If you live in the south, now is the time for fresh blueberries. If you are lucky, you know someone who has a bunch of bushes where you can go pick them yourself. If you are really blessed you have several bushes in your own yard. The bushes are easy to plant and grow, and they are prolific. You will have all that you can eat, give to your friends and freeze from just a few mature bushes.  They need a sunny spot and water, but are really low maintenance. It is important to plant several bushes so they can cross pollinate. If you buy fresh blueberries, be sure to buy local and fresh at a farmer’s market. They are sweet and plump. And all you have to do to have them all year around is pour them into a large ziplock bag and freeze them. Now you have the best of the season ready for pancakes, muffins, tarts, smoothies or whatever blueberry dreams you have. Here is a simple french recipe for a fig tart that is delicious with blueberries. It is not too rich, just light and sweet enough. It is easy to make, elegant and guest worthy but make it for your family dinner.

French Blueberry Tart

Pastry

1 ts vanilla (use the best pure vanilla extract or a vanilla bean)

a large egg at room temperature, separated

2 tbs ground almonds, walnuts or pecans can be substituted

1/2 cup all purpose flour, sifted

pinch of fine salt

3 tbs unsalted butter, softened, some extra butter for the pan

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Thoroughly combine sugar and butter. Sift together flour, ground almonds, and  pinch of salt. Stir together, then add the egg yolk and 1 ts vanilla until it is like course crumbs. With a spatula, make a ball on wax paper, gently press into a ball, wrap and chill at least an hour, up to 24. Gently roll into a circle. Butter a tart pan with removable bottom. Place pastry into the pan, letting it settle without stretching it. (you can press patches into if you do). Trim the edges, and prick the bottom with a fork. Chill for at least an hour, covered. Bake at 375 for 12 minutes. Set aside to cool or until the next day.

Cream Filling; Combine 1 egg plus 1 egg white, 1/2 cup blanched almonds finely ground, 1 ts vanilla, 4 tbsp unsalted softened butter   Add to prepared pastry shell. Top with blueberries, evenly with space between blueberries. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Cool on a rack.

Dust with powdered sugar and serve at room temperature.

Root Vegetables Anna, Lemon Thyme Chicken, Broccoli

All southerners know that the tomatoes that you get only in the summer, grown locally and vine ripened in the hot sun have a taste like no other tomato. You know this from growing up here, even if you do not cook, or buy organic food or even care what you eat. So think of local and fresh as the extension of that taste. Don’t think of organic as just healthy or tasting like “good for you” with a hint of dirt. It should be good as in YUMMY and good for you too.  But it does take some effort. If you lived in say New York, you could get your fresh veggies at Dirt Candy or Candle Cafe just as easily as going out for Chinese, Mexican or Italian food. But you can get great fresh and local foods here easily. And with some entertaining and adventurous cooking, do it yourself at home. Grow Alabama will deliver your customized box each week to a location you choose near you or your drive. Check out the options. It’s winter, so root vegetables are in. The carrots are orange and really do taste better just like the summer tomatoes. The turnips, parsnips have been fun, Grow Alabama has recipes and chef videos too. Try Root Vegetables Anna, like the classic French recipe Potatoes Anna, but with carrots, turnips and parsnips. Delicious! And then there is the problem of Kale. Well I am still working on a winner there.

Root Vegetable Anna

In an iron skillet plan six strip of thin lean bacon with half of each slice in the bottom of the pan and half  hanging out to be wrapped over the top.

Thinly slice turnips, parsnips, leeks, carrots, sweet potatoes or Yukon gold or russet potatoes, whatever you have. Layer and  salt and pepper to taste. Fold the ends of the bacon over the top.

Place in a hot, 400 degree oven and bake until tender and the bacon is crisp on top. Turn onto a plate bottom side up and serve in wedges.

A beautiful coffee swirl

The best coffee in Birmingham, Alabama is made by Primavera Coffee Roasters. It can be found in Cahaba Heights just a few blocks from The Summit shopping center. Take a break from shopping and have a freshly roasted cup of coffee, espresso or latte. Sip your coffee, check your messages, wifi of course, or treat yourself to an orange infused borgia. It is divine. This is a local company, they import their own carefully chosen coffees and roast it on sight. Take a look at the burlap bags of coffee  and the copper roaster. Read about the various regions where the coffee is grown and the different flavors it gives the coffee. Do you prefer smooth, bold, a hint of blueberries, caramel or chocolate? Pick out one from Kenya or the mountains of Huehuetenango, Guatemala and buy a bag to enjoy at home. Need a perfect gift?  Buy an exceptional pound of coffee and a handmade colorful cloth gift bag with a tiny little South American doll sewn onto it. So the next time you are near Cahaba Heights, take the time to treat yourself to a guiltless pleasure, a luxury you can afford, a perfect cup of local coffee.

Primaveracoffee.com

Primavera Coffee Roasters 4133 White Oak Drive, Birmingham AL 35243

From the summit turn right onto Cahaba Heights Rd, then left onto White Oak Drive. Primavera Coffee is on the right behind Miss Myra’s BBQ

The smells of hot coffee, sizzling bacon and buttery waffles or pancakes are pure comfort on a cold, damp winter day. It doesn’t snow much in the south, but it rains all winter. That means days on end without sunshine. So brighten your day by cooking together. Pancake cookies are like soft chewy cookies and like pancakes. Try dipping them in maple syrup for breakfast or pack them in your lunch boxes. You simply add good healthy ingredients to your favorite organic, whole grain pancake batter.This is a good recipe to cook with your children because the batter is thicker. It makes the cookies easier to drop in and turn than when using plain batter. Also they can stir in their own favorite things.

Recipe for Pancake Cookies

2 cups of your favorite pancake batter                                                                                                                                                                                                               (I use a whole grain, thick batter such as Hodgson Mill Multi Grain Buttermilk Pancake Mix with Milled Flax seed & Soy)

1/3 cup each chopped walnuts, pecans and raisins

1 ts vanilla extract

1 ts almond extract

Prepare pancake batter. Stir in nuts, raisins and flavorings. Drop by big spoonfuls onto the griddle or an iron skillet, Turn once.

Tea and Turtle's pillowcase dress

Beautiful, handmade, one of a kind children’s clothes are a pleasure. Locating someone who makes them, reasonably and nearby is a find! When moms and grandmothers do find someone who still makes clothes like we had as children,  they hold on to them and might not be quick to share their secret. Remember the feel of soft cotton, like that grown here in the south, and corduroy in warm fall colors? Think of little John-John jumpers with matching  buttons. Imagine it made into a delightful little black and white checked dress  hand smocked in orange for Halloween. Or maybe you prefer blue with your orange for your little Aubie, or crimson and white for your little Bama fan. And of course Fall can still be pretty warm in the south, so have a “pillowcase dress” made in the warm golds, deep plums and reds and soft browns of falling leaves.  You can custom order from Beth Wald, at The Turtles & Tea Shop, and have it handmade just for you. Check out order details at www.turtlesandtea.etsy.com Enjoy the simple local pleasures with your family this year.

Growing up I often heard “..wait until the first of the month.” That meant if we ran out of Golden Flake potato chips or Dr. Pepper, that mother was waiting until Dad got his  next paycheck to go to the grocery store. Since Dad made more money than I make now, it was not a question of affording groceries, but how they paid for them. My parents did not run up credit card balances, they waited until they had the money. Sometimes we had unusual dinners at the end of the month. My favorite was waffles for dinner instead of breakfast or soup with new things in it. In this current economic meltdown, I now find myself re-learning this simple lifestyle and actually enjoying the culinary adventures that it brings. So this week I found myself standing in front of the cupboard wondering what I could take to work for lunch. Instead of my favorite navel orange, all natural grain fed turkey on artisan whole grain bread, I will be taking a boiled egg, bag of pecans (leftover from Christmas baking) and some crackers and cheese. For breakfast, I will be using up walnuts, raisins and dried dates (also leftover bits from Christmas) on my cereal instead of the fresh blueberries that I adore. Yesterday I used the odds and ends of my organic vegetables from Grow Alabama www.growalabama.com to make a potato, carrot, and turnip gratin. Today, I am starting a soup in the crock pot with a little of everything in it. Of  course, the concept of dinner salads hadn’t been invented back then but it works the same way. Start with lettuces, add whatever you have from fruit to nuts, leftover meats or cheese and homemade croutons. There are guidelines; do continue to use your china, beautiful napkins and candles. Maybe it is time to use them in a different way too. This is good for my fiscal diet, usually my health and probably my character. Also it inspires some of the best kinds of comfort food.

An End of the Month Soup by definition does not have a recipe, but here is the general idea. Measurements are just suggestions.

End of the Month Soup

1 cup Dried or can beans

2 cups frozen or fresh vegetables

chopped onion, celery, garlic, chillies

meat optional; 3-5 frozen chicken tenderloins, or pieces of beef

1 can tomatoes or chopped fresh tomatoes

Cover with water or broth to 1 inch from the top of the crock pot and cook all night on high Or cook on stove 3-4 hrs

You can add barley, noodles or rice during the last 20 minutes

a simple treat

Honey is local, natural, sustainable, usually organic, healthy, good for you and good to eat. I have loved honey since childhood. I loved the honey from the big jar with the waxy comb that turned into  pretend chewing gum, the cute little jars of expensive orange blossom honey my mother bought at roadside fruit stands as we drove to Miami, Fla (not FL) 50 years ago, and all the honey I have eaten around the world. Have you tried the Tart Honey flavor of Edy’s Slow Churned Rich & Creamy Yogurt Blends? Everywhere I travel, I visit a local grocery store in search of locally produced honey. Read the label because some bulk honey imported to this country is cut with cheaper corn syrup. This week I tried a recipe for celebrating Rosh Hashanah, Pomegranate-Honey Coolers*, from the September issue of Martha Stewart Living and enjoyed them on my back porch.

Local honey, that is honey made in the area where you live, may help reduce allergies. Local honey will not cure allergies, but it may help reduce them because the bees are using the same plants to make the honey that are causing your allergies. My special local honey vendor is just a few blocks from my home, Doris Synder, Cahaba Valley Honey, 6112 Cahaba Valley Road, Birmingham, AL 205-991-1855.

I like to think her bees visit my flowers. But my very favorite way to eat honey is still the way I first tried it, my Granddaddy’s own special recipe. He would sit me up on the counter to “help”. He placed one pat of room temperature butter on the plate, and then poured exactly the right amount of honey over it, not too much or too little. We stirred it together and watched as  it magically blended into the most delicious substance on earth. He put it on hot biscuits. It dripped all over my fingers as I ate. Now I put it on whole wheat low fat high fiber toast, but it still drips down and tastes just as good as then when I lick my fingers. I try to eat honey regularly, for my health of course.
*Pomegranate-Honey Coolers
1 bottle dry white wine(Sauvignon Blanc)
1& 1/2 cups Pomegranate Juice
4 Tablespoons honey

Stir together in a pitcher until the honey dissolves. (Do not use chilled wine!)

Pour into six ice filled glasses.

I am an unrepentant Francophile and foodie, so I was delighted to find Cafe de Paris in Birmingham, Alabama. The owners and chefs are from Paris, lived in the 18th, trained as chefs and worked in the restaurants in the 6th. Their food will take you there, virtually that is. One of them came to Birmingham to work with a well-known chef and now they have opened their own place. Do not go there for the ambiance; go there for the food. It is a bargain “staycation” to Paris for lunch, dinner or for authentic French music and brunch. I was greeted with a chilled and light sample of a creamy gazpacho. The waiter brought warmed French bread to my table that is made daily on sight. I enjoyed a vegetable quiche, salad with extraordinary vinaigrette, and fresh local sautéed peppers and squash. I finished with a truly guilty pleasure, a warm apple tart, topped with vanilla ice cream and cream lightly dusted with cinnamon. Julia Child dedicated her famous treatise Mastering the Art of French Cooking “to La Belle France whose peasants, fishermen, housewives and princes – not to mention her chefs – through generations of inventive and loving concentration have crated on of the world’s great arts”. Take time to dine at Café de Paris and experience this fine art for yourself.

Cafe de Paris

goodyear shoe hospital

“Be a yokel, buy local” applies to more than your fresh vegetables in Birmingham. Locally owned and operated businesses have what you need in and around Birmingham, AL. For shoe or handbag repair, go to Goodyear Shoe Hospital, 2017 3rd Avenue North. Started by Paul Scalici who brought his old world cobbler skills from Scicily around the turn of the century, he opened the Goodyear Shoe Hospital in 1919 on 20th Street across from the old Tutwiler Hotel. The business was handed down to his son Vincent who sold to his childhood friend, Jack D. Patton, who grew up around the original shop, and who then passed it down through his family. Rhonda Patton is the owner/craftsman who runs the front counter and hand sews specialty jobs. “The Shoe Lady” knows everything to know about repairing shoes, or knows who does. Her stories and the lobby are a treat of Americana. Check out the newspaper ad from 1919, the picture of her niece and nephew in some circus clown shoes being resoled, the minature shoe house village and the painting of John Wayne on black velvet. In addition to getting taps while you wait, you can also hear the latest sports recruiting news while on the shine stand or come Christmas donate to your favorite charity under the tree decorated with shoes.

Check out the nod on page 72 of Birmingham Magazine-June 2009

Birmingham magazine: Smart living, savvy business.

Petit Verdot Grapes

What is the oldest wine region in America? Virginia. So if you are fortunate enough to travel to Virgina, do take time to explore the history of wine making in America, enjoy the beautiful wineries, and discover the local varietals. They have had limited success with the Franc, Viognier and Norton. But the latest varietal is one of the red grapes, petit verdot, from the Bordeaux region where it predates the cabernet. Like Shiraz from Australia, Malbec from Argentina and Cabernet from California, Virginia hopes to make this one their own. So when it comes to wine, “Be a yokel, buy local” includes wine from Virginia. Make Mr. Jefferson proud and enjoy!

C-Ville: The Working Pour – Petit Verdot is ready for its close-up.