The Latte Manifesto

The news this morning describes the election of Barack Obama as a breakthrough in our country’s racial history, and as a repudiation of the prior administration. It is also astonishing evidence of our collective ability to move beyond the reptilian response to violence and tragedy that characterized our national behavior for the past seven years.

Until yesterday, our generation’s defining experience was the destruction of the twin towers. It was the moment about which we would say: I remember exactly where I was, what I was doing. We were consumed with fear, anger and hopelessness, and we lashed out at the world like a wounded animal.

That moment and those emotions have been replaced. Now, I remember exactly where I was when we elected Barack Obama. For hours, I laughed and cried out of sheer happiness. I am still overwhelmed with pride, love and hope. And as it happens so often in this strange and surprising life, I didn’t even know the weight of the burden I was carrying until it was lifted.

This was delicous. As with the banana cream pie, the recipe is from Tartine. I’ve decided to make all the recipies in the Tartine cookbook. Unless they require nuts.

Nuts, as a rule, do not belong in my food. Especially desserts. I’m looking at you, oh rock-hard, bitter walnut, merciless destroyer of delicate cookies and dental work. As with all rules there are exceptions. If the nuts have been prepared in such a way — finely chopped, toasted — as to no longer deliver a hideous violation of texture and flavor, that may be an acceptable scenario. Nuts are also perfectly fine to eat by themselves.

I will bake you anything you want on your birthday, but if the recipe contains inappropriate nut usage, expectations should be managed.

I changed themes this weekend and in the process overlooked some important details. Such as: I’ve never edited CSS before. I managed to figure out some small changes, but a couple of big issues have eluded me.

For instance, you may have noticed the lack of a header. You know, the thing that would tell you that this is THE LATTE MANIFESTO and IT’S NOT ABOUT COFFEE.

My dear friend and host Jeemy is going to fix things up, and that means I have to change themes again, to one that is not so woefully out-of-date that not even his technical wizardry can mend it.

And so, to the three friends who may read this frequently enough to notice, thanks for bearing with me.

My dad loves banana cream pie, Tartine’s recipe is perfection, and so I made this during his last visit. The key layers, from bottom to top:

- flaky pastry crust
- dark chocolate
- caramel
- pastry cream
- bananas
- whipped cream
- chocolate flakes

I don’t remember why I decided to make German chocolate cupcakes. The cake part was easy enough. Caramelizing condensed milk for the frosting takes at least an hour, so I tried a shortcut using the microwave. This seemed to work, but when I added the chopped pecans and shredded coconut, the mixture quickly turned into clumpy, crumbly gorp. Delicious, but would not stick to the cupcakes. Luckily, I had some homemade caramel stashed in the fridge (from the banana cream pie ala Tartine). I molded the gorp into perfectly-sized disks by pressing it into the same mini muffin tins I’d used to make the cupcakes, then adhered the disks to the cupcakes with a dollop of caramel. The result was so lovely I decided to pretend I meant it that way all along.
(photos courtesy Kimmie Sue, click to embiggen)