a gingerbread farm

here is what our farm looks like! for the most part. it's not totally to scale and it's actually a vision of what the future will look like because there is a hot tub and a few ponies romping around, and with the exception of the pink tractor, it is all edible! there are za'atar trees and matcha trees and heart-shaped jolly rancher windows... even a shameless gingerbread buick lesabre. 

i spent more hours that i'm willing to admit on this, and if i had a dollar for every time eggboy conveyed that i was a lunatic in the process, i'd have enough to buy a real pony, but it was 100% worth every second just to see the looks on all of the eggs' faces when they saw it. eggboy's lucky that i didn't set this in the middle of our living room and scatter coconut flakes all over the floor to represent the wheat fields and sugar beet fields. i will save that for next year.

i'd like it to be known that i did not throw one frustration-induced tantrum during this whole process. that's probably a given because technically i am a grown-up, but i've got an awful track record (which in past years has resulted in having to construct a house of cardboard and glue through a sea of tears), so i am very proud of myself for this. 

do you want to have a tantrum-free gingerbread house building experience? i have secrets for you over on food52! follow along this week with a series of three gingerbread house posts that cover: how to make rock hard walls that won't collapse, how to make icing that will dry like cement, and how to make fun little accessories like a blue raspberry hot tub and cylindrical pieces of gingerbread wall for a grain bin or silo. and you'll get a little tour of our farm in the process :)

go check it out!

-yeh!

brisket tacos + an end of harvest party

this year's end of harvest party was extra special. it was eggboy's first one as a man in charge, alongside eggdad, and it was our first gathering in the space where our wedding reception will be! the space is typically used for tractors and tools and welding, but we cleared it out, put up string lights all hipster-like, and set out the baddest taco bar in the history of midwestern taco bars. 

eggboy contributed about 12 kinds of salsa and i spearheaded some brisket, even though i was nervous about cooking for a bunch of big burly hunter men. because, i mean, preparing meat does not come as naturally to me as, say, baking a cupcake. i did not grow up eating red meat and when i was little i did not even really like any meat unless it was (turkey) baloney or (turkey) salami. so tell me to host a high tea or afternoon cake club and i will do it in a jiffy, but inform me of a dinner that i need to cook for 16 people that probably kill a majority of the meat that they eat and i will be a nervous nelly. very nervous nelly.

so i hyperventilated a bit and stressed out but in the end i chose brisket for the centerpiece of our tacos because in the past few years, brisket has wiggled its way into my life by way of the jewish holidays and i invited it to stay a while because of its earth-shattering smells and perfect next-day sandwiches. brisket might actually be my comfort meat, my entryway into the world of non-lunchmeat meat. each time i make it, it gets easier and i think why don't i make this more often? maybe when i'm a real married minnesota lady, one of those who has a slow cooker, i'll make brisket on the reg and you can all come over for brisket tacos every other tuesday.

here was our menu:

for noshing // chips, a butt load of guac, and every single kind of salsa that eggboy could get his hands on

for the taco bar // zinfandel braised brisket (recipe here), a light cabbage slaw, and all the fixins you could ever want

on the side // roasted sweet potatoes

for sipping // kendall-jackson vintner's reserve zinfandel

for dessert // eggsister's coconut cream pie!

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happy taco-ing everyone!

-yeh!

thanks so much to kendall-jackson for sponsoring this post!!!! all opinions are my own!

pretzel mandel bread + farm scenes + friday links

i am not at all surprised that within five minutes of meeting his first sugar beet, my pops had already taken 10,000 selfies with one and then eaten it like an apple, dirt and all. he is basically just a more extreme version of me when it comes to picture taking and eating. a more extreme version with a much larger stomach capacity. he really enjoyed his time around the farm! he had to wear eggboy's boots as to not get his little dainty city shoes dirty, but once he got into the fields, he was so excited about the sugar beets that he decided we should make a cake about it. so we subbed a sugar beet for carrots in a carrot cake recipe and watched the new york phil on the tv while it baked and i didn't really like it. i hated it. everyone else seemed to like it, but i just couldn't choke it down, and i hate it when the last thing i've made is bad, so the next chance i got, i whipped up this pretzel mandel bread. it's sweet, it's savory, it's pretzel-y, and it's just in time for a yom kippur break-the-fast and the season premiere of homeland this sunday. the recipe is up on jew and the carrot!

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friday links!

i cannot wait to make this hungarian chicken with spaetzle. perfect for the snowy (!!!) weather that's been in the forecast.

this is the sweetest, most beautiful restaurant review

new goal: appear on this website (in the background, sticking my tongue out)

oh so lovely vintage blogged about grand forks!!! i feel like a proud mommy.

can i register for a pet piggy?

i need this polenta in my life!

tahini + coconut + rosewater cake, yes!

animal crackers in ice cream, i am sold.

 <3 the new puzzle muteson album <3

it's not easy being so far from a momofuku milk bar, but luckily there is this cereal milk ice cream recipe!

this ricotta maple + sand pear cake is soooo pretty!

bacon cinnamon rolls need no explanation, right???

say this low and slow: buuuuuuuttttterrrrr tarrrrrts

last but absolutely not least, i am totally obsessed these new linens that i've been using all week (and will no doubt continue to use). they come from stitch new york and they're all handmade in a tiny apartment in new york! from now until the end of the year, you can get 15% off of your order with the code (in all caps): stitchlovesmolly

have a great weekend everybody!!!!

-yeh!!!!

salt & vinegar potato galette + a farmers' market feast

if there's one thing i love most about living on a farm, it's the long lazy dinners. ones that i can spend hours preparing and then serve to a dusty eggboy, the egg parents, perhaps an egg sister and her man, or an egg cousin dropping by to deliver cilantro. i like sitting around our big, kind of awkwardly square table, basking in the bright bright sunset, and eating vegetables off of my favorite three-sectioned plates that i bought on staten island two years ago. one day i'd like a big spacious dining room that has a massive window overlooking our fields, so we can have a golden or snowy white or earthy brown backdrop. 

preparing seven courses doesn't feel like a lot when you have a never-ending list of recipes to try, a new my brightest diamond album to listen to, and a happy little rainbow of vegetables to work with:

because, rewind, i went to the farmers' market. (farmer's market? farmers market? farmer market?) which is a thing i haven't really done since we started our garden, but i am very mad at myself for waiting until the second-to-last market of the season to go because, in just one short visit, i:

1. learned how to choose a good cantaloupe

2. learned how to preserve my corn

3. made two new friends! 

it was so fantastic that i hurry scurried home, told eggboy to alert the eggs that i'd be cooking dinner the next day, and got to work. here was my menu:

kale salad with coconut sesame dressing

zucchini noodles with basil almond pesto

bacon wrapped cantaloupe with balsamic glaze (inspired by these peaches)

hoisin and sesame glazed corn

salt & vinegar potato galette with caramelized onions and parmesan (recipe below)

marinated rainbow bell peppers

watermelon and donut peach salad, sub the donut peaches for actual donuts because i am an idiot and misread the recipe and bought donuts from the nice man at the market instead of donut peaches

also: pesto, a grilled baguette, and brie.

...it was so fun and delicious!!!! my donuts got a little soggy. and i made everyone d.i.y. their kale leaves for the salad since i was afraid of bugs. but people laughed, people cleaned their plates, people left with tupperware filled with leftovers. 

about this galette: this is a recipe for people who enjoy hanging out in the kitchen, smelling the smells, and cutting the things. it's not a difficult recipe, but it does take some time and attention. it's equal part journey, equal part end product. in my research on salt and vinegar potatoes, i discovered that the vinegar flavor in salt and vinegar chips is actually from sodium acetate, which is also (sometimes?) referred to as "vinegar powder." so i made it from vinegar and baking soda, and i felt science-y, and i wore my glasses out of fear that the fumes would blind me, and then i made this galette with some of it sprinkled on, and it was, i don't know, fine. not worth the effort. something i don't want to order that you do. something i might revisit in the future. eventually i turned to the method that lauren and bon appetit and marissa use, and that's to boil the potatoes in salt and vinegar first, fry them a bit, and then toss them with more salt and vinegar. it's delicious. it plays well with sweet caramelized onion, the umami of parmesan, and a buttery pie crust. (does anything not play well in a buttery pie crust?)  

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salt & vinegar potato galette with caramelized onions and parmesan

makes one galette

ingredients

1 large onion

1/4 c butter

1 tb kosher salt, plus more to taste

2 medium potatoes (about 1 lb), thinly sliced (1/8 inch)

1/2 c white vinegar, plus more to taste

2 tb chopped chives

black pepper, to taste

1/2 lb your favorite pie dough

1 large egg

1/2 c shredded parmesan

clues

set your oven to 375.

get your onion caramelizing in 2 tablespoons of butter and a pinch of salt, and let them just hang out there over medium-ish heat while you do everything else. stir them when you think about it. (ask yourself why yankee candle hasn't made an onions and butter scented candle...)

place your sliced potatoes, 1 tablespoon of salt, and 1/2 cup of vinegar in a large pot. fill it with cold water until the water covers the potatoes by an inch or so. bring this to a boil and then let it sit somewhere between a healthy simmer and a low rumble for 15 minutes, gently stirring occasionally. 

strain your potatoes and pat them dry. get your remaining 2 tablespoons of butter heating in a skillet over medium high heat, and then fry your potatoes in batches, for about 5 minutes each. try to avoid overlapping in the pan for this step*. 

toss your potatoes with the chives, black pepper, and additional salt and vinegar to taste.

*(now, ok, if by this point you're starving or have decided that you don't like galettes (??!), you could continue to cook the potatoes for an additional few minutes, until they're fully cooked, season, toss with the onions and sprinkle with cheese and enjoy just like that. but if you're in this for the longer haul, continue...)

roll your pie dough out into a 12- or 13-inch circle and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment. whip up your egg with a splash of water and brush it onto the dough, leaving a 2-inch perimeter. in the center of the dough, layer up your toppings in this order: a sprinkle of cheese, the onions, a sprinkle of cheese, half of the potatoes, a sprinkle of cheese, the other half of the potatoes, any additional chives or black pepper. brush the edges with egg and then fold them up around the potatoes. brush the outside edges with egg, sprinkle with salt, and bake until the pie crust is nicely browned. you could start checking for doneness at about 25 minutes, but it's one of those things that you can keep in the oven for up to about 20 or 30 minutes more, depending on how you like your crust. 

let cool slightly and enjoy!

-yeh!

p.s. yo check this out: all of the fruits, vegetables, donuts, and bread* for this feast fit in this mz wallace + food52 market bag! granted, it was quite heavy, and i briefly considered taking the cantaloupe and watermelon out to just carry in my hands, but i couldn't figure out how to hold both of them in front of my person without alluding to boobies. despite the fact that i am still crabby about the fact that more of you guys voted for the tote to be blue than green, this bag is the bee's knees. it's lined for easy cleaning, it has a zillion different pockets to keep your bread safe from any wiggly friends on your kale, and there's a small zippered lip gloss (change purse?) pocket. it is available for pre-sale on food52 provisions now!

*two softball-sized yellow onions, five pounds of potatoes, one cantaloupe, one watermelon, nine peppers, two bunches of green onions, one bunch of kale, one large baguette, half a dozen donuts, seven ears of corn, a bag of green beans, about four too many bugs (!!!!!!!!!!!!)

thank you so much to food52 for sponsoring the ingredients for this farmers' market feast!!!!