Vanilla Sugar in My Coffee

Mary Poppins says that a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, but I find that a spoonful of vanilla sugar helps my morning cup of coffee go down, in the most delightful way. 

What is vanilla sugar you ask?  Vanilla sugar is simply granulated sugar combined with a few sliced open vanilla beans.  And the sugar absorbs the exotic fruity flavor of the vanilla beans in a matter of days, although a week is ideal.  I use vanilla sugar in my coffee, baked goods, and sprinkled over fresh berries.  It’s a simple way to enhance the flavor of your cooking.

I buy my favorite vanilla beans at Costco for less than ten dollars for a full year’s supply.  And after I scrape the seeds out for a recipe, I press the leftover pod into the sugar. 

Now, I want you to do me a favor.  Go look in your spice cabinet.  Do you see the fake bottle of vanilla on the shelf?  Now pick it up and as fast as you can, throw it in the trash!  Ok.  That’s better. Now go buy yourself some real vanilla extract or better yet, buy some vanilla beans and press them into your sugar canister.   You can thank me later.

Tip:  Vanilla sugar in a canning jar makes an adorable and useful holiday gift.

There's a Velociraptor in My Kitchen

I can’t keep a pastry brush in the house because The Assistant devours them.  I finally broke down and bought a cheapie pastry brush last week only to find her silently lifting it out of the dishwasher, carefully placed in her teeth like treasure.  I shook my head at her and she spat it out and walked away, her tail hanging in defeat.  But I knew that she would be back.  

The Assistant has a butter problem. On occasion, ok, whenever I bake with butter, The Assistant (my dog, Sadie) transforms into a velociraptor.  She starts inhaling air so deeply that she sounds like a humming shop vac.  And whenever I turn my back on a stick of butter on the counter, she carefully lifts up on her hind legs and snatches it off the counter and disappears into her kennel to snarf it down. 

So, when I made David Lebovitz’s butter pie dough, she just about lost it. David Lebovitz is a pastry genius.  I grow chocolate mint in my garden just so I can make his recipe for mint ice cream.  I’m currently reading through his book Ready for Dessert: My Best Recipes.  His brownie recipe, Robert’s Absolute Best Brownies, is one of the best brownies that I’ve ever eaten and I’m a connoisseur of brownies.  I’m totally crushing on David Lebovitz, but I digress here.

Back to pie dough.  I have found my favorite pie dough recipe thanks to David Lebovitz and his love of butter.   I followed his directions and used my mixer fitted with a paddle to make the dough.  And it surpassed my expectations.  I made a custard pie and his butternut squash pie and I confidently shared them with friends and family.  And The Assistant was a frantic velociraptor the whole time they baked. She hunted and paced and drooled.  And after I tucked the completed pies into the fridge, she collapsed with her head on my lap and snored and farted while I watched television.  Being a velociraptor is exhausting work. 

Pie Dough 

from Ready for Dessert: My Best Recipes by David Lebovitz

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

½ teaspoon of salt

1 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1 inch cubes and chilled

6 to 8 tablespoons ice water

In your mixer bowl with the paddle attachment combine the flour, sugar, and salt.  Add in the butter and mix until the butter chunks are ¼ inch big.

Pour in the 6 tablespoons of water all at once and mix until the dough just starts to come together into a coarse dough.  Add two more tablespoons of water if needed. 

Pour the dough out onto a cutting board and cut it in half.  Press each piece into a one inch thick round disk and wrap with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for at least an hour or up to two days.  They can also be frozen for up to two months.

I rolled out and shaped my pie shell crusts and froze them overnight.  Then, following his directions, I prebaked my pie shells at 375 degrees for twenty minutes with a piece of foil and pie weights (beans) inside. I removed the foil and weights and baked for 10 more minutes.  And they turned out perfectly. 

Winterizing My Hardy Banana On a Budget

My banana tree is looking a little trashy right now, but it's for a good reason.  I swear.

West corner of the patio

I want to winterize my hardy banana, Musa basjoo (hardy to -10), in such a way that I protect the main pseudostem.  Last winter was mild and my banana's main pseudo-stem survived intact and it was able to reach 4 1/2 feet tall this past summer.  Most winters, here in USDA Zone 8b, it gets too cold for the banana and it dies all the way to the ground and then sets up new sprouts in the spring.  

(I'm sorry about the picture quality. I was in a hurry today with the picture taking because it was raining and My Pirate demands a bottle of rum when he works on a garden project for longer than one hour. No bottle of rum for you today, My Pirate!) 

I went into research mode and started looking for ways to help the new growth get through the winter.  And I kept finding the same advice over and over about cutting the stalk down to two feet tall and then insulating it.  I was relieved when I found Nest Maker's blog post detailing how the Portland Chinese Garden winterizes their tall bananas.  Their reusable insulation design captured my imagination and I decided to make a budget version.    

My Pirate asked our friend, a contractor, if he happened to have any insulation scraps hanging around and he did.  He gave us a nice chunk of water heater insulation.  Thanks Mark!

We slid the insulation into a large black garbage bag.  

And cut off a narrow strip of excess insulation that didn't fit.  

We folded the garbage bag's open edge and duct taped it shut. 

We even duct taped the edges.

I trimmed the banana leaves off the side of the trunk (pseudostem). Do you see the new pup beside the main trunk?

We wrapped the insulation filled garbage bag around the trunk of the banana and duct taped it in place. 

I tied a piece of twine around the top of the bag to help prevent water from getting inside the wrapping.  And I laid the trimmed banana leaves around the base of the plant.  

So there you have it.  My trashy looking banana tree, all wrapped up tight for the winter.  I might add a layer of burlap to dress it up a bit.  I'll let you know next spring how it turns out.    

Do you think that it'll work?

Garden Blogger Bloom Day, December 15

I continue to be surprised by what I find blooming in my garden during this very mild fall.  I'm crossing my fingers that we get a hard frost soon to prepare the plants for any upcoming cold winter weather. 

I discovered this ground cover strawberry bloom.  This plant has slowly been invading my yard from the neighbors' garden.  Isn't it pretty?  

The hardy fuchsias, Ladies' Eardrops continue to bloom and attract the hummingbirds.

The wax begonias are still puttering along.

I found the last little blossom on the gold oregano.

The lemon thyme  and rosemary are still blooming.

I love the way the borage looks in the rain.

And then I found evidence that the garden gnomes have been partying without me, again. Those hooligans.

The autumn joy is looking a bit haggard but continues to bloom.

And the Acanthus Mollis continue to bloom and look good.  They usually are puddles of slime this time of the year. 

This is the very last cape fuchsia bloom.

And there are still flower buds on the caster bean.

Along with some very ugly and toxic seed heads .

The chocolate cosmos flower buds are continuing to open and then I bring them inside in a vase.

The Tiny Tim Spurge is still blooming.

The fatsia japonica is still putting on a show.

The grasses out front have turned gold and contrast nicely with the seed heads.

The flowers on the Harlequin Glory Bower Tree are beginning to fade.

The last few blossoms on the hebe are hanging on.

Three little blossoms cling to the Mahonia eurybracteata 'Soft Caress'.

Don't forget to pop on over to May Dreams Gardens to visit all the other Garden Blogger Bloom Day links!

Custard Pie for Breakfast

I used to sneak off to a diner tucked back up in Hockinson for a slice of their freshly baked custard pie.  The servers, waitresses really, wore rubber-soled shoes and snapped their gum at me as they wrote down my order only to yell over the top of my head as they poured my coffee, “Hey Shirley, slice of custard, over here!”  I was so sad when they picked up shop and moved further North to Battleground.  That is, I was sad until this morning.

This morning I had a slice of homemade custard pie and a cup of French press coffee for breakfast, at home.  Alone.  No one snapping their gum at me or yelling over my head, just the dogs drooling beside me as I savored my breakfast.  And it was a wonderful way to start a sunny and mild December day out in the garden.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that custard pie is difficult to make like I was, for far too long.  My first attempt yielded a fantastic pie that surpassed my expectations.  The trick is to pour the custard into a warmed piecrust so the custard doesn’t get grainy and the crust doesn’t get soggy.

Custard Pie

From Joy of Cooking:  All About Pies & Tarts

Your favorite blind baked piecrust--go ahead and use store bought, I won’t judge

3 large eggs

2 to 3 large egg yolks

½ cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/8 tsp. salt

2 cups whole milk—I used lactose free

½ to teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg*

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Warm your piecrust as you prepare the filling for approximately 10 minutes.  

Warm the 2 cups of milk over medium heat in a saucepan. 

In a separate bowl combine the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, and salt with a whisk until they just come together. 

Gently whisk the mixture as you slowly add the warm milk into it. Then pour the mixture into the warmed piecrust.  Grate the nutmeg over the top.  Bake for 25 to 35 minutes until the center seems set but shivers just a little when the pan is nudged.  Mine took 25 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature and then refrigerate for up to 1 day. 

*I buy my nutmeg out of the bulk spice section at New Seasons to save money.  I pay roughly 40 cents per nutmeg nut. 

The Assistant adores custard pie.