brownies
My original thought was to bring fresh strawberry pie for Ellen and Kathy's going away party tommorrow night. However, as the week progressed, I really didn't have time to sit down and make the crust and get the strawberries. It was only this week where I hit Yerena Farms stand for fresh berries. I will wait until they get to the optimum color and make the pie. I could have gone to Ella Bella's but I have been with Yerena's for years and plus Ella Bella has barely started growing theirs. The strawberry crop is late this year with all the rain.
However, I was toying around with making peanut butter brownies but using Alferi Farm's almond butter with bits of almond brittle. It was an idea that Cindy Alferi has passed along to me awhile back and I decided, "Oh what the heck."
Brownies were a more practical choice because I can put them in my messenger bag with no fuss. I'm cycling a lot more to places now. The number of places are limited because I still don't want to lock up my bike in a public space and go on in and find it gone. Mostly I will have my bike where I can store it indoors or somewhere where I can see it promintely.
Now if only Timbuk2 made a messenger bag that you can tote bake goods in.
Anyways, enough of that- here are some of my brownie notes.
Almond butter- of course I used Alferi's almond butter with almond brittle. Gary, Marie, and Cindy and company have been really great giving me ideas for using nuts and dried fruits in many of my recipies. Cindy is the baker in the group and she and I have traded some recipies in the past. It seems like whenever I look at a recipie, I try to incorporate their products into it.
Butter- Spring Hill Jersey butter with a hint of salt. Spring Hill is a dairy in Petaluma and they have excellent cheeses and butters. I have used their cheese in the past for making a pie. The butter is great! I used it in a couple recipies so far for baking and it has been a hit!
Chocolate- Scharffen Berger 99% cacao. Basically a good unsweetened chocolate. They are locally made in Berkeley and I've had great success with their products.
Flour- King Arthur All Purpose White Flour. Now a lot of pie and pastry books I have read have given high accolades for this flour. It's actually my first time trying it so I'm looking forward to the results.
Before coming home to bake, I was at a houseparty I spoke at for two AIDS/ LifeCycle cyclists. It was a dessert party and lots of yummy desserts to share and eat. I had my sugar fix so I am bouncing off the walls right now. One of the guests brought over a dessert made of flan and chocolate cake layered together. The three of us started talking about baking- me, the person who made the flan and his friend. The friend made breads. We talked about how baking, though at times time consuming, can bring out a creative vibe and artistic part in ourselves. I told the two of them that I liked making my own crust without a food processor. I might change my mind if I have to make pies in bulk but I'll get to that bridge sooner or later.
The brownies are now done and smell just absolutely devine. I'm sure Ellen and Kathy and company will devour them tommorrow night.
W's F.U. to California
I honestly think Dubya wants us as California to jump in the lake and stay there.
This morning on NPR, I heard a clip that Governer Schwartzengger was going to ask President Bush directly that California needs emergency funds to fix the levees in several areas of the state that have been devistated and could rupture in the next major storm. Just now, I read on sfgate.com that W said "no" to the Governator's request. The Governator, before asking Bush, asked the Secretaries for the Department of the Interior and the Department of Homeland Security for the funds. They said no as well.
I think this is Bush's way of saying that California didn't support him so why should he support California. He figures that after all, California is practically another country and an economic power that he can stomp all over upon. So what if California goes underwater, big deal. Middle America can find other places for good produce and entertainment and other things.
What a dummy.
Shake Rattle and Roll
This past month or so, I have been taking a keen interest in the 1906 Great Quake and Fire that shook and destroyed most of San Francisco. In taking tours provided by
SF City Guides, I got to learn a lot about the fires and what happened around that time. I have one more tour in the 3 part series to take and that's one that is going to be held in the Presidio where a lot of the folks stayed in camps after the quake.
San Francisco once again was on the radar screen of every news outlet throughout the month of April and the week up to the date of the big one, April 18, 1906. I woke up early on Tuesday morning to go to the
Centennial Commemoration . MUNI was giving free bus rides that day and on the 38 Owl that is usually packed with folks working in the financial district getting ready for a day in the markets in New York, everyone came on.
We all gathered on the intersection of Market and Kearney. Traffic was blocked off at 4th and Market at the eastern border and Mission Street was open to traffic. We all gathered at Lotta's Fountain which was a fountain built after the quake and the money to make this happen was by Carlotta Crabtree. In 1910, there was a concert at the fountain and by then, there were throngs of earthquake survivors.
There were a good mix of folks from other parts of the Bay as well as San Franciscans. The SFFD demonstrated a ladder that could reach up to 5 stories and it was one of the old time ladders. Mayor Gavin Newsom interviewed a dozen earthquake survivors who were youngesters at the time. One now lives in Los Angeles and the crowd in jest booed (due to the Giants/ Dodger rivalry). Another one at 107 years old still works 2 days a week stocking shelves at Andronicos Market in the Inner Sunset. My favorite one was one that was not technically a suvivor but she called herself, "The Best of the Quake." She told the story about how her parents had to camp out in a tent in Golden Gate Park and the tent was cold at night. She went on to say that the two of them had to cuddle to keep warm and when you cuddle, you make a baby. She was born in that tent nine months later. She was a hoot and kept me in stitches. I couldn't see the stage or the expression on Mayor Newsom's face but I'm sure he took it all in stride.
Then came the tradition of laying a wreath on Lotta's Fountain at 5:12am, the time the earthquake struck. A hush fell over the crowd as church bells rang, the city's disaster alarm system pealed through the air continously and fire engines and police sirens sounded off. From what I learned on the tours, the Earthquake damaged a lot of the City's water supply and cut off the electricity where the fire alarms in the City's firehouses operated on. The Fire Chief at the time who had a master plan of how to get the city mobilized in an event of a major distaster perished the morning of the earthquake and he was the only one with a plan. The earthquake did sizable damage throughout the Bay Area. However, fires started because gas mains were broken and a spark set off the fires that consumed San Francisco for three days. People thought San Francisco was destroyed, never to rise ever again.
But those critics were wrong. People banded together to help each other out. The mayor at the time brought together business and leaders of the community to get the government going and order put into place. The mayor disregarded his Board of Superviors since they weren't much good for anything those days. And San Francisco rose again like the phoenix rising from the ashes. That is why you see the phoenix on the seal of San Francisco. Actually before the earthquake and fire of 1906, San Francisco when it first boomed during the gold rush kept on burning down every so often but it kept on rising from the ashes.
As we sang the song "San Francisco", I looked around and cannot be more proud to call myself a San Francisco resident. The city has gone through so much and in the face of each disaster that could claim the lives and the people of a city, San Francisco has gotten stronger with each setback. There is also an air of community and commraderie that is found in small towns and not often in large cities.
After the ceremonies, I headed over to Cody's Books and listened to a lecture given my Mark Klett and Rebecca Solnit, authors of the book After the Ruins, 1906 and 2006 Rephotographing the San Francisco Eathquake and Fire. I bought a copy of the book and had the authors sign it. Before the lecture, Cody's staff were serving coffee, tea and donuts. And they were nice and warm too!
In one of the photos, Klett was talking about the damage that the quake did at Stanford University down in the Penninsula. He commented that after the quake, a group of geologists got together down there and earthquake science was born. It reminded me when the AIDS pandemic first broke out in the City in 1981 and the community's response to the pandemic which was one of action where people needed to be informed and educated, folks made meals for those who were sick and alone, churches and organizations opened their doors to those who were affected since most of the doors were completely shut on them once people found out about their illness. As I was commenting this to Klett as he signed my book, one of the staffers from Cody's told me about how New York City responded to the pandemic when it first broke out which was one of denial and secrecy. I have to say that we as San Francisco residents have this resilence inside of us and this spirit of community that can't be matched.
I then went home and hopped into bed to go to work later that morning. I am really proud to be a San Franciscan. Now people are waiting when am I turning in my Dodger cap in favor of a Giant's cap. I say "never!"
As I said before, you can take the Pinay out of Los Angeles but you can't take Los Angeles out of a Pinay.
Here Comes The Sun...doo dee doo doo
Finally there is blue sky and warmth and sunshine in the City!!!
