Suddenly Last Summer

I am 9 days away from graduating from Culinary School. (!!!) That's really all I can say about that right now because I'm trying to keep it all together until I am finally out, graduated and free!! 

It has been a busy and wonderful summer. A summer of new cocktails: The Singapore Sling

Flower arranging at home in Virginia

A wildflower bouquet on the farm

That also had a couple of puppies.  Labrador/ Chow mix= be still my heart

And lazy rivers to swim in

And a sweet horse that is all grown up!

 Arrangements for paying customers too

We kept a promise to ourselves to go to the beach whenever we possibly could

Which required a trip through the brambles

Kris's patented Beach Sandwich: potato roll, ham, "american cheese", mayo and mustard. So mushy, salty and delicious

Maggie has slowly been getting fluffier

The yard has filled in as well

I got some giant hibiscus flowers

Giant basil leaves

And tiny tomatoes

We had some visitors. One of which had never been to New York before!

We took them up 30 Rock for the best view in the city

And they took us to the US Open 

Which also had a pretty darn good view

 Hope you've had an exciting summer too!

A Colonial Potato Wreath

Cotton blossoms, white pine, bittersweet and antlers

This year Christmas was spent in Chesapeake with my boyfriend's awesome family. A dinner in Colonial Williamsburg was a real treat as I had never been at Christmas and they are quite famous for their natural and authentic decorations- so, word to the wise: be sure to arrive before nightfall- colonial times did not include Christmas lights.

 We just loved the decorations and kept trying to figure out all the fruit, vegetables, dried flowers and other ornamentals that comprised each wreath. Pomegranates, oysters, apples, artichokes, bread rolls, playing cards, sliced and dried clementines, and even some burlap and woven wool were mixed into white pine, boxwood and fraiser fir wreaths. We were in love and vowed to make our own versions next year.

Natural wreaths and my momma

But then we got an idea. One hearty vegetable had been overlooked and we couldn't find one single potato in those adornments. Maybe they didn't have pretty potatoes back in the day, but today, you can pick up some gorgeous pink and purple potatoes in just about any grocery store. On our way back from dinner, we stopped off to get the necessary stuff to make our own natural wreath and here is what we came up with:

Do you love it? I love it. It's a freaking edible potato wreath! I have some ideas on how to improve the wreath for next year, but I would say this was a huge success. Looks good with a candle too. 

Tag's Potato Wreath
If possible, get similar sized potatoes which will help them roast evenly when you decide to cook the wreath.

• Assortment of mini white, red and purple potatoes
• 3-4 springs of rosemary
• 2 disposable pie dishes
• Olive oil
• Salt & pepper
• Garlic powder

Using some kitchen sheers or scissors, cut a line through the middle leaving about 3 inches to the edge of the pie dish on both sides. Cut a few more lines through the middle of that line until you can easily bend the pointy edges back onto themselves (towards the edge of the pie dish) to create a sort of edge around the middle of the dish. You can kinda see this in the first picture of the wreath above. Do this with 2 pie dishes for some added support. Stack the pie dishes on top of one another.

Wash and scrub your potatoes and start adding them to the ring, making sure to alternate the colors. Add some springs of rosemary in and round the potatoes, trying to mask the edge of the pie dish.

At this point you can leave the wreath on a table for a few days before the rosemary starts wilting. If you'd like to keep it longer, you can either some water to the base of the ring or stick the rosemary stems in some water tubes hidden under the potatoes.

Once you are ready to eat the wreath, just add over the top, a tablespoon or two of olive oil, some salt, pepper and maybe a few shakes of garlic powder and roast in your oven set at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes or until tender. If some of your potatoes are much larger, you might want to cut them in half to ensure even cooking.

I left before the wreath was cooked but I imagine it was gorgeous on the table and tasty on the plate!

Pumpkins

Pumpkin and apple picking last week was a blast and then it rained. And rained. I haven't seen rain like that in a while. I even took a video but it really doesn't come through... so I'll spare you. But here is a picture:

Some yellow leaves are appearing and my monster plant is quite happy

So for about a week I couldn't do anything with my haul of pumpkins but stare and hope they didn't rot.

And the sun finally came out so I finally played around with them. I had visions of piling them high atop a cafe table, like I had seen online but my table was a little too wobbly and my pumpkins were kinda massive. In the end I ended up with this-

I grabbed a plastic urn planter that still had some mint and lemon verbena growing in it and plopped a Cinderella pumpkin on top and topped that with a Boer Squash

This little orange guy was the one we actually picked from an actual pumpkin patch! Tip: bring a knife! 

My brother Tristan hates this cement dog so my mom called it Tristan. There is another cement dog on the other side of the door also named Tristan. My mom is hilarious. 

And I've been wanting to make Whoopie Pies for a while- and all I needed was an excuse: Boss Day! Did you know it was Boss Day on Monday?

I have loved everything I've made out of my Baked cookbook so I had no hesitations in making their Pumpkin Whoopie Pies. 

Just don't eat more than one. Promise? After testing my batch I thought this picture would surely be enhanced by having one pie with a bite mark but then you can't just put the pie back on the plate after that- so I naturally ate it. And regretted it. These are moist, creamy and decadent. Don't get greedy!

Just one Whoopie Pie

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

Makes 12-24 whoopie pies

(I used a 1/2 inch ice cream scoop and got about 24 pies that seemed big enough for me)

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1 cup canola oil
3 cups chilled pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 cups confectioners’ sugar
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350*F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.

In a large bowl, whisk the brown sugar and oil until mixed. Add the pumpkin and whisk to combine. Add the eggs and vanilla, whisk to combine.

Sprinkle the flour over the pumpkin mixture and whisk to combine. 

Use a small ice cream scoop to drop spoonfuls of dough an inch apart onto baking sheets. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until the cookies are cracked on top and an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Allow cookies to cool completely on the pans.

For the icing, sift the confectioners’ sugar into a medium bowl.

Fit an electric mixer with the paddle attachment. Mix the butter and cream cheese on medium speed until smooth and combined. Add the confectioners’ sugar and beat until combined. Lower speed and add the vanilla, beat until just mixed.

Place about 1-2 tbls of filling on the flat side of one cookie and sandwich with another. Press gently to spread the filling to the edges of the cookies. Store covered in the refrigerator, separating layers of whoopie pies with waxed paper.

Apple Picking and Apple Cider

I had so much fun peach picking this summer that I was determined to go apple picking this fall. I just didn't know when that would be. And then a free day materialized out of a nowhere and so Kris and I packed up our stuff and this time headed North to Maryland's Larriland Farm for some time in the country. 

Although the first half of the drive was a little "urban" the last half winds you through gorgeous fields and overarching trees. 

The farm is on a huge track of land and seeing that it was a Tuesday, we pretty much had the place to ourselves.  

It might seem obvious to say this- but you can only pick what is ripe and so that means you are only allowed in certain orchards and fields. 

For us that meant we could choose from beets, chard, pumpkins and a couple varieties of apple: Stayman, Ida Red and Braebrun.

Kris will want me to tell you that when we first made it into a Staymen apple orchard I was almost convinced that we were supposed to gather the apples from the ground since it seemed that there were none of the trees and most of the ones on the ground looked fine.

But once we got far enough down the row, we found plenty of trees still full of apples. 

We weren't as tempted to eat the fruit right off the branch like we had for the peaches.

It's probably because these apples are kinda dirty and need a good scrubbing, in the sink or on your pant leg, before you take a bite 

The next orchard over was taller and if we're being honest, more exciting. Ladders! 

I made Kris move a ladder to a tree with unreachable apples so I could go up and rescue them. 

I think Kris definitely dressed the part. Way to go, Fashionista! 

 Next was the pumpkin patch

 I was hoping for some white pumpkins but they only grow the orange variety- I'm not really complaining though because they had a great selection. The patch was a little surreal and almost felt like a set. 

 On our way back from the fields. Little ghosts on the island. 

 They had all sorts of varieties of gourds at the barn and I treated myself to a Cinderella Pumpkin (among a few others....). I justified my rather large haul by reminding myself that these are all edible. We'll have to see what I come up with in November to eat them all! 

In the meantime, here is a little recipe I've been using on a regular basis to turn apple cider into a drink worthy of desert status.

Creamy Double Apple Cider

For 1

• 1-2 cups apple cider
• a few glugs of maple syrup
• 1/4-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• a few glugs of Laird's Applejack Brandy
• Whipped cream
• Pumpkin pie spice

Warm the apple cider in a thick mug in the microwave. Once the cider is warm enough, add the maple syrup, vanilla extract and brandy. Taste and adjust according to your preference. Top the whole thing with a thick swirl of whipped cream and a dash of pumpkin pie spice.