The Prune Plums are In!

When I finally found Italian prune plums (they are small) at Roche Brothers yesterday, I just had to buy some.  The photograph tells you why.  The recipe is something my husband ate as a child in Germany.  Konditoreis still serve pflaumen tarte.  So good.  Baked with a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar and dappled with sliced almonds.  The crust is actually golden, which doesn't show in the photo.  My mother-in-law always made this (my father-in-law's fave) with a yeast dough, but my recipe calls for a dough very similair to a pie crust, but without water, just one egg. 

Our dinner was a Mexican soup from the Yucutan.  Hey!  It must have been International Night.

God, Mother, Country, Apple Pie, No, I mean Plum Tart

So this election is beginning to look like there will be scant discussion of issues and lots of God, mother and country talk. Are these issues? I don't think so.

I'm tempted to stand on the corner and scream, "you're a nation of sheep! and the wolf is coming to the fold! " But what good would it do? I may set my hair on fire.

In the meantime, there is food. No, not apple pie, but plum tart. Yes, the prune plums have arrived. They are hard to find. Also known as Italian prune plums, and where are the little Italian grandmother (nonas) of yesteryear?

Not shopping where I do. We cleaned the prune plums out of Stop & Shop. Most of them were hard as gourds, but a few days on the counter did ripening miracles, and this morning I made the crust by hand out of flour, sugar, butter, and an egg. The photo is the result.

We haven't tucked into it yet. The nuts are hazlenuts, because I was out of almonds. The top is also sprinkled liberally with sugar into which a soupcon of cinnamon and nutmeg have been sifted.

Mega yum! Now I have to work on my novel, always a pleasure. Did you watch Mad Men last night? The plot thickens. I like that. Good conflict. We like that, too. Some of the characters aren't very nice. In fact, are any of the characters nice? Some of the women are rather like Sarah Baracuda, don't you think? Isn't it weird they won't let her talk to the press? A VP candidate who isn't allowed to talk? A woman, yet? I dunno. It's like she has to be brainwashed and primed and pumped by the handlers. And people are going to vote for these two?

I forgot. People won't vote for them. Sheep will. Are you man or Merino? Baaaa?

African Violets

Dunno what it is, but I am the kiss of death to African violets. Most anything else grows and even thrives in my care. The garden is luxuious, the tomatoes awesome, the basil toothsome, everything lush and abloom. Except the African violets. I swear to you I didn't water them from the top or plop them down in direct light. I used the proper fertilizer, didn't over water. What then? The only blame I can lay out is the diligent waterer who took care of things when we were in Alaska. He may have over-watered, but plant #2 wasn't exactly thriving then. Hadn't bloomed for a while. Looked, shall we say, dispirited. Plant #1 had succumbed months ago. Sigh.

Now I am finally getting back to serious agent querying. Read a blog today from someone newly published who mentioned querying 125 agents. Ambition has to be made of very stern stuff. Yikes. I'm trying to personalize the queries, even if it's just where I found the agent. Finally relented and subscribed to an online service that lets you research the agents in a scientific way, not thru other blogs that may be all right, but who knows how current.

Yesterday we stopped at a Farmer's Market and they had Italian Prune Plums! Yippee! These small plums used to be in every grocery and then a few years ago they became scarcer than hen's teeth, and you know how scare those are. I had a German recipe for an open face plum tart that is to die for, but you really need prune plums. Of course the market wasn't giving them away, and my two pounds cost $5.00. That was significant enough that I decided I better make the crust from scratch, which I did, and it wanted to crumble, so I pressed it into the tart pan, which I providentially found and now the whole beautiful business sit on the kitchen counter waiting to be eaten. Thought about sharing with the neighbors, then thought again.

I am feeling deserving because we had a meatless peasant dish, pasta and cauliflower the past two nights. It's actually very tasty, due to olive oil, red pepper, lots of garlic, parsley and seasonings. Easy to make . We like peasant food a lot and it is usually cheap and filling and not too full of BAD THINGS. Not dietetic, however, as peasants need calories to work hard, not sit on their puts at the keyboard all day. Tomorrow I am making mostly Mexican, due to the nice avocado and cilantro still in the fridge. A jalapeno or two. Yum!

My new reading is The Poisonwood Bible. I've loved everything I read by Kingsolver, and this promises to be a good, if long, book.

The Fifth Draft of Festival Madness is ready for editing. Wonder how many there will be. More Burning Man stuff in the Globe today. Signed on to Southwest and tried to decide if I could go. Lots of stuff on the calendar. Lots of money. No costumes or presents or even good desert duds. Would have to be crazy, but the idea is still in my head. www.burningman.com. The playa calls. Alas.

Onward,

Grapeshot