As a person in my 50s, sometimes I say that now is the time to make hay. Decades of work, learning, growth, (flubs), and practice have prepared me for this chapter. The culmination of so much cultivation — cut the hay, it’s harvest time.
That’s not to say that I’m at the end of anything. After high summer, wheat farmers plant for next spring. After the leaves drop in October, limbs form new buds — this is *not* the end.
In most ways, harvest season is good. A packed schedule, commitments, demands — it’s what we have planned for, tried for, and even trained for.
But sometimes the work — the making, sharing, and producing — can get us out of balance. Spread like a too-small nub of butter on an oversized slice of bread, we become translucent where we should be generous. Thin where we should be thick. Occasionally overdrawn.
And that’s where I find myself. So, I’m going to take some time to recharge. And in the process, think about what I want to grow next. It’s likely that the Curio will be back. It’s also likely to change and take a different or even better form. But in order for that to happen, I need to create — and take — a little space.
In order to keep you busy, here are a few recipes in particular I think you should make over the summer. There are almost 50 essay and recipe missives in the Curio archives: nearly three years worth of collected things I love, please poke around.
I guess the last thing that I’d say is that I am so grateful for your engagement. The Curio is a place where, as I wrote in the first post, I can write and bake my heart and document it all with recipes and pictures. To create what you love and send it out into is a gift. I’ll see you out there.
Martin
(And now a couple things you should make this summer.)
A brioche base, topped with lemon curd, cherries, and sliced almonds. After baking a quick dusting of sugar and voilá, put some coffee on. Seasonally you can switch up the fruit although the frozen cherries work just fine, all year long.
I feel like summer asks for baguettes. Good fermentation, plenty of water, a little wholegrain — getting better at them can be a project. But even crooked, they are crispy. Even without ears, they will sing after baking. And cut and filled with summer produce, glugs of oil, and cheese, they are simply the best.
One of my favorite crackers, these bake quickly and use up loads of discard. Included with the crackers is a great recipe for a roasted carrot and whipped feta dip that is at once sweet, spicy, salty, savory and really, really good.
So that’s it for now, bakers.
Be well!
Martin
Great appreciation to my family, my friends, all of you, as well as my dear editor and friend, Posie Brien, who makes everything better — thank you, Posie.
It’s been a joy finding your posts in my inbox. Take care of yourself this summer. Looking forward to whatever comes next!!
This post feels like a bulb planted in late fall- I cant wait to see what magic spring brings. ❤️