Words, wool, daydreaming, cooking, crafts, and books (or do those count as “words” too?)
Let in the sounds
Of crickets and cicadas and peepers,
Singing and droning and zithering –
An orchestra of chirps, whirrs, and zuzzes
That arcs loudly away as the car passes.
Summer drifts in and out, the sharp,
Hot, humidity tempered with sweet
Corn tassels and hay scented skies.
Open eyes fill with bright blues,
Shocking yellows, soft greens, bright white,
Grey thunderheads, and the electrical pull
Between movement and sweet, dreamy
stillness.
– (copyright) rjn, August 19, 2009
There are lovely places to hike near Lake Champlain. These boats were pulled up on a rocky ledge on the banks of the lake. I’m going through my pictures of sunsets over
the water, woodsy trails, wildflowers, and interiors from the Inn I stayed at. All very lovely. Some of them are appropriate for Project Spectrum and I’ve put them up on my flickr account on the sidebar. 
Some may show up on these pages when they seem appropriate.
I guess it’s the sign of a good trip if you’re already hoping to go back again and figuring out ways to avoid lots and lots of driving.
Here’s a goofy list of things that might be more worthwhile than mowing the lawn (which is what everyone else is up to, according to my ears):
Some of these are limited by the lack of water pressure today. I’m reluctant to come into contact with potential poison ivy in the evil shrub if I can’t wash off the itch. I nearly broke the glass coffeepot this morning with the blast of air as I tried to fill it (no worries, I do have a little bottled water for essentials), so I’m reluctant to start washing things.
If I prep the door for painting this AM, maybe I can do a quick bit of lawn mowing to appease the neighbors. (mowed the lawn) Eh, if you had a beautiful, sunny day after a week of thunderstorms, which would you choose?
In looking for the first post on the topic, I realize it’s been a year since this blogspace started. The Asiatic/ Stargazer-type lilies are blooming again too, so the whole backyard is scented in the moonlight. To kill this mood of celebration, the “La Cucaracha” ice cream truck is back.
It’s parked not far from here. I can hear its eerie, ghostlike sound through the walls of my home office. I wonder, grimly to myself, what kid actually NEEDS ice cream at 10:45 PM (and what parents will let him or her walk down the city street to get it)? And, yet again, why cockroaches in a song advertising food?
I like the neighborhood, but sometimes it’s just strange.
Fig and Almond Kuchen
Note: this kuchen is based on Flo Braker’s recipe for Prune plum, fig and walnut kuchen. It isn’t the same, but it was a great springboard for what I came up with. I live in a household that seems to prefer almonds over walnuts. I suspect that I could have made this more like a frangipan tart by pouring in half the dough, adding a thin disc of marzipan, then pouring in the rest of the dough and adding the figs. As it is, this is possibly a little lighter than an actual kuchen (I subbed 2 eggs rather than 1 egg and 2 egg yolks, due to what I had).
Ingredients:
Topping:
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350-degrees and set rack in center of oven. Grease and flour a 9 x 2-inch round baking pan (I used a 9-inch round springform pan with great success) and insert a round of parchment paper in the bottom.
Mix the cake: Cream butter. Once butter is smooth, pour in white sugar then brown sugar in a steady stream. Continue beating until well-incorporated and slightly fluffy. Beat in eggs, then almond extract. If you want to, sift flour, salt and baking powder separately before adding. If you don’t want to, you can put half the flour in then mix the salt and baking powder in the mixing cup with the flour before adding in the rest. Add flour mixture slowly until it’s just combined.
Spread batter evenly in pan. Sprinkle almonds evenly over the batter.
Add figs, starting at edges of the pan, seed/flesh side up and skins against the batter, one next to the other in circles around the pan. After completing the circles, if any wedges remain, snugly fit them in where you can.
Topping: Combine sugar and spices in a small bowl and sprinkle it over the top of the fruit on the cake.
Bake for 60 minutes, until the portion of cake nearest the sides of the pan is puffy and golden brown and the center is set. (You will want to start checking after 55 minutes). If the center is liquid and soft, bake another 5 to 7 minutes. If it is firm and set, then remove it from the oven to a wire rack and set it aside to cool for about 1 hour.
Remove cake from pan (use a knife or spatula slowly around edge of cake to release the sides). Cover the cake with the wire cooling rack, invert the cake, life the pan then gently peel off and discard the paper liner. (Like I said — the second time I tried this I used the spring form pan and it was so much easier.) Place a serving plate on top of the cake and turn it right side up. Serve warm or at room temperature. (I’m storing my cake in the refrigerator, even though the original recipe said to store it at room temp under plastic wrap. I just live in a household with cat interference.)
Serves 12. (Yeah, right. I’d say this is closer to feeding 15.)
Different fruits might work with this recipe — slices of plum or fresh apricot. I’m thinking of making the next one then freezing it for Christmas, when I’ll be visiting family members without a fig tree.
Now that it’s gone, I’ve been trying to figure out what was missing this summer.
Oh yeah… Lake Michigan. It’s full blown autumn there now. But this is what I think summer looks like. Stony cliffs, blueberry bushes, wildflowers, water so cold it turns your toes blue. Nothing like my backyard, although I’m getting to like the flowers and the nice things that can grow in warmer climates. So, how about you? Is it all Down-a-shore around you, or up in the mountains to get natural air conditioning? What do you dream of doing for summer vacation for next year?
And do you have any good plans for autumn? Hear it’s getting close to time for mulled cider.
It’s a hot, muggy day in the mid-Atlantic state I live in. The house doesn’t have air conditioning yet.
Today it’s time to rely on ye olde technique to keep cool that was handed down to me from my Scandinavian ancestors:
go to the movies
When I was a kid and living in a house without AC, I kept my cool one summer by walking 6 blocks to the Boyd to see Back to the Future during the afternoon matinee for $2 (I think it was $1.50 for a while). I think I saw it 8 or 9 times, with my sister in tow. Sometimes I got movie money in order to watch out for both of us. I would have taken her along if she had ticket price for herself and used my own money. But don’t tell Dad. He might ask for the cash back with interest. The original film held up well until the copy the theater had burned out mid-scene (we got our money back).
Back then, the theater welcomed us in from the blinding, hot street with a blast of cold air in the entryway. We sat on old red velvet seats, waiting for the velvet curtain to open, and trying to peer into the mysterious alcoves (which may now house the special surround sound system).
I can’t claim to have been as inspired as Woody Allen by the movies. Books are more my thing, but I do admit they don’t have the physical atmosphere of an old movie house.
Wall-E was good. But I wish I could see it with Dad (where the matinee is now $4).
It’s 9 PM in summer: traditional time for the ice cream trucks to duel outside by the Movie Theater. Today is extra special, because a free, open air concert just closed up at the farmer’s market a block away. Instead of 2, we have 3 trucks.
One plays “Turkey in the Straw.” One alternates between “Those Endearing Young Charms” and “Camptown Racetrack.” And the third, and loudest, plays “La Cucaracha.” “La Cucaracha” is the one that continues playing long after the others have gone. It leaves me wondering:
The trucks turn down the sound after around 15 minutes, leaving me to wonder what turkeys, straw, racetracks, Stephen Foster, and bugs have to do with frozen cream.
Odd links found while searching out the correct spelling for things:
NPR has done an article on a cartoon with the name “La Cucaracha” about Mexican Americans living in East LA. Check the article out here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=882141
And then there’s the Wiki with a broadside of the song (and translations): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Cucarach
Sorry no pictures. 1: you can’t get pictures of an ice cream truck without someone being upset that you’re taking pictures of their kids. 2. It’s really dark outdoors. 3. I am not posting pics of creepy crawlies on this blog.
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