit, and I cannot wait. I have an entire dresser full of fabric (a blue floral on white, pinstripe, red ticking, etc.), patterns (a-line skirts, summer dresses, 1950’s style dresses, tote bags), and the requisite sewing accessories that have been waiting for a whirl on a sewing machine. Granted, I’m a basic-level sewer - I’ve done clothes with the assistance of the womenfolk in my family, but never solo. I’ve got a learning curve, but I’m looking to start simple (tote bag, simple skirt) and then work my way up to the more involved dresses by the end of the summer. I’ll be sure to keep you all posted on my progress (on a regular basis, I swear).

I’ve been cooking like crazy lately - coq au vin, bolognese (which I admit, I make too much - it’s just so good), cinnamon sugar croissants (admittedly, not entirely from scratch…), pasta salad; just good, delicious food. And this past weekend, we had our very first picnic at the park by the beach. I made beef pies, pasta salad, and French potato salad, and brought along dill pickles and San Pelligrino. It was a bit chill, but the sun was shining and the weather was lovely. I can’t wait to get outside again.

Other than that, same old thing - work, reading, blogging more I promise, and enjoying every day. Stay tuned for more adventures from Apartment Farm soon!

The United States of Arugula: The Sun Dried, Cold Pressed, Dark Roasted, Extra Virgin Story of the American Food Revolution by David Kamp

Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally by Alisa Smith & J.B. MacKinnon

Kitchens: The Culture of Restaurant Work by Gary Allen Fine

Eat My Words: Reading Women’s Lives Through the Cookbooks They Wrote by Janet Theophano

Yes, it’s all about the food for me lately! But what better topic to immerse oneself in!

I’ve raved about it enough - it’s time I shared the recipe with you. This is a household standard at Apartment Farm - we usually eat it at least twice a month. It takes about an hour to make, but what’s more relaxing than enjoying a glass of wine and doing a little cooking after a long day at work? And it’s a one-pot meal, so you can enjoy the process and not worry about a pile of dishes to clean up later.

1 pound ground beef

1 pound ground pork

1 package of pancetta, diced

2 carrots, finely diced

3 celery ribs, finely diced

1/2 red onion, finely diced

6 ounces tomato paste

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup red wine

1 cup beef stock

1 cup water

2 teaspoons thyme

salt and pepper to taste

1. ) First, you’ll need to make a mire poix, which is a finely diced mix of carrot, celery and onion. You’ll want to saute the mire poix in the olive oil until the vegetables are translucent and lightly browned. Once cooked, set the mire poix aside in a bowl.

2.) In the empty saute pan, brown the pork, beef and pancetta, mixing well to combine. Once the meat is cooked through, drain off most of the fat. Add the tomato paste and mix well.

 3.) Return the mire poix to the pan with the meat, mixing to combine. Stir in the thyme. Carefully add the water, wine and beef stock. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer for 15-20 minutes until some of the liquid has reduced and it has a “saucy” texture.

4.) While the sauce is simmering, boil water for you pasta and cook according to package directions. I recommend rigatoni because the sauce adheres to it well and it looks great in the bowl.