Beebopareebop...Rhubarb Upside-down Cake

There was plenty accomplished yesterday, but nothing at the sewing machine. The only sewing I accomplished consisted of slow-stitching the name and place for the latest Shop Hop quilt. This one is from our visit to Sedona a couple of years ago, when we stopped off in nearby Cottonwood to see Quilter's Corners and Bernina Too. Sadie stitched along with me.

With several interruptions, I had it finished by day's end.

Earlier in the morning, I'd visited the Beaverton farmers market with Erik and Mae. I scored most everything I wanted, but no carrots, and they were already sold out of oysters. As for the carrots, I've had a hard time finding the carrots I like for my Spicy Dilled Carrot Spears. We used to get them in our CSA shares, but we quit the CSA a few years ago. Here's a picture of one of our shares so that you can see the appeal of these "Nelson" carrots.

They're a short, fat carrot...not tapered...and they fit nicely in the 12-oz. jars I use when I pickle them.

I've been looking for them for a couple of years, but haven't been able to find them. After leaving the farmers market with hands empty of carrots, I got the bright idea to grow them myself this year. When I got home, I ordered up a couple of packets of these Napoli carrots. Here's the image from the online seed catalogs.

They aren't the "Nelson" carrots, but here's what the catalog says about them:

55 days. Longtime Nelson fans, do not despair! Napoli is a first-rate Nantes type carrot that rivals and surpasses Nelson in size and early maturity. Among the earliest of our spring-sown carrots, the 7-8 inch, bright orange roots have a fine texture and a mild, juicy crunch. Plants have tall, strong tops for easy harvest and produce uniform, smooth, cylindrical carrots with narrow shoulders.

With our short growing season, the 55 days to maturity is a good amount of time. If we get them in the ground mid-May, then we should have carrots sometime in July. Fingers crossed they produce. Our garden is always an exercise in trial and error. 

Okay, so what did I find at the farmers market? Well...asparagus and rhubarb. The asparagus I've seen in the grocery store has been pencil-thin and unappealing. It was nice to see some that will probably taste good. Also...the rhubarb I've been seeking. I haven't found this in the grocery store at all. 

The weather was mostly cooperative while we were out. It sprinkled on us just a little bit, but we were headed toward the car when it started raining in earnest. By the time I got home, the roads were white with hail, and we had one of those days with a little of everything weather-wise: hail, rain, and sunshine.

On the way home, I stopped off to pick up this Red Currant jelly. It isn't always easy to find. I might have used something else, but the recipe said specifically, "Red currant jelly is worth seeking out; strawberry and raspberry jam won't produce the same effect." Okay, and besides, strawberry and raspberry have seeds...a no-no in my kitchen. In my searching I found Black Currant, and this Red Currant that included some "orange liqueur." I really didn't want the liqueur, but couldn't really think of a reason why it would interfere with my recipe. So, okay, I picked up a jar.

Back home, I went straight to work baking up this Rhubarb Upside-down Cake. (My apologies to Garrison Keillor that it wasn't a rhubarb pie.) Someone on Facebook posted a picture of this, and of course, I had to bake it myself. It's a recipe from Cook's Illustrated. I've given you the link, but you won't be able to access it without a subscription. If you can't access the recipe, email me, and I'll be happy to send it to you. The recipe required the use of several bowls, but it was actually fairly easy to make. When it was all finished, it looked like this:

It has a lovely streusel topping that is made with sliced almonds. It starts out on top, but when the cake is flipped to its upside-down version, the topping is on the bottom. It gave the nicest crunchy crust. 

Of course, we didn't eat it right away. I'd also picked up some clams at the farmers market, and we had this Fettucine Alle Vongole for dinner. Ordinarily I'd serve this with some Oysters Rockaway, but the oysters had sold out at the farmers market. We had to make due with just the clams. Dee-lish. This is a super easy dish to make. I've done it several times in the RV, and also cooked it up for some friends in their kitchen once. Really...it's easy. The hardest part is getting the fresh clams.

Okay, and then...we could cut the cake. I was dying to see the inside. We had it with a dollop of whipped cream. The topping was sweet and tart...the cake was nicely moist without being soggy, and that topping (bottoming) gave it the nicest crunchy texture. We liked it a lot. It's going to become one of our perennial favorites.

Okay, and so enough about food. Almost nothing was accomplished on the sewing front, aside from stitching the name plate for the Shop Hop block. I managed to cut all the pieces, and I'll get it sewn together today. I believe I selected the kokopelli fabric because I like the kokopelli, but also because we'd visited Montezuma's Castle National Monument the same day. You can read about the national monument at that link I've given you. So here's where I left my quilt block.

I'll get it sewn together, and then I'll be starting on the 10th of 12 blocks for the New Mexico Kitchen quilt. This one will be of Fajitas. Here's the blurry picture from the pattern cover. There is no evil fringe on this tablecloth. I just need to fray the edges of my selected fabric.

Okay, so I have a little housework to catch up on, and then it will probably be a mostly sewing day. We're expecting a lot of wet and cold weather this week. Probably, I'll get a lot of sewing done.