Fall Harvest

Good morning!

I'm off to Blue Hill at Stone Barns today for the Harvest Festival. It is such a spectacular place that Chef Dan Barber has created. Hopefully I will find a bounty of yummy treasures, particularly of the sweet variety. (Maybe a wreath for the front door while I'm at it). It's cool and damp, and the squirrels are hard at work outside knocking down the acorns in the garden... Fall has definitely arrived. This always makes me think of the wonderful spicy smells emanating from the kitchen and the warmth which a stove can provide. Cookies and coffee cakes sound like the perfect compliment to a cloudy, brisk day such as this. We'll see where the baking mood takes me later in the day...and how caught up I get at the farm (Stone Barns).

In the meantime, I remember a Carmel Apple Spice Cake I made for a party at our home last Autumn. I believe it's a Martha Stewart recipe (whom I love dearly). It was such a simple cake to make...a moist, spicy apple cake with caramel butter cream. YUM! The pumpkins are made out of marzipan I sculpted and then painted with copper and umber petal dust. The stems are made of cloves. We certainly had fun demolishing this thing! It was a cool day like this one, and we gathered not only at the dining table but out in the backyard around the Charm Glow Chiminea (our humorously named fire-pit). There is nothing like sipping some wine or cider around a warm fire and nibbling on a slice of spicy cake.  For the recipe go to :
http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.fc77a0dbc44dd1611e3bf410b5900aa0/?vgnextoid=1914f47fc5e35110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default


 
For me, food is all about memory and sharing. Baking is a great way to show your love and appreciation for others as well as making an edible piece of art. I hope the images and stories I share will inspire wonderful memories of your own...memories of home and hearth, and friendships that grow stronger whenever we eat together.