Tarts are tops

My friend Andrew Wilder (owner of Svenska Mobler) had a potluck at his place a few weeks ago. His friend Matthew MacIntyre brought what I thought was a store-bought fruit tart. It looked so perfect that I assumed it came from a bakery, but lo-and-behold, Matthew's very talented mother baked it herself. Everybody loved it.
I have a surplus of quickly ripening peaches, after going peach picking for the last peaches of the season at Yingst Ranch (contact info about halfway down this page), so, inspired by Matthew's mother, I baked a peach tart. I cheated a little bit and used Arrowhead Mills Organic Chocolate cookie mix for the crust. Arrowhead Mills offers the chocolate cookie mix around Valentine's day, but you can use their sugar cookie mix in the same way. As we get closer to the holidays that one should be easy to find. Since peaches are no longer in season try apples, pears or even persimmon slices for your tart. Mine looked great when it came out of the oven and I was all ready to take a picture of it sitting on a Fissler Magic Trivet, but then I found that the camera batteries had died. I couldn't wait for the batteries to recharge to taste it so you don't get to see it in it's whole perfection, but even with a slice out I think it looks pretty good. Though not as good as Mrs. MacIntyre's!

Miso Mayo is not just for soy nuts

I was over at my friend Alice's for lunch and I pulled a squeeze bottle of something called Miso Mayo out of the fridge. Alice's friend Janet, who I'd just met, casually said that she makes that stuff. I thought she meant that she makes her own homemade version, but what she really meant was that she created Miso Mayo. And after tasting it, I'm sure glad she did. Janet's creation went from a home recipe to a small food company, distributing Miso Mayo to Whole Foods and health food stores around the country (see link above to the Miso Mayo site for a list of stores). There are three flavors but I'm most partial to the Spicy Red Pepper version. I substituted it for the olive oil in this recipe for Quick Corn and Black Bean Salad and it added the kick that was needed to satisfy my bland-averse palate.