Mike and Judi chatting with friends before a Thursday dinner at Martin-Scott Winery

Enjoying a glass of wine, conversation with friends and the view from the winery

Tim Putnam’s delicious crab cake on fresh corn

Smoked scallop on risotto cake

Grilled wild salmon and fresh nectarines

Beginning to plate the smoked wild boar leg

Unbelievably delicious smoked wild boar with BBQ sauce and fruit salsa

The Finale: creamy, rich, velvety smooth creme brulee with Grand Marnier and fresh raspberries

Unfortunately for us, we only learned about these fun-filled Thursday events in time to attend the last Thursday Evening of Summer 2009. Now that we know what we missed all summer, we are thinking of the long nine month wait til next May. It’s like expecting a baby!

On Thursdays this summer, Martin-Scott Winery joined with Smokeblossom Restaurant to present special  evenings of outstanding food and wine. The winery, set on a hillside not far from Pangborn airport in East Wenatchee, has a spectacular view of the valley below. Tables on the lawn were set to accommodate fifty to seventy guests in small or large groups.

For those of you who know Smokeblossom, there’s no need to describe Tim Putnam’s delicious, innovative and beautifully presented foods. Tim’s fans are many and often very vocal. I was in a place of business last week and mentioned Smokeblossom to a friend. I was not speaking softly enough, I guess, because two people in line with me and one passer-by heard and chimed in with, “Smokeblossom.! Oh, I love that place,” “Great food and wine there,” and “Oh, love it.” We all had to stop and have a little chat about it.

Our evening turned out well. We saw old friends and made some new ones, renewed our acquaintance with Judi and Mike Scott, owners and winemakers, and their sons Chris and Tim.

At dusk we sat down to dinner. A glass of Pinot Grigio was served with the well-presented small plates of food, and paired well with the crab cake, the scallop on risotto cake and the grilled salmon. We drank a glass of the new Pinot Noir, which complemented the heavenly pork with Tim’s BBQ sauce. Tim crowned the evening with a velvety creme brulee topped with fresh raspberries.

Far below, the lights in the valley gleamed in the gathering dark, while above, the half moon and a multitude of stars lit the sky. The breeze was light and fresh. What a wonderful experience with which to end the summer. Although the autumnal equinox won’t occur for another three weeks, to many of us, summer seems over with the beginning of September. Vacations are over, school begins and we look forward to cool weather and autumn meals.

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Then Gordon Lightfoot sang “Beautiful.” A very dear friend in Atlanta had a band and was a Lightfoot fan. Many an evening we sat around listening to John play and sing his own and Gordon Lightfoot’s music.

Can it get any better? Yes. We had a great dinner while listening to the music.  In case you’re wondering what to serve with your Wedge  Mountain Winery Lemberger wine, try rack of lamb, polenta with mushrooms and shallots, fresh green beans, and a salad of  heirloom tomatoes from Ann Clarke’s garden. A birthday gift of chocolate from Schocolat made a perfect ending to a wonderful evening.

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Just listened to Loggins and Messina doing “Danny’s Song.” Can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard it. I used to go to The Loft in the Pruneyard in Campbell CA after my weekly summer school night class at De Anza College and listen to Greg Harris, a very young man who performed all the songs I loved, or learned to love.  He was SO good. Same age as my older son. Sigh. 

Loggins and Messina had that song on their record’  ”Sittin In” 1971.  Record? Look it up. It’s in the dictionary. Big round black thing. Music came from it. You had to have a needle in a machine.  Tapes were just coming out.  Ah, technology!

Pure Prairie League just finished “Let Me Love You Tonight.” I would have put a You Tube of it here but don’t know how.  Doug Shirk…HELP!  Hey! Thanks, Doug, for the YouTube link.

And now Carly Simon..”Nobody does it better.” Double meaning here. I have to leave Mellow Rock for awhile sometimes as I get all reminiscent and weepy over the times of the late 60’s and the 70’s and the music from that time. 

OMG   (Oh My Goodness, in case you’re wondering_)  Now, Simon and Garfunkel. I have to switch to TV, even though for me TV is a last resort. I’d rather go to bed and read.  Too many memories on Mellow Rock.  I see a Pink Panther movie is on. Good for putting memories back where they belong. Tom Wolfe may well have written, “You can’t go back again.:

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If, as  Benjamin Franklin once said, “A penny saved is a penny earned,”  we just earned $85. while on vacation

About six weeks ago I read a study on how driving habits affect the fuel economy of a car. As we were preparing to travel  4000 miles (round trip) shortly, I passed the article along to my driver. Nothing more was said about it and we prepared to leave.

I keep travel records of our longer trips. In my book I record the date we leave, the times we stop and start, the mileage at which we start and stop, the cost of gas per gallon, number of gallons and location of each purchase. I also record food and other travel expenses.  It is very helpful, when traveling the same route again, to know that fod at **** was BAD in ****, and the ****motel was not clean or comfortable.It also helps me keep track of where Costco stores with gas stations are located. And I can compare the last trip on this route to our present one.

We headed for Wenatchee and Costco and filled up.  As we pulled out onto Hwy.28,  Alex informed me that we were going to experiment on this trip. He was setting cruise control at 60-65  for maximum speed, to see just how accurate the article on fuel economy was.  Almost everyone knows that slowing down does save gas, but is it enough to bother about?

After I got over the shock, I was more than happy.  I would be able to see the scenery and admire the views–not that he ever before exceeded the 75 mph speed limit on Interstates!

Our car displays a screen which shows fuel use and mpg, among other things. We started out at 26 mpg and watched, fascinated, as the miles rolled by and the mpg number crept slowly up: 29, 30, 31. By the time we reached Wyoming we had hit 34.3. Taking one non-freeway road at sixty helped. But in Wyoming,  because  everyone in a motor vehicle was whizzing by at unbelievable speeds (yes, that used to be us), cruise control was set at 70. We still were passed–one time, I swear, by a bicycle. But mpg stayed up. By Omaha it had dipped a little to 33.7 but came back up in Iowa.

On previous trips like this, our mileage would average 26.7 to maybe 27.2.  So we averaged six more miles on each gallon of gas, or nearly a hundred more miles per tank.  I checked my notebook records  to be sure the numbers displayed by the car were correct. They were.

So perhaps these studies and statistics we read aren’t all “made up.”  Our four cylinder Subaru Outback isn’t advertised as being  fuel efficient, but we have been happy at averaging 25-26 around here and 27 on the road. Now, having learned how much speed really does affect our mileage, we are very happy. Not only do we feel safe in our all-wheel drive car, but we know it will get us up and down our winter driveway with ease, and with reasonable gas economy.

Maybe Pres. Nixon wasn’t too far off when, in response to the 1973 oil crisis,  he signed the bill January 2, 1974, reducing the speed limit to 55.

And, while we aren’t quite ready to go back to a speed limit of  55 mph, we do wonder how much better mileage we’d get if we did.

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When I saw Rochelle’s post of a recipe for Pflaumenkuchen, I was reminded of the kuchen made every summer by my very dear friend Jutta in Atlanta. It was, and is, one of my favorite things to make and eat this time of year. Besides that, it reminds me of all the good times and foods we shared while neighbors for nine years. Although I haven’t yet made it  this season, I will soon, as I already have the plums.

As anyone who cooks knows, most recipes have variations.  In this instance, the base for Jutta’s kuchen is a yeast dough–delicate, light and redolent of yeast, butter, cinnamon and plums. My mouth is watering already.  I haven’t tried Rochelle’s version but will, as it appears to be quicker to make.  I like quick.

In a large bowl stir together  4c. all purpose wheat flour, 1 1/2 packages dry yeast, 4 tablespoons sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Make a well in the center. Add 1 cup warm ( about 100′) milk, 1/3 cup melted unsalted butter, one beaten egg. Mix well. Turn out onto floured surface and knead thoroughly for 8-10 min. or knead in an electric mixer with a dough hook  until smooth. Add a bit more flour if it appears sticky. The dough should be smooth but not stiff or heavy.

Place in oiled or buttered bowl, cover, and let rise in warm place till doubled.

Meanwhile, wash and pit 3 lbs. Italian prune plums. Slice lengthwise into quarters.

Oil an 11 x 15 cookie sheet or sheet cake pan with a half inch rim. Remove dough from bowl and knead once or twice. Let rest at least five minutes. With a floured rolling pin, roll dough out onto pan and pinch up edges to make a slight rim.

Place the plums in rows on the dough, pressing into the dough. Let rest 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425. Bake kuchen 20-25 minutes in the middle of the oven.

Mix 4 tablespoons sugar and one teaspoon ground cinnamon. Remove kuchen from oven and sprinkle evenly with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Serve warm or cold with whipped cream. I also like it plain, slightly rewarmed, for breakfast.

In parts of Germany this Pflaumenkuchen is also called Zwetschgenkuchen. I have sometimes substituted apples and raisins for the plums, making a version of Apfelkuchen.  Hmm. I have plums and apples. Maybe I’ll make both.

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How my life has changed!

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Is there such a thing as catching up? Untouched for two weeks, my gardens are retreating under the onslaught of weeds. The flowers need deadheading and weeds need pulling, and I can’t do a thing until I get my back fixed.  Alex claims he doesn’t know a weed from a flower, which I think is a ploy to get out of weeding. He is a whiz at deadheading and pruning, however, but that’s hard to do in the rain.  While lavender is beautiful in bloom, it is a chore to cut back. Maybe I’ll get caught up by the first frost. 

I haven’t blogged for over two weeks. In Iowa we were in what I think is the only county without AT&T cell phone service. What was worse,  we had no wireless computer connection unless we went to Mike’s Gun Shop and Payday Loans on the square and sat there between walls and cabinets of what appeared to me to be enough weapons for the mass destruction of most of southern Iowa.  Lucky for us, owners Mike and Casey are son and grandson of the friends we were visiting. 

It was Old Settlers weekend–second full weekend in August for the past 125 or so years– and right at the peak time for heat and humidity. Class reunions have always been held this weekend. Is this masochistic tendency an Iowa thing, I wonder? Oh, bless the inventors of air conditioning!

But what good is A/C when you’re walking around the courthouse square looking at exhibits in store windows? Or standing on the sidewalk–unless you were smart enough to bring a folding chair–watching the parade?

What memories the parade recalled! One horse looked like Flossie, a pretty white mare I rode in the parade a “few” years back. Another looked like Rex. That was another year.  And there was a team and hay wagon full of members of the class of ‘69.  Our class did that one year and I got to drive for awhile. It made me feel like a teenager again. 

This year our class, or what is left of it, mostly watched from inside what used to be the old Chevrolet Building–air conditioned, of course.  Our friend and my classmate (mother of Mike) has a new SmartCar and was driving it in the parade, and she asked if I wanted to be the passenger. Silly question!

The Smart Car is a very comfortable little machine.  With my window down and the A/C at full blast, I waved and hollered (in Iowa you holler) at the onlookers as we drove by.  I swear all 1600 people of that little town were watching and waving back. (1864 pop. when I lived there). As a teenager on a horse I looked straight ahead, with no waving or hollering. Believe it or not, I was shy back then. I got over it.

After the parade it was off to the bandstand to hear the speeches, learn who were the oldest man and woman, what couple had been married longest (69 years, eleven months)and who had come farthest to be there. As no one wanted to ride the Tilt-a-Whirl with me, we escaped to the air-conditioned comfort of our friends’ home and talked with others there about our various aches and pains. Out of our class of 49, thirteen will never attend another reunion. Out of the 36 remaining, twenty showed up from Iowa and from across the country: Rio Rancho, NM; Sedona AZ; Carlsbad CA; Sun City West AZ; and of course Leavenworth WA.

Another reunion is scheduled in two years. How many of us will be there…or will even know there is another reunion? The Class of 1939 had twelve out of the original 24 present. Pretty good, I think. Perhaps if we take care of ourselves, most of us will make it.

Looking back, I remember few overweight students. Some were a little overweight, but no one was obese. But the obesity problem today seems to have reached the Midwest. Having “eaten out’” there a couple of times, I felt that salt and fat were the primary ingredients in the local diet. And observing other diners, I felt positively thin. 

There wasn’t enough time to catch up with everyone on everything, but we all gave it a good try. Now I’ll try to get caught up here at home. Summer is not a good time to be gone from here–at least not for another two years.

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I’m watching The Big Band Years on PBS and hearing music which has words I can hear and understand. While I do understand that many of you readers are from later generations,  your music has speeded up and gotten louder and less understandable. I think you should go back to some of the earlier music and slow down!  Smiley face here!

I wonder what your children and grandchildren will call “music”,  and would love to be able to learn your reactions to it. Won’t happen.  But it would be interesting to know.

Don’t get me wrong. I like some contempory music. Folk music from the 70’s or thereabouts is my favorite. Hmm. That’s too far back. My idea of contemporary is Andrea Bocelli, Sarah Brightman, Jose Cura, Diana Krall and some others I can’t remember because many of my memory cells were left back there somewhere with that music.

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Brianne Pruitt’s blog mentioning applesauce as a substitute for oil in some baked goods reminds me of a chocolate cake I frequently used to make. I believe the original recipe came from Wesson, after vegetable cooking oils came on the market. Soybean oil was most common, I think. 

And no, we didn’t always have oils for cooking–at least not in the Midwest.  We cooked with lard, butter, Crisco, bacon and chicken fat. Right now I cringe when I think of it. We did have olive oil. It was for heating and dripping into an aching ear. No one in my very limited experience cooked with it. Those weren’t always the “good old days.”

This cake was the first cake each of my three children learned to bake. I also helped various neighbor children learn to make it. The applesauce substitution came much later. And, since I first got the recipe from a neighbor named Charlotte, many years ago in California, it is still called “Charlotte’s Chocolate Cake.”

• 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 cup cocoa  *
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup Wesson Oil (or substitute half or more of unsweetened applesauce) **
• 1 cup buttermilk  Or 1 cup milk mixed with 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup water (boiling)

1. Mix together all the dry ingredients. Add eggs, oil, buttermilk and vanilla. Mix well.
2. Add boiling water and mix well.
3. Pour into 2 9-inch cake pans well greased and floured. OR one 9×13 pan.
4. Bake 30-45 minutes at 350. DO NOT OVERBAKE.

I usually sift powdered sugar over the top. Sometimes I thin down seedless red raspberry jam and brush the top of the cake with it.

* cocoa: I buy my cocoa from a spice company called Penzey’s. Their cocoa is extra rich and gives a deeper chocolate flavor to  recipes  calling for cocoa.

** I have used half applesauce, three quarters, and all applesauce. With more applesauce the cake is less tender but otherwise turns out all right. And applesauce adds fruit and fiber to your diet.

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It was going to be a hot day, with the high around 97. On days like this we try for quick cool meals with little cooking. This particular evening we would be gone from five till six so we wanted a dinner quick to fix when we returned home.

In the freezer I found a package of crab meat which we had picked and frozen awhile back. As we had fresh greens and arugula and some sugar snap peas from Two Rivers Organic Farm, dinner was planned.

Our non-AC house was still cool at noon so I prepared the crab cakes and placed them in the refrigerator. It would take but a few minutes to cook them when we returned home. Alex cleaned and sorted the greens while I made my Secret Special Crab Cake Sauce. When we returned, dinner would be ready in minutes.

Off to town,  I traipsed through the Leavenworth Thursday evening Farmer’s Market.  I saw some long time friends, sampled some fantastic sheep milk cheese, and visited briefly with the purveyor of lavender who, like me, is another Lavender Lady. Then we went on to Barn Beach and Icicle Arts where a reception and showing of the art of David Barker was being held. I met new people, said hello to friends, admired the art and enjoyed conversation with the young people there. But it was hot, and time for dinner.

Home again. Ninety at home outside, eighty inside. Quickly cooked the crab cakes in a little grapeseed oil while the peas were being blanched. Arranged a bed of fresh greens topped with crab cakes and the Special Sauce. Drizzled a little toasted sesame oil and seeds on the pea pods, placed some small tomato sections on the plate and dinner was ready. Although the wine, a French Picpoul, was icy cold, we ended up putting an ice cube in it as it warmed up too fast. It didn’t hurt it at all.

Where to eat was not a choice at all. Ninety outside or eighty in? Which would you choose? By the time we were ready for a second glass of wine, the cool air from the mountain top behind us was flowing down the hill and we were ready to sit outside and admire the view. The flowers were perky in their pots, the birds were twittering (not on the Internet, silly) and we sat on the deck and emailed one another. It was a lovely end to the evening.

Crab Cakes

8 oz. fresh Dungeness crab meat

One green onion, finely minced

3 tablespoons Panko crumbs

one egg, beaten

dash cayenne

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

zest of one lime

2 tablespoons finely minced fresh parsley

Gently mix all ingredients. Form into four medium or six small crab cakes.  Coat with Panko crumbs mixed with a little Italian seasoning. Place on plate and refrigerate for an hour or more. Saute in 1 tablespoon oil or butter. I prefer a non-stick pan. Serve with Special Sauce.

Sauce: Mix together 3 tablespoons each of mayonnaise, sour cream, plain yogurt. Add juice of one lime, a dash to taste of Vietnamese hot sauce, some minced chives.  Serve on crab cakes and greens.

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