By The offer was not accepted. The sellers countered at a price we cannot reach, and we negotiated for two days and then it ended. The house went to another offer. I came home and sat at the kitchen table for twenty minutes and Sean sat with me and neither of us said anything useful and then Nora came in from the living room and climbed up on my lap and pointed at my face and said "Mama sad?" and I said yes, a little. She patted my cheek twice, purposefully, and climbed back down and went back to her business.
She is sixteen and a half months old. She saw my face and named it and offered something. I have been trying to describe what that is -- that specific moment when a child you made becomes a person who attends to you. It is one of the quietly enormous things of parenthood. Nora patted my cheek. We are going to be okay with the house. We will find the right one. But that is for later. That moment was for now.
Back to looking. Sean is patient, I am less patient, and the market is what the market is. Sean says "the right one will come." He says this with enough certainty that I believe him, which is a thing he does that I have never examined too carefully because it works.
Apple picking on Sunday at an orchard in Stow -- both kids, both families, the September-approaching-apple tradition. Liam carried his bag with full commitment. Nora ate an apple directly off the tree, which I technically wasn't supposed to allow but the look on her face when she tasted it was worth the strict reading of the orchard rules.
We came home from Stow with full bags, dirt on Nora’s chin, and Liam still talking about how many apples he’d carried himself. September orchard days call for something baked — something that fills the kitchen with that particular warm-fruit smell that makes a house feel like exactly where you should be. This German Plum Tart is what I made that evening: unhurried, stone-fruit sweet, and just the kind of simple thing that lets the day settle around you.
German Plum Tart
Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 45 min | Total Time: 1 hr 5 min | Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for topping
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 pounds Italian prune plums (about 12–14), halved and pitted
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- Powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)
Instructions
- Heat the oven. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9-inch springform pan or round tart pan.
- Make the dough. Beat the butter and 1/4 cup sugar together until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until combined. Stir in the flour and salt until a soft dough forms.
- Press into the pan. Press the dough evenly across the bottom and about 1 inch up the sides of the prepared pan. It doesn’t need to be perfect — rustic is fine.
- Arrange the plums. Toss the halved plums with the lemon juice. Arrange them cut-side up in tight, overlapping concentric circles over the dough, covering it as fully as possible.
- Add the topping. Stir together the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon, then sprinkle evenly over the plums.
- Bake. Bake for 40–45 minutes, until the crust is golden at the edges and the plums are tender and beginning to caramelize. The juices will bubble slightly.
- Cool and serve. Let the tart cool in the pan for at least 15 minutes before releasing. Dust with powdered sugar if desired. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 265 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 12g | Carbs: 37g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 80mg