Adam's Ribs

The making of this top turned into a bit of a saga. (I’m still not sure whether I should call it a sweater, an open cardigan, or a wrap! I think all those terms are technically correct, but I keep switching from one to the other when I talk about it.) That being said, I realize not everyone wants to hear about all the details, so I’ll start by telling you about the pattern itself.



It’s Adam’s Ribs cap-sleeved wrap, designed by Carol Sunday of Sunday Knits; you can buy it here or on Ravelry. (It might be tricky to wear, given that it’s a short-sleeve garment yet it’s made for cold weather. As I was writing this post and looking it up on Ravelry, I realized that it now comes in a version with long sleeves, and that might work better for some people!) I have a shawl pin that I finally get to use to wear this, but you can also make a buttonhole or, better yet, a button loop on an edge to close it.

It’s a simple stitch pattern, designed over 7 rows and multiples of 12 stitches (though the full pattern is over 24 stitches). And it looks very impressive, but it’s sort of like ribbing that wanders to one side and the other, so it’s not hard to knit. It’s actually quite easy to memorize once you’ve repeated it a few times. It’s also reversible, which is nice! The wrap is knit side-to-side, from right to left, with only a few seams at the sleeves (shoulders and underarms). In order to keep everything straight as I was knitting, I ended up using just about every stitch marker and lifeline I had, so to simplify things and prevent a giant tangle, I actually finished each sleeve as I was knitting instead of leaving them both on stitch holders and finishing them at the very end. (So once I had passed the right armhole and was knitting the back, I put that on hold to finish the right sleeve, and did the same for the left sleeve once I was knitting the left front. It made things easier for me and I recommend that method.)

I learned new techniques with this pattern: Carol Sunday has created a method for wrapless short rows that works really well, and I familiarized myself with purled left increases. Overall, the pattern is easy to follow and quite well written; you should trust that it will all make sense in the end, EXCEPT where it says “Start every row with Section A” – ignore that and don’t change anything in the pattern (you’re actually starting every ODD row with Section A, as usual). Also, the pattern doesn’t mention this, but definitely use stitch markers!


So, for the personal saga… I started out with 5 skeins of Malabrigo Rios in Plomo (100 grams each). This was yarn that I had set aside specifically for this project, but… literally years ago. I just got really busy knitting for babies (mine and other people’s), and making small projects like hats when I didn’t have time to tackle something big. My receipt is dated from September 2012! But again, I was actually looking forward to using the yarn this whole time, so it wasn’t a matter of not wanting to work on this project, it was just being too busy to get started.

In the summer of 2018, while in Montreal, I finally got around to knitting several test squares to see how it looked on needles of various sizes, then I knit even more samples in the pattern stitch to try to get the gauge right. But oh, God, the gauge! Carol Sunday measures gauge in inches per stitches, as opposed to stitches per inch. Her explanation is here – it really does make more sense, but it’s hard to get used to. And I couldn’t get it quite right, even with blocking. I set it aside that summer because I was waiting to come back home and see whether I had a pair of 7mm needles in my stash, since I did own some seldom-used needles that I hadn’t brought with me on vacation and I didn’t want to buy doubles. Turns out I didn’t, so I bought some, and knit my sample in San Antonio. And you know what? It came out weird, so I went right back to the pair of 6.5 mm needles I already owned (I’ve since used the 7 mm needles for something else, so acquiring them was not a waste, but it was still incredibly frustrating at the time). I literally used up almost a whole skein in test squares! I eventually said “screw it”, because perfect is sometimes the enemy of good, and 6.5 mm would do just fine.

I forged ahead that fall, but ran out of yarn when I got about two thirds of the way through. And it’s dyed in lots of 10 skeins, so obviously it was impossible to get more of the same dye lot from 2012. I can’t even tell you how frustrated I was at that point! I had basically trusted that Past-Me had done the math right – it did work out by weight of yarn, but I couldn’t clearly remember doing the calculations, and Past-Me was less experienced, so there you go. I sewed up the one sleeve I had to try it on and decided that I liked the look of the half-finished sweater enough that I really did want to make it again.


I searched and searched for something else. I looked at what others had done on Ravelry, and there were three sweaters that I really liked (one, two, and three). Two of the three knitters had used the yarn that was called for in the pattern, the Nirvana 5-ply sold by Sunday Knits, so I caved and bought some in Charcoal, the same colorway as the pattern. It’s a mix of Australian merino and Mongolian cashmere, humanely sourced and everything, and it’s worsted weight. It’s not cheap, obviously, but I really wanted this sweater. I bought the 9 skeins recommended for my size in the pattern (50 grams each), but I used not quite 8, so I still have to figure out a small project to do with the rest. As well as something to use up the 5 skeins of Malabrigo Rios, also worsted weight!

Anyway, at least now that I’m finished with it, I’m very happy with the result.

Batch of links

- There’s a new way to reduce food waste, by making produce last longer. The company behind this is Apeel (what a great name!), and they’ve developed an edible plant-derived material that is applied to fruits and vegetables before shipping them to the grocery store. This reduces oxidation and water loss, thus slowing decay.

- I read this article stating that one should not look at a restaurant menu ahead of time (unless one suffers from genuine dietary restrictions). I read it to see the rationale behind it, only to come away thinking that the problem here isn’t that the author was making a choice ahead of time, but that he was essentially planning to coerce fellow dinners into ordering meals according to his own taste as well. How rude!

- 16 things Marcella Hazan taught us about Italian cooking. I’m a big fan of her tomato sauce, so I enjoyed these!

- I very much liked these two essays: A woman’s greatest enemy? A lack of time to herself. and Women don’t need “me time” – we need help.. In essence, not only is women’s time interrupted more often than men’s (including at work), but we tend to feel like we cannot take time to ourselves unless all the work is done. While I can see the wisdom (or necessity) in leaving some work undone to do something more fulfilling, I tend to feel unable to relax knowing that I have a to-do list hanging over my head, and guilty if I ask my husband to watch the kids solo while I do something else. A quote from each article, to whet your appetite: “Feminist researchers have also found that many women don’t feel that they deserve long stretches of time to themselves, the way men do. They feel they have to earn it. And the only way to do that is to get to the end of a To Do list that never ends: the chores of the day, as Melinda Gates writes in her new book, killing the dreams of a lifetime.” And “Y’all, if a mom is burnt out from everyday life she does NOT need a pat on the head and a pedicure, she needs HELP. […] It’s not so much the term ‘me-time’ that gets under my skin, but the thought that merely giving a mother an hour or two to ignore her problems only to come home to the same amount, if not MORE, shit for her to do is asinine.”

- Extroverts are better than introverts at facial recognition. I find this super interesting because as an introvert, I sometimes fail at facial recognition, and if I try to match a name with a feature, I sometimes choose a non-permanent feature, and that’s not always a good strategy, For example, if I meet a new woman, I might remember that So-and-so is the woman with the big hoop earrings. But if the next time I see her, she’s wearing diamond studs, then I’m SOL. The Engineer has this worse than I do, but still. Anyway, the finding still raises a lot of questions: are introverts bad at recognizing faces because of the way they’re wired or because they inherently meet fewer people? Or is there a self-feeding loop where an introvert with social anxiety might have trouble with faces and then feel even more socially anxious because of it and want to meet even fewer people?

- Having an older brother is associated with slower language development. That’s certainly true at our house! (Sample size = 1.)

- On the bright side, the critical period for the acquisition of a second language seems to stretch to about 17 years old, so there’s still hope for my kids to learn French properly.

- Finally, I realize I haven’t talked about The Biggest Little Farm on this blog. I saw the documentary on Mother’s Day and I absolutely loved it. It’s about Apricot Lane Farms in California. Right off the bat, I’ll tell you that I’m aware of the film’s flaws, like how cloying it seems, what with the “happy clapping music” in the trailer and the fact that it’s tapping into the zeitgeist of sustainable, ethical, small-scale farming with which foodies and hipsters seem obsessed. It seems trite or like it’s catering to a niche audience with which you don’t identify, or even manipulative, and I get that. But I’m also a biologist, so the notions and importance of biodiversity leading to self-sustaining ecosystems are rooted into me (pardon the pun). It’s beneficial not just to the environment, including the health of those who live in it (humans as well as animals), but it helps sustainability because monoculture never works out long term. (Monoculture, over time, will deplete the environment of its resources and create conditions where a single virus can take out almost an entire crop worldwide. Poor agricultural practices can also have dire repercussions, as they did during the Dust Bowl – the drought alone wasn’t enough to cause all those problems, but farming too much land with wheat made it so much worse.) So all this to say that despite how cloyingly it’s presented, these are actually my values.

I loved this movie not just for its message, but because it showed some of the behind-the-scenes of all the effort that was needed to get a farm up and running. This was seven years in the making, with a seemingly massive investment from a private source. I was curious to find out more and ended up reading this article. It doesn’t answer all my questions (like, how much money was invested? when did the farm become profitable?), but I learned that actually, 85% of the farms in California are small-scale, though Apricot Lane Farms is one of only 66 farms to be certified biodynamic. I also saw one of their job ads for farmhands and was happy to note that they pay well above minimum wage! They also now make money from giving tours (currently sold out months in advance) and selling merchandise online, in addition to farmers’ markets. I’ve got a practical side that really wants to take a look at their financials!

The Engineer had expressed enough curiosity about it once I came back from the theater that I though he wanted to see it, but it turns out that he was just trying to figure out what I saw in it, since he had the same initial distaste for it as I did from the trailer. He’ll only watch it with me if I promise to watch something I don’t want with him, and while I could agree to the general principle of the trade, I don’t want to walk into this handing him a blank check, so to speak, so I’ve shelved the DVD for now and am waiting for someone else who’ll enjoy it. It’s a wonderful movie, people!

Pizza Rolls

I got this recipe from the Weelicious Lunches cookbook, which I still use often. This isn’t to say that my kid eats everything in it (I don’t think he’d go anywhere near the egg pesto sandwich, despite how awesome that looks to me), but there are some great recipes in there. There’s a small chapter of recipes that are all variations on pizza, and I decided to try one. I didn’t have it in me to make the whole wheat dough, so I just bought some regular pizza dough at the store, but I did make the sauce. And it’s really cool, because it’s made from a lot of vegetables! The recipe for the sauce makes about 4 cups, so I froze three portions of 1 cup and used the remainder (¾ cup) in this recipe. This means that I have enough on hand to make more pizza recipes for future lunches, and I’d even consider doubling the amounts just to have extra to freeze! In hindsight, though, I’d portion it ¼-cup mounds to freeze it, since most recipes in the book call for multiples of ¼ cup but never 1 whole cup of sauce.

The original recipe called for shredded mozzarella, and usually my two options are to shred lactose-free cheddar instead or use a vegan mozzarella. The Little Prince is not fond of Daiya, though – I could have used regular mozzarella for him, but I wanted to taste these too! I ended up using a new-to-me brand, Violife, which I heard about here. Even though it doesn’t melt, we all agreed it tasted better than Daiya, so we’ve pretty much switched household brands.

The Little Prince loved this in his lunch!

For the pizza sauce (this makes enough to freeze for later use)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 red, orange or yellow bell pepper, diced (I used red)
1 medium carrot, thinly sliced
1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
2 28-oz. cans diced tomatoes, drained

Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the bell pepper, carrot, celery, onion and garlic. Sauté until veggies are soft, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook for 1 more minute, stirring constantly.

Add the tomatoes, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 10 minutes.

Remove from heat, purée with an immersion hand blender (or in a regular blender) until almost smooth.

Return sauce to the heat and simmer until thick, 10-20 minutes. The longer you simmer this sauce the thicker and more flavorful it will become. You can simmer up to 2 hours.


For the pizza rolls
1 lb. pizza dough
¾ cup pizza sauce (see recipe above or buy your favorite brand)
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese substitute (see note above)
½ cup pepperoni or your favorite topping

Preheat the oven to 400 °F and grease 10 muffin cups.

Roll out the pizza dough to ¼-inch thick, making a 10”x20” rectangle.

Spread the pizza sauce in a thin layer across the surface of the dough. Sprinkle with the cheese and pepperoni (or your favorite topping – the original recipe called for broccoli, but I knew my kids wouldn’t go for that).

Roll up the dough lengthwise to form a 20-inch log and pinch the seam together. Slice the log into 2-inch pieces.

Place the pizza rolls in the muffin cups and pat down slightly. (The rolls are supposed to hold together on a parchment-lined baking sheet as well, but I didn’t want to risk it!) Bake for 25 minutes (20 minutes if using a baking sheet), or until golden and bubbly and the center of the dough is cooked through. Cool and serve.

Chocolate-Date-Oat Squares

My oldest doesn’t like date squares (even though he *loves* date cookies). But I wanted to make something for him to have as a snack when he comes home from school, and even though date squares have a lot of sugar, they also have dates and oats, which are healthy and filling. I decided to take a chance when I saw this recipe for chocolate-date-oat bars in Real Simple. He wasn’t sure he even wanted any when he saw them, but when I said that there was chocolate in them, he decided to try them. And even though he doesn’t love them, he’ll still eat a serving, so I consider this a win! Note that we’ve decided that a proper serving is about half the size of the bar shown below (this decision was based on everyone’s appetite and level of interest in the food as they were eating), so the pan can be divided into 24 squares. I had cut them into bars because the original recipe called them bars, but I’m hereby declaring that they’re squares. I put a third of them in the freezer for a later date. I’m not sure they’d be good in a lunchbox, as they tend to crumble apart, especially the topping, but served at home with a plate and a fork, they were great!

3 cups all-purpose flour (I always use white whole wheat flour)
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup granulated sugar
1¾ tsp. kosher salt, divided
1½ cups (3 sticks) lactose-free butter or margarine, melted
1 lb. pitted dates
½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 cup (6 oz.) chopped semisweet chocolate

Preheat oven to 350 °F. Lightly coat a 13-by-9-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Line with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on long sides.

Whisk flour, oats, sugar, and 1½ teaspoons salt in a large bowl. Add butter and stir until evenly moistened. (Dough should look like wet sand.) Set aside a third of the dough for topping. Using the bottom of a measuring cup, press remaining two-thirds of dough firmly into bottom of prepared baking dish.

Process dates, ½ cup hot water, vanilla, and remaining ¼ teaspoon salt in a food processor until smooth, scraping down sides as needed. Transfer to a bowl and fold in chocolate. Spread mixture evenly over dough in baking dish, smoothing with a spatula. Crumble reserved dough over top, pressing gently to adhere.

Bake until top is golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool completely in pan, about 1 hour. Cut into 24 squares.

Salade de quinoa, de carottes et de pois chiches caramélisés, vinaigrette au cari

Voici une recette de salade de quinoa trouvée sur le site de Trois fois par jour. C’est mon genre de recette, les salades de quinoa! J’ai utilisé des carottes de taille normale, coupées en morceaux au lieu de sur la longueur (comme sur la photo d’origine, d’ailleurs), et une boîte de pois chiches de 15 onces.

Le résultat n’était pas ce à quoi je m’attendais, mais c’était délicieux! En fait, c’est que les pois chiches et les carottes n’étaient pas caramélisés (peut-être qu’il y avait trop d’eau?), et je les ai tout de même trouvés un peu trop sucrés. Par contre, j’avais fait cuire 1 tasse de quinoa, ce qui fait que j’en avais plus que 1 ½ tasse une fois cuit, alors ça a aidé à équilibrer le tout. J’avais des doutes sur la combinaison de saveurs avec le cari, mais en fin de compte, c’était excellent! [Mise à jour, 10 décembre 2019 : Mon amie la Maman des Zigotos a changé un peu la recette, puis je l’ai refaite aujourd’hui avec ses proportions et j’approuve! Je les écris ci-dessous. On passe donc de 1/3 tasse de miel à ¼ tasse, et de 1 ½ tasse d’eau à ½ tasse.]

J’ai servi le tout pour dîner, mais ce serait excellent également comme accompagnement. J’ajoute la vinaigrette seulement avant de servir, mais ça pourrait quand même se conserver un jour ou deux une fois le tout mélangé.

Pour la garniture
8 carottes nantaises, coupées en 2 dans le sens de la longueur (voir plus haut)
1 boîte (540 mL) de pois chiches, rincés et égouttés (voir plus haut)
¼ de tasse de miel
3 c. à soupe de margarine ou de beurre sans lactose
½ tasse d’eau

Pour la vinaigrette
½ tasse de crème sure sans lactose
2 c. à soupe de miel
1 c. à soupe de vinaigre de cidre
2 c. à thé de poudre de cari
1 c. à thé d’huile de sésame
sel et poivre, au goût

Pour la salade
1 ½ tasse de quinoa, cuit (j’en avais plus, en partant de 1 tasse de quinoa cru)
¼ tasse de menthe fraîche, hachée
¼ tasse de coriandre fraîche, hachée
3 oignons verts, émincés
½ tasse de pistaches rôties, hachées grossièrement
sel et poivre, au goût

Dans une poêle, à feu vif, déposer tous les ingrédients « pour la garniture ». Porter à ébullition, puis laisser réduire l’eau jusqu’à ce que les carottes et les pois chiches soient bien caramélisés. Réserver.

Dans un bol, mélanger tous les ingrédients « pour la vinaigrette », puis réserver. (J’ai fait ça dans un pot de confiture – vide et propre!)

Dans un autre bol, combiner tous les ingrédients « pour la salade ».

Transvider dans une assiette de présentation, garnir avec les carottes et les pois chiches caramélisés encore chauds, puis terminer par la vinaigrette au cari.

Ruby chocolate

I *finally* tasted ruby chocolate! It’s being called the fourth type of chocolate, the first three being dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and white chocolate, but I don’t like that definition. White chocolate is white because of how it is made (with cocoa butter, sugar, and milk solids), whereas both milk chocolate and dark chocolate are made with cocoa solids from the cacao bean instead of just cocoa butter. So in theory, you could get beans from a single cacao tree and make the first three types of chocolate from it. As for ruby chocolate, it is made via a process similar to white chocolate, but only from a *specific* species of cacao bean that gives it its distinctive pink color. I first heard about it two years ago, but it wasn’t available for the general public at that point – now it is!



I saw this ruby chocolate bar by Chocolove at Whole Foods and just had to try one. To be clear, it’s not lactose-free, because there’s milk in it, just like in white chocolate. But I’ve only had a few squares at a time and I haven’t had any issues. It has a beautiful pink shade; the mouthfeel is smooth and basically like white chocolate. The taste is bright and has a sourness that is almost lemony; it’s definitely fruitier than regular chocolate, but the fruit taste reminds me of berries in addition to the citrus. That being said, to me, it’s a variation on white chocolate and it doesn’t push the same buttons as dark chocolate. So I wouldn’t eat it straight (after this bar, that is), but I’d definitely use it for baking.



Ruby chocolate was developed by Barry-Callebaut, but that brand can be hard to find in regular grocery stores. I wonder if Aubut would carry it?

Batch of links

- Here’s a really neat website called Reading Length: you start by taking a quick test to determine how many words a minute you read on average, and then you enter the title of any book (in English) and you’ll know how long it should take you to read it. This is how I figured out that I had plenty of time to reread The Complete MAUS by Art Spiegelman (just under 5 hours) before leaving for the summer!

- The New York Times published an article last week about the latest research into the effect of genes on sexual orientation, which suggests that genes are responsible for only about a third of the reasons why someone might be homosexual. Other reasons include social and environmental factors. (This is not to be misconstrued as saying that people who are homosexual have in any way chosen their sexual orientation – I’ve yet to hear of a single case where that would be true, and I for one certainly didn’t choose to be straight. It simply means that raw data from one’s DNA doesn’t account for everything. Another simplified example: one’s DNA might code for “being tall”, but if that person doesn’t get all the necessary nutrients during their growth period, thein their height will not be optimal, through no fault of their own and certainly through no conscious decision on their part.)

We already knew that DNA isn’t the only factor in determination of sexual preferences. If it were, identical twins would always have the same sexual orientation, but apparently a gay identical twin has only a 20% chance of their twin being gay as well. That being said, the most glaring omission here, in my opinion, is that this article did not at all bring up prenatal endocrine influences, which are known to play a role in sexual preferences without being directly genetic!

- I already knew that androgen levels in utero are correlated with sexual orientation, especially for female fetuses (see here or here, though some reach different conclusions with the same evidence here). In short, as far as we know, higher levels of exposure to androgen hormones for a female fetus are correlated with a higher chance of the grown woman being a lesbian.

It’s different for male fetuses. In university, I studied both biology and psychology, where I took classes in ethology, bioethics as well as sex and gender psychology, and here’s how the topic was presented. I was taught that it had to do with epigenetics, that is, that there might be one or – more likely – several genes that code for homosexuality, , but whether or not those genes are expressed depends on a specific combination of genes or on factors external to the individual’s DNA (such as the environment in which they grow up). So at that point (c. 2001), the research showed that gay men were more likely to be the youngest sibling in the family. (I don’t remember specifically hearing about whether the sex of their older siblings made a difference.) The leading theory at the time was that perhaps because they were the youngest, their mother “babied” them and they then identified with her more, and IF they had the genes that predisposed them to being gay, those genes were then activated. It was the kind of explanation that “sounded legit” and there wasn’t yet any evidence to refute it, so it stood for a while, even though a lot of men are close to their mom without being gay and vice versa. But over the summer I learned that this was debunked a few years ago: this article explains that a woman pregnant with a male fetus makes antibodies that target the Y chromosome, and the more male fetuses she carries over her life, the higher the level of those antibodies. This means that each subsequent male child is that much more likely to be gay than his older brother(s). It’s a very interesting example of the influence of the environment (in this case, the womb) on the wiring of the brain, in a way that is not technically genetic, but is still independent of any influence after birth.

Even then, there are of course other factors at play. As anecdotal evidence, my oldest paternal uncle has a male partner, but to the best of my knowledge, all four of his younger brothers are heterosexual. We obviously still have a lot to learn here.

- In more science news, there’s a vaccine to prevent being allergic to one’s cat. The catch? The vaccine is for the cat.

- Some fairy tales may be more than 6,000 years old. I really liked this article because the methodology was similar to studies of lineage through DNA, but applied to languages.

- There’s a movement called Statues for Equality that aims to increase the number of statues of women in public spaces. Did you know that less than 3% of statues in New York are women? Well, 10 new statues were unveiled last week, all women, and more are to come.

- Apparently, mothers-in-law poisoning their son’s wife is a thing. The original Dear Prudence story is gold, and I also loved this Ask Polly response to the woman with the mushroom allergy.

- And to my dismay, glass is no longer being recycled in my neighborhood. This is going on in other residential neighborhoods as well. I mean, I came back from my summer in Montreal feeling badly that we don’t have a municipal composting program, and hey, it got even worse.

Custard Tart

I had been meaning to make a custard tart (or pie, depending on the recipe). I tried the tofu-based blackberry custard pie from the Minimalist Baker cookbook, but it was a mess. I baked it for 1h45m (which was 30 minutes more than the longest time recommended, even though my oven runs hot), but it was still more than jiggly, and refrigerating it didn’t help. The pieces fell apart, and it wasn’t that good. But then, with lactose-free cream in Canada, I tried Bon Appétit’s latest recipe for custard tart. Honestly, if you skip the whipped cream garnish, which I did anyway, you could probably just use coconut milk for this to keep it lactose-free.

I’m not sure that “tart” or “pie” is a good name for that dish, because it doesn’t have a crust! I’m not sure what a good name would be, though, because I’m lacking a generic term for this type of dessert. I’m sure it would be good in a crust, too, but it held together just fine on its own. If you do use a crust, I recommend a deep-dish pie plate or springform pan instead of a cake pan. It is topped with sugar before being baked, which means that the top will darken – it’s supposed to be a bit like crème brûlée, though that’s not the effect that I got. I’d bake mine a bit less next time or top it with foil if it got too dark before it was set, because I think I would prefer it a bit paler.

The big draw of this recipe was supposed to be that you don’t have to temper the eggs, you just bring everything to a boil together very slowly. Honestly, I’ve never minded tempering eggs, but I followed the recipe. However, I didn’t at all get the custardy texture I would have expected from a crème brûlée; instead, it was much heavier, with a texture similar to cheesecake. That being said, it was delicious! You could even make it on a graham cracker crust like a cheesecake. It’s meant to be served with whipped cream and fresh fruit, whatever is in season (you could poach the fruit or serve it in syrup, too).

¾ cup + 2 Tbsp. sugar, plus more for pan
8 large egg yolks
2 large eggs
⅔ cup cornstarch
½ tsp. kosher salt
3 cups lactose-free whole milk
1½ cups chilled lactose-free cream, divided (see note above)
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, or 1½ tsp. vanilla extract or paste
1 lb. stone fruit, cut into wedges, blueberries and/or blackberries (see note above)

Grease a 9"-diameter cake pan (mine was 2” deep). Line bottom with a round of parchment paper; smooth out and grease again. Coat sides with sugar, tapping out excess.

Gently whisk egg yolks, eggs, cornstarch, salt, and ¾ cup sugar in a large saucepan until smooth, then whisk vigorously until lightened in color, 1–2 minutes. Whisking constantly, gradually stream in milk, followed by 1 cup cream; scrape sides of pan. Scrape in vanilla seeds; discard pod. Cook mixture over medium heat, whisking constantly, until it starts to thicken, then whisk vigorously until it holds marks of whisk, 6–10 minutes. Immediately remove custard from heat (do not let boil); let cool slightly.

Using a rubber spatula, press custard through a fine-mesh sieve into prepared pan (I skipped the step of the sieve, because my custard seemed nice and smooth already). Chill, uncovered, 20 minutes (it should be warm but not hot). Place a rack in middle of oven and preheat to 400°.

Bake custard until top is deeply browned in spots, 40–50 minutes (it will still be wobbly in the center). Let cool.

Toss fruit with remaining 2 Tbsp. sugar in a medium bowl. Let sit 15 minutes.

Slide a knife around sides of custard to loosen and place a plate upside down over custard; invert onto plate. Peel away parchment and invert again onto another plate. Whisk remaining ½ cup cream in a medium bowl until soft peaks form. Serve slices of custard topped with fruit and whipped cream.

Dinosaur Valley State Park

On our way back to San Antonio, we stopped at Dinosaur Valley State Park, near Glen Rose, Texas. The first dinosaur tracks were discovered there by (white) locals in 1909, near the Paluxy River. Initially there was a theropod track, and not long after, the first sauropod tracks ever were found. They became famous when Roland T. Bird journeyed there to search for more tracks in 1937. Apparently, it’s thanks to those tracks that scientists now know that sauropods were land-based animals – up to that point, they thought that sauropods had relied on water to support their bodies. The tracks also showed that sauropods were herd animals who cared for their young and that they moved more slowly than their therapod predators. Because of all the data in these tracks, the park was designated a National Natural Landmark.

So, things to know before you go: the level of the Paluxy River varies wildly, so tracks are often submerged and trails might be closed. Check their status on the park’s Facebook page or its Twitter page before you go. Late summer is typically a good time to visit, as the weather tends to be dry. But that brings me to the second point: it can be very hot (it was about 105 °F when we visited), so bring plenty of water and sunscreen. There is also a lot of wildlife (including the biggest harvestman spider I had ever seen, in the women’s restroom), some of which might be dangerous, so stay on the trails.

It was only once we were there that we realized how steep and rugged the trails are in some areas, and since we were there with small children, this was not a good combination. Also, even when the water is low, you cannot access any of the tracks without getting wet (I had planned ahead, but not the Engineer). What I most wanted to see was the ballroom track site (map here), because it’s the one that has the most tracks, and the low water levels meant it was the best time to see it. We followed directions, using both the paper map provided by the park and the posts indicating which trail to follow. And you know what? We never even found the site. What I know is that you’re supposed to cross the river to see it, but there was no indication of where “it” was, and access to the river was limited and slippery (again, steep and rugged trails, plus two little kids). The map has exact coordinates with degrees north and west, but I had no way to figure out how to use that information, and no cell service to help me figure it out. So that was a big disappointment, and we had to turn back once we reached what looked like a camping site (indicating that we had gone too far anyway).


On the way back to the parking lot, we stopped by the blue hole site. A lot of people were swimming, and as it turns out, the water was absolutely perfect (clear water at a most pleasant temperature, so plan to bring swimsuits and towels if at all possible). There is one track there that was visible from the trail high up on the bank, but I really wanted to get closer. So I left the guys on the high bank, walked down to the river (passing an adorable lizard on the way, possibly a Laredo striped whiptail), left my backpack on the rocks, and waded in. I had to be really careful not to fall in, leaning far over the rock when the ledge almost disappeared, but I made it to the track! FYI, I had water up to my knees at its highest point. This would not have been a big deal had I been in my swimsuit, but I wasn’t, and I had my phone in my pocket, so I really didn’t want to fall in! The water was super pleasant, though.


From there, we got back in the car and drove to the main site – if you want the “easy” version of this outing, that’s where you should go. There are steps right off the parking lot going down to the river, where you can cross by carefully making your way over large rocks (but you will definitely get your feet wet). There are tracks clearly marked on the other side. The picture below overlooks that location, and you can compare it to this video to see why it’s important to check the river level before going!


And here are the tracks, belonging to Cretaceous sauropods and therapods (as best we know, they were Sauroposeidon and Acrocanthosaurus, respectively). Those are observable, but you can’t actually go touch them.


After that, we went to have lunch someplace with air conditioning, and drove the rest of the way home using Highway 281 all the way, and we found it so much more pleasant than the I-35 that we may never use the latter again.

White Pizza Sauce

There was a short article in Bon Appétit about pizza with white sauce, made with cream and herbs and, unexpectedly, lemon zest. Pizza is an easy sell for dinner in our household, so I tried this sauce. I changed it a bit because I didn’t have enough basil on hand and I didn’t want fennel fronds, but I did add a bit of fresh oregano. It was delicious, and the lemon zest really brightened it up! This makes enough sauce for three pizzas, and I used dough from the store because I didn’t want to bother making my own. I made one pizza with greens, as suggested, and two more with pepperoni, to please the children (and adults too, let’s admit it). I used two kinds of cheese: a high-moisture fresh mozzarella and a low-moisture grated parmesan. Everyone loved their pizzas!

What I really want to draw your attention to, though, is this: the fresh mozzarella I used was lactose-free. *cue angels singing* Amazing, right? I know it’s not always the case, and I wouldn’t ever assume a mozzarella pizza I haven’t made myself is lactose-free, but I looked at the nutrition label on this one, and it had 0 grams of sugar. And lactose is a sugar, ergo… no lactose. This tip works with cheeses in general: just look at the sugar content on the nutrition label. (The reverse isn’t always true. There are certainly foods that contain sugar and are still lactose-free, but then you can’t tell just from the nutrition label, and us lactose-intolerant folks don’t like to take any chances.) So even if you can’t get your hands on lactose-free cream, you can still have a pizza with fresh mozzarella!


2 cups lactose-free cream
½ cup chopped basil
¼ cup chopped fennel fronds
¼ cup chopped chives
1½ tsp. finely grated lemon zest
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 small garlic clove, finely grated
1 pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
kosher salt, freshly ground pepper

Purée cream, basil, fennel, chives, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, and red pepper flakes in a food processor or with an immersion blender until thick and creamy, 15–30 seconds; season with salt and pepper.

The sauce can be kept in the fridge for a few days. Use roughly 2/3 cup per pizza (the yield is about 2 cups, so enough for 3 pizzas). You can use homemade dough or raw storebought dough and bake the pizza for 5 minutes on a pizza stone in a 500 °F-oven, or use prebaked dough and just follow the instructions.

Maine

In late July, the Engineer and I took our first child-free trip and spent a few days in Maine. (I highly recommend being child-free for a few days! Also, a big tahk-you to my parents for watching the boys while we relaxed.)

We had to scramble at the last minute to find accommodations for our first night, since our original plans fell through (with just a bit over 24 hours’ notice). It wasn’t easy, because it was during what some hotel owners refer to as “peak high season”, but in the end we booked the last room at the Wells Moody Motel. It turns out it was a perfectly nice room at a good price point for us, so I recommend the place! It’s also close to the beach (a half-mile walk, though we ended up driving because of the heat wave). Wells is just north of Ogunquit and slightly less expensive (you’re welcome). We went for a swim before dinner, and the water was even colder than we had imagined. We managed to stay in the ocean by making a contest of it, and it had been a really long time since we’d laughed that hard! So it was fun, and yet, not that pleasant. Actually, the rising tide and the freezing cold water made us glad we hadn’t come with our small kids, even though it’s a family-friendly spot. We ended up spending as much time in the hotel pool, but without screaming with every wave!


When we went out for dinner, we quickly realized that it was going to be harder than we thought. We were driving south on Post Road towards Ogunquit, but restaurants were getting full and one turned us away (because they refused to fill any more 2-tops that night), others we called didn’t even bother picking up, and traffic was bumper-to-bumper already. So we made a quick decision and pulled in to Food For Thought, getting one of the last tables on the patio. And it was exactly what we wanted. The ambiance was pleasant, we had friendly service, and the food was great. I had the most perfect burger (with charred heirloom tomato, Vidalia bacon jam, and smoked cheddar), while the Engineer had lobster poutine, and we split the amazing donut bread pudding for dessert.

The next day, we went to Ogunquit, left the car at the parking lot on Cottage Street, and walked to the Marginal Way, a path that stretches along the coastline for 1 ¼ miles. It is paved and relatively easy to walk, and you get the most beautiful views along the way! (More info here.)


We also strolled through Perkins Cove before making our way back, then strolling some more through Ogunquit. And guess who had vegan soft serve ice cream at The Scoop Shack! I tasted the maple blueberry, but it was watery and not sweet enough for me, so I went with the mango pineapple coconut.


We stayed in Scarborough that night, very close to the beach, but went to Portland for dinner. I had of course read Bon Appétit’s feature on Portland last year, but since I don’t like seafood, descriptions of many of the best restaurants left me indifferent. However, I have other sources (see here and here, in French), so we went to The Honey Paw. It would not be kid-friendly, because there are only very tall chairs, but we were on a kid-free vacation, so who cares? Don’t miss the fry bread with ssamjang butter (so good!) and the pork and crab with fried noodles (or any noodles, really). Sadly, the only dessert they had was ice cream – no lactose-free options. The famous Eventide is right next door, and there are multiple bakeries and breweries in the area. FYI, there’s a Hampton Inn right in the middle of the action for all the foodies out there – we’ll keep it in mind for the future.


The next morning, after walking on the beach in the rain with blessedly cooler temperatures, we drove back to Portland and made sure to go to Tandem Bakery on Congress. My thick slice of banana bread topped with black sesame was heaven! The Engineer had a loaded biscuit with jam and butter that was absolutely delish. We then walked around Portland for a few hours, mostly on Congress Street. (Special mention to The Green Hand Bookshop, which not only happened to have a very nice second-hand copy of the next book I wanted to read, but where I also could have spent hours browsing. Also, Maine Craft had some really nice stuff, and there were so many wonderful small shops all around… I really miss neighborhoods like that in my everyday life.)


When we’d had our fill (and our parking time was about to run out), we went to Cape Elizabeth to see Portland Head Light, the oldest lighthouse in Maine. The lighthouse itself isn’t accessible, but there’s a neat museum where we had time to stop and read every single explanation because, again, no kids. We had a bite to eat at Bite Into Maine and chilled at a picnic table overlooking the ocean – I started reading the book I had bought earlier that day, and it was perfect. We spent the night at an Airbnb in Windham and drove home the next day.

Lait aux fraises

Vous le savez, je profite de l’été pour faire des recettes avec de la crème et du beurre sans lactose. Je n’ai malheureusement pas eu le temps de me faire du caramel cet été, mais j’ai quand même fait une sauce au caramel écossais délicieuse et simple comme tout. Et aussi des guimauveries au beurre noisette salé (par contre, truc de pro : utilisez des céréales de marque Rice Krispies – ce n’est vraiment pas la place des grosses céréales de riz soufflé du magasin d’aliments naturels!). Et puis cette pavlova au chocolat avec crème fouettée au chocolat blanc (pour la refaire, par contre, je cuirais la pavlova plus longtemps à température plus basse et j’augmenterais la quantité de chocolat blanc, car on ne goûtait pas du tout les 100 grammes que j’y ai mis). Et j’ai oublié de le dire dans mon dernier billet, mais j’ai fait une très belle sortie au restaurant Venice, qui en plus de servir d’excellents plats (comme ce poke au thon), est le premier restaurant où je vois clairement la mention « sans lactose » dans le menu (en plus des « sans gluten » ou « végétarien » qui sont plus courants). Recommandé, donc!


Mais là, j’ai aussi profité de la saison des fraises pour faire du lait aux fraises avec un substitut de babeurre sans lactose. Et en fait, je ne pensais pas en parler. C’est surtout qu’il faut avoir une bonne installation pour faire des photos de boissons, et je n’ai même pas la place de m’organiser ça chez moi, alors vous comprendrez que je ferais encore moins ça chez mes parents. Mais c’était trop bon!

La recette vient de Smitten Kitchen, mais elle est adaptée d’une recette de Gabrielle Hamilton. Le plus important, je pense, est ceci : il vous FAUT des fraises de saison, locales. Je n’en ai jamais goûté d’aussi bonnes que celles du Québec, et je ne recommande pas les fraises que l’on trouve à l’épicerie à l’année longue pour cette recette. Les fraises un peu trop mûres seraient parfaites ici.

1 lb. de fraises de saison, lavées, équeutées et tranchées
½ tasse de sucre granulé
3 tasses de lait sans lactose
1 tasse de babeurre sans lactose (soit 1 c. à soupe de jus de citron + assez de lait sans lactose pour faire 1 tasse)

Mélanger les fraises et le sucre dans un bol et les laisser macérer pendant au moins une heure, jusqu’à ce qu’elles deviennent sirupeuses. Plus elles perdent leur jus maintenant, mieux c’est! Mélanger ensuite les fraises et leur jus jusqu’à homogénéité (j’ai fait cela avec mon mélangeur sur pied, aussi appelé mélangeur à main, mais un mélangeur sur socle ou un bon robot font l’affaire), puis verser dans un pichet avec le lait et le babeurre. Mélanger et laisser au réfrigérateur pour la nuit, pour que les saveurs se marient bien. Au matin, mélanger de nouveau avec le mélangeur sur pied, puis s’en servir un verre. (Mélanger de nouveau avant de servir les restes.)

Summer finds

I know people don’t always read until the end, so let me start with the best thing I have eaten all summer: the raspberry coconut swirl at the aptly named Swirl. It’s not a shop so much as a takeout window, but they have vegan soft-serve ice cream made with local ingredients, and it’s so worth the detour! There’s always a coconut-vanilla flavor, plus a second flavor that changes every week depending on what’s in season. When I went, it was raspberry sorbet (made with fresh local raspberries, obviously), and it tasted absolutely fabulous! Seriously, it’s the best dairy-free ice cream I’ve had. (Apparently, all the owners have some degree of lactose intolerance, so they get me.) Quick note: no cash accepted, only cards, and it comes out to CAN$5.75 per serving with taxes, which is comparable to others (dairy or no) around town. It was so good that I actually debated ordering a second one immediately after I finished it. I decided to be reasonable and stick to just one, but honestly, I think I should have had the second one anyway. I’ll keep it in mind next summer!


Also very much worth mentioning is Ca Lem, in NDG. It’s an artisanal creamery that offers some very original flavors, some of which are vegan. We went on an evening that had a few drizzles, so there weren’t very many people, but expect to wait in line on a nice summer day. Worth it!

As for new-to-me chocolate… I placed an order with État de choc, a chocolate shop that makes its own high-quality chocolate products and also sells a curated selection of fine, ethically sourced chocolates from around the world. They even offer subscriptions! I bought their box of 10 lingots, along with two Palette de bine bars (Haïti Pisa 70% and Tanzanie Kokoa Kamili 70% with Ethiopian Bolova coffee), one Qantu bar (maple & Maras fleur de sel) and, for the heck of it, cacao juice.

As far as I’m concerned, Palette de bine is always a good choice, as their chocolate is excellent! Some bars come with tasting notes, like the Haïti Pisa pictured here; I actually liked the coffee one more than I thought I would, as the coffee did not overpower the chocolate. Both were very smooth and satisfying.


It was my first time tasting a Qantu bar, and I loved it as well. It’s no surprise that both of these Quebec-based companies have won international awards for their chocolate! (For some reason, the Qantu bar was cheaper on État de choc than directly on the Qantu website, but like we say in French, they’re certainly not giving them away either.) My chocolate from both Palette de bine and Qantu were allergen-free.


The État de choc lingots were delicious and had original flavors. However, even though I enjoyed them, I couldn’t help but think of how expensive they were (it worked out to CAN$2.60 per tiny lingot, plus shipping for the whole order), so I don’t think I’ll get those again.


The cacao juice was such a novelty to me that I’m including pictures of all four sides of the packaging, for those of you who are as curious as I was. The best way to describe it would be “tropical”. It actually reminded me a bit of pineapple juice both in taste and appearance. The taste was quite strong, though, so I do think it would be better as a mixer, perhaps in cocktails or smoothies, or mixed with orange juice. My friend La Maman des Zigotos used to mix juices all the time when we were kids – I think she rarely drank any one type straight up – so this makes me think of her.


I also bought a bar of Flagrants Désirs 72% cocoa dark with oink salt that I really liked – I don’t see it on their (very basic) website, but for the record, I got it at Bulk Barn. And I’m still a big fan of Theobroma and Rochef.


As far as my non-summer chocolate goes (meaning, I buy this in the States), I’ve been enjoying Raaka’s pink sea salt dark chocolate lately.