Prospero's raspberry + ale pie; an arbitrary farewell to summer

"Now my charms are all o'erthrown
and what strength I have's mine own,
which is most faint: now 'tis true,
I must be here confined by you,
or sent to Naples. Let me not,
since I have my dukedom got
and pardon'd the deceiver, dwell
in this bare island by your spell;

But release me from my bands
with the help of your good hands:
gentle breath of yours my sails
must fill, or else my project fails,
which was to please. Now I want
spirits to enforce, art to enchant,
and my ending is despair,
unless I be relieved by prayer,
which pierces so that it assults
mercy itself and frees all faults.

As you from crimes would pardon'd be,
let your indulgence set me free." 

                                          ~  William Shakespeare (The Tempest, act 5, epilogue.)

 I fell in love with The Tempest my freshmen year of high school, during a performance at a local theater. The play was ethereal; ambient mist, primal music, sylvan costumes and lush acting...I'm convinced there was a metallic taste of magic in the air each time Ariel took the stage. I was so enamored, I accidentally dropped a box of lemon heads. The cacophony made by each tiny candy striking an unbearably hard wood floor was deafening (I was mortified!). Thankfully the resulting frigid glares were fleeting, and confused...my eyes made a subtle glance towards the person sitting next to me. The play continued and I imagined myself in the role of Miranda, or Ariel. As Prospero was delivering his infamous epilogue, I was smitten, completely, especially knowing that the speech may have been Shakespeare's adieu. 

Initially I was only going to include a few lines from Prospero's speech, but it's so lovely in its entirety - chopping his farewell into pieces would be barbaric. I'd like to think that summer, if she could speak, would deliver an equally robust swan song before handing the zephyrs to autumn.

Raspberry Pecan Linzer Torte

"We write for the same reason that we walk, talk, climb mountains or swim the oceans - because we can. We have some impulse that makes us want to explain ourselves to other human beings. That's why we paint, that's why we dare to love someone - because we have the impulse to explain who we are."
     ~ Maya Angelou

My once-everlasting writing flask has been bone dry for almost a month. I'm thirsty. I feel the need to express myself pulsating beneath a well that's succumbed (overnight!) to choking tendrils of kudzu & dilapidated terracotta bricks. How do writers & poets recapture a muse when it drifts through keyholes at night or suddenly takes refuge in some distant boreal forest on a random Wednesday afternoon? I wish I knew. I wish the longings and feelings and repressed emotions would simply fall through my fingertips like tumbling blueberries. Maybe someday I'll shake off the repressive, invisible blanket...for as much as I relish writing these posts, I'm holding back an avalanche of me.

Sometimes all I think I need is an accented muse & a strong, velvet-gloved hand to rub my calla lily shoulders. A slivered slice (or two) of linzer torte is also quite enchanting.

Cherry Berry Pie

I'm relatively reserved when it comes to talking about accomplishments and triumphs. But sometimes it's just plain silly to be a humble wallflower.

Seriously, look at that lattice crust! Isn't she rustic and gorgeous in all her buttery flakiness!?

I was always afraid to try making lattice crusts. The process looked too intricate, too complicated, too left-brained for my neurotic, over-thinking right brained...brain. Then I found these beautifully, well-written directions on Simply Recipes. Oh, how I love instructions that include step-by-step pictures. Thank you, Elise! 

Blueberry-Sour Cream Ice Cream

Late to the party as always, I think I'm finally turning into an ice cream fan. Maybe it has to do with the sultry, tropical heat I've been living swimming in for the past month or perhaps my taste buds are simply bored with all the buttery, chewy stuff I've been munching on all these years.

dark chocolate cupcakes with strawberry buttercream

I am a light stalker. When all you have to work with is a p & s camera, you need the patience of an owl and the prowess of a cheetah. It's frustrating and exhilarating. As I meander from room to room; chasing light with an armful of foam boards, cutting boards, napkins and cutlery, my napping cat regards me with one open eye...'Just another day in the life of a crazy food blogger.' 

My kitchen is dark + cosy (I feel like a hobbit).  Its gorgeous wood table is also dark, and moody. Oh, how I long to take pictures on that table. Most photos are taken in rooms that are as far away from the kitchen as possible. (Which is why I don't make soufflés.)

I confess, there are times when I want to do is just bake, eat, and share (sometimes, share) and not even bother with the photos. But I do enjoy food photography & I'm experimenting a bit with my very-limited camera functions. If they appear schizophrenic for the next few posts, I apologize. It's not you, it's me. I want to give my camera the confidence and swag of an SLR.

If that doesn't work, I'm Lo-Fi filtering everything. All the time. 

Strawberry Frangipane Tartlets

Don't ever go grocery shopping on an empty stomach. It makes you act like as though you've never had anything to eat before, and that the world is going to come to an end if you don't buy everything in sight...or at least touch it one last time.

What the heck is a grapple? (I don't know, but I still have four of them staring back at me whenever I open the refrigerator.)

One of the perks of my latest hunger-induced, mindless shopping excursions; Almond paste. I hardly ever buy almond paste because I always end up eating it before I can actually bake something.

This time I threw 2 packages in the cart. Thank you, bossy stomach.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Blueberry Peach Crumble

This was supposed to be a Tropical Crumble. It should have been overflowing with fruits and spices that would have you absently humming a Jimmy Buffett song. Exotic and 'yes, please, another umbrella drink'- ingredients, such as mango's, fresh ginger and bananas. I didn't have any of the above, save for the song "Lone Palm" floating through my head all day.

Blueberry Buttermilk Cake

In the fruit family, blueberries are like the wild, free-spirited cousins who breeze into your life about once a year in between trips around the globe and beg you to take advantage of their brief stay...as opposed to bananas, who spend their days in a dusty bowl or waiting patiently at the bottom of a desk drawer.

Coconut Lime Cupcakes with Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting

If only I loved typing as much as I love baking. I'm a terrible typist. I don't type so much as peck at the keys, as though my hands were hungry chickens grabbing for their food. The only fingers I use are my index fingers, thumbs, and middle fingers. The rest of them are idiots, trying to act like they want to help, but too lazy to really do anything. If they're lucky, sometimes one of them gets to hit the space-bar. It's total chaos.

Strawberry Boy Bait

If only it were that easy. When I first saw this recipe, which is actually called blueberry boy bait, I had this Ally McMeal-like image of a woman in a wide brimmed hat and linen dress standing on a pier holding a fishing line while schools of mermen swam below (I don't understand why they had to be mermen, apparently even my imagination is uptight.) Anyway, once she catches one it becomes human...and is suddenly sporting the Indiana Jones look, which btw, did indeed include the whip (see, not so repressed after all, eh?)

Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcakes

When I was little, and between bouts of frustration over the realization that one could not actually bake in an Easy Bake oven ( despite several failed attempts ), I used to have imaginary parties with my Strawberry Shortcake dolls. Occasionally She-Ra would join in, but only if that fickle Blueberry Muffin was off somewhere riding My Little Pony. They were not what I would call 'Tea' parties, because A: I was a tomboy girly girl, and B: I never was crazy about tea. Preferably I would have loved to call them soda parties, but since soda was taboo in the green-stuff stuffed fridge, I settled for...wait for it, H20. It was a sad excuse for a party, I was hoping my parents would realize this, break down, and by me a bottle of root beer and a box of Ho Hos. But they sat around the mini table and pretended to enjoy their water and non-existent cake. Cold, cold hearted they were. :-p

Tuesdays with Dorie: Strawberry-Lime Crisp

Sarah, of the lovely blog, Teapots and Cake Stands, chose this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. And even though a lot of us searched everywhere for rhubarb (I even called a few stores, which, for someone who hates looking up numbers and talking to random people on the phone, is saying a lot) only a lucky handful were able to find the elusive stalks. However, TWD bakers have never let a rogue ingredient foil our obsessive love for baking ...especially when there are strawberries involved and it's early Spring. Big surprise, I turned to citrus. Limes and strawberries make me think of warm weather cocktails, sand-covered sandals, and windy afternoons trying to recover from both. I can't wait for summer! :)

Raspberry Pop Tarts

Along with numerous other treats, pop tarts and toaster strudels were also on my childhood list of forbidden food. Instead I made due with toast, a scrambled egg, and a mashed up banana, which was a poor substitute for the gorgeous, colourful flaky pastries that were popping out of the kid's toasters on television. They looked so happy in their anticipation of waiting for their pop tart to pop. I, on the other hand, sulked as my mom or dad whisked the runny and, what I thought was disgusting at the time, egg, until it was chunky instead of runny. Whenever I asked why I couldn't have pop tarts or any other sugary bit of heaven, I always got the same classic parental response: "You should be grateful for what you have." or, even better, "You'll thank us when you're older and your teeth aren't falling out".

Tuesdays with Dorie: Nectarine Berry Upside-Down Cake

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was chosen by Sabrina, of the refreshingly summery blog Superfluous. The original recipe is actually for a cranberry upside-down cake, but Dorie kindly included a fruitier alternative for those of us who are not quite ready to step completely into Autumn.

Swiss Roll Ice Cream Bombe (Daring Bakers' Challenge)

"Do you think because you are virtuous, that there shall be no more cakes and ale?" (Twelfth Night: act 2, scene 3)

2 posts in one day?! At least the desserts were made separately, otherwise there would be teeth falling out and zippers refusing to be pulled up. Thank you, floss obsession, Mari Winsor and Billy Blanks.

Blackberry Crumb Bars

Tuesday's episode of The Deadliest Catch was, emotionally speaking, the most dramatic so far. Anyone who watches the show is familiar with Captain Phil Harris. His larger than life personality, and even larger heart, will be greatly missed.

Raspberry Almond Bars

It doesn't matter if it's from an extract or from the actual nut itself, I find the flavour of almonds irrevocably irresistible.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Tender Shortcakes

I truly ♥ this weeks Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. During the warm months of late Spring and early Summer, Shortcake is one of my favourite simple pleasures. As well as sleeping on clean cotton sheets with freshly shaven legs.

Tuesdays with Dorie: White Chocolate Brownies with Raspberry Coulis

Eyes-Only, the term Brownie is merely an alias. The elegant taste and crumbly texture of these bars are closer to that of a cake.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Quick Classic Berry Tart

Did anyone else go through a Strawberry Shortcake doll phase as a child? No? What about My Little Pony? I used to force the dolls to ride the poor, pastel coloured equines. They also had tea parties with Transformers (I was a girly tomboy.)