Farmstead Inc.

Let the first east coast post commence! There are a few places here in Providence that I want to revisit now that I have this project in mind, but this is a place I've had on my radar to try for quite a while. Farmstead Inc. is the gourmet cheese shop and deli located in Wayland square, on the east side of Providence. Farmstead is open for lunch and the store is open into the evening. However, in the night time, its other half, La Laiterie, is open and has a full dinner menu. I have yet to try La Laiterie, but I look forward to it.



The menu is seasonal, which guarantees a fresh and unique experience. During our visit, we tried the following:

autumn salad gruyere, apples, roasted onions, candied, walnuts, cornichon, cider vinagrette, & a warm cheesemongers' croute
butternut squash soup purréd with cream and root vegetables
cheesemongers' grilled cheese with onions lots & lots of cheese, bourbon melted onions

Everything was delightful and presented beautifully and rustically-- from wood platters to paper baskets.



The rest of Farmstead is a gourmet market that stocks a wide variety of crackers, meats, cheeses, breads, among other deli items. There are a few prepared items, as well. The store is great for specialty items that can't be found at other markets in the area, but it also carries things like individual wooden cheese boards that are no bigger than 5" long for entertaining.

Farmstead also comes to the Providence Farmers' Market".


The New England architecture is so striking. It's similar to some houses back home, but the colors and patterns on these buildings are too good to just pass by.


We made a stop at a pet store carrying items designed only by RISD graduates and made two new beagle friends by the names of Pin & Stripe. We were big fans and will most likely return.


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holiday party

Well, it's been a while. To anyone who still checks the blog or to new visitors, I have some good news. I will be updating more frequently. However, the blog will be taking a different direction. Since I am at school and baking/styling is really pretty difficult, I will be doing more of an east coast/west coast food and travel blog that shows some delicious places to hit up if you're on either side of the country. Whether you're just looking for the best cup of coffee or some pictures of tasty looking cupcakes, then this is the blog for you. There might be the occasional natalie-baked item up here with a recipe, so keep on the lookout for that also.





Here are some pictures from my holiday party when i was back home in seattle. it was a really great time with family and friends. i made vanilla-cinnamon apple and cranberry-apple galettes with whipped cream. i also went a little crazy with the decorating, much of which was inspired by the creative geniuses over at Kinfolk Magazine. Seriously, check them out. Hope everyone had a great holiday season and is getting to all their new years resolutions―psych! Resolutions are dumb: always push yourselves to be your best, y'all.

Apple Cranberry Galettes
-makes about 4 8-inch Galettes -
Dough ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) chilled unsalted butter + 2 tablespoons
2 tablespoons (or more) ice water
1 egg
1/2 tablespoon heavy cream
sanding sugar

Filling Ingredients
4 large granny smith apples
2/3 cup fresh cranberries
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
note: for vanilla-cinnamon, use 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1 scraped vanilla bean.

Procedure
Mix flour, sugar, and salt in food processor.
Add 12 tablespoons of butter; pulse until coarse meal forms. Add 2 tablespoons ice water; pulse until moist clumps form, adding more water by teaspoonfuls if dry. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk and wrap in plastic. Chill 2 hours.
While you're chilling the dough, you might want to prepare the filling (procedure below).
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Roll out dough on a floured work surface 1/2" thick. Cut into 8" diameter circles and place on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
Place about 1/3 of a cup of the filling in the center of the circle and fold up edges of the dough in one direction. Place a 1/2 tablespoon of butter on the filling.
Beat the egg in a small bowl and add cream. Using a pastry brush, paint the sides of the galette with an eggwash and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Place on the parchment-lined sheet pan and bake for 15 minutes depending on your oven.

Filling Procedure:
Peel and cut apples into very thin slices, about 1/4" thick, then set aside.
In a large saucepan, turn on medium heat and melt butter. While the butter is melting, combine lemon juice, sugar, and spices in a small bowl. Pour into the saucepan.
Cook the cranberries in the pan first, without the apples. Wait until they start to make "popping" sounds, then remove from the pan, leaving the juice in the pan.
Cook apples just until they are easily sliced with a little pressure from a wooden spoon. Remove from heat and toss the cranberries in. Stir the fruits in with the sauce until everything is nice and covered.

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Old and New

Hi all, I've got an update for you. As you might have noticed, there really hasn't been much going on with this blog for a while. I've lost a bit of interest in it, and when something isn't fun anymore, I think it's good to just cut the strings and let it go. I've started a tumblr which you can follow here that will be a collection of my artwork, baking photography (no recipes, no stories), and other media that I like. It will have a completely different feel from my blog, so I understand if I lose some of my readers, and I'm sorry for that, but I hope some of you will follow me on my adventure to college and continuing study of food and art.

Till next time!
Natalie

http://whatyouneednatalie.tumblr.com/
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Birthday and Update

Hi everyone. As most of you are aware, it's been over a year since I've done a full post. I know, I know: I've been really bad. My last year of high school has sort of needed my attention what with this little thing called college. Oh, yeah! College. Some of you might be wondering where I've decided to go and I'm proud to say that I've decided to attend the Rhode Island School of Design. It's a fantastic school and I'm a little nervous, but I'm really excited to start there in the fall. It's an extremely challenging school, so I have a feeling baking may have to take the backseat (again!) for a while, but I know that it's something I'll love to do for my entire life and it will come in and out of focus.
The post I'm putting up today is about my birthday I recently celebrated. My actual birthday fell on a Sunday this year. While I didn't celebrate on my actual birthday, I decided to host a Sunday brunch for all my girlfriends and go on a baking + decorating binge. A couple rooms of my house were decorated in entirely pink and gold (this was my color palette, duh!) as were the invitations and party favors. We used an instant camera to take pictures during the party, which was fun because everyone was dressed up nicely. As party favors, people got to take home two photos, along with some jelly beans.



I've mentioned this before, but not in detail, but i am obsessed with Martha Stewart. Everything from scone recipes to her not-so-secret cattyness. For my party, I basically scoured Martha Stewart.com for hours finding ideas, photo galleries, and how-tos. Some of you might recognize the tissue paper pompoms that you can buy online from her site. I made mine using a tutorial on marthastewart.com since I'm pretty crafty (see, art school) and hung them from the ceiling using thread, duct tape, and medical tape (to hide the duct tape).



The brunch was practically an ode to Martha. Almost every recipe was one I've adapted from her. Here was the menu:

Glazed Lemon Pound Cake
Spiced Banana Bread
Orange-Poppy Scones with Butter + Jam
Blueberry Coffee Cake
Bacon
Asparagus, Potato, Cheddar, & Leek Frittata
Doughnuts from Mighty O
Cranberry Sparklers
Sparkling Cider with Cara Cara Orange Punch
Pink Grapefruit Margaritas

The drinks above are links to the pages on Marthastewart.com where you can find the recipes.




Glazed Lemon Poundcake
Cake
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 sticks unsalted butter; softened
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup plain yogurt
3 tablespoons lemon zest
2/3 cup lemon juice
5 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk together in a large bowl thoroughly, and set aside.In a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar until smooth.
In a medium bowl, stir together yogurt, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
Add the eggs to the butter and sugar one at a time, beating in between each addition.
With the mixer on a low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the yogurt mixture in 2 parts. Start and end with the flour mixture. Grease and flour a 9" bundt pan. Bake for 40 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean and the top begins to brown slightly. Let cake cool for at least 2 hours before glazing.

Glaze
Juice from 1 lemon (not exact)
2 tablespoons confectioner's sugar

Mix using a fork until a paste forms and brush on the cooled cake.

Blueberry Coffee Cake
Cake
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups sour cream
2 cups blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Into a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan.

In the bowl of electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, until well combined. Add vanilla, and beat until combined. Add reserved flour mixture and the sour cream, and beat just until well combined. Fold in blueberries. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake until golden brown and cake tester comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.

Crumb topping
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold

In a medium bowl, combine cinnamon, salt, sugar, and flour. Cut in the butter using your pastry cutter until well combined. Put aside or refrigerate until use.

Orange-Poppy Scones
From Martha Stewart Everyday Food
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk
2 tablespoons finely grated orange zest
1/4 fresh squeezed orange juice
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoon poppy seeds
sanding sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. With a pastry cutter, work butter into flour mixture until mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few pea-size pieces of butter remaining. With a fork, stir in 1/2 cup buttermilk, orange zest and juice, egg yolk, and poppy seeds until just combined.

On a lightly floured, surface, turn out dough and knead several times. Form dough into a 7-inch square; cut into 9 squares, then cut each in half diagonally. Transfer dough triangles to two parchment-lined rimmed baking sheets. Brush tops with buttermilk; sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake until scones are pale golden, 15 to 17 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cool on wire racks. Serve with butter and jam.

Banana Bread

1 cup sugar
1 stick butter, softened
2 over-ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs, well beaten
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat sugar and butter together in a mixer. Add mashed bananas and eggs one at a time. Sift the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg together and whisk until well blended. Add to butter mixture and beat in mixture just until combined. Bake in a greased and floured loaf pan for 45-50 minutes.


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Three Cookies

Hi everyone! It's been a while since I've done a post. Unfortunately, this won't be a full post. Life is just a little crazy right now, but I hope to be able to do some full posts for you in the not-so-distant future. Today, I have some pictures of ginger cookies, rosemary butter cookies, and chai tea shortbread. Have a nice weekend.







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