Posts filed under ‘Family’
Island time
17, 18, 19 degrees Celsius, with glorious sunshine: this is how long weekends should be. We spent three days on Vancouver Island in Sooke and Nanoose Bay, all of them peaceful, restful, and slow. I spent time in the garden, on the deck, the dock, the beach and I started an inspiring new book. We went to the My-Chosen Cafe on Happy Valley Road in Metchosin and then did a quick walk through the trails at Witty’s Lagoon. During our time in Nanoose we went cycling around Parksville and enjoyed Rathtrevor Beach at low tide, which is one of my favourite places to be, beach-wise. And, of course, we ate like kings and queens during family meals.
All in all a wonderful sojourn and a reminder of how refreshing a few days of Island time can be.
Gluten-free chocolate chip cookies
This recipe for chocolate chip cookies is adapted from one of my favourite cookbooks, Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes, which I’ve referenced before for its awesome chocolate brownies recipe.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 24 to 36 cookies
1-1/2 cups brown sugar, lightly packed
1/3 cup white or cane sugar
1 cup unsalted butter (at room temperature)
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups gluten-free flour mix
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 cups chocolate chips (or chopped dark chocolate)
2 cups chopped walnuts
Pre-heat oven to 350F and grease two baking sheets or line with silicone mats / parchment paper.
Beat the butter and sugars together and then beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour, salt, and baking soda and beat well, and then fold in chocolate and walnuts.
Drop the dough by two tablespoonfuls onto the cookie sheets about 2 inches apart (the cookies will spread out and flatten). Bake the cookies, switching the cookie sheets in the oven halfway through cooking, until they begin to turn golden brown at the edges and the tops appear dry, about 12 to 15 minutes. Don’t overcook if you want them to be chewy!
If you’re vegan or don’t eat dairy / eggs:
- Replace the butter with the same amount of vegetable oil shortening plus two tablespoons of water.
- Replace the eggs with two tablespoons of ground flaxseed meal mixed with six tablespoons of water. Stir the flaxseed meal and water together in a small bowl and let stand two to three minutes to thicken before adding it to the recipe.
Happy long weekend
Here’s my tribute to the start of the long weekend – fresh cut flowers from the garden and a post on my neglected blog.
We’re spending this last weekend of summer on Vancouver Island. I’ve got nothing to do but putter and garden and write. I hope you have something wonderful planned, too.
How not to make plum pie
Do not think that you can just throw a pile of freshly picked plums into a plate pressed with pastry along with a sprinkle of sugar and cinnamon and imagine that a perfect pie will emerge on the other side. It will look beautiful, yes, and it will smell divine. But it will be SOUR! Your dinner guests – in laws, no less – will take a bite and then look at you with an expression that your husband helpfully calls “bitter beer face.” Your dreams of domestic bliss will be shot down once again.
Instead, use a recipe that calls for lots and lots of sugar. Or pour honey on top of each slice of the failed pie, along with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream, to help drown out the taste.
Luckily I have about 10 pounds of these beautiful golden plums sliced up and packed away in my freezer thanks to the fruit-laden tree just outside the front door of my parents’ new place on Vancouver Island. I will try the pie again. You are all invited.
Flowers from the garden
All winter long I’ve been buying cut flowers from the store. No longer. Now I just need scissors. My container garden is full of spring blooms: tulips are opening up, pale daffodils that came up late are just starting to fade away alongside the long, variegated leaves of the crocuses, which are quite beautiful all on their own even though the flowers are long gone. My hanging baskets are filled with a mix of primulas and the pink and orange ranunculus and purple periwinkles you see here. All are plentiful enough that I’ve filled a little vase with them.
For those of you who are counting, there are 25 flowers and leaves in this little vase, picked in honour of a sad but special day. Life is a strange place, and hard to deal with at times. Somehow everything feels a bit lighter with flowers brightening a space, especially when you’ve been outside carefully plucking them from your own garden. It’s easier to find a sense of meaning and calm when you’re surrounded by beauty. It’s a simple thing, maybe silly, but there’s a little voice in things like flowers from the garden that calls at you and pushes you to try to make the rest of your world just as right – whether it’s indoors, outdoors, or like these flowers on a windowsill, somewhere in between.
