The Full Woman

October Instagram

2013-11-02T19:38:00.000-05:00

How is it November already? HOW?! 2013 is almost over! October (apparently) came and went in a whirlwind of food and travel. Here's what it looked like.

The very FIRST week of October I spotted Christmas decorations for sale already in Target. Even though it doesn't mean what it used to (since I don't work in retail anymore), it still gave me a shiver of exhaustion.

I would however, totally buy that Santa. Too adorable.

I had a BIG career challenge this month, my bosses went out of town and left me and the Sous Chef of Biscuit Love to run a wedding event in the boonies. I was super worried the whole time whether I was doing a good job, but everything went wonderfully and the ceremony was gorgeous!

I got really wrapped up in school projects this month, here we were practicing fruit and vegetable carving. Clearly this is my calling.

We have a catering project for school that's due in November, it involves planning menus, cooking food, and table decoration. As a blogger, I fixated on the visual aspect of the project and sort of got carried away with my prop shopping.

Still totally usable and kitchen safe, right?

Recipe testing for our catering project it went pretty well until I somehow melted the top to a ink pen in my oven (wtf?!). That made me feel really professional!

My brother turned 22 on October the 9th, he requested muffins instead of a cake this year (?). I included some Lego block candles because they were his favorite once upon a time...

We tried out quite a few new restaurants this month. We went to Burger Republic in Lenoxx Village to have dinner with my boyfriend's parents.

Fondue Tots

Banana Split Milkshake

The "Eat The Farm" and Bacon Mac and Cheese

Later in the month we tired out a Greek Lunch place called Kouzina Cafe, I had the falafel gyro, it was sooo good but HUGE!

I also tried out a brand new food truck in town Churro Queens!

Things have been slowing down a bit on the truck lately now that we're getting into the fall and winter, but we've been to a lot of fun events.

Attack of the Scarecrows at the Franklin Farmer's Market. All the vendors displayed themed scarecrows. This one was ours, modeled after our head chef and notorious cookbook hoarder, Karl.

Square dancing with Yazoo brewery at Bells Bend Farms. This event was SO much fun, every one had such a good time, and the music was awesome too! The only bad part was that the temperature suddenly dropped down to 40 degrees while we were out there! I was really glad I was working so close to an oven and a fryer. Cold or not though those people keep on drinking and dancing.

Halloween was a bit of a bust this year, with Tornado speed winds and thunderstorms all night. Lucky for me my running club has a costume night that day before the storm hit so at least I got to dress like a goober in public ( which as I'm sure you're aware, is one of my favorite pastimes). I went as Fionna from Adventure Time.

Only people with kids of a certain age even really knew who I was supposed to be, but I didn't care!

And that was the month of October!

If you want to follow me on Instagram I'm madame_magar

Midweek Marvels - Kern's Pear Nectar

2013-10-24T20:23:00.002-05:00

Unlike some people I happen to love pears, and the very sudden arrival of the freezing cold fall temps in Nashville has put me in a very pear-y mood. So I thought this week I would pick out something very pear-y that I've seen around for years but never tried; Kern's Pear Nectar.

It comes in these teeny tiny cans all sealed together in a little wholesome six pack that made me feel like I was buying brewskies for a barbie doll. It was a weird situation. I was in to it.

Turns out though, that in all these years of passing Kern's Nectar by, I wasn't really missing much. It has the texture of orange juice concentrate plopped into water before a good mixing. And there isn't much impressive taste to speak of (pear or otherwise), and I think part of me was disappointed that it wasn't carbonated ( conditioned expectations with cans and all that). I guess if you just wanted a can of juice-y substance to hand a kid to keep him quiet this would work. But for this pear lover, it was really nothing special.

It's Sunday I'm In Love

2013-10-20T18:01:00.000-05:00

My ability to care about anything else has hit an all time low, I am way, way too caught up in this food truck life. I'm in the last few weeks of my last semester of culinary school and I don't care, self set blog posting deadlines keep coming and going and I haven't done a wonderful job of keeping them up, but this day job of mine has become way too much fun.

This job came along at just the right time for me. I've always been so obsessed with rules and schedules and meticulous details and this chaotic changeable work situation is so very much the opposite of all that. The very nature of taking this job on a food truck has put me in the position to take work when there is work to be done regardless of notice and it's done wonders for my uptight Capricorn sensibilities.

Just a little Saturday night square dancing

Working the truck has been a bit like having a wild, no good, motorcycle riding boyfriend, that you can never pin down to set up a date. He just shows up at all hours of the day or night, randomly, asking if you want to go out in an hour (or worse, right now), and your instinct is to say "no boo, plans are necessary" and yet you know that if you say yes and go that you will without fail have a marvelous, unforgettable time.

So you make a choice, do you say no, stay home, and get a full night's sleep? Or do you roll with it, buy yourself some leather boots, pull all-nighters, and learn the time saving benefits of drinking coffee in the bathtub? Some weeks I say to myself that this is too much, it can't possibly last, and that I will die young from lack of sleep, but every Sunday morning I find myself with stories to tell.

Bluegrass in the boonies

Even my hours spent baking, away from all the action are blissful. I put on a spotify playlist in the empty commissary, get elbows deep in biscuit dough and sing and bake all night, (or morning, or afternoon) until 300 or 400 or 600 biscuits are buttery golden brown and wrapped. Then roll on out to the next chaotic shift of bluegrass parties in the middle of the woods, brushes with country stars ( just keep it cool, don't let on that you know), and the inside of more port-o-johns than any sane person should see.

The problem of course now is finding a way to break free from the snake charming skills of the 'no good boyfriend' to deal with things like swiftly approaching finals, blog post deadlines, etc. I know that somehow, some way I will find a balance...

All the same, it's very lucky I get paid to do this. Food Truckin is one hell of a drug.

Midweek Marvels - Daelman's Caramel Wafers

2013-10-17T16:02:00.000-05:00

This week has been a BEAST. It's brought visits from almost in-laws, emergency rooms, and a brief encounter with a film crew. I am exhausted and it's not even Friday yet! Sometimes on a week like this, all that can help me is some quiet time to myself to enjoy a good cookie (or six). Luckily this week I found the perfect one.

Daelman's Caramel Wafers taste remarkably unlike I expected them to. I imagined something crispy and sickly sweet. It turned out though that these tasted like neither of those things. The caramel brought a soothing savory richness and the wafer cookie had a satisfying chew that I really needed. Yes, I said needed. And I meant it. Did things just get weird?

The overall flavor combination reminded me of one of my favorite guilty pleasure foods; super processed still warm snicker doodle cookies from the food court in the mall. You know what cookies I'm talking about. The ones the size of your head (and yes they must be this size). Sooo relaxing after a long day of wandering around in chaos. I guess that's what made these caramel wafers the perfect stress reliever after the week that I've had. They hit those sweet/chewy/salty therapeutic cookie spots just right.

If you find yourself having a week like mine, give these cookies a try. They just might help bring your center back. And if not, you can always add booze.

Or wait... I mean milk. Milk goes with cookies...right? *cough*Kahlua does too*cough*

Midweek Marvels - PB2 Dry Peanut Butter

2013-10-09T00:00:00.000-05:00

I had never before heard of powdered dehydrated peanut butter until I saw it on the shelf this week. And even now it has intrigued me to the point of confusion.

I've been having a really hard time understanding the idea behind the creation of this product. The label boasts that through this dehydration process that they have removed the bulk of the oil and fat from the peanut butter so that you may enjoy it in peace and light calories. But that just leaves me thinking, well... without the healthy fats, protein and creaminess that comes with a nut butter, what the hell is the point? I tried my best, though to reserve judgment. I mean, it could still be delicious, right? Peanut butter in new and unfamiliar form? At the store I saw two kinds, one traditional, no frills, dehydrated peanut dust, and another, chocolate flavored. I went for the chocolate to maximize the potential for success.

Once I purchased, bagged, and brought this strange item home, I read the directions on the back; "1 tbsp water for 2 tbsp peanut butter dust.". I tried it out, just as they said, 2:1 ratio, and found it still runny. So I abandoned the directions and attacked it by eye, Ovaltine style. Don't stop adding dust until it's thick enough to cut with a knife! About three to four more tablespoons later, I was satisfied with the thickness, and was ready for a taste. With quivering spoon I brought the strange paste to my lips, and tasted.

It was...uneventful. I thought, being dehydrated and ground, that it would have a highly intensified peanut flavor! But all I found was just the faintest hint of vague "roast". I didn't really get a peanut taste that satisfied any part of my creamy desires, and I didn't detect a chocolate flavor at all! It just sat there, in all it's disappointing blandness, slowly turning blacker, strangely oxidizing in the open air.

So...what's one to do with a 6 ounce container of dehydrated peanut dust?! I guess a trip to pinterest in in order....

2013-10-04T13:32:00.001-05:00

Hello friends! I've been murdered by midterms this week ( like, with an ax)!
So... regularly scheduled posts will resume next week (Wednesday)
See you then!

-m(!)

September Instagram - Life On The Road

2013-10-01T13:24:00.000-05:00

September was a wild month, I feel like I was all over the place! Here's what the past month looked like through instragram.

The month started out with a rare date night with the boyfriend. We went to see Midsummer Night's Dream at Shakespeare in the Park which was amazing as always. Nashville's Shakespeare in the park has been around since I was a kid, it's a free event, wonderful quality and I always try my best to go every year that I can make it.

While we were there we tried a strange new food truck for dinner, ( how can you pass up a truck that's so eye catching?!)

Later in the week I received a unique tip from a customer. It's supposed to bring me good luck if I don't spend it.

Found a friend at the Franklin Farmer's Market

More eye candy at the Farmer's Market.

We had a wedding one cool Saturday night way, way out on a plantation. The moonlight was so beautiful way out there in the middle of nowhere that I didn't want to leave.

The truck was at the Zac Brown Southern Ground Festival last weekend. I however was working the night shift at the commissary cranking out biscuits like there was no tomorrow ( there was another two rooms of tables covered in biscuits like this by the time I was done!). I made 1,400 that weekend! Whew!

Our new food truck is finally finished! We rolled out our remodeled 1974 Airstream the weekend of Zac Brown, then took it on a road trip to Birmingham, Alabama last Sunday ( it was my very first solo road trip!).

The drive from Nashville to Birmingham was gorgeous! Although the rest areas on the way down were a little... eccentric...

I made it home from my long road trip just in time for October to start.

And that was September!

If you want to follow me on instagram I'm Madame_Magar

Midweek Marvels - Jammie Dodgers

2013-09-25T00:00:00.000-05:00

I know that it's ridiculous but I had a full on fan-girl freak out moment when I spotted these Jammie Dodgers for sale. As I mentioned I have a life long obsession with British things ( television shows in particular), and Jammie Dodgers are mentioned in an enormous percentage of them ( not to mention over and over in Doctor Who) so I have always wanted to try them.

I didn't really know what to expect flavor-wise other than the obvious 'jam' part, which the back label perplexingly classifies as "raspberry flavored plum jam filling". There's a familiar quality to the jam filling that I really enjoyed, something a little like the filling in a pop tart ( though a little less sweet?). As far as packaged shortbread cookies go, I thought they were a little on the bland side, but it's possible that the combination of a highly flavored cookie with that jam filling would just be an overwhelming amount of sugar in one cookie. The overall taste combination kind of grew on me, they didn't strike me as particularly delicious on the first bite but the more I sampled the more I wanted to eat them. They reminded me in a way of how I think I would experience Oreos if I had never had them at all growing up. If I tried an Oreo for the very first time as an adult, I would find it to be a satisfying cookie to munch, with a sort of unassuming chocolate outside, and a sickly sweet cream filling, but not an earth shattering kind of good. Your history with the cookie I think adds a bit to your perception of it, I imagine I would love these Jammie Dodgers to pieces if I grew up sneaking them into school lunches, swirling them into ice cream, and demolishing sleeves of them at slumber parties.

That said, I didn't have any problem polishing off an entire package of these babies on shooting day, and even found myself making a special trip on the way home from school with a second package in mind.

It's not Oreo love yet, but I think we're halfway there...

Sunday Kind Of Love - Apples by Grace Schulman

2013-09-22T15:48:00.000-05:00

Rain hazes a street cart's green umbrella

but not its apples, heaped in paper cartons,

dry under cling film. The apple man,

who shirrs his mouth as though eating tart fruit,

exhibits four like racehorses at auction:

Blacktwig, Holland, Crimson King, Salome.

I tried one and its cold grain jolted memory:

a hill where meager apples fell so bruised

that locals wondered why we scooped them up,

my friend and I, in matching navy blazers.

One bite and I heard her laughter toll,

free as school's out, her face flushed in late sun.

I asked the apple merchant for another,

jaunty as Cezanne's still-life reds and yellows,

having more life than stillness, telling us,

uncut, unpeeled, they are not for the feast

but for themselves, and building strength to fly

at any moment, leap from a skewed bowl,

whirl in the air, and roll off a tilted table.

Fruit-stand vendor, master of Northern Spies,

let a loose apple teach me how to spin

at random, burn in light and rave in shadows.

Bring me a Winesap like the one Eve tasted,

savored and shared, and asked for more.

No fool, she knew that beauty strikes just once,

hard, never in comfort. For that bitter fruit,

tasting of earth and song, I'd risk exile.

The air is bland here. I would forfeit mist

for hail, put on a robe of dandelions,

and run out, broken, to weep and curse — for joy.

Apple and Sausage Tarts with Cheddar Cheese Crust

adapted from Bon Appetit August 1981 and Gourmet Sept 2009

While these tarts aren't the most attractive treat to be wrapped it buttery pastry (read:FUGLY), the combination of flavors is just too intriguing to miss out on. The sweet+savory combination of apples and sausage would, I think, make these wonderful for breakfast. Do give them a try. Although I will confess, the next time I make them, I'm going for a double crust!.

For the crust

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 pound extra-sharp Cheddar, coarsely grated (2 1/2 cups)
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
6 to 8 tablespoon ice water

For the filling

2 1/2 to 3 apples ( I used a mixture of Envy, Macintosh, and Golden Delicious), peeled, cored and diced
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup Sour Cream
salt to taste ( about a 1/8 tsp or so)
8 ounces of pork breakfast sausage, cooked and crumbled ( I used Jimmy Dean)

For the crust

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and salt, butter, shortening, and cheese and blend together either with a pastry blender or your fingers ( guess which one I prefer!), until the mixture resembles a coarse meal, with some smallish pea-sized butter lumps. Add the ice water, a tablespoon at a time, to the flour mixture, until the dough holds together when you squeeze it between your fingers. Divide the dough into two round, flat disks and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

For the filling,
In a large bowl, toss the diced apples with the sugar, salt, cinnamon and flour. Then add the vanilla, sour cream and sausage and toss to combine.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees

Roll out the pastry dough to about 1/8 of an inch thickness and cut a 5"x 5" square for each tart*. Fill each tart with 1/4 cup of the filling and fold the points in towards the center until they meet.

Bake at 425 for 10 minutes then reduce the oven temperature to 350 and continue baking for 35-40 minutes until the crust is golden brown and the filling is hot and bubbly.

Yeild approx 8 tarts

*A note on the tart design, only half of my tarts maintained the above shape with all that filling inside, the other four sort of did as they pleased with some corners flopping all around and others tight in place like soldiers. Were I to make this recipe again, I would be likely to either make enclosed hand pies or utilize a tart pan for uniform results.

Midweek Marvels- Mamma Chia Vitality Beverage

2013-09-18T10:36:00.001-05:00

I am beyond traumatized. I consider myself to be a bit of a dabbler into the hippy food world, so I had I thought, read enough about chia seeds in the past so that I wouldn't be surprised at all. I've used flaxseed in recipes before, so that fact that chia seeds are high in fiber and have a tendency to 'gel' liquids didn't seem that weird to me. When I saw this drink on the shelf, I assumed that while it included the gelling power of chia seeds that it must still count as a drink, just a very thick one. You know, like a smoothie or a milkshake with just a touch of that seedy crunch like you get from raspberry jam. This was a fatal mistake, expecting this item to go down in any way resembling a drink is partially what lead to a total system crash when the strange brew crossed my lips. Chia seeds don't just gel in one large mass, the seeds gel liquid individually around them so when I went to take a sip my mind JUST COULDN'T DEAL. I got a mouth full of little crunchy beads surrounded in an orb of liquid, like caviar, or super soggy pomegranate arils, only the juice they were encircled in wasn't a highly flavored bite of pomegranate juice, I was a sort of dull faint taste, like a sugar free jello.

After my second sip, I had to take a moment. I needed to wrap my mind around what this experience was supposed to be like and stop being creeped out by new and strange sensory experience. So I sat down, closed my eyes and took a slow sip, trying to take in this chia seed mess without preconceptions.
And yet... NOPE!

My final conclusion is that while it might take me a few more tries to wrap my mind around this oddball chia thing, the drink itself didn't have enough taste on its own,( it was supposed to have a cherry limeade base) to act as sturdy enough training wheels for a chia seed noob like me. Maybe a home brew would work out better? If you've had a good experience with a chia seed drink or recipe, please let me know in the comments. Chia seeds have a long list of health benefits so I would love to make friends if I could just find a little direction.

P.S. If you have any suggestions of new or strange foods I should try, shoot me an email at desireelitchford[at]gmail[DOT]com.

Midweek Marvels - McVitie's HobNobs

2013-09-11T01:19:00.001-05:00

I'm going to go ahead and confess that I have a problem with fetishizing European things. Maybe it's because I'm from Tennessee, that the UK seems so charming to me but it's a sickness I've learned to accept about myself. I love the slang, I love the television ( Mighty Boosh? Doctor Who?! Graham Norton!!!), I'm even getting pretty good at matching the lovely accents to the locations. So when I saw the teeny Union Jack on the top of this cookie box in the international aisle I couldn't resist. Plus, I mean, let's not even talk about the name. HobNobs?! What?!

Chocolate and oats seem like a combination that couldn't possibly conflict. Well really, if you put chocolate on most things you're pretty much sure to please, so even though this was a bit of a gamble it didn't seem too out there. Sadly though, I didn't love them. They tasted like a cross between a graham cracker and a Nature Valley Oats and Honey bar, except in place of the sweetness of either of those things was a strong sort of overly wholesome flavor, reminiscent of bran flakes, or even...hay. Call it my oversexed American sugar gauge but even the bit that was half dipped in chocolate wasn't sweet enough to compensate for a taste you would expect to find inside of box of something touting its colon health benefits.

In closing, I'd like to say a few things in defense of this little cookie;

1) My hopes were outrageously high with this one (see Fetishizing of the UK)
2) There's a possibility that this box was just a little bit stale (I mean, you never really know with large chain international aisles)
3) It does say 'Digestive Biscuit' on the top, which I could take as a little bit of bragging about colon health (even though the google says the term originated from the old-timey belief that the baking soda including provided antacid qualities.)

4) Although they weren't to my taste (or possibly just my expectations), McVitie's HobNobs did seem like they would go down marvelously well with a drink of something sweet and warm (should I go there and say tea?), if anyone has tested this out please let me know.

Also the boyfriend liked them well enough to steal them away one by one in the dark of night so there's at least one glowing review out of two here. Let me know your opinion. Have you tried McVitie's HobNobs? (why did that sound dirty?) Did I simply get a not so good box? Enrich my mind grapes!

Also, on the P.S., if you know of any weird foods I should try, send your suggestions to desireelitchford[at]gmail[dot]com. Let's let this madness continue.

Sunday Kind Of Love - When I Heard The Learn'd Astronomer by Walt Whitman

2013-09-08T00:00:00.000-05:00

When I heard the learn'd astronomer;

When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me;

When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and

measure them;

When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much

applause in the lecture-room,

How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;

Till rising and gliding out, I wander'd off by myself,

In the mystical moist night -air,

and from time to time,

Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.

Brown Sugar Maple Picard Cookies

modified slightly from this recipe in Bon Appetit December 2000

1 cup unsalted butter, room temp

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup real maple syrup, ( the good stuff)

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups AP flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Royal icing for awkward, untrained decoration (optional)

In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Then whisk in the maple syrup, the egg, and the vanilla extract until combined. Whisk in the baking powder and the salt, then add the flour and mix until it comes together to form a dough. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (and hour is better).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and remove the dough from the refrigerator. Roll out the dough to about 1/3 inch thickness and cut out the cookies with the cutter. Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes depending on how crispy you like your cookies. Enjoy straight from the oven or cooled and decorated.

Yeild 25 Picards

You can find the Facepalming Picard cookie cutter here.

Midweek Marvels - Peanut Butter Jam Session

2013-09-04T00:00:00.000-05:00

So I realize that this is probably cheating but... I found a new Ben and Jerry's flavor that I just have to share with you. It's called Peanut Butter Jam Session, and it's a deceivingly simple combination of flavors in a simply gorgeous way. Peanut Butter Jam Session combines Ben and Jerry's already wonderful peanut butter ice cream with swirls of crunchy peanut butter and an intensely flavored raspberry jam. This combination ordinarily wouldn't spark my interest, (What's so exciting about peanut butter and jam, right?) but it's executed in such an elegant way that the flavors hum together with the harmony of an old standard.
It's hard to pin down exactly what it is about this flavor that makes it such a hit,( is it the just right level of tart-sweet from the raspberry jam? Is it the perfect bite of salty crunch from the chunky peanut butter? Is it the possibility of secretly added narcotics?) but something in the combination is sooo satisfying.

I was really surprised by how much I loved this flavor, I typically rate fruity desserts lower just based on personal preference, but here... I'll even be so bold as to add it to my top 10 favorites. (What? Wut?!) I may be 77 flavors in, but I'm happy to find that every once and a while Ben and Jerry's can still produce a flavor that will dazzle and delight even the oldest of fans. Give it a try!

August Instagram - Food Truck Life

2013-08-31T20:03:00.000-05:00

I got an instagram account last month with an on the road photo blogging project in mind. Now I don't quite have the iphone situation all figured out yet, but here's a look at life so far.

The first two weeks of August were pretty slow, the truck was off the road while my bosses took a way overdue vacation, so I had more time on my hands for the finer things in life.

Outside things were pretty exciting. We got a new Doctor!

I was freaking out! Were you freaking out?!

And there was a blue moon. Also exciting - though of course it looked just the same.

My boyfriend and I started watching/binge watched/completely caught up on Breaking Bad, and in the madness I found myself suspicious of every chicken place ever...

(Wait, we don't count, right? I'm gonna say we don't count...)

Then of course came Tomato Art Fest.

By mid August it was time to work again.

5am - time to make the biscuits. I made 400 that day.

Using the street art to remind me where I parked downtown!

All lined up at Live On The Green

At Riff's Food Truck Jam. It's every Friday night and sooo much fun! There's beer, and bands, and free parking; it's Nashville's best kept secret!

Chef Karl's (super secret off menu) fried okra. It will blow your mind!

Perks of the business; you get to try food from all the other food trucks! Smoked pork tacos, yes yes YES!

And that was the month of August!

You can find me on instagram at Madame_magar

Midweek Marvels - Dobrova Rose Hip Marmalade

2013-08-28T00:00:00.000-05:00

I'll admit it, I was seduced by the word "rose hip". Something about it, two words so familiar in a certain way put together to form a name, it's always been appealing to me. Most of the time I see this word rose hip come up it's in a sort of herbal hippy setting, 'rose hip oil, to sooth your tension', so seeing the word wrapped around a Bosnian label for marmalade (here another appealing word, much more exotic than say 'jam') was a combination I just couldn't resist, even though I found it sharing a shelf with some of the more seedier looking sideshow attractions in the ethnic food aisle.

The sad part though is that for all the flourish of the title, not to mention the build up in my head, there really wasn't much to it. You know that flavor you ignore that every prepackaged, store bought jam has? The underlying base flavor of sugar and pectin and cooked fruit that you sort of block out and coast through on your way to strawberry or, apricot? That's all there was to taste. Nothing even fragrant, or herbal, or flowery. Just sort of... sugar held together. I even licked it directly off the knife to double check if maybe my biscuit choice was overwhelming a delicate whisper of a flavor, but the experience was the same. Tumbleweeds. As detrimental as this is to my fantasy of some delicious, exotic rose hip flavor, I've decided not to be satisfied with one bad experience, I mean wikipedia says that in some places it's a big deal, which you know... could mean something... If anyone has any suggestions of higher quality/ more flavorful rose hip confections please let me know. Rose hip WE SHALL MEET AGAIN!!!

Sunday Kind Of Love - Happiness by Raymond Carver

2013-08-25T00:00:00.000-05:00

So early it's still almost dark out.

I'm near the window with coffee,

and the usual early morning stuff

that passes for thought.

When I see the boy and his friend

walking up the road

to deliver the newspaper.

They wear caps and sweaters,

and one boy has a bag over his shoulder.

They are so happy

they aren't saying anything, these boys.

I think if they could, they would take

each other's arm.

It's early in the morning,

and they are doing this thing together.

They come on, slowly.

The sky is taking on light,

though the moon still hangs pale over the water.

Such beauty that for a minute

death and ambition, even love,

doesn't enter into this.

Happiness. It comes on

unexpectedly. And goes beyond, really,

any early morning talk about it.

* I would also like to add how happy it makes me that we live in a ridiculous, random world where for some reason, somewhere on the internet you can find Terence Stamp aka General Zod, reading this poem. I don't know if I've ever used this space to confess my ridiculous, undying love for all things superman, (if not, then I'm sure we'll talk about this soon), but the connection only makes this poem all the more perfect. If you can remember your Myspace password, you can listen to it here in all it's campy glory.

Buttermilk Thyme Biscuits/ Bacon + Egg Early Morning Sandwich

1200 grams AP Flour
24 grams Salt
60 grams Sugar
42 grams Baking powder
17 grams Baking soda
330 grams Unsalted Butter, cold and cut into cubes
75 grams Bacon grease, cooled
720 grams Full Fat Buttermilk
3 grams Fresh thyme, chopped
Melted butter for brushing

In a large mixing bowl combine the first five ingredients and mix well so that the leavening is evenly distributed in the flour. Cut in the butter and the bacon grease with either a pastry cutter or your fingers ( I personally prefer using my hands), then add they thyme and the buttermilk and mix to combine, ( either a wooden spoon or your fingers will work here, once again I prefer to just get in there). Roll ( or press out) out the dough until it's about a 1 inch thickness all around and cut and re-roll biscuits as desired. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet, brush the tops with melted butter and baking in a 425 degree oven for 12-14 minutes until golden brown and fragrant. Makes about 24 towering biscuits (like mine), or 36 human sized biscuits.

To make a breakfast sandwich, peel the biscuit from the middle of those flaky layers, add bacon, a sunny side egg and enjoy!

Midweek Marvels - Fever Tree Ginger Ale

2013-08-21T00:27:00.004-05:00

I have a very weird guilty pleasure; I love wandering around grocery stores. Whenever I find myself in a new state, or town or just happened to travel down a new road, I have to check out the nearest grocery store. And even when I'm just bored at home, I'll head down to my regular haunts and scan sections I have seemingly no use for like the sugarless aisle with foods for managing diabetes, the pet food aisle when I've never owned a pet. I'll even do this when I'm a passing through a Walgreen's or a gas station I don't know too well. I love to wander through stores, and I mean every aisle, to check out their setup, scan their frozen food section for any untested Ben and Jerry's flavors (of course), and see if they have anything I don't recognize. What kind of music do they play? What does the produce section look like? Is their deli or bakery any good (a rarity)? What kind of things are in their "ethnic" section (never what you'd expect)? For some reason I find the experience so extremely therapeutic for my food nerd sensibilities. I imagine it's the same feeling some people get from window shopping for shoes, or cars, or garden gnomes (yes! let's be friends!). So! As a total beard/excuse for me to indulge myself further I've decided to add another recurring feature called Midweek Marvels where I talk about new foods that I've discovered through my grocery geeking out/ insane compulsive behavior. Wait... uh.. hobby! My charming hobby!

This week I bring you Fever Tree Ginger Ale.

It probably makes me a weirdo to say it but ginger ale is my favorite soft drink. Something about how rough and mean it tastes compared to something like Pepsi or Fanta has always appealed to me. A harshness almost like it wanted to be liquor but didn't quite make it. I am always in search for a new, meaner, put some hair on your chest tasting ginger ale, especially since my all time favorite, Reed's Ginger Brew, has become increasingly hard to find in my area, so when I stumbled upon Fever Tree I thought I would give it a chance. The flavor though wasn't exactly what I was expecting, it has a gentle herbal freshness that mirrored its delicate gold packaging and dainty 6 ounce bottles. It was pretty much exactly the opposite of what I look for in a ginger ale, I was looking for a monster truck rally and stumbled into a tea party by mistake. Even so, it wasn't that bad. I added a sprig of thyme I had growing on my balcony to highlight its light, floral notes (yeah I know, how monster trucks is that?!), and I found it to be surprisingly refreshing. Would I buy it again? Probably not. Fever Tree is far too civilized for my taste, so I guess my search for a ginger ale strong enough to give me a whisky cough and a pair of low hangers, continues.

Tomato Art Fest 2013

2013-08-12T17:38:00.000-05:00

The East Nashville Tomato Art Fest was just as amazing as I hoped it would be. I magically manged to go this year because the universe loves me and my bosses were on vacation this week (what?!?). Although I managed to miss the parade again (WHAT?!) I still got to do most of my favorite things while we were there, (woo!) and eat lots of awesome food. Here are the highlights.

The Costumes!

The guy in the tomato suit was my favorite, he was so enthusiastic!

I decided to do it up right this year and wore red and green from head to toe. I scraped up a shoulder length cherry red *cough*children's Disney princess*cough* wig, and wandered around all day with an apparently very visible bra line, (me = honey badger).

The Art!

As usual I wanted to take all of the art home with me, these last two are some of my favorites, but since most of the pieces ranged in price from $100-$500 I'll just have to enjoy these pictures I snuck with my iphone. Ugh! I have to bring more monies next time!

The Food!

We started with dessert first because that's how I roll. Earlier in the week Jeni's Nashville tweeted about a special green tomato frozen yogurt that would be on the menu for tomato fest and I was terrified/excited to try it. It had a taste that was completely unique, sort of sweet and savory at the same time, and the yogurt gave it a sort of sour cream-y/ cheesecake taste that was really interesting. I didn't taste tomato exactly, which as a relief in a way, though I could tell there was a zesty flavor there that was surprising. It had a sort of an intriguing, acidic bite, like a tart key lime pie. I really loved it.

For lunch we hit up our food truck friends at the Grilled Cheeserie, they also had a festival themed menu item, The Triple Tomater Melt; Italian blend cheese, local heirloom tomato, basil and tomato aioli on tomato bread, which really hit the spot.

Not tomato-y but still delicious, we stopped by the Country Pop tent on our way out of the festival and tried their surprisingly tasty take on caramel corn. Country pop is made with a corn puff that's light and crispy (kind of like a Cheeto) and coated with a buttery, salty caramel coating that's heavily addictive. I was reluctant to try a sample when we first passed their tent but after that first taste I couldn't resist taking a bag of it home with me.

The Treasure!
As usual I had to stop myself from buying every treasure at every tent, filling my teeny apartment up with crazy knickknacks, but I was really tempted by the teapots and the soup can water cooler.

I can not recommend this festival enough, it is too much fun, and the perfect place to visit if you want to feel like you're living in a cartoon. The museum, the people, the food, it's just such a good time. I'll definitely be coming back next year.

Sunday Kind Of Love

2013-08-11T00:00:00.000-05:00

Love Sonnet XII- Pablo Neruda

Full woman, fleshly apple, hot moon

thick smell of seaweed, crushed mud and light

what obscure brilliance opens between your columns?

What ancient night does a man touch with his senses?

Oh, loving is a journey with water and with stars,

with smothered air and abrupt storms of flour;

loving is a clash of lightning bolts

and two bodies defeated by a single drop of honey.

Kiss by kiss I move across your small infinity,

your borders, your rivers, your tiny villages,

and the genital fire transformed into delight

runs through the narrow pathways of the blood

until it plunges down, like a dark carnation,

until it is and is no more than a flash in the night.

Cherry Frangipane Tart

75 grams granulated white sugar

4 tablespoons unsalted butter softened

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

45 grams almond meal

1 tablespoon all purpose flour

1 sheet puff pastry, room temperature, (store bought or make your own)

Approx 22 cherries ( enough to cover the tart, add more or less to taste), split and pitted

slivered almonds to taste, and powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a mixing bowl cream together the butter and sugar until the mixture is fluffy. Add the vanilla and the egg, and whisk to combine, then whisk in the almond meal and flour.

On a lightly floured surface, gently roll out the sheet of puff pastry so it's nice and even. Place puff pastry on a parchment lined baking sheet and then prick the pastry all over with a fork to vent steam and prevent irregular puffing.

Spoon the almond mixture onto the sheet of puff pastry, being sure to leave a 1/2 inch lip around the entire tart to form a crust. Top with cherry halves and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Next, remove the tart from the oven and top with the sliced almonds, return the tart to the oven and bake 10 more minutes and until golden brown*.

Serve warm or cooled, topped with a light dusting of powdered sugar ( or ice cream!).

*= know your oven! If it runs hot and you think it will burn the sliced almonds hold off until the last 5-7 minutes of cooking, so that the nuts on top only become toasted not, you know, toast.

New Blog Feature - Sunday Kind Of Love

2013-08-07T17:42:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking a lot about inspiration lately. Part of the trouble with keeping up a blog for any length of time is keeping up your inspiration, and in these days with so many people with so many clever ideas it's easy to feel intimidated and crippled and like anything I do would seem in someway like a rip off of... everyone. So what I like to do every now and then is take a step back from the millions of voices an opinions on one subject, and turn my attention to different forms of art to recharge my creative mojo.

A few months back I read an article on the benefits of memorizing and reciting poetry, and it reminded me of how as a result of a kind of old fashioned parenting, I had been encouraged to memorize poems as a child.
And even though it sounds like a tedious chore in a way, there was just something about memorizing and reciting poems that just felt good, like the chanting and the repetition not only caused the actual emotion of the poem to take root in my heart, but like a paint brush had changed the colors of my mind from shades of grey to wild lime greens, pastels, and disco silvers that made me feel alive.

Inspiration comes when the brain lets go of the task at hand and focuses on something else entirely, and one of the best ways to release your brain is to focus on something emotional. For me memorizing and reciting poetry is a magnificent way to escape from the logical, analytical, rational mind space to the emotional, free-thinking creative mind.

I've decided to harness the creative energy this pastime provides, and I've created a new blog feature to appear every other Sunday, called Sunday Kind Of Love where I'll combine the poem that I'm memorizing with a dish or recipe it inspired. It won't always be an incredibly literal interpretation, I anticipate that most of the time it might seem a little abstract, but my aim is to convey to the emotion of the poem with a dish that I feel represents the same.

I'm starting this project out with my all time favorite poem, Pablo Neruda's Love Sonnet XII, a poem that I've loved for years ( it's the reason the blog is named The Full Woman), though I've never taken the time before to memorize it.

I'm really excited to share this project with you and sort of mix things up on the blog a little.

See you Sunday.

-m

"Food Truck Life" and "A Possible End To Radio Silence"

2013-08-02T00:32:00.000-05:00

It's been a bumpy year for the blog, and really for the inside of my head. I got into the full swing of culinary school and the planning and execution of a job change and things around this space got sort of put on the back burner.

I'm a planner, and I thought that if I planned out a perfect pathway to my ideal future (school>internship>job) that I'd leave my childhood behind and I'd make the transition to responsible, respectable adult smoothly, but it hasn't really turned out that way. If anything I feel like going back to school and ditching everything to work on a food truck has just launched me into a second adolescence and I'm not too sure if I'm worried about it. I don't really know what I'm doing anymore, other than finishing school, or what I'm aiming for but I'm having an absolutely marvelous time traveling all over Nashville, getting to see places I never would normally even look. I've been able to try all kinds of food on the road as a result of lunch trips between double shifts, left over event food, and food truck to food truck goody trade. But the road is too unpredictable for my nice camera (aka "my infant son") and all this interesting food I eat rarely makes it home, or if it does makes it home in the dark of night, so my ability to blog has been hindered.

So in an attempt to solve my blogging problem and further prove myself to be a teen girl, I've ditched the technological equivalent of a speaking telegraph that I've been carrying around in my purse, finally, finally upgraded to a smartphone to use as an on the road camera situation, and now have both a twitter and instagram account that I intend to fill with the highlights of my travels.

Follow if you feel so inclined, you'll find me both places as madame_magar , and stay tuned to this space for some changes and more frequent updates appearing in the very near future.

-m

She'd Fly Through The Air With The Greatest Of Ease

2013-05-31T02:05:00.000-05:00

So, um... I quit my steady job of 5 years to work on my favorite food truck.

I don't really have a good explanation for this, in fact mentioning it to people has earned me plenty of sideways/confused/skeptical looks, but... I had to do it. I had to leave my old life behind and join the circus, there was just no other choice.

Figuratively speaking of course - Image credit

You know that feeling you get when you know you have to jump on an opportunity even if it makes no logical sense? It's a kind of pounding in the heart, a weightless heady spinning sort of inside tingling like a Spider-sense. I try my best never to ignore that feeling, I've had some of my best times in life because of that feeling, and some of my only life regrets so far have been because I've ignored it. I've been to New York, San Francisco, Bonnaroo, Culinary School and run two half marathons because of that feeling, I've met Jack White, Issa Rae, and the most unforgettable (though not always long term) boys because of this feeling (and against my better judgment), so I've learned at this point that while I may be able to make most of my life choices with my Capricorn analytical, calculating, tightass, emotionally removed mind, if I want to have a truly happy life, you know, from my insides, I'd better listen to the Spider-sense.

So I'm being ridiculous, I'm working in a mobile kitchen with no air conditioning sweating through my clothes in the 90+ degree Tennessee heat, I'm driving all over Nashville and Franklin to a different place every night. I'm tethered to my cell phone in case the week's schedule suddenly changes, I'm working under a highly passionate wildly sociable artist who changes the menu week to week, and I'm wearing my chef whites to weddings. It is an illogical, seemingly random choice, it's wildly changeable and it's the most fun I've had since I was 17.

Magic Tricks and Yellow Flowers

2013-04-09T14:06:00.000-05:00

Once again I've found myself wrapped up in a project because someone mentioned something to me, I can't even stop myself anymore, it's a sickness I swear. It all started a few weeks ago when I got in my mind the idea for a blog post for the first day of spring. I'd taken some inspiration from the yellow flowers that always bloom around the 21st of March to make something lovely and lemony yellow. But I swear, not a day after I did, and got myself all excited for spring, it started snowing again and it snowed for two more days after that. Oh well. So I put the blog post on the back burner, and I took these lemon bars over to my mother's house to celebrate the now only symbolic arrival of spring. Upon first bite she proclaimed these lemon bars to be the best she ever had. This of course pleased me to no end, and gave me the big head.

Later that same week I got to talking to my baking teacher and she asked me if maybe I had any gluten-free magic tricks up my sleeve for our cookie class in two weeks. As usual I got sort of flustered, and pink cheeked and made no promises, but on the trip back home I got to thinking about those "best I've ever had" lemon bars and thought that maybe they'd be just the thing to cut to pieces and turn into something new. Back at home I set to work to altering this lemon bar recipe so that it would work gluten-free. It was.... a fairly painful process with many many trips ( 6!) to the garbage can. BUT with a whole lot of patience and a little mad science I finally managed to produce a miracle just in time for class that was not just good for gluten-free, it was just plain awesome. So here we are, the most amazing lemon butter bars, two ways.

Regardless of the recipe you choose to make here, either gluten-free or the original, the assembly method is the same, and it's pretty simple too. Also, I've listed the recipe in grams because in my experience (which might not be yours) some of the weight amounts for the gluten-free flour blend were so very slight they wouldn't even register on my kitchen scale on the imperial/ U.S. setting, so I've listed the recipe in grams for the sake of accuracy.

Gluten-Free Lemon Butter Bars
Adapted from Rose Levy Beranbaum's Rose's Christmas Cookies
You can find the original gluten-y recipe here

Shortbread Base - Adapted from Gluten Free On a Shoestring

54 grams Brown Rice Flour
54 grams White Rice Flour
27 grams Tapioca Starch
36 grams Potato Starch
5.4 grams Xanthan Gum
3.6 grams pectin ( I used this kind)

14 grams Powdered Sugar
25 grams granulated Sugar
142 grams Cold Unsalted Butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

Lemon Curd Topping

4 large egg yolks ( 74 grams)

150 grams granulated sugar
94 grams lemon juice, freshly squeezed (about 2 1/2 large lemons)
Pinch of salt
2 teaspoons (4 grams) lemon zest (finely grated)
57 grams unsalted butter (softened)

2 tablespoons(14 grams) powdered sugar for dusting

For the shortbread base
Add the GF flour mix and the sugars to the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine, start adding the butter in small batches to the bowl and pulse until it disappears. Add all the butter and pulse until the dough starts to come together into a ball. Remove the dough from the processor, wrap it in plastic and chill for a few minutes ( 15 in the freezer, 20 ish in the fridge) until it gets firm. While you're waiting, preheat the oven to 325* F.

Line the bottom of a metal 8 x 8 inch baking pan with parchment paper that's just long enough so that a little bit of the paper hangs over the sides ( you can use this as a handle to remove the bars from the pan later. It makes life soooo much easier).

Once the shortbread base is chilled and firm, press it into the bottom of the of the parchment lined baking pan and baking in the oven for 25 -30 minutes and the top is lightly golden brown.

While the base is baking, start making the lemon curd topping.

*For the next step you'll need a double boiler, if you're like me and don't have a double boiler laying around you can ghetto rig one by nesting a sauce pot or a skillet over a simmering pot of water.

In the top bowl of a double boiler, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar, then add the lemon juice ( you have to combine them in this order egg-sugar-lemon juice, because the acid in the lemon will start cooking the egg too soon if you add it first). Cook the lemon curd, whisking constantly until the mixture begins to thicken and starts to resemble the texture of hollandaise. Remove from heat, add the butter, salt and lemon zest and whisk until smooth.

When the shortbread base comes out of the oven, add the lemon curd to the hot base, smoothing it out a little so it's even. Lower the oven temp to 300* and put the lemon bars back in the oven for 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely, then refrigerate the pan for 30 minutes to set the lemon curd completely before cutting into bars. Dust lightly with powdered sugar before serving. Enjoy!

"Tennessee Flavors"

2013-03-27T16:33:00.000-05:00

"Opry Clusters"

A few weeks ago my culinary program had their annual fundraising event called Tennessee Flavors, $50 bought you access to an entire building filled with tasting tables from restaurants, bakeries and breweries all over Nashville.

The culinary students came by before the event to help set up and assist vendors and some of us supernerds showed up early in the morning and stayed all day long helping to prepare desserts for the NSCC tasting table (can you spot my contribution?). I was soooo nervous to work with people I didn't know, baking food for a real event but I got over it pretty quick once I got in the kitchen.

"Mooney Pies"

Flourless Chocolate Brownies

Raspberry Mousse in chocolate cups (left) Chess Squares (right)

At some point during the night all the students got to take a break and sample some of the marvelous food at the tasting tables. I of course couldn't resist and brought my camera.

It was an amazing experience, super fun and we had a great turnout. All the food was heavenly and so diverse. I can't wait to do it again! I ended up staying until late into the night after the event to help clean up too and boy did I sleep like a corpse when I got home!

"The Call of Wild Yeast; A Story In Bread Portraits"

2013-02-21T18:14:00.001-06:00

I have never been more in love in my entire life.

Last year when I started culinary school, I didn't really know what I was doing it for, just that I had to do it. There wasn't really a clear objective in my mind when I signed up to go, just a very strong feeling pulling me in that direction. Call it silly and superstitious if you want, but sometimes you just have to do what feels right to you.The problem with going off of a feeling though, is that for a while I just felt like I was bumping around, going through the motions sort of waiting around for that next feeling that would point out what the hell I was supposed to do next. All year long I waited and waited, I went to all my classes, kept my grades up and felt pretty much like a fraud. Whenever classmates would ask me what my plans were after school I wouldn't have an answer.

This semester I started my first baking class, it's a required class and was a royal pain to get into. I had to rearrange my work schedule to be able to get up at 7am and drive across town to go and I still have to work all night long just a few hours after class is over. Despite all of that, I have never been happier than when I am in this class.

I feel absolute bliss every moment of the five hour class period; the science, the history, the smells, (even washing the dishes!)... I love it all. It helps of course that the Chef in charge of our class ( despite the hour) speaks passionately and knowledgeably about chemical composition, wild yeasts, and her own personal world travels in such a way as to make note taking unnecessary.

When I'm not in class I spent nearly every moment thinking and planning and dreaming about recipes and flavors and alternative flours. Every week we're given homework to practice what we made in class and bring in a sample, and every week I go home and make six or seven batches. I have five different butter slicked notebooks (in the kitchen, the bedroom, next to my purse...) filled with scribbles of dreamed up skeleton recipes. Index cards, junk mail envelopes, and old receipts with gluten free flour combination ideas and ratios scrawled over the backs. I even take my expensive camera with me to class! I've never felt so frustrated and exhilarated and utterly consumed by a thing in all my life.

That feeling I was waiting for, this is it.

I don't know exactly what I'm going to do after this semester is over, or where I'm going to go but I've got the pulling feeling again.

You must, you must be a baker.

Stay tuned.