Ke Tla Bo Bana (See You Later)

We're up to our knees in boxes and suitcases. The boxes are for everything that's going into storage for the next year; the suitcases are for everything that we're taking with us to Africa. I'll let you in on a little secret: I hate packing. I also hate unpacking. Whether it's for a move or a vacation, I can't stand to pack, re-pack, unpack, or do anything else packing-related.

Moving makes it even worse. Not only are we packing, but we have to worry about security deposits, turning off utilities, changing our address, mail forwarding, etc. Plus, we're not just moving, we're moving abroad. Not surprisingly, that means there's a whole list of additional things we have to do like make a stack passport photos for visas and residency permits, get international driver licenses, figure out what to do with cell phones and car insurance, open accounts with international transaction-friendly banks, get all of our tax information in order 9 months early, file powers of attorney, go to the doctor and dentist, stock up on a year's worth of prescriptions and travel meds (and I'm not just talking malaria-prophylaxis and Immodium-antibiotic cocktails for traveler's diarrhea. Look up the indications for Praziquantel and Albendazole for a quick parasitology lesson), sell or store vehicles, rent storage space, schedule movers, the list goes on and on.

That's the part that isn't fun. The fun part (if you like a challenge in the kitchen) is using up everything and anything you can. I think C takes the cake for creativity. One afternoon he brought me lunch at work. I was expecting sandwiches (let's be honest, I was expecting Jimmy John's). What he brought was a large tupperware of pasta: rotini and angel hair, marinara, sausage, and oriental frozen veggie mix. I was skeptical but I can't pretend that it wasn't delicious. A few weeks ago, he made a spicy, veggie pasta using homemade chipotle salsa as a sauce base because it's all we had. I don't know where he comes up with this stuff but it's impressive. The most impressive "dump" food I made was Black and White Cake from Clinton Street Baking Co. Cookbook that I made to use up pumpkin, buttermilk, brown sugar, powdered sugar, a thing of cocoa powder, cream, butter, and dark chocolate chips. (This cake was super moist chocolate cake frosted with cream cheese frosting and glazed with chocolate ganache. People were pretty excited about it!)

As if we weren't busy enough with packing and preparing for our "trip," my birthday popped up just 4 days before take-off (and not coincidentally it will pop up again as we repatriate next July). By the time my birthday rolled around, I had already packed up all of my kitchen stuff except my Kitchen Aid, a cooling wrack, a spatula, and a tube pan. This year I decided on Angel Food Cake with whipped coconut cream. I can't pretend that the whipped coconut cream was a good idea. It was so disgusting that I was gagging and had to scrape it all off. I replaced the whipped cream with Cherry Garcia ice cream and all was well again, until I had to say goodbye to our kitties as C set off to drive them to a friend's house in Chicago where they will be staying for the upcoming year. (I keep expecting to find someone sleeping in my suitcase, wrinkling and fuzzing all of my clothes, but nope. They're gone.)

Saying goodbye to C and the cats was when it finally started to sink in--we're moving to Africa! We'll arrive in our new home on Monday and spend a few days running errands (buying pre-paid electricity, re-titling our vehicle, buying groceries and other essentials, and who knows what else) before we each start our jobs. The city is currently experiencing both electricity and water shortages, so we've been warned of scheduled load-shedding but unscheduled water shut-offs. We're expecting a lot of candlelit dinners cooked over the grill in our backyard, out of necessity not because we're romantics!

I can't predict when I'll be writing again because let's be honest, I can't predict anything that's going to happen in my life after today! That's overwhelmingly terrifying but exciting. I've always been a planner, though it's time to adapt to a hakuna matata lifestyle. Though the locals won't be speaking Swahili, hakuna matata is very much in their vocabulary. So is ke tla bo bana, see you later!

Szechuan Pepper (and a lesson in moderation)

I love spicy food. That's a semi-new thing. As a kid, I shunned all things peppery, for which  I blame my dad. One evening, he was gnawing on a banana pepper while driving me home from After School Clubs. He offered me a bite and promised that it was sweet and not spicy. Either he lied or I got the only spicy bite on the pepper. I was in tears and had to open the gallon jug of water that happened to be in the car. I not only suffered the burn but also the pain that comes with a having an overfull bladder on a bumpy road.

Tolerance to spicy food is either something that comes with age or with experience. My guess is the later because my Indian friends tell me that they don't tone down their cooking for their children (we're talking 3-5 year-olds) and the kids do just fine.

Luckily, my tolerance increased before I studied abroad in Mexico. After that, I don't think I enjoyed many meals that weren't spicy. There was at least one month in college where the only two foods I ate were chipotle chili and black bean tacos topped with serrano pepper pico de gallo. I can't cook for my mom anymore because what I think she should be able to tolerate is not what she can tolerate. (We recently had a little trouble with a bowl of pho. In my defense, I only added a tiny little squirt of Sriracha and a few slices of jalapeño.) I've recently discovered Tabasco's chipotle pepper sauce and it's really revolutionized the way I make quesadillas and breakfast tacos.

Eventually I learned that Mexican food isn't the only spicy food that exists. When I lived in St. Louis, I went to a barbecue hosted by one of my Chinese American professors, Dr. Yu. In true American style, he grilled hamburgers, but alongside the buns and condiments was a full spread of Chinese takeout. I tried a bite of everything but kept gravitating back to one dish. It was a chicken dish prepared with intact dried red peppers. It was spicy and I couldn't get enough.

In my search to discover what I ate at that barbecue, I came across this beautiful photo of a dish called la zi ji or chicken with chiles. I found a recipe for it here and I convinced C to make it for me. The dish calls for two teaspoons of szechuan pepper. Lo and behold, it's really hard to find Szechuan pepper in Houston. Thankfully our Chinese American roommate recently took C on a tour of Chinatown, so C knew just where to go. We went to one of the Asian grocery stores and found the Szechuan peppers after a thorough investigation of the new-to-us fruits and vegetables we passed on the way to the dried foods section.

The Szechuan (pronounced "sih-tron" kind of like in citronella) pepper isn't actually a peppercorn. It's a berry from a plant in the citrus family. It has a floral taste, makes your tongue numb (especially if you bite into one), and leaves a sort-of-pleasant lingering heat. Add a little for flavor, for if you add too much, you won't be able to taste or feel anything until the numbing effect wears off. Be warned.

As C was preparing the la zi ji for dinner, I heard him yell. A few minutes later, he popped his head into the bedroom and reported that chiles japoneses are extremely hot and shouldn't be eaten whole. Shortly thereafter, he served the la zi ji over rice. After just a few bites, he put it down and reported that it was too spicy to enjoy. I was doing ok. The flavor was good but it was numbingly hot (as our roommate had warned us). Eventually I added sour cream to mine to make it more palatable. The sour cream did not complement the dish in the least, but it did make it more comfortable.

After biting into my third Szechuan (I was picking around them fairly well), my mouth was thoroughly numb and I was salivating at an alarming rate. That's when I called it quits. I asked C if he followed the recipe. He got this sheepish look. "Sort of. I tasted it as I was going and it wasn't very hot so I added a little more Szechuan pepper." By "a little more Szechuan pepper" I'm pretty sure he meant a few tablespoons more than the two teaspoons the recipe called for. There was about 1/2 cup of leftovers and I counted 12 Szechuan peppers in my bowl after I picked out all of the ones I could easily find (at least a tablespoon worth).

Now, heed my warnings. If you decide you want to buy Szechuan peppers, head to your local Asian market. Do not pay the exorbitant prices online (we paid around $3 for 4 ounces). We found them between the bulk spices and the dried peppers. There were three nearly identical packages that had either green, orange, or red plastic packaging. C chose orange, hoping that it was the "medium" heat variety. Apparently he thought we were buying salsa. I know that the green signified "green szechuan pepper" but the only difference between orange and red was the volume (yet not the price). Suspicious. Do note that it's also called "Prickly Ash" and might not be labeled as Szechuan pepper. Through the packaging, you should see clusters of three little, red, split-open balls about the size of peppercorns. Once you have them, be sure to use them with a light hand.

Cherry Almond Crumble Pie

Fourth of July sparklers

"Is apple pie Fourth of July-sie?" asked my friend Christie.
"Of course!" I responded, "It's the classic American pie!"

That's all it took for Christie to decide that she was making her famous Apple Crumble Pie for a 4th of July potluck. Her pie is "famous" because it's the reason her husband married her (or so he claims). I guess I should feel lucky that Christie was already married by the time that C had the chance to try her apple pie! (It's really good.) Since Christie was making apple pie, I offered to make a cherry pie.

I first made cherry pie for 4th of July in 2012. The juicy, red filling against the slightly browned crust seemed patriotic. It just needed a few blueberries for a burst of blue. The crumble topping was delicious and made mostly of oats and shredded coconut. This year, I wanted to change it up. I used the same technique for the cherry filling but I used sweet cherries and decreased the sugar. The major change was the flavor. In addition to cherry, I wanted to add almond.

I owe the idea to a Blueberry Almond Streusel Galette. I first made the galette with blueberries, then again with a combination of blueberries and cherries, and then, upon C's request, with cherries alone. There was no contest: the cherry version was our favorite. A galette didn't seem nearly as American as pie, so I decided to put the galette filling into a pie pan. The streusel topping called for crumbled almond paste, so I had a fair bit on hand. To use up the almond paste, I decided to mix it into cream cheese for a cream cheese layer under the cherry filling. Oh, and I cut out stars from the extra pie dough to give the pie a little patriotic flair!

Objective
Make a cherry pie similar to my 4th of July Cherry Pie, but flavored with almond paste.

Materials
Pie crust:
1 cup + 2 tbsp. whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 tbsp. sugar
dash salt
5 tbsp. butter, cold and cut into cubes
1 tbsp. shortening, cut into cubes
1/4  cup milk (give or take)

Cream cheese filling:
3 oz. almond paste, grated
1 tbsp. sugar
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Cherry filling:
16 oz. sweet cherries (if frozen, thaw and save juice)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp. cornstarch
1 cup of cherry juice (+ water if needed)

Crumble topping:
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup almonds, finely chopped
2 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. almond paste, grated
2 tbsp. butter

Methods
1. Prepare the dough for pie crust: In a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar, salt, butter, and shortening a few times until the mixture becomes pea-sized crumbs. With the food processor running, slowly stream in the milk, only adding enough to bring the dough together (it should be crumbly and there will be a little bit of unincorporated flour). Pour the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap and, using the plastic wrap, gather the dough into a ball and knead a few time to incorporate any loose flour. Flatten into a disk, wrap, and refrigerate for about 45 minutes before assembling the pie.

2. Make the crumble topping: Stir together the flour, rolled oats, ground almonds, and brown sugar. Use your fingers to rub in the butter and almond paste until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Refrigerate until you're ready to assemble the pie.

3. Make the cream cheese filling: blend together the almond paste and sugar (use a food processor if you have one). Add the cream cheese, egg yolk, and vanilla. Blend until smooth. Refrigerate until you're ready to assemble the pie.

4. Make the cherry filling: In a medium saucepan, whisk together the cherry juice/water and cornstarch. Add the sugar and cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly. Add the cherries and continue to cook for 5 minutes.

5. Assemble the pie: Roll out the pie crust to fit a 9 or 9.5" pie plate. Lay the crust in the pie plate and crimp the edges however you desire. Next, spread the cream cheese filling over the bottom of the crust. Pour the cherry filling over the cream cheese layer. Sprinkle the crumble topping over the rest of the pie. Place on an a baking sheet to catch any drips while baking.

6. Bake the pie at 400º for 40 minutes. After 20 minutes, tent the pie with foil, turn the temperature down to 350º, and continue baking for 20 more minutes. Move to a wire rack and cool completely before serving.

Results
Yum! Almond flavored, thin layer of cherry filling and delicious crumble topping. This is the perfect excuse to use frozen or canned cherries because you're making it into a jammy filling.

Discussion and Future Directions
The long ingredients list suggests that this is a challenging and laborious pie. It's certainly not as easy as dumping cherry filling into a pie crust and baking it, but it's definitely easier than making a lattice top!

The cream cheese is a nice way to break up the almond paste and improve the texture. It becomes a smooth, cheesecake-like layer (though it's very thin and just there for flavor, not texture). You could double or triple the cream cheese layer for more of a cheesecake pie. You could eliminate the cream cheese layer altogether and double the cherry filling for a traditional, deeper-dish cherry pie. You could skip the crumble topping and layer 50 stars over the top for an even more stunning display! If you prefer double-crusted pies, double the crust recipe, lay a round over the top of the filling and make slits. Perhaps a star? Maybe some sort of flag pattern? The sky is the limit!

This is the pie to make if you love almond flavor. If you prefer cherry alone, give my 4th of July Cherry Pie a try! If you have local, fresh, perfectly ripe cherries, I would opt for the 4th of July Cherry Pie instead of the Cherry Almond Crumble Pie because it would give the cherries a chance to be the star. Here, the cherries and almond share the stage.

Supplementary Materials

Ranch Road Roasters (Fredericksburg, TX)

Fredericksburg, Texas is a small town at the eastern edge of Hill Country. It's about 80 miles west of Austin and 70 miles south of the "Heart of Texas." Like many small towns in Texas Hill Country, Fredericksburg is known for its peaches, lavender, and wine. The Convention and Visitors Bureau boasts that the town has German heritage with Texan hospitality, which highlights the main things that set Fredericksburg apart from the other small towns in Hill Country: German food and beer. As soon as you arrive at the edge of town, you're greeted with a "Willkommen" sign. As you proceed down Main Street, you come across a number of restaurants and touristy shops named "Das [insert principle product] Haus."

Along with our good friends The Brown Family, we went on a weekend getaway to Fredericksburg. We rented a cute little chalet on a property east of town along Barons Creek. On Friday night, we stopped at a brewing company for beer flights and then a German restaurant for dinner. After dinner, we soaked in the hot tub and marveled at the stars we aren't able to see in Houston. We woke up early on Saturday and made a quick stop at the Old German Bakery on our way to Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. It was perfectly cloudy and windy, a winning combination for a delightful hike (see the photos below).

After our hike, we ate the dessert pastries leftover from breakfast and headed back to town for lunch. On our way to a local burger joint, we passed a coffee shop. After lunch we stopped for coffee so that C could fuel up before chauffeuring us around the rest of the afternoon (we went to two wine tastings, one at Becker Vineyards and the other at Six Shooter Cellars [talk about two completely different atmospheres! Uff da!]).

The coffee shop was called Ranch Road Roasters. We tried two of the three "signature drinks" on the menu. First, C ordered the double espresso with a lime twist (unfortunately I don't remember the name). Obviously I noted the lime infusion, but the first thing I noticed was that that coffee was smooth and not bitter. It was the first espresso I've ever enjoyed. Upon further investigation, I discovered that RRR sources their beans from two places: Costa Rica and Antigua, Guatemala. Antigua! It's possible that we've had the same beans before just roasted at the plantation in Antigua! (I've told you about our trip to Guatemala, but I can't believe I never wrote about our trips to the coffee plantations and our favorite coffee shop! Now I'll have to tell you more about our trip!)

Next, the boys each ordered a Farm-to-Market Latte, which is made with honey, vanilla, and whole milk. Though as a group we only ordered two, we should have ordered four! As soon as C tasted his, he said "I better drink this quickly because I know it will be gone as soon as Abby tries it." Doc Brown and I both claim we don't drink coffee (she doesn't like hot drinks but will drink iced coffee and I don't like the flavor), yet we both drank a significant portion of our husband's/boyfriend's lattes. Mr. Brown described the flavor as "marshmallow." The foam at the top definitely reminded me of marshmallow, but more delicious and less sweet (in a good way).

The one special that we didn't try was the Mocha, and based on the description on RRR's Facebook page, we definitely missed out! It appears to be made with fudge from the fudge factory down the street. Fudge? In my coffee? I could get on board with that!

At breakfast on Sunday morning, I asked everyone what their favorite meal in Fredericksburg was. Without thinking twice, Doc Brown shouted out "The coffee!" All whole-heartedly agreed! Our last stop in town was at RRR for more lattes. We were a bit heartbroken when we discovered that they are closed on Sundays! We easily would have waited an hour for a noon opening, but it wasn't feasible to hang around until Monday morning. If we ever find ourselves in Fredericksburg again, you'd better believe that Ranch Road Roasters will be our first stop in town!

Pictures from Enchanted Rock State Natural Area: