Posts filed under ‘Breakfast/Brunch’
In the Kitchen with Dad
This morning I woke up to Tilly and Otis. They were both sitting on top of me. Otis was staring at my bedroom window, eyes locked on a fly buzzing on the glass, and Tilly was lying on my stomach and gazing intently at me. Ever since we got Tilly back, I appreciate every moment with her more than ever and she seems to appreciate it too.
Although it’s been a week since Tilly came home, Dad still gets calls from people who think they saw her. While most are mistaken, a few have been right, and we’ve been able to piece together a bit more about what happened to her that night. Once again, I’m utterly amazed by how compassionate people are. Tilly was smack in the middle of a four lane 40 mph road, at night in the rain. A woman saw her and actually parked her car at an angle across multiple lanes to block traffic. Then she jumped out of her car to get Tilly.
Tilly ran, but this woman chased her between houses and through neighborhoods before finally realizing she couldn’t grab Tilly. She walked back, sopping wet, where a police car was parked, lights flashing, and an officer was directing traffic around her car. I honestly can’t believe it! Knowing people like that exist make me feel all warm and soft inside. Warm and soft as… a fresh bagel.
By the time I got out of bed, the house was warm and smelled like flour and yeast – one of my all time favorite smells. Dad was in pajamas too. He had already made the dough and it was rising in the microwave, one of my mom’s tricks. The kitchen counter isn’t warm enough in Seattle, so she microwaves a small cup of water for 3-4 minutes. This makes the microwave warm and humid, a great place for the bread to rise.
“Bagels?” I asked, seeing the open cookbook. “Can I help?”
The first thing I helped do was punch down the dough. As some of you might know, I have no bread experience at all and get a little nervous about it. But I’ve always wanted to make bagels, and I love the feeling of the dough. It’s soft and firm and elastic all at once.
Even though I mostly bake cakes, cookies, and sweets, there’s something about baking breakfast that brings me unique happiness. It’s something about the soft natural light, streaming in through the windows, and the birds making their first rounds around the yard. It’s the warmth of the kitchen in comparison to the cool wood floors of the rest of the house… And the fact that I’m in pajamas still and there is no stress whatsoever.
I watched Dad separate the dough into 8 and then we started forming the bagels. He formed each 1/8th of the dough into a ball by cupping the bottom between his palms and squeezing together. He rotated the ball and kept cupping and pressing together, so that it formed a smooth sphere. Then he floured a finger and made a hole in it, pressing straight through. Then he worked the entire thing, using more fingers, to expand the hole and smooth the sides.
The bagels rise a bit longer, then you boil them and bake them. And wow… there’s really something about pulling a rack of perfect, golden, puffy bagels out of the oven. It makes your heart flutter a little bit. It makes you wonder why you even bother with cinnamon raisin or chocolate chip or blueberry when you can make these simple, delicious ones all by yourself.
Of course, I have yet to make them all by myself. But my Dad is a good teacher. He mostly cooks dinner, which may or may not interest me depending on my mood. He bakes a little… not as well as me :) But his eclairs are always delicious and he will always make me a birthday cake if I want one, even though it’s admittedly not his thing. But the one thing I always like to see him make is bread. Challah, parker house rolls, Italian flatbread, spinach rolls, it always fascinates me and makes me suddenly forget all about chocolate and vanilla beans.
We ate our bagels outside with the dogs, and it was perfect. I went pretty simple. I spread some slightly cold cream cheese, which softened right away on the warm bagel. Then I topped it with some homemade blackberry jam that our friend A- made for us. The bagel was chewy and soft and puffy, and the jam and cream cheese was perfectly sweet and tangy. I think I ate the whole thing in record speed.
But Dad is a bit more sophisticated. He went for cream cheese too, but added some capers. Then he grabbed a Mr. Stripey tomato that he grew himself in his own garden and sliced it into thick, juicy rounds.
I was starting to wonder whether I should have forgone the jam.
He topped the bagels with the tomato and pulled out some of his very own homemade lox. If there’s one type of fish I can’t resist, it’s salmon, and his lox is the best.
How can any day go wrong when it starts like this?
Blueberry Coconut Cream Scones
Ah, summer… It’s filtered into everything, even school. I spend at least two periods a day outside, because even my teachers can’t stand being cooped up. We watch movies and do creative projects instead of textbook assignments, and I have never been so relaxed or felt so free.
Summer means reading lazily in the softest, greenest patch of grass.
Playing the radio as loudly as possible so I can sing along without being heard by the neighbors.
Picking fresh, full leaves of basil that beg to become fragrant green ice cream (coming soon, I promise.)
Summer means walking into the dusk in a short sleeved shirt, stargazing right on the cool driveway, and tucking plastic yellow sunglasses in my bag wherever I go.
It’s an energy that I have tried to capture in a photograph all week. But there are no words or pictures that can convey the feeling – I’ve learned to put down the camera and simply breathe in the sun.
Even in Seattle, summer means heat. It’s almost too much – for me, the ideal day is 65 degrees. With a gentle breeze. And a slightly overcast sky. Still, I can’t resist the hazy summer heat and find myself in the backyard more than the house. But nothing can keep me away from the kitchen for long, and sure enough, I’m still baking away.
Oh, I am so lucky to be in love! With summer, with photography, with sugar, with my family. I hope you are all as happy and in love with life as I am at this very moment.
We had our first dinner outside last week. The day was so utterly lovely that we threw open every window and dusted off the old glass table. We passed around fruit salad and chicken, grilled with herbs grown in our own garden. We talked until twilight fell, and found that there is nothing quite like concluding a meal with lavender ice cream in sugar cones.
But first, we started the day with Blueberry Coconut Cream Scones.
Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chunk Muffins
As a little kid, you get invited to a lot of birthday parties. You know, the kind where every kid in the class gets invited, and so the present opening process takes forever. The nice thing is, it’s inexpensive to please young kids, and the presents were never more than $10.
But by the time I got into middle school, birthday presents began to cost $30 or even $40! Now that I’m in high school, I have to admit I’m glad we don’t need to be spending that much money anymore. Birthday parties don’t exist anymore. But I can’t get enough of birthday presents, so I bake instead of buying.
Like today, when my friend M- celebrated his 17th birthday. I’ll get right to the point. Peanut butter and chocolate chunk muffins, oh my god!
Peanut butter is something that’s been in my life a long time. PB and honey sandwiches were a school lunch staple for many years. Peanut butter was the preferred treat of my first real (non goldfish) pets, my rats Blue and Dewdrop. And I could never resist feeding Tilly, my sweet and neurotic dog, a half tablespoon of peanut butter to watch her jaw get glued together.
Peanut butter pretty much improves everything. Celery? Complete bore on its own, transformed into a deliciously crunchy and refreshing snack with the addition of peanut butter. Toast and jam? Reaches a whole new level of creamy and sweet. But throw chocolate in the mix and you’ve truly got something addictive.
Yam Biscuits and the joys of natural light
“So, what’s for breakfast?”
That’s usually one of the first things my dad says to me on Saturday mornings. I gulp down a bowl of cereal in seconds on weekdays, which makes weekend breakfasts even more enjoyable. Even though my parents can definitely make a better savory breakfast – eggs Benedict, omelettes, and perfectly crispy hashbrowns – I have the sweeter things covered. Pancakes, waffles, muffins, and scones. Mmm.
Besides my general love for carbs at any moment, I like baking in the mornings for a few reasons. I like the absolute lack of hurry that covers the whole house like a warm sweater. I like bringing my parents a piping hot baked good and eating it right in bed. And one of the simplest things I like is the filtered natural light that streams in through the windows. When I usually bake, it’s after school (though not necessarily after homework!) Even in March it gets dark pretty quickly. And I’m the kind of person who would prefer no lights and an open window to bright artificial lights. Another great thing about natural light is the photography it produces. As an amateur photographer the sunshine is my best friend!
What kind of 75 watt light bulb can do that?
17 and Baking 