Mr X: Another Year Older And (Hopefully) Wiser

Mr X celebrated his birthday this past week. Or rather I celebrated his birthday and he just endured it.

First on the birthday to-do list? A visit to the dentist. Blech! This wasn't my idea - Mr X just didn't think about it when he was at the dentist's office in January and they asked him if he could do the end of July for our next appointments. But it's an awful way to start out one's birthday. No cavities for either of us though so I guess it wasn't too bad.

Next I took the Birthday Boy out to lunch. Then we headed to a shop to purchase some more fly-fishing gear for Mr X. A net, a fly fishing pack, a new reel and some flies.

His pack looks somewhat similar to this one.

We went home after that so that I could get to work preparing his specially requested birthday meal and he could get to work organizing his fishing gear and setting up his pole with his new reel.

It's a birthday tradition in our house that on the person's birthday he/she gets to select all of the meals. Mr X couldn't decide in the days preceding his birthday so I helped him out by giving him a couple dozen options from which to pick. Out of all of those options he settled on KFC. Homemade KFC. The dessert he chose was much less fast food-esque. Here's the run-down (I didn't remember to take photos so I poached these from the interweb):

Buttermilk Fried Chicken.

Ina Garten's recipe for Coleslaw.

Buttermilk biscuits.

Mashed potatoes with chicken gravy.

Rustic Plum Crostata with Lemon Thyme.

The Crostata was the star of the dinner. Mr X loved it. I did too. You should definitely make this. Here's the recipe (courtesy of the NY Times):

Rustic Plum Crostata with Lemon Thyme

Time: 1 hour 20 minutes, plus 2 hours’ chilling

1 cup (130 grams) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup (40 grams) whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup (100 grams) plus 1 tablespoon (15 grams) sugar
1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) plus a pinch fine sea salt
1 large egg
Heavy cream
6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3 cups sliced and pitted ripe sugar plums or mix of other plums (about 1 1/2 pounds before pitting) *
1 1/2 tablespoons (22 grams) cornstarch
1 small bunch lemon thyme (or use 1 teaspoon lemon thyme leaves)**


1. In a food processor fitted with a steel blade, pulse together the flours, 1 tablespoon sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt until blended. In a measuring cup, lightly beat the egg, and add just enough cream to get to 1/3 cup. Lightly whisk the egg and cream together.
2. Add the butter to the flour mixture and pulse to break up the butter. Do not over-process; you need lima-bean-size chunks of butter. Drizzle the egg mixture over the dough and pulse until it just starts to come together but is still mostly large crumbs.

3. Put the dough on the counter and knead to make one uniform piece. Flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic and chill for 2 hours or up to 3 days.


4 Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Roll the dough out to a 12-inch round (it can be ragged). Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet and chill while preparing the filling.


5. Toss together the plums, all but a tablespoon of the remaining sugar, a pinch of salt and the cornstarch. Pile fruit on the dough circle, leaving a 1 1/2-inch border. Gently fold the pastry over the fruit, pleating to hold it in (sloppy is fine). Brush pastry with cream. Sprinkle remaining sugar on top, with the thyme.


6. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the crust is golden and the fruit is tender. Cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Remove the thyme branches (some leaves will cling; you want this). Serve warm or at room temperature.

*I used a variety of plums: Friar, Mirabelle and Satsuma
**I couldn't find lemon thyme leaves so I grated lemon zest into the fruit mixture and squeezed a half a lemon's worth of juice into it as well.