baking between heat waves

august and september are normally warm, dry months in the pacific northwest, but as sad as i am to see summer go, i can do without these 90+ degree days. suppose if it extends the berry season, i have no reason to complain. on thursday, (a 91-degree day i spent walking waaay too much, not realizing that a bus route had changed), i stopped by the eastbank farmer's market in my old neighborhood. man, there's a lot of good food in one small parking lot. with my $20 allowance, i took home red and golden raspberries, mixed salad greens, a big fat brandywine tomato, red peppers, and red onion, with just enough left over for bus fare. since we planned on going to the beach the next afternoon, i made a plan to use up all those raspberries. step one: eat a whole bunch by themselves on thursday night. step two: eat the rest of the golden raspberries with breakfast friday morning. step three: incorporate remaining berries into some kind of baked good for the beach trip.

on friday, i made the raspberry-topped lemon muffins from smitten kitchen. i only used the zest from one lemon, to reduce any bitterness. they still had a full, delicious lemon flavor. however, these guys are really cupcakes masquerading as muffins. a stick of butter creamed with sugar to produce a muffin? mmm-hmm. suuuure. i'd still eat one for breakfast though. or two. i overcoked them a little, afraid they'd be raw around the berries, but they were still very very good. i reccomend. go forth and bake. tomorrow, maybe. today it's supposed to be 95. let's hope it's going to be a little cooler tomorrow, because i have some ciabatta dough hanging out in the fridge.

i've always wanted to make this recipe from the bread lover's bread machine cookbook, but it called for a 6 quart bucket. and i was bucketless. that is, i was bucketless until this weekend at the beach, when we went to an ice cream shop that was selling its old ice cream tubs for $1 a piece, with the proceeds going to buy books for local children. how could we refuse?

what a lovely way to reuse materials. ice cream + bucket for me + books for kids = win-win-win.