Photo post

Hello all,

It’s July 10th (now it’s the 11th) and I haven’t posted. This weighs on me. You, on the other hand, have better things to worry about.

When not worrying, I visited the Berkeley Public Library.

The blueberries, pictured above, were purchased for a recipe. Which did not work.

Also bought for the recipe that didn’t work.

Why didn’t the recipe work?

Well, since you ask, I’ll tell you. The recipe left out important instructions, like chilling the butter before making a dough out of said butter. The recipe gave an expected yield of dough, which was important, given a fruit filling was involved later on. My yield was double what the recipe said.

Nor did the recipe instruct readers to chill the dough after rolling it out, which gives the gluten an opportunity to develop before inexperienced people like me try rolling it out or otherwise handling it.

In fairness to the author, flours vary, kitchens vary, and so do cooks. Ending up with a bit more or less dough isn’t a big deal. But double the amount? That’s another story. And I weighed the ingredients using metric measurements–this wasn’t some thrown together, sloppy thing.

The waste of time and money is frustrating, especially considering food costs right now. Still, the book is a good one, well-written and comprehensively researched. I’m not ready to give up on it.

After all, who among us hasn’t made a mistake?

And very few of us have written books.

—

Marlena Spieler died unexpectedly on July 6th. Marlena wrote more than 70 books and was a San Francisco Chronicle columnist for many years.

She was also a friend I had the great good fortune to meet through author Carolyn Phillips.

Marlena adored all things Italian, including the cuisine. Here she is cooking a feast in Kathleen Hill’s kitchen.

We all have days we recognize are special while living them, days we know we should pay close attention to, because they’ll never happen again. I knew that day–December 6th, 2019–was such a day. I shut up and paid close attention.

Marlena Spieler

4/16/49-7/6/23