California Lemons

These lemons grow right outside my sister's front door. Remind me again why I don't live in California? Being the half-assed localvore that I am, my envy was difficult to contain. So I stuffed every remaining inch of our Christmas luggage with these grapefruit-sized beauties (not to mention that crazy shaped one, just cuz) to bring some California sunshine back to our dreary Connecticut table, which won't see any local fruit for another four months. I vowed to use every last drop of juice and crumb of zest. So far I have, except for that weird shaped one, which I can't quite bring myself to part with/am afraid to actually put in my mouth.

In addition to just cutting them into wedges and squeezing them on oysters or with olive oil over salads, I've made a batch of our favorite tahini dressing, and this chicken recipe from Food Network Magazine, to which my very generous boss gave me a subscription for Christmas (I doubt she reads my blog but you can never brown nose too much, can you?).

The winning recipe by far, though, in the category Comforting, Wholesome, Sunshiny Desserts, is the Lemon-Oat Squares from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking. I can't seem to find on their Web site, so here it is, just for you:

Lemon-Oat Squares

Crust
1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 c packed light or dark brown sugar (we were out, so I substituted 3/4 c granulated sugar and 1/4 c molasses, which worked just fine)
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 c old fashioned rolled oats
2/3 c old fashioned rolled oats, ground for 30 seconds in a food processor
3/4 c traditional whole wheat flour
2 T orange juice

Filling
1 can (14 or 15 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 to 2 T finely grated zest (from 1 to 2 lemons)
1/2 c freshly squeezed lemon juice (from about 2 1/2 lemons, or one mega 225 Cypress Point Drive lemon, if you have the means!)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 pan.
2. Prepare the crust. Beat the butter, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl till smooth. Add the old-fashioned rolled oats, ground oats, flour and orange juice, mixing to combine. The mixture will start to clump; as soon as it starts to look cohesive, stop mixing.
3. Sprinkle half the mixture (about 2 generous c) into the prepared pan. Press it into the bottom of the pan, patting the crumbs firmly to make a smooth layer.
4. Whisk the condensed milk, lemon zest and juice in a small bowl, stirring until smooth and thickened. Spread the filling over the crust in the pan. Sprinkle the remaining crust mixture on top.
   
5. Bake until the squares are a light, golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove them from the oven and set them on a rack to cool. After about 10 minutes, loosen the edges with a table knife or baker's bench knife. Refrigerate overnight, covered, before cutting and serving.
   

Holly Jolly California Christmas

You can look at this picture and conclude only one thing: Christmas in California! We awakened Christmas morning, having arrived the day before and spent the afternoon wandering around San Francisco, to green beverages, a highly traditional Northern California Christmas morning tradition. The mixmaster is Rachel, and she has some crazy new 3 horsepower blender, which she busted out every morning to make us all smoothies. In more traditional Wisconsin fashion, we spent the remainder of the day eating, sitting around, drinking, and exchanging gifts. I got a new tent, to replace the busted one. Yeah! Note the creative recycled wrap:

Boxing Day we were lusting after some of those tall California trees, so we went for a stroll.

Sadly, my dad sprouted some kind of painful growth out of his back when he stopped to consult his GPS:

The whole clan, photographed by another family out hiking:

Sunday John and I headed out to the ocean to see my oldest friend Brendan (of Mrs. Morgenson's First Grade at Henry David Thoreau Elementary vintage) in Half Moon Bay. We ate chilaquiles and then walked on the beach, where we met this guy:

Happy New Decade!

Since I did nothing remotely worthy of reporting to ring in the new decade, I'll share some Thanksgiving photos that I was heretofore too lazy to post. My father hopped in his tiny red car and drove in from Wisconsin to help me reglaze windows. Er, to reglaze my windows. Our friend Ann joined us for turkey, arriving Thursday morning on an early train from Virginia. We brined the turkey using Emeril's recipe, which was moist and lovely and has threatened the future of us ever making a turkey any other way. We also used a bird that was alive the day earlier, and running gaily around Northfordy Farm, not 20 miles from my house. This may have provided karmic help to its overall yumminess.

The following weekend we discovered an entrance to the trail system at West Rock Ridge Park which was walking distance from my house. Hooray for urban parks:

We had to wash all that distasteful exercise down with some calories, so Dad shucked some oysters:

That about does it. Hope your new year is filled with many mollusks, pleasant surprises, and free ranging goodness.