Sniffles and Such

It seems Peter and I are both feeling under the weather. This may or may not have something to do with the fact that we rather foolishly took a day trip to Muir Woods a few days ago. When it was cold. When it was windy. When it was raining cats, dogs, and various other domesticated animals. When it was hailing. Hailing! What were we thinking?!

Well, it was beautiful...

If not a little...flooded.

I suppose I should just come out and admit, then, that neither of us has felt up to much of anything. This includes the hours it takes to set up and shoot a delicious stop-motion. For that, I apologize.

However, I would like to share with you a non-food-related stop-motion I shot a few months ago. At this point, I was just starting to mess around with the medium (not that I've progressed much further past that). The lighting is pretty abysmal, but it was so much fun to make that I'm proud of it nonetheless.

Please enjoy "West Side Storyboard"

Lemon Pound Cake with Blueberry Sauce

Oh, wow.

I've got to say, I have been looking forward to making Joy the Baker's Lemon Drenched Lemon Cake for a few days now. Everything seems to have come together to make it so. The day before she put up her lovely post full of quick bread recipes, I received my very first loaf pan. Yay! The last time we went to the farmer's market, there were these beautiful lemons just sitting there looking at me. They were so lovely, we brought two of them home with us. Then, yesterday, Peter and I hiked up and over to the nearest Trader Joe's (my first time there) and found blueberries. Blueberries!

How could I possibly ignore signs like these? I couldn't. And thus, our dessert for the next few days was born.

Now, Joy the Baker's recipe included both the lemon loaf and a good-lookin' lemon syrup for the bread to soak on up. Since we had blueberries already chilling out in the fridge, I went with a Martha Stewart recipe for blueberry syrup. Once we've plowed our way through this particular batch, Peter and I may just have to try it with the original lemon drenching.

Below are simplified versions of the two recipes I used. For the full versions, please check out the links to the originals.

Lemon Cake

from Joy the Baker, who adapted it from Dorie Greenspan

Get the full version here

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1 1/6 c. granulated sugar

3/4 tsp vanilla extract

3 large eggs

1/3 c. heavy cream

zest of one lemon

8 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan.

In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt.

In a large bowl mix the granulated sugar and lemon zest together with your fingers. Whisk the eggs into the sugar until incorporated. Whisk in vanilla extract, then the heavy cream.

Carefully stir flour mixture into sugar mixture, stirring until batter is smooth. Fold in the melted butter in several additions.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan, place the pan on an insulated baking sheet, and put into the preheated oven. Bake for 55-60 minutes, checking the cakes at 30 minutes.

Let cool and remove from pan before adding blueberry syrup. There are different directions for Joy's lemon syrup, so I strongly suggest looking up her recipe on her site.

Warm Blueberry Sauce

from Martha Stewart

Get the full version here

2 tsp unsalted butter

1 pint blueberries, washed with any stems removed

1/4 c. granulated sugar

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add blueberries and sugar.

Cook over medium heat until blueberries release juices, stirring constantly (about 2 minutes).

Let cool slightly, then pour over lemon loaf.

Feel free to lick your plate clean. :)