I wanted to post some pictures and mention a few things about the weekend, but I’m a bit rushed for time at the moment, so I’m borrowing something from another blog that popped up in the ol RSS feed yesterday that I thought would be of interest…
This picture is from a website called Tartlette and is, as the title indicates, dedicated to all things petit and tart-like in the dessert world. This is just one of the random things that the World Wide Web has ushered into my life, and now I’m dreaming about rasberries coming into season so that I can make these…
Pumpkin Seed Mascarpone Mousse and Raspberry Tartelettes:
For the tart shells:
1 stick (115 gr) butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup (93 gr) powdered sugar, unsifted
1 large egg
1 1 /2 cups (190gr) flour
2 tablespoons (20 gr) cornstarch (makes for a lighter crumb)
pinch of salt
For the almond cream:
1 stick (115 gr) butter, softened
1/2 cup (100 gr) granulated sugar
1 cup (100 gr) ground almonds
2 eggs
1/4 cup (60gr) heavy cream
Pumpkin Seed Mascarpone Mousse:
200 ml heavy cream
4 oz (120gr) mascarpone, at room temperature
2 tablespoons (25gr) sugar
1/3 cup (80gr) raw pumpkin seeds, ground
2 cups fresh raspberries
Prepare the tart shells:
In a mixer, whip together the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix until incorporated. Add the flour, cornstarch and salt and mix briefly. Dump the whole mixture onto a lightly floured board and gather the dough into a smooth ball. Do not work the dough while in the mixer or it will toughen it up. Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
When the dough is nice and cold, roll it out on a lightly floured board or in between the sheets of plastic. You will need half the amount of dough to make the tartelettes. The other half can be kept in the fridge for up to 5 days or frozen, well wrapped for up to 3 months. Cut out eight rounds with a 3-inch pastry ring. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes. Let cool.
Prepare the almond cream:
Place the butter, sugar, almond powder, and the eggs in a large bowl and whisk until smooth (can also be done in a food processor). Add the cream but stir it in carefully instead of whisking it (you do not want to emulsify it or it will rise while baking). Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Place the 8 baked rounds of dough in eight 3-inch pastry rings, divide the cream evenly among the rings and bake 20 minutes at 350F. Let cool.
Prepare the mousse:
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the cream to medium stiff peaks and reserve it in the refrigerator while you prepare the mousse.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the mascarpone and sugar with a spatula (really no need to put your mixer to use on that one). Add the ground pumpkin seeds and mix thoroughly until incorporated.
Carefully fold the reserved whipped cream into the mascarpone base by placing your spatula in the center of the bowl, scooping the bottom over the top. Give your bowl a 45 degree turn and repeat until the batter is smooth.
Assemble the tarts:
Place the mousse in a pastry bag fitted with a star tip and pipe a large dollop of mousse right in the center of the tartelettes, leaving a small border all around. Place raspberries all around the mousse. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
So we’re plugging away at creating a space for the baby–a task that I am rather enjoying in the vein of all things motherly and nesting. Our general approach is to look for interesting and second hand things where we are able both because that’s how we find the things that we love for the rest of the house and because we wanted to combat some of the consumerism associated with child rearing…a loosing battle, but one we’re attempting. Drew and I both have contributed art to the baby’s room, and we’ve asked friends to do the same, and most recently I ordered this WWII print to hang over his (just scored, vintage cabinet circa late 1800s) changing table. I knew that this popular print was intended to raise morale during the second World War, but here’s what wikipedia has to say on the subject: “The Keep Calm and Carry On motivational poster was produced in 1939 during the beginning of World War II, and was a “last case scenario” to be used only should the Nazis succeed in invading Great Britain, in order to stiffen resolve. Two-and-a-half million copies were printed, although the poster was distributed only in limited numbers.”
We traveled to NC this past weekend for our friends Erin and Asa’s wedding. It was a really beautiful wedding out at Deerfields which is about 30 minutes outside of Asheville, and it was of course really great to connect with old friends and celebrate! We drove down Thursday evening, and Drew dropped me off at my aunt and uncle’s farm in Madison County where I was treated to a delicious meal and good company, and Drew drove on to meet all of the guys for the bachelor party. On Friday we headed over to Deerfields for the rehearsal luncheon and then some set up for the big day on Saturday. I helped with decorations and the boys did some of the heavy lifting.
Following the ceremony on Saturday afternoon, we were treated to a delicious dinner, toasts, and a night of dancing with some of our favorite people. When the ceremony was over, Drew and I both agreed that we love that our friends all have such beautiful weddings. Each one is unique and every time we are struck by the couple’s creativity and the love of our college community.
The couple arriving at the reception to a wonderland of bubbles
Erin and Asa’s first dance
Together again! Drew, and dear friends Adam and Lana catching up…
I asked Drew yesterday when my third trimester was supposed to start because there’s this strange period of time in your pregnancy when you realize that trimesters are broken down into three month sections and yet there are 40 weeks in a pregnancy, so your sixth month is a magically long month and it somehow it all balances out in the end. Given that, I have ignored months for a while and have just tried to stay on top of counting weeks which seems simple enough, but given the pile of macaroni that my mind is capable of falling into these days (both literally and figuratively) keeping up with the weeks can be a little bit of a challenge too. Anyway, all of that is to say that my 3rd trimester starts next week. At which point we will be 12 weeks away from bringing a child into the world, which is very exciting but also…well, you said it Lucy!
And I don’t really know what to make of this next photo. As I mentioned, this overpass is a ‘memorial’ to the men and women that work with the Virginia Dept of Transportation. There was a sign saying as much, and apart from the beautiful view, the only other thing that I saw memorializing these workers was this:
