a bit of garden maintenance...

I've been working so much in the kitchen lately, I've neglected the garden. Granted it will be easier when all I have to do is open my back door and wander out in my pajamas to check on things. Soon, fingers crossed, soon.

On this warm morning I've driven over to the house and have several hours to spend in the garden. It was just enough time to tie the leggy tomatoes to their trellises, clear the bed that recently housed enormous squash plants (unfortunately, they got a bad case of powdery mildew and withered away), fill that same bed with Scarlet Nantes carrot seeds and pick the tiny dark seeds from my dried kale pods for future plantings.

I chuckle when I look down at myself. My fingertips are caked with chlorophyl and my arms are dusted with soil. What a grand way to start the day!

baby lemon bundts

Even when the majority of my week was spent whirring creamy cauliflower soup in the Vita-mix or searing juicy pork burgers for my clients, on weekends I find a sense of calm when I'm in the kitchen baking.

I love watching the flour fall in white heaps on the parchment as I drag my knife across the top of the measuring cups or the grains of sugar that disperse on the cutting board and sparkle as they catch the light. And I love peeking through the oven window to behold the magic of baking powder as it elevates the treats inside to new heights.

This weekend I experimented with the cast aluminum baby bundt pan I recently purchased from Surfas (a local restaurant supply store chock full of interesting food and kitchen items). With an abundance of garden lemons on hand, I decided a lemon bundt cake recipe was the ticket. The result were these wonderful little cakes. I'm not done experimenting though...they need a slightly brighter more lemony flavor. And while the organic powdered sugar does work for icing, it's not that beautiful snowy white color that stands out against the golden cake crumb. Another try and I think I'll be able to share the recipe. Until then, have a sweet day!

Masumoto's Elberta Peaches

There's a sweet peach fragrance clinging to the warm living room air; rows of sunshine colored Elberta peaches cover my pop-up table.

Four summer's in a row, I have been the lucky recipient of my friends Amelia and Ralph's peach picking invitation. And each year when I discover their email with the date for the picking extravaganza my heart skips a beat.

These peaches aren't any ordinary peaches. These organic peaches are from Masumoto's 80-acre family farm in Selma, California (approximately three and a half hours from Los Angeles). They are the juiciest peaches I've ever had, which means I stand over the sink when devouring them.

David Mas Masumoto (otherwise know as Mas), the wonderfully warm peach farmer and his delightful family came up with a brilliant way to share their Elberta peaches. They started a peach adoption program which means early in the year, those interested in peach picking, fill out an application and write an essay stating what they would do with the bounty of 'babies' (a term Mas uses for his peaches) that they will pick if chosen. Those accepted pay a fee for their tree and must commit to two weekends of peach picking which can be split with friends.

Our tradition starts out early Friday afternoon. We bring with us treats and wine that can be shared in the hotel room prior to dinner. Then we head to a local Mexican restaurant for super casual fare. The next morning we're at the farm by 7:30am and after Mas' explains the art of picking a peach, we excitedly find our tree, setup a ladder, buckets and boxes. We start by assessing the varied shades of orange, yellow, and green that determine the ripeness of the fruit.

While it's extremely satisfying finding perfectly ripe fruit on the tree, it's also acceptable to pick fruit that's not quite ripe. Slightly green or light yellow fruit will ripen sitting on a counter and will extend what I call 'peach heaven.'

We fill yellow buckets with warm, fuzzy peaches. The sorting process then begins. We line boxes with plastic sleeves that are numbered according to how many peaches will fit in each box and then sort the peaches by size and ripeness. All ripe small peaches go in one box while unripe small peaches go in another. We mark the boxes as to what's inside and continue this process until all the 'ready' peaches are picked from the tree, sorted and boxed.

If the pleasure of participating in this amazing experience isn't enough, Mas' family and a plethora of volunteers whip up a peachy breakfast that we eat under the sun dappled leaves of the peach trees.

Peach picking usually finishes by 10:30am and with full bellies and dusty cars piled high with boxes of warm peaches we head for the highway. All the way home there's talk of what delicious treats the peaches will take the shape of and how we can't wait to share our loot with our friends.

This is a summer tradition that I hope lasts forever.