Desperately Seeking Gina

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The start of a sweet summer

With the start of strawberry season here in Arkansas I am giddy to break out one of my most favorite purchases ever:  my Williams Sonoma shortcake pan.  I don’t think it’s available through them anymore….but you can find them all over the web.  I bought mine ages ago with money saved up for weeks and weeks long before I ever lived on my own.

One of my most favorite recipes ever came with the pan:  shortcakes.  The little cakes are moist, lemon-y, and delicious- a perfect base for sweet strawberries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the strawberries:

I slice them up and place them in a glass bowl.  Add 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of sugar depending on how sweet you like ’em.  {We like them SA-WEEET}  Mix in juice of half a lemon and give a good stir.  Cover and refrigerate.  Let the strawberries macerate until they give up their juices….a couple of hours.  The longer you let them sit…the sweeter they’ll be.  Here I have about 8 cups of sliced strawberries, 3/4-1 cup of sugar, juice of half a lemon.

Right before serving I give them a little mashing…but just a little as I like to have some pretty slices left 🙂

For the shortcakes:
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
8 tbs butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
zest of one lemon
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup milk
In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.  Give a stir and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter until smooth.  Add sugar slowly and beat until blended.  Increase speed and beat until light & fluffy 3-5 minutes.  Beat in zest.  Add eggs, one at a time until well blended.  Scrap down sides of bowl as you go.  Add vanilla.  Add flour mixture alternately with milk beginning and ending with flour until there are no lumps.
Pour batter into greased and floured shortcake pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes until golden.  Cool in pan for 10 minutes and then turn out onto cooling racks to cool completely.

 

Slice shortcakes in half and top with strawberries.  Top with other half of shortcake, more strawberries and freshly whipped cream and…ENJOY!!

He’s not an ankle biter…

Hop’s a hugger, not a fighter!

He’s obviously missing his sister something fierce and he has an unhealthy obsession with toes and feet.  Creepy, actually.  But, endearing, too.  Hop spends most of day lounging on the deck and doesn’t wander away from home often, but when he does- he does it big.  A few weeks ago he could be heard meowing across the street. Somehow, he’d gotten himself stuck in a tree- a 30ft-high tree.

Way Back Wednesday

I’ve been missing home lately.  More so, I’ve been missing the people back home.  And, even though she’s not ‘home’ I’ve been thinking a lot about my cousin Mary.  For now, she calls Kansas home but since her husband is in the military, she has called a lot of different cities, towns, and states ‘home’ since she moved away from our ‘real’ one.

Mary and I spent a lot of time together when we were younger.  Most of my memories of her include camping trips with our paternal grandparents.  We spent our summers at Hoffmaster, writing love notes to boys and having our grandpa deliver them for us.

These days we’ve been connecting over Facebook and I’ve been enjoying our comments back and forth.  And…more exciting that that?  She’s started a blog!

I wish that my memories were clearer, more specific.  For example, when I think of Mary, I think of this picture of the two of us playing dress up.  I can only remember the picture and not the details of the day.

My mom’s silk nighties, slips on our heads, a skein of yarn as a bouquet.  I’m so glad someone snapped this shot.

Shocker!

Hey, friends!

I guess I’ve been recovering from quite a shock I received last two Saturdays ago…since I haven’t blogged in forever.

I came home from work Saturday afternoon…and MY PARENTS WERE HERE!  Seems they just hopped in the car Friday night and drove straight through 14 1/2 hours.  To say I was stunned is quite the understatement. I felt such an overwhelming sense of love and appreciation for them…and for them to drive all that way for such a short period of time just to hang out with me for the weekend was amazing.  There is nothing better to feel loved and worthy.  Well…maybe there is:  to love back, unconditionally.  Thanks, Mom & Dad for loving me so much, and so unconditionally.

Mom said she came down to scrapbook with me.  And she was serious:

Most of this is her scrapbooking supplies.  I think there may be one suitcase of clothes.
Other goings-on around here include a trip to the Strawberry Festival in Cabot last weekend where I spent a third of the grocery money on strawberries.  They weren’t as sweet as they should’ve been…but they were lovely to look at and they smelled A-mazing.
And they made some really, really good shortcakes {recipes coming soon}!
We spent Sunday afternoon {Easter, btw.  Happy Easter!} moving the container garden from one side of the deck to the other.
And…the Early Girl has a bloom!  The anticipation of fresh produce has never excited me more!
What has you excited, friends?

Recipe Review: Cilantro Lime Rice & Black Beans

What: Cilantro Lime Rice & Black Beans from Family Favorite Recipes
The Components: Rice, cilantro, garlic, lime juice, sugar
Black beans, tomato juice, cilantro
The Verdict:  For the rice:  Good…not great.  This lacked flavor for both Thom and myself.  Next time I will up the garlic and add some spices {not sure which ones since this is Thom’s area of expertise}
For the beans:  They will definitely be put into dinner rotation here at The Cove.
The real winner was the recipe for Black Beans;  it included tomato juice.  I was skeptical but interested.  In the end…I was in love.  This is a great side dish.  Being vegetarians, we tend to turn a lot of side dishes into main meals.  Easily done with these tasty beans.  And it was a great way to use up the less than flavorful rice.
I melted some monterey jack cheese in flour tortillas, topped with the Cilantro-Lime Rice and Black Beans, and enjoyed this for dinner last night…and again for lunch today.
BLACK BEANS

2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/3 c. tomato juice
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. fresh chopped cilantro

In a nonstick skillet, cook garlic and cumin in olive oil over medium heat until you can smell it. Add beans, tomato juice, and salt. Continually stir until heated through. Just before serving stir in the cilantro. 


We added frozen corn {2 cups?} to the black beans and it was fantastically amazing stuff.  Seriously.  I could not stop eating these beans.