downeast ho!

I'm going to Maine! On the midnight train (well, bus) to Bangor tonight, and by tomorrow afternoon I'll be on a tiny island up the coast from Bar Harbor. And how this does fill me with joy. Lobster rolls! Cold nights! Colder water! Seagulls and pine trees, and seeing the Perseid meteor shower far from the bright lights of Brooklyn.

But first, a sour-cherry pie must be baked for the book club ladies, and finally, I can do this because the AC is on. Yes, I feel guilty about adding to my carbon- and electricity-guzzling debt, but surely I'm working at a deficit after all these no-AC/no TV/no hairdryer years. So the dough is chillin' and the cherries are ready to be pitted. Last night, Amy (the nicest neighbor in neighborland) invited me down for steak and CSA-box salad and succotash. I had half a bottle of rose to offer, but what about dessert? There was most of a box of tiny sweet tri-star strawberries from the Fantasy Fruit (does that sound kinky, or is it just me?) stand at the tompkins square farmers market, there was a tablespoon or so of sour cream (left over from last week's movie-night cupcakes) and yes, a little lump of tart dough in the freezer, left over from the apricot tart I made for that Bastille Day pate party (I bake; I don't puree liver). So, once the dough had unfrozen itself, I pressed it into some little fluted tart pans, weighed them down with foil and rice, and popped them in the oven to bake, taking out the foil halfway through so they'd get nice and golden. Mixed up the sour cream with a capful of vanilla, a couple tb of powdered sugar, and a drizzle of sweetened condensed milk, which has been lying around in the fridge as lazy as the day is long. It was soupy, but tasty, so I stuck it in the freezer to thicken up a little. Once the pastry shells were baked and cooled, I smeared in a little blueberry jam, added a spoonful of the now slightly slushy cream, and topped each one with cute little berries. And damn they were good, and even better since everything in them was, essentially, a leftover.

If you're not jam-inclined, you could melt some chocolate chips, add a little butter, brandy or coffee, and powdered sugar, and spread the chocolate over the crust. Let it cool and set, then top with berries.