Beekman 1802 Mercantile Blog

Hi Neighbors,

From August 22 to September 27, 2019, new subscriptions to our Almanac, Beauty Box, and Cheese Club cannot be purchased. We're retooling our systems behind the scenes to make the experience of buying a subscription more enjoyable than ever. Below are a few answers to some frequently asked questions. If you have any other questions not answered here, feel free to contact Neighbor Services at 1-888-801-1802 ext. 1 or email customerservice@beekman1802.com.

Are subscriptions gone forever?

Not forever, just until September 27.

Is the Almanac or Beauty Box ending?

Nope! Your favorite quarterly publication is still in print and you'll still be able to receive great new products through our Beauty Box. There are no changes being made to existing subscription services. 

What if I want to buy a gift subscription?

Sorry, but gift subscriptions will also be unavailable during this time.

I'm already subscribed to the Almanac/Beauty Box/Cheese Club, will I be affected?

Nope! All existing subscriptions and gift subscriptions will continue on as normal. 

I'm already subscribed, but I need to change my address or billing information. What do I do?

For changes to existing subscriptions, contact Neighbor Services at 1-888-801-1802 ext. 1 or email customerservice@beekman1802.com.

Hi neighbor!

We are so excited for you to see everything our artisans and neighbors in Sharon Springs have to offer at this year's Harvest Fest. For those who are new to our event (Welcome) and for returning visitors (Nice to see you again), we've put together a list of frequently asked questions to help you have the best time at our festival. We can't wait to see you.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Click to jump to your answer:

• How do I become a vendor?
• Do I have to pay for Harvest Fest?
• Where is the best place to park? Are there shuttles?
• What time do the shuttles run?
• Can I park on main street?
• Is the event cash-only?
• What happens if it rains?
• Will Brent & Josh be there? Where will I see them?
• Can I see the farm while I'm in town?
• What is the Alla Tavola and how can I purchase tickets?
• What are some other attractions in the area?
• What's the fastest way to get to Sharon Springs?

How do I become a vendor?

Thank you for your interest. To apply for vendor consideration, click here.

Do I have to pay for Harvest Fest?

Absolutely not. While there are some paid ticketed events during the festival (more on that below), you can walk around and experience the town, entertainment, and vendors in downtown Sharon Springs at no cost.

Where is the best place to park? Are there shuttles?

At Sunnycrest Orchards (7869 State Route 10, 1 mile north of Sharon Springs Center.) Additional parking will be at 161 Beechwood Road (near the Sharon Springs Fire Department). All parking is free

There are free shuttles that run between the village and parking areas throughout the day. Signs will be posted throughout the village with the locations of pick up and drop off points.

What time do the shuttles run?

Shuttles will run for the entirety of the event from 10 am to 5pm. Shuttles to the farm will run from 10am to 3pm, looping every half hour.

Can I park on main street?

Due to the large volume of Neighbors strolling around Harvest Fest, no parking will be allowed on Main Street.

Is the event cash-only?

Each vendor is responsible for their own payment processing. Most vendors will accept credit cards though.

What happens if it rains?

The event will happen rain or shine. Put on those muck boots and bring an umbrella. We'll be there.

Will Brent & Josh be there? Where can I see them?

Brent & Josh will be greeting guests twice a day at the gazebo in Chalybeate Park. Everyone is welcome to stop by and have a quick chat with the founders of Beekman 1802. Make sure you stop by and say "Hi!"

Can I see the farm while I'm in town?

Of course. We'll be running farm tours all day on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are limited though! For more information and to purchase a ticket, click here.

What is the Alla Tavola and how can I purchase tickets?

The Alla Tavola is a special Sicilian meal and we'll be holding our own special version at this year's Harvest Fest. For more information on this community experience and to purchase a ticket, visit our ticket page.

What are some other attractions in the area?

Don't worry, we've got you covered. Here's a full blog post where we list what to do, where to stay, and where to eat around the region, check it out here: The Perfect Sharon Springs Weekend Getaway Itinerary

What's the fastest way to get to Sharon Springs?

To park at Sunnycrest Orchards:
From the Thruway (I-90):
-Take Exit 29 toward RT-10/Canajoharie/Sharon Springs.
-Turn right onto E Main St./RT-5S.
-At the first traffic light, turn left onto Church St./RT-10.
-Stay to the right of the center traffic light. Follow the signs for RT-10.
-Continue to follow RT-10 for approximately 8 miles.
-Sunnycrest Orchards will be on your right, look for signs for parking.

From I-88:
-Take the second Cobleskill Exit (Exit 21). Make a right onto RT-7.
-Turn left onto Warnerville-Cutoff Road. Continue on Warnerville-Cutoff Road for approximately 3 miles.
-Turn left onto RT-10. Follow RT-10 for approximately 12 miles.
-Turn right onto US-20.
-Turn left onto Emple Road
-Turn right on Kilts Road/Route 34
-Turn right onto RT-10, Sunnycrest will be on your left.

From US-20 (Western Avenue):
-Follow US-20 W for approximately 50 miles.
-Turn right onto Emple Road
-Turn right on Kilts Road/RT-34
-Turn right onto RT-10, Sunnycrest will be on your left.

To park at 161 Beechwood:

From the Thruway (I-90):

From I-88:

-Take the second Cobleskill Exit (Exit 21). Make a right onto RT-7.
-Turn left onto Warnerville-Cutoff Road. Continue on Warnerville-Cutoff Road for approximately 3 miles.
-Turn left onto RT-10. Follow RT-10 for approximately 12 miles.
-Turn right onto US-20.
-Take a right onto Beechwood Rd.
-161 Beechwood will be on your left, look for signs for parking.

From US-20 (Western Avenue):

This year, as we celebrate the 10th Annual Beekman 1802 Harvest Festival, we invite you all to join us in this spirit of homecoming. Every vendor and artisan who has ever been part of our Beekman Neighborhood is welcomed back with open arms, and we look forward to what we’re sure we’ll be a joyful reunion.

For our Summer 2019 issue of our Almanac, we invited local writer Jennifer Taber VanDerwerken to share her story of coming back home to upstate New York. 

For more information on this year's Harvest Fest, click here. To subscribe to our Almanac, click here. 

We Can Go Home Again
By Jennifer Taber VanDerwerken
Instagram: @WeCanGoHomeAgain

There is a well-known idiom which proclaims, rather grimly, “you can’t go home again.” 

Three years ago this summer, I took a great gamble to find out if that was true. After fifteen years of life in other towns and cities, I moved myself and my young family back to Upstate New York, where I was born and raised.

I never meant to leave Upstate behind me. It just kind of happened. I went away to college, as many people do. I fell in love with someone there, as many people do, and that someone called a whole different part of the country home. The world gets bigger by degrees in this way, through new experiences and new relationships. 

Like many young adults, my boyfriend (now husband) and I decided to try our post-college luck in New York City, a place of fresh starts and big dreams. We did a short-term stint, before a tragic loss on his side of the family and urban fatigue beckoned us to the Boston environs, where my husband was raised. We settled on Salem--yes that Salem. Wonderful and witchy.

Salem is where I became a publishing professional and a homeowner, a wife, and a mother. We were very happy there. But quietly, in the background as we built our life, a homesickness was growing inside me all the time.

I am the only child of two truly wonderful people. My leaving home never had anything to do with family. Rather, it was influenced by economic and career opportunities, the merging of lives with another person whose own needs and wishes had to be accounted for, and a little bit of happenstance.

Time passed, and before we knew it we were miles deep down a path we barely knew we had entered. I blinked, and I was raising two sons hundreds of miles away from some of the people who loved them best in the world. I was without the support and succor of my parents. And they were without me, their only child. It felt like everyone was missing out.

As my little boys grew, the drive eastward after weekends visiting my parents became harder and harder. I’d start to well up when we would hit the Berkshires and could no longer pick up the Albany radio stations. I’d torture myself by scouring the real estate listings in Saratoga County, with their affordable prices and excellent schools. I’d picture us hiking in the Adirondacks on fall weekends, summer picnics at Yaddo, ice cream runs to Stewarts, and what it might feel like to bump into a childhood friend at the grocery store. I longed for the small comfort of calling my mom on a hard day and having her swing by for a cup of tea. I wanted my Dad on the sidelines of my son’s soccer games. I wanted to be able to pop over with soup when they got the flu, or help shovel their driveway after the first bad storm of the season. I wanted that ever-elusive sense of belonging, to both people and a place.

When I finally voiced my ache for Upstate New York to my husband, it was not without reservation. I knew it wouldn’t be easy to uproot an entire life and leave the community we had grown to love in our decade in Salem. There were a lot of tears, a lot of kitchen table conversations, and a lot of math. Ultimately, we decided the benefits of the move far outweighed the cons and the temporary stress, and we made our plans. 

We bought a rambling fixer-upper in a quiet town in Saratoga County. The day our moving pod was dropped in our new driveway, a car full of family showed up to unload it with us, unprompted. My father called in favors to help us renovate, replumbed our bathroom on his hands and knees alongside my husband. My mom was there to whisk the boys away on the long afternoons we stripped wallpaper and pulled up carpet. We planted vegetable gardens. We planted roots.

Three years into my own homecoming adventure, I think I have my rebuttal to that woeful expression about the impossibility of returning to where you come from.

Yes, you can go home again. You can journey back to your native land and bring with you all that you have seen and learned in your time away. You can offer a richer, more worldly version of yourself to it, and make it better. What you cannot do is go back in time, which is really what that idiom is trying to teach us. I did not return to Upstate New York hoping to find the place I had left at 18 as if it had stood still in my time away, preserved in a sepia-toned photograph.

The home of my childhood does not exist, just as the person I was then does not exist. We have both grown and changed, been formed by new experiences and shaped by new people in the intervening years. What a privilege it is to live here now, and see this place I love through two lenses. It will always be as familiar to me as my own name, comforting in its sameness, totally knowable and known. And it is also new, fresh and exciting, blossoming with young, ambitious creative citizens determined to usher in an Upstate renaissance. I am both the hometown kid who can give you shortcut directions, and the enthusiastic tourist who is constantly seeking new wonders and hidden gems. 

But the most pervasive emotion I feel at the end of each day is a welcome stillness. The bones of me are settled in this idyllic, friendly, beautiful part of the world. My people are here. I’m home again.

Here's a sneak peek of what's inside our 2019 Summer Almanac. Want to experience all of the seasons with us? Sign up for a yearly Almanac subscription here. Remember, if you subscribe to our Almanac before 7/31/19, you'll receive our Picnic Badge!

Beauty Bootcamp: A 7-Day Guide to a Healthier, More Radiant You

By Olivia Dillingham
Blog: https://oliviadillingham.com/

We have either heard of, done, or steered far away from the famous “cleanse.” Cleanses come in a variety of different forms, from juice fasting to fasting altogether, to avoiding certain foods, to only eating green foods (to name just a few). Cleanses in their harshest forms may make us feel amazing for a few days and drop a lot of weight (if we can stick to them) but often we bounce straight back to our old lifestyle of eating whatever we want whenever we want, gain the weight back and end up not really gaining all that much from the process. Cleanses are great ways to cut our cravings and little addictions, but it’s important to build a sustainable system that we can build from (instead of run away from screaming or drop halfway through).

This 7-day Beauty Bootcamp is designed to reorganize and to help you pay closer attention to the choices that you make so that you can clear space for your body to do what it already does on its own when we aren’t loading it with processed foods and refined sugar: detox. This 7-program is something you can (and probably should!) do every week for the rest of your life without any harsh side effects – it can only make you feel and look better if you stick to it. 

In order to build this detox week, I interviewed holistic nutrition and business coach Krissy Leonard and personal trainer Lauren Schramm, both of whom are known for approaching health and beauty in a holistic, mind-body-spirit way. Both of these women know that health is not about forcing yourself to stick to a regimen that you feel is punishment; it is about being gentle with yourself, finding ways to be healthy that you love (a type of movement you love, healthy snacks you love), and focusing on those instead of all of the things you are missing out on by prioritizing your health (and feeling amazing!).

“Beauty amplifies the more you attend to yourself, show reverence and care for yourself,” says Krissy Leonard, “When you are present with yourself, you automatically make better choices and feel more beautiful because you’re paying attention. So often when we feel like we aren’t where we need to be it’s because we’ve been neglecting ourselves in some way. A cleanse is about being willing to create more consciousness around choices.” 

For this Beauty Bootcamp, I will be introducing mind, body, and spirit elements. As a founder of The First House, a company that coaches women to approach their lives and careers holistically in order to find their purpose, I believe that a balance of all three is essential. If we want to make real changes in our lives, we have to create better habits that create self-awareness – the rest will bloom from there. I hope that this 7-day program helps you create some life-changing patterns.

To introduce the concepts presented here, I will elaborate on each component of the program before laying out the daily schedule: 

Body – Food:

For this cleanse, Krissy has presented us with a Kitchari cleanse – something she recommends to her clients regularly. Kitchari is an Ayurvedic dish that is made with rice, dal, vegetables, and spices that are great for cleansing and healing. Ayurveda, for those who haven’t yet come across that word, is an ancient healing system from India, and kitchari is one of its staples for coming back into balance. You can find recipes easily on the internet (and it can be as simple as cooking lentils and rice together with a few spices!).

The idea of this cleanse is that it feeds the body foods that are easy to digest and process. “The more you reduce the load on your digestion and begin to heal your digestion,” says Leonard, “the more you free up beauty energy - the energy your body has to repair cells, clear your skin.” 

We are simply trying to free up the body to do the detoxifying it is designed to do naturally, rather than focus on processing the toxins we are so used to putting into our body: caffeine, processed foods and sugars, dairy and gluten, and alcohol are all things we should work to reduce if not eliminate from our diets. 

If people don’t like the taste of cumin or certain Indian spices, Leonard notes, you can replace certain elements so it’s not so traditional – just make a dish that combines a grain, a legume, and a couple of veggies. 

The daily schedule will walk you through what the day-to-day breakdown for the cleanse (eliminating certain key foods completely at the height of the cleanse) is and when you can graduate from strictly eating kitchari.

Some general tips for every day: drink more water, and start your day with a cup of warm water with lemon! Hot lemon water creates peristalsis, ripple-like contractions in intestines that push waste and toxins out: “We all know what we use coffee for a lot of the time,” says Leonard, “with hot lemon water you’ll get an energy boost and regularity without the side effects of caffeine.”

Body – Fitness:

Lauren’s general tips on maintaining physical fitness:

- It’s more important to find types of movement that you enjoy than to follow a strict protocol — you’re attempting to create a lifestyle change, not add items to your to-do list; your experience of your workout will impact your results, your level of motivation and whether or not you do it at all

- Be mindful of your breath — you can positively or negatively influence your nervous system by altering the way you’re breathing: shoot for deep elongated inhales, spending 4-8 seconds sending the breath past the lungs and to the low belly

- Start each workout with some kind of movement prep: foam rolling, active mobility (like the worlds greatest stretch), dynamic flexibility, a vinyasa yoga flow 

The different days will be marked for medium intensity workouts, high-intensity workouts, restorative movement, and rest. The different workouts you can choose from are:

RESTORATIVE: restorative yoga, maybe a yin yoga class, or take a vinyasa class at your own pace

MEDIUM INTENSITY: barre or Pilates class, hot yoga class, workout in the rep range 12-20 for weighted exercises, jog or a long walk, bike ride, pick up basketball game or tennis or softball or soccer

HIGH INTENSITY: Tabata: an exercise of your choice, 8 rounds of 20 sec on (all out) + 10 sec rest — repeat 3-5 times with different exercises, a HIIT group fitness class, boxing class, spin class, or a workout in the rep range 6-12 for weighted exercises

ON REST DAYS: catch up on sleep + rest/restore physically, mentally + emotionally (nap, guided meditation)

The daily schedule will walk you through what types of workouts you should do each day of the week. The most important thing is to start with something that feels sustainable to you and that you will want to repeat week to week. The important thing is to start by doing SOMETHING at least 4 times a week, even if it is just a walk on your lunch break or some stretching. You can build from there.

Mind:

Try to begin the practice of meditating for 5-10 minutes every day. There is an app called Insight timer that is wonderful for this and allows you to either set a timer with a beautiful bell sound or to choose from an enormous range of guided meditations (you can search by amount of time you want to meditate for, theme, what you are feeling, and more).

Spirit:

“Spirit,” to me, refers to doing at least one thing a day that is just for YOU. Make a list of all of the things that feed your soul, that you deeply love. Maybe this is reading a book in the morning or at the end of the day, taking a walk by yourself, playing guitar or singing, making a watercolor, simply sitting for a few minutes and thinking about the things you are grateful for (or writing them down!). Anything that feels a little luxurious to squeeze into your day but you know it will give you energy.

I recommend taking the following 7-day program and making it your own, writing it out as a schedule in your planner or calendar with the elements unique to you and the way you want to take it on.

DAY 1 (I recommend starting Sunday or Monday)

Body

Food:

• PREP day 1: work to reduce sugar, caffeine, alcohol, dairy, meat, gluten, and processed foods from your diet. Begin to focus on simple whole foods, soups, veggies, lots of water and herbal tea. This is a good day to set intentions and mapping out your week.
• Coffee is usually a tough one, so cut this out gradually if needed. There are some herbal replacements that mimic the taste of coffee, and herbal teas are always a great option.

• Do a medium-intensity workout on this day.

Mind

10 minutes of meditation – right when you wake up or right before bed 

Soul

Self-care & community – do something that brings you JOY 

DAY 2

Body

Food

• PREP day 2: work to reduce sugar, caffeine, alcohol, dairy, meat, gluten and processed foods from your diet. Begin to focus on simple whole foods, soups, veggies, lots of water and herbal tea. This is a good day to set intentions and mapping out your week.

• Do a high-intensity workout on this day.

Mind

10 minutes of meditation – right when you wake up or right before bed

Soul

Self-care & community – do something that brings you JOY

DAY 3

Body

• CLEANSE day 1: Eat only kitchari or whole foods on these days. You can either skip breakfast or eat a porridge made with whole grains – oats, quinoa or rice with ghee, cinnamon, and nutmeg; or eat fresh fruit
• It is also important on cleanse days not to have many snacks – if you do, make it a whole food, so fruit or veggies (cucumber slices and hummus, for example)

• Do a medium-intensity workout on this day.

Mind

10 minutes of meditation – right when you wake up or right before bed

Soul

Self-care & community – do something that brings you JOY

DAY 4

Body

• CLEANSE day 2: Eat only kitchari or whole foods on these days. You can either skip breakfast or eat a porridge made with whole grains – oats, quinoa or rice with ghee, cinnamon, and nutmeg; or eat fresh fruit
• It is also important on cleanse days not to have many snacks – if you do, make it a whole food, so fruit or veggies (cucumber slices and hummus, for example)

• Rest day 

Mind

10 minutes of meditation – right when you wake up or right before bed 

Soul

Self-care & community – do something that brings you JOY

DAY 5

Body

• CLEANSE day 3: Eat only kitchari or whole foods on these days. You can either skip breakfast or eat a porridge made with whole grains – oats, quinoa or rice with ghee, cinnamon, and nutmeg; or eat fresh fruit
• It is also important on cleanse days not to have many snacks – if you do, make it a whole food, so fruit or veggies (cucumber slices and hummus, for example)

 Movement

• Start with just 20 minutes
• Do a high intensity workout on this day.

Mind

10 minutes of meditation – right when you wake up or right before bed

Soul 

Self-care & community – do something that brings you JOY

DAY 6

Body

• INTEGRATION (90/10 or 80/20): This is where you get to ease up a little (maybe map it out so this falls on the weekend or Friday-Saturday!). You should be eating a ratio of either 90/10 or 80/20 clean to “pleasure” foods (things you very intentionally and happily treat yourself to) – the ratio should be 90/10 if you are trying to lose weight.
• If you go out to dinner, order the cleanest thing on the menu that you can find and ENJOY yourself.

• Do some restorative movement on this day 

Mind

10 minutes of meditation – right when you wake up or right before bed

Soul

• Self-care & community- Do something that brings you JOY each day
• IDEA: Start the day by taking yourself out to breakfast with a good book Elizabeth Gilbert posted about this on her Instagram recently and I think it is a brilliant idea for a self-care ritual.

DAY 7

Body

• INTEGRATION (90/10 or 80/20): This is where you get to ease up a little (maybe map it out so this falls on the weekend or Friday-Saturday!). You should be eating a ratio of either 90/10 or 80/20 clean to “pleasure” foods (things you very intentionally and happily treat yourself to) – the ratio should be 90/10 if you are trying to lose weight.
• If you go out to dinner, order the cleanest thing on the menu that you can find and ENJOY yourself.

Movement

• Rest day

Mind

10 minutes of meditation – right when you wake up or right before bed 

Soul

Self-care & community – do something that brings you JOY each day

MOVING ON FROM WEEK 1:

This routine is meant to be replicable and sustainable from week to week. As you graduate from week 1, you can either repeat this every week or ease up a bit. Try to keep the same ratio of 90-10 clean to pleasure foods, but you can replace the kitchari if you have been eating it for every meal. The basic meal breakdown that Leonard loves to have clients subscribe to is half of the plate is veggies (mix of green veggies and orange/red veggies like sweet potatoes and beets), a quarter of the plate is whole grains, and a quarter of the plate is protein (chicken or a vegetarian protein like mung dal, urud dal, red lentils, French lentils, split peas garbanzo beans, black beans or pinto beans, or the occasional tofu or tempeh). It is okay to bring dairy and gluten back in as long as you continue to do so mindfully. 

Continue to practice mindfulness and self-care each and every day and you will start to radiate from the inside out. Find rituals and practices that resonate deeply with you.

This process is not about doing a cleanse perfectly, but about paying attention and really taking care of yourself. “Being gentle is really important,” says Leonard, “Focus on progress, not perfection, because you get to live this way and eat this way for the rest of your life, so you might as well enjoy it.”

About Krissy Leonard: Featured on ABC and NBC, Holistic Nutrition and business Coach Krissy Leonard teaches women practical ways to eat well, make money, and change the world.

About Lauren Schramm: Lauren Schramm is a private personal trainer and yoga instructor in Brooklyn, New York. She recently co-founded The First House Collective, a creative collective for soul-searching women, with Olivia Dillingham.

Here's another sneak peek of the types of seasonal recipes you'll find in our Beekman 1802 Almanac! We're so excited to be working with local chef Alexandra Stafford, one of our featured editors for the 2019 Spring Almanac, to create delicious recipes for our Neighbors.

Want to experience all of the seasons with us? Sign up for a yearly Almanac subscription here. 

Roasted Asparagus and Goat Cheese Tart

By Alexandra Stafford
Blog: https://alexandracooks.com
Instagram: @alexandracook

This breakfast tart is a bit of a labor of love—a pastry shell must be blind-baked, asparagus must be roasted, walnuts must be toasted, and onions must be caramelized—but the result is well worth the effort. The tartness of the chèvre perfectly complements the earthy flavors of the asparagus and walnuts. Pair this tart with spring greens tossed with a citrusy and bright vinaigrette. 

Yield: 1 tart, serves 8-10

For the pastry dough

• 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small cubes and chilled
• ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon ice water

For assembly 

• ½ pound asparagus, ends trimmed
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon olive oil, divided
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 3 large eggs
• ¾ cup heavy cream
• 2 ounces Beekman 1802 plain chevre goat cheese
• ¾ cup walnuts
• ½ cup sliced scallions, whites and greens

Equipment:

• 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom 

Make the dough

In the bowl of a food processor, pulse together the flour, salt, and sugar. (Alternatively, whisk in a large bowl). Add the butter and pulse at 1-second intervals until butter is the size of peas. (Alternatively, cut butter into the flour using the back of a fork or a pastry cutter.) Add the ice water and pulse again at 1-second intervals about 10 more times. (Alternatively, stir with a fork until mixture comes together to form a mass.) Be careful not to over-pulse. The dough should not look like a cohesive mass; it should look like distinct tiny balls, but when you pinch the dough together, it should hold. Add more ice water if necessary, one tablespoon at a time. Transfer the crumbly mass of dough to the center of a tea towel. Gather the sides of the towel up and to the center and twist to form a beggar’s purse. When you unwrap the towel, your dough should hold its shape in a disc.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll the dough roughly into a 13-inch circle, flipping every few rolls to prevent sticking. Lift the dough and lay it into the pan. Press the dough into the corners and into the sides of the tart pan. Trim off the overhanging dough. Chill for at least 30 minutes.

Roast the asparagus

Heat oven to 425º F. Cut the asparagus into 1- to 2-inch lengths. Arrange the asparagus on a rimmed sheet pan. Drizzle with 1 teaspoon olive oil. Add a pinch of kosher salt and pepper to taste. Toss. Arrange in a single layer. Roast until the asparagus is just beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Reduce oven to 375º F.

Toast the walnuts

Spread the walnuts on a small sheet pan. Transfer to the oven and cook until just toasty, about 10 minutes. Once cool, use your fingers to break into rough pieces, leaving as much papery skin behind. Increase oven to 400º F.

Blind bake the tart shell 

Place the tart pan on a rimmed sheet pan. Line the tart with parchment paper and fill with dried beans or pie weights (sugar works, too!). Bake for 20 minutes or until crust just begins to color at the edges. Remove pan from oven. Remove parchment paper with its contents.

Prepare the filling

Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in a medium sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion, season with a pinch of salt, and cook, stirring every few minutes until the onion is tender and beginning to caramelize, about 15 minutes. Set aside. 

Whisk together the eggs and cream. Season with the ½ teaspoon salt and pepper to taste.

Spread the onions into the tart shell. Top with the roasted asparagus and scallions. Pour the egg-cream mixture over top. Dot with the toasted walnuts and the goat cheese. Crack pepper over top to taste. 

Transfer pan to the oven, and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until custard is set. Remove pan from the oven and let cool 10 minutes before cutting.

Here it is: A sneak peek of our Spring Almanac! This recipe comes from the book Husbands That Cook: More Than 120 Irresistible Vegetarian Recipes and Tales from Our Tiny Kitchen by Ryan Alvarez and Adam Merrin.

To get your copy of the Spring Almanac (shipping out in April 2019!) click here.

“Communication Breakdown" Carrot Cake With Whipped Goat Cheese Frosting

By Ryan Alvarez and Adam Merrin
Blog: Husbands That Cook

Kitchen disasters can happen to anyone—even on your birthday. Every August, Ryan bakes me a cake (best husband ever), and one year, I requested a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. While he was busy baking, I stepped into the kitchen, and it was like walking into a Jackson Pollock painting. There were masses of grated carrots covering the walls, bits scattered over the floor, and even a few dangling from the ceiling. Since we didn’t have a food processor at the time, he had been strenuously grating carrots for the last half hour, and the first words out of my mouth were, “What did you do in here?!” Tensions rose, and words not worth repeating were exchanged, but the story gets worse.

While Ryan continued mixing the batter, I thought it would be helpful to clean the kitchen, so I gathered up peels from every inch of the room, then stuffed them all down the disposal, which began producing terrifying murky sounds while water backed up and started filling the sink. Then, suddenly, the pipe under the cabinet exploded, sending a torrent of filthy water and carrot peels pouring onto the floor.

We laugh about it now, and thankfully, the cake—and our relationship—survived the Great Carrot Flood of 2005. This recipe is appropriately named after that chaotic day. We kissed and made up, and we learned two valuable lessons: Don’t ever put carrot peels down the garbage disposal, and be nice to your significant other, especially when they are making you a birthday cake.

—Adam

Makes one 2-layer, 8-inch cake, Serves 12 to 16

Special tools: electric mixer

FOR THE CAKE

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, for greasing the pans

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

2 cups granulated sugar

1½ cups toasted walnut oil (see note)

4 large eggs

3 cups grated carrots (about 5 medium carrots)

FOR FROSTING AND ASSEMBLY

6 ounces goat cheese, at room temperature

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups powdered sugar

⅓ cup finely chopped pecans, for garnish

TO MAKE THE CAKE

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease two 8-inch cake pans with butter, line the bottoms with circles of parchment, and grease the parchment.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Whisk to combine, and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the sugar and walnut oil, and whisk until smooth and blended. Add the eggs, and whisk until combined. Gradually add the flour mixture, stirring until just combined. Then fold in the carrots until blended. Divide the batter evenly between the two cake pans, and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 40 to 45 minutes. Let the cakes cool for a few minutes in the pans, then invert the cakes onto wire racks, remove the parchment paper, and cool completely. Use immediately, or wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

TO MAKE THE FROSTING

Place the goat cheese and butter in a large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on medium until smooth and evenly combined, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla and continue beating until smooth. Gradually sift the powdered sugar into the mixing bowl in several additions, stopping to mix between each one. Continue to beat until light and fluffy.

TO ASSEMBLE THE CAKE

Place one cake layer on a serving plate. Spread half the frosting over the layer, all the way to the edge.

Place the second cake layer on top of the first, then spread the remaining frosting over the top. Sprinkle the nuts over the frosting. Kiss and make up, serve, and enjoy! 

Notes

• Toasted walnut oil adds a delicious nutty flavor and can be found in many supermarkets and online. If you can’t find it, any neutral vegetable oil can be used instead.
• Don’t ever throw carrot peels down the garbage disposal (see cautionary tale above).
• To make a 6-inch, 2-layer cake that serves 6 to 8 people, cut the cake and frosting recipes in half. The layers will be slightly taller, so be sure the cake pans have sides at least 2 inches high.

From Husbands That Cook: More Than 120 Irresistible Vegetarian Recipes and Tales from Our Tiny Kitchen.  Copyright © 2019 by  Ryan Alvarez and Adam Merrin and reprinted with permission from St. Martin’s Griffin.

Here it is: A sneak peek of our Spring Almanac! We're so excited to be working with local chef Alexandra Stafford, one of our featured editors for the 2019 Spring Almanac, to create delicious seasonal recipes.

To get your copy of the Spring Almanac (shipping out in March 2019!) click here.

Flatbread with Whipped Honey Chèvre, Herbs & Fig & Elderberry Blaak Drizzle

By Alexandra Stafford
Blog: https://alexandracooks.com
Instagram: @alexandracooks

Yields 4 flatbreads, serves 10 to 12

Here, rounds of pizza dough stretched thinly are baked with a sweet and tangy mixture of whipped chèvre, crème fraîche, and honey. Brushed on post cooking, a garlicky-herb sauce retains its vibrant flavor and bright green color. These flatbreads are finished with a splash of Fig & Elderberry Blaak Drizzle, a sweet and sharp sauce to counter the richness of the olive oil, chèvre and parmesan.

For the dough:

• 4 cups (512 g) all-purpose flour, plus more for assembly
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon instant yeast
• 2 cups lukewarm water (made mine by stirring together 1.5 cups cold water and .5 cups boiling water)

 For the whipped chevre:

•  4 ounces Beekman 1802 plain chevre goat cheese
• 4 ounces crème fraîche
• 2 teaspoons honey

For the basil-garlic sauce:

• 2 small cloves garlic
• pinch salt
• 1 cup of loosely packed basil leaves
• crushed red pepper flakes to taste
• ¼ cup olive oil

For finishing:

• Parmigiano Reggiano, to taste
• Beekman 1802 Fig & Elderberry Blaak Drizzle

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and instant yeast. Add the water. Using a rubber spatula, mix until the water is absorbed and the ingredients form a sticky dough ball.
2. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel or plastic wrap and set aside in a warm spot to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in bulk.
3. If you are baking the pizzas right away (as opposed to refrigerating the dough for another day), place a Baking Steel or pizza stone in the middle of the oven and preheat oven to its hottest setting, 550°F. Be sure the Baking Steel or stone heats for at least 45 minutes once the oven temperature reaches 550ºF.
4. Cover a work surface or cutting board liberally with flour — use at least 1/4 cup and more as needed. The dough is very wet, so don’t hesitate to use flour as needed. Using two forks, deflate the dough by releasing it from the sides of the bowl and pulling it toward the center. Rotate the bowl quarter turns as you deflate, turning the mass into a rough ball. Turn the dough out onto your floured surface and use a bench scraper to divide the dough into 4 equal portions. With floured hands, roll each portion into a ball, using the pinkie-edges of your hands to pinch the dough underneath each ball. Let the balls sit on their tucked-in edges for at least 30 minutes without touching.
5. Proceed with recipe or transfer each round of dough to a plastic quart container, cover, and store in the fridge. (Note: For ideal texture and flavor, it’s best to refrigerate dough for 18-24 hours.)

To make the basil-garlic sauce:

Mince garlic with a pinch of salt. Stack basil leaves, roll them into a coil and cut into thin slices. Then mince the basil slices with the garlic. Transfer mixture to a small bowl. Season with a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes. Pour the olive oil over top. Stir.

To make the whipped honey-chevre:

Place the goat cheese, crème fraîche and honey in a food processor. Purée until smooth.

1. If you are using refrigerated dough, pull out a pizza round from the fridge 30 minutes before you plan on baking. Dust dough with flour and place on a floured work surface. Lay a sheet of parchment paper on a pizza peel. Gently shape dough into a 10″–12″ round, using the back of your hands to stretch it out. Transfer the dough round to the parchment-lined baking peel. Spread a tablespoon or two of the whipped honey-chevre over top. Shimmy pizza, parchment paper and all, onto the Baking Steel or stone.
2. Bake pizza until top is blistered, about 5 minutes. Remove pizza from oven and transfer to a cutting board. Discard parchment paper or save to use for another round of dough. Brush the basil-garlic sauce over the surface of the dough. Grate the Parmigiano Reggiano over top to taste. Cut and serve, passing more herb sauce on the side.

The Beekman Live Goat Cam is provided free of charge to viewers. Due to our rural location, we lose power more frequently than most homes. When we lose power, there is no internet connection. (We don't like it any more than you do.) And when we're traveling, we may not be able to restart the camera until we return, which can be several days or up to two weeks. (Farmer John has his hands more-than-full running the farm, so we don't ask him to handle tech issues also.) Please be patient and polite when the camera isn't working or has been knocked out of place. Also, while we encourage y'all to chat with each other in the comment section, if you need to alert us to something regarding the goat cam, please leave a message on our Facebook page or contact someone at beekman1802@beekman1802.com. We don't check this page often (we go out to the barn and check in on the goats in person.) Thanks, and enjoy the goats!

To make goat cam full-screen, click on the full-screen symbol on the bottom right of the camera window.

Should Josh grow back his beard or keep using The Perfect Gent Grooming Kit, this season's limited edition gift set?