"What should we do for dinner?" was the question Charisse asked the other day. "Cupcakes" came the answer. Yup, cupcakes is what Eric came home with a hankering for and letting up on that dream was not on his agenda. As Charisse had a one sided discussion about dinner, Eric sat and surreptitiously dreamed of different kinds of cupcakes. Red velvet, rich chocolate, cream cheese frosting whipped cream frosting, frosting, Mmmmmmm. After almost 20 minutes of "how about a nice homemade salad or some bread pudding?" being answered with "Hmm, no, I don't think those flavors would make a good cupcake" Charisse gave up and threw her recipe book at him and said "Fine! We can have cupcakes for DESSERT!" Eric earned that lump for sure, but the result was one serious cupcake, Champagne Cupcakelettes! Thats right, mini cupcakes with Champagne. These were cause for some serious celebration, so much so we ended up needing another bottle to finish the icing. Okay, so we were actually celebrating the instillation of grass in the backyard, but these little jems are totally worth a celebration in their own right.
So last week it was 65* and sunny all weekend here in the Bay Area, we put some serious time into the backyard, built a fence for the garden and generally got the backyard moving, Eric also ordered some grass, to be delivered the following Saturday morning. Dan agreed to come over again and help put it in (he helped with the front yard too, he's building up some serious credit for when he finally buys a house) and things were good. By Saturday morning we were in the middle of the biggest storm of the season, hail, ice, gail force winds and a tornado warning (and actual tornado in some parts of the bay). Eric has not the best timing but they got it done, ended up covered in mud and now our backyard has a yard instead of a mud patch reminiscent of a battlefield. Now to only keep the dog off of her newfound playground for two weeks...
Today's entry, titled "Nectarine Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Frosting" (or as Eric called it "A plate full of Oooooh yeeeeaaaah") is one that almost didn't happen. How could that be you might ask, since we are right in the middle of nectarine season here in Silicon Valley. This is something we'd wanted to do for some time, ever since the first little buds started growing in on the nectarine tree in the backyard. Tree? Sorry, we mean shrub-that-will-be-a-tree-next-year. See, everyone thought it had died some time ago and was basically cut down to a stump. But after a little (a lot) of TLC from Charisse and her green thumb it flared back to life this year, with a vengeance. It blossomed in the spring, looking so pretty we both knew we were in for a treat come mid summer. Sure enough, all summer long we've been watching dozens upon dozens of nectarines grow, bit by bit. Each day we'd be out there and Charisse would point to one right in the middle and say "That one, that one is MINE. There are many like it, but that one is mine" Okay, so maybe she wasn't quoting Full Metal Jacket over coffee at 8am on a Saturday but you get the point. That one was hers, and pity the fool who tried to take it.
Just as the fruit was coming ripe Eric had some real estate related work to go over with Charisse's dad Patrick so we invited them over for dinner and Charisse spent 2 days coming up with a good meal we could blog about. With the nectarines ready to go and a big dessert recipe in mind, we discovered that Koda the dog also liked nectarines. Eric of course learned about this through a text message at work that read something like "do you know any good recipes for dog?". Yup, the dog had her fill and Charisse's recipe was shot, but she had come across the idea of a doing a cupcake with what few nectarines remained, so dessert was saved. We were wondering why Koda wasn't hungry for almost a day and a half and by now you'd think we'd have learned to be suspicious when she doesn't finish her breakfast. Charisse found her nectarine, untouched by the carnage, and promptly ate it, in her PJs at 7am. She said it was the best one she's had in years. Eric - When my wife talks about her tangerine, she has this look in her eyes where I think she imagines Koda helping herself to 95% of the years fruit while we sleep. I don't dare question her claim that it was the best nectarine ever. I also firmly believe that Koda is not the subject of this post only because she spared "Charisse's Nectarine". Charisse of course is sticking firmly to her claim that the dog is "a member of this family whether you like it or not".
