Intro
“Being sick is supposed to come along with grand realizations about What Really Matters, but I don’t know. I think deep down we’re already aware of what’s important and what’s not. Which isn’t to say that we always live our lives accordingly. We snap at our spouses and curse the traffic and miss the buds pushing up from the ground. But we know. We just forget to know sometimes.” – Stir
Jessica Fechtor, the lovely and brilliant author of Stir
“Being sick is like walking around with a microscope strapped to your face at all times with your own body squished beneath the slide. You don’t look away, at first because you can’t – you’re too sick – and then because you’re afraid that if you do, you might miss a symptom or a sign and die. That cooking shifted my attention away from myself was a tremendous relief. In the kitchen, I got to care again about the small stuff that’s not supposed to get to you, but does when you’re normal and well. Now, when the biscuits burned, it was my privilege to care. The twinge of annoyance as I whisked them from the oven was proof I was getting better.”
In the midst of the final stretch of summer, the one that seems the busiest, I am so grateful for the reminder to appreciate the beauty in the mundane. In the everyday tasks that we complete that feel heavy, annoying, and weighty and yet if for some reason those tasks, the ones that ground us, were taken away we’d miss them for the normalcy they represent.
Lately, Gabe and I have talked so often about how we can teach our kids gratitude and true appreciation for what we have without withholding from them. It seems as if, especially for kids, that the only way to appreciate what you if is if you don’t have it. The lunch you didn’t finish a couple hours ago sure looks better now when real hunger sets in. The toy I thought I didn’t want sure looks more fun now that it’s in my sister’s hands.
We have the ability to feed our children, clothe them, and tuck them into a warm bed every night and for that we are so grateful but how will they know that that is a gift if it’s all they ever have?
Unfortunately or fortunately I think really the answer lies within us, the parents. I believe that we are their greatest examples of how to life joyfully which I think is the same thing as living with gratitude.
So back to Jess, and her words, of which I am very grateful because she reminds me to appreciate not just the big things that we all know are important – family, health, love, and all those wonderful things – but also and maybe especially the small ones.
Like the ability to go to the farmer’s market with my three littles, stopping to listen to each musician play their tune. The downtrodden faces when I deny them ice cream but say a resounding YES to stuffing their bellies with warm berries. And the sight of the rosy plum, speckled, tight skinned and sweet-tart.
At home I use a few simple ingredients to turn those plums into a tart. They wrinkle and slump in the oven, show off their flavor as they mingle with cool custard and rest along a buttery crust. I follow Jess’s instructions mostly except for the addition of almond extract because for some reason I have an aversion, and I remember our phone call. The one where we talked about this tart, the process of writing a book, being a parent and life.
It is with deep gratitude that I hold this book, read her words, enjoy this incredible tart, and get to live another day, filled with the beautiful mundane.
A winner has been contacted! Thanks so much. Jess has so graciously agreed to send one of you a signed copy of Stir
Plum Tart
Slightly adapted from Stir
Serves 8 to 10
Feel free to use 1/4 teaspoon almond extract and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract as Jessica recommends. I’m sure it’s lovely – if you like almond extract. 🙂 Also, this really is suppose to be an Italian prune plum tart and oh how I do love those but could not find them so I opted for a different sort of plum and had incredibly delicious results. I couldn’t agree more when she writes in Stir
Pastry:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt flakes, like Maldon
Custard:
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch salt
10 – 13 Italian prune plums, or other variety, pitted and halved
Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Generously butter a 9-inch fluted tart pan or springform pan.
For the pastry: In a large bowl stir together the butter, sugar, and vanilla.
Add the flour and salt and stir until just combined. Press this dough into the pan to form an even layer along the bottom and up the sides.
Bake the crust until pale golden along the edges and just puffed, about 13 to 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes, just long enough so the custard won’t curdle once it’s poured in.
For the custard: Whisk together the sugar and flour in a medium bowl then whisk in the cream, egg, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt. Whisk until very smooth.
Place the plums cut-side down into the cooled pastry in two concentric circles, with one in the center. Pour the custard into the tart around the fruit. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the custard is just set and the top blushes with spots of golden brown. Cool before serving.
What a beautiful, touching and thought-provoking post. Thanks.
Eating Fresh Peaches While Driving!
I stopped at a roadside fruit stand in Santa Fe, New Mexico today to buy organic peaches from a beautiful woman named Marguerite who travels twice a week to Colorado to fill her truck with fresh organic corn, plums, tomatoes and fresh peaches the size of grapefruit. I was on my way to an important meeting, dressed in freshly pressed linen and wearing real shoes, a situation I mostly try to avoid during the brief summer season.
. I knew I shouldn’t do it, but those juicy, delightfully scented peaches beckoned from the passenger seat.
I held a warm peach in my hand for just a moment, and thenbit in while driving. The juice ran down my chin and neck, and then onto my pale pink linen shirt and skirt There was no turning back now. I ate the whole thing. There was peach juice everywhere. It tasted like sunshine and the peak of summer all at once. When I arrived at the location for the meeting I poured a bottle of water all over myself and sat outside in the hot, high desert sun until I dried off, less than ten minutes. Linen is supposed to be wrinkled, right? It was worth every
sun -kissed drippy bite!
Fruit with a buttery crust-delicious!
I have been interested in this book since your last post that mentioned it! I’ve been feeling the need for a reminder to maintain gratitude lately, and this book seems precisely up my alley. It’s on my amazon wishlist right now, but as I’m trying to pay some loans down I haven’t ordered it yet. I’d love a signed copy!
I can’t wait to read this book. Thank you for sharing!
(If this is a duplicate, I apologize, my computer is being strange.) I have been wanting to read this book ever since you last posted about it! I’ve lately been feeling the need for a reminder to live in gratitude and your last post about the book seemed to present itself to me. The whole premise is right up my alley. When you posted about it last, I put it in my Amazon wishlist but I’ve been paying things off this last couple of months so I haven’t ordered it yet. I’d love a signed copy!
Looks delicious
Looks like a fantastic tart and cookbook!
Beautiful all around
this is very similar to the famous NYTimes Italian Plum cake recipe. i never have those either. 🙂
thanks for reminding us to appreciate the little things! and wow- plums and custard and pastry. sounds amazing!
Looks like a great read. Beautiful tart
Your writing and photography, and Jess’, is so very lovely!
What a delightful tart! And really beautiful words. We are lucky to be safe and healthy, aren’t we? xo
This looks like the perfect dessert to make this weekend!
I have been wanting to read this book since your last post! I would love an autographed copy! I follow your blog and (recently graduated culinary school), try (not always successfully) to reproduce your recipes. This plum tart is on my list for this weekend.
I would love to read this book since I have been battling several different life changing and threatening illnesses for several years now and would love a distraction.
The tart looks delicious, and it sounds like a book I need to pick up!
Having dealt with my own serious heath issue this year I was deeply touched by this post. This recipe brought back the memory of the plum kuchen that I use to make and that was a favorite of my sons when they were growing up. This post also reminded me of the faith, love, family and friends that brought me food when all I could really eat was chicken soup and whose care and concern made all the difference in my recovery.
I have heard so much about Stir and can’t wait to get my hands on a copy! Such an inspiring story 🙂
A book about sickness and food and what is truly important on a basic level and also on a level when the basics are safe and sound. PERFECT.
The tart looks lovely too.
Such a great reminder to not take the ordinary things in life for granted. Beautiful words, and the tart looks lovely.
What a gorgeous dessert! <3
I am constantly amazed at the restorative power of cooking. There’s something about focusing on something else, on holding in your hands a tangible result of your efforts that makes me feel so much better. I look forward to reading this book, even if it’s just a download on my kindle!
What an amazing book. I’d love to read it.
Delicious looking tart as always.
What tender living words! And a sweet pie recipe to accompany them. Thank you for reminding me to be grateful.
What a beautiful post.
Thanks for sharing! I am so intrigued by this book!
Beautiful words, beautiful recipe. Always look forward to your posts!
What a beautiful and inspiring post. I am so looking forward to reading Stir and trying this beautiful tart. I so understand the story behind her recipes. When going through trying times, I myself turn to my kitchen for comfort. I find that the process of kneading dough or stirring a sauce is quite therapeutic! (For me at least!)
Wow what a story!
And what a beautiful recipe! I’d love this cookbook!
I adore those fruits that reveal a second nature once cooked, prune plums foremost among them, and they are here and gone far too quickly each year! I would enjoy and treasure a copy of Stir, and will definitely enjoy this lovely mid (not late yet!)-summer tart.
No matter how I’m feeling I always want a custard fruit pie!
How funny that I am sitting here sick today, just yesterday and today, nothing chronic. But I’m frustrated! And then I realized that being sick becomes a great time to sit quietly, reflect, maybe decide to change things up a bit…and then I read your post about Stir and it echoed my thoughts. I would LOVE to read this book.
Beautiful story and post with such an important reminder. Your kids are lucky to be learning such valuable lessons about gratitude.
Lovely post. I think you just inspired me to make this! Look forward to picking up plums from the farmer’s market this weekend.
This book sounds fantastic!
Thank you for the opportunity to own this wonderful book. This post alone has given me so much to think about, at a time when I especially needed it.
I would love to read the book. Thank you
Lovely and inspirational!!
Tart looks amazing. Story sounds like one that needs to be read. Thanks for sharing.
Tart on point! I love how rustic a tart is, yet always impresses people and tastes delicious!
What a nice post!
sounds like a lovely read. Plum tart looks yummy too 🙂
Wow – Would love to read her book. My husband and I are about to embark on the adventure of parenthood and we just learned it will first involve a lengthy hospital stay for me. I’m so glad to have your blog and the words of others to give me perspective.
I completely agree that being in the kitchen can be incredibly therapeutic, whether you are sick or simply stressed, needing some form of relief from being inside your own head. The delicious things you get to eat at the end are only a bonus! This tart look lovely, and your words are very thought provoking here – it sounds like you are doing an amazing job as parents just thinking about issues like appreciation and gratitude. Being the older sister of three wild boys I have witnessed my parents trying to achieve similar things, and it is hard!
A generous neighbor just brought over a bunch of fresh picked plums this evening. Now I know what I’m going to do with them. Thanks so much.
This book sounds beautiful! It’s on my book list. Thanks for the giveaway!
beautiful blog post
Great blog post! Jess’s story sounds inspirational to me to live each day to its fullest and to have gratitude in the little things. The plum tart looks great too! Recently I baked a plum upside down cake.
This entire post reminds me so clearly of when I sold everything I owned, except my car, and drove across the country to move to a city I’d never been to. The very first thing I did when I got to my new apartment was, well, pass out after driving 2,000 miles, but the NEXT thing I did was buy my very first hot water bath canning kettle from the garage sale next door and go plum picking at a local orchard. I came home with a bounty of plums I picked myself and made plum jam with it (considering I had nothing in my apartment but the canning equipment). I remember sitting on the floor, eating warm plum jam out of the jar, and being so scared to be alone in this new city. I sat there savoring everything around me, taking comfort in the strange beauty of newness, and the unrivaled excitement of the unknown, even as I sorely missed all the things my life used to be.
Thanks for reviving those memories!
Thank you for exposing me to this book; it sounds absolutely lovely- I’d love to read more.
What a very lovely post. Not only is the tart gorgeous, but the reminder to have gratitude for the small things (as well as the more obvious) is so very important for us all. I struggle with the same want to teach my now 21 year old son the same. If I don’t win the book (which I hope I do), I will be buying a copy and sharing it with my son.
Thank you!
Maureen
Your post is a wonderful way to start the day. Pause. Reflect. Give thanks for everything we have. We don’t regret what we didn’t buy or “get”. I believe in life we regret lost opportunities. Telling the people we love how much we care and how much they add to our lives. Today I will seize each and every opportunity. Thank you for a wonderful post.
I had not heard of the book…looks interesting.
Love the tart recipe…it was great!
Thank you for sharing – you and Jess both write beautifully. Her yeasted plum cake is my favorite way to eat prune plums, so I will have to try this tart once prune plums are in season here. I would love to read Jess’ book soon!
Plum tart is perfect for this time of year and this one is proof of the pudding!
Life is matter of being comfortable with all the ingredients that get added to your “plum” in the process. All essential- the sweet, salt, tart/bitter, rich,…
Would love to cook from her gorgeous book, thank you!!
The book sounds lovely and I plan to make the tart today – I have some fresh plums that would be perfect for this dish!
Would love to own a copy! Thanks for the chance!
Yum! I never liked plums much until I was in my late 20s. Now I can’t get enough of them. Thanks for another great recipe!
interesting post, thanks!
I too lived thru a debilitating illness–many months in the hospital and even more time at home in a hospital bed. All I wanted was to get up and stand in my kitchen and take care of my family. I would love to read your book.
would love a copy of stir!
Perspective changes everything. And this tart looks outstanding!
What a beautiful story full of excellent reminders to live our days to the fullest. I can’t wait to try this tart recipe!
i would love to receive a copy of the book Stir.
the idea of at least seeing the mundane or even celebrating it is something that i try to live each day. The tart looks amazing and when the temperature drops below 30’C- i will definitely make it
Thank you
Lynsay
What a lovely post!
What a lovely story! I just put that book on my ‘to read’ list so I can’t wait to read it!
What a great story. Thanks!
Great story! Thanks
Food heals in so many ways, right?
What a beautiful sentiment, and I’m sure Stir is an even more real representation of the outpourings we have when dealing with difficult personal times. What a constructive and creative way to work through…
Excited to be moving to Seattle on Sunday!!
WOW! Her story is incredible!
Would love a copy! Wonderful story!
The “beautiful mundane” is a great way to work one’s way out of a pit, plum, peach, or otherwise. Focusing on those tiny moments builds to bigger ones and eventually the landscape of grief, fear, anxiety, or sadness shifts towards the gorgeous. Today I am grateful for this post and a functioning washing machine, brought to life after a 3 week coma, by a generous repairman who reminded me I have an extended warranty!
Looks so nice. I will make it this weekend!
Great story and Great tart
Plums don’t get nearly enough love.
Just bought a half-flat of plums. Now I know what I’ll do with them. Grateful for your blog & you!
I work in rehab and it’s heart warming to hear the story from Stir, thanks for sharing the recipe.
Daisy
I love cooking with fruit. Your tart looks incredible. And the book sounds like one I’d use and treasure.
Beautifully said –
Hopefully 🙂 she’ll have time to return to her blog soon,
H.
Perfect Friday reminder 🙂
The recipes you post always look and sound wonderful, but your writing is always beautiful, too. Thanks for sharing this!
Thank you for the opportunity to win a copy of the book. I enjoyed your post today!
Thank you for another beautiful and thought provoking post. Your thoughtfulness and reflection are always inspiring. Life is all about trying to be a better more grateful person each and every day and you’ve summed that intention up perfectly.
Thanks for the awesome recipe and insightful wisdom!
Stir is at the top of my to-read list, I would love love a copy! I also MUST make this tart now.
This book was not yet on my list, but now it is! Lovely post.
I’ve had my eye on this book…would love to win a copy!
What a delicious looking tart. Her books sounds wonderful–don’t we all need a reminder to see the beauty in the “mundane”!
Looks amazing and the cookbook sounds great
“…but how will they know that that is a gift if it’s all they ever have? Unfortunately or fortunately I think really the answer lies within us, the parents. I believe that we are their greatest examples of how to life joyfully which I think is the same thing as living with gratitude.”
I couldn’t agree more–but more than just examples of how to live with gratitude, it is the responsibility of parents to show their children that not every person has the same opportunities and privileges as they do. Hard conversations, but important ones towards establishing compassion in our children as well as gratitude.
I have a cookbook addiction and I would LOVE to add STIR to my collection!
Ashley, I am grateful for being reminded that the little things (and ones) matter so very much. Bless them all (and Jessica and you)!
Really lovely introduction to a book that otherwise might have flown under my radar–thanks!
Wow – the book sounds incredible, and this tart looks delicious! Can’t wait to try it and to check out the book as well. Thanks!
Jess is not only a moving writer, but an inspiration!
Every dinner, when I grew up, we would pray before eating, and during the prayer my parents would say thanks. It was always the little but essential things- that we were together, that we had enough food- the things that I take for granted all the time. It’s a habit I still practice now in my twenties, and held me through some times when those little things, like having enough food and a place to live, were some of the only things I could claim.
Would love to add this book to my collection thank you for the chance
Gratitude seems like one of those things we only learn from looking back. Retrospect is powerful, the present is fuzzy. I recently wrote about getting really anxiety ridden and trying t focus on the more important things- but in the present I often don’t. It’s a work in progress, always. Beautiful words, beautiful tart. Plums are my favorite fruit. 🙂
Beautiful post. And equally lovely tart.
looks delicious! and love the plates.
Your children are so lucky to have you two as parents and as their main influences. They will learn from the gratitude you express and if nothing else, will understand once they get to your age. Can’t wait to check out this book as well!
What a lovely post! I completely agree that gratitude is the sweetness of life; best of luck passing it on!
I have a dear friend who loves to bake and has a serious and rare genetic disease. I think he would love this book!
There’s nothing like a plum tart and a reminder of why we should be deep-to-the core happy. Thank you for this blog.
Can’t wait to try the recipe for Plum Tart – just so happens I have a few pounds of plums that I couldn’t resist buying this week!
The mundane are the backdrop against which all important events are set. Thank you for reminding me that daily small work is beautiful, too 🙂
What a lovely post….I would la la LOVE to win the book, thank you kindly for the chance! 🙂
What a beautiful book! Since having our first baby 4 months ago, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to teach him to have a grateful and kind heart. I think it’s going to mostly be by example, which is so so hard. Kids really see every thing, and since having him, I’ve been trying to more aware of my words and my attitude. Beautiful post.
The tart is gorgeous! Great thoughtful post.
thank you for sharing
The plum tart recipe looks delish. Yes, there is much beauty in the mundane….i love simple pleasures. A walk on the beach, picking my tomatoes, a juicy peach, the sunset, mountain air, a fire, catching a fish….fall, Christmas lights, the full moon..nature..my cat..a great dinner, a glass of wine and a cup of coffee, silence and seashells..flip flops and wool socks..my kitty and babies….so much..so simple. Many blessings to Jessica and thanks for the chance.
Thank you for the chance to win this lovely (signed!) book.
that looks delicious! 🙂
The plum tart looks lovely!
I really enjoyed listening to you guys on the FoodBlogger Pro podcast this week! This tart looks amazing and your photography really is gorgeous!
I recently made a plum tart but this one looks better – vanilla in the crust and a creamier custard. Now, to get ahold of some ripe plums…
i think we all need the occasional nudge to be grateful for our lives. this sounds like a lovely book. (and I’m with you about the almond extract…to me, it gives things a medicinal taste. I suppose it’s akin to the way some people find that cilantro tastes soapy.)
It sounds like an absolutely beautiful book!! Thank you for the chance to win a copy and the plum tart looks gorgeous and delicious!!
Food for thought Ashley…Hope you are settling into your new place!
I’ve got a plum tree in my backyard and can’t wait to try this recipe out with my overload of plums. I would also love to have a copy of the book Stir.
I would love to win this amazing book ~ I have followed Jessica’s journey and I am inspired by her strength. The book would be a wonderful, honest read to round out my own challenging summer. Thank you for the opportunity!
It’s beautiful how we get what we need when we need it most. I was directed to this blog from the Country Living article featuring the flower farm where I was struck by the beauty of everything, the farm, flowers, people… The article has opened a well spring of desire and inspiration to create beauty and share it wherever and however I can. It may be that I will give away all of the cucumbers I have just started growing, I don’t know but I thank you for sharing your life and story. I too have been feeling blue, wondering how to engage more fully in my own life, and it’s true that the only way to get through sometimes is to just keep on with the mundane. Breathe in, breathe out, repeat.
Thank you for adding a touch of inspiration to my life this morning.
This tart looks lovely!
Lovely post, reminder and recipe
Wow! Looks delicious! Definitely wouldn’t mind adding a cookbook to my nascent collection 😉
The writing in this book sounds wonderful and heartfelt. What a good reminder of the power of food!
Thank you for sharing such a thoughtfully written post. There is much we take for granted until it is taken from us. It seems we are so busy in our lives that we not only forget to appreciate the beauty in mundane tasks, but also begin to resent them. Sometimes it takes a little reminder and a little reset to remember to appreciate those things. Thanks for the reminder and the book and the tart look lovely.
Beautiful post and thank you for the giveaway!
What a gorgeous tart and story. I am so glad that I am not the only one who says no to the ice cream at the market :).
that plum galette is gorgeous! any solves for tart mirabelle plums?
I’m not too familiar with mirabelle plums but I imagine they’d work beautifully perhaps with a bit more sugar.
Looks great! Sounds like a wonderful book.
Sometimes I need to be reminded that just because my plans are not working out particularly well, it does not mean the world is ending. Tomorrow the sun will rise and I can try again. I’ve heard wonderful things about this book and I too find comfort in the making of wonderful good things to eat and share.
Inspiring story.
Food, and the sharing of, may power us on so many levels.
Thank you for sharing that story behind the book, it really resonated with me because this past year I have gone through a similar experience.
Last year my husband and I got married and we looked forward to enjoying the first year as newlyweds and all the excitement it brings but unfortunately I have been dealing with an illness that hit us just the month before the wedding and just last Monday I had a surgery that has put me out of commission for 6 weeks. In the beginning it was so easy to get caught up in the little things and think my life is fleeting by and set deadlines for myself of when our life can finally move forward but it really changes your perspective when you go through something like that and you learn to focus on the little things.
When I first found out that I would be out of commission for that long, I was angry and frustrated, mostly tired of being caught up in the constant doctors’ appointments and just not feeling like myself anymore from all the aches and pains that really do make you question what is happening to your body and scare you sometimes.
After being angry for a bit about the situation, I decided that I would instead focus on things that I loved such as taking an online course that I always wanted to take. Being able to catch up on my reading or being able to sit and enjoy my morning coffee without having to rush off to a 45 minute commute to work. And most importantly, I learned to appreciate my husband for never missing an appointment and always being there for me. I know our first year of marriage due to what we had to go through was not a super fun adventure but I learned to appreciate it as an adventure where I saw how much he cares about me and I felt so at peace knowing he would take care of me in the best way possible for the rest of our life together. Maybe if we hadn’t gone through this, that realization may have taken years to sink in but once I started to focus on all the positive things in our lives, the idea recovering for 6 weeks and maybe then finding out if I have to have the surgery a second time…doesn’t seem so scary.
I used to freak out when I would go to see the doctor and from all the tests and get all caught up in how upsetting it was but this past week I was the only person waiting to have my surgery with a smile on my face. I was grateful that I was able to have the surgery and hope for the best but what kept me smiling was that my husband would be there for me and take care of me and things didn’t seem so scary anymore.
I live in Canada and as much as I would love to win the book, I was a bit sad to see I didn’t qualify but I wanted to post anyway because I can completely relate to the story in a way that just over a year ago I couldn’t.
How generous! Apparently, I share a similar story with Jessica, having contracted some random virus this time exactly one year ago, nearly dying, and recovering with bounds of gratitude. My aunt (hope showed me this blog of yours) recently read the book and said I must read it. I would be grateful to win this book; but if I don’t, I will find a way to get my hands on it. Thank you.
Looking forward to trying this tart, never had a plum tart. Thank you for sharing.
Can’t wait to read this and would love to win a copy!
A little perspective is always welcome. This looks delicious and she sounds lovely. 🙂
What a beautiful tart! Fingers crossed!
What powerful words – and beautiful tart! Thanks for sharing!
How absolutely fascinating this book seems; and your tart is a picture (I am bad, so I would pour cream over it)
thanks for sharing this beautiful book!
Would love a copy of that book!
Such a beautiful post, thank you for the reminder. The tart looks great too!
Was there a winner announced??
Beautiful quote. Always important to remember to know what’s important. And, of course, a beautiful plum tart! Perfect for summer.
I made this with some purple plums and it was delicious. I like almond extract so I used it together with vanilla. Great quick and easy recipe.