I've been discovering the local delicacies of West Texas. For example, when I was coming home on Sunday, my cheerful neighbour shouted across the street "Allison! I have something for you!" She scurried to her backyard and emerged with a bunch of grapes. They were tiny and delicious. She explained that next year she's going to sew mesh drawstring bags to protect the grapes from ravenous birds.
There's a decent grocery store chain in town, but living on the frontier means that some things I took for granted back East, like cheap unripe mozzarella and goat cheese, are less accessible here. You can get buffalo mozzarella, but for 10.99 for one modestly sized ball. So, I started to look around for alternatives, and discovered some swell Mexican cheeses that can do the trick. Here we have some queso fresco, posing alongside a tomato from the recently-established farmer's market:
Finally, I have the good fortune of living a short walk from a bakery that produces only cupcakes. They have a different selection every day, and the mini ones are just right if you want something sweet but deem it unwise to have a cake in the house. They have flavors including pink lemonade, red velvet, chocolate mint, chocolate with peanut butter interior, and good old vanilla. They also have a lot of strawberry cake around here - I was skeptical, because my experience with strawberry-flavoured things (as opposed to actual strawberries) has been universally negative. However, I took a risk on a strawberry cupcake, and it was darn good. Must be something in the water.
Carrot cake and strawberry, with local apple butter in the background.
Two chocolate options: on the left, with a core of peanut butter ganache, on the right, chocolate mint.
1 comment:
mexican cheese, home-grown grapes, strawberry cupcakes! Sounds heavenly.
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