Springtime in Shenandoah

It's my favorite time of year...high seventies, sunny, low humidity. Waterfall in White Oak CanyonThe best time of year to go hiking! My brother and I went to Shenandoah National Park to climb White Oak Canyon to Cedar Run, my favorite hike in the park. It's a fairly steep climb during which you pass a series of waterfalls. The hike is always beautiful, but we have gotten so much rain lately that it was even more beautiful than usual. The waterfalls were Picking strawberrieshuge! I remembered my camera and I would include pictures, but I left the battery in the charger dutifully preparing for the hike.

Besides the scenery and the joy of being outside, another perk of hiking is being able to eat anything calorie free. Today we had my favorite hiking sandwich...caramelized onion, cheddar, and black bean wraps. They are delicious and high in protein. On the way home we went strawberry picking and I made another seasonal favorite, strawberry-rhubarb preserve.

Update: The pictures I took on my iphone actually came out.  amazing!!!!

Kitchen Therapy

I find cooking very relaxing.  I love to come home, listen to NPR, and prepare dinner.  I honestly believe that there are few better stress reliefs than making dough (except maybe a glass of wine).  You can punch, pull, twist, and tweak; the rougher the better!

Curried Crab LinguiniI am making homemade pasta tonight. I have leftover crab which I will incorporate into the sauce.  It's damp and dreary here so I think I'm going to make a more comforting sauce with curry powder and coconut milk.  I was out of pre-mixed curry powder (whole foods has a great blend) so I tried to blend it from scratch (curry powder is a mix of spices with turmeric as a base which imparts its characteristic red color) but I was also out of coriander and the flavor just wasn't the same.  Luckily my husband works next to a grocery store!

Cooking Without A Recipe

What I love about cooking is experimenting with new flavors and combinations of ingredients.  Most of the time I cook without a recipe and even when I do use a recipe, I don't follow it word for word.  I realize this is difficult for some people and there is certainly nothing wrong with using recipes (I have about 50 cookbooks which I read on a regular basis), and I am posting lots of recipes on this site.  My advice whether you are following a recipe or creating a new one is don't be afraid to experiment and taste what you are cooking as you go along.  Taste spices alone or in combination, with traditional pairings (i.e. sage with Chicken, basil with tomatoes) but mix it up and see what happens.  you might be surprised with the results!

Soft Shell Crabs with Cilantro and LimeI was on the Eastern Shore and happily for me it is soft shell crab season.  I love soft shells but I don't cook them very often which is a shame because they are actually quite easy to prepare.  I bought a dozen live crabs (they were $1 a piece!!!) and headed home.  I didn't feel like going to the grocery store so I decided to experiment with the ingredients I had in my kitchen.  Citrus of course pairs well with seafood.  I only had one lemon but three limes so I decided to mix my citruses.  I have a great crop of cilantro growing in my herb garden so I thought this would be an interesting pairing of flavors with the lime and the crab.

Spring Time In the Farmer's Market

Morel MushroomsI always feel a mixture of happiness and annoyance during the The Distinctive Hollow Interior of Morelsfirst springtime farmer's market.  It's always lovely when color returns to the market--green asparagus, peas, and spring onions, purple irises, and red swisschard.  Of course with spring, the fair market attendees return (I am one of the few who go to the outdoor market year round to purchase bread, meat, potatoes and, if the hens are laying, eggs).  With higher attendence, even if you arrive Garlic Shootswith the opening bell, the market is very crowded.

This past Saturday I purchased some of my favorite ingredients--fresh morel mushrooms and delicate garlic shoots.  Morels grow wild in nearly every state.  They are distinctive in appearance and flavor, but the truest way to identify morels is by cutting them opening to reveal their hollow Pasta with Garlic Shoots and Morelsinterior.  Garlic shoots have a much more mild flavor then the older bulbs.  You can try them raw (I did) but I wouldn't recommend it.  However, when sauteed they become tender and sweet.  Together, the mushrooms and the shoots provided the perfect base for a light pasta sauce with the sweetness of the shoots playing off of the earthiness of the mushrooms.

A bit of Cobbler

I had the best bbq of my life today.  Actually, I don't know if it was truly the best bbq, but we were so hungry that smoked crap would have tasted delicious.  We decided to go for a bike ride which turned into a 54 mile bike ride. We were tracking our journey based on how much further we had to peddle to get to the BBQ shack (mile 44). But seriously, Carolina Brothers Pit BBQ on the WO&D trail is wonderful!

Its Memorial day and my original plan was to bake a rhubarb pie.  I was too tired and we didn't have enough time when I got home, so the pie turned into a cobbler.  The beauty of cobber is that it is easy to make, you can use virtually any fruit, and its yummy!  I like my cobbler tart with a nice biscuit crust on top.  Since it has a relatively low sugar content, it also doubles as breakfast!

Amazingly, I did not burn myself tonight.  The last time I made cobbler I placed it on my counter to cool and then reached up and over to get plate out of the cabinet.  My belly grazed the side of the extremely hot pan and unfortunately for me, my shirt pulled up when I lifted my arms up to reach into the cabinet, leaving a nice welt on my stomach.  Word of advice...don't burn your stomach.  it hurts.