Eighth of an Acre Bounty

Ravioli stuffed with Ricotta, Leeks, Chard and Bacon. Heirloom Tomato salad with Cucumber, Parsely and Fresh Oregano. Skyway Sourdough Bread. Orange Chocolate Cake with Cocoa frosting and Chocolate Stout Ice Cream.

My mom’s birthday was this past week. Birthdays in my family are usually a pretty low-key affair. A good opportunity to get together and catch up over a meal and cake. I am very lucky to have my parents living only about a half hour away, so on Wednesday night we had them over for a birthday dinner. I managed to get a lot of the prep work for dinner done the previous weekend so that I could spend Wednesday afternoon sweeping and decluttering the living room.

My mom loves pasta and chocolate. I am pretty sure those would rank as her top two favorite foods – so the menu was already set to some extent. I decided to make ravioli stuffed with homemade ricotta, leeks, chard and a few sun dried tomatoes. On Sunday I started some tomatoes from the garden simmering on the stove for sauce and made the ricotta and set it to drain. In the meantime I made the pasta dough and set it aside to rest as I sauteed the leeks, chard and a couple slices of bacon. Once all the components were complete I rolled out the dough and made several trays of ravioli and threw them in the freezer for the coming week.

I already knew I was going to make her a chocolate cake (obvious choice) but was pondering an ice cream to serve with the cake. I am not a huge fan of chocolate. I like it fine, but I don’t do backflips for it like some people. In fact I like a background flavor of chocolate more than anything like in a good dark stout beer. Then I came up with the idea of making a chocolate stout ice cream to go with the cake. A little bit of googling to get a general idea of proportions and I was on my way.

Tuesday I made the birthday cake and did a bit of a twist on my standard recipe by grating the zest of a whole orange directly into the batter before baking. I let the cake cool overnight (since it didn’t get in the oven till about 9:30 due to the 3 loaves of bread I had rising in there). The next day I whipped up a batch of cocoa flavored whipped cream frosting and frosted then decorated the cake. I am a big fan of using edible flowers to decorate cakes. I have little to no skill when it comes to piping icing and my penmanship sucks. It is a much easier (and prettier) affair if I just focus on growing several varieties of flowers for the special events throughout the year. I am luck in that nobody in my immediate family has a birthday in the dead of winter.

My mom’s birthday is the latest and there are always some flowers left in the garden. This year I decorated with Nasturtiums, Calendula and Marigolds. It was all very brown and red and orange – befitting a fall birthday. I sprinkled a few remaining white Alyssum blooms over the top and called it good. Notice the torpedo like calendula on the side of the cake. I had no idea they would close up like that when refrigerated.

My mother’s cakes almost always have marigolds on them. Again fitting, as Gary informed me that apparently every child except for me went through the kindergarten ritual of planting marigold seeds in milk cartons so that they were ready by mothers day. Last year’s cake had marigolds but also included lemon peel and pomegranate seeds.

I am bad about buying presents. I can never come up with the right thing and never remember the good ideas I may have had throughout the year when it comes time to actually get a present. I hate buying token gifts that I know will never be used. But food – food gets used. I know what to make and get true enjoyment out of figuring out a meal plan for a special person in my life. I love the process, the prep, the contemplation time I get when methodically making ravioli or kneading bread. It is the ultimate gift that you see a return on right away, if it sucks – plates come back full. If it was good – people smile and eat and laugh and talk story and the night can go on forever. It is basic, fundamental and nourishing not just to our bodies but our hearts.