Everything late this Week!

It must be the weather! I missed the Daring Baker's Challenge Date on the 27th! Mostly because of work. I am late posting the blog. I am all off schedule. Next week I hope to do better. Anyway, I will still have free tasting of the Daring Baker's Challenge for you this week. I will post the pictures soon, but better late then never!

So this week I am busy preparing to start the Vacaville Farmers Market and getting ready for the summer season out in the Valley. Please keep your eye on the where MagPies will be at the bottom of the blog for upcoming events.

MagPies is also now Twittering. I hope this will be an easy way for customers to keep up with our busy schedule and allow you easy access to finding us around the valley. Twitter is like microblogging. So in essence it is short and sweet posts (no more than 140 characters). You can even have twitter messages sent to your phone. I hope to use this tool for farmers market as well. I can let you know through twitter when we are close to selling out of items or report on what fruit and veg look good that Saturday or just anything special. Sign-up now at http://www.twitter.com/. Our username is Magpiesjen.

Suisun Valley is also twittering as well as Ron Lanza from Wooden Valley. It is a great place to keep up with what is going on in the Valley. If anyone needs any help with this let me know. I am not an expert (still kinda finding my way through it), but will help with whatever I can.

BIG NEWS! Magpies will be accepting Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Debit Cards in the next two weeks! This has been a little bit of a process but considering the economy and that fact that it is just easier to pay with your card sometimes, we are glad to offer this service to our customers.

Don't forget MagPies for Mother's Day treats! I will get the blog posted early so you can make you decisions. We will be open for extended hours the Saturday before Mother's Day.

OK, enough of all this big news on to this weeks goods.

Savory
Cheese and Parsnip roulade $5/piece
This has Blue Cheese, mascarpone, pesto and parsnips.

Chilli Crab and Prawn Tart $5/tart
Spiced up tart with red chilli.

Mediterrean Pasties $5/pastie
Chicken, spinach and mediterrean vegetables in a pastie

Sweets
Organic Apple Cake with honey and a cinnamon flavored creme fraiche

Plum and Goat Cheese Tart - $5/piece
Sweet Plums with a tart Goat Cheese Base.

Rhubarb and Orange Fool - $5/cup
Rhubarb, Orange, Marscarpone and custard all rolled into this start of the summer dessert.

FREE PIECE OF CHEESECAKE FROM DARING BAKERS CHALLENGE

Salad
Middle Eastern Carrot Salad - $5/quart
Crisp carrots with warm spices give this an exotic flavor

This Weeks Goods!

Ok, late at posting. I will blame Disneyland. We just returned late on Thursday. I think I will be recovering for the next year! I think work is easier so on to this weeks goods. I will do deliveries on Monday or whatever suits everyones' weekday schedule.

Savory
Spinach and Feta Gozleme Pie - $5/piece
A Gozleme is a Turkish crepe. This recipe is yeast based and has a top and bottom crepe that enclose the spinach and feta.

Ham, Mozzarella and artichoke pastries - $5/piece
Cooked in a flaky puff pastry

Gratin - $5/piece
Sweet Potatoes and butternut squash topped with Japanese bread crumbs.


Sweet
Apple Strudel Turnovers - 2 turnovers $5
Apples cooked in phyllo pastry

Lemon Curd and Raspberry Trifle $4/cup
Layered trifle with cake, curd and raspberries.

Passion Fruit Custard Cake- $5/piece
Light and moist with custard.

Salad - $6/quart
Ricotta and White Bean Salad

Breakfast - $4 4 muffins
Apple and Zucchini Muffins

Next week I will be at Mankas Corner, Clay Station both Saturday and Sunday from 11am - 4pm. I will try and post most of what will be available. If you are able to come by, please do. There will be lots of vendors (pottery, jewelry, glass art, photography and pies).

Have a great week!

Easter Goodies!

Well, as most of you know, I particularly like to bake for holidays. Here is the list of goods for Saturday, April 11th delivery. I will have some extras this week in case you want to bring a friend along and do some last minute Easter shopping.

Savory
Ham Pie - $5/piece
A favorite and one I have made before. Chunks of ham with a creamy layer of cheese encased in puff pastry.

Chicken and Carrot Turnover $4/turnover spicy chicken filling with a rich pastry.

Stilton and Bacon Cheesecake - $5 A savory cookie crust , cheesecake made with stilton and topped with bacon.

Creamy Potato, Leek and Gruyere Tart $4/5" tart in a crispy pastry.

Sides

Rosemary Mini Bread - 4 breads $5
A crisp bread roll in a panettone paper, with fresh rosemary

Hot Cross Buns - 4 buns $5
An Easter Tradition.

Mini Panettone -2 panettones for $5
A breakfast Bread with candied orange peel and raisins.

Roasted Parsnip and Parmesan Soup - $5/quart
A creamy and filling soup with Parmesan, shallots, chives and parsnips

Lemon-Fried Zucchini, feta and watercress salad - $6/quart

Sweets

Almond petit fours with a sugared flower 6 for $6

Pink Snowballs - $5/four
A childhood tradition, made new with fresh ingredients.

Golden Mini Egg Cakes - $4/cake
Coconut Flavored cake covered in a glaze and decorated in Easter colors.

Chocolate Pavlova - $4/pavlova
A crisp, gooey dark chocolate meringue, topped with whipped cream streaked with chocolate on top and sprinkled with sugar-coated mini eggs.

Fresh Lemon Mousse - $3 per cup
A creamy and tart Mousse. Perfect start to Spring!

Raspberry Blancmange - $5 for 5" molded dessert
A refreshing fresh raspberry dessert

Marmalade Daisy Brownies - 4 brownies $5
A rich chocolate brownie with marmalade and decorate with a white chocolate daisy


Cookies
Little Clouds - $5 for 6 cookies
Melt in your mouth, cream-filled meringue cookie.

Italian Easter Cookies $6 for 8 cookies
A cross between a sugar cookie and a shortbread cookie. Iced and decorated for Easter.


Whole Cakes
Chocolate Panna Cotta Layer Cake - $20
A creamy chocolate pudding fills this rich cake.

Easter Charlotte - $20
Something like an Italian Cassata topped with edible flowers

Carrot and Lime Cake - $20

Whole Pies/Tart
Blackberry Chocolate Tart $20

Strawberry/Rhubarb Pie - $20

Buttermilk Pie - $20

Chocolates
White Chocolate Eggs with dried raspberries. - $7 for 2 eggs
Beautiful Gift

Bittersweet Chocolate Bark with Pink Peppercorn and Jasmine Tea $6/box
A dense chocolate bark with a surprise addition of pink peppercorn with a hint of jasmine.

Candy Box -$12/box (includes 12 candies)
Pistachio-Honey Torrone, Cake Balls (chocolate cake with Chocolate Frosting), Vanilla-Jasmine Carmels, Caraway ginger Divinity


We will be selling and doing deliveries from 9:30am -2:00pm on Saturday.
1101 Horizon, Suite 115, Fairfield.

Please call your orders into (707)439-5960 or email orders to magpies.jen@gmail.com

Have a wonderful Easter!

Spring!

This week I would like to do deliveries on Sunday again. So, unless you have any special requests for Saturday, I am happy to do deliveries for free on Sunday or meet you at the office for pick-up. Just let me know what time in convienant.

Savory
Moreish Chicken and Nut Pie $5/piece
This pie comes from the city of Granada in Spain. It is a bakery specialty with raisins, pine nuts, organic chicken and spices in a puff pastry.

Mushroom Strudel $5/piece
Taken from the sweet version the savory one is filled with a variety of mushrooms, herbs, parmesan and onions.

Bean and Red Pepper Tart $5/tart
Roasted Red Peppers, beans, thyme and creme fresh baked in a crisp pastry crust.

Sweet
Green Tea Pudding $4/cup
A smooth pudding flavored with green tea

Brown Sugar Apple Cake $5/slice
Layers of brown sugar bread crumbs and apple compote.

Bakewell tart $4 for 4"tart
layered wtih marizpan and jam

Chocolate/Cherry Cookies $5 for 6 cookies
Dried cherries add a chewiness to these super chocolate cookies

Breakfast
Welsh Cakes $5/4cakes
Not really a cake but more like a heavy pancake. Cooked in a cast iron skillet.

Salad
Yes, I am bored with soup. It is starting to get nice and I am ready to do some salads. I hope you agree with the change. I may throw in a soup every now and again, just to keep you guessing.

Spiced Rice Salad. $5/quart
Dried Apricots and pinenuts give give this salad a Moroccan flav

Daring Bakers Challenge!

Ok, I did it! I completed my first Daring Baker's Challenge. I overcame all the obstacles this week and managed to get this posted before the end of posting day.

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

If you have the desire to try this recipe yourself, click on the host links above you will be able to find the recipe we used.

Thanks so much for the Challenge! I loved the pasta recipe. Mine seemed to roll out with ease. The Ragu and the Bechamel were perfect accompaniments. Overall, a great dish!

Daring Kitchen and Menu for the Week

Some of you may have noticed the addition to my blog of the Daring Kitchen Logo and my baking superhero, The Vanilla Fairy. The Daring Kitchen originated in 2006. Please see the link below about how they started (it's a great story). Some of my favorite food bloggers belong to this site. Every month a secret challenge is issued. All the participants, from around the world, bake the same recipe and then post pictures of their creations on their blogs. I have watched in anticipation as each new challenger posts. Sometimes I spend hours looking at all the blog postings. The idea is that you can share a passion of baking with others, learn new techniques, discuss them with others and try baking things that are out of your comfort zone. After sitting in the backround for quite awhile, I decided to take the plunge and join the group. This month will be my first post. Please check back on the blog on the 27th of each month (I will remind you), to see what we have baked for the challenge. I will also post a link to the recipe, if you want to try it yourself you can. Tastings of my creation will be on the Saturday following the posting. Of course, I appreciate your feedback and I hope this will allow you to be part of the fun, even if you don't want to make the recipe. So next time you have a few minutes (or in my case hours) take a look at all the talented bakers!
http://thedaringkitchen.com/

NOTE: For the next few weeks delivery schedules will be subject to change. My sister (who is kind enough to help care for my kids on the weekend) is taking a well deserved vacation. While she is enjoying the sites of Australia I will be responsible for getting seven kids to their sporting activities, etc. Therefore, this week I would like to do deliveries on Sunday/Monday again. Of course, no charge for dropping off, or let me know a pick-up time at the office. If you need anything for Saturday let me know and we can make arrangements. Thanks for your understanding!

Savory
Farmland Vegetable Pie - $5/pie
Tomatoes, corn, eggs, scallions, Muenster cheese, zucchini, aspargues and whatever else looks good all put together in a pie with a cornmeal crust.

Black croque monsieur pie - $4/pie
A crust made out of pumpernickel with proscuitto, mozzarella and eggs

Organic Chicken and Chorizo Empanada - $5/empanada
Chicken, Chorizo, olives put together in a flakey pastry

Sweet
Coconut Cream Pie with Rice Crust - $5/slice
The Rice Crust adds a nice crunch to the creamy topping

Orange Olive Oil Cake - $5/slice
Using local olive oil

Apricot Yogurt Slice $4/two slices
Greek Yogurt, Honey and Coconut with a crunchy cookie base

Chocolate-Orange pots de creme $4/pot
A dark chocolate custard wtih a hint of orange

Soup
Pasta and ChickPea Soup $5/quart
A hearty soup with macaroni pasta, rosemary, garlic and a little chili

Breakfast
Buttermilk doughnuts with vanilla sugar $4 (2 doughnuts)

You can email order to magpies.jen@gmail.com or call (707)439-5960. Have a great week everyone!

Moxie

J&L so generously gave me a gift certificate to a mid-town Sacramento restaurant for my birthday. It was a joint celebration as J and I share the same birthday. I did my research on Moxie before we went. I read the reviews as they don't have a website. Both J and I did the same homework so we went to dinner with a game plan, as Moxie has a limited menu. All the specials (and there are many) are recited quickly and with lots of flair by the owner. He greets each table, sends a waiter with water and drink orders and returns to tell you the specials. Since we went in with a plan (I knew I wanted lamb) and J new he wanted fish, so we concentrated on those specials. L decided that she just wanted something in the beef category and let the owner choose something for her. All the food came with the same sides of mash potatoes and fresh vegetables. My New Zealand lamb was juicy and tender - sheer perfection! I tasted J's Chilean Seabass with Macadamia crust (I hope I rememberd that right as I had a glass of wine). I thought the fish was good, not overcooked and enjoyed the crunchy crust. L had a filet mignon and it was butter soft.

It also happened to be Second Saturday Art Walk and this was a fun event. After dinner we walked through some of the galleries and enjoyed the fine art.

Thanks to J and L for such a thoughtful and fun evening. It was a great introduction to mid-town, Sacramento and I hope it won't be long before I visit again.

Deliveries will be on Sunday or Monday at your convenience. I am happy to deliver at no cost.

Savory
Tomato, ham and cheese turnover - $5
This turnover is filled with ham, pesto, melted Boursin cheese and sliced tomato

Green Pea and Corn triangles with cauliflower - $5
Organic Peas and Fresh Corn put in a parcel with filo pastry

Smoked Chicken and Dill Cake - 2 slices $5
Yes, a savory cake. This is filled with smoked organic chicken and fresh dill. Great with a salad or a bowl of soup.

Sweets
Lemon Grass, Vanilla, Red Currant Minicake $4/piece

Passion fruit/lemon brulee tart $5/tart

Hazelnut Toffee Square - $5 per bar Layer of crust , chocolate and topped with hazelnut and toffee

Chocolate Babka mini-loaf - $4 per loaf
Russian loaf of bread filled with bittersweet chocolate & pecans)

Soup
Curried Green Asparagus Soup with Root Vegetable Chips $5/quart
Asparagus is just coming into season. This fresh soup is served with root vegetable chips on the side.