Oh Sweet Breitenbush, your waters warm my heart.

family women's retreat 2008

As we headed into the Oregon Cascade foothills, the towns became smaller, and the road more winding. Soon, the only signs we passed were for camping grounds and mileage markers. Anytime I am on a road that can only be accessed in summer, when the snow has melted, the fallen logs cleared, and the washed out sections repaired, I know I am headed somewhere worth going.

I found the turn off, crossed the little bridge, and headed up in low gear, as the road changed from asphalt to gravel. I pulled up to the gate, and a grey bearded man stepped out from the converted camper to welcome us.

"Is this your first time?" he asked.

"It sure is!" I answered.

"Well, it won't be your last, I can promise you that."

He handed us a map and explained the necessary details: check in at the office, find our cabin, and listen for the dinner bell. "Then," he continued with earnestness, "follow this path here, behind the lodge, down to the river. You'll see a bridge. Go stand in the middle of the bridge. Face downriver, open up your arms to the sky, and let the river carry away anything you brought with you today that you don't need anymore. Then, turn around and face up river, and open your heart to what you are willing to receive while you are here."

Breitenbush was the fourth hot spring I was visiting in less than a year, on a quest to find a replacement for the long, rustic California camping trips of my late teen years. I needed to find somewhere to visit every year that would allow me to unplug and disconnect from the world. Somewhere with the essence of a camping trip, but with mattresses and toilets.

After the welcome message from my bearded friend at the gate, Breitenbush Hot Springs was looking promising. Until this point, none of the hot springs I had checked off of my list had warranted a return visit. Hours after leaving Sol Duc Hot Springs earlier that year, the smell emanating from my body prompted my friend to ask me, "Did you just fart, or is that your hair?"

I brought my mom with me to another hot springs, this time in Northern California. The grounds and the pool were beautiful, but signs everywhere reminded us of the importance of "quietude." By the second day, the "quietude" was deafening and we were both breaking into offensive fits of giggles at regular intervals.

On a trip to Portland, two friends joined me to check out Carson Hot Springs, in the Columbia River Gorge. There, we were segregated by gender, for their special soaking treatment. The baths, old, peeling, claw foot tubs, were pleasant enough. But afterwards, laying on cots, sweating in under layers of wool blankets, we were aggressively "hushed" by the heavy set attendant in a white uniform. I felt eerily like a patient in the TB ward of a poor house.

Up until my arrival at Breitenbush, nothing had hit the right spot between rustic and comfortable, affordable and all-inclusive. My expectations for Breitenbush had been pretty low, based solely on my $164 bill for two nights in a dorm cabin, all meals, entrance to the pools, yoga class, and evening activities. I mean, really, you get what you pay for, right?

But now, after six return trips, I am hesitant to write too lovingly about my favorite hot spring, lest too many people crowd out the charm. But, I shouldn't worry too much. The lack of television, cell phone signals, or meat on the table should keep most city folk away.  

A Freezer Full of Bread

Last summer, I spent a few days baking, and then enjoyed sweet breads from my freezer, for the rest of the year. Breads freeze very well, and defrost easily overnight on the kitchen counter. I have plans this year to stock my freezer again.

Soon, I'll be pulling out my recipes for Caribbean Zucchini Bread and Whidbey Island Rhubarb Bread. Now that I have the prized Cloud City Coconut Bread recipe, I will be baking at least half a dozen loaves this week. If you happen to have plans to see me this week, you have a good chance of getting a taste!

Cloud City Coconut Bread

4 cups sugar

8 eggs

2 cups oil

1 tablespoon coconut extract

6 cups unbleached flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups buttermilk

2 cups shredded coconut

2 cups chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Beat the sugar and eggs on high speed with an electric mixer, to incorporate air, until doubled in volume. This takes about two minutes. Add the oil and coconut extract and beat until well incorporated.

Mix the dry ingredients together, and add to the wet ingredients in thirds, alternating with buttermilk, and ending with the dry ingredients. Add the shredded coconuts and chopped nuts, and blend until smooth.

Prepare metal bread pans with butter or non-stick spray. Bake for 1 hour, or until the tester comes out clean.

To glaze the bread, melt two tablespoons of butter. Stir in 1/2 cup of sugar and  2 tablespoons of hot water. Add a dash of coconut extract. Whisk until smooth. Using a pastry brush, brush the glaze over the hot bread, after baking.

Makes 3 large loaves, or 4 standard loaves

* I found the cocnut flavor at PCC

Meat-Free Table

Lorna, from The Cookbook Chronicles, is going meat-free this week.

She wants to know if anyone will join her.

It won't be that hard.

Not in the Pacific Northwest, in late Spring.

I have salad greens, from the garden, coming out of my ears! I share, if you ask!

Maybe I will give it a go. Meat-free for a week wouldn't be a huge change.

Does this mean that I will have to cook separate meals for my husband? I wonder how many days would have to pass before he noticed?

Semi Homemade

A while back, I wrote a post about my semi-homemade gourmet dinner a la Trader Joes. One bag of balsamic fire roasted vegetables + cooked spaghetti + crumbled blue cheese = fancy dinner in a minute.

This week, I was going to make one of my favorite lunches, when I discovered another semi-homemade meal.

I love to make Thai peanut noodle salad, with whatever vegetables I have on hand (although my favorite combination is green beans and red bell pepper). I make a slightly spicy, perfectly sweet, slightly tangy peanut sauce, cook some spaghetti, and toss with the vegetables. Here is a my post about this very salad.

But this week, I was lazy. Well, maybe not lazy. What do you call it when you have a baby on your hip, you are cooking with one hand, and you haven't slept a full night in over a year? I was that.

I had the cooked whole wheat spaghetti left over from the night before. I had a handful of spinach from my garden. I had blanched green beans*. I just didn't have the will to make a sauce with more ingredients that I could count on one hand.

I opened the fridge to stare awhile. Then, I spotted Annie's brand of Shiitake & Sesame Vinaigrette salad dressing. I read the ingredients: sesame oil, vinegar, soy sauce. The ingredient label looks much like the ingredients for my peanut sauce, sans peanut butter.

I whisked the peanut butter and the salad dressing together in equal parts. With newly found motivation, I added a small spoonfull of Thai red curry paste. Voila! Maybe not my favorite sauce exactly, but perfectly fine enough for a tired mama.

* Don't be scared to "blanch" your vegetables! Boil a pot of salted water. Add the vegetables (green beans, broccoli, asparagus...) and bring back to a boil. When the vegetable turns a brighter shade of green (or about two minutes), drain them and rinse in plenty of cold water (or dunk in a bowl of ice water). Blanching vegetables cooks them perfectly for vegetable salads - tender yet still snappy, and all the better for soaking up the dressing. Blanching is also an important step before freezing your summer vegetable harvest for later use.

The Best Coconut Bread in the World

I wrote a few weeks ago about my friend Sharon introducing me to Cloud City Coffee’s wonderful coconut bread. When I asked the barista if he would share the recipe with me, he smiled as though this was a common question, and then said “no.”

I couldn’t let the quest end there. Thoughts of this coconut bread wouldn’t leave me alone.

For Easter dinner, I made a coconut bread for dessert, adding flaked coconut to a basic pound cake recipe. Dense and boring, it was not as good as Cloud City’s.

I searched the internet. I found a like minded soul, over at Tea & Cookies, who mused over the very same bread on her blog, in an entry titled "Coconut Bread, and a Mystery." She also asked Cloud City for the recipe. Her conversation went like this:

My neighbor said she once asked at the café for the recipe but got the brush off. Never one to be discouraged, this week when I was in the neighborhood I popped in and asked—ever so sweetly—where the recipe came from. Was it from a cookbook, perhaps?


“Nah, the owner got it from someone she knows,” the guy behind the counter told me. “She had to trade some recipes for it and promise never, ever to give it to anyone else.”

“She has to take it to the grave with her?” I asked, partially joking but not really.

“Yeah, something like that.”

I realized then that no amount of visits to Cloud City was going to bag me that recipe. I would have to come up with my own. Here is what I could tell for sure: it contains coconut and walnuts and seems to be glazed.

I browsed through my cookbooks to gather some ideas. I followed some of the leads from the other blogger’s comment section about the bread. I searched through the recipes of some of my favorite blogs. After looking over dozens of recipes, I set about making my plan.

There were a few basic methods to try. There is the Gourmet Magazine pound cake method, apparently Elvis’ favorite recipe, that requires more than 10 minutes of beating and no rising agent (baking powder or baking soda). Then, there is the Cooks Illustrated method of melted butter and a food processor. And of course, there is just the straight-forward method of beating together the butter and sugar and mixing in the remaining ingredients.

Next, I looked at the varying ratios of wet to dry ingredients. I also came up with a list of potential ideas for ensuring a really moist loaf. My list included milk, cream, coconut milk, yogurt, sour cream, and cream cheese.

After reviewing all of the ideas that I had collected, I wrote out four different recipes, each one a different combination of ideas, and headed to the kitchen.

• My first loaf used the Gourmet recipe’s method of prolonged beating, and added coconut milk to enhance the flavor of the flaked coconut.

• My second loaf used the Cooks Illustrated food processor method with melted butter. I used sour cream as an added wet ingredient.

• My third loaf also used the Cooks Illustrated food processor method. This time I used full fat plain yogurt instead of sour cream.

• My fourth loaf, adapted from a recipe posted in the comment section of the Tea & Cookies post, used much eggs than the other loaves, and had the addition of coconut milk as one of the wet ingredients. The original posted recipe called for milk instead of coconut milk.

I applied a glaze to all of the loaves, gently melting ½ cup of sugar in 2 tablespoons of milk. When the loaves were cool, I poured the glaze over each one.

 Now it was time for a coconut bread tasting! We had five expert tasters (and by expert, I mean, each one of them has been eating food for a very long time). I cut up the four loaves and anonymously plated them. I also cut and plated a piece of Cloud City’s bread, and threw it on the tasting line. Each taster assigned a “first place” and “second place” to their top two favorites. I am confident but not arrogant! I wanted to be sure that if Cloud City’s came in first (the most likely event), that I would still have a “winning” recipe that I could make at home.

As I predicted, Cloud City Coffee's coconut bread netted the Gold Ribbon, confirming its position as Best Coconut Bread in the World! A very close second place, for the Silver Ribbon, was recipe #4. My sister wavered between the two, eventually putting Cloud City in first place for flavor, but wishing that it had the slightly more moist texture of Recipe #4. Interestingly, both male tasters choose the recipe #4 as the winner and the placed Cloud City’s in second place.

 Something dawned on me when I got home later that evening. The two winning breads, the actual Cloud City loaf, and the recipe found amongst the Tea & Cookies comments, were very similar. I went back to the blog and read the comment section again. There it was, the recipe I had altered into my "Recipe #4," along with a little note, from "Denise."

"Denise said... I've spent considerable time here reading your log and living vicariously through your words. In exchange for the much-needed virtual travel, I think it's only fair that I share the coconut loaf recipe I've prepared for a few years. Thank you for taking me/us along with you on your journeys."

There was something about the way that she wrote about it being "only fair" to share her recipe. I started to wonder, this Denise, with no last name and no hyperlink to her name, who is she? Could she be connected to Cloud City Coffee? Could she be the anonymous friend who shared the original recipe and swore the baker to secrecy?

I emailed the Tea & Cookies blogger and asked her if she ever netted the real recipe for herself. "No," she said, "but let me know if you perfect it." Is it possible the "real" recipe has been RIGHT UNDER HER NOSE this whole time? I guess I have my own "Coconut Bread, and a Mystery."

Adapted from the mysterious "Denise's” Coconut Loaf recipe

 

1/2 lb. (2 sticks) butter (room temperature)
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs (room temperature)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup milk (or coconut milk)
1 cup flaked coconut
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut a piece of parchment paper, 9 inches wide, to fit the inside of a 9 x 5 x 3 loaf pan. Lightly butter the parchment paper and line the loaf pan, butter side up.

Beat the butter and sugar together for two minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for about 10 seconds after each addition. Add the vanilla.

In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Add half of the flour mixture to the beaten butter and sugar, mix well. Add the milk, continuing to mix. Add the remaining flour mixture. Stir in the coconut and walnuts until just combined.

Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour or until a cake tester comes out clean. You can use a knife, wooden skewer, or toothpick to test the loaf. It doesn't have to be bone-dry, but shouldn't have any wet crumbs clinging to the tester. Cool for 10 minutes in pan, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Combine remaining 1 cup of powdered sugar and 3 tablespoons of milk. Pour over completely cooled cake.

Keep, unrefrigerated, for up to 4 days, if it lasts that long!

UPDATE: For the REAL Cloud City Recipe... click here!

Key Lime (and Meyer Lemon) Pie

I squeezed ten pounds of Meyer lemons into my suitcase last week, on my way home from Bay Area.

While on vacation, I had made key lime pies, on request from my grandfather, using the fruit from his trees. For some unknown reason, my family only eats citrus pies for Thanksgiving. Why? The combination of sweet and tart is so satisfying after a nice chicken or seafood dinner.

My brother is usually in charge of making the Thanksgiving Lemon Meringue Pie, using our great grandmother's recipe. Her recipe is almost identical to the Joy of Cooking, although when making Grandma Ruth's pie, you must use Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk.

For my grandfather's pie last week, I substituted the key limes for the lemons. I couldn't decide if I should make a meringue top, or a whipped cream top, so I made one of each. This turned out wonderfully actually. Because I had enough egg whites left over from making the filling for two pies, I was able to make the meringue pie double tall!

Grandma Ruth's Lemon Meringue Pie, two ways

2 graham cracker crusts
1 cup freshly squeezed juice from key limes or Meyer lemons
2 tablespoons lemon or lime zest
(zest the fruit before you juice them!)
2 cans of Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
6 eggs, separated
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Mix together the 8 egg yolks, the lemon (or lime) juice, the zest, and the sweetened condensed milk, using an electric mixer, until well combined, about one minute. It will thicken as you mix it.

Divide the mixture evenly and pour into the two graham cracker crusts.

Bake in a 325 degree oven. After 5 minutes, remove one of the pies. Continue baking the other pie for another 10 minutes, or until the center is just set (not runny).

Using a clean glass or metal bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until it forms soft peaks. This means that you can use a spoon to make the egg whites form peaks, but that the peaks immediately ooze back again. At this point, add the cream of tartar and all but two tablespoons of the powdered sugar. Continue mixing until stiff peaks form, meaning that the peaks you make with a spoon retain their shape.

Pour the beaten egg whites over the pie that was baked for only 5 minutes. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, be sure to push the egg whites to the edge of the pie, all around. Form peaks around the top. Put the pie back into the oven for another 12 to 14 minutes, or until the meringue's peaks have begun to turn a dark carmel color.

Cool both pies and then chill in the refrigerator. Before serving, beat the whipping cream, and remaining two tablespoons of powdered sugar, with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Cover the pie with the whipping cream, forming peaks on top.

Cafe Fanny and Key Lime Pie

I just returned from a jaunt down to the Bay Area. It was so nice to see some sunshine, and not only SEE it, but feel it warm my skin.


You could tell we live in Seattle, because of our excitement over the baby seeing a real shadow for the first time. How can this be?! Yes, it seems that he had never really seen that sharp outline of his mama on the pavement that we call a shadow. Staring at the ground, he squealed and pulled up his little legs when this other-mama-shape approached.

 I squealed at delight by the attraction of roadside strawberries and sent my brother scurrying across the street to grab some for me.



I made two trips to Alice Water's Cafe Fanny in Berkley. Although I would have loved to go to her restaurant, Chez Panisse, the cafe seemed much more managable with the baby in tow.  The Cafe, with its neighborly feel, and local tastes, is meant to bring us back to the spirit of...

...an ideal reality where life and work were inseparable

and the daily pace left time for the afternoon anisette or the restorative game of petanque,

where eating together nourished the spirit as well as the body,

since the food was raised, harvested, hunted, fished and gathered by people sustaining and sustained by each other and by the earth itself.

 The pace of my week in California left plenty of time to hike the paths of Tilden Park, a place that I remember fondly from when I lived in Albany as a preschooler. I even got a little pink on my arms and had to break out the sunscreen for the first time since last year.

My brother enjoyed showing me his new apartment, quite nice for a first "real" place of his own.  I liked the East Bay neighborhood as well, and he tells me that Oakland is the most integrated city in the United States.



Back at my grandparents' house, I raided the lemon and lime trees and stuffed my suitcase full of citrus. On the last night, I made a Key Lime Meringue Pie and a more traditional Key Lime Pie with whipped cream. We took votes for favorites, but the count was split.



Now that I am back home, I seem to have brought the sun with me. After I get back from the garden today, I will have to tackle those lemons. I am thinking lemon curd is on the menu at my house this week.

The photo of the view of San Fransisco, and the photo of hiking in Tilden Park, were taken by Kathy Hellum