My parents had several fruit trees in their backyard in Palo Alto—a cherry, a peach and an apricot. The only one that bore any fruit to speak of was the apricot tree, which my mother would turn into pies, jam and canned fruit. As kids, we ate the apricots in various stages of ripeness and used them as missiles.
But the idea of preserving fruit for another day stayed with me. And when I had the opportunity a few years ago to assist my friend and teaching colleague, Kathy Zimmerman, and her husband Scott in making jam at their local church, I jumped at the chance. Maybe I could learn how it was done—and take home a few jars of jam for my efforts.
A recent batch of rhubarb strawberry jam. Many recipes that the Zimmermans use are from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. (Photos by Kathy Zimmerman)
That was one of the first times I met Scott, an engineer by day, but, I learned, a serious foodie, home cook and baker, who loved to do deep dives into all kinds of interesting food-related projects, like jamming and cheesemaking.
These days, Scott is working only two days a week and using a lot of accrued sick leave to stay safe at home at the direction of his employer. He spoke to me at length for my podcast (please click here to listen) about how he came to have such a passion for cooking, how cooking is and isn’t like engineering, and how his love of cooking has only deepened since California’s stay-at-home order went into effect in March.
“The upside (of having more time) is I’ve been working through a massive backlog of recipes that I have on my computer—stuff I collected over the years and just never got around to trying,” he told me. Often, the recipes he makes are inspired by the food he and Kathy pick up at the local farmers market, the grocery, a trip to a food festival, or, just last week, a visit to a “you-pick” cherry orchard, Villa del Sol near Lancaster, CA.
Scott made a dessert from some of the cherries he and Kathy picked: Cherries Poached in Red Wine with Mascarpone Cream, a Food & Wine recipe. The wine he used was a Pinot Noir.
In the podcast, Scott explains how his passion for cooking began in seventh grade in Honolulu when he helped his mother make a favorite family recipe for gingerbread. When his mom enlisted his skills to make peanut brittle, Scott decided he could make it better than she did. His mother soon discovered that her son was becoming a whiz in the kitchen and assigned him the task of making the annual Christmas cookies—including those beloved gingerbread cookies, something he continues to do each year for Kathy and his two grown children, Noel and Daniel. (And, speaking of food passions, be sure to check out Daniel’s super ice cream blog, thekingoficecream.com.)
Scott making his grandmother’s gingerbread cookies (recipe below).
Scott improved his cooking skills while living off campus at the University of California, where he met Kathy. By the time the two got married, Scott was “a pretty decent cook,” while Kathy, whose passion and gift was and remains art, knew only two recipes at the time—chicken and rice in tomato sauce and tuna casserole. Both upped their game, with Kathy now doing a lot of the everyday cooking, while Scott does most of what he calls the “fancy cooking.” He impressed Kathy’s Greek maternal relatives early on by making a family moussaka recipe that one cousin said was better than her mom’s. “He’s not even Greek,” the mom said. “How can he cook better than me?” Here’s the recipe:
The cooking became even fancier when they joined a gourmet club 15 years ago through their church. About 24 couples meet in groups of four at six houses and prepare the same five-course meal, with each in charge of a course or two and recipes shared ahead of time. The recipes range in styles and ethnic roots, including Mediterranean, Asian fusion, Middle Eastern, South American and Indian, among others. For the moment, they’re not able to meet, but are hoping to resume their every-other-month schedule soon.
During the pandemic, it’s been sometimes hard to source what he needs, Scott admits. Yeast, for one, has been a scarce commodity. But sometimes, if you love to bake, as Scott does, and you can’t make bread, you make cheesecake instead—and you try a recipe that’s nothing like the usual New York-style version. He recently made a crustless, souffle-like Basque Burnt Cheesecake and shared some with friends.
Barter is becoming the coin of the realm these days—you leave something on one person’s doorstep, say a piece of cheesecake, and they leave something on yours! Or, if you have a tree in your backyard that is sagging with unpicked fruit, Scott and Kathy may want to talk to you—they’ll pick and you’ll get a few jars of jam out of the deal. Sounds good to me. Wish I still had that apricot tree!
Please check out my podcast on Scott here, or click on the fruit pie icon below. Feel free to leave a comment on this site or @Ruthtalksfood on Twitter, and, if you like this post, please subscribe and share with a friend. Thanks for tuning in. See you next time.