I was also taken by the NYT article and made the plum cake with a bag of plums from a neighbor, but my plums did not stay on the top. Still, we all enjoyed it, and it traveled well too. I did not think to paint the plums first - next time!
Just wonderful, Amy! I’m going to experiment with drawing and perhaps painting based on your lessons. Your paintings are really great, and the history of plums, Luther Burbank and Frida Kahlo is so very interesting. Thanks again for the shoutout. Now I think I need to go in search of plums to make a tart!
When I was 16 I was given a kitten which I named Luther Burbank Jnr. I honestly can’t remember why. I was a bit of a hippy in those days and always a reader, so I must have seen it somewhere in a book and thought it would be a groovy name for a cat.
This brought back fond memories. My Mom was a doting Mother and a mostly from scratch cook. She was Polish American but ventured in all cuisines. When she would make pierogi, if the season was right she would also make dessert pierogies with plum filling. Stone fruits rule!.
The Luther Burbank part of your story was JOYFUL. We owe a lot to plant breeders. Humans are quite full of themselves but we haven't invented foods from whole cloth. It is the hard and steady work of plant breeders that has brought us the bounty we all enjoy. I remember in the wonderful book "Guns, Germs, and Steel", Jared Diamond explains the evolution and flourishing of mankind, to a large extent to the accidental availability of wild plants that might be domesticated over generations. Your writing reminded me of this.
I am a first time lurker and will save a link and check back for more.
I was also taken by the NYT article and made the plum cake with a bag of plums from a neighbor, but my plums did not stay on the top. Still, we all enjoyed it, and it traveled well too. I did not think to paint the plums first - next time!
It seems like it doesn't matter what happens exactly with the plums, it's still fabulous. I love how un-fancy the whole thing is.
This was not what I was expecting when I opened it up to read---it was so much more! So good and I have a plum torte on my radar for early next week!
hahaha I'm glad I defied all plum-related expectations! And I hope you'll come back and tell me how the plum torte worked out for you.
Amy, I LOVE the plum portraits. xo
Thank you! Talk about a tricky set of colors!
The plum torte was very good, especially for breakfast
the baker's husband might be a little biased!
Just wonderful, Amy! I’m going to experiment with drawing and perhaps painting based on your lessons. Your paintings are really great, and the history of plums, Luther Burbank and Frida Kahlo is so very interesting. Thanks again for the shoutout. Now I think I need to go in search of plums to make a tart!
Much appreciated! I love finding all these other plum tortes on Substack. Amazing how different they all are, starting from basically the same place.
I'd love the olum recipe, but you must subscribe to the NY Times to get it. Wish you would have written out this (actually) two-step recipe. Boo hoo
I made it also! Many thumbs up!
When I was 16 I was given a kitten which I named Luther Burbank Jnr. I honestly can’t remember why. I was a bit of a hippy in those days and always a reader, so I must have seen it somewhere in a book and thought it would be a groovy name for a cat.
Wow, you were a clever teen!
Pretentious more like it 😀
This brought back fond memories. My Mom was a doting Mother and a mostly from scratch cook. She was Polish American but ventured in all cuisines. When she would make pierogi, if the season was right she would also make dessert pierogies with plum filling. Stone fruits rule!.
The Luther Burbank part of your story was JOYFUL. We owe a lot to plant breeders. Humans are quite full of themselves but we haven't invented foods from whole cloth. It is the hard and steady work of plant breeders that has brought us the bounty we all enjoy. I remember in the wonderful book "Guns, Germs, and Steel", Jared Diamond explains the evolution and flourishing of mankind, to a large extent to the accidental availability of wild plants that might be domesticated over generations. Your writing reminded me of this.
I am a first time lurker and will save a link and check back for more.