Wednesday, July 30, 2008

The Pomegranate Plate That Started It All

candied orange sticks up close



It all started with a package, which showed up at my door: brown, unremarkable in all its markings. Just a box with my address staring back at me. I knew instantly what it was. My sister has been exploring pottery this past year. She has sent me pictures of all her works and each time my feedback goes like this: beg, beg, "make me something" beg some more "Don't you love me?" --insert a little more begging here if necessary... Either I have become one manipulative sister or she does love me because next thing I knew she announced that she was working on a plate for me and that I would receive it in this Summer. Finally, I am the proud owner of my very own pomegranate plate, handmade by my sister.


pomegranate plate

I am so thrilled with the new addition to my pottery collection that I have been pondering what I could make to showcase its beauty and honor it properly, and then it came to me: Candied Orange Sticks.

candied orange strips cooking

My sister loves them and I am pretty sure that we tried to make our own at some point in our childhood... but the memory is so vague (probably drowned in too much sugar) that I think I better let that one go. I'll just keep it simple: she loves them, I love her plate (and her of course), therefore it had to be Candied Oranges.

candied oranges on plate

My sister gets credited for cooking with me at such a young age that I had to prop myself up on a chair. I remember the mousse au chocolat (chocolate mousse) and cakes, and the croissants we made together. She had this book called: La Cuisine Des Petites Filles Modeles (The cooking of Exemplary Little Girls). Under her leadership, we set out to prove that we were "exemplary little girls" indeed.

candied oranges coated with sugar

I have great plans for those little sticks of sugar, orangy goodness... I'm having visions of cakes, cookies and pilafs. Oh, the possibilities... First things first, some of them are destined for a dip in some dark chocolate and then we'll see how many survive our hungry sugar-craving fingers.

So where can you find a recipe for Candied Orange Sticks? Here are a few links that will lead you right to it:

Food Network
Use Real Butter
Cooks.com

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Alexa,

What an extremely cool post. I love citrus and I am CRAZY about anything with zest. Definitely will be working this into something. Great idea, thanks!

-- Marc

Dawn said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jeanine - The Baking Beauties said...

What a beautiful plate your sister made you. I'm sure that you will find many wonderful things to present on it. :)
Those orange slices make my mouth water...yum...

PS Sorry, the above post was by me and removed. Somehow, I was signed in under my co-authors name. Weird!

Dewi said...

Alexa,
That is one beautiful plate and how lucky you are have a sister like yours. Both of you must be very close! Your candied orange sounds yummy! I have been meaning to make this since February, still hasn't done it. Now all of my oranges from my trees are gone. I guess I have to wait for next year, or I just buy them from the market. Well done, Alexa!

Alexa said...

Marc,
I can't wait to see what you do with this little idea...

Jeanine,
Glad you liked the post and that you stopped by :-)

Elra,
I have a wonderful sister and we are very close even though we don't live near one another. I feel lucky to have her and her plate :-) in my life.
How nice to have orange trees growing in your garden! Citrus is not an option here except from the store. Making this was easier than I thought it would be. I highly recommend it.

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