Asparagus Tart + Chocolate Beet Cake

On Sunday, I made an asparagus tart and a chocolate beet cake. Let's attack the tart first. Since the Willy St. Co-op didn't have ricotta salata or creme fraiche (damn you, keyboard; I want a circonflexe and an accent aigu), I had to employ some creative substitutions. Thinking ricotta salata was similar to ricotta, I grabbed a tub of it, and in lieu of the creme fraiche, I snagged half and half. I wanted to get the tart started, so I didn't look up the definitions of ricotta salata and creme fraiche (I'd never used either in my cooking) in my food dictionary until after the tart was in the oven. Alas, I am woefully ignorant about these two ingredients apparently because half and half is a far cry from creme fraiche and ricotta salata is an entirely different animal from  ricotta. I was beginning to suspect it wouldn't set well, and when I took the tart out of the oven, my fears were confirmed. I managed to salvage it by beating two eggs and baking them on top of the tart. It turned out pretty well, but next time I'll abide by the recipe. Oh, and my wrists have forbidden me to type up the longish recipe for the tart, so if you want it, let me know.

The chocolate beet cake was less successful in my mind. A colleague graciously said it tasted "earthy," not "like dirt," which is how I'd described it. (A.H., I stole that descriptor from your take on spring mix.) If there's another bunch of beets in this week's CSA share, I'm going to either pickle them or roast them and make a salad with goat cheese or shaved Parmesan, arugula, and maybe some balsamic vinegar. Beets might be one of those things that, for me, are best served in a more traditional mode. (Never fear, though. I shan't become traditional anytime soon; I've been called eccentric or quirky so many times that I probably couldn't become traditional if I tried.) The cake wasn't my favorite, but it might appeal to other palates, so here's the recipe (from MADSAC's From Asparagus to Zucchini: A Guide to Cooking Farm-Fresh, Seasonal Produce):

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 3-4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 c. oil
• 3 c. shredded beets

Heat oven to 325. Grease 2 9-inch cake pans. Whisk dry ingredients together. Melt chocolate very slowly over low heat or in a double boiler. Cool chocolate; blend thoroughly with eggs and oil. Combine flour mixture with chocolate mixture, alternating with the beets. Pour into pans. Bake until fork can be removed from center cleanly, 40-50 mins.

Skechers

I have a new pair of Skechers Shape-Ups, and I love them. They do nothing to downplay my skinny chicken legs, but since I won't be developing the gams of Serena Williams anytime soon, I'm just gotta deal with it. They're uber-cushy, which is heavenly for those with flat feet. I probably won't attend any workout classes in them for fear of people thinking I'd downed an array of cocktails prior to class, but I'll wear them for walking and on the elliptical or the bike at the gym. It's really the standing still that is problematic because you're constantly trying to correct for the fact that you are somewhat imbalanced by the rocking of the shoe. For instance, while I was waiting for the light at a curb the other day, a stiff wind kicked up, further messing with my already precarious balance. So I pretended that I had a sudden urge to step and turn to look at something over to the left. Otherwise, I imagine I would've looked like I was doing a mini line-dancing routine.

Blogger just erased a lengthy post about the asparagus tart and chocolate beet cake I made last night. Grr. And it's now past my bedtime, so you'll have to wait for me to re-create that post tomorrow.

Bon nuit, dear readers (all 3 of you ;)).

Yin Yoga + Grilled Cheese

Tonight, I had my second yin yoga class, and I think I'm hooked. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to deeply stretch their fascia and thoroughly relax.

Upon arriving home, my nose met with the intoxicating smell of grilled cheese. Following my roommate's lead, I made a delectable version with pepper-crusted parmesan cheese and green peppers (from my CSA share) on sprouted wheat bread. It gave me the opportunity to use my brand-spankin'-new panini press (thank you, T.J. Maxx), and cut into four tiny little triangles, it provided a satisfying, but light late-night dinner. I would provide a photo, but the camera's broken, so you'll just have to use your imagination.

Reasons Why I'm Not Allowed to Drink Espresso Often

I got back into town last Saturday. After enduring the red-eye flight, I was greeted by a pretty sunrise and a rainbow in Minneapolis. Thanks to B. for picking me up at the airport.

This week, I was tired. Just plain tired. I guess I'm still realigning my sleep patterns because I only got about 4-6 hours of sleep each night. On Wednesday, in an espresso-fueled haze, I noticed a full-sized phone book living on the roof outside my office window. It was rain-bloated, forlorn, and splayed open, its pages fluttering in the breeze. How did it get there? Did some inebriated person launch it up there?* Was someone having a privately perusing the White Pages on my rooftop? Was it abandoned by a family of phone books who couldn't afford to raise it? Poor, poor cast-off phone book. The next day, a beer bottle had been added to the rooftop, and my friend S. said it looked like an art installation. I'll keep you guys posted about the opening night for our little installation. :)

*I admit that this is the most likely explanation, although even when drunk, it has never occurred to me to propel a big-ass phone book onto a local office building.

Yoga al Fresco, Flashlight Tour at DBG, Lola's, the Suns, Bats, and Postino

Today for my last lunch in Phoenix, we tried the Blue Nile Cafe, which is an Ethiopian restaurant in Tempe. I had the kik alitcha, kik misir watt, and inguday over injera, and M. had the meat lover's combo. Afterward, we trolled around Sunset Clothing Exchange and Buffalo Exchange for a little shopping. The latter has a great program: In exchange for not taking a bag for your purchase, you can donate five cents to different causes.

Last night, I went to a free outdoor yoga class in Old Town. The class was a marvelous workout and great stress (you know, all of that dreadful vacation stress ;)) reliever. The 1.25- to 1.5-hour asana was followed by a luxurious half-hour of savasana, and afterward, there were treats (little bites and roasted apricot sorbet) from Crudo. We ended the night with sushi at Kyoto.

On Tuesday night, we went to Postino for bruschetta and wine. On Monday and Tuesday nights, you can get four different kinds of bruschetta and a bottle of wine for $20. We had the brie and apples with fig spread, prosciutto with figs and mascarpone, warm artichoke spread, and albacore tuna with gaeta olives and a bottle of Damilano Nebbiolo.

On Wednesday night, we watched a bat colony that roosts in a tunnel at 40th and Camelback leave for their evening insect hunt. Just after sunset, several thousand Mexican free-tailed bats and western pipistrelle bats emerged. Although not as dramatic as I'd expected (I imaged an Indian Jones-style blanket of screeching bats), it was cool to see their wacky, erratic flight patterns. (I suppose that's a result of echolocation.)

Last week, we did a flashlight tour at the Desert Botanical Gardens. We'd been to the DBG before, but never at night. Stations throughout the garden taught us about tarantulas and scorpions, snakes, mesquite, geckos and lizards, saguaro, frogs and toads, agave, birds and bats, and tortoises. Afterward, we met K. + J. for tapas (house marinated olives, tortilla de patatas, garbanzos con espinacas a la Andaluza, and the paella of the day), delicious sangria, and tres leches cake at Lola's.

What else? On Saturday, we went to a barbeque at F. + S.'s house and then onto R.'s house to watch the Suns game (or, in our case, to pretend to watch the Sun's game). Most people left after the game was over, but the few of us remaining played Trivial Pursuit.

On Sunday, we saw Metalhead play at Martini Ranch. Normally, this is a hoot, but the holiday weekend made it way too crowded. It was like being repeatedly mauled for 2 hours. And on Monday, people came over to hang out by the pool and shove food in their faces. (Holiday weekend!)

Okay, enough sitting in front of the computer. It's my last day here, so I'm going to enjoy the pool for a bit before we go to the First Friday Art Walk tonight.