Discovering Pawpaw

One thing about getting older, I have found, is that there are fewer surprises and discoveries to be made.

A couple months ago I do not know how the algorithm started providing me videos on YouTube regarding this fruit called pawpaw I have managed to live 57 years of my life, and I have never heard of nor have I ever tried paw paw and suddenly within the span of a couple of days, I was on a quest to try and find a place where I can buy pawpaw since it is not something that you can buy from Supermarkets. 

At the end of August (2025), I made a trip to Branchburg New Jersey to visit West farm which is run by Charlie West, and initially I thought I would try and get myself some saplings so that I could grow them on my balcony only to discover that they have an exceedingly long tap route and they would not thrive in a potted situation but luckily Charlie also grows and propagates fig trees and persimmons and other types of trees so I managed to walk away with a panache tiger fig tree in a small pot, and a week later, I ordered an LSU purple fig from someplace else. I have since transplanted both of them into 2 1/2 gallon pots and I am hoping for the best—so far so good. I have managed to keep them alive. Let’s see what the spring holds!

While at Charlie’s farm, I managed to taste pawpaw fruit and buy several pounds of it to enjoy over the next week or so and once I was home, I managed to find a orchard in Westchester County that also provides paw paw and this is kind of crazy when you realize that pawpaw has a very short season between 4 to 6 weeks to enjoy the fruit. Sharing photos of the display at the farmers market in Scarsdale of pawpaw that were available as well as my small and final hole of pawpaw fruits from the Scarsdale farmers market and also sharing the two photos of my fig trees, which I have managed to keep alive so far.

It has been 501 days since I’ve retired, and my passion project from this past year until this summer has been renovating my bathroom, so my passion project for 2026 initially was going to be propagating fig trees; however, I now am curious to see whether or not I can germinate and sustain any kind of plant life on my patio since it does not have a southern exposure and does not have direct sunlight all afternoon. 

I have managed to plant some asparagus crowns in a makeshift grow box, and if they manage to survive the winter and show some sign of life in the spring and summer, maybe I will invest in some proper, professionally made elevated grow boxes on wheels. I already invested in some wheeled carts for the fig trees and some plant caddies on wheels.

I also have planted garlic, and in a 25 gallon tub I have managed to plant chrysanthemums and alliums and I ordered some lily the valley pips which I plan on planting in that pot. I have ordered hellebore plants too, and they should be the first to bloom sometime in early March. 

I also have these elaborate plans for herbs and I’m saving seeds from particularly tasty tomatoes or Delicata squash and I plan on sprouting merletons as well as trying to germinate the seeds of the Wabash, Rebecca’s Gold, Welles & a bunch of unknown varietal seeds of pawpaws. I have sand and plastic shoe boxes and am fairly confident that I can get them to sprout—but what to do with them since I cannot keep them in pots on my balcony? 

I have spent considerable amount of time trying to find places in public whether at our condo complex or in parks that would be that are close to ideal for pawpaws to grow i.e. partial shade close to a water source, etc. and I think I found the spot in an undisclosed public park where I will do some renegade gardening, seemingly go for a stroll, and dig a deep enough holes with the heel of my foot just deep enough to plant the seeds I’ll be germinating in the spring, and it will be up to Mother Nature to do the rest. 

This is what I call my pawpaw “long game,” as it will be YEARS until those seeds turn into trees that bear fruit, assuming they survive, and assuming the parks department doesn’t mow them away. On an upnote, they are native to New York, and the leaves of pawpaw trees are a favorite food for a particular variety of swallowtail butterfly. I plan on sharing some of the germinated seeds with a friend in Texas who has a big enough property to grow these. 

All this is my way of having a more productive use of my time rather than fixate upon and worry about what I view at the start of the collapse of society. 

Comfort Foods

The weather is turning chillier here, and for some strange reason, I was craving a bowl of cheesy grits. Since I am a northerner, grits isn’t in the northern food culture. I became familiar with them after being in the military. 

Yesterday I went to the store specifically to buy grits & semolina for the day’s experiments. 

So yesterday I made a batch and served it with scrambled eggs and breakfast sausage. 

When that didn’t make me feel cozy enough, I made tagliatelle for the first time. 

Not bad for my first attempt. I dressed it in browned butter w/hazelnuts, parm, and fresh parsley & sage, and managed to sneak some nutmeg into the dough. 

The ratios for the dough:

1 C Semolina

1 C Flour (I used a Chinese flour specifically for noodles but APF would work)

2 Eggs

1/2 Cup canned pumpkin

Pinch salt

2 Pinches nutmeg

1-2 T olive oil

No further instructions will be provided by me, as it all is pretty obvious. Cook time 3 min. 

Note: This probably would play nice like spaetzel shaved or cut into a pot of boiling water. 

Some Stuff

Before I delete the photos off my phone, I guess I should share some photos of what I have been up to these days. 

I retired in July 2024, and have been baking bread regularly. Very fond of an oat & molasses loaf. 

I also made my first batch of napa cabbage kimchi recently, the bulk of which will go to my friend Jimmy, and a smaller jar to my friend Serena, with just enough leftover for myself, which I will chop up fine & put in some potato salad.  I have plans to make a batch of kimchi with beets & radish next time. 

Easter Spitzad

Originally posted in 2017. Reposting as it is that time of year again—springtime is Spitzad time! This year (2024) my cousin and i are debating the merits of using chickory vs the traditional dandelion greens. 

My cousin and I go back and forth, texting each other photos of the most-delicious thing we've created recently. And since it's Easter, he's reminding me to make a family favorite, "Spitzad". He's also making a traditional "wheat pie," but that wasn't something my grandfather was known for making--he was more well known for his rice pie. Spitzad is something my grandfather's mother would make.

Apparently, my great-grandmother would use dandelion greens in it in lieu of parsley; and my permutation on this is to use mint, as I think it pairs nicely with the lamb and the lemon juice.

A fine recipe that was my jumping off point was this recipe for Agnello Brodettato.

Here is my version:

Ingredients

1 lb lamb shoulder, trimmed and cut into cubes

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 oz Bacon, prosciutto or pancetta, chopped

2 T Olive oil

Flour for dredging

(About) 1/4 Cup Dry Vermouth

Salt and pepper

Optional: 2 T garlic paste (for marinating)

For the egg and lemon finish:

2 whole eggs

Juice of one freshly squeezed lemon (I even used the zest of the lemon, too)

12 nice sized, fresh mint leaves, shredded

Procedure:

1. Marinate lamb cubes overnight in garlic paste.

2. Dredge cubes in flour, set aside.

3. Render out bacon in 1 T olive oil and about 1/4 cup water. Add onions, sweat them and let them cook until golden, then set aside.

4. Add 1 T olive oil to pan and start to brown lamb cubes. Once they are nicely browned, add onion mixture back to pot, then deglaze pot with vermouth, stirring up brown bits stuck to bottom of pot.

5. Add about 1 cup of water and put in a 300 degree oven (*covered*) for 2 hours -OR- cook in electric pressure cooker on high pressure for 25 minutes (letting the pot depressurize on its own).

6. Once lamb is thoroughly cooked, scramble eggs with the lemon juice, then slowly drizzle a little bit at a time, stirring constantly to keep eggs from setting, continue this process until all the egg mixture is incorporated--this helps fortify and thicken the gravy.

7. Add the mint leaves.

8. Taste. Adjust salt, and apply black pepper liberally, a nice fat pinch or a dozen twists on the pepper grinder should do it.

Almost Forgot To Share

Above: 100% hydration foccaccia experiment, cross section of the crumb. 

Yet another iteration of Dorie Greenspan’s Last of the Bunch banana bundt.

Recently I have been on a Chicken Scarpariello bender. I love the dish & have been tinkering with the best technique to improve texture of chicken without cooking the peppers into mushy oblivion. 

 Pictured above: I invited my neighbor over for coffee & conversation “like civilized people.” I don’t do anything half-assed. I don’t make anything from scratch, everything was store bought, I just set the table and assembled a lovely continental breakfast brunch thing. 

2023 My TEN POUND Birthday Cake

Not to go negative right in the first paragraph, but my birthday was not always an enjoyable day. 

First, it's in the middle of August, and usually the day is rainy or it's so hot and humid and miserable you'd wish it would rain to break the heat.

Then there's the matter of my mother. I could go off on a tangent about the different ways she'd sabotage the day; however, I'll keep on topic and comment on cakes. She'd always ask what I'd want to eat for dinner, and what type of cake I'd want. And when the day would come, she just wouldn't follow through. For days or weeks I'd daydream about the dinner & the cake, and just be let down. 

Mom died of COVID19 in May 2020, so this was the fourth birthday without her here; however, it's the 22nd birthday since I decided not to let her ruin my day. And this is the first birthday since she died where I actually daydreamed about my birthday cake.

For weeks, I daydreamed about the cake layers, then the middle layer, which buttercream to use, how I'd decorate it etc, savoring each concept.

I bought baking strips to wrap around the cake pans so the cake layers would bake evenly. I even bought modeling chocolate, thinking I'd make 3D roses (in the end I didn't make them), and I had my eye on a set of Russian piping tips to make buttercream roses. When I was at Sur La Table, I snapped up a set as an impulse buy (never made the roses--I'm behind the learning curve! I can't wait to master the flowers later).

It took several days to execute this cake.

The cake layers were a regular ol' yellow box mix tricked out with ghee in lieu of oil and buttermilk in lieu of water, and I added 2 T of instant coffee powder. I poured into two cake pans and baked according to the box instructions. When cooled, I poked the surface of both layers, and soaked the cakes with Galliano Ristretto, then wrapped and put in freezer, to await their destiny.

Day two involved baking the second layer, which was Rose Levy Beranbaum's Chocolate Oblivion Torte, which is a flourless chocolate torte. It has 3 ingredients, and bakes up into a dense decadent delicious treat. (As delicious as it was, in the final analysis it was too dense for a middle layer, and if I were to do up this cake again, the middle layer will just be the chocolate mousse from Paris Confidential: Top-Secret Chocolate Mousse Revealed on NPR, I've made it before, it's perfect each time, and super simple.)

Day three involved assembly. First, I tricked out a can of ready made vanilla frosting with a can of dulce de leche, which made a faux Russian buttercream with a caramel flavor. That went between the layers, and the crumb coat. The final layer was a dark chocolate frosting.

Initially, I was going to stencil cocoa on top; and somehow I failed that in execution, so I dusted off the cocoa, and just kept moving to the next elements. 

Then I tried the Russian piping tips, and my flowers just came out like blobby turds of frosting. I'm not sure if I should have stiffened the frosting up w/additional confectioners sugar or put it in the fridge to firm up more, but I didn't have the luxury of time to figure it out, so I just smoothed the frosting, put on some wafer rose decorations I had on hand, and festooned it with an assortment of Crunchy Pearls by Valhrona. 

In the end it isn't decorated the way I envisioned; however, in the ways that matter (the cake, the filling, the buttercreams), the cake was exactly as I envisioned it to be.

Maharajah helped ferry the cake to my office fridge the night before I would be back in the office. I asked him how heavy did he think it was. He estimated 2 pounds, and I scoffed and said, "There's an entire pound of chocolate and a half pound of butter in the middle!" Before we dug into the cake, I put it on the postal scale, and it weighed in at a hefty TEN POUNDS!

The day was lovely with kindnesses from work friends, and we sat outside and shared lunch. It was a good day.

Most Recent Masterpiece

In June, a dear friend from work left for a new job, and to celebrate that, I baked a cake for him.

The cake itself was just a plain ol' yellow box mix which I tricked out thusly: In lieu of oil, I used ghee, and in lieu of water, I used buttermilk.

Additionally, I was going for a Good Humor strawberry shortcake kind of esthetic, so the cake layers themselves were done up as an old school Jello poke cake with strawberry jello. The interior layer was filled with strawberry preserves, and vanilla buttercream. The exterior was crumb coated with Strawberry Crunch Recipe which a mixture of Golden Oreos, butter, and pulverized dehydrated strawberries--I omitted the additional Jello. 

The top was decorated with an edible image from Judy's Edible Imagery. This was the very first time I ever used an edible image, and I was thoroughly pleased with the quality of the image, as well as the ease of applying it to the cake. Additionally, Judy was timely with her replies when I had a few questions. Everyone was wowed by the cake, and some are still talking about it.

Not a lot going on

 Top: Burrito bowl with cilantro lime rice, sautéed shrooms, gojuchang chicken skewers, steamed broccoli, hb eggs w/kimchi mayo . 

Bottom: Kung Pao chicken. Recipe in Woks of Life cook book. 

Distraction Du Jour: Daydreaming Ahead for 2023 Holiday Cookies

It didn't take me long to start thinking ahead to next year's cookies, which ones I'll keep in the rotation from year to year (my versatile icebox cookies, and the Red Velvets always are keepers), what I might try again (the Leckerli, but maybe not a double batch!), and try some new ones for 2023 (possibly a "Mexican Hot Chocolate" Cookie, or some cookies inspired by the Grinch). I've already procured a small Grinch cookie cutter.

I also am thinking ahead to possibly making a Kitty Litter Box Cake for a coworker--I was thinking of it for his birthday in December, but looks like he might be leaving in August, so it might be a farewell cake. I am considering a cake with crumbled oreos in it (a cookies and cream type cake) with mocha frosting, underneath the appearance of kitty litter (and edible turds). My mouth waters as I think of it. Plenty of wonderful recipes over at Broma Bakery!

Perhaps if we see our friends in the summer (for what amounts to our annual visit with them), I'll make the cake then as a "test run" to see how it turns out--and make sure I make it in a disposable sheet pan because they can't be trusted to give me my pans back. Of course, that's assuming a lot--in this case--assuming we get an invitation. 

I want to bake more cakes this year. I even day dream of baking a Red Velvet and doing it up like the Choco-Flan I've done in the past. I think it might be worthwhile.

Gratuitous Cookie Post

Not much to report here, and no recipes provided, but wanted to share this year’s holiday cookie baking photos. 

I try to keep things interesting for me, as it is quite the undertaking. I started a week ago by setting out & measuring all the dry ingredients so i didn’t have to fuss around with that as that is its own task. 

I wanted to try the Leckerli recipe in Dorie Greenspan’s Cookie Book, but couldn’t wrap my brain around the process. Luckily someone uploaded a video on YouTube recently which really clarified things for me. I made a double batch. https://youtu.be/tlIcUhJFjUM

I made red velvet cookies and tricked some out with white chocolate kisses or dark chocolate nonpareils, and some with crushed candy canes. 

I made a triple batch of ice box cookies which i tricked out with different colorings and flavorings. This year’s favorite of mine was caramel mochaccino, which I cut out as some little bears.