Watermelons in the Sky

I am finally ready to do some blogging about our recent trip to the Southwest a few weeks ago. It is a part of our vast country that I have never experienced and it was great to explore with Jeff. Part was a winter getaway and we were indeed lucky to grab some fabulous warm weather. But it is really a different planet from our Land of Lakes in MN. Monochromatic browns and life moving much slower all around.

 

One of our experiences was a must-do and something I never even knew was there. The lovely Sandia Mountains wrap the city of Albuquerque to the East in a vast panorama. They are the southernmost remnants of the Rocky Mountains as they turn to rolling desert. But these are indeed giant mountain crests nonetheless. If you aren't aware - Sandia is Spanish for Watermelon. They get this name due to the Granite flecked with Potassium-feldspar crystals that make up the rocks; they turn to a coral red glow when the sun sets to the West and reflects back on the majestic hills. It is even magnified more by the ridges of Pinon, Juniper & Ponderosa Pines at the top which give it a watermelon rind rim. Like any of these huge ranges, it is difficult to capture the scope in photos. But up close you can see the details of the yuccas, sumac & prickly pair that scatter across the rocks.

We made the ambitious trek outside of town to the range and took the Gondola cable car ride up to the crest. The Sandia Peak Tram is the 2nd longest cable car built in the World! It starts at the foothills and travels 2 miles up the mountain via 2 giant towers over the major apexes. There are two cars holding around 50 people that operate in tandem known as a jigback tram - when one goes up, the other returns and then cross mid-point. It is a fifteen minute ride each way which is just the right speed to take in the incredible views through the massive glass windows on all sides. Building was completed back in 1966 with several renovations over the decades since. It required over 5000 helicopter trips to deliver manpower and materials to strategic plateaus along the ridge as it was being built. One cannot fathom the amount of cable over the length of the trip or the tension required to lift that much weight back and forth. It was sheer adventure.

 

At the top is a visitors center, a lodge and a fine dining restaurant to savor the views. Prime time is at sunset, but we were only able to schedule during the late afternoon which just started to show the emergence of the brilliant colors going into dusk. While we were up at the top we  took in a hike on the Crest trail. Temps were in the 60s on the ground, but near the top had retreated to 15° cooler . For us this felt warm and was no issue. However skiing season had just recently come to a stop on the East side of the hills as most of the snow had gone. But you could see how treacherous the trails were as pockets of remaining ice and mud surprised you in the dark crags where sunlight does not hit. Deaths and exposure are not unheard of on the miles of trails over the top. We felt we got some great views and had our adventure.

I was amazed at the typical tourists that rode the tram up, then returned to the queue to immediately go right back down to base. It seemed a waste to not take in the mountain air and open views on this perfect February Day. Watermelons in the Sky indeed. 

 

Final Fantasy XVI Pets

I am not, nor have I ever been a dabbler in video games. However, I am a huge fan of handsome dogs in costumes. Now seems to be a great time to flood the internet with animal pics. Cats generally hold the market, but there is no shortage of dogs either.

This was an old draft going back to June of 2023. There was a lot of excitement about the release of Final Fantasy XVI, the 16th reiteration of the popular series for PlayStation. It is a world where combat intersects with magic. The realm is the continent of Valisthea with inhabitants of bird creatures and monsters.

This post is intersecting the Final Fantasy world with a Pet contest that occurred in Syndey, Australia. Owners were challenged to outfit their dogs as some of their favorite Eikorn monsters. Torgal is the trusty dog companion in the game, a fiery Silver Husky. The event was sponsored by a local rescue with, of course, a prize-winning gaming system along with the new release. 

So what I can share is dogs with feathers, capes, shields and crowns. Enjoy them.

Christmas cookie cutters

I saved this article from last year and have been waiting the entire time to post it now. Like many of you, I am an avid baker year-round. But at holiday time, I do tend to up the quota. I balance between going back to favorite recipes and then searching stacks for something new to create. Cookies are at the top of this quest. Last year I think it was some Mexican Anise cookies and an Apricot/ Oatmeal Bar which sounded better than they actually tasted.

But one staple are always the Cut-outs. I have an old family recipe that makes a LARGE quantity. I halve that and it is still enough for us. I was also gifted a smart Wilton recipe that does not require chilling and produces a softer sugar cookie. And also, a standby of gingerbread that makes some really sweet red fox cookies in addition to the gingerbread men. A few years back I was gifted a set of Nija cutters that were also fun for the darker dough.

Just like cufflinks, cookie cutters have been a collectible for me. Something small to bring home after. They are small and easy to store. I have a lobster and crab from a trip to Providence decades ago. A hibiscus flower from Florida. Roller skates from a winter trip to New Jersey years back. A whole collection of leaves and acorns which are great for fall colors in a batch. Many snowflakes and Christmas trees. I have been thinking about a simple batch of various trees this season in different shades of green. How about a holiday sweater cookie cutter for silly decorating. I even have a series of bones and a fire hydrant for doggie treat bakes. I have a plastic sock cabinet in the basement with three drawers to keep them all sorted. And then I have a small cabinet for all the baubles, glitter and sugars on hand for decorating.

The article I am featuring is not about the cookies themselves, but the Cutter. Yes, there are the plastic and silicon "variants." But there is nothing that can take the place of the flimsy thin tin-plated steel cutters. This is a feature highlighting the Clark family from Rutland, Vermont. Ann & John Clark, along with their son Ben estimate they have a market on a very small pool of cookie cutter manufacturers in the US. They make around 65% of everything that is made and sold here. 

The article talks about how they pivot to spot trends and what new original shapes they can add to the classics that come back year to year. I am hoping you are able to see the short video loop at the top of the story that shows the mechanical process of bending that thin steel ribbon easily and perfectly into a little tree. The Clarks can make 600-1000 "prints" an hour which makes it economical. They also speak to the advances in 3-D printing which will likely put a permanent crimp into their market. It also refers to the National Cookie Cutter Museum in Joplin MO. And explains the art of a design; they need to have minimal edges with no places of narrowness where the cutter can easily bend or burn the dough while baking. For me it was a moment of wonder where 'I never thought about where these came from." Buy a new and unusual shape this season and mix up a batch of bright colored frosting for a day of diversion in your kitchen!

NYT Times cookie cutter feature 12/23

Ann Clark cookie cutter website.

American Horror Story Villains

We have been streaming some Halloween/ scary films and series over the last few weeks. One regular for me is the collection of American Horror Stories - which are the short single episodes in addition to the longer series. Ryan Murphy really has the genre pegged in terms of twisting up the storylines. But what I continue to find amazing, is how he constantly resets the specifics of it over and over. Each series has a different look and cinematography. The writing styles adapt to the concept whether it is Slasher, Gothic, Vampire - whatever.

I was just reflecting on what it means to be a Villain in one of the Seasons. And the way they are written. There is almost always more than a single killer with plot twists and layered characters. These are some that really still frighten me:

Freak Show (Season 4) was just bizarre from the get-go, set in a traveling carnival in 1952. It was a splash of color and blood at every turn. Jessica Lange is the eerie owner Elsa Mars, but we have bearded ladies, demented ringleaders, of course mad clowns. But for me it was the introduction of Finn Wintrock as Dandy Mott, a dangerously disturbed rich boy who took cruelty to a new extreme.

Hotel (Season 5) was set in a fictional setting of the Hotel Cortez in LA which took inspiration from a real place, the Cecil Hotel which was constructed by an architect as a maze where murders and crime took place before discovering them all. The series was of course opulent and involved time travel which featured real serial killers from history. At the center was Lady Gaga as the Countess with her carnal vampire instincts. Hordes of beautiful men and lusty sex. But for me it was Sarah Paulson's portrayal of Sally McKenna, also called hypodermic Sally as an addict of drugs, sex and men who was brutal and surprising by the saga's end.

1984 (Season 9) opened a whole door of vintage slasher horror with young teens being crucified en masse at a summer camp called Camp Redwood. Of course, Jingles the clown is back in all his cringing gore. It is hard to keep up with all the multiple killers and body count amidst the 80's soundtrack. But for me it was Leslie Grossman getting her full star turn as the insane owner Margaret Booth who owned the camp seeking revenge from her own childhood trauma. 

Roanoke (Season 6) sprawled over centuries and lacked focus to hold my attention. But going back to witchcraft trials in early Colonial Days gave it a unique Appalachian backdrop for something new. Kathy Bates has been a fixture on this series and played many outstanding roles. But I think her Agnes Mary Winstead was absolutely her most memorable. Seeing her wield both a rifle and hatchet in peasant outfits was a sublime meeting of Sweeney Todd and Hocus Pocus.

Cult (Season 7) to me was the most devastating of all the iterations. It was set in real time after the 2016 election and bought into the massive political fears that continue to this day. It was rooted in fear and violence which to me were so much more real than gore. And it showed the mental issue of wanting to conform and fit in with such a complexity. Evan Peters has been in almost every season, but here he was just diabolical. As he took on a handful of serial killers over the years and then melded them all into his own role of Kai Anderson and infected the soul of our entire culture. His blank stare was soulless. Absolutely haunting.

If you have favorites of you own, please let me know. There are so many great actors in compelling roles it is impossible to sort through them all.

Beaches are Open

Because I grew up on Lake Erie, summers were all about endless shores, sand in your toes and the pulse of steady waves. Beach #10 was our favorite out on the very end of the channel. Teen years would mean bike rides out from the water taxi over to Waterworks. Always music; someone in the gang had a major boom box and plenty of size D batteries tuned to WJET. Sunshine and long days!

Even later in MN, there were hours spent at Calhoun on an aluminum mat getting as tan as possible, lemon juice in the hair for highlights. It seemed like we were the cast of Friends who never worked, but spent days a week just meeting up and drinking pop or eating watermelon. I still live for summer days on the water. But now it is kayaking, Bandshell concerts or just watching a sunset on Lake of the Isles. It is a fixture I cannot imagine not having. It IS summer.

The heroes were always the lifeguards! I remember having crushes on the pool guards at summer camp long before I knew what a crush even was. I can swim to save my life, but a water athlete - I am not. To me, they were always the Summer gods with bronze skin, red trunks, a whistle around their neck and cool shades.

I have been saving this New Yorker article for over 5 years now waiting to post a story around it. The article features the photography of Joseph Szabo and the Milieu of his inspiration was the 6 mile stretch on Long Island known as Jones Beach. He started documenting the annual tide of summer back in the late 1960s. This would have been the same time capsule of my youth. His photo album has continued into recent years. The focus always on those lifeguards. I have only seen the photos highlighted in the noted article and not the full table book of his 30+ years of black and whites. They are certainly hard-bodied hunks reigning over throngs of crowds in the hot heat of July and August. Plenty of waves. Various degrees of tight red trunks. Some lounging and others active in rescue. I find they trigger me back to the lore of my youth at the beach. Timeless and a bit glossy in black & white.

 

Crazy for Cardamom

This is likely my favorite of spices. It has often been a conundrum of CardamoM vs CardamoN; but it turns out either is correct as a result of Nordic translation. What is also a bit bizarre to me, is that it is so prevalent in Scandanavian baking, but it is actually grown from large bushes in Sri Lanka or Guatemala. So how the hell did it migrate all the way to Sweden? I also was not aware there are two varieties, the common black cardamom and also the very expensive and rare green cardamom.

Since I am heavy into my holiday baking, one of my traditions to roll out is my braided Cardamom bread. It takes hours to raise, divide and swirl, but it is always a mastery of baking and tastes incredible. I will take it on sometime after the Christmas Cookies. 

I am basing this post off a wonderful BBC offering talking about 'Fika' or a Swedish coffee break. The article talks about Lucia buns, just celebrated on Dec. 13th made with saffron, raisins and almonds. It also makes reference to Semlor buns which feature caraway. But the ultimate favorite flavor is cardamom which has evolved into fine Scandinavian pastries. 

It refers to a craze over the last 30 years, where bakeries are outputting huge numbers of pastries on a daily basis rather than consumers baking at home. I would guess this is because of the time and effort needed for this craft. It then notes a plethora of other uses for it in certainly cookies & spice cakes, but also in porridge (who knew anyone really ate that?) as well as wines & ales. As I pointed out above - it is the third most expensive spice globally so there is that. Thank goodness locally for Penzeys spices.

The heart of this conversation is the or kardemummabulle  (Cardmamom Bun.) They talk about it being a parallel to what would be a croissant in France. Layers of butter and yeast that rise, a crust of caramelized sugar and the airy and fragrant spice of warm cardamom. The recipe listed sounds just as laborious, with a bread, a filling, a glaze and much time spent allowing it to raise between. But the pictures and recipe included are piquing my interest and I'm now wondering if I should maybe make a slight baking detour this year???

BBC: Sweden's enduring Love

"Bundt" Beautiful

A few years back I started hitching a ride on the Bundt cake brigade. I think it started with a purchase of a small pan at a garage sale. In always see them as a Baking Category at the MN State Fair. I don't think they were a staple of my childhood. We always had square tin Chocolate cakes or a tall, circular Carrot or German Chocolate. 

Somewhere along the line, I found the Nordicware factory a few miles from my house and was drawn to the bargain outlet in the back with dented wonders and out-of-season cookie cutters among other treasures. Their birthday club coupons continued to bring me back annually.

But the last year has upped it a notch. With fabulous cookie stamps in Honeycombs and snowflakes, a decadent lattice bread pan and other things that cannot be found elsewhere. Last August I caught a glance of their signature cookbook at the cashier and decided I should peruse it. I did purchase one, but found it used on line for half the cost.

It was only on reading the first chapters that I came to understand the impact of this small MN family and their simple creation that took the baking industry by storm in the late 1950's. It came from a German cake called a Gugelhupf. Basically a round coffee cake with a hole in the middle. Nordicware came up with the name Bundt based on bundkuchen which meant a cake for gatherings. He simply added the consonant T to pronounce the sound of the word with a German dialect.

A recent feature on CBS Sunday morning explores both the history and science of the pans. The concept of a hole in the center has less to do with visual and more about making it easier to bake thick cakes more evenly by allowing the center cone to heat more of the surface area. The cake pan really came to fashion after the National Pillsbury Bake Off in 1966. The Tunnel of Fudge Cake did not even win but was the 2nd place recipe and ignited a craze that propelled Nordicware into fame.

CBS Sunday: Origin of the Bundt Pan

They now come in so many variations of the original mold. I have a collection of 3 right now which seems plenty. They are pretty fool-proof; other than making sure those intricate pans are greased well to they release with all the beautiful patterns. The cakes are always moist, rich and with that Bundt Collection book - there are enough to impress every season. You may not need to go out and buy one. But if see one at a garage sale or a thrift store - grab it and give an easy recipe a try. You won't regret it.