Honey, honey (do do do do doo do)

The first step is cutting away the wax capping over the honey. This honey is much lighter than the one on the main page--maybe from a different hive? maybe those bees preferred certain plants? or it was created earlier or later in the season when only certain flowers were available? i have no idea.

Lore de-capping and collecting wax

The extractor. Four uncapped frames sit in, then you spin a bunch, flip them over, and spin some more. Centripedal/Centrifugal force does most of the work.

Benski spinning some honey

I could have sat there and watched this for hours.

Just be glad I didn't post all the extreme close-up, eye-strain-inducing photos that I took...

Bees! I think these were the Italians. Photo courtesy of John (and the following ones as well)

Removing frames from the hive

Gently (gently!!) trying to remove bees from frame

Placing the bee-less frame in an empty box. The goal was to minimize the number of bees that would get into the garage/extraction room, where they could get trapped.

An empty jar shows off one of Kyli's brilliant "Bee Barf" brand labels.

Tofu Cheesecake with Blueberry Glaze

The Base (from The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook):

Filling:
3 cups tofu
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup oil (we may have used slightly less)
1 cup sugar (i'd use a little more)
1 tsp vanilla (go crazy, make it 2)
a pinch of salt

Blend/Food Process. The book says you can add a little water at the end if you need to for creaminess, but it seemed good to us, so we didn't.

Crust:

1.5 cups graham crackers, crushed
1/4 cup melted margarine (or soy margarine)
1 T sugar (optional)

Mix crumbs, sugar, and oil, and press into the bottom and sides of a 9" pie plate.

Pour the filling into the crust. Add the glaze. Bake at 325 degrees for 50 minutes (until middle is set--although i don't think we tested it).

The Blueberry Glaze: (an inspired combo to recipes from both The Voluptuous Vegan and The Yoga Kitchen)

1 cup fresh blueberries
almost 1 cup unsweetened apple juice (we had some pear juice, so we used that, but i think cider would work great)
1 T maple syrup (hmm, i think we used a bit more, or maybe brown sugar, up to 1/4 cup of sweetener would be my guess)
a pinch of salt
1 T arrowroot, dissolved in 2 T of juice (i think you can substitute cornstarch?)

Heat blueberries, sweetener, the juice, and salt on medium heat until the mixture is blue and some of the blueberries have burst, probably about when the liquid starts to boil. Add the arrowroot/juice bit to the pot, then stir until the mixture just starts to bubble. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla. We waited a few minutes for it to cool before pouring it over the tofu filling, but it was still pretty hot, so i wonder if that step did anything.

Pasta Fresca

First, choose and cook your pasta. We went with penne, because, hey, that's how N&Co does it (penne's also my favorite pasta). Since we were making pasta for 5 people, we ended up using a bag and a third (what size bag you ask? um...) of penne, and eyeballing the increase in other ingredients like onions and tomatoes. But we kept the sauce the same, and that's the true key to this dish.

In a very hot pan, saute

2 t olive oil
2 1/2 C pre-cooked pasta
1/4 C cubed roma tomatoes
1 T diced red onion
2 shakes of salt + cracked pepper

Sear noodles, stir a bit, should get "steaming hot". We actually didn't wait to sear the noodles, we just waited until the onions looked ready, and then poured in the sauce. Or maybe that's a lie, did we pout in the sauce first cuz we thought it would need to reduce more? Er, either way, it worked...

Once everything is good and hot, add

1 oz fresh baby spinach (who measures ounces in their kitchen? yeesh...)
1 oz fresca sauce

Toss to combine, and when the noodles look good and coated, take off heat. Shred some parmesan cheese on it so it gets nice and melted.

Fresca sauce

I think we used this entire batch for our amount of pasta, it didn't seem like 15 servings or whatever the website said. If you're cooking for 2, maybe pour a third of it in with the pasta and see how that looks.

1/4 C fresh garlic, minced
2 t salt
1/4 C balsamic vinegar
1/4 C sweet white wine
1 C extra virgin olive oil

Sorry for the imprecise recommendations on the sauce. I'm sure that we'll make this again soon, and then we'll be sure to take better notes.

Seaweed!

The coast of Maine

Shep Erhart of Maine Coast Sea Vegetables


Dulse looking ethereal

'Fry's done.

Sugar + Butter + Eggs

Yay!

The Spread.

My absolute favorite-- raspberry frangipane.


I think flowers and desserts have a lot in common--they both should be an everyday occurence in one's life, but even if they were they'd somehow remain special.

(I didn't even try this dessert, but my pictures of it came out the best)

Yes, the Viking mixer is edible. Don't ask, just marvel.

Corn Muffin Canvas

1 C cornmeal
1/2 C flour
2 t baking powder
2 T sugar (i'd replace with 2 or 3 T of honey)
2 T oil
1/2 t salt
1 C water
1 egg (originally recipe was for 1 banana, but since i had an egg and no banana...)
1 T vanilla**

Mix dry ingredients together, add wet, stir in but don't overmix. Bake in muffin pan for 10-15 minutes at 450. Mine took closer to 15, but I'm currently at a high altitude--does that make sense? That it would take longer?

**The vanilla is a guess. I probably added a whole tablespoon or more to only 1/2 of the batch, but I'm using homemade vanilla extract, which I hear is much weaker, so 1 T of commercial stuff for the whole batch should be enough to give it that hint of flavor.

A feast for the eyes (if i do say so myself)