Hot, Strong and Steamy

From Kathy Gehrt — Blog by Kathy Gehrt

October 26, 2010

A strong storm hit Seattle yesterday and today. I sat at my dining room table this morning and watched the wind push around the hanging pots on my deck. A large cedar tree near the rear of our house bent over about 45 degrees, but withstood the wind gusts.

Rain came down in sheets. Water streamed down the street like a river. Dark clouds filled the sky. I needed a strong, hot and steamy drink to warm me up and remind me of summer. So I brewed up some lattes infused with the flavor of lavender. After steaming milk, I added a 1/4 teaspoon of the Lavender Extract that I got from Lavender Wind Farm. This extract adds just a hint of flavor, a small reminder of summer on this dark, stormy day.

Sipping my latte, I felt my spirits lift. My neighbor’s cat came up on the deck to check out our Halloween pumpkins. Cats love lavender (catnip’s cousin), however I was surprised to see this calico beauty braving the wind and rain to get a close look at our soon-to-be Jack O’Lanterns.

Alison’s Artistry

From Kathy Gehrt — Blog by Kathy Gehrt

October 5, 2010

What I love best about going out to promote my book “Discover Cooking with Lavender” is meeting people and hearing about how they use lavender. This past weekend, Bella Home and Garden invited me to their shop to share my secrets about cooking with lavender. Once again, I met some awe-inspiring people.

When I met Alison, her energy and enthusiasm was obvious. Alison teaches in physical education in an elementary school. On a part-time basis, Alison does bookkeeping and payroll. And if that is not enough to keep her out of trouble, she moonlights creating unique and delicious cookies and brownies. Oh, and she also has two teenage children. I couldn’t help wondering where Alison gets her energy!

Her cookie business is called Alison’s Sweet Themes. Alison and her husband participated in a teacher exchange program in the mid 1990’s in Australia. “Australia has wonderful pastry shops,” she said. “The Australians call their cookies biscuits and bullets.” She went on to tell me about one of her favorites – a small bullet shaped licorice pieces covered in dark chocolate. It was her time in Australia that inspired Alison to begin making specialty cookies and pasties.

For Bella Home and Garden’s Open House, Alison created two lavender-flavored treats: Lavender Brownies with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting and Lavender Vanilla Sugar Cookies with Lavender Cream Cheese Frosting. Alison used organic culinary lavender from Purple Haze Lavender Farm to add flavor to her cookies. These treats were some of the best lavender pastries I’ve ever tasted, not to mention how perfect they looked.

Each cookie was packaged in a clear cellophane envelope. The Lavender Brownies were packaged in a small plastic container. I loved the small size of the brownie.

Alison’s dream is to one day open a shop where she can make and sell customized cookies and brownie for weddings, birthdays or other special occasions.

By the way, if you are wondering how you can get a taste of these sumptuous treats, I suggest you go to Tacoma and visit the Hawthorn Tea Room. Alison supplies the tea room with cookies.

If you want to make your own lavender sugar cookies, you can buy organic culinary lavender from Purple Haze Lavender Farm at Bella Home and Garden at Kent Station, just south of Seattle.

If you are not in this area, you can buy organic culinary lavender online directly from several lavender growers such as Purple Haze Lavender Farm, Olympic Lavender Farm or Central Coast Lavender Farm or many others, too.

Meeting Alison was indeed a pleasure. But wait there’s more. I want to tell you about the died hydrangea and lavender wreath I selected at Bella Home and Garden, and the woman who makes perfect lavender lemon cookies with cake mixes, and the lavender peach upside down cake. Alas, these must wait for another day.

Grilled Pineapple with Pink Peppercorns and Lavender

From Kathy Gehrt — Blog by Kathy Gehrt

September 27, 2010

Exotic, flavorful and sweet, grilled pineapple is a special summer dessert. I love to serve this with vanilla ice cream. Pink peppercorns, a berry from the Baies Rose plant or, by another name, the Peppertree, add color and seasoning. Lavender adds flavor and brings out the sweetness of the pineapple. Grilling pineapple softens and adds grill marks to the golden pineapple.

Ingredients

1 pineapple skinned and cored. (How? Check out this video.)

1 tablespoon pink peppercorns, crushed

1 tablespoon dried culinary lavender buds

1 tablespoon olive oil

fresh sprigs of lavender for garnish

Remove the tough skin and core the pineapple. Slice the pineapple across the core into pieces about 1/2” thick. Marinate with olive oil, lightly crushed dried pink peppercorns and lavender buds.

Grill on a hot grill until marked and seared. Turn to grill on both sides. While the pineapple is grilling, brush it with the remaining marinade.

Serve while the pineapple is warm. Place the pineapple on good-sized plate. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Sprinkle the top of the ice cream with pink peppercorns and lavender blossoms and pink peppercorns. For an extra treat, drizzle some caramel sauce over the plate in a loose zigzag pattern.