St. Michaels, Maryland: Part 2

"If we don't offer ourselves to the unknown, our senses dull. Our world becomes small and we lose our sense of wonder. Our eyes don't lift to the horizon; our ears don't hear the sounds around us. The edge is off our experience, and we pass our days in a routine that is both comfortable and limiting." - Kent Nerburn on traveling from Letters to my Son

For someone who begins the first moments of every morning with a bowl of Barbara’s brand cereal with original-flavored almond milk followed by a cup of strong coffee, mildly diluted with half and half and sugar, I can speak candidly about finding comfort in routine. And while I love to travel, I am also shamefully famous for on-the-road food-related tantrums like the time I woke up at a bed and breakfast in Ojai to discover that no breakfast basket had arrived at the door like it had the previous morning at eight o’clock sharp. I thought perhaps the breakfast folks were running late, so while Matt tried to sleep, I anxiously waited for thirty minutes before finally calling the front desk, only to receive the information that they delivered complimentary breakfasts on the weekend, and since it was Monday, there would be no breakfast. What did that even mean—there would be no breakfast? At this, I took the next logical step. I ran and leapt into the air, throwing myself in what Matt describes as a sloppy, swan dive onto the bed and buried my face in the pillow in such dramatic fashion that the memory of it still makes him laugh. Needless to say, driving across the country with me was also difficult on him. A scene at the Hampton Inn in Flagstaff comes to mind. No skim milk? Excuse me while I go upstairs and destroy my hotel room. 

But despite securing my breakfast staples at the beginning of this week’s vacation on the Chesapeake—“I’ll go to the grocery store! I don’t mind!”—I couldn’t help but feel hyper aware of all the ways that my world in this giant city of Los Angeles has indeed become very small. Starting with the east coast humidity. I grew up on the east coast and go home at least once a year but how quickly do I forget about that thick, hot air that kind of just lands on your skin and stays there indefinitely?

Then there were all the conversations and catching up at the wedding with all of Matt’s and my distant relatives we rarely get to see and whose lives are so rich and so different from ours. Speaking of different than ours, there was a smattering of b-a-b-i-e-s. While in Philadelphia for the wedding, I met up with my best friend from college who I hadn’t seen in over a year and who had just had her second baby a mere ten days earlier. It was so wonderful to see how she hasn’t changed a bit yet has this entire beautiful family at the same time. And then, we spent the week with our adorable nephew (whose toe point is highlighted in Part 1 of this wrap-up) and super cute niece, Isabel, who, plain as the eye can see, took to her aunt quite naturally.

I did, however, feel instantly comfortable in the enormous kitchen with the Viking range, granite countertops and dishwasher. So much so that when Matt and I left for the grocery store on the last day of vacation to shop for ingredients for dinner that night, we had only a vague game plan as to what we would make. We’d had the most amazing grilled rockfish at a local restaurant the previous night so we thought we might attempt that. If they had oysters, we thought we could grill those. Basically, we were very into the idea of grilling something, but we were comfortable with not knowing what that would be exactly. But then we arrived at Captain’s Ketch and the fresh jumbo lump crabmeat and the idea of some classic Maryland crab cakes called to us. (We would’ve had to catch a lot of crab to have acquired enough crabmeat to make one crab cake let alone enough to feed the seven of us.)

And so we returned home very nourished and with the edge back on our experiences—at least for the time being. We got in really late last Saturday night without enough energy to pick up either cereal or almond milk. Fortunately for everyone though, we did have some oatmeal and somehow, I managed to keep it together.


Crab Cakes adapted from recipe by Paula Deen
serves 8

2 pounds jumbo lump crabmeat
6 to 8 crackers, crushed
4 scallions (green and white parts), finely chopped
2-3 tablespoons of chives, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 egg
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 teaspoon salt
fresh ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon seafood seasoning (The house came equipped with this tub of seasoning, which we taste-tested and feel semi-confident in saying that it was probably a mix of salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne.)
tartar sauce, for serving
olive oil

Directions
In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients except olive oil. Shape into patties. (We found that the smaller the patties, the more manageable they were to flip and keep from falling apart. I’d say to aim for a size slightly smaller than an English muffin.)

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When oil is hot, carefully place crab cakes, in batches, in pan and fry until browned, about 4 to 5 minutes. Carefully flip crab cakes and fry on other side until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Serve warm with tartar sauce.

White Chocolate Pomegranate Cupcakes

I may have said this in this past but this time I really really mean it. These are hands down the best cupcakes I've baked. Free Spirit Bloggers are into their 4th month together (already!) and Lataji chose this month's theme. She gave us all a choice to pick a number between 1-12 and revealed secret ingredients to work with. Mine were white chocolate and pomegranates.

The timing couldn't be more perfect because I had this bar of white chocolate I had bought from Tokyo a year back and since I was in India, I could buy a pomegranate and bring it back with me! Things fell in place beautifully and one Saturday evening, these cupcakes were born.

I searched a lot for a good white chocolate cupcake recipe and although there were quite a few that came up, I finally nailed one from Epicurious. Although a lot of the reviews said the cupcake sank in the middle, got ruined, etc, I had a nice feeling about it. I used a lower baking temperature and they came out ridiculously well. The coconut milk in the batter was intriguing too, and its my first time baking cupcakes with coconut milk in the batter!

The pomegranates gave a nice crunch to the texture and added to the appeal of the otherwise dull-looking cupcakes. One word of caution here. I only had brown sugar in hand so my cupcakes are beige in colour. If you use regular white sugar like you are supposed to, the cupcakes will be white and gorgeous like white chocolate cupcakes are supposed to look.

White Chocolate Cupcakes with Pomegranates
Makes 20 cupcakes
Loosely adapted from Epicurious

Ingredients:
8 oz / 240 gm white chocolate
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup regular white sugar
3 egg whites
3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk
1/4 cup fresh pomegranate seeds

*Optional Mascarpone frosting recipe below. 

How I Made It:

1. Preheat oven to 320F / 180 C. Line cupcake pans with liners and set aside.

2. Melt white chocolate by placing it in a bowl over another bowl of boiling water and stirring frequently, or in a microwave at low heat until just melted and smooth.

3. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat sugar, butter, and vanilla in large bowl until blended. Add hot white chocolate to sugar mixture; stir to combine. Add flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with coconut milk in 2 additions, beating batter just to combine between additions.

4. Using clean dry beaters, beat egg whites in a bowl until soft peaks form. Be careful not to overbeat. To check done-ness, I lift the whisk and see if a soft peak forms and gently collapses back into the mixture. Gently fold egg white mixture into batter in 3 additions.

5. Pour batter into the lined cupcake pans until 3/4 filled. Bake in preheated oven for about 25 mins or until the cupcakes don't stick to a skewer passed through their middle.

6. Cool completely and frost if desired. I thought the cupcakes were a bit too plain so decided to whip up a very simple frosting with some mascarpone cheese I had in hand.

Mascarpone Frosting Recipe

Whisk together 6 tbsp mascarpone cheese, 4 tbsp milk, and 14 tbsp icing sugar. Adjust each of the ingredients until the frosting is of pouring consistency yet not too watery. Pour over completely cooled cupcakes and place some pomegranate seeds over the frosting before serving.

The cupcakes lasted me four days, refrigerated. 

DK's Super-Hero Non Stick Pan and an Update on MMKT

I had started a blog to record all the awesome kitchen things I obsess over - called Meet My Kitchen Things. In time, a bunch of you sent me amazing things from your kitchens to share with the readers. As much as I love that blog, its been very tough to give time to this here food blog, my Project 365 blog, and a full time job, etc.

So I've decided to merge the contents of MMKT here. All old posts have been successfully imported into this site and I will be posting new updates here. That way, I have only one blog to update and all the great stuff you send will be under one roof with the recipes.

Thanks for all the love on the MMKT Facebook page. I will be messaging members separately so they can join the Edible Garden FB Page if they'd like.

Now, its time to share a long overdue post with you all. Dhivya shared her super-hero non stick pan a while back for MMKT.

Here's an excerpt:

"I am like a live wire trying to cram 100,000 things a day. I swear by multitasking. A little one added to this midst just threw my multitasking abilities haywire. An “absent-minded professor” quality has taken over me that I cant seem to help... It was a weekend and I was all set for errands. We enjoyed some tea and left, returning after almost 2 hours... As soon as I came home, a strong smell of something burning greeted us. My husband had a laugh talking about some “poor husband” who lost his dinner when a shock greeted me! It was my leftover tea in the pan that I had left on the stove assuming I switched it off! I moved it to the sink to see if I could do something about it..."

Check out her site for the rest of the story on how amazingly unscathed her super-hero non stick pan came out of the whole ordeal. Now that's a pan we all want in our kitchens, eh?