Men may come and men may go, but pie goes on forever.

Winter Fruit Compote




Almost any combination of dried fruits can be refreshed this way and turned into a dessert to be served alongside a slice of cake, or with a little creme fraiche. Fresh winter citrus fruits also make beautiful winter compotes when soaked in syrup flavored with their zest. The compote makes a memorable tart filling. Strain off the liquid and use the fruit to make a galette. Reduce the liquid and use it to glaze the galette after baking.

In a medium-size saucepan, combine:
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup Zante currants
1/4 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup dried apricots, diced
1/2 cup dried apples, diced
1 3/4 cups fresh orange juice
3 strips orange zest
1/4 cup brown sugar

Split in half lengthwise:
one 1-inch piece of vanilla bean
Use the tip of a really sharp knife to scrape the black seeds from the inside of the bean directly into the saucepan; then add the bean, along with:
1 star anise (optional)
Cook over medium heat until the dried fruits have plumped and the juice has slightly thickened, about 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool slightly, then discard the vanilla bean, orange zest, and star anise.


To make the tart dough.. (also under the cut is vLogs of Mini and Grizzly!)

Have measured:
1/2 cup ice-cold water
Mix together:
2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
1/2 tsp salt (omit if using salted butter)
Add:
12 tbsp cold butter, cut into small cubes

Cut or work the butter into the flour with a pastry blender or your fingertips, leaving some of the butter in fairly large, irregular pieces. This will take a minute or two. Pour in three quarters of the water, stirring all the while with a fork until the dough begins to form clumps. Keep adding water if needed. Divide the dough in two, bring each part together into a ball, and wrap each ball in plastic. Compress each ball, and then flatten them into disks. Let rest, refrigerated, for an hour or longer.

Tart dough is easiest to roll out when it is malleable, but not soft. If it has been chilling for a number of hours, allow it to sit out of the refrigerator for about twenty minutes to soften.
When ready to roll, take the disk of dough, still wrapped in plastic, and flatten it well with your hands, tapping or pinching edges to seal shut any cracks. Dust the counter lightly, and dust the top of the dough generously as well. With the rolling pin, tap firmly across the top fo the dough a few times to flatten the disk even more, then begin to roll. Guide the rolling pin from the center of the disk towards the edges, pressing with firm but consistent pressure. After a few rolls, turn the dough over, smooth the flour on top, and reflour the work surface. Keep rolling the dough out from the center, as opposed to back and forth.
Roll the dough a little less than 1/8-inch thick for an open-faced tart. Roll it slightly thicker for pie or double-crusted tart. Once the dough is rolled, lightly brush off the flour (a brush or a kitchen towel will work if used with a light touch).
To move the dough, fold it in half and then quarters. Transfer the dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (highly recommended to avoid sticking). Put the dough back in the refrigerator, baking sheet and all, to rest for an hour.

Grizzly approves. The tart dough was by far the best I've made, but the fruits was alright. I did not like the apricots at all!! Loved the apples the most.





If you have a cat, you must go buy the yeeow catnip! cat cigar thing. Mini (formerly known as Relish) isn't a big fan of catnip, but this cigar is filled to the brim with organic catnip tops and she goes insannee for it. This is her third cigar!

God's always got a custard pie up his sleeve.

After spending Christmas with Jesse's parents, we returned home with a car full of goods, including lemons from the tree in his parent's backyard. I used it often in cooking, and made wonderful lemon curd with a few lemons.

I don't have a picture of the finished product, nor do I have a picture of the sponge cake roll filled with lemon curd. Daaang yummy, but my idiotic self used my biggest baking sheet for the sponge cake, so I ended up with a super thin cake that rolled over itself multiple times instead of the standard thick cake rolled over a few times. Still yummy nonetheless! We had it for breakfast on a Sunday morning mmmm

Lemon Curd




2-3 lemons (preferably Meyer lemons, about 10 ounces)
1/4 tsp cornstarch*
1/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
6 tbsp unsalted butter

*cornstarch may be omitted unless you want to use the custard as a filling in a tart you want to brown

There are so many variations you can use to make curd, and I don't think this is the recipe I followed.. Maybe, I don't remember!! I copied and altered this recipe from my Chez Panisse Desserts cookbook. It actually is a Blood Orange Curd recipe that I copied, and you can subsitute the lemon for pretty much any citrus fruits! Just add a tbsp of lemon juice to whatever fruit you choose.

Wash the lemons and finely grate the peel into a non-corroding bowl. Juice the lemons, strain the juice into the bowl. Mix the cornstarch into sugar if using (this helps prevent lumps from forming when the cornstarch is cooked into the eggs). Put the eggs in a small non-corroding saucepan and whisk the sugar-cornstarch mixture into them. Stir in the juice-peel mixture. Don't be alarmed if it curdles, it will smooth out later. Cut the butter into several pieces and add to the mixture.

Cook over low heat. Once the butter melts, whisk constantly until smooth. Alternatively, stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture coats the spoon. Remove from the heat and stir for a minute or two until the heat of the pan dissipates so the custard won't curdle on the bottom. Pour into a small container and chill.

As you can see in the second vLog, I strained the curd through a fine metal mesh strainer. I highly recommend doing so, for straining will smoothen the curd and eliminate the zest, along with any curdled egg bits.


I know y'all non-Californians are blanketed in snow, and this would be nothing to you guys but HEY ITS ARCATA OK. At sea level too! It was very wet snow that hardly stuck, but it lasted from late AM to late afternoon.