Weekend, in review

This past week at work was pretty busy, so once the weekend came around I was happy to have some time to sleep in and see friends that I rarely get to touch base with during the week. Friday night a friend and I shared dinner with a third friend who's just moved back to Jackson. Saturday was spent celebrating a family members engagement, napping and heading to dinner with another group of friends. Then Sunday was mostly sleeping in, catching up with far-off friends and doing a little shopping at some of the summer sales. Some photos below, all taken and edited with the iPhone.

Julep brunch--Fried Green Tomatoes Benedict. Perfect!

Appetizer spread, Moak household

Gin and Tonic with cilantro

Ivy

Penny!

Cobbler, finished off with a spoon

Raw Chocolate

I've been experimenting with making raw chocolate, and finally found a recipe with a suggestion that made a world of difference in the end candy. Instead of coconut oil, this recipe uses cacao butter. Which makes sense, and I can easily find at our local whole food grocery. I used date paste sold at Rainbow as well, instead of the whole dates mashed up. A few gummy pieces remained in the chocolate, which I liked.

I followed the recipe at the link, but used cacao paste (butter removed) instead of powder. Instead of pressing them into a bar, I poured the mix into a heart-shaped ice cube tray I got at Ikea at some point. The end result was really delicious, I shared the batch with a few friends who stopped by while in town. It all took about ten minutes, plus an hour to let the chocolate set in the mold. If you're a chocolate lover, but don't like overly sweet candy, it'd be fun to try it out over a week.

Reading Lately

I've been reading quite a bit lately thanks to a few flights and road trips and some weekend napping/reading.

Cleopatra: A Life was on lots of book lists last year (or two years ago?), and I kept bookmarking it to read. I finally got around to and I wish I'd done so sooner. The author does a great job of offering a critical read of historical depictions of Cleopatra and keeping the tale dramatic. And I appreciate anyone trying to shine a more honest light on historical depictions of powerful women.

The next came by recommendation from a dear friend, Michelle. An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace is a really peaceful read on food and how we turn it into meals. I don't think there's anymore to say really, if you like "food writing" in general, give it a glance.

Blueberry Muffins

In oven, edited with iPhone

I've made these muffins three times since May, so I thought it might finally be time to write about them! They're pretty straight forward, an adaptation of the "Huckle Buckle" from Good to the Grain. They're a pretty nice way to start the day, I tend to just carry one in to work since I don't get really hungry until a few hours after I wake up.

Blueberry Spelt Muffins

If you don't have access to spelt flour, just use all whole wheat flour and add in a tablespooon more of yogurt. If you can't find or don't like Greek yogurt, this will be just as good with regular but some of the protein will be gone. I used unsweetened almond milk for the milk, feel free to use whatever milk you like most. As long as it's unflavored and unsweetened it'll work fine. I've made them with and without the streusel topping and both are good.

Breakfast

Streusel Mix:

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup spelt flour

3 tablespoons raw sugar

1 tablespoon muscovado or dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 egg

Dry Mix:

1 1/4 cups spelt flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup muscovado or dark brown sugar

1/2 cup raw sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon kosher salt

4 ounches softened butter, unsalted

Wet Mix:

3/4 cup milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)

1/3 cup Greek yogurt

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract or paste

2 cups blueberries

It's fairly standard. 

Preheat your oven to 350 degree and butter or "paper" a muffin tin. This recipe doesn't work well for "mini-muffins" so stick to the normal size. 

Mix all the dry streusel ingredients, then fold in the butter followed by the egg. You might want to use your hands to make sure everything clumps together. It should be in pea-sized clumps. Set aside.

Mix together all dry ingredients and blend the butter into the dry until well mixed.. In a separate bowl, whisk together all the wet ingredients (not the blueberries). One that's all mixed together, add it to the dry ingredients. You want a smooth batter. 

Spoon the batter into the muffin cups. Once the cups are half full, press four-five blueberries into each. I've been using wild blueberries, which are a little smaller than farmed ones. So, don't stress over how many you can fit, just make them to your liking. You want to aim for the muffin cup to be about 2/3 full. If you made the streusel, press it into the top.

Bake for 20-30 minutes. They should be fairly soft, take the tin out of the oven and let them cool, in the tin, for at least ten minutes.

Weekend, in review

Last week was pretty busy at work, and I definitely felt overwhelmed and worn out by the time it was over. We all have those weeks, and luckily they always come to an end. This weekend was pretty great: time alone, time with A, time with friends and family. I finally made it back to yoga class and I made it to my constantly re-scheduled massage. All of that is to say: I'm feeling more like myself! Some photos below:

Ginger scallion sauce start

Making chocolate with a sweet friend

Alllllllmost

Fallen limb, almost gone

Part 2

I wasn't here for the actual smoking, but that's some kind of berry tobacco so it smells like pie. I like pie.

Sunday sleepies

Weekend, in review

It was a busy, busy weekend. A and I went to Clarksdale for a wedding (in the Mississippi Delta). The weather was super mild, and we got to see pretty much all of Andy's family. We stopped into McCarty's Pottery while we were nearby and picked up a few pieces for the house and wandered around their new(ish) garden area. Photos below!

Garden statue

These were made stuck together like this. Creepy and good

Outdoor elegance, rusted

Are these bird houses? Bird feeders?

Downtown Clarksdale

Clarksdale storefront

New pottery

Weekend, in review

 Lots going on this weekend. We celebrated a birthday, had family over for lunch, visited with friends over a long Netflix marathon and roamed around downtown. Photos below! Note: Photos from my Canon aren't edited, but since I've been using my iPhone camera more often, I do sometimes edit those to play with filters and effects.

Calendars, lone June birthday

frozen Greek yogurt + blueberry lemon sauce

Fruit tart crust scraps

Mayflower Cafe (edited on iPhone)

squash blossom (edited on iPhone)

Noahman+Mayflower (edited on iPhone)

Wood sign (edited on iPhone)

Fancy and non-fancy footwork (edited on iPhone)

Downtown art (edited on iPhone)

Downtown early moon (HDR effect done on iPhone)

Flowers

Flowers

 A hopefully pretty low-key weekend is coming up. I need to return some phone calls and emails (sorry!) and I'm also hoping to get a few friends over for a pizza dinner Saturday. These flowers are a mix of random flowers from the farmer's market and a few pulled from our backyard plants. They're currently keeping our dining room table company.