the month of the scone
UM looks slightly different from the environs of the University of Virginia, especially at this time of year, and I found myself thinking how nice it must be to hold classes outside under trees and surrounded by flowers hidden under archways.
That night, my fabulous friend Jenne and I were ushered into Tap Tap in South Beach by a nice man in a grey hat, who turns out to be the owner of this vivacious Haitian restaurant (that’s 2/2 weekends meeting the restaurant owner if you’re keeping count) with bright paint on the walls, the tables, and the food.
We’ll return with Jess (she was dancing at talented local musician Rachel Goodrich‘s concert and then a performance that involved glow sticks) to explore the menu further; this time we liked the fried malanka, pork chunks, and their famous mojitos.
The next morning, I found a yellow canistel in the CSA farm box; the fruit splits when ripe and has the texture of a boiled egg yolk (it’s also called eggfruit)—and was hidden beneath lettuces, tomatoes, and zucchini. How strange and wonderful to open the box each week and find a fruit I’ve never heard of.
This morning, Jenne, Jess, and I explored the Pinecrest market that has just opened for the season; Redland Organics (they are part of the farm collective that make up the CSA farm boxes) displayed more canistel along with black sapote and starfruit.
And one of the enthused crowd from Redland explained how to use black sapote (making “chocolate pudding”) as I panned the small, but important farmers’ market:
Heirloom beans like these ‘rattlesnake pole’ beans are in season,
along with watermelon radishes,
and I want to scribe the cycles of the Miami market season with a pen whittled from a garlic chive—
Knobby carrots were shockingly orange,
fresh epazote (the herb that gives Mexican cuisine its distinctive flavor—there’s really no substitute) disappeared quickly,
and local plants glowed in the sun.
Spices and tea spread across nearby tables and drew shoppers toward one bowl, then another;
all the while, dozens of avocados were being mashed into guacamole.
From the market, Jess led the way to the Muffin Tin, where we started with toasted corn muffins and proceeded to make our way through half of today’s specials:
Then we walked under those new flowers around the magic cottage,
and we settled into making our baking pick for January: the scone. Jess explains:
After she brushed the cherry scone batter with an egg wash, we let the large scones brown in the oven,
to emerge moist and shiny, an excellent first attempt—and notes were taken while we analyzed the crumb, the crust, and the concept.
In between taste tests, we sampled local strawberries that need no alteration,
and as these two friends went off into their days, Jess called to say there was a spider web out in front of the cottage, waiting for me.
So many things ahead for all of us in 2009…here’s to your week—
Related posts:
- the salad you have been waiting for
- first Miami food exploration of the new year
- I recognize that smile
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Posted by Kristen Taylor on Sunday, January 11th, 2009, 10:02 pm * Filed in Entertaining, Food, Market, Webs. * Tags: baking, csa, farm, farmers, Food, jenne, jess, kristen, kthread, local, Market, pinecrest, scone, taylor. Follow responses through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
January 15th, 2009 at 5:09 am
What beautiful, appetizing photos! Really lovely.
January 15th, 2009 at 7:49 am
Andrea, thanks, so glad your found your way here (and I’m with you on Liz Taylor eyebrow envy, btw)—we’ll be up to more cooking this weekend, my friend Jessica is an amazing baker :)
January 26th, 2009 at 7:59 am
Found you via a search for “muffins” and WOW am I glad I came across you blog. Those pictures are absolutely gorgeous, and I find myself so jealous of all those beautiful colors. You give everything such an appetizing glow.
January 26th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Andrea, thank you, it’s really all about the colors :) Will you tell us where your store will be so we can plan a visit when it’s open—and good luck as you continue that adventure—
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