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A Wooden Watch, A Coffee Press, and A Fall Picnic
There is a manmade lake in the middle of my town, surrounded by nearly four miles of trails to walk. Mothers push their children in strollers and dogs walk in zigzag lines behind. Small patches of grass get muddy and sometimes snakes lay stretches on the path, baking in the sun. Lazy, they won't move for you.
The water is dammed, controlled. You can sometimes see the bursts of mist from deer that hide just behind the tree line. You can almost feel their skittish energy. You want to say sorry and that you didn't mean to bother them. You're just there to get some fresh air, too.
I used to walk this park with my best friend, Carissa. When she worked at a country craft store and I worked at a gas station. Before I went to Italy and we talked about the boys we hated. I took my boyfriend there the first time he visited my town; I said it was the only place that made me feel like I was really home. The lake is landlocked and the beach is roped off, the roads are blocked and there are parts of the trail that aren't shaded. There's a homeostasis that makes you whisper, branches that you could twist your ankle on if you were walking any faster, and the mosquitos bounce from left to right in the summertime.
And now it's November and gets dark at four. The light dies and I have an electric blanket I keep plugged in all day. But this weekend we went and had a picnic before it got too cold, too rainy; before we got too sleepy. My mother brought home rugelach and it inspired the donuts that I baked one morning. Apple and almond for fall. A hot cup of coffee and a boy's arm to keep me warm. It's November now and it gets cold at four; but that's still eight hours to dream about a future and a farm and a hand to hold.
Almond and Apple Rugelach Donuts
Ingredients for Doughnuts:
- ¾ cup water, warm to the touch
- 1/3 cup full-fat cream cheese, left out for half an hour to be closer to room temperature
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- 2 ½ teaspoon active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 cup AP flour + additional for kneading dough
- 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- Almond-apple filling (recipe below)
- Vegetable oil for frying
- 1 cup cornstarch
Directions for Doughnuts:
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together water, cream cheese, ¼ cup sugar, yeast, and salt. Allow to sit for five minutes
- Next, sift together flour and cinnamon
- Then, use a wooden spoon to gently stir while slowly pouring flour into your wet ingredients. Do this slowly, stirring in a large circular motion, and do not add an additional cup until previous is completely mixed (depending on altitude, you may require a little more flour than what is listed)
- Dump dough onto a floured work surface and knead for three or four minutes, until dough is light and springy (it will not be a big ball of dough)
- Place into a greased bowl with a tea towel cover to rest for thirty minutes
- While dough is resting, prepare your station. Lay out your parchment paper on a cookie sheet to easily assemble your donuts. Also, have your cornstarch poured onto a plate to dip your dough in, and have your almond-apple filling at the ready
- When thirty minutes have passed, roll dough out into a large rectangle, about a quarter inch thick
- Using a doughnut cutter, cut out about 20 rounds
- Place half of these rounds on your prepared parchment pan and, using a small rubber spatula or spoon, rim your dough with a small amount of your almond-apple filling. Repeat with remaining dough
- Now, top these prepped doughnut rounds with the remaining half that you had cut out but set aside. Press down slightly and pinch the edges to hold them together (they may be a little messy, so work slowly
- One by one, take a doughnut and dip into your cornstarch, replace back on prepared pan. Repeat with remaining doughnuts
- Now, heat about an inch of oil in a pan and bring to 375*F (if you do not have a thermometer, you can pinch off a bit of dough and carefully dip in the oil to see when it begins to bubble around the dough)
- Now, carefully place doughnuts, two at a time, into your pan to fry. Each side should only need about 20-30 seconds max, but keep checking the edges to ensure they do not burn
- Remove using tongs and place onto paper towel-covered plate to drain off excess grease
- Repeat with remaining batches
- Eat immediately while still warm, or store in an airtight container for up to two days. Enjoy for breakfast with coffee and confectioner’s sugar
Ingredients for Almond-Apple Filling:
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup almond meal (a fine one works perfectly here such as Bob's Red Mill)
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 TB apple butter
- ½ TB orange juice
- Half of apple, cored
Directions for Almond-Apple Filling:
- Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until smooth
- Use immediately with doughnut recipe above
This post was sponsored by two awesome companies. The first being American Press. American Press provided me with their press and I have honestly used it probably ten times in the last two weeks. The beauty of this product is twofold: the first being how easy it is to use and clean (a huge advantage for French Press users), but also how full-flavored the coffee is. As many of you know, I'm a Folger's and Mr. Coffee kinda guy, but I can enjoy American Press because it can elevate my experience without any fussiness.
Secondly, JORD wooden watches were an inspiration for this post, too. These watches are superb quality and you can tell that nothing is spared in their design. What I particularly like about these watches is that they give take a classic piece and only add to its design, not taking away or making a caricature of the watch's integrity. I chose the Frankie in Dark Sandalwood because I think it went most with my personal style, but any of their watches would make a great gift. I partnered with JORD to offer my readers $25 their first purchase with this coupon. I definitely think these watches are great gifts for the person in your life that has everything, but you still want to make them feel special. I hope the coupon code is your opportunity to try them out!
NEW ORLEANS.
I spent last week in New Orleans, just miles from a flood zone. I work for a company that has annual meetings, I worked 14 hour days to prove my worth. Notetaking, business cards, and a lanyard with my name and title printed on it. But all I could do was dream of food. I've become a hungry soul and I spend my time mapping out the fastest routes between happy hour and the main course.
I worked until Thursday, then found a boy waiting for me at a coffee shop a block away. We napped and ate oysters for three days. One day, we spent three hours finding the perfect place to eat; one night we wasted a hundred dollars at the casino in eight minutes. I've never been good at gambling, I take too long to make decisions.
My time in New Orleans is a tally of numbers, receipts, coupons I found online to save a dollar. Fourteen cab rides, eight glasses of a cold and cheap Pinot Grigio at the hotel bar. Eleven macarons and two scoops of almond gelato. Seven hours of sleep in a warm, warm bed and a two hour nap when I couldn't adjust to the humidity. Eighteen tarot cards I picked from a woman's deck. She told me I would be happy and never settle down. That the months of October and April are important to me. That the number 95 will change my life in some unknown way.
It's been a week since we left New Orleans and I'm not sure if I'll go back soon. But I enjoyed walking with no agenda and no pretense and no reason to hurry. I enjoyed going to bed full and sleepy and smiling. I enjoyed the traces of powdered sugar that seemed to settle in every wrinkle of my black shirts. I may not go back anytime soon, but I'm glad I stayed a few days after my conference, where I was tired of showing my worth.
Where I ate.
Lüke - Great happy hour and oysters. Didn't realize how good this place was, as I took it for granted being across from my hotel
Morning Call - As A Brown Table mentioned, this place is a nice alternative to Café du Monde and you won't feel so rushed
Café du Monde - Like I said, not worth the hype, as sad as I am to say :(
Mariza - Honestly? Probably my favorite meal. Perhaps I was craving some comfort Italian, but they really delivered on service and quality
Mr B's Bistro - One of my work dinners was here. Everyone had a great time with the BBQ shrimp
Red's Chinese - For some reason, I always crave Chinese when I'm on vacation and this was a great local place to chill for a bit
Commander's Palace - This was one of those places I felt we HAD to go to and I'm a sucker for a multi-course meal.
Willie Mae's - It really was the best fried chicken I had in town
Beardy Boys: Pecan Choco Ice Cream Affogato
Before I moved away, I spent a summer not working. I did it to read, to tan, to dye my hair and pierce my ears, and try my damnedest to reconnect with my mother. I drank a lot of coffee, heavily-creamed and sometimes four sachets of artificial sugar. Water bottles thrown in a corner, they piled up. I didn’t work. I smoked a lot of cigarettes then; stubbed them out under a rock next to my sister’s Marlboros. I was leaving for the West Coast when my boyfriend and I had saved up enough.
We never saved up enough, though. Never had enough to fly home unless someone else was paying my ticket.
And now I sit back in my old house. Four years later and working from home. Coffee is black and my hair is a different shade of blonde than what it was. I hide a pack of cigarettes in a grey duffle bag. Mosquitos kiss my feet when I dangle them off the porch swing. The constant hum of the rural mower drowns out the crickets, the peepers, the owl that built a nest where lighting struck the oak out back. I sit in air conditioning and feed my mother’s nine cats. My hair is a different shade of blonde four years later, but I have my father’s laugh lines and I notice them in this summer heat against my tanned face.
Pecan Choco Ice Cream Affogato
Ingredients:
- 6.5 or 7 oz nut butter (my preference is by far Beard Boys nut butter and here I used their Pecan Choco for a nutty, buttery taste against the coffee)
- 12 oz sweetened condensed milk
- 1 ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 cups strong black coffee, freshly brewed
Directions
- In a large mixing bowl, use a rubber spatula to mix together your nut butter and the sweetened condensed milk. Set aside
- In a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, whip your heavy cream on high until stiff peaks form
- Put a little bit of the whipped cream into the condensed milk mixture to lighten it and then dump the condensed milk mixture into the whipped cream
- Fold together gently but thoroughly (it may deflate a little, but that is better than having pockets of whipped cream and no pecan butter!)
- Pour into a loaf pan and freeze for about 6 hours before serving
- When you are ready to serve, scoop ice cream into your bowls (the ice cream will not firm up to be hard due to the condensed milk) and pour your coffee over
- Serve immediately.
- If you are not making an affogato or have leftovers, ice cream can stay in freezer (covered with a bit of plastic wrap and aluminum foil) for 2-4 weeks, but check for freezer burn after week one
This post was sponsored by my partners at Beard Boys, Inc. Their nut butters really are superb and provide a natural, delicate flavor in every spoonful of this dessert. Check them out on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
A New Project and A New Website
Two different people. I used to be this kid who wore black, that wore my grades as a mark of honor, who would smoke a cigarette and hold in my cough until no one was looking. I used to live in a world of dichotomies, I took one direction, judging those who took the other. Bitter and self-centered, I hated everything that wasn't within arm's reach, anything I had to work for. I was this lazy with all the best relationships I've ever held onto--from Nolan to my mother. I was like this in law school, in California. I left this person there, too.
In the last two months of living in Texas, living alone for the first time, I've grown into a new person. Soft and muted blues, greens, greys--I don't hide behind a layer of black, a 4.0, or in a puff of smoke, indiscernible from the fog that hung over Pittsburgh most mornings. I appreciate beauty and tones, floral and minimalism. I respect the curated life, the plant you buy for decoration and how it differs from the one you buy for herbs. I work with my hands now. I feel a vernal change in my bones to produce, to craft, to create. I have callouses that have softened over from when I would hold a pencil too long, back in the day when I held a pencil to write at all. My working hands are toiling again. I'm creating candy bars, confectionaries, memories. Someone's breakfast, someone's "cheat day".
I appreciate a good cup of coffee above most things, and that's something that hasn't changed between the old and the new life I have. That is why I went to Press Coffee with a simple idea: I want to sell candy. A simple stand, a couple dollars a bar, for an hour or two to get my name out there and have some fun doing it. Press was, to me, the perfect venue. From its wonderfully curated decor to its light-dappled cafe tables, Press understands appreciating the small, everyday victories of the perfect cup of coffee, the first bite of a crisp pastry, finding the just-right leather chair to sit in and enjoy the morning for what it is: an opportunity to create, relax, not take life too hard or seriously. I would have never thought of the generosity that would come of Natalie offering to give me liberty on stocking them as often as I could produce them.
I am dropping off my second order this morning. Twenty-seven bars of Matcha, Cookies and Cream, and Peanut Butter. They're delicate and snap when you break them. They're wrapped in the same designs I used for Nolan's Valentine's Day present, florals for spring*. They're one of the simple pleasures we allow ourselves to spend money on, and maybe one of my customers will share his with someone he loves today. I hope, whoever buys one, they'll recognize the attention each bar got from me. From cutting the wrappers to measuring the foil, to getting the perfect process of tempering and cooling, each bar was made from my hands, hands that once held pencils too tightly, cigarettes too loosely, and another boy's hand too recklessly.
If you're located in the San Antonio-area, stop by Press Coffee at 606 W French Place 78212, and maybe I'll see you there, too! (Usually for only, like, five minutes in the morning before work, though).
*groundbreaking
And finally, a special thanks to Samuel Nuñez for creating such an amazing logo, that inspired so much of my work this last month--from the candy bars to actually making this website a thing. Go check him out, too!