Just for Valentines Day, here’s number four

The history of my wedding rings is long and storied, involving tales of dark sapphires, a gardener who often wears no gloves, a girl who didn’t want a ring from the beginning, a couple who loves beautiful metalwork, and a woman who has devastatingly changeable finger-width.

Precious Metalsmith in Olympia carries a line of Beverly K jewelry; they remind me of skeleton leaves or rings that wise old fairies would wear.

Mad about madeleines

Because the gluten-free monsieur had a migraine, and because I happen to have a madeleine pan (courtesy of said monsieur), and because I have both a great sympathy for migraines and a great weakness for Proustian lemon cookie-cakes, I give you: gluten-free madeleines.

P.S. He ate one bite and pronounced it delectable before sinking back into his pillow with closed eyes and a great sigh.

I baked the classic (white flour) madeleines on Christmas morning but didn’t think to take any pictures for comparison’s sake. This second version browned much more, with a crunchy carmely varnish.
(I adapted this recipe and if I do say so myself, the batter was better for it. Seriously, these are really good.)

1/2 cup butter
3 eggs
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup sugar (I might reduce this a smidge next time)
zest from 1/2 an orange
zest from 1 lemon
1 tsp. vanilla

Melt 1/2 cup butter and allow to cool while you do the other steps:

Preheat oven to 375. (This is an estimate; I started baking at 425 and went down to 350 due to my temperamental gas oven).

Whisk the eggs well and then whisk everything (including the butter) together, until there aren’t any lumps left. Spray madeleine pan with olive oil (or whatever you like–I like the flavor of olive oil with sweet things). Spoon 1 tablespoonful into each shell and bake for approximately 10 minutes. Turn out immediately.

Last batch:

Mid-season miscellaneous

This advent calendar-cupboard is a huge hit with the kiddos. We’ve found Cost Plus to be a great place to find little treats from around the world (isn’t the marzipan deliciously cute?)

This gingerbread house is the first traditional one we’ve ever made–the kids are very pleased with it.

A couple of days ago I found E. Nesbit’s Christmas story The Conscience Pudding at the library; I’m reading it aloud to the kids at bedtime and it’s as good as all her others. It’s out of print but you can read it online here.

And tomorrow night we’ll celebrate Hannukah with latkes, latkes for everyone!

Around the June garden

Walk down these steps, and you’ll find A’s pea trellis:

Elsewhere, the strawberries and osoberries are ripening. The latter taste like…hmm, bitter lettuce? Something vaguely familiar, but something we don’t commonly taste. Kind of horrid and kind of tantalizing.

They look just like perfect miniature plums, don’t they? I adore them.

My neighbor gave me a ton of plants today, so I got to putter in the yard for a few hours. I love sedges and grasses and I don’t love lawn grass, so that worked out well. We ripped out a few square feet of lawn and extended the planting area.

Fiddleheads and blossoms

Same ferns, fading light.

I took a little walk into our woods and saw this blossom suspended by a spider’s silk:

Here’s my pretty 4-inch posy: pacific madrone bark and cherry blossoms.

miniscules

I have a natural affinity for small things. I know this can tend toward the schlocky and cloying and cutsie, but I really can’t help myself. (And it may be balanced by my love of huge art installations.) I’ve been going through my 2008 photos, making an iphoto album for last year, and here are some images that still delight me:

These are sea shells I collected on the shore of the Red Sea in Egypt in 1996.

Fun-size cones. Perfect amount.

A. loves these tiny pine cones. So do I.