Tarte amandine aux poires

I've made this recipe many times and have probably even blogged about it before. Well, here we go again! I made this one on Monday as Ken's birthday dessert. He loves almond and pears and this tarte is one of his favorites.

Doesn't that look tasty?

It was also unique in that I used the pears from our own tree. Last fall, when the pears were getting ready, Ken read that they should be picked from the tree while they're still hard, then ripened in a cool, dry place. So he gave it a try. The pears were perfect and, while we ate some then, we had enough to put up in jars with syrup. I used one of those jars for this pie. Here's the recipe:

• 1 pie crust (I use my standard pâte brisée recipe)
• 1 or 2 cans of pears in syrup (you can also use fresh pears)
• 100 g butter
• 100 g granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 100 g almond powder (finely ground almonds)
• 25 g all-purpose flour
• 10 cl pear liqueur (or other fruit liqueur)

Cream the softened butter and the sugar together. Add the eggs (beaten), then the almond powder and the flour and beat until well mixed. Add in the liqueur.

Blind bake the crust then, when cool, pour in the batter mixture. It will be thick, so spread it out to fill the crust. Press the drained pear pieces into the batter as far as you can without breaking them.

Bake in a moderate oven (180ºC or 350ºF) for about 30 minutes.

Tree trunks in the woods

I really have to get out with the camera again soon. The last two times I was out with Callie it was either raining or cold and windy and I didn't feel like taking the camera. Until I do, you are stuck with pictures of trees in the woods.

Moss covers the bases of these tree trunks, and yes, it's on the north side.

Ken's birthday dinner was good, if not a little scary. We planned to have a fondue bourguignonne, which is cubes of tender beef cooked in hot oil at the table. We had run out of sterno, the heating fuel, the last time we made a fondue. No problem, I thought, I'll just get some of the French kind that I see in the supermarket.

It burned very well. Too well. The flames were reaching up around the sides of the pot and the oil was bubbling and boiling and we were afraid for our lives at one point. Then I couldn't get the flame to go out so I blew on it and, while the flame did go out, I blew the fuel all over the table. What a mess! Still, the beef was delicious.

We ate it with sauces: a blue-cheese cream dressing, a horseradish cream dressing, worcestershire sauce, ketchup, and smoky chipotle tabasco. We also had a macaroni salad and broccoli along side.

For dessert, I made an amandine tarte with pears from our tree that Ken had put up last fall. All in all a good day. We managed not to burn the house down.

Happy Birthday to Ken

It's not a "milestone" birthday. But pretty much every birthday is a milestone after a certain age, isn't it? I'm not saying what that age might be. This year marks the thirty-first time we've celebrated his birthday together.

The birthday boy on the left, me on the right.

Here we are twenty-six years ago, right after we moved to San Francisco from Washington, DC. He hasn't changed a bit.

Frozen ruts and market day

These tire tracks, made in the mud after our big snow and subsequent thaw, got re-frozen shortly afterward when the overnight temperatures started going down below zero again. It hasn't frozen again for over a week, so the tracks are getting smoothed out again.

Frozen puddles and tire tracks in the vineyard road.

We had a good market day yesterday and, except for not finding snails, we got a few sausages (spicy lamb merguez and pork Toulouses) and a good cut of beef for making a fondue bourguignonne on Monday. That will be for Ken's birthday dinner.

We also stopped at a garden center from some soil. I will be starting lettuce seeds inside today so that we can put them out in the garden in a few weeks, either under a cold frame or some other protective contraption in case it freezes again. I'll also plant some radishes at that point.

Finally, we stopped at a hardware store to check out sharpening machines. I have several blades that need sharpening and paying someone to do them every year can really add up. I checked out tourets à meuler (power sharpening wheels) on the internet and saw some interesting deals. Our local hardware store just happened to have one on sale (almost half price) and we couldn't resist.

Now I'm going to have to install it in the garage and try my hand at sharpening my own blades. First up is the axe (for splitting logs), then the chipper blade followed by the lawnmower blade. We also have a few old knives and a Chinese meat cleaver that we might try to sharpen up. If I can manage it with good results, the machine will pay for itself in two or three seasons. I'll probably put up a picture once I get it out of the box.

More frosty fotos

We're not having any morning frost right now, but I've still got some frosty photos from a couple of weeks ago to share. Here's one of the vineyard stakes, pulled up and discarded on the ground, frosted over.

These old vineyard stakes will likely be collected and used as firewood.

You can see the ice crystals on the log; they look like little white hairs. Most amazing. Thankfully, it's warmer than this right now. We've got mostly fog and drizzle. But one of these days the sun will come back out and warm us up even more.

French food standards

French food, at its base, is very simple. Good ingredients, simply prepared. Fancy stuff abounds, as in any culture and any cuisine, but the basics, the standards, are the foundations upon which haute cuisine is built. The French use a phrase all the time, la cuisine de grand-mère (grandma's cookin'), that encompasses most of the standard home recipes and techniques of French food. And since that is the kind of food that Ken and I prepare and eat most often, I thought I'd start a little series to showcase it.

The first thing you need to make carottes rapées is a good bunch of carrots.

The first time I came to France (1981) I was, as many people are, amazed by the food I saw in the windows of Parisian bakeries, delis, butcher shops, and at street markets. Everything looked so appetizing and delicious, whatever it was. It wasn't long (even on my meager student budget) before I was a regular consumer of prepared salads from the charcuterie.

Peel the carrots, trim off the ends, and cut into lengths that will fit your food processor.

Among my favorite salads is carottes rapées, made from grated carrots and dressed with a simple vinaigrette dressing. It took me a few years to try making it on my own. Grating carrots on a box grater took a little time, and I'm sure I lost a little skin in the process, so I didn't make the salad often.

Process the carrots using the fine (small holes) grating blade on your processor.

Then, in 1988, we bought our first food processor that came with grating blades. Grating carrots became quick and easy, and this salad has been a staple in our house ever since. It's great as a starter course, served on a bed of lettuce. The carrots can also be served with a combination of other raw vegetable salads (dressed beets, celery root, cucumbers, or corn) in what's called une assiette de crudités (a plate of raw vegetables). If we're having cheese at the end of the meal, we sometimes eat the salad as a refresher after the main dish, just before the cheese.

All done and ready for the dressing! Can anything be more simple?

One tip: I process the carrots on their sides rather than from the ends (see the photo of the carrots lying sideways in the food processor tube). That way I get longer strands of carrot. I think the salad looks nicer that way.

So there you have it. My first French Food Standard. Next time (I'm not sure when yet) I'll talk about the standard French dressing: vinaigrette.

Working in the garden

I've actually begun the cleanup process in the yard. Yesterday I was out in the sun raking up some leaves that accumulated against the house under the deck in front. I also trimmed back the hydrangea and some old sage plants. I burned a pile of yard waste that we had under a tarp since last fall.

The primroses are beginning to bloom.

There is still much to do, and I get a little overwhelmed when I go out and look. But it's only March first, and there will be time to do a little each day. Eventually we'll get it all cleaned up and back under control.

By the way, I've changed the commenting format (it's an option that blogger offers). Now you can reply to individual comments by hitting the "reply" button below each comment. Let me know what you think, and if it works or doesn't work for you. As for word verification, I've left it on for the time being. Blogger made it a little easier to read the words.

Note: I've already tried my first round of "replying" to comments. I'm not sure I like it for my own replies, since I try to reply to each comment. I'll leave this up for now and wait to see what the regular commenters have to say.