Grapefruit Yogurt Cake

The seemingly innocent baked good you see above was a task I decided to make at the last minute. In my last couple of hours at work yesterday I ventured into a blog break and came upon Smitten Kitchen's Lime Yogurt Cake. I immediately was intrigued by the idea of making a cake with yogurt. It made me think of something light and fluffy. And with the realization that I had most of the ingredients, except for eggs, I decided to venture into this new baking territory.

The only thing I changed was the use of grapefruit instead of lime. I had invested in a grocery box with a friend and had a grapefruit and orange that I was at odds with myself what to do with. You see I am a lazy fruit eater. I hate peeling things in order to eat them, with the exception of a banana. And that pith that is such a bitch to get off just makes me upset altogether. So a recipe where I just needed to juice my grapefruit is right up my alley.

What can I say about this recipe. It was neither bad or mind blowing. The actual process was quite simple but I do think I did a few things incorrectly. After you sift the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients the directions say to stir with a spoon until just combined. And it is at this point, friends, that I think I just took things a little bit too literally. So with my regular old spoon that I eat my cereal with I began to fold and stir but saw that the resulting batter was full of large lumps. I thought that's why I sifted, but lumps came about all the same. With whisk in hand I decided to try to eliminate some of these lumps and did a few light stirs to take care of them. Well, i think I stirred too much too fast which resulted in a heavy cake. I wanted something that my fork would just cook through with easy, but found that I made something with a little more give. It still was edible, but I wanted something more.

I also wished the grapefruit would have been a bit more of an upfront taste. It is instead a very subtle background note. My only solace is that I still have an orange on my counter which can only mean another cake this weekend. Who wants to come over to try?

P is for Party......and Pate!

DC is full of wonderful farmers markets that dot every neighborhood in our four quadrants. And now that spring has sprung the markets have been booming with more vendors and people. Being a Capitol Hill resident I am an avid supporter of Eastern Market (the oldest and longest running market in DC) and love exploring the stalls every weekend, but I love to get off the hill and explore other venues. It was at the Dupont Farmer Market that I came upon a purveyor of all things meat who was selling pate made of pig jowl. Oh my....if you love to eat pork products than you would love this. Creamy, fatty with a bit of a spicy kick. That pate lasted about 3 days in my fridge as I was enjoying pate sandwiches way too much.

On this particular visit to the Dupont Farmers Market I was with my friends, who also enjoy spreadable meats as much as I do, and as we purchased our beautiful rounds of pig jowls it was discussed that we should have a pate party. I mean why not? We love pate. And any excuse for a party is fine by me. But this was not to be a party of pre-bought goods, because as we consider ourselves true foodies we decided we must try at our hand at making at our own pates. Crazy? Maybe. Delicious? Yes!

My assignment was to make Pistachio Pate, which includes chicken livers, onion, butter, pistachio, allspice, pepper, brandy, and salt. Really pate is a peasant food that was developed to make use of the undesirable meats that were left over as nothing could go to waste. And I thank the lord to whatever peasant figured it out since my life would be so incomplete without spreadable meat. And now a photo montage of my experience in mate making:

Browning chicken livers in butter.

Once you brown the livers and saute the onions, you blend them with the spices and brandy until smooth.

Once blended you refrigerate until it is set.

I added a little decor with some leftover pistachios and was pleased with the results. The entire pate party was a success. Every one's contributions were delicious and I am so excited for future opportunities to make more varieties of pate. Here is the website that we used to figure out what type of pate we wanted to make: http://basic-recipes.com/r/p/index.htm