Black and White Tartlets

I wanted something a little elegant for our upcoming brunch, so I used a recipe from Ina Gartner (the Barefoot Contessa) for a fruit tart, but I made them in my mini cupcake tin instead:

Beat in the mixer till combined: 3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temp and 1/2 cup sugar.
Then add 1/2 tsp vanilla and mix again.
Sift together1 3/4 cups flour and a pinch of salt, then add to the butter and beat till the dough comes together.

I greased the tin generously with Crisco and baked the shells at 350F for 12 min.

For the filling, beat 6 egg yolks and 3/4 cup sugar for 3 minutes till it's light yellow very smooth and falls in ribbons. Add 3 Tbsp corn starch and beat again.

Bring 2 cups milk to a boil with a scraped vanilla bean, but do not let it scorch. Remove from heat and pour very slowly into the egg mixture while beating like mad. Pour back in the saucepan and cook over medium till thick. I actually ended up learning an interesting fact about cornstarch with this recipe. I overcooked it, which means the cornstarch releases and the sauce gets very thin again. As soon as it starts to thicken is the time to remove it from the heat.

Then stir in 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 tsp almond extract, 2 Tbsp cream and 2 Tbsp butter. I presed a piece of plastic wrap over the top to prevent it from forming a skin while it cooled enough to put in the tartlet shells.

Then I washed some lovely blackberries and topped each tartlet. They chilled for a couple hours before our lunch.

Getty Center Collection on Medieval Illumination

Although we couldn't see the ocean this time from the observation deck at the Getty, it was still a beautiful (but chilly) day. The exhibit we all went to see this time was on Medieval illumination techniques. They had selections from their collection open for viewing, as well as special stations highlighting the materials and methods of illumination.

And then the kids discovered the "secret" water feature between two of the exhibit buildings...

Huntington Garden Sale

The Huntington Library and Gardens has an annual plant parking lot sale in which they offer starts from some of the many, many varieties of plants they feature. We picked up some mini iris, multi-colored geraniums, herbs, and more!

Sheep Shearing

This year's annual sheep shearing drew in more than 20 friends and friends-of-friends to lend a hand in sorting wool and petting and playing with the fun fluffy stuff. We had two skirting tables this time (thank you, mom!) for the dozen or so that took shifts skirting, labeling and bagging.

 
And our sheep-wrangling crew...

Mia made this fabuous hat as a gift for one of the shearers from wool spun up by Sherry from the last shearing. Aunt Pat is working on socks.









 



Don is still at it! He very proudly threw the fleeces he sheared onto the skirting table and talked about the various types sheep he's seen recently as well as the 1000+ head operations he worked in the past.

And, as always, we had a big pot-luck lunch al fresco to celebrate the day with dishes from sweet-n-sour meatballs to spinach lasagne, Peep sushi, fruit salad, to our favorite Costco chicken and Moscato d'Asti.

Walk for Autism

Billed as the largest Autism Walk event in the country, the Autism Speaks Walk Now for Autism, was quite an event this last Saturday. We headed down and waited in traffic to get into the Rose Bowl parking lot, then joined the throng. Abi and Eli both made it through the whole 5k, though I felt we were a bit under dressed. It looked like everyone there was a on a 'team' for their child or agency. Next year, we're definitely making t-shirts!

General Eli's Orange Chicken

Eli's class is ordering from Panda Express tomorrow, so my challenge is to create something he can eat that looks and tastes similar enough to fast Chinese take out that he fits right in.

Orange chicken:
two full breasts, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/2 cup all-purpose gluten free flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cracked pepper
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp garlic powder

First, dredge the chicken in egg. Put all the dry ingredients into a bag and shake to combine. Add the chicken and shake well (think Shake-n-Bake). Fry the chicken in veggie cooking oil plus 2 tsp or so sesame oil for flavor. Drain it on paper towels.

For the sauce:
zest and juice from 1 small orange
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp finely shredded ginger
4 cloves garlic, minced fine
1/3 cup thai sweet chili sauce
2 tbsp. fish sauce
2 tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. white pepper

blend the sauce well and put it in a pan large enough for all the chicken. Stir and cook till thick. Add water as needed to prevent it sticking.

St Luke's Project

For the past few years, I have been painting a board for Uncle Bob and Aunt Carol to add to their displays for the St Luke's Kid for a Night fundraiser. This year's theme: Super heros.

Return to the Russian Bear

It is now tradition. We must go to the Russian Bear every time we are in Idaho! Yum :)

Luke!

Luke turned 18 today! He had a dozen friends over for an Easter-egg scavenger hunt at the farm, complete with pizza, ice cream, cake and prizes like FBI kits with plastic badges and guns, glow-in-the-dark belts, and fairy wings.

Happy Birthday, Luke!

Storm Chasing

For Spring break, the kids and I drove North. Conveniently enough, it was also Luke's birthday that week! Uncle Bear drove with us, and we ended up taking a very round about route to avoid the storm system over the Great Basin. We got a chance to see Martin and Wanda, longtime friends of Uncle Bear, and Mt. Shashta at its finest!

Unfortunately, we still managed to hit snow in Northern Cali, and Oregon...