I had no idea that hazelnuts were the official nut of Oregon…did you? One of the many reasons why I created this little community was to connect with other women; to learn from their experiences, be inspired by their stories and to think about what they bring to the big picture of life. Selfishly, I’ve also always believed that the more I learn about others, the more I learn about myself. Just like the quilting bees of our foremothers, where one quilter might have brought a certain killer technique while another might be slow with the stitching, but have a keen eye for fabric sourcing, we all bring something invaluable to the preverbal quilting bee. The mission on this site has been and will always be to explore and celebrate differences and commonalities with the realization that at the end of the day, we’re all in this together and we can learn and grow from each other.
That being said, one of my favorite parts about the Meet the Women section of this site is the lasting effect and richness that my conversations with each woman brings to my life outside the site, especially when it comes to food. Since we’re not always in close proximity to one another (hello, Rachael in Dubai!), I like to get inspired by what they like to eat or what I can imagine them eating wherever that woman may be, because who doesn’t like connecting with somebody over food? I like to imagine that if we were our foremothers, maybe this would be the dish they’d bring along to the quilting circle.
This week, Deirdre peaked my curiosity in her home state of Oregon. I thought about a memorable date we had when she treated me to high tea in the East Village. It was one of those dates you remember because it was so simple but special. Which leads me back to hazelnuts. I don’t always have time for a ceremonial high tea during my afternoons, but I do like my tea time with a side of biscotti to fuel me through to 5pm. I found this delicious recipe for cinnamon and hazelnut biscotti. After a stressful conference call I throughly enjoyed pounding the hazelnuts with my marble rolling pin as I whipped these up (and I say whip because the recipe couldn’t have been easier). They were ready just in time for tea, unglamorously back at my computer and not in an adorable tea salon, but as satisfying for my sweet tooth as they were in making me think fondly of my sweet tea shop memory and my even sweeter friend.
P.S. I omitted the cocoa (and actually didn’t miss it) from the recipe because I managed to forget to pick some up at the market. I also wasn’t able to find peeled hazelnuts so went rogue with peeled ones (and actually didn’t noticed the peel at all).
-Michaela
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