Chef Josef Karst and Mr. Pete Bevilacqua – Men at Work

Weddings don’t just happen.

There’s a lot of planning, decisions made, deposits paid. And there’s a lot of work by a lot of people.  Here are two of those people.

Isn’t it great that when it’s actually happening, there are professionals who have done it many times before and make it a success?

These two men made Jessica and Matthew’s wedding at the National Aviary a success, and guided a team of professionals to make it seem effortless.

Josef

Executive Chef Josef Karst ,originally from Germany, prepared a special dish for one of the guests who needed her meal to be gluten free.

(I found a link to a recipe of his for Kaese Spaetzle -not gluten free)

Josef Karst 2

 

Thanks Chef Josef for letting me photograph you at the reception on Saturday.  Everything was delicious.

Pete Bevilacqua

His years of experience benefit everyone at the wedding but especially the bride and groom who needed to relax and enjoy their special day and not worry about any more details.  Thanks to Mr. Pete Bevilacqua,everything was perfect.  (he was not in charge of weather!)

Jessica thanks them

Grateful for all they did to make the wedding wonderful and delicious, Bride Jessica thanks Chef Josef Karst and Mr. Pete Bevilacqua

wedding drinks

 

Macarons

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Almost everyone’s crazy for Macarons these days.  What’s all the fuss about?

Macaron stores popping up in NYC every few blocks. And in Pittsburgh!

They’re everywhere.   “meringue- like almond cookies” says Jean- Marc Chatellier’s website

And they’re gluten-free.

Have you made them yourself yet?  Most people don’t, but buy them at the bakery.

Preferably an excellent French bakery. In France.

I’ll skip the peanut butter and jelly flavor, though.

I was knitting at a friend’s for tea and she had a lovely sleeve of multi- flavors and colors including a lavender, a lemon  and a salty caramel. (See the red box!)

My favorites are still Jean-Marc Chatellier in Millvale, PA, across the Allegheny River.

I read David Lebovitz- Living the Sweet Life in Paris blog  I Love Macarons with terrific photographs and a multitude of links for more info on macarons you ever thought possible….and if you want to try making his French Chocolat Macarons click here for directions and recipe

 

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New York City display

macarons in a box

From Squirrel Hill French Bakery

 

macarons

 

West Village, New York City

 

Macarons 4

 

Jean -Marc Chatellier Bakery    Millvale PA

 

 

Macarons2 7

 

Independence Day Macarons in July

 

 

Raspberries and Blueberries on Vanilla Häagen-Dazs

Accompanied by ginger snaps!

This is the dessert my friend V served at a lovely home cooked dinner last Saturday.  It was delicious.  A generous helping, too.

A nice finish to a simply perfect meal. Walleye caught by Cousins Jeff and Jeffrey, a baked sweet potato and salad with whisked lemon juice and olive oil dressing.  Found this in my phone tonight and was thinking about how everything was so good.  She said she was following the same idea my mother used to profess-  Buy the best food you can and do as little to it as possible.  Good advice.

The Pamela’s Ginger Mini Snapz are gluten free and quite tasty.    Hope you have a good day Saturday.  HBTY!

Bowl of Ice Cream and Fruit

Cheesecake Pie Made with Coconut Palm Sugar

Some of the family is eating gluten-free.  You might have seen the crumbled cake top from the other day (which was delicious)

And the family is trying to reduce intake of  refined sugar.  I wanted to bake something they could eat if they wanted to do so.

My mother used to make this with regular sugar when I was growing up. I just switched to the coconut palm for the body of the cheesecake pie and used a bit of maple syrup for the sour cream topping. I used FULL FAT cream cheese and sour cream. Some free-range organic eggs

I made this for Saturday night after Thanksgiving

This is a crustless pie.  Not too sweet.  It looks like it has a brown crust but it is just the butter browning the edge and the color of the coconut palm sugar.  It’s an iPhone photo today.

Here is the recipe.

Butter a glass pie plate.  Heat the oven to 325 degrees.  I baked this one at 350 and the electric oven  where I was staying is hotter and faster than mine at him and I think it was too hot for it. I think that is why it had more cracks than usual.

Mix well  2 -8 oz. packages of cream cheese (room temp)  with 3/4 c coconut palm sugar

Add 3 eggs. Beat well.  Add 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract. Mix.

Pour into the buttered pie plate.  Bake for 45 minutes.

Take out of oven and let it sit for about 5 minutes, it will deflate and a crater will form for the topping, forming a “crust” without crumbs.

Spread on a topping mixture of  1 c sour cream, 3/4 teaspoon vanilla and 2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup

Bake for 5 more minutes.

Cool. Serve with sour cherries or fresh blueberries or strawberries or eat plain. Put it in the fridge when cool.

Bake until knife comes out clean in center

Turkeys of the Day

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The haystack turkey is in Roanoke VA

And the live turkeys are at the farm next door in Hardy, Virginia

The turkey chrysanthemum centerpiece is from my sister who is visiting at E’s in Albany. She sent it on her phone.

The gluten-free pound cake I posted early this morning was appreciated but best of all it tasted good! Some added ice cream and others ate it plain. My grandson Michael ate some and gave me the thumbs up and a big MMMMMMMMMMMMM!

What else could you askfor? Grateful for family and friends, far and near.

and Flat Ruthie is with the main course on Cardboardmetravels

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A Failed Cake is a Reminder

What really matters. It’s good to be reminded by the universe. There’s no time for a do-over. Be humbled.

I was so disappointed. Wanted to take this to the feast today and feel I had really outdone myself for them. For me. Or really i wanted to feel good about my offering. I baked a special cake for the gluten free portion of the family. For my grandson Michael.
but the picturebook result did not go as planned. It stuck to the bundt pan despite my preparation. Like cement. A bowl of chiseled crumbs and a raggedy looking cake? It’s gluten free and has a cup and a half of butter in it. Five eggs.

I think a dollop of ice cream, a ladle of crushed berries, and the loving hugs if family will make everything all right.

I’m taking it and we’ll have a good chuckle. The being together and feeling their love and affection is what will feed my heart.

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Pignolis- An Heirloom Recipe from a Friend’s Mother

The one thing I can tell you is, don’t mess around with the confectioner’s sugar amount as it is needed to make the cookie take shape!

Parchment paper is key, too.

You can see I should have put this recipe in a plastic sleeve. It is well used and always appreciated.  People devour them.

Thinking of how wonderful it is that Esther was so generous to share her hand written recipe at least twenty years ago.  Her daughter, Diana,  will take her iPad to show her this post on Tuesday as we have no school due to the storm winds and rain predictions.  I called and asked if it would be okay to post and Diana said, “Yes” so thank you Diana and her mother, Esther.

I baked these for Laura’s wedding last year and made them for the House Concert for my gluten-free friend.

(Smidge, this recipe is for you, too!)