Jake's Birthday Bean and Snap Pea Salad

August 19th! Jake's birthday, and another celebratory pot luck at the McMurtry's in Walnut Creek. I decided to concoct a summer bean and snap pea salad that had been a big hit on the Fourth of July. The inspiration  came from a striking photograph in the Canadian cookbook First Mess by Laura Wright. Her title refers to a passage in M.F.K. Fisher's An Alphabet for Gourmets.

Slicing sugar snap peas down the middle is the key to the salad's striking presentation and it always gets raves. The rest of the ingredients are prepared in the traditional manner-- just simmer green and yellow beans until tender, run a bit of cold water over them, drain and plop them in a bowl. Blanch whole snap peas for a minute in the boiling water, drain them, slice horizontally and add them to the bowl. Salt the veggies and dress them with a simple vinaigrette made from olive oil, balsamic vinegar, shaved shallots, and a small spoonful of Dijon mustard. At the last minute I added halved cherry tomatoes and sprigs of basil for flavor and effect.

To serve the salad, I chose a BIA rectangular baker with a vegetable motif to show off the beauty of the dish. I poured the undressed vegetables into the baker and arranged them artfully in order to take the photo and then I dressed and rearranged them right in the server. The little green pea pod at the top of the picture is actually a design painted on the white porcelain, but it certainly looks like a part of the salad. You can easily spot the pea pod in the empty baker below.

My precious BIA rectangular baker with veggie pattern

I first discovered BIA Cordon Bleu when I went to work for Chef's Warehouse in Daly City. This was the newly opened retail cookware store for BIA, as it's now called, a company that produced French inspired cookware, bakeware and tableware made from porcelain. To learn more about the history of the company called Belgian Import Association, click Here . I was hired to organize the cookbook section of their shop, but I soon had ample opportunity to familiarize myself with all the BIA products, and I lost no time collecting appealing pieces. At that time the South San Francisco company designed and manufactured beautifully decorated dinnerware sets, casseroles, oval and rectangular bakeware, cafe-au-lait bowls, pitchers, soup tureens etc. etc. My co workers and I collected  to our heart's content, but little did we realize that in the near future our beloved decorative fruit and flower patterns would be eliminated and could not be replaced. Though the company is still thriving they have switched to plain white patterns and the glazed ceramic stoneware that is now in vogue.

Unfortunately my supply of dinner and salad plates is dwindling due to inevitable breakage, but I still have plenty of oval, rectangular and round bakers due to their thickness and durability. I should mention that all porcelain is made of clay and fired at a very high temperature to allow for strength and durability. These wonderful products can withstand hot ovens, microwaves, freezers and dishwashers. But sadly, they can't withstand a crash to a hard floor or a stiff bang on a granite counter top.

The casserole pictured above, decorated with colorful summer vegetables, is one of my BIA favorites. I use it to bake Dean's favorite microwave polenta.

A round baker with a rare grape pattern

I have tried to replace my broken items on the BIA website as well as on EBay but the selection is minute. All I found were few items with chili peppers from an estate sale in Texas. So I'll just have to enjoy the pieces that I have left, and hold on to the those dwindling dinner plates with a firm grip.

Today We're Making Oatmeal Cookies

Actually, the cookies above are not my cookies. They were baked and photographed by Joy the Baker who has an inspirational blog. She inspired me to make my current favorite Oatmeal School Cookies from the classic cookbook Laurel's Kitchen. As you might notice from previous cookie posts, I love oatmeal cookies both for their wholegrain goodness and sweet chewy appeal.

Laurel's Kitchen, A Handbook for Vegetarian Cookery and Nutrition was written by Carol Flinders, Laurel Robertson and Bronwen Godfrey. Published in 1976, it contributed to the increasing awareness of vegetarian eating in the U.S. The second edition called The New Laurel's Kitchen came out in 1986 and is still in print. Laurels Kitchen was a little too hardcore for my taste. I gravitated toward the Vegetarian Epicure I and II by Anna Thomas. But I still browsed through Laurel's information and recipes and somehow came away with this recipe for oatmeal school cookies to add to my growing repertoire of oatmeal favorites.

My version of Oatmeal School Cookies, stored in a cookie tin

I guess I first baked these cookies in the 70's and I liked the flavor but I found them to be unpleasantly hard. Maybe I over-baked them but, for whatever reason, they never made my list of favorites nor were they included in my files. Then lately the memory of oatmeal school cookies crept into my sensory stream of consciousness. I remembered the crunch of sesame seeds and a wholegrain goodness that appeals to me now. I generally add whole wheat flour to most of my baked goods and I like the results. Of course Laurel's version would be 100% whole wheat and include wheat germ as well, so it was time to locate the recipe. No need to visit the library, the recipe showed up on the Canadian blog Ten More Bites.

The original recipe calls for pumpkin or sunflower seeds, but I remembered sesame seeds, so that is what I used. I require walnuts in my cookies and Dean requests chocolate chips, so both are included. Dean (or Mr. P as Jeanette calls him} loves them!

                                                OATMEAL SCHOOL COOKIES

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup wholewheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
3/4 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup raisins and chocolate chips
2/3 cups toasted sesame seeds
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Using a mixer, cream butter and brown sugar. Add the egg and vanilla and beat to combine.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt, wheat germ and oats. Combine with other ingredients.
Stir in raisins and chocolate and seeds. If the mixture seems a bit crumbly, add a tablespoon of water or apple juice.
Drop Tablespoonfuls onto  baking sheets, flatten tops. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack

                                                                              §§§

Bird Seed Sock

Last December Judith Barish, our neighbor and, coincidentally, my New York niece's college roommate,  gave us a bird sock. She was so delighted with the activity that her sock generated that she decided to buy a bigger one and she gave us her smaller one.

We hung the sock on a post above our deck, bought nyjer seeds at The Wild Bird Annex on San Pablo Ave. and filled it. Then we watched and waited for birds to come. These seeds are known to attract goldfinches.

Judith had warned us that the seeds must be fresh or the birds would reject them. The sock filled with fresh seeds hung invitingly in the air, but weeks went by with no visitors.

Finally a small hooded bird appeared which I identified as a black hooded junco, but he was too big to hang comfortably on the sock. He chose to eat seeds that were knocked down on the deck railing, and I encouraged him by scattering seeds there. At least this was a nice addition to the usual chickadees who nest in our bird house.

A Junco enjoying nyjer seeds on the deck railing

After weeks of waiting we noticed smaller birds with tiny legs and feet clinging to the sock and pushing their beaks into the holes. Welcome, finches!  But so many brown seeds were dropping onto the the railing and deck  that it was hard to figure out how they were getting any nourishment.  I finally realized that they shell each seed and spit out the casings. This makes a big mess, but it's worth it to have a constant aviary show right outside our kitchen window.

A junco and goldfinches share what's left in the sock

Soon birds were swooping in from all directions and pushing others off to get their turn. Those that couldn't push their way in would wait nearby until the action calmed.  We counted as many as four birds hanging on the sock at one time.

4 Birds---our record

a gold finch on front of sock

One evening we spotted the telltale bright yellow breast of the bird we had been waiting for---the goldfinch! The color was unmistakable!

2 goldfinches in the evening light;  bird in back is busy shelling his seed

Once one goldfinch arrived, many followed. And now the juncos are jumping on too. We have entertainment from morning til night. We don't have as many varieties as Mr. B and Jeanette Baird, but I might try other feeders and different seeds and hope for a tufted titmouse or a house finch like they report in Jeanette's Blog.

Royal Blenheims are Back

The first Royal Blenheims of the season 

The luscious sun-flecked, honey-flavored Royal Blenheim apricots are back in the farmer's markets. Those pictured above were grown in Winters and I snapped them right up at San Francisco's Ferry Plaza market. The ripe globes are overflowing with nectar and have a superb texture unlike the mealy character and bland flavor of other varieties. We also have a vendor in the Berkeley market and I've been checking on this year's progress. Rain can ruin the blossoms if it hits at the wrong time, but luckily this year's weather has cooperated and we can look forward to a bountiful crop.

The Blenheims were grown in Europe 200 years ago and flourished in the garden at Blenheim Palace in England, birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. The variety thrives in California but production is waning. They account for less than 2% of total apricot production. Still, the small handful of commercial Blenheim apricot growers say that, despite the odds, they will try to keep this fruit from becoming extinct in the golden state. I hope so, because no other apricot can compare!

Kauai in Progress II

National Tropical Botanical Garden in Poipu

Water Lillies in Kiahuna gardens

Nene

Wet mattresses being dumped in Recycling Center

Swamped on Kauai-- Blog in progress

One of many emergency alerts on our  iphones 

Bai Hai obscured by clouds and rain

You can read what San Francisco nature writer Tom Stienstra wrote about the flooding. By an amazing coincidence, he was there too.

Helicopters flew to evacuate those stranded in the North- boats brought supplies

waterfalls were spectacular

Hanalei River overflowed its banks and the bridge to Hanalei and points north was closed and underwater

Activity at Recycle Center

Wet mattresses from flooded houses being dumped at recycle Center near Princeville

Ne Nes near the pool

Sisters still smiling

         

                   Our traditional brunch at the St Regis Hotel before our late afternoon flight home

The Skinny on Glitter

      "Glittering things attract people's attention effortlessly. If you want to be be a stunning eye-catcher, do a glitter makeup for yourself. It's easy for you to show off your magic fascination and wow people around you."  So says Pretty Designs. com, 

                        BUT WAIT

 The sparkly glitter we enjoy using for makeup and craft projects is actually made from microplastic, one of the world's biggest environmental pollutants and potential killers of marine life. Those tiny plastic sparkles find their way down the drain and into the ocean where they contribute to the 51 trillion fragments of microparticles found floating there. It has been documented that there is plastic present in every third fish caught in the U.K. Soon there will be more plastic than fish in the sea. But there are easy ways to make small changes and one is to use products like the biodegradable glitter made by the Danish company Ecosparkles- here. Their glitter is a biodegradable alternative made of cellulose film and will prevent further damage to the environment. And it is compostable!

Now you can make your mousepad from plastic free compostable glitter

 But glitter is just the tip of the iceberg. Our convenience-driven, throwaway, fast food culture  indulges in plastic bottles, straws, plastic bags, lids and containers. These items are thrown away and survive forever in landfills or are washed into storm drains and out to sea. It's time for the plastic and oil industries to take some responsibility but instead they continue their deep-pocketed campaigns to quash anti-plastic legislation and discourage scientific research.

Yet there are men and women devoting their lives to studying the ecological impacts of  plastic pollution and trying to find solutions. You can't delve far into that world before finding mention of Marcus Eriksen and his 5 Gyres Institute. He studies the global distribution and ecological impact of marine plastic waste  by making sailing expeditions to destinations that include all 5 subtropical gyres, plus the Bay of Bengal and many inland lakes and rivers. He recently published the first global estimate of all plastic of all sizes floating in the world's oceans, which totals 270,000 metric tons.     

Marcus Eriksen's Junk Raft sailing to Honolulu

In 2017 Eriksen's book Junk Raft was published by Beacon Press. It chronicles his journey from Los Angeles to Honolulu in 88 days using the North Pacific Gyre's swirling current. The motorless "junk raft" floated on six pontoons made of 15,000 recycled plastic bottles and carried a Cessna plane body where the two sailors ate, slept and kept provisions. He tells the story of how plastic pollution at sea was discovered, the impact on people and the planet, and the growing movement to solve  the problem through zero waste initiatives in the largest cities worldwide.    

California, as well as many cities around the United States, has banned plastic bags. Now it's up to consumers to stop being wasteful and come a notch closer to that zero waste ideal. Carolyn Jones, an East Bay freelance writer suggests, "Why not ban more non-biodegradable products? Let's ban plastic water bottles for starters. Who thought those were a good idea anyway?" And for the real deal please, check out the Blog "My Plastic Free Life." Can we do it? Let's try!