Clearly I am not one to write a trustworthy blog about how to impress a man enough to make him fall head-over-heels in love with me. Otherwise "perpetually single" would not be the box that I check on my taxes every year. But again and again, I let that little gasp of hope fight to the surface and fill me with the lovely vision of how wonderful relationships can be. I get a fuzzy recollection how it felt to be loved, and to give love from an endless place inside me. It's just been a damn long time since I've actually been in a committed relationship. But it's that little gasp of hope that makes me want to find that certain boy, to make that fuzzy feeling sharpen into focus. It makes me want to bake and impress.
So this Saturday is the planned "Spaghetti Party"- complete with 12 of Courtney & my closest friends, the lonely chicken Lolo and the two newest additions to the house, baby chicks Francey & Duck. And a boy worth trying to impress.
Courtney is creating the sauce, I'm in charge of dessert. Naturally.
I've decided that I am baking a double crusted Peach Cobbler and will be concocting some homemade Basil Ice Cream to pair with it. Simple yet fancy. Unique but familiar. It will be an intriguing flavor combination that will spark conversation and hopefully disappear to crumbs while everyone wishes they could have just one taste more. Really, that's my whole plan for impressing the boy. Make him realize how dimensional I am. Simple and pure hearted, yet capable of dressing up and stepping up to the occasion. Unique and strong in my own convictions and direction in life, yet relateable and reliable. Intriguing and charming, leaving him so that he can neither stop thinking about the cobbler and ice cream... or me.
In theory, it's perfect. Unfortunately, reality usually dictates that I trip over my words or worse, can't find any at all. And I'll inevitably end up spilling ice cream into my clean shirt. The familiar role of "Bumbling Idiot #1" that I tend to melt into the minute I am in the presence of someone I really want to impress. Cool and collected? Only in my scripted fantasies. But the cobbler and the ice cream? I don't think that those can fail me.
So tomorrow I'm buying Basil at the Farmer's Market, I'm putting on my new perfume and I'm hoping for something close to the scripted fantasy. Wish me luck.
Peach Cobbler
6-7 whole, ripe Peaches (about 5 cups sliced). Wash and slice, leaving skins on.
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
3 tablespoons Flour
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
Place peach slices in an ungreased 9x12 pan. Stir in brown sugar, flour and cinnamon with a fork. Stir around loosening juice from the peaches. The peach juice will mix with the dry ingredients and create a sweet sticky syrupy coat for the peach slices. Stir until all the peach slices are covered with the yummy syrupy.
For the Double Crust topping:
1 1/2 cups Flour
1 1/2 cups White Sugar
1 1/2 cups Oatmeal
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
2 dashes Nutmeg
2 beaten Eggs
1/4 cup salted Butter (1/2 stick)
Mix dry ingredients and then add the beaten eggs to make the topping very crumbly. Drop it onto the peaches and make sure all the peaches are covered. Melt the butter and drizzle over the topping.
Bake 40-45 minutes at 375 degrees until the peaches are bubbling out of cracks in the topping.
Serve warm, cold or anywhere in between.
Basil Ice Cream (inspired by Delmonico's in New Orleans)
2 cups fresh Basil. Rinse thoroughly to clean.
1/4 cup Simple Syrup (it's sugar water.. boil 1 cup water and add 1 cup sugar. Stir until dissolved. Now you have 1 1/2 cups Simple Syrup)
1/2 pint Heavy Whipping Cream
1 pint Half and Half
4 Eggs
2 cups White Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1/2 teaspoon Salt
5 cups Milk
Blanch (essentially dunk) washed Basil in boiling water. Then dunk into an ice bath. Remove from ice bath and set on clean towels and blot dry. Combine Basil and Simple Syrup in the blender and pulverize. Set aside.
Beat together Eggs and Sugar until stiff. Slowly add Cream, Half and Half and then Milk. Be careful to mix gently to avoid forming butter chunks. Add Basil mixture and stir thoroughly but gently. Strain through thin colander to remove chunks of basil (or butter) and pour into ice cream machine. Gently add vanilla and salt. Follow the machine's instructions to freeze.
Serve small scoops of Basil Ice Cream with the warm Peach Cobbler. No dripping on shirts. Keep the conversation going. Eye contact. Maybe he'll put his arm around you again when no one is looking. Or maybe he'll even do that in plain sight of everyone. Let that gasp of hope grow.
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