The apples are local, from BC Tree Fruits, a farmer’s cooperative and my eggs are from neighbour Lucy’s happy chickens
This cake is on wheels for four reasons:
It’s the creation of Klemens Koester of Bread on Wheels in Kelowna
It’s so straightforward to make that you can invite your friends over for coffee and have it coming out of the oven in about an hour…so fast — like a cake on wheels.
The apple slice decorations make the cake resemble a wheel.
3 apples, peeled, cored and sliced into 1/8-inch (3-mm) wedges
apricot jam, for glazing
icing sugar, for dusting
Cool completely after baking before sifting on the icing sugar and brushing with the hot apricot jam or the sugar will disappear into the cake.
Preheat oven to 375F (190C). Grease and flour two 10-inch (25-cm) baking pans. In a mixer bowl, whisk room-temperature butter and sugar together until nice and fluffy, then add eggs slowly and mix well. Add flour, baking powder, vanilla and lemon zest. Mix until batter is even.
Spoon batter into cake pans evenly. Spread out until top is nice and smooth. Lay apple slices gently onto batter. Do not push into the batter.
Bake in the middle of the oven until golden brown, for about 30-40 minutes. Test for doneness with a toothpick which should come out without crumbs. Remove from oven and cool in the pan on a rack.
Try substituting other fruits for the apples. My apricots are just about ready so I’m going to try those next.
The nicest way to finish up: Dust icing sugar over cake and glaze apples with hot apricot jam or jelly.
The new amazing recipe book’s Bean Scene’s best-ever ginger cookie recipe is equally on wheels and will be my new go-to Christmas cookie. The spice mix is spot on.
Award-winning cookbook author Jennifer Schell at the launch of her new book, The Butcher, the Baker, the Wine & Cheese Maker in the Okanagan, at Bench 1775 Winery on the Naramata Bench overlooking Okanagan Lake. Photo: David McIlvride, Spatula Media
Within five minutes of dipping into Jennifer Schell’s new collection of recipes, the stories of the chefs who crafted them and the artisans who provided the amazing local ingredients and the libations to accompany them, I knew she was preaching to the choir. And I say hallelujah. To anyone who delves into this beautifully written and designed cookbook who isn’t yet in the I-love-the-Okanagan-choir, your robes await.
Jennifer has the enviable good fortune of being raised on an orchard in Kelowna and has marinated herself in the area’s rich and growing artisanal food culture. She describes the book perfectly as, “A love letter to the Okanagan and to all those who have created, grown, and nurtured our special valley on this earth. They are a delightful confluence of old and new world, blending their international influence and flavours with our local bounty, establishing a cuisine that is distinctly Okanagan. Through their recipes and stories, I am pleased to introduce you to these gifted people who bring this local food to your table every day.” I love her love letter. Here’s why…
I whipped up a batch of Bean Scene’s best-ever ginger cookies from the Brunchie Lunchie section to fuel a cover-to-cover read. They were the best-ever.
During my first flip through The Butcher, the Baker, the Wine & Cheese Maker in the Okanagan, I was captivated by the photos, most taken by Jennifer herself. The photos are professional in quality but somehow capture the warmth of her subjects and the beauty of the dishes without that slick over-styled look so common in magazines and cookbooks today. I’m not sure what secret sauce went into the picture-taking, editing, lay-out process in this TouchWood Editions book but it worked.
On a second pass through I began virtually cooking and baking, selecting recipes that caught my eye and looked easy or doable and even ones that I could see taking on as a challenge like Chef Bernard’s “twisted” carrot cake and Cheffrey’s wild boar ragu. How cool would it be to serve up Wild Moon Organics Berkshire pork meatballs in tomato sauce or, cedar-roasted chicken with spruce and sumac or, pan-roasted arctic char with braised beluga lentils and smoked heirloom tomato-peach gastrique and blow the socks off my guests on our deck?
Summer dining Okanagan style at my nieces’ wedding at Gods Mountain catered by one of the chef’s featured in the cookbook, Dana Ewart of Joy Road Catering, Penticton. Photo: Jarusha Brown
I then began spotting familiar faces of many chefs, farmers and others from my Naramata hood, the Penticton Farmer’s Market or restaurants we frequent and I had to check out their recipes and stories…Chefs like Dana Ewart, one half of the Joy Road Catering team (Cameron Smith is the other half). We look forward to her cinnamon buns every Saturday at the farmer’s market and have been guests at the best wedding feast I’ve ever attended that they catered. This is a bit of a digression…but here are a few photos of that wedding banquet all taken by Jarusha Brown and catered by Joy Road…
On my list of for-sure-recipes to make very soon with the first of our Carpe Diem raspberry crop is The Bench raspberry almond tarts. I plan on taking my cookbook over when we stop for lunch at The Bench and go over the recipe with Chef Stewart Glynes. He has been my go-to guy for pastry and baking questions for sometime now. To say we are Bench regulars is a bit of an understatement…The Handyman has a custom sandwich called The Fussy Chicken there. It was fun to see Stewart sourcing his berries from my neighbour James Young who has crammed acres of production into his 0.39-acre property. James was a great help when I first got my greenhouse. I’m hoping Stewart will be a key customer for our raspberries.
I was also delighted to see my pal Karolina Born-Tschümperlin of Forest Green Man Lavender Farm(previous blog post) in a magical pairing with Legend Distilling, just a stumble from my house (previous blog post), to create the Legendary Green Man Lavender Martini recipe. Yes please.
No self-respecting cookbook reviewer can do a proper job without actually getting some flour on that book and cracking the spine a bit. (Although I must say that I would buy this book even if I didn’t intend to bake or cook a single thing from it. The photos and the stories of the valley artisans are fun just to browse through and I plan to leave a copy in my guest room.)
Jennifer has kindly agreed to let me share a few recipes I’ve made in upcoming blog posts. The instructions were clear, the recipes produced delicious results and I’m in the enviable place to source the actual ingredients used. I’m sure you can seek out the artisans in your hood to provide you with top-quality, lovingly produced, sustainable ingredients that will at least come close.
The view from Bench 1775 Winery, labelled The Best Patio in the Word, the venue for the book launch. Its winemaker Val Tait is featured in the cookbook with a Bench 1775 Blissful Mojito recipe.
Here is a brief Q & A session with Jennifer:
How long does it take to put together a book like this, what were the biggest challenges and the most enjoyable part of the project for you?
I set a rather ambitious schedule for myself. The current cookbook took five months. The biggest challenge is the cookbook creation process, but also the most enjoyable part for me, is the photography. There is a lot of scheduling and driving around, but I truly love visiting with the people, old friends and new, and being able to visit their farms or restaurants, see what they are working on and catch up with their news. These people never fail to inspire me. Each has such passion for their craft and community, and after each and every meeting, I am super charged and can’t wait to share their faces and their stories with my readers.
What recipe should I make first and why?
It is hard for me to pick a favourite recipe so maybe if we go with what is in season. If there is still rhubarb out there (yup…some left in my garden), I would suggest my mom’s rhubarb pie. I also love the simplicity of the Apple Cake on Wheels and local apples are always available in the cold storage of BC Tree Fruits. Potatoes should be ready soon and the Sunshine Farm Heritage Potato Flan is a winner. OK, that was three instead of one. Sorry, every recipe is wonderful!
(Throw down accepted…I’ve already made the Apple Cake on Wheels…excellent…)
What’s next in the works for you?
I swore I would take a break after this last book — but, I can’t stop now! Too many stories to share and new farmers and drink makers and butchers and bakers to meet! I am working on the outline of the next book now.
It’s strawberry time in the Valley and this cake is a celebration of just-picked, ripe, red berries smothered in a basil-infused whipped cream slathered between the lightest, fluffiest chiffon sponge cake you will ever baked. I don’t even feel like I’ve oversold it.
I’ve never used grapeseed oil in a cake before and was skeptical. Colour me wrong. I knew as soon as the batter started to come together that it would be super light and produce a wonderful sponge and it’s wine country here. What a perfect use for a by-product…
Chiffon cake ingredients
2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup grapeseed oil
1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
6 large egg yolks
1/2 cup whole milk
8 large egg whites (from my neighbour Lucy’s chickens)
3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Preheat the oven to 350F and grease and line the bottoms of two 8-inch cake pans with parchment paper.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the oil and 1 1/4 cups of the sugar on medium speed for one minute. Add the vanilla and egg yolks, one at a time and mix for about three minutes. The mixture will increase in volume (I told you) and be pale in colour. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl.
Turn the mixer to low and add the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk. Mix on medium for no more than 30 seconds after the last streaks of dry ingredients are combined. Pour the batter into a large bowl and set aside.
Clean the mixer bowl and paddle and dry well. In the clean bowl of the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites on medium-low speed until foamy. Add the remaining two tablespoons of sugar and the cream of tartar and whisk on high until stiff peaks form.
Stop the mixer and fold the egg whites into the cake better. Evenly divide the batter between the prepared pans and bake for 25 to 28 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cakes comes out clean. Let them rest on a wire rack until cool before running a paring knife around the edges of the cakes and removing them from their pans.
The basil-infused whipping cream gives the cake an extra something. The basil flavour pairs beautifully with strawberries. The Handyman, whose heart is only really moved by chocolate, says he would have skipped this whole basil step but my other food critics disagreed. I feel Gwen Stefani would be cool with it too.
Basil-infused whipped cream ingredients
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 to 1 1/2 cups lightly packed fresh basil leaves
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Slowly heat 2 cups of the cream in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat until it begins to simmer. Meanwhile, gently muddle the basil leaves with mortar and pestle (or crush them up a bit with your hands if you are short of kitchen equipment.)
Once the cream begins to steam and simmer, remove the pan from the heat and add the basil leaves, cover and let them steep for 30 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a container and refrigerate until cold.
Strain out the basil leaves, re-measure the cream and top it off with more cream if necessary so you have a total of 2 cups. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk, whisk the cream on medium speed until it begins to thicken. Add the sugar and vanilla and whisk on high until it forms medium peaks. For best results, store the whipped cream in the fridge and assemble the cake just before serving.
Some assembly required
Four cups fresh strawberries
With the assistance of my son’s lovely fiancé, the cake was easy to assemble. Hull and slice the fresh strawberries 1/4 inch thick until you have about four cups of sliced berries. Reserve a few whole berries with their tops on for decoration.
Once the cakes have cooled completely, carefully halve them horizontally to create four even layers. Level the cakes and choose which layer will be the bottom. Place it on a cake plate and spread on one-quarter of the basil-infused whipped cream and one cup of the berries.
Top with the next layer of cake and repeat. Place the reserved strawberries on top of the last layer to decorate.
Eat your Gwen Chiffani immediately or keep refrigerated for up to two days.
This recipe, with some re-branding, came from Layered by Tessa Huff, a fellow British Columbian. My new mission in life is to make every single cake in this amazing cook book.
This trio of 10 to 12-week-old great horned owls will be released in July
Days like this are why I blog. Days like this are why I started my career as a newspaper reporter. To have the extraordinary opportunity to spend a day behind-the-scenes with dedicated and passionate people, to capture and share the experience with my skills and every once in awhile to help is the ultimate reward.
SORCO Raptor Rehab Centre, near Oliver, British Columbia cares for injured and orphaned raptors including: eagles, hawks, ospreys, vultures, falcons and owls until they are ready to be released back into the wild. Like all not-for-profits helping our wildlife, SORCO walks the funding tightrope with ever-growing numbers in need of help.
SORCO (South Okanagan Rehabilitation Centre for Owls) is caring for a whopping 11 great horned owl chicks
“We have a houseful right now,” says SORCO Manager Dale Belvedere. “Because of our mild winter the great horned owls had two different matings, one at the beginning of February and another in mid-March.” Dale adds that eight of their current batch of chicks were unnecessary rescues by the well-meaning public worried about chicks on the ground.
Chicks often spend a few days out of the nest with the parents keeping a close watch and “rescuing” them often means the parents won’t take them back leaving them to spend time at the rehab centre until they are old enough to fend for themselves.
“We ask people to call us first or talk to a conservation officer before assuming the bird needs rescuing,” says Dale. The centre’s higher-than-average numbers at the moment have lead to a temporary shortage in the rats they are fed and an emergency call to the coast to resupply until the centres’ own rat breeding program can catch up. “It’s a bit of a touchy situation but we will deal with it.”
SORCO Manager Dale Belevedere with a tiny saw-whet owl named Little Hooty by its rescuer
The temporary rat shortage is nothing compared to the bizarre and disturbing vandalism the centre coped with last June. Someone broke onto SORCO’s property by forcing open the front gate, got into the food centre where the rats are raised to feed the raptors and poisoned their food. All the rats were found dead two days after the break-in and pathology tests confirmed that the rats died from a poisonous substance.
“SORCO uses a variety of foods depending on the particular needs of the recovering bird. However, rats are the primary food source. Before a raptor can be released back into the wild, they need to demonstrate their ability to hunt for live prey.”
Even more devastating, the centre’s mascot and education bird, Houdini had eaten some of the poisoned rats during the two-day period between the poisoning and the rat deaths. The rescue owl had a long six-month recovery from the poisoning.
Houdini is back to his duties helping to spread the word on what we can all do to help protect raptors in the Okanagan Valley
As a result of the unsolved incident, SORCO has had to spend precious resources to add security systems to all its facilities.
A great counterpoint to this dark day in the centre’s history is the building of the new treatment clinic in 2014 by the students of Okanagan College Penticton’s Residential Constructionprogram. The new 1,500-square-foot structure provides room to care for the raptors when they first come to the rehab centre and replaced a cramped and noisy 250-square-foot room that was completely inadequate.
The great horned owl chicks were eminently photogenic
The centre is on track for a record year of “patients” which is not good news for our wild bird populations. Dale says they are under threat by the removal of trees for development, the addition of more and more glass windows and topless glass patio railings and increased car traffic. So far they have had 20 more predators in the centre compared to the same time last year. In 2012, SORCO cared for and released 60 raptors and more than doubled just three years later with a total of 150 in 2015.
One of their more serious cases was brought in in January with injuries from being hit by a car. Named Archimedes by its rescuer, the great horned owl was hit by a car near Rock Creek and treated by the vets at the Penticton Veterinary Hospital before being brought to SORCO. The owl was found standing on the road with a serious head injury, the yellow of both her eyes was bright red with blood and her mouth and beak were full of blood. She has made a good recovery although she has a partial separation of the left retina and will have limited sight in that eye. She won’t be released until she learns to hunt with the changes to her vision.
Archimedes was badly injured by a car and has made a remarkable recovery
One of the centre’s newest arrivals is pretty special. This small streaked Western Screech-owl is endangered with only about 50 to 200 individuals left in the Okanagan Valley which is its only home in British Columbia. This little guy, found in a Kelowna parking lot, prefers the bottomlands which is habitat more likely to be developed. Timber harvesting and the removal of dead trees that serve as potential nest-cavity sites had lead to the decline in Western Screech-owl numbers.
This Western Screech-owl’s rehab will be carefully followed due to its endangered status. It made the coolest noises.
Of all the birds at the Raptor Centre, the great horned owl chicks stole my heart. Here are some of the many, many photos I took of Peanut, Popcorn, Pinto and the rest of the gang.
Peanut is the baby of the parliament and is working on flight skillsDale says she thinks they look like little astronauts… I see what she means. Peanut is taking in some raysI like this quote from Munia Khan, “Soft feathers cannot make a cruel bird kind.”… But they sure make them look cute and they aren’t cruel either…just have mad hunting skills
Cool shot showing an owl’s nictitating membrane. They close this special see-through membrane to protect their eyes just before impact when they are catching their prey.Flight trainingOur fascination with owls comes from our awe mixed in with a bit of fear at their night-time silent hunting prowess.
Here is how we can help SORCO Raptor Rehab Centre. Go online and donate or offer to volunteer. Plan a visit to the centre at its open house in May, which is its biggest fund-raising event. This year’s event was a few weeks ago and hosted more than 1,500 people. The centre is not open to the public but occasionally its possible to watch a raptor release and many educational programs are offered throughout the year where Houdini often makes an appearance. Take some time to review the “Found a Raptor” link on their site so you are armed with accurate information.
Thanks Dale for an amazing day with these invaluable birds. Without birds of prey our Valley would be overrun with rodents. The magical sightings and sounds of owls and other birds of prey in the wild is priceless. Thanks too to the dedicated SORCO volunteers, board members and all who have donated to the centre.
Blueberry tart wouldn’t be possible without good bird netting.
The birds know a good thing when they see it. The very minute blueberries are ripe and ready to eat they are on it. If you want to find your thrill on blueberry hill you need some pre-planning. Our berries in our first producing patch are just blueing up nicely so it’s time for The Handyman to work his magic.
The Handyman used 3/4″ PVC with some t-joints and PVC glue to make the structure, spending about $50 on materials. He measured the width of the blueberry bed and the height. Our box was 8 feet wide and he used two 10-foot sections of PVC to give us a 7-foot clearance at the apex of the hoop. He says you could also add some rebar inside the PVC to make the structure sturdier which he plans to do in the future when we enclose the much larger commercial patch for the berry farm. If you need to make the structure more freestanding, ie. you don’t have a wooden box as your bed to staple the PVC too, you will need to insert a section of rebar into the ends of the PVC to allow you to dig the PVC into the ground. The bird netting was a lucky drive-by find found at the side of the road with a “free” sign on it. Of course, you can purchase netting…
We heaped lovely soil with lots of peat moss into this raised box and I top with a mulch of pine needles to keep these acid-loving berries happy.Here is a side view…we have left one end up so the bees can finish up their last bit of pollination for us. We will secure this opening when the berries are ripe and weigh down the bottom with a few rocks we can remove to lift the flap when harvesting.Here is a look at the roof structure. The nets are secured with zip ties.Blueberries are safe as houses from the birds but easily accessible for picking.Jacquy Pfieiffer’s blueberry tart is a pretty good pay-back for The Handyman’s work.
Blueberry Tart
Day one:
Sweet Dough (makes enough for two 9-inch crusts)
168 grams or 6 ounces of unsalted butter
1.4 grams or 1/4 teaspoon of salt
112 grams or 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
39 grams or 1/3 cup of almond flour
7 grams or 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 extra large egg plus 1 to 2 teaspoons
315 grams or 2 7/8 cup sifted cake flour
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream the butter and sea salt on medium speed for about 1 minute. Scrape down the bowl and add the confectioners’ sugar and combine with the butter at low speed. Scrape down the bowl and then add almond flour and vanilla and combine at low speed. Add the eggs, one at a time and about a quarter of the cake flour and beat on low until just incorporated. Stop the machine and scrape down the bowl. Gradually add the remaining flour and mix just until the dough comes together. Don’t over mix. Press the dough into a 1/2″ thick rectangle block, wrap in plastic and refrigerate overnight or for at least two to three hours.
You could also make the streusel (see below) on day one and or the blueberry filling and refrigerate until ready to assemble and bake.
Day two:
After it has chilled, remove the dough from the refrigerator, cut it into two equal portions and roll one out in a 1/4 ” thick circle and line a 9-inch tart pan, ring, or heart.
Using a fork, perforate the bottom of the shell making rows of little holes. Place in the refrigerator uncovered for at least an hour. (Freeze the second portion of dough for a future use). Pre-bake the shell in a 325F oven. To do this, line the shell with parchment and add rice, dried beans or pie weights. Bake with this “faux” filling for 15 minutes and then remove the parchment and rice, beans or weights and return the tart shell to the oven for another 5 to 15 minutes until it is golden brown and evenly coloured. Brush with an egg wash (1 beaten egg with 1 tablespoon of water) and return to the oven for five more minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before filling.
Blueberry filling
280 grams or 2 1/4 cups blueberries. If using frozen, choose wild blueberries
51.5 grams or 1/4 cup granulated sugar
6 grams or 1 1/4 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
6 grams or 1 1/4 teaspoons water
2.5 grams or 1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 a vanilla bean
36 grams or 2 yolks plus 1 teaspoon egg yolks
56 grams or 1/4 cup whole milk
56 grams or 1/4 cup heavy cream
In a medium saucepan, combine the blueberries and 1 teaspoon of the sugar and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low and boil for 2 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk together the lemon juice, water and cornstarch in a medium bowl. Gradually stir the mixture into the berries and simmer 1 minute until thickened. If the mixture is too watery, dissolve another 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch into a tablespoon of juice and stir in. Simmer until thickened and then remove from heat.
Using a knife, split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape the seeds into a medium bowl. Add the egg yolk and remaining sugar and beat together with a whisk. Add the milk and cream and beat together until the sugar has dissolved. Stir in the blueberries.
Streusel
60 grams or 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
88 grams or 1/3 cup turbinado sugar
70 grams or 1/2 cup of cake flour
70 grams or 3/4 cup almond flour
1 gram or 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
13 grams or 1 tablespoon Kirschwasser
(This will make more than you need. You can freeze the leftovers and use to make fruit crumbles or top muffins.)
Preheat oven to 325 F and line a baking sheet with parchment. Cut the butter into cubes and place all of the ingredients in the bowl of a mixer and mix on medium for about 2 minutes until crumbly.
Spread on the parchment-lined baking sheet and bake 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally until golden brown and crisp. Allow to cool.
Assembly
Sprinkle 17 grams or 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon of the streusel in an even layer on the bottom of the pre-baked tart shell. Spread the blueberries on top. Place on a sheet pan and bake 30 to 40 minutes until just set. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar before serving.
Each raspberry “flower” has many stamens and styles, each attached to a carpel with two ovules. Because the small individual flowers on each receptacle open over an extended period, bees must visit each plant several times to ensure that enough individual flowers are pollinated to make enough fruit for us to sell.
We are relying on wild bees to do the work for us.The flowers are kind of pretty close-up
We are talking 100 to 125 pistils, per raspberry to which pollen must be transferred to create a mature seed and the tasty red druplet surrounding the seed. If each and every one of these druplets is not pollinated, the overall integrity of the fruit is compromised and the fruit will be misshapen and crumbly.
I feel like I should be bringing out pitchers of iced tea for them or offering them tiny, careful massages.
Some of the many variety of bees I spotted include honey, bumble, carpenter, cuckoo, digger, mason, yellow-faced and mining bees. I would just get them in focus and they would be off before I could capture their photo. These few photos in the post were among about 100 of blurred or vanished bees. They are busy right?
You can tell that this guy is a honey bee as you can see the pollen basket on its hind leg (white). The bee moistens the pollen with nectar and packs it in the pollen basket for transport.
During this time of the year it’s important not to water the raspberries too much as the nectar will drip off the immature berry and the pollinators won’t be attracted to them. Pesticides are a concern too but not for us and we don’t use them on our organic berries. Even it the pesticide is not toxic to bees, they often repel them.
Encore raspberries.We made mason bee houses at a recent Naramata Garden Club meeting. I plan on making more to give the little guys a reason to stick around and help us out.
There are so many recipes that use berries made possible by the work of all those bees. Here’s an easy one that looks and tastes great.
Easiest ever elegant dessert…part of the dessert table I made for my lovely niece Nicole’s wedding…
Chocolate berry shells
Buy pre-made chocolate shells
Daub a teaspoon or so of jam onto the shell and spread it around…it will act as “glue” for the berries
Decorate with a mix of blueberries, blackberries and raspberries
I took my camera out for “a few minutes” in the early morning today for a look-around the secret garden and an hour later had to be dragged away. Here’s a Cole’s Notes look at what held me captivate because sometimes, the biggest secrets you can only tell a stranger.
Unusual red clematis, Rebecca, launched at the Chelsea Flower show in England. It reads a bit pink in this photo with the sun shining through but is very, very red. The shot below better flaunts its redness.Just opening, Rebecca is the newest variety from Raymond Evison and is named after his eldest daughter. It can be grown in any location and holds it colour well in full sun. It can also be grown in a container.One more clematis…I’ve forgotten the variety of this purple gem.Mirror, mirror on the wall…
“The best secrets are the most twisted.” Sara Shepard.
My aquilegia are putting on one final show. It seems strange that two birds as different as the eagle (in Latin, aquila) and the dove (columbus) should both give their name to the same flower — aquilegia or columbine. It is an easy perennial to start from seed and all of mine came from seeds from England germinated in my greenhouse. I’m still collecting.I love the ruffles.Aquilegias love the dappled shade in the secret garden and are perfect in its cottage garden setting.The bees seem to like them too.
“Photography is all about secrets. The secrets we all have and will never tell.” Kim Edwards, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter.
The fine spray of The Handyman’s irrigation also makes it a lovely place to be in the mornings.Hard to believe this allium is part of the onion and garlic family.Quick digression to my potager, that I passed by on the way to the secret garden…These chives are related to the allium as well.…and look lovely in a salad.
“Sometimes since I’ve been in the garden I’ve looked up through the trees at the sky and I have had a strange feeling of being happy as if something was pushing and drawing in my chest and making me breathe fast.” Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden.
“But some secrets are too delicious not to share.” Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay.
Maybe flowers are overrated.She knows some secrets.Frogs have taken up residence.
“That, my dear, is what makes a character interesting, their secrets.” Kate Morton, The Forgotten Garden.
“Secrets are like plants. They can stay buried deep in the earth for a long time, but eventually they’ll send up shoots and give themselves away.” Judy Reene Singer, Still Life with Elephant.
“Here’s the basic difference between Morelli and me. My first thought was always of cake. His first thought was always of sex. Don’t get me wrong. I like sex…a lot. But it’s never going to replace cake.” Janet Evanovich, Eleven on Top.
Your mission Mr. Phelps:
Celebrate an adventurous (she has done Ultraman…twice) friend’s and English Channel swim team mate’s birthday by baking a worthy layer cake.
Try a bold challenge that requires piping.
Have an excuse to buy a cake turntable for decorating.
Have an excuse to buy yet another cookbook…Layered by fellow British Columbian Tessa Huff. (I came to order the book thanks to the blogosphere. Joy the Bakerrecommended Layered in her cookbook roundup. I’m a huge Joy fan.)
Find a recipe where you can drink wine while baking.
I accept the mission Mr. Phelps.
Mis en place for the cake portion of the recipe
Ingredients for the Reisling cake:
3 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup room temperature unsalted butter
2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
6 large egg whites (I buy mine from Lucy, a neighbour with happy free run chickens)
1 1/2 cup sweet Riesling plus 1 glassful for sipping while you bake
Preheat the oven to 350F and grease and flour three 8-inch cake pans.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside
In the bowl of a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth. Add the sugar and mix on medium-high until the butter is light and fluffily, 5 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl.
Turn the mixer to medium-low and gradually add the vanilla and egg whites until combined. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl.
Turn the mixer to low and add the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the Riesling, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix on medium for no more than 30 seconds after the last streaks of flour are combined.
Evenly divide the batter among the prepared pans. Bake for 23 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cakes comes out clean. Let them cool on wire rack for 10 to 15 minutes before removing the cakes from their pans.
The rhubarb is from my garden but the it’s too early for my strawberries so these are Californian.
While the cakes are baking, make the rhubarb strawberry compote.
1 3/4 cup fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered
1 cup fresh rhubarb cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Combine the strawberries, rhubarb, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan and cook over medium-high head, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until the juices start to bubble. Reduce the heat and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and let cool.
I had to make the cakes in two batches as I only have two 8-inch pans.
Make the oat crumble.
1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
1/4 almonds
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsalted room temperature butter
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
Preheat the oven to 375F and line a baking sheet with parchment.
Mix the oats, almonds, brown sugar, flour, butter, honey, cinnamon and salt with a wooden spoon and sprinkle over the lined baking sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, stirring halfway through. Let it cool and crumble the mixture into smaller pieces.
“A party without cake is just a meeting.” Julia Child. “With enough butter, anything is good.” Julia Child.
You will need to make two batches of this vanilla swiss meringue buttercream:
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons egg whites
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 cups unsalted butter (very important that it be at room temperature or it won’t combine properly) cubed
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Place the egg whites and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer. Whisk them together by hand to combine. Make a double boiler by filling a medium pot filled with water over medium-high heat. Place the mixer bowl on top of the pot. The bottom of the pot should not touch the water.
Whisk intermittently and heat the egg mixture to 160F (candy thermometer) or until it is hot to the touch. Carefully fit the mixer bowl onto the stand mixer and whip with the wire attachment on high speed for 8 to 10 minutes, until it holds medium-stiff peaks. The bowl should be back to room temperature at this point. Stop the mixer and swap out the whisk attachment for the paddle.
With the mixer on low, add the cubed butter, a few tablespoons at a time then the vanilla. Once incorporated, turn up the mixer speed to medium-high and beat until the buttercream is silky smooth, 3 to 5 minutes.
Making the rhubarb buttercream
Two more quick steps and you are ready to assemble the masterpiece.
Make the rhubarb buttercream by mixing two cups of the buttercream with 1/2 cup of the cooled rhubarb compote and mix on medium with the paddle attachment in a stand-mixer until combined. Remove from mixer and set aside in a bowl.
Add a few drops of pink gel food colouring to the remaining butter cream and mix until combined.
To assemble, level the cakes by removing any domes with a serrated knife run parallel to your work surface. Choose a sturdy layer for the bottom. Place it on a cake plate or board and spread 1 cup or half of the rhubarb buttercream with an offset spatula. Sprinkle with half of the oat crumble mixture. Top the next layer of the cake and repeat with the rhubarb buttercream and crumble. Finish with the final layer.
Frost the top and sides with the pink buttercream. Place in the refrigerator for 15 minutes and then add another layer of icing to the top of the cake and using a petal tip, fill a pastry bag with buttercream. Starting at the top of the cake, pipe rows of ruffle swags by keeping the narrow end of the petal tip facing upward.
I added some strawberries and pansies (remove the flowers before serving)This cake was in the adventurous cake section of Layered. Perfect my adventurous friend.Voila. Happy Birthday lovely Charlie. We celebrated with four members of our English Channel swim relay team. Carb loading. That water will be cold right?
“But how will I eat cake if my head is over there, and my hands are over here?” Marie Antoinette
When the sun shines on Vancouver there is no way to downplay the city’s natural beauty. No hard-bitten cynic hepped up about its high-cost of real estate can withstand the onslaught of the views of the north shore mountains, English Bay, a rain forest and the view of snow-capped Mount Baker in the sun. The cynics can go to town during a January rainy spell.
I love living in the country surrounded by nature where you can see the stars and the only ambient sounds are made by wildlife. However, a long weekend in a city packed with shopping, restaurants and entertainment is a needed adrenaline boost from time-to-time. Why not spend that long weekend in arguably the best city in the world which happens to be only a five-hour drive away?
Vancouver has great coffee and a great coffee scene. I’m in.
Our weekend centred around the West End where my daughter has recently moved from Calgary and where my brother, his wife and family live.
The West End is a champ. The neighbourhood has been named the best in the country in the annual Great Places in Canada contest. It’s known for its beaches, proximity to Stanley Park and a high-density, walkable lifestyle with treed promenades. Originally a forested wilderness, the area was purchased in 1862 by John Morton, Samuel Brighouse and William Hailstone, three men known as the Three Greenhorns because people thought they paid too much for the land. Last laugh is on them eh?
The hood became home to richest railroad families and a lot of nice architecture survives from that era including Roedde Housewhich is now a museum. The house is haunted by two daughters named Anna that met untimely deaths…one by eating poison berries and another killed by a patient while working as a nurse at St. Paul’s Hospital.
Roedde House where it is forbidden to say the name “Anna” out loud.
I made sure to photograph the gazebo to give The Handyman a new project.
Breakfast at the Greenhorn Espresso Cafeis the essence of the West End distilled in big, frothy cup. Named after the area’s original owners, it’s in a heritage home and offers a variety of cozy modern seating with views of the passing sidewalk scene. This hidden treasure is a two-minute walk from my daughter’s apartment and is already her new local.
My homemade granola was served with yogurt, vanilla spiced pear and seasonal fruit
After my post about Paris chocolate shops and bakeries, a trip to Ladurée’s first Canadian location was on the list.
Happily, the shop’s window resembles it’s Paris counterpart.
A modest selection of Citron, Caramel Fleur de Sel and Café macarons, at $3 each, were packaged beautifully in a keepsake box for us. The melt-in-your-mouth flavour explosions are actually made in Paris and flown to Vancouver.
It was a day made for window shopping and strolling. Spring rains and recent warm weather brought out every scented bloom in the West End.
My son’s fiancé Kate sports a living chapeau
Billed as the home of the bison burger, Timberhas been “givin’er since 2015” and it’s fun uber Canadian atmosphere had us at Deaner the taxidermy beaver that sits proudly in the window.
Deaner at TimberBison burger
When in Rome, or Canada as the case may be, it’s best to order the house specialty which most of our party did. In a very ungourmet way, I went comfort food with mac and cheese with house-made sriracha ketchup with smoked pork crackling served by a plaid-shirted waiter. It blew my socks off. I’m going back.
By happenstance, we ended up chef Chris Whittaker’s adjacent restaurant, Forage, for dinner.
The farm-to-table restaurant has a clean, modern look. We chose to sit outside at a relaxed picnic table set-up and were encouraged to order a variety of menu items to try and share, tapas-style. If you go, there is one must-order. Chef Whittaker’s seafood chowder, chicharron, quails egg is the bomb and its a double winner of the Chowder Chowdown at the Vancouver Aquarium. Because the chowder won, it’s “secret” recipe has been published although it looks like it would be tricky to make at home.
Forage’s award-winning seafood chowder was indescribably deliciousConifer gnocchi in brown butter
Chef Whittaker is a bee-keeper at home and works with small lot farmers taking his role seriously as promoting the sustainability of our food system. All well and good but we would go back because everything tasted so good, the atmosphere was the right mix of casual and the staff fun and welcoming.
Although it looks like we ate our way through our West End weekend, we had a mission. We were carbo loading for our Sunday race. A great representation of the family ran either the marathon, half-marathon or 8 km BMO Vancouver Marathon. We joined about 16,500 in the race’s 45th edition and burned off a few of those calories.
On my list of for-sure-recipes to make very soon with the first of our Carpe Diem raspberry crop is 
Top with the next layer of cake and repeat. Place the reserved strawberries on top of the last layer to decorate.
“Secrets are like plants. They can stay buried deep in the earth for a long time, but eventually they’ll send up shoots and give themselves away.” Judy Reene Singer, Still Life with Elephant.
Combine the strawberries, rhubarb, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan and cook over medium-high head, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until the juices start to bubble. Reduce the heat and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and let cool.
To assemble, level the cakes by removing any domes with a serrated knife run parallel to your work surface. Choose a sturdy layer for the bottom. Place it on a cake plate or board and spread 1 cup or half of the rhubarb buttercream with an offset spatula. Sprinkle with half of the oat crumble mixture. Top the next layer of the cake and repeat with the rhubarb buttercream and crumble. Finish with the final layer.
I love living in the country surrounded by nature where you can see the stars and the only ambient sounds are made by wildlife. However, a long weekend in a city packed with shopping, restaurants and entertainment is a needed adrenaline boost from time-to-time. Why not spend that long weekend in arguably the best city in the world which happens to be only a five-hour drive away?
naramata-blend 