Inspiration

It's been a crazy couple of weeks, and the oven has been calling out to me while I've been racing all over town trying to do everything and see everyone. I've had blackberries, blueberries, peaches, and plums making sad eyes at me everytime I open the fridge and don't take them out to be used. It's been too hot, even in our cool quasi-beach town, to think about turning on the oven, and MM and I have been spending our free time swimming. Better for our waistlines, but not so good for the aspiring bakery owner.

But then, a friend came over to spend the night so she didn't have to drive her 1 1/2 hour commute during this crazy work week, and she brought me almond flour as a gift. We'd been talking about grocery stores and how you can never be sure which store will have which item, (gourmet, organic, or international) and I had mentioned that I wanted to try baking with almond flour but wasn't sure where to find it. She was in a health food store looking for ice cream (which is just plain wrong) and found almond flour and graciously bought the $11 bag for me.

This desire didn't come out of left field. I was recently at Saddlepeak Lodge with some colleagues, and got the waiter to let me try the deconstructed lemon pie (which was on the chef's tasting menu, but which I wanted without the rest of the items). It showed up as little drops of lemon curd, a pile of graham crackers, a scoop of meringue ice cream (which was amazing), and a long squiggle of something doughy. I thought it tasted smoky and nutty, but couldn't place the flavors. I asked the waiter to check with the chef, and he let me know that it was an almond flour and sesame sablé cookie.

I've been thinking about that cookie ever since and wondering how to recreate it. Now that the almond flour has arrived, I'm going to figure it out. Things should slow down enough after this weekend that I'll have the time to experiment. In the meantime, the almond flour will stay on the counter to remind me. I'm planning a plum cake (made in my cast-iron skillet) to use up the plums with the sad eyes, and I'll figure something out for those peaches. And we ate the blueberries and blackberries over ice cream last night, which was just fine for a summer evening.