SPRING FORWARD WITH US

This 1967 painting of YFM by Robert Bock came back home to us last fall. 

   

   Welcome back, friends! How lucky we feel to be celebrating Yakima Fruit Market’s 80th birthday with you, right here in Bothell.  We’ve had just over a full week to iron out the normal snafus, and to jump back into the YFM lifestyle, which starts each year on the first Wednesday of March, a special day for us, when we pay homage to our fruit forefather who chose the first Wednesday to open because the Northshore Citizen newspaper came out on Wednesdays, and the market opened with an ad in the paper. 

   How’s that for an example of sentimental adherence to irrelevant tradition, since the Northshore Citizen no longer exists, and its descendant, the Bothell-Kenmore Reporter can be accessed online 24/7?At least you know the mindset of the people you’re dealing with here! Still, that first Wednesday is a moveable feast, and a special day for us YFM staffers.

   In the year’s roster of special days, I tend to favor the non-holiday holidays, like May Day, Halloween and St. Patrick’s Day. The ratio of fun hoopla to obligations for the non-holiday holidays is just right, and while I claim Irish heritage, I love that Americans say that everyone’s Irish on St. Patrick’s day, and I love our ridiculous penchant for eating green foods on March 17.

   In that spirit of inclusivity and ridiculousness, I offer you two green things to eat this week!

PEA SOUP

Scant amount of olive oil

1/2 cup diced onion

2 stalks diced celery

1/2 cup chopped parsley

1/4 cup chopped mint

1 12 oz package frozen peas

1 15 oz. can drained white beans, your choice

4 cups vegetable or chicken stock

2 teaspoons lime juice

Salt and pepper

Garnish: cream or sour cream and chopped chives

Saute onion and celery in oil until tender, add parsley and mint, stir until herbs are wilted; add peas and beans, stir to combine add stock and lime juice. Add a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and using an immersion blender, blend until soup has a mostly creamy texture. Taste and season with fresh ground pepper and more salt if necessary. Serve hot or cold and garnish with a swirl of cream or sour cream and a sprinkle of chopped chives if desired. Serves 4-6.

IRISH WHISKEY CAKE

Ok, I admit: this is just my pound cake with a tipple of Jameson and a swirl of green colored batter, but when I sought out a recipe for Irish Whiskey cake, I didn’t want a fruit cake or a chocolate cake, and my pound cake recipe is foolproof and pretty darn good.

Preheat oven to 350

Grease and flour a tube pan or do what I did and buy a silicone bundt pan. No greasing ever, no torn, ruined cakes ever.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, toss all the cake ingredients: except green food coloring

 2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

Pinch nutmeg

4 eggs

2 sticks room temperature butter

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup Irish whiskey

Additional whiskey for flavoring  and  frosting, cake if desired

Optional green food coloring, reserved

   Turn mixer on lowest speed to incorporate ingredients with least amount of spatter, mix about 1 minute. When ingredients are just combined, increase speed to medium and continue mixing for 9 minutes. Don’t skimp on the mixing time.

   Place 1 cup batter in a small bowl and tint with several drops green food coloring, mix well.

   Pour white batter into prepared pan and plop dollops of the green batter on top, swirling it into the batter with a knife. This creates a marbled effect. 

   Bake for 1 hour or until cake tests done. If you do spring for the silicone bundt pan, place it on a baking sheet before you fill the pan, and bake on the sheet in the oven.

   Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn out of pan. If a stronger whiskey flavor is desired, use a skewer to poke holes in the cake and drizzle with more whiskey. While cake is still warm, frost with  

WHISKEY GLAZE

   In a medium, microwave safe bowl, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Add 2 cups powdered sugar, 1teaspoon vanilla, 1 tablespoon whiskey and enough milk to make a loose, liquid glaze, about 2-3 tablespoons. Whisk until glaze is smooth and spoon over warm cake. Of course you can omit the whiskey if kids will be eating the cake; simply increase milk.

NEW AT YFM : 

Veteran YFM customer Tom made the conversion to staffer this spring. Pete is showing him the ropes. 

We would like to call these hatchimals but we can't due to copyright laws. 

24 feet of dedicated organic space new this year!

Check out the new products in the YFMercantile - here is Karin's favorite San Juan Island cedar bath salt. 

One of Hellebore's common names is Lenten Rose. 

Fresh paint

We got a serious bubble chair upgrade.

Fruitfully yours, Karin