Plum Almond Tart, circa 4 am

Usually when I wake up in the middle of the night for a glass of water or a visit to the good old water closet, our cat Jinja will attack my feet in an apparent effort to kill his half asleep owner. When this early morning coma walk to the kitchen left me unscathed I started searching for our little kamikaze cat. That's when I found the screen of one of our living room windows pushed out and laying on the sidewalk below. Thankfully we are on the first floor so the jump was certainly no effort. Hopefully he finds a pretty lady feline friend, takes her out on a date, is a gentleman, and at the end of the night gives her a kiss on the cheek, tells her he will call her and comes back home.

So that left me at 4:30 am, unable to sleep...and what do you do at 4:30 am? Plum Almond Tart, please. And man, does it smell great in here.

Plum Almond Tart

*recipe gifted from a friend who is an amazing cook, mother and wife*

1/2 cup whole almonds

1/2 cup evaporated cane sugar

pinch of salt

1/8 cup or 2 Tablespoons runny honey

3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour

3/8 teaspoon baking powder

3 Tablespoons butter, in between firm and soft (I just cut up and set in a bowl on the top of the stove while the oven is preheating)

1 egg (room temperature. This is very important, so just place in a bowl of warm water while you are preparing the other ingredients)

4 medium plums, washed and halved (or sliced thin)

1 Tablespoon turbinado sugar (optional)

1. Preheat your oven to 375 F and butter a 9 inch tart pan (I use this one all the time)

2. Combine almonds, sugar, and salt in the food processor, and process until the almonds are finely ground.

3. Add flour and baking powder. Pulse.

4. Add egg, butter and honey. Process until a moist doughy ball forms around the blade.

5. Turn dough out into the tart pan. If the dough sticks to your hands, sprinkle in a little more flour and fold over until it is manageable. Press dough to evenly over the bottom of the pan, but not go up the sides.

6. If you halved the plums, place them cut side down in a nice pattern. If you sliced the plums, arrange them in a circular scalloped fashion. Whatever looks pretty to you.

7. Sprinkle with the turbinado sugar.

8. Bake for 40 minutes, until cake is golden brown.

9. Let come to room temperature before you enjoy.

you will just have to make it yourself-no picture, strawberry rhubarb crisp

*written 5/6, but forgot to post*

First of all, I'm a slacker. I have a hard time focusing on several things at once. The reemergence of homework and studying in my life has thrown everything out of whack. As a result I don't believe I have cooked anything that involves more than one pan and hardly any type of knife work.

My husband has eaten only eggs and cereal for dinner for at least the last 3 weeks. Myself, I have been plowing through a major amount of toasted multigrain bagels with butter and cucumbers, while studying at one my great loves, the Gryphon Cafe (and Coffee Roasters!). I don't think I have made anything more creative than some quickly sauteed greens, goat cheese and eggs. There was even one night where Ben and I ate, over one plate, a block of cheese. This is how off kilter my life has been as of late.

This week has been a little different. You know those type of good friends that end up bringing everyone together when they visit? Well my dear friend Katie is one of those people, and she came all the way from Fargo ND to visit us. So, as these things happen, we all got together for a Wednesday night dinner on a Thursday night, and I got to see many people I never see as often as I used to. Thank you to all my dear friends that make this stuff happen.

So I brought this spring-ish dessert and it seemed like everyone liked it. I have to admit because it is weighing heavily on my consious, I used frozen, store bought rhubarb...

...there I said it. I'm sorry spring for not reaping the benefits of your bounty. I blame whole foods.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp-101Cookboks, changed a little bit :

Topping:

1 cup spelt flour
.5 cup millet flour
1 cup sliced almonds, toasted slightly
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup cane sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
dash of cinnamon
grind of black pepper
2/3 cup butter, melted

1. While butter is melting, combine all ingredients in a bowl.
2. Pour butter into mixture, stirring with a fork until completely combined.
3. Put bowl into the freezer while you prepare the filling. Preheat oven to 375 F.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Filling:

1 lb strawberries, hulled, quartered
24 oz rhubarb, stalks sliced to 3/4 in thick (2-4 stalks depending on thickness)
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
scant 1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice

1. Sift cornstarch and sugar over cut strawberries and rhubarb in a large bowl. Stir until everything is evenly coated.
2. Drizzle lemon juice over fruit mixture and toss.
3. Lightly butter a 13"x9" baking dish and tumble the fruit mixture in to it. Spread fruit out evenly.
4. Remove topping from the freezer and crumble on top of the fruit, making sure to leave some big pieces.
5. Bake for 30-40 minutes until juices are bubbling a lot and the top is browned.
6. Let sit for 20-30 minutes before serving. Do not even give a taste before then...those juices are like lava straight out of the oven.

Serves 8-10 people, or just one