mon dieu!

it's daring baker time once again, this round brought to us by meetak and tony tahhan. their choice? an ode to meeta's sugar daddy: Pierre Hermé's chocolate eclairs. you can find the recipe (too long for me to post here, or you can buy the book at amazon!) at one of their sites. click here to see what other db's have come up with! i didn't have any real problems with this month's challenge, nor, unfortunately do i have any quirky stories to share from my pastry's point of view. i chose to do the recipe as is. i've made choux pastry before. i've made pastry cream before. i've made ganache. i'm not complaining at all. practice, after all, makes perfect. i went to my local grocery and picked up a pound of callebault dark chocolate. yes, my local grocer carries callebaut! i was torn between the dark and milk. i like milk and white chocolate, and derek likes dark.
my only problems with the recipe was with making the glaze, or ganache. following the directions it was very runny, and there was no way i could "spread the glaze with a metal spatula" as was stated. solution: i stuck it in the freezer until it was the right consistency.
the eclairs were enjoyed by all, but i don't think i'll make them again.

pretty as a peach

on our camping trip, we kept an eye out for roadside fruit stands. i mean, we were so close to the okanagan there was bound to be at least one fruit stand... and there was, but it was closed. damn! i really wanted some peaches, apricots, and cherries. the first thing when we got back, after all the laundry was done, i went online to our organics delivery, spud, and ordered me some okanagan peaches. i dug out my trusty retro pies and martha's baking handbook and had a quick flip through each, wondering which recipe tickled my fancy. martha wanted me to make a peach, apricot and cherry pie. doh! retro pies recipe was simple- and tasty. i do plan to make this again and next time i will add a spent vanilla bean to the mashed peaches while it's cooking. o, and next time i won't forget to put in my pie weights before it goes in the oven! lol!meriwether county glazed peach pie
retro pies by linda everett

6 cups firm ripe peaches, pared and sliced
1 cup sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup orange juice
9-inch pie crust (use your favourite recipe)

preheat oven to 375 degrees F and bake pie crust for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned.
in a medium bowl, mash enough peaches to make 1 cup. set aside remaining sliced peaches. in a small saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon. stir in orange juice and mashed peaches. cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil, stirring occasionally. continue boiling for 1 minute longer. spread half of this glaze over the sides and bottom of the baked crust. fill with peach slices and pour remaining glaze over all. chill in refrigerator at least 3 hours. serve with whipped cream. serves 8.

birkenhead park

our last stop was birkenhead provincial park. talk about saving the best for last! wow! i only wish the weather was better. the lake is surrounded by mountains on all four sides, and those aren't small mountains either! all the sites seemed extremely private- there was lots of lower foliage to block the neighbours' views, and lots of larger trees for shade and to hang the tarp. there wasn't a site across from us, so that was nice. i kept hearing a strange noise though, sounded kinda like a highway, but there was no way i could hear that since to get to the park you had to drive a 17KM gravel road... so i did some investigating:

yup, the birkenhead river! right across from our campsite! wow!

the water system is still being installed and so we had to get our water the "ole fashioned way" and pump it. it was orange due to the amount of run-off from the mountains, and needed to be boiled, but it was fine for dish and hand washing. we did find a pipe from a diverted stream in the parking lot that had crystal clear ice cold water! mmm!even the outhouses were picturesque!on one of the sunny breaks we headed down to the lake trail to, well, the lake for fishing. just before you enter the trail there was a bear caution sign. yikes! ella was very excited to try fishing with her very own $9 canadian tire fishing rod. thank goodness derek isn't squeamish like me about worms. i can handle them if i have my gardening gloves on.
after an unsuccessful afternoon of fishing it was time to find the wood guy. we found him while walking sawyer and told him that we were at site #30. yay! we bought some chicken on the last grocery stop before coming into birkenhead and i just salt and pepper'd 'em and rubbed them with the oil that we brought from home. each fire pit has a grill attached to it and i just covered it up with some tinfoil, held it down with rocks, and watched the chicken cook:
i tell ya, i really got the hang of camp cooking by the last day!
after our wicked chicken dinner, we packed up the fishing gear again and headed back out to the lake. ella was determined to catch a fish, and once there was an audience larger than the family (early 20s guys and gals with beer and rods), she caught one! it was a bull trout, which is being replenished at birkenhead lake, and so we needed to put it back. we couldn't be more proud of her!!! awesome job, ella!
we'll definitely be heading back to birkenhead. be sure to bring some drinking water before you get there, and hang your tarps first!