When you’re on an island you have to adapt to what’s available. I bring a lot with me such as a Cuisinart, my favorite rolling pin, spices, good butter, a hand mixer and even stored items such as last year’s sour cherries, which I had stashed in my freezer.
Grazing sheep at Sheep Meadow Farm on Crabtree Point, North Haven
After that you’re at the mercy of what’s available. Fortunately for the locavore minded, North Haven offers a plentiful lot of local provender within limits. When, for instance, I bought eggs from Foggy Meadows Farm I hadn’t realized that they were duck eggs, which farmer Doreen Cabot uses in most everything instead of chicken eggs. I beat them into the batter for a pound cake, thinking they were chicken eggs until I looked at the box that was clearly marked “duck eggs.” I’ve made this pound cake countless times and have featured it here (see Pound Cake for recipe). But with the richness of these eggs, with their large yolks, this was the best version ever, making the cake extremely fluffy. I’m totally converted and will use, as Cabot does, duck eggs in baking and custards for ice cream.
