New to Flickr

Wisconsin butter.

I am in the process of uploading more food related photos to Flickr. I hope to upgrade and post more photos soon. My pictures are posted under rcakewalk: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rcakewalk/

If one was inclined to spend hours on the computer, you could certainly do so at Flickr. I haven't all that much time to browse, but if you have a feeling for perusal of just about anything or anywhere, drop by http://www.flickr.com/ and search it!

Enjoy Thursday, we have perfect weather in the 70's today, with breeze. These are the days that make it bearable to live through January in Wisconsin...

A Day with the Circus

Our local paper, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, runs a food section on Wednesdays and Sundays. I usually read the Sunday paper, and only occasionally see the Wednesday. Sunday's food section always has a well written article and recipe by Sanford D'Amato, of local Sanford and Coquette Cafe fame, and a smattering of things that sometimes are good, and sometimes not so much. While larger papers may boast better staff writers, once in a while I read an article whose subject matter is so interesting to me it could be written for second graders and still keep my attention. Such was the case with this article posted July 5, called Three-ring feast. (It is posted online at: http://www.jsonline.com/features/food/49451792.html)

Sunday in Milwaukee, The Great Circus Parade marched through the downtown area with circus wagons, marching bands, (too many) clowns, horses and circus-type animals. I went thinking I really wouldn't be all that interested. But the article on circus performer meals was lingering in the back of my head, and piquing my interest in this strange phenomenon of the circus. I maybe didn't consider that in the heydays of the circus, people had no access to the outlandish things that have now made our planet seem incredibly small. 100 years ago, wagons were built and people with adventurous spirits decided to leave their small towns or farms and go see the country with one of the only means possible.

The Clown Band. Not normally a fan of clowns, but these reminded me of Raggedy Ann and Andy...

The article mentions that many people may have joined the circus in the depression era due to the promise of 3 meals a day. Circus eats were well prepared it seems, and reminds me of the chuckwagon cooks of the old west. Chuckwagon cooks had to do with what they had and what traveled well, but the circus cooks could take advantage of their travels to more "urban" areas and score some of the best options to feed the performers. Today of course, things are probably different. Hundreds of performers certainly aren't gathering at once under a gigantic tent to have a meal together. But had I lived 100 years ago, maybe I would have run away to join the circus...or at least would have wanted to run away to be a circus cook.

It's fascinating to me that traveling carnivals and circus' still exist...even more that people still want to attend. Given the things you could do with a Sunday afternoon in 2009, just seeing a downtown full of people cheering and getting excited for basically no reason was amazing.

I never saw circus wagons before, and I was surprised at the amount of detail and craftsmanship each one had. They were all unique, and I love thinking about who may have been designing such things, and what they were using to design and build with.

And who was importing these animals from the far reaches of the world, and then designing the means to transport them around the country?

When my Dad and I were out in Wyoming, we went to the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody. An incredible example of American entrepreneurship, Buffalo Bill Cody imported massive things from Europe, the bar that still stands in his hotel for example... and animals and people from all over the world to star in his Wild West.

Wisconsin stagecoach

lasso-ing cowboy

just a girl and her longhorn...

And seeing so many horses in one place reminds me of the horses I had when I was younger. This palomino in particular, since it was stopped right in front of me...I think once you have had large animals, they get in your blood, and it's hard to ever forget how they smell, or move, or the work it is to take care of them.

Horses, I always thought, have personalities like giant cats. You certainly can not control one that doesn't want to be controlled, yet they generally are mild mannered and enjoy being scratched behind the ears.

I couldn't have imagined that a trip to The Great Circus Parade would have ignited so many questions in my mind... And it's fun if only for an afternoon to let yourself wonder about such historical things, to wonder what it may have been like to be eating under the big tent.

This Week in Pictures

Really it was last week when I went to the farm market and found these amazing specimens of beets and romaine lettuce. A new organic vendor (I'll try and remember to note the name when I go again tomorrow) had the most amazing greens I've ever seen. Really, I am not exaggerating. Normally you see a bunch of new beets at the market and would never really consider eating the ultra nutritious greens, but these would beg you to differ. And this romaine lettuce actually took up the entire drainboard in my kitchen before I cut it apart, tenderly washed and wrapped up the leaves in kitchen towels for an almost as amazing week long storage in the fridge.

amazing lettuce.

Monday, Sasa and Dimitri came for dinner and appropriately I made a humongous Greek Salad with said humongous romaine lettuce, complete with Greek Tofu. Do the Greek's eat tofu? They probably should... I baked this the same was as the Accidental Lunch Salad tofu, only used olive oil and lots of dill. Had I not used my last lemon to make the salad dressing, I would have included it in the marinade too. It was good. And true to my inability to see a mango in the store and pass it by, we sauteed champagne mangoes in a little butter and brown sugar to have over ice cream for dessert. No pics of that though, it was gone in the blink of an eye.

Greek Tofu.

Most of Wednesday I spent preparing for a 3rd birthday party for boy-o. I made hot beef sandwiches out of the organic grass fed cow my mom and I split last fall. It is such a great feeling to have a deep freeze with amazing high quality food in deep deep slumber just awaiting a whim. It ensures that even if I have the most meager of stocked pantry, I can make something without running to the shops first. This fall we're ordering some pork and a turkey from the same source, and I am already dreaming of what fun that will be. For the children, I made a cake plate full of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches...still the only food my son requests.

However, I was able to get him to eat a surprising amount of this Monday nite supper:

The party went well, my cleaning obsession was renewed with the washing of all floors today, and my favorite moment of last evening was the pinata. It was masterfully constructed in Mexico so that no child would ever be able to break into it. After 10 minutes of beating, my husband's friend brought out the aluminum bat from his trunk, and I accidentally got this picture when all of the candy was hurled at me at the speed of light. NICE.

Happy 4th of July

Ten or even five years ago, the 4th would have found me listening to Bruce Springsteen (in my younger mind, the most American thing I could think of...) and planning a drive. But midnight on this 2009 4th found me finishing up my second knit hat. Tuesday I took a much appreciated knitting class at the yarn shop Loop (http://www.loopyarnshop.com/) and learned how to knit on circular needles. It was so nice to learn from an actual person, that I may be addicted. I'm hoping to take a few more classes.

Here is the finished pink wool hat (sitting upon the Declaration of Independence, and an announcement of Imelda Marcos' 80th birthday...) - just perfect for the beginning of July, don't you think?

I think due to my class, and watching the instructor's hands knit in the English style (I knit Continental), I was more able to easily produce this hat with two colors, knitting the darker pink holding the yarn Continental in the left hand and the light pink holding it English in the right at the same time. I dare say that I am getting faster at knitting, too. I used to wonder if that was ever going to happen. But like they say, Knit with Confidence!

A picture of me in my new pink hat. The sad thing is, I'll probably need it in 3 months... but today and its weather will not be wasted, after breakfast I'm off to the farm market and making a bean salad for a grill out later...and weather permitting (it looks like rain) fireworks later tonight with a boythat I don't think will be afraid for the first time. We saw a few last night, and he seemed excited. I think "WHOA" was the actual quote.

Happy July 4th!

The First of July = Baking Cake

July 1 is my husband's birthday. And as it is written, everyone needs a birthday cake. Keeping with my recent Dorie Greenspan obsession (and seeing as I had 4 perfectly overripe bananas leering at me from the counter top this morning), I decided to make her Lots of Ways Banana Cake. I'm am happily convinced that I could use any of her recipes last minute without hesitation that they will emerge from the oven perfect examples of what true cakes should be.

These babies were so delicious that had they not had frosting, I may have even passed them off as a somewhat healthy banana bread and toasted them for breakfast. With frosting (I chose her Marshmallow Frosting from previously addicting Devil's Food White-Out Cake...) it may have been a bit sweet, but I'm not complaining.

Before the oven.

We had Orange Roughy fillets, roasted in foil in a 400 oven for about 15 minutes - my favorite way to never overcook fish. I tossed in a drizzle of olive oil, a smidge of butter, a dousing of vermouth in lieu of white wine, and salt and pepper. Along with my new favorite farm market discovery: new garlic.

If you look carefully, you can see where the new cloves would develop.

New garlic apparently is underdeveloped garlic. Picked before the individual cloves are formed, it seems to me to be a bit milder than regular garlic. But in stir-fry last week, it held up and had no harsh garlic bite, and when roasted tonight, it was a delicious mild, toothsome garlic. I love this stuff! Thanks to the amazing Pinehold Gardens gardeners in Oak Creek for producing the best local garlic ever! Their site is under construction, but check back: Pinehold Gardens. Two years ago when my husband's Rhode Island relatives were visiting, his uncle actually took home their garlic in his carry-on. I'm sad when October comes, and after I've used my Pinehold stores, have to go back to finding garlic in the shops.

Before all of this, I thought I would be making a spicier type fish...and utilized the perfectly ripe mango that when it woke up this morning, probably thought it may not get the chance to make it into my belly. Normally, I make the Ina Garten cooked mango salsa, but today decided to cube it up and leave it raw. Just green onions, some red pepper, cilantro, one minced chipotle chile, half a lime and a drizzle of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, and perfection. I think I'll have some on some eggs for breakfast tomorrow, and knowing me, probably in a tortilla. Perfect for summers of limited heat in the kitchen.

We still ate some salsa on the side of the rice: see my plate for example.

A good day! With a baked cake, how can it be bad? Another happy and healthy year for my darling and a nice dinner at home. I could only be more excited about my knitting class yesterday which empowered me to knit on circular needles with confidence...and my confirmation into the world of the Daring Bakers. Stay tuned for my first challenge post at the end of the month.