Murder at Barclay Meadow (38 page)

Rosalie Hart

Yes! Of course I'll come. What can I bring?

A few evenings later, Tyler walked into the kitchen with an ostentatious amount of flowers. Bearded irises, yellow roses in full bloom, and blue-tinged hydrangeas poked and preened out of a glass vase. I couldn't see his face until he set them on the counter. “From you? Really, Tyler?”

“No,” he said and crossed his arms in a tight grip. “They were on the stoop.”

I plucked the envelope from its plastic talons, removed the card, and stared down.

Please marry me all over again.

I love you with all my heart.

Your husband, Ed.

“Oh.” I covered my open mouth.

Tyler stared at me hard.

“It's from—”

“I know who it's from,” he said.

I placed the card back in the envelope, bent down, and smelled an unfurled lily. I reared back. “Whoa.”

“I never cared much for the smell of groveling, either,” Tyler said.

I looked up at him. I could read the pain straining his eyes. “Tyler…”

“I'm finished for the day,” he said and left the room. His book was still on the counter.
Omnivore's Dilemma
. I guess he'd moved on from the classics.

After placing the flowers in my aunt's Waterford vase, I poured a glass of chardonnay and returned to the porch. I kicked off my peep-toe pumps and put my feet on the ottoman. I was getting pretty good at walking in heels. This pair had a two-inch heel and I hadn't stumbled or tottered all day.

I had changed very little while living here. The cushions still held that musty smell. I cooked with an old heavy, cast-iron kettle and ate from Aunt Charlotte's chipped plates. Annie and I had grown fond of drinking from her delicate Spode teacups. Every time we sat down to coffee, it felt as if we were having a tea party.

I lit the votives I kept on an old tray table and sat back. Stars littered the sky. The first crickets of the year, eager to find their mates, had begun a loud symphony of chirps. The spring peepers were at it again, joining the crickets, trilling in earnest like balladeers hoping to attract a female. I had named the loudest one Lionel. Sing away, Lionel, I thought. She'll come. We gals are suckers for the show.

“Rosalie?”

I looked up. Tyler was standing in the doorway with a wineglass and the chardonnay bottle. “Mind if I join you?”

“I would love you to.” I slipped my feet from the ottoman.

He filled his glass, topped off mine, and sat in the adjacent chair. Dickens padded in after him and dropped at his feet. Tyler stared out at the river. “I know what you're thinking.”

I looked over at him. Shadows from the flickering candles contoured his handsome face. “You do?”

“What I meant to say earlier was congratulations.” His eyelids were heavy, his jaw clenched. “It's good your husband finally came to his senses. It's what you wanted all along.”

“Tyler…” I gave him a puzzled expression, my forehead creased, lips turned down. “All this time I've been convinced you could read my mind.”

“Excuse me?”

“Your green eyes—they're laser beams, right? I thought you could x-ray my thoughts.”

He frowned. “Rosalie…”

“I wasn't thinking about Ed.”

“But I thought you were going back to Chevy Chase.” Sweeney sashayed onto the porch, puffed up at Dickens, then rubbed his chin on Tyler's jeans. Tyler reached down and scratched his ears. “Okay, so what were you thinking?”

“I'm sitting here wondering where we're going to put the chickens.”

 

SAVORY LEMON MUFFINS

This is a basic recipe for delicious lemon muffins. They are great on their own or can be enhanced with a trace of finely chopped fresh herbs such as chives, rosemary, thyme, oregano, or even a pinch of lavender. I added rosemary to the lemon muffins I sold at Birdie's shoe store.

2 cups flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

1½ teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

½ cup (1 stick) melted and cooled sweet cream butter

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla (Mexican, if you can find it)

2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 Tablespoons lemon zest

1 cup milk

1–2 teaspoons washed and finely chopped fresh herbs (optional)

Makes 12 large muffins.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a muffin tin or line with paper cups.

Whisk dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a medium-size bowl, whisk wet ingredients together. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet. Mix lightly, stirring only until combined. Gently stir in herbs, if using. Pour batter into muffin cups. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let rest 5 to 10 minutes before removing from tin. Cool on a wire rack.

Tips from my test kitchen:
Make sure you have removed all of the paper from the butter before melting. It's also good to try and keep the cat off the counter while preparing the muffins, although I realize this is not always possible.

DOUBLE DARK CHOCOLATE MUFFINS

2 cups unbleached flour

¾ cup sugar

¹
/
₃
cup special dark cocoa

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup (1 stick) melted and cooled unsalted butter

1 cup milk

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla (Mexican, if you can find it)

½ cup chopped and lightly toasted walnuts

1 cup dark chocolate morsels

Makes 12 large muffins.

Preheat over to 325 degrees F. Grease a muffin tin or line with paper cups.

Chop walnuts and toast in toaster oven for 1 minute or saut
é
in a small, ungreased frying pan on stovetop until just beginning to brown.

Whisk together dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a medium-size bowl, whisk wet ingredients together. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add wet ingredients. Stir until just combined. Add walnuts and chocolate morsels and gently blend into batter. Spoon batter into muffin cups and bake 15 to 20 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let rest 5 to 10 minutes before removing from tin. Cool on a wire rack.

Tips from the test kitchen:
It is not always a good thing to have a half bag of dark chocolate morsels left over. Especially when you get a sleepy spell midafternoon. But it is advisable to have a portable spot remover pen handy while preparing and/or eating the muffins.

HOMEMADE BREAD

I first started making bread not long after Ed and I married. I was a vegetarian at the time and we received
Laurel's Kitchen
as a wedding gift from Aunt Charlotte. The recipe for one-hundred percent whole-wheat bread continues to be a staple of mine. When Annie was still living at home, I designated Sundays as soup and homemade bread night. I have fond memories of Ed, Annie, and I lingering at the table on those evenings, the room softened by candlelight, our bellies full from a delicious batch of lentil soup and warm, healthy bread.

Aunt Charlotte's five-grain bread recipe can be made by hand or with a breadmaker. As much as I love the process of kneading bread, I am practical enough to realize there isn't always time. Fortunately, almost any recipe can be adapted to a bread machine. Simply start with the required amount of warm water, add the rest of the wet ingredients, followed by the dry. Make a hollow in the center and add the yeast. If you want to shape the dough yourself, set the machine to the dough cycle, remove when finished, mold the dough, cover with a clean dish towel, and put it in a warm place for the second rising. After the second rising, customize your bread before baking. Try sprinkling the dough with herbed sea salt, slathering it with an egg wash, dividing it into several baguettes, or rolling it into a pizza. If you use the dough cycle for Aunt Charlotte's recipe, brush the surface with melted butter, then sprinkle steel-cut oats over the top before popping it into the oven.

For all three recipes, I highly recommend using organic ingredients. Most grocery stores and farmers' markets carry organic milk, butter, flour, eggs, and produce. Not only is it healthier to eat organic ingredients because of the absence of pesticides and hormones, it also (in most cases) involves a more humane treatment of the animals. Additionally, buying organic helps to sustain a demand for these products and keeps organic farmers busy and employed.

AUNT CHARLOTTE'S FIVE-GRAIN BREAD

1 cup warm water

1 packet of yeast

sprinkle of sugar

¼
cup rolled oats

½ cup boiling water

½ cup milk

3 Tablespoons melted butter

1 Tablespoon molasses

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 Tablespoon honey (local honey is great for building immunities to the pollen and other allergens specific to your environment)

2 teaspoons salt

2 cups whole-wheat flour

1 cup unbleached white flour

¹
/
₃
cup coconut flour

¹
/
₃
cup spelt flour

¹
/
₃
cup flax seed meal

¹
/
₃
rye flour

½ cup sunflower seeds

extra whole-wheat flour for kneading, ¼ cup at a time

First, remember, I warned you—it's complicated.

Sprinkle sugar over warm water in a large bowl, stir, then add yeast. Let sit until the yeast begins to bubble, around 10 minutes. Pour boiling water over oats and let stand for 10 minutes. Melt butter in a saucepan with the milk. Remove from heat. Add oil, honey, and molasses to the milk mixture. When the yeast is ready, stir the milk mixture into the water and yeast.

Whisk together the next 7 ingredients. Begin adding the flour mixture to the wet ingredients one cup at a time, stirring with a wooden spoon until combined. When all the flour is added, it is time to knead. If the mixture is still very sticky and wet, stir in an additional ¼ cup of flour. Sprinkle a bread board with flour and a handful of sunflower seeds. Begin to knead the bread, adding flour and sunflower seeds as needed. The flour should be dusted onto the board. The bread should absorb the flour and sunflower seeds from the bottom as you knead.

Time-saving tip: Once you have added the flour, before kneading, you can put the bread into a mixing bowl and use the bread paddle of a heavy-duty mixer to get the dough to the right consistency—moist and elastic—adding ¼ cup of whole-wheat flour at a time. When thoroughly mixed, put the dough on a bread board and knead with your hands for at least 5 minutes. Bread tastes better when it has a human touch.

Knead with flips, turns, and punches. Put all of your weight into the heels of your hands and push and flip again. Knead until the bread is smooth and elastic. Put in a bowl, cover with a cloth, and let rise until doubled in size—1½ to 2 hours.

Punch down dough and either put in a loaf pan or mold into desired shape. Cover and put in a warm, dark place until it rises again, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Bake bread around 45 minutes or until an inserted toothpick or skewer comes out clean. Bread should be slightly brown on top. Let rest 10 minutes before removing from loaf pan.

This is a hearty, stand-alone bread that can be a filling meal with just a slather of butter. But it makes a wonderful sandwich or panini and will hold its own dunked into a thick bowl of soup.

It is hard to describe when you have just the right amount of flour, but a few trials and errors will eventually lead to a wonderful loaf of bread. You may want to start with a basic whole-wheat recipe and work your way up to Aunt Charlotte's fiber-packed loaf. Eating bread may go against the grain in our no-carb, gluten-free culture, but if you are using organic, whole ingredients, I can't imagine eating anything healthier or more wholesome. I have always said I was a peasant in a past life. I would be quite happy eating only stews, soups, beer, and bread. And of course a pat of butter or two.

Bread machine adaptation:

Mix oatmeal and boiling water and set aside for 10 minutes. Begin by pouring the hot water, followed by all wet ingredients (no yeast yet) into the bread machine insert. Follow with oatmeal, salt, and flours. Make a small well in the top and add 2 ¼ teaspoons yeast. Set container in the bread machine and put it on the whole-wheat setting for a 2-pound loaf. Press start. Then wait while your house fills with the mouth-watering aroma of freshly baked bread.

Tips from the test kitchen:
Kneading is most enjoyable while listening to your favorite soul-filling music—opera, rock, or a good old country ballad. Singing along is encouraged. Again, no cat on the counter. They are all about the kneading.

 

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BOUT THE
A
UTHOR