haley house bakery cafe

THE CAFE IN DUDLEY SQ.


the haley house bakery cafe is an inspiring blend of all things that i love and care about - good people bringing greater good to society through good food. over the weekend, this unique little cafe, which opened in roxbury's dudley square last september, was selected as one of the "best of the new" in 2005 by the boston globe.

"Best of the New", Boston Globe Magazine

the haley house bakery cafe is a social enterprise run by boston's nonprofit organization, haley house. this retail and wholesale bakery cafe runs a training program that teaches underemployed individual basic job skills in the baking industry. the goal is to help trainees obtain and succeed in full-time jobs upon graduating from the 6-month program.

while the program has been in existence for 10 years, this expansion of the enterprise from a little corner bakery in the south end into a full-scale business and training program is recent, and i spent much of my time in 2004 and 2005 working on the business plan that stood behind this transformation process.

chef didi emmons now runs the Bakery Cafe. you may know her as the owner of Veggie Planet in harvard square, or for her stints at Pho Republique, Centre Street Cafe, Delux Cafe, and Hamersley's Bistro, among other well-known Boston restaurants. she has also authored cookbooks Vegetarian Planet and Entertaining for a Vegetarian Planet. didi has infused her passion for the creative use of locally produced and organic ingredients into both the bakery and cafe. vegan berry muffin anyone?

when you visit, you may hear sous chef rod singing opera as he tosses fresh mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, and grated carrots with anything else that arrived earlier that morning - beets, red onion, arugula - then shaking in a generous drizzle of thick balsamic vinaigrette. he caps the end of your plate with a square of warm, buttery cornbread, made with whole bits of corn kernels.

others who i love to see at the Bakery Cafe are bing and kathe, and christian, whom i miss dearly (after doing so much for Haley House, she has gone on to seek good beyond all the baked goodness).

HALEY HOUSE BAKERY CAFÉ
2139 Washington Street
Dudley Square, Roxbury
(617) 445-0900
Monday to Saturday 7AM - 4PM
http://www.haleyhouse.org/cafe/index.htm

by the way, you can also find haley house baked goods at a variety of cafes and specialty markets throughout boston, cambridge, and somerville - like toscanini's, 1369, diesel cafe, and b. good.

BANANA WALNUT MUFFIN

stewing like there's no tomorrow

MOROCCAN VEGETABLE STEW


on TV, they've made their first course and have dessert in the oven before the first commercial break. in my reality, at that point, i generally have half an onion sliced and one foot in a sneaker, ready to head out for that stick of butter i could have sworn was in the fridge yesterday.

when it comes to cooking, i have yet to master any of the skills that actually matter when it comes to daily survival, that is, planning ahead, ensuring that i have the necessary ingredients, peeling and chopping efficiently (the veggies, not my fingers), etc. thus, i am actually completely helpless when i arrive home hungry at night. and that is why cafe podima, the whole foods salad bar, and tony the tiger are my friends.

so there, i've said it. since blogs are supposed to be all about confessing one's true selves to the world, i here fully admit to you that i have no idea how to cook dinner for myself at the end of the day.

fortunately, i have found a temporary solution in soups and stews. they are the perfect food to make the night before and feast upon the next day, paired with a fresh loaf of crusty bread. they also, for the most part, get better the longer they simmer.

and so moroccan vegetable stew was what i chose to make for potluck night with my college roommates. we had courses ranging from rachel's salad topped with apple, walnut, and goat cheese to feng's mexican corn to joanna's dream bars (did i get those names right...?). juliana's hot and sour soup is the only other dish that i managed to capture on film (i have learned that it is not the best party activity, asking people to hold their hot food really still while i try to capture it without using a flash). oh yes, and rachel brought yummy wine (an awesome pick, though i cannot recall anything about it, besides that it was a cabernet).

PREPPING FOR THE STEW


spices (cloves. cinnamon, cumin, tumeric, chili powder, nutmeg)


root veggies in spice

JULIANA'S HOT & SOUR SOUP

meyer lemons

I have in my possession four precious meyer lemons. they grew on a tree in berkeley, ca and arrived at my desk by way of chris, my friend and manager of my current "air" project at continuum. the tree is his grandmother's.

meyer lemons are fragrant and petite, a cross between the lemon and mandarin orange, according to katharina, another fellow colleague and lover of all good things to eat. katharina and i once steamed artichokes in our company kitchen, dabbing the prized leaves in a blend of meyer lemon juice, olive oil, and sea salt.

as i have been told, i need to make good use of all parts of these lemons - rind, zest, juice, everything. and so i am currently searching for all good dishes infused with lemon. just as the eskimo appreciate the whale, i will appreciate my meyer lemon.

(thank you, chris and chris's grandmother!).

peking toast

so i know this guy who has been spending the first year of his early retirement in beijing.

while he did make magnificent creations in college using only sandwich bread and chicken parm from our dining hall, i never quite remembered him to be a cooking-inclined type of guy.

well, i am proud to see that china has done him well. rendered penniless by "bank complications" he has been forced to survive off scraps from his fridge. the result: french toast with eggs and bacon! jwei, i am impressed. goes to show just how incredible the egg can be. and edible (except for that bird flu stuff).

mulligatawny soup

when i was in high school, my guy friends were really into words. we traveled a lot by bus back then, and our waiting time at the stop provided ample opportunity to riff. "this really is an antiquated means of transportation..." one would say. [thoughtful pause among the four] "primordial", another would contribute. "antidiluvian." yes, they agreed. it was antidiluvian.

and so they would continue until a new synonomous challenge presented itself.

i never got into words as much as they were, and whether or not buses are truly antidiluvian, i still do not know. but one bit of vocabulary that i will always remember from those days is "procrustean". "procrustean" is a word Sam used to describe something "producing or designed to produce strict conformity by ruthless or arbitrary means".

but i heard "procrustean" as something "with the potential to taste really bad". "crust" conjured up the thought of bread. "pro", well that was obviously the latin root for "before". and "-ean"? that made me think of pre-historic eras, like the archaen period. bread before the archaen period? that couldn't be good.

anyway, it occurred to me a few days ago that words have a lot to do with our experience of food. "i'm on a quest for garlic," i informed my friend John over the phone. "what are you making?" he asked. "mulligatawny soup." i relished in saying it. "moo-lee-gah-TAH-ny? mulli-GA-tanee? i'm not sure."

"hmm..." he said. "you know what soup i like? bouillabaisse. BOO-yah-basss."

"ooh. that's a good one." actually, i had never tried bouillabaisse before. but just hearing the name made it sound damn good.

there are a lot of things i like to eat because i like the way they sound. think greens. radicchio. endive. mache. [who is the marketing genius behind all of these?]

anyway, my mulligatawny delivered on its promise. mulligatawny means "pepper water" in Tamil, a language used in southern India. i added apples, tomatoes, onions, ginger (lots, finely minced), and coconut milk. i have become a huge fan of chicken thighs (i swear i will never go back to chicken breast, ever). the spice came from the last little packet i had left from my visit to the veggie food festival with tim and juliana last year. i need to get my hands on more curry. if anyone has any suggestions...please help.

a very good sign

what are friends for? well, among many good things, taking pictures of delicious baked goods. delicious auspicious baked goods, might i add, given the timing of this shot.

could it be...bread baked in the shape of a turtle?! found nowhere but in my favorite city (read my ode to my favorite city here).

thank you feng(a) and grant. this is most definitely a sign that 2006 will be thoroughly fulfilling, happy, and full of baked surprises.

big thick waffles

for breakfast...at noon.



here is what i have learned. you can make your own baking powder from baking soda and cream of tartar, in a ratio of about 2:1. i guess cream of tartar acts as an acid. baking soda alone could work, but you would need to have something else in the mixture (like fruit or chocolate) to start the reaction. if you want to make authentic Belgian waffles, however, you need to use yeast, and you also need to seriously whip your egg whites. i have attempted Belgian waffles a number of times before, but i have yet to come across a recipe that delivers the same crispy, crumbly, buttery sweet waffle that I held in a square of wax paper walking over the bridges of Bruges. (please send me your secret if you have found it! i promise not to bake and tell. :)

anyhow, this is why i love being at home: i love being at home because i generally spend the first 60% of my day in my flannel pjs (back from high school), and inevitably around noon my dad will snap out of his sleepiness, wish me a good morning, and say, "hey - is that a new dress?"

merry week

happy holidays.

sunday: fortune cookies for the first annual dsg cookie swap. martha stewart's recipe.

it took me hours to come up with fortunes for everyone. sean got my favorite: "Over the next 10 minutes you will grow even better looking." btw - my coworkers are phenomenal bakers. there seems to be a high positive correlation between design strategability and bakingprowess.


tuesday: butternut squash soup with cardamom, nutmeg, & cinnamon. my ideal was to make an onion foccacia to go with it but i was weak from hunger. no pix.



saturday (xmas eve): creme brulee infused with ginger and mint (the custards are cooking as i type!). mama will take care of the japanese curry. baba is setting up chinese hot pot (huo guo). i will also make braised root veggies, which i realize, is basically the western version of curry. (p.s. finally found russo's in watertown - visit for the produce experience of your life...in the burbs of boston. http://www.arusso.com/)

anyway...happy holidays. this is the first year i haven't listened to mariah carey's "all i want for christmas" on repeat for hours. have i entered a new stage in my life?? :)

belated potato

it's december 4 and i still haven't posted about thanksgiving's sweet potato cake with cream cheese frosting! how will i ever become world famous baking blogger if i keep this up??

well brief summary: this was sincerely the BIGGEST CAKE i have ever made in my life. in addition to the artful mix of brown sugar, autumn spices, and sweet potato, and dense moistness of the crumb, i honestly do love this cake for its sheer weight and size. the only thing i regret is not overdoing the decoration to complement the overall theme of excessiveness. lack of planning, adequate support in the kitchen, and patience led me to shirk on the decorating (planning = didn't purchase any food coloring, but then again it didn't seem right piping little yams on top of the white cream cheese frosting anyway; adequate support = my dad threw away the toasted walnuts I had reserved for dotting the top of the cake; patience = i wanted to eat it).

anyway, the actual reason why i decided to post is to reflect upon my friday morning. yes, i have officially had the worst morning of my life! already! at age 24.5! i started the day at a bleary 7 am, pulling myself out of bed to go running. a half mile out, it started snowing, and my ears began to ring and scream in pain. i hurt all over (this quitting the gym thing has not done me well on the whole physical fitness thing), tripped and tumbled onto dirt and gravel. i skinned my knee. i was too numb to swear.

my dad needed to take my truck for the day. pulling his car out of the driveway, i took my first turn and found my pants in a pool of warmth. (no, i did not pee in my pants! gross). my honey lemon tea had spilled out of its cup holder and pooled around my lap. i drove back home, wiped down the leather, and changed my sticky pants. i decided to try a different route to work to make up for being late (ellen's way), but about 25 minutes into the commute i realized that i was lost. work was somewhere to my left, and i was still going straight, so i compulsively swung a turn. this also happened to be during a red light. within moments i was pulled over on the side of the road, frigid air and snow blowing through the open window as i waited for the cop to approach, wondering whether i should feel sorry for myself, or be grateful that if bad things were meant to happen, at least they were all condensed into a 45 minute period...and perhaps this was actually a dream? the cop requested my registration and waited as i searched desperately through my dad's glove compartment, pulling out a mess of hats, magazines, maps, receipts, and...what was this?...web print-outs on my ex-boyfriend. oh god.

i got off with a warning. and directions to work. (i love you, mr. policeman.)

but i was still very late.

brie

i heard "santa baby" playing in cvs today. yes, the first snow has long come and gone, but i was still not ready for the images of waxy Whitman's chocolates (oh, Snoopy - sigh), mall craze, and perky poinsettias that were immediately triggered.

[i should have known it was coming with the return of eggnog lattes and red starbucks paper cups!]

but the rapid approach of the holiday season also brings positive associations to mind. for example, holiday cocktail parties. i am a sucker for all things that make the quintessential holiday cocktail party: the scattered flickering of tealights, the vaguely familiar ting of jazz, the obligatory assorted cheese platter. (i like wine too, but when it comes to parties, i prefer it sangria'd, not mulled.)

and so i welcomed the season by having brie with dinner. brie, the most peaceful and harmonious of the cheeses! what doesn't get along with brie...?

crusty bread
jam
pears
pecans
apples
walnuts
blueberries
dried apricots
flaky crust
almonds
grapes

yup. it's all a happy holidays once someone cuts into the ooey goodness of that perfectly circular little disk.

p.s. santa, i would not mind an outer space convertible as well, but in red, not blue.
thanks! :)

sequins, curry and banana crumble

i had a very boston moment today. ice puddles formed on the street before my very eyes!!

so what are ways to bring comfort on a day like this in boston? jamaican irie ginger tea with generous honey treatment at darwin's. my once-every-5-months haircut, this time with michelle at james joseph (she wears her own hair assymetrical and purple - i went for the symmetrical look). beginner's flamenco with ramon (a slow, expressive, happy spanish dance with castanets). a sequined black tank from jasmine sola.

and of course, comfort food. i cooked tonight. i made an indian chickpea curry (though i cheated - i used this little unlabeled packet of indian spices i scored at the veggie food fest - check out my old blog for that story). i do need to get me some more of those packets. they rock.

i also saw a few over-ripe bananas on the kitchen table and decided to conjure up a worthy recipe for them. it is my philosophy that no banana should have to live a life of neglect, only to be reluctantly eaten, brown and mushy, by some unhappy person.

banana crumble

fruit:
2-3 ripe bananas, cut lengthwise into thirds
2 tbsp. sugar (white, though i'm sure brown sugar would work, too - i only had white in the house. but don't underestimate the power of white sugar - it can do amazing things.)
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. vanilla sugar
dash of nutmeg

topping:
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. milk

vanilla sugar for dusting

preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

generously grease a 8x8 square cake pan. lay cut bananas flat to cover the bottom of the pan. sprinkle 2 tbsp. sugar, cinnamon, vanilla sugar, and nutmeg over the bananas.

in a small bowl, combine flour, salt, and sugar. cut butter into the dry mixture until texture is crumbly. add milk and knead to combine. roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick. punch or cut out shapes (approx. 1.5-2 inches in diameter) and lay shapes on top of bananas in pan. dust with vanilla sugar.

bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until topping is golden brown. serve hot, with vanilla ice cream.

it's not bad. then again, i am always more forgiving when i come up with the recipe myself and there's no one else to blame for failure. :)

(p.s. for a while i thought i had actually invented the banana crumble. there are apple crumbles and blueberry crumbles, but i had never heard of anyone making a banana crumble. however, upon turning on my computer, i promptly googled "banana crumble", and unfortunately it looks like the sugartree inn bed and breakfast has beat me to it. as well as approximately 278,000 others. dammit...there goes another chance for fame, fortune, and legacy)

pic of me

ok...so i wanted to put up a pic for my profile and for some reason it has to show up here first...google, you are so weird.

[Update] July 15, 2007
Want to change my pic...so am doing it here again!

nuts

last night i watched eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. (v. good)

in celebration of this viewing i made candied spicy walnuts. which i burnt. toasting nuts is not something that should be done by anyone who is consistently 10 minutes late, particularly since the entire toasting process should not take more than 8 or so minutes. i thoughtfully tasted at least half of the batch to determine whether or not i had actually burnt it (after which i reluctantly admitted to myself that i had. although, had i not been having people over later that night, i might have successfully convinced myself that i had not actually charred the nuts, along with my brand new calphalon baking sheet.) i was not to be defeated, however, and immediately took on glazed cinnamon pecans to prove a little something to myself. this time on the stovetop, though, as i do burn most things that require any degree of attention in the oven. i melted my plastic spoon in the process, but was able to pick out the plastic pieces from the sugar mixture prior to adding the pecans. they came out pretty well overall.

why i did not tell anyone about this debacle later that night is a mystery to me, now that i have this blog to help me re-evaluate the little peculiarities of my life. perhaps because i was too eager to hear compliments for my apple upside-down cake. mmm apple cake.

hello

hi!
this is my old blog.

http://www.xanga.com/homeyturtleG

i heard this site is better.

g