First CSA delivery 2012 – Strawberry Rhubarb Cornmeal Bread

I’ll admit it. I love strawberry rhubarb. Anything strawberry rhubarb. Pies. Jam. Compote. Ice cream. Anything strawberry rhubarb. Or possibly just rhubarb but I do like the bit of flavor the strawberries give.

So I couldn’t resist something strawberry rhubarb with the divine rhubarb stalks and quart of fresh strawberries that showed up in the Golden Earthworm CSA box this week.

Strawberry Rhubarb Cornmeal Bread

Fresh baked loaves of strawberry rhubarb cornmeal bread using strawberries, rhubarb, cornmeal and flour from the Tuv Ha’Aretz CSA in Forest Hills.

1 cup whole wheat bread flour (or half white if you don’t like a stronger wheat taste)
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup sugar (I prefer the organic raw sugar)
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup chopped strawberries

1.5 cups chopped rhubarb (about three large stalks)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2. Whisk together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt in large bowl; whisk. Whisk buttermilk, butter, eggs and vanilla in smaller bowl. Gently fold the wet and dry ingredients together (using a spatula makes this pretty simple). Then fold in strawberries and rhubarb.

3. Butter and flour two bread pans (I do this after mixing everything together so the cornmeal can soak slightly). Scrape batter into pan; spread evenly between the two pans and level off gently.

4. Bake cake until knife or toothpick poked into the center comes out clean and cake pulls away from sides of pan, about an hour.

5. Cool and enjoy!  Or eat slightly warm with a little milk or coffee. Divine. Lightly sweet with a crispy crust and just a gorgeous amount of flavor.

This cake isn’t too fruit heavy so feel free to add in more of the fruit/rhubarb. I might just do that next time but you might need to add a touch more flour/cornmeal to balance it out.

By the way …. I need to give my Mom kudos for my rhubarb obsession. We had a little patch that grew each year outside of the house and I LOVED when she’d make a fresh strawberry rhubarb pie.  To this day, it’s my favorite pie and the perfect slice for a birthday celebration.

Big J on the new cat tree – hoping this saves the furniture

A Year of Home Ownership

Balcony, originally uploaded by MinorlyObsessed.

A year ago today, I moved into my apartment – the first piece of real estate I purchased. It has been an eventful year and I have to say, I’m a bit obsessed with my apartment and especially the balcony (pictured! that hammock chair is a little bit of heaven in Queens).

Boxes Everywhere with Crazy Kitties

But back to moving in. A year ago today, I was surrounded by about 30 boxes, barely knew where my clothes were and my cats were being insane. Chompy hid in the closet (I still have no idea how he got on the top shelf!) and Harley kept trying to run away. A year later, there is still one box that has yet to be unpacked (the box I never unpacked at my old apartment, where I lived for more than 10 years) but I’ve settled in. The cats haven’t changed at all. Chompy still hides in the closets and Harley tries to run away but just struts down the hall about 20 feet and comes back (typically).

Balcony Oasis

When I moved in, my balcony was covered in dust from the plaster/sanding work in the apartment. Seating was scarce – my dining room chairs were the only chairs out there. Today, I have a hammock swing, four other chairs, a table and a bench. Plus, I’ve been growing tomatoes and just found that I have four more coming in – awesome! I’ll have to figure out next how to grow tomatoes indoors during the winter because I’ve only gotten TWO tomatoes out of the eight plants I have out there. The tomatoes were, quite possibly, the tastiest I’ve ever had in my life. I guess there is something to be said for growing your own – and truly tasting sweet success.

Beige to Brighter Beige

When I moved in, my walls were still being painted by my friend’s fabulous painter, Luis. He did an amazing job transforming the red and green adjoining walls into a smooth, creamy beige. The walls still look great and my neutral, beige, beige and beige walls (yes, I selected three shades of beige for different areas in the apartment) are now covered in artwork (click through to see some of it in my “Home” set of photos on Flickr), including 10 pieces by my Uncle, Peter Davis (shhh – don’t tell him – I think it might be a secret that I have them!). Next week, I’m having a building painter come over to repair the ceiling because a pipe burst two floors above me. It’ll be good to have my perfect ceiling restored back to the flawless condition created by Luis.

Dozens of Parties

Less than a month after I moved in, I hosted my first dinner party on Thanksgiving. To get the space cleared, I had to shove a few boxes into my bedroom and couldn’t walk to the windows on the far side of the bed because of the mass of boxes. Since then, I’ve hosted a holiday party (complete with tree, kids party and adults party), wine club (plus a sake tasting), Easter dinner for 16 (and thanks again to D&R plus A&G for the extra table, which is being stored under my bed!), Mother’s Day brunch, a few other brunches and just had a dozen friends over a week or so ago to celebrate the anniversary of closing on the apartment (and taking on more debt than I’ve ever had in my life!).

SO, what’s next. Hard to tell but I’m looking forward to making more great memories here with my friends and family.

Please join me in toasting to a year of home ownership.

Cheers!

PS – thanks to Z&L (plus C&E) for the Raymond reserve cab. When I received this at the holiday party, L told me to drink it on a special occasion. I do believe that tonight is an occasion special enough for it. The first sip was just lovely and it’s getting better with each taste. Decanting the rest in my favorite decantor – the one from Mom & Dad – it’s fantastic and then it’s off the the balcony for me….