I had to leave for a day trip to London with Mei to see David Lebovitz so I vigorously stirred my seed culture that morning. Twice. Just to make sure it knew that I would be gone but return soon and think of it all day. Well in spurts throughout the day. More like, hardly at all until I got home. OK. So I might have neglected my seed culture. Didn’t show it enough affection.

Before I left...

Before I left, it was kind of like thin pancake batter but when it was stirred, it was very dough-like and gluten-y. There were a few bubbles, small ones, but bubbles nonetheless, cropping up and informing me of activity going on beyond what my eye could see. So hopeful yet, I set the starter near the stove top while my tea water was brewing to get an extra blast of warmth as the air was rather cold this day. A little puff of love before a day in the cold house, alone.

When I got home, it looked like this.

After I got home...

I stirred it and decided to wait another day to see if more activity would occur because after the stirring, I read that it should have doubled its quantity and I didn’t notice if it had or not (bad, I know), so figuring that the same activity would just occur again if I left it on the counter, covered, sending it good vibes, I went to bed. When I woke up the air was dense with humidity and the house was much warmer than the previous day.

I ran downstairs like it was Christmas morning to find that “nothing” (that I could behold anyways) had happened. Now, four days later, I decided that I had foolishly left my starter to repeat the day three-ness that it had achieved and decided to dump the starter and start over. No pun intended.

But I had run out of pineapple juice, so I mixed the seed culture with filtered water instead, keeping the “recipe” the same. At the end of the first day, nothing had happened yet. I did notice that the substitution of the water for the pineapple juice led to a “thinner” seed culture, much closer to thin pancake batter and possibly, since my water was cold, I would need to allow it an extra day or two to trigger the bacterial activity required to move on to Step Two. But have no fear, I am not the only one struggling to make a starter!

Stay tuned for more seed culture updates! Also, since the seed culture has consumed me the past few days, along with a small (but hopefully short-lasting) cold from Miss Mei, I have not gotten around to making the dough for my focaccia bread that was supposed to have been made this week. So maybe tomorrow we will pound (ouch, not quite pound… lol) out the dough for that so we can make some delicious focaccia – haven’t decided on the toppings yet, and then get the seed culture to grow so I can make the sourdough next week! Wish us luck!

Waiting for the train to depart

She would grab the bar and pull herself up as far as she could get to look outside and whip her head from side to side to see all the passing sights. We even managed to get on the express so we saw a few towns and villages the other train doesn’t go through. They all went too fast to get pictures of, but we enjoyed watching the sights on our way to London.

people watching!

a little break for water, watching the trees zip past

Mei takes a nap, I eat some lunch! Steak & ale Cornwall Pasty!

woke up and ready to watch things blur past the window

reflection portrait anyone?

going through a dark tunnel

the stroller in a black cab

Mei in the black cab in standstill traffic, LOL!

Our first stop, after we found a black cab was 221B Baker Street, or more famously recognized as the home of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson!

Dr Watson? Sherlock Holmes?

pics in mirrors was our thing today

We decided to take a picture in every mirror in Sherlock’s home… it was so much fun!

every mirror at 221 Baker Street

wearing Sherlock's hat, sitting on his bed

signing the register

sitting in a chair in Sherlock's house

This shot took forever because she wouldn’t sit still! She loved this chair!

I NEED one of these!

How fitting that it poured while we were visiting!

love this one!

do you recognize the story?

the latrine...

sitting on the stairs in Sherlock's home

it rained SO HARD while we were visiting Sherlock

For as hard as it was raining and as windy as it was outside, it was sure hot inside the house and great to stand next to the window to catch a breeze to cool down with! All the windows in the staircases were pretty awesome!

Mei LOVES pipes, I bought her a whistle !

The constable at the door reminded me of the constable in Mary Poppins.

On our way to Daunt Books

Do you see her whistle? She wouldn’t let go of it for a few hours after she got it.

But one last shot of the constable

Usually Sherlock Holmes or Dr. Watson are in the study, but today they were busy and out of the house.

finding neat books to read!

We met a young boy about the same age as Mei and as he giggled and scooted around on the floor, Mei sat and giggled at him. Then we found a pile of books we would have loved to buy, but sat and read them instead. She loved hearing every word.

This book, we bought and brought home. What were the chances that she would fall in love with a book written by a Japanese lady with the same name?

Daunt Books is right across the street from Divertimenti!

pictures at lunch!

We went to Strada for lunch, it was right next door to Divertimenti and would make short work of making it to the cooking demo and book signing afterwards.

taking a short nap while waiting for the food to arrive

woke up and decided to play with her zebra car

Insalata Romana & rosemary salt fries

she LOVED sucking on a french fry

I gave her some cooled down fries to suck on, and she loved it. They would get soggy and flat, then she would spit them out and grab another. She is getting closer to switching over to solid food.

fallen asleep at the beginning of the cooking demo

David Lebovitz!

You always have an expectation for how someone is going to sound when you can hear them speak rather than reading their written words on a page in a book or on a blog, and I was excited to see David’s personality “come to life” (so to speak) and he was comedic and a pleasure to watch in the “kitchen” – I just used a spin on his recipe for chocolate dipped macaroons a few weeks ago and after tasting one during the demo, I think I might make some more!

our reflection in the mirror to watch the "instructor" at the cooking school

I hadn’t seen one of these mirrors since middle school! It made it really easy to watch from the back of the room to see exactly what is going on in the pans and how he was cutting things, measuring, etc. And it made for a neat mirror picture to add to our collection from the day.

Caramelized Peanuts! YUM!!

Mei watching David sign books

a bumpy ride in the black cab on the way back to the train station

This was a hard shot to get… as you can see, it is still a bit blurry. A bit. LOL! She fell asleep pretty quickly, even before we got off of high street! She had a long day and was ready to go home.

woke up on the train ride home

We managed to catch a train just as soon as we got to the station and got home only a half hour after the event with David Lebovitz was scheduled to end! WOW!

picking up a coffee for the drive home

I managed to get a “cup” of the best vanilla capuccino I have had this year, and my first for the year – if you can believe it! It was the perfect accompaniment (aside from Miss Mei) as we made our way home.

the loot we brought home from Divertimenti!

we leave you with some images from the new book... did you notice the author's name?

a soft, wet, mushy dough

So not a whole lot happens in the first day, but the whole wheat flour and pineapple juice really smells … lovely…. I am keeping my measuring cup/starter by the microwave, where I do all my plating and tea-making throughout the day so that I can’t forget to mix the starter a few times a day and keep an eye on it. After the first 24 hours, you add another 3-1/2 TBS whole wheat flour and 2 TBS pineapple juice or filtered water, stir all the ingredients until combined and then go back to keeping it covered at room temperature and stirring two to three times a day.

Now we are waiting for the fermentation and yeast to start to grow. This step takes anywhere from 24 hours to four days. Once there are visible signs of fermentation, bubbling and growth, then move on to the next phase. As long as you aerate the seed culture by whisking the mixture a few times a day, regularly, it will not spoil or develop mold.

In a few more days we will almost be ready to make a mother starter!

If you would like to bake along with me, I am starting at the beginning of Peter Reinhart’s Artisan Breads Every Day, and baking my way through every wondrous loaf! Just leave your link in the comments!

Seemingly simple, many people have trouble with the seed cultures and growing a starter for sourdough or wild yeast starters in general, but I hope to succeed on the first attempt – which is a bit ambitious, but everyone has to dream!

“Keeping starters alive and healthy from batch to batch is part of the craft of baking,” Peter says and “the trick is feeding it regularly with fresh water which allows it to “eat” the necessary things that will keep it alive. A healthy starter can be kept alive forever with the proper cultivation.” Some companies in San Francisco have kept the same starter alive for over 150 years! Possibly contributing to the popularity of San Francisco sourdough bread, not to mention that there is a strain of bacteria in the flour that is grown there that is unique to the San Francisco sourdough as well.

My plan is to post a short & sweet post with instructions from Artisan Breads Every Day, on starting and maintaing a seed culture and developing it into a mother starter in preparation for the next bread recipe or two that follow the foccaccia. Hopefully we will have good results! So gentlemen? Start your engines!

the ingredients measure up!

Ingredients:

• 3-1/2 TBS white whole wheat flour or unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/4 C unsweetened pineapple juice, at room temperature

Combine the ingredients in a small, non-reactive bowl or a glass, 2 C measuring cup and stir together until completely combined. Cover with plastic wrap and leave out at room temperature. Stir the wet, sticky mixture around for ten seconds at a time, 2 – 3 times throughout the day.

a nice, sticky dough

The second recipe in Artisan Breads Every Day was french bread, and when I saw it, my heart sank and simultaneously filled with excitement, adrenaline and a dash of fear. This is a baguette. French bread. It is a loaf that almost everyone is familiar with. The mistakes will not go unnoticed. That’s a lot of pressure for the second loaf of bread you have ever baked in your short life! But it was upon me and I was willing to take the plunge, challenge myself to get this right. I read. A lot. I read through the Bread Baker’s Apprentice, whose first 100 pages goes into great detail about making and baking bread, breaking down techniques with reason  and explaining how each component makes a remarkable difference in the loaves you make. All this knowledge was floating around and making little cameos as I read through the french bread formula, envisioning the process and planning my every move. The hardest part was going to be getting the irregular holes throughout the bread and shaping it correctly. I was right.

Just a second! Do you remember watching cartoons when you were a kid of two men, usually one short, fat one, and the other a tall, skinny one eating a baguette that they  managed to buy from both ends? One on each end? My brother and I always thought that was pretty silly and cool and tried to shove the whole end of a baguette in our small mouths when we were kids, which horrified and angered my mother, throwing into a “what are you kids doing??!” kind of a fit and from that point on, we repeated our antics with those super long shoestring french fries you could find every so often in a carton of McDonald’s fries on road trips. That my mother took a picture of! Maybe because it wasn’t intended for the whole family to share? Ahhh… the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer!

Activating the yeast was a walk in the park. I brought the water totemperature, mixed in the yeast, sugar, set it aside and when the Mr. Eggy timer dinged, it was ready to be mixed in with the other ingredients. And do you want to know something? I actually wasn’t put off by the smell of the yeast! It was oddly comforting, like saying hello to an old friend! All in the space of one week! Well anyways, since last week, I have spent a lot of time studying, reading and re-reading Peter’s books and nailed down two major mistakes I made with the lean bread. The first was that I (might have) killed (some of) the yeast by pouring it directly on the spot that had the salt on top of the flour. Apparently this is a big no-no, so I whisked together the flour and salt to avoid having this problem again. Second, when I sectioned the bread for rolls, I pulled the dough apart, ripping it into appropriate sizes. Also a no-no, so this time I set my serrated bread knife alongside my work area to avoid making the mistake again. All this thinking and considering was happening while I could feel the squishy dough falling and rising as I kneaded it, giving the gluten a work-out that I’m sure made it sore afterwards! From here, I let the dough rest overnight and bloom in the bowl.

yeast, just after adding the water and sugarafter ten minutesseriously shaggy dough!

Peter taught me about surface tension and it’s importance to a loaf, how to shape boules, batards, torpedos, and an epi. When it came time to shape the loaves, I sawed gently through the ball of dough and separated it for the two loaves then gently patted each into a rectangular shape to become batards. After a short rest, I stretched them into torpedos … that’s when we ran into some more problems. The batards quickly stretched into long torpedos, longer than the baking sheet in fact, so I wound up having to cut each of my torpedos in half. Sadly. I’m not sure if this is not a great idea, to have to cut the dough at this stage, I know it creates weak points in the dough, but I had to do it. After this they rest some more and then it came time to score and bake them!

after kneading ... it's so relaxing!

This is where I decided to get fancy with my bread and cut the loaves into epi loaves, which is a surface cut on a very long, thin torpedo, which brings me to the single complaint I have about Peter’s books… no great photos of HOW to cut the dough to make an epi loaf. He shows you what it should look like and what it looks like when someone is angling a pair of scissors towards and already cut loaf…. but between the instructions and the photos, I had to try to figure it out… it didn’t work out too good – as you can see from my picture, I attempted to cut one loaf into an epi and abandoned the idea on the remaining loaves. I did however, score them down the center.

the next morning...

They went into the hearth quickly, like the children pushing the old woman into the oven, my little knuckle hairs twinged and blew back on themselves with the addition of the hot water for the steam tray and the door was shut. The bread was left to their own devices and after rotating them I noticed that they were crisping and turning golden much faster than I had anticipated! The lean bread never had this problem! I pulled them out of the oven a couple of minutes early, fairly certain that the oven was a bit warmer than it should have been, but I was rewarded for hitting the panic button.

diving the dough

After the loaves had had some time to cool, I thumped on the breasts of each and was rewarded with a hollow sound! A bit later, I depressed the top of the epi loaf and I heard the grigne! The lack of the baking stone had no effect (discernible to me anyhow) on the grigne of the finished loaves! Quickly tossing one of the finished loaves into a market bag, Mei and I jumped into the car to share it with a friend of ours. By the time we got to her house, the bread had been resting for 45 minutes out of the oven, and when we cut into it, the top half of the loaf still seemed “wet”… once we waited for the full hour to pass, the bread looked as it should have; although I did notice some small bubbles along the bottom of the loaf. Of course I would encounter a problem that was not written about in either of Peter’s books. Are small holes along the bottom of the loaf and indication that I did something wrong? The bottom of the loaf came away a bit at the “seam” when I sliced through the loaf… why didn’t it seal better? Oh boy, something to put on the list of things to work on for next week… or maybe in the next couple days when I make this again?

torpedos!

Returning home, I was still a bit hungry and I sliced myself off a chunk of bread and it was perfect! Not “wet” inside or anything, so now I know why the bread has to cool completely for an hour, but boy oh boy (!) it was still warm and so yummy that I snuck downstairs after Mei went down for her last nap to eat a bit more, I even shared a bite or two with Patella. She loves bread!

my "artisan" loaves

All in all, my fears with the french bread making were a little unnecessary, but I wouldn’t have known it if I hadn’t tried it – so just for a kick in the pants, I’m going to make another batch of french bread before the ciabatta loaves next week! Happy baking!

new tomatoes!

As you may very well remember, the lady that owns the nursery that we stopped off at a few months ago was explaining that it was still too cold in May for tomatoes to really flourish and do their best growing outside in an unprotected environment, so that the crops would be harvested later in the year, so I shouldn’t be too put off by the fact that none of my toms are turning red just yet. That just means plenty of time to grow more tomatoes over the coming weeks! I’m so very excited! I am going to make a crazy batch of salsa … maybe can some of it – depending on how many tomatoes actually grow, and maybe even a few plates of fried green tomatoes! I would be so thrilled!

Doyle!!

I don’t know where to find green tomatoes around here – not that they are easy to come by in the States either, but there is farm store not far from here where a local farmer supposedly sells produce and things, including chickens and other livestock, straight off his farm to you. Talk about farm to table! I’m going to go out there in the next couple weeks and see if he is growing tomatoes so that I may be able to buy some of the vine ripe green ones… you never know! Maybe I can find something really nice to make with them and can that too!

the cherry toms are more like plum toms now

The pepper plants are …. growing. The cayenne pepper plant is not flowering or anything but the caterpillars or something else is eating small holes in the leaves, so I’m not holding out much hope for that plant. But the Habanero pepper plant has white flowers all over it and while there are no actual peppers right now, there might be some tiny ones that grow into nice, big peppers here in a short while!

tomato flowers are winning a spot on my top ten flower list!

The aubergine or eggplant plant is dead. Something ate it and it was becoming overwatered or something because the leaves quickly turned brown, then holy and brown, then furled and dead. Oh well. It was just an experiment after all! But the butternut squash plant, after I cut away the two biggest leaves, which coincidentally, had the most holes in them, started to grow an abundance of new leaves that are growing larger, greener and taller each day! We might actually wind up with a couple butternut squash to eat too! Or just a “teacup” butternut squash, in which case it might be enough for one serving of butternut squash risotto… you never know!

look how tall they are!

Do you remember the windowsill herb planter? Days after the last garden update was posted, a strange, white mold began to grow along the top of the soil and slowly killed the herbs. The rosemary never grew from seed though, just a couple tiny green sprouts and that’s it. Everything else had started to grow though, the cilantro even grew from tall green shoots to taking the shape of cilantro leaves! And died shortly thereafter.

Patella, gardening....

RIP cilantro plant, hereafter named “Corey.”

RIP dill plant, hereafter named “Dill-icious.”

RIP chive plant, hereafter named “Chivey.”

RIP rosemary plant, hereafter named “Rosy.”

Moving on, one of the cool things about my favorite grocery store in England is that they sell potted herbs that you can keep on your windowsill to grow and use – so while I was there picking up ingredients for this weeks French Fridays with Dorie, I bought a cilantro plant or coriander, as its known as here, a Greek Basil plant (which has a rich, intense smell), and chives. I have plans to pick up either a thyme or rosemary plant at the market the next time I’m there, to transplant to my windowsill herb grower.

matching expressions, how do they do it?

Now they look rather impressive since they were grown to full adult size, but after one day in my care, even after being watered, they began to droop from thirst. I have watered them today and we will see if they improve over the next few days, I’m also moving them to the staircase window because it get full sun for longer during the day than the kitchen window gets. I’m making an effort! It would save pennies a year that I would spend on packets of fresh herbs, which is convenient also, but I would be very proud to be able to keep them alive and get them to grow back after I pick off what I need when I’m cooking. Stay tuned to see if they make it!

new cilantro plant

Do you remember those bandana plants I bought? I had left them out by the tomatoes to flourish a bit more before I transplanted them into the planter by the front door, and after one day of over 80 degree weather, they too died. Ugh. Well, next year, we will try again!

Greek basil

To add insult to injury, after re-planting those new herbs into the windowsill planter and taking care of all the dead plants around the house, I managed to start a fire in the kitchen. Yup. FIRE. It was nearing the end of the evening and we were making a little snack after dinner and had a kettle on for tea and the next thing you know, it started to smell a little smokey. I had dropped some sugar-water for the candied citrus directly on the burners a bit earlier, so I didn’t think anything of it, but then the smell got stronger and looking over my shoulder, I saw the tea towel we keep by the stove top up in flames! I quickly grabbed it, doused it in water and threw it away. It was like moving in slow motion. Patella wasn’t even worried about it, just watching me run around the kitchen quickly and trying to figure out what I was doing. Mei was not bothered either, but one day she will, when she can understand what happened.

new chive plant

So after the fire was put out, the tea made, snack prepared and Patella had gone out to do her thing, we all gathered in the living room to wind down. Patella and Mei passed out pretty quickly and then I got a chance to sit down with “Artisan Breads Every Day” by Peter Reinhart. I have been wanting to bake my own bread for a while now and slowly gathering the tools I would need and ingredients, such as bread flour and yeast, etc. so I was ready to plan out how many days I would need, read all the advice and instruction on kneading, rising, all that stuff and getting a feel for what I needed to make happen with every step. Then it hit me! I have recently joined a group online that is cooking through Dorie Greenspan’s “Around My French Table” cookbook and I thought, why not cook through this one too? According to the introduction, if you cook through this book, each recipe will progress to teaching you a new method and technique needed to successfully bake different breads so that you can master the basics with the hopes of not needing to be recipe dependent to create great breads.

There is also something so fascinating and charming about making four simple, everyday ingredients like flour, sugar, yeast, and wheat to become different things and taste differently. Artisan breads, in recent years has taken the world by storm. Everyone wants to eat them, buy them and in some cases – make them! Bread is a completely sensual experience. You see it, smell it, taste it, touch it and hear the grigne - or the crunchy, crackling of artisan bread when it is depressed. Bread is magical. Transformative. In fact, bread can be found at any number of historical gatherings, political discussions, meetings, religious ceremonies, etc. It is one of the things that is universal among all cultures. Each culture even has certain breads for different celebrations such as Mardi Gras’ King Cake and Chollah bread. Bread has played an important role in shaping cultures and traditions around the world – who wouldn’t be fascinated with it? So, we are going to bake, recipe by recipe, until we can be freed of the recipe dependence! Also, it gives me an excuse to work with many different bread flours that are available – as many bread bakers and bread enthusiasts consider Europe to be a mecca for artisan breads.

There are many sultry, delicious things stewing in the kitchen and I can’t wait to try them all!

Baby Elmo!

Needless to say, it did not happen - at least not before I got married, but who’s to say that when Mei gets a bit older, we don’t take a couple of weeks out to go volunteer at a place that does this? I still have a couple of the dream organizations jotted down in a notebook somewhere, collecting dust, sadly, and it’s just going to go on the bucket list now. Gosh, that makes me think of a few books I’m in the middle of that are on my “to do before I’m 40″ list! Oh boy! Not too many years left to go, although I’m not exactly running out of time yet either! Haha!

A barrel full of monkeys, newly arrived!!

Would you like to volunteer or find out more about it? You can check out this website or even this one, to get you started on your way! Both organizations recruit volunteers from any profession or background.

cuddling with Sumatran tigers at a zoo

So back to the monkeys! I have been kind of tired of scones lately, although they are pretty amazing, I’m just tired of being seasonal and eating endless berries (although in a month or two I will be begging for them back!) and decided to make some banana bread. But I’m tired of the same old loaf of banana bread and I’m not crazy about the nuts on top, although I do like the flavor the nuts give to the batter so I will put them on top and pick them off before I eat them. Yup. Neurotic, but I swear it tastes about twenty times better this way!

We had planned to go to a friend’s house and make her and her kids dinner because she hasn’t been feeling well these past couple of days and it’s no fun to have to slave over a hot stove when you’re not feeling well so, Alice & Mei to the rescue! But that meant having to stop off at the store for supplies! Most of the items we already had at home and just had to prep and take over with us, but we had to pick up the chicken, wine, garlic, rice (decided to go with a basmati and wild rice blend which was fab!), and tomatoes because we were gonna make her some Chicken Marengo!! Do you remember that scrumptious dish inspired by Napoleon Bonaparte?

We had gotten to the store early enough in the day so that we could have time to bake something delicious at home to take for dessert and to have for breakfast, so we stuck to our guns with the banana bread. And it struck me while we were at the store, cream cheese filling! Add it to the list! We were even pragmatic enough to pick up a fat-free box because we were adding sugar anyways and if you can cut out calories but still make it taste good, then why not? So that just left finding some really ripe bananas.

Usually, you make banana bread with over ripened bananas that you already have at home – but I can’t eat bananas fast enough then I’m not motivated soon enough to make the bread before the bananas have turned for the worse, so this is really the next best thing. But as luck would have it, it was sunday and a couple of hours before the grocery store closed (4pm for those that are wondering… its lucky that they are open on sunday actually) so that meant that we could probably find the bottom of the barrel, really ripe bananas.

Lately our grocery store has had security guards posted at the entrance that wonder around the store and just keep an eye on things as on three separate occasions, kids have thrown rocks (big ones) through the glass entry doors and smashed some of the registers, taking off with a tiny amount, if any, of petty cash left behind as a kind of F. U. to these fools and the one posted at the entrance today, directly across from the shelves that they keep the bananas must have thought I was nuts! (haha, no pun intended)

Mei was on my hip, as always, it’s not really conducive to grocery shopping but I can’t hold as much and limit my impulsive buys this way (wink), if I need to get lots of heavy stuff I put her in a backpack carrier, and we are standing and examining each and every banana left there, which wasnt many, and feeling them, squeezing them slightly, looking for the darkened ones, ones with bruises and soft spots, etc. So this guard is watching me piling and sorting the bananas and (literally) drop four of the worst off, black and brown ones from a distance of probably two and a half or three feet into the basket at my feet. Her jaw just dropped. The British don’t really make banana bread, nor do they tend to buy bruised, browned, soft, over ripe bananas so I’m sure this was a shock in more ways than one. I just smiled, gave Mei a kiss and wandered back down the aisle, making our way to the registers. The look on her face was priceless though.

As I’m putting my items on the conveyor belt, the checker is eyeing my bananas and then glancing up at me and has this really puzzled look on her face but continues on caring for her customer. When it comes to our turn, she handles each banana, turning it in her hands (did I mention she is about grandma age?), scowling at the brown lines and soft spots, and putting them on the scale in front of her, once she was done, she looked at me, shrugged and handed them to me to put in my bag. If I could only know what she was thinking right then! Too bad she didn’t know I was going to make them into a yummy banana bread! Then again, she probably would have come over to eat it all! …. It’s a good thing I kept that information to myself.

At the end of the transaction, you could tell she was still a bit puzzled – especially after watching me carelessly plop the banana into my bag onto a bottle of wine, each giving a soft THUD, as they hit the bottle and not wincing at all or seeming to care in the slightest; but she smiled and said bye. Just as we were leaving the store, I spotted the security guard staring after us. I wanted to turn to her and say “Yup. We bought each and every one of them!”

Once we got home, the kitchen turned into a zoo as a very sleepy Mei refused to sleep. I set her in her lounging bouncy chair in front of the dishwasher and ran it, as it often puts her to sleep, but that wasn’t doing it. After plenty of protesting from Mei and unsuccessfully getting her to nap with songs and bouncing, I put her in her Bumbo chair on the counter and she began softly singing and smiling and watching very closely to all that I was doing. UGH. What a process she was making this banana bread baking! Just as I was getting ready to put the batter into the pans, she started rubbing her dropping eyelids hard and I put her back into her other chair, and she started to wind down while talking to her toys. I got the loaf pans filled and in the oven and Mei, Patella and I went on a walk.

can you see how uneven my layering is?

When we returned, the house smelled like warm, sugary bananas and I couldn’t wait to see how they would turn out! Once the pans had cooled, it was off to the car and over to my friend’s house for some Chicken Marengo! Dinner turned out beautifully and then it came time for banana bread. Oh boy. We are going to have to figure out a way to get heavy layers to stay more or less a layer or in the center-ish…. I sliced it all up and each slice had a bit or glob or layer of cream cheese filling in different places. I’m not sure how this happened, but this is not the first time. I had this problem with the Neapolitan cupcakes too! Although I had successfully made that one the first time, I’m not sure what caused the disaster the second time.

Aside from the presentation, the banana bread was delicious and the cream cheese filling was to die for! Not too sweet, hardly at all really, and it just elevated the banana bread in a way that was amazing! My friend and I had a hard time just eating our designated one slice each. I could eat a whole panful given a large cup of tea! It might sound weird, but the cream cheese filing is worth every drop and you might never go back to plain banana bread ever again. Give it a shot! Why not? Maybe you can mortify people at the grocery store too! Did I mention none of the bananas we bought were stuck together? They were all separate and I set them individually, not touching one another on the conveyor belt at different intervals… not on purpose, it’s just how they came out of the basket – that probably perplexed the cashier further.

Ingredients for filling:

• 8 oz package of cream cheese (regular, lite or fat-free will do)
• 1 egg
• 1 C sugar
  

  sliced and ready for mashing!

Ingredients for bread:

• 2 C all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 C sugar
• 4 bananas, mashed and as ripe as possible (not ripe enough and the bread will taste starchy)
• 1/2 C buttermilk
• 1/4 C canola oil or vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350F/180C.

In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar and egg until combined and refrigerate until needed.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar then set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the bananas, buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla. Then pour the mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula until it is just combined.

Spoon enough batter into muffin tins (if using them), until they are almost halfway full then add one spoonful of the cream cheese mixture and top with another spoonful of batter. If you are using a loaf pan, follow the same directions, although you will have to spread the layers of cream cheese and batter spread as evenly and uniformly over the batter base as possible.

deeee-rish-ish!!!

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick tester comes out clean then try not to eat the whole panful!

Just put a funnel into the neck of the bottle the vodka originally came in, line the funnel with a piece of cheesecloth or butter muslin and if you would like a finer strain, lay in one coffee filter under the cheesecloth and slowly pour the infusion in, discarding the chunks of rhubarb as they come out. You may use the chunks to beef up a batch of jam – although all the flavor will have been extracted and it will just leave the pulpy body to add more body to the jam.

a nice pale red color!

I regret that I will not be making a label for this bottle of vodka as it is going straight into the fridge to await my husband’s arrival so that it can be much appreciated on a cool night when we are together again. I might even pull out some cocktail recipes to try it out on – it would make a very nice spritzer anyways! Maybe with some roasted rhubarb Panna cotta, this would be a nice accompaniment. At any rate, I have now bottled another little bit of summer to be enjoyed in the fall and winter! Horrah!

These alcohol infusions are very simple to make and require mindless, daily tending and make me want to make some more – but I think I will save it for next year so that I can truly enjoy it myself. A lemon infusion so that I could make my blue lemon drops would be particularly amusing!

lifeless bits of rhubarb

Onto the visitor! Who is visiting you might ask? Dorie Greenspan is coming to dinner! In fact, she will be dining with us every friday and a couple other days in between! While perusing her blog I came across a cook-along of sorts, a promotion for her newest cookbook, Around My French Table, you can create a profile and cook recipes out of her book until they have all been tried at least once, and post about your experience and process on Fridays. You leave your link on the post on Fridays with some comments and the editors and moderators of the page will comment back, check out your blog – as well as other cook-along-ers and readers! During the week leading up to each recipe, there is a problem and question page so that as you are working through the recipe or gathering ingredients, you can clarify any of the directions, etc you may need more information for. It’s a great idea and the plan is to keep the site up and going until every one of the over 300 recipes has been cooked through!

This is very exciting to me and caught the interest of my husband who was stoked to realize that we would know at least one day out of the week for certain what we would be having for dinner (even though it may not be savory or a “meal” per say); and I am genuinely enthused for this project because this will have been the first cookbook that I have truly “cooked through!” Most cookbooks, save a handful of favorites, often have somewhere between 10-20 recipes that I might try, or certainly mark for future attempts, so it is pretty outstanding!

So far, there are 44 recipes that have been posted about on the site, starting from October 2010, so those I have marked and plan to cook through as I work through each week, adding accompaniments to the meal or baking a dessert in the middle of the week. Oh and did I mention that you are not required to cook every recipe, just those that you are interested in, your level of participation is completely up to each individual cook! I am going to push myself though, and regardless of whether I think I will like the recipe or not, I am going to make every recipe!

While my husband is gone, having some people over on Fridays to share the meals would be fun, so consider this an open invitation to have dinner at my house, in our kitchen with Mei, Patella, Dorie Greenspan and of course, me! The cook! You can check out this blog/ cookbook project here. Please note that Ms. Greenspan would like participants to refrain from posting the recipes as the book and posts themselves serve to inspire other cooks to join in the fun!

This friday will be a citrus terrine - my first terrine, and what a great one to get my feet wet with!

To put a band-aid on the wound, a replacement motor costs $60 and some of the electrical parts we would need would not push the cost of repairing my mixer over $100! This would save us quite a bit of money on a new mixer, although if our repair efforts fail, we will most likely be purchasing a UK spec stand mixer. Do you remember those shiny, loud colorful ones? Maybe I could get one of those. But what would I do with the original mixer? Any ideas? Although if I got a new mixer, I would have some spare parts like the whisk, beater and bowl that would save me some time cleaning the bowl for multiple projects or recipes that require beating separated eggs.

*shrugs* We will just have to wait and see what can be done about it when my husband returns home.

Onto the baby food! While Mei and I were home visiting family, my mom bought us a book by Annabel Karmel on weaning - which came in very handy. While Gerber foods are marked for first foods to give you an idea of good things to try with your child, the selection is pretty limited and limits the taste buds forcing moms everywhere to make their own purees if they would like to expand the tastes of their little ones, so I was pretty jazzed to find a whole range of exciting different purees in the UK grocery stores.

Mei and I went out to Sainsbury’s to buy her some new pajamas and long

how crazy cool is this?

sleeve onesies that fit her since her 0-3 moth size just ran out on her and it’s getting quite chilly and windy again. Once we were done picking out her new clothes – which come in packs of three and eight for no more than ten pounds per package, absolutely fabulous! But anyways, we were done with the clothes and didn’t have much else going on, so we meandered down the toy section and baby items to see what all was offered when we came across some amazing new baby food purees! Some of them are really great and will expand Mei’s experience with food by offering cauliflower, broccoli, strawberries and other fruits and veg that we just don’t offer and in combinations that I wouldn’t have thought to put together. Just look at these! Grandpa’s Sunday Lunch?? Also we found a line of Annabel Karmel foods which included baby pasta in very tiny shapes with organic pasta sauces appropriate for infants and toddlers from four months of age to aid them in developing their chewing muscles that will in the end help to develop their speech. We even discovered Ella’s Organic Kitchen, which includes a line of ready-to-eat pouches of different food mixes that we also don’t offer in the States.

wow, right?

Mei tried the broccoli, pear and peas combo first and it was a big hit! It was organic and naturally sweetened by concentrating the flavors of the veggies – it almost taste as if there were honey mixed in, which of course is not, but it turned Mei into a rabid child, grabbing for her spoon and eating spoonful after spoonful until she started getting distracted by her toys and … the rice cooker. She loves to touch it. Maybe because its warm and has a small light? I’m not sure, but either way, sometimes her feeds don’t last long. Although she doesn’t grab at her spoon while I’m feeding her anymore, just my fist to guide the spoon towards her mouth – so she stays fairly clean!

With the next baby that comes along, I think I’m going to include some of our favorite

just mind-blowing!

purees, pasta and other jarred foods as part of my baby gift. It’s just so exciting to share with others!! One other little note, Mei has started trying to figure out her baby sippy bottle. It is AVENT brand, and has an extended flat nipple that only releases liquids when it is depressed, and only dispenses a small amount of liquid at a time, so she is enjoying getting the water out, which she lets dribble out of her mouth and down her bib and then gnaws on it as a teether instead. It’s cute! She also laps water out of my water-glass when I let her and then moves on to dip her tounge in the water and tries to dump the water on her head instead.

What did you feed your baby? What did they like to eat?

But mostly Mei is overjoyed to see Patella and Patella keeps an eye out for Mei just in case…? No one knows yet. But we do know that Patella will be thrilled to tears when Mei can crawl and walk. It will make her very happy. Very, very happy.

Little Miss Mei on the other hand, figured out how to jump a few days ago! She happily bounces in her activity bouncer when I put her in it, especially if I have been out of the room for a few moments and go to pick her up. She LOVES to go anywhere I’m going with me. She gets very chatty when I don’t pick her up. It makes her very happy to sit on my hip and explore her world and see where we are going when we are walking around, or doing whatever we are doing. For that reason, when we run errands to the library or post office, I used to keep her in the stroller or her backpack carrier, but she is much happier on my hip. She might have separation issues someday. Possibly. But we have so much fun together!

So back to the kitchen! What can you look forward to? This week, we have posts about the corned beef - as you remember, we started marinading last week, and we pulled it out of the marinade on sunday, and we have been making things with it since, so there is that to look forward to. Also, there are recipes for gingersnaps, Panna cotta and grilled Reubens. There have been a few snafus this week, so we will be working the kinks out of some of the recipes and re-posting updates soon. In the next few weeks, we are going to be exploring recipes utilizing quinoa and recipes sensitive to gluten, dairy and iodine. Why? Well keep coming back!

Oddly, I have no pictures of Blue Duck and Patella… so when you see one on this post, it will have been updated. Til later!

both cheeses, beaten together!

deliberate breathing. Panic starts to enter my heart. Wwwwhhhat am I going to do??! At least I was more or less done whipping the eggs for the cake, but it made me very,… um, mad! Because those things are supposed to last forever.  I’m a reasonable person, but, last I checked, four years is a few months shy of infinity.

I have been having a rather interesting day in the kitchen with my beef jerky project so I decided to put the mixer out of my mind and continue on with making my cake. At least all there is left is to fold in the rest of the ingredients and bake. Oi. Thank goodness I made the cream filling last night!

A couple hours later, once the cake has baked and cooled, I had a chance to calmly, reasonably consider how to fix this problem. I went to Google how to fix this particular KitchenAid problem, afterall I cannot call stateside 1-800 numbers from my home in England, so Google would be my go-to DIY guru. I managed to find two other bloggers who dealt with similar and the same problems that I was experiencing. All the while, my husband and I discussed possibly buying a new KitchenAid, that would work for the 220 volt outlets, instead of using an adapter into our transformer. Finally, I had the answer. I was going to have to get down and dirty and take my precious mixer apart.

filling all prepared!

Now, you might have read how I am a forensic anthropologist. I also LOVED me some puzzles when I was in grade school. But I do not like to take apart mechanical things on which I depend. I get no joy from taking something completely apart and putting it back together. That is something I leave to the nerdy, geeky guys on the otherside of the college campus, or to the more mechanically-inclined individuals that my husband or close friends know to fix problems like this that arise in my life.  But I decided I was going to take the proverbial bull by the horns, lay out the towel, break out the tools and take my precious mixer apart. Making plans to also lay it all out on the dining room table (which I made a mental note to clear off), and keep some type of note system so that once I located the problem and ordered the proper part, a few weeks from now when said part arrived, I could remember how it all went back together. Because of course, as luck would have it – I would probably forget. Brining on a whole new set of problems.

action shot of my KitchenAid. it stopped working shortly after this photo was taken...

While I was waiting for the cake to cool some more, my husband and I continued our big KitchenAid discussion and decided that I would take it to a friend of his to help me take it apart so that we would avoid my inability to be mechanically savvy altogether. Now? We cross our fingers and hope that the motor is not the part that died. So until my mixer goes to its Dr’s appointment, we will eat cake!

You might remember that I found some amazing strawberries at the market a few days ago, but I did not buy them because I wasn’t sure what I would make with them. I finally narrowed it down. It was between a vanilla panna cotta with a strawberry coulis, a vanilla semi-fredo with a strawberry coulis, strawberry shortcake, or this recipe for strawberry marscapone cream cake.

Ultimately, the strawberry marscapone cream cake won. It looked like it would be the lightest of the desserts (which are pretty much all light), and really celebrate the strawberries in the way that I was hoping to with as fresh as the strawberries were. The recipe came from a fellow blogger, whos blog “SheSimmers” is basically a blog centered on Thai food and recipes or adding a Thai touch to other recipes, it looked amazing and visually stunning – so of course, I wanted to make it too! The bonus? It required a ridiculous amount of strawberries. YUM!!

Promptly running out to the store to buy a pound and a half of strawberries, I had visions of this cake dancing in my head. I had to calmly wait to make this cake, while all the cake making dreams and tendancies were making my skin crawl with anticipation, triggering the drool button in my mouth. But I had to attend to the beef jerky first.

Once I got the first round of beef jerky into the oven, I got down to business. Making the cake. Of course you know by now that my mixer died, just shy of finishing the cake batter - although I was able to finish the batter and bake it (thank God!). When I pulled out the finished cake, and it had cooled, I realized that it had baked unevenly and a bit lopsided. But it just didnt stop me. I got the cake inverted on a flat plate and I was bound and determined to get this cake cut evenly, making up for its lopsided-ness by cutting at an angle, which would possibly make for a more visually interesting slice off cake. Let me tell you. It didnt work out. It turns out the shortest end was so short, that  I managed only to cut off the beautiful golden crust on top and it caused the top half that I had cut to become anorexic and just level the cake. So, knowing that my immersion blender had a whisk attatchment, I decided I was going to make another cake. The first layer had fallen quite a bit and was much thinner than I had anticipated, so this solution was working quite well for me.

first layer just out of the oven!

I sat, rather solemnly, on our barstools, craddling a bowl in my lap and panstakingly whipping my eggs and sugar. By hand. Next to my comatose KitchenAid. Still silent. Still not making any noise when turned on. Making me cry a little inside.

It took a little bit longer than with my dearly beloved KitchenAid to whip the eggs, which gave me ample time to re-think my menu plan for next week. I had plenty of baking projects in mind, but loosing my mixer was going to put a dent in some things. It was the only way I was getting through recipes fast enough, while having to tend to Mei also. Oi. I did have plenty of savory items on my list to make, but I have been trying to stick to things that require very little or no cooking in order to stay as cool as possible during this summer. Stay tuned! I did manage to come up with some great recipes I havent made in awhile that is sure to delight your tastebuds!

next time I won't be filling in the shape of the star...

Nevertheless, I managed to get the second cake baked – which baked, curiously, higher than it’s predecessor, and I was finally ready to assemble the cake! Mei helped me to pick out the most red, plump, similar height strawberries between four pints and we picked out enough, so that when cut in half, it would cover the entire perimeter of the cake pan. We set the first cake layer we had made in the bottom of the springform pan, pressed the cut strawberries along the sides, then filled it with the strawberry marscapone cream we had prepared the night before  until we were out of the cream and ready to place the second cake layer on top. We wrapped the entire pan in foil and sllipped it back into the refrigerator until morning – when we would sit down to have a slice of this dearly anticiapated cake!

Ingredients for Cake:

first slice, ready to be enjoyed...!

• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• zest & juice of one medium lime
• 1/2 C granulated sugar
• 3/4 C all-purpose or cake flour
• 3 TBS melted, unsalted butter
• 1/4 tsp salt

First, preheat the oven to 350F/180C. Line an 8in springform pan with a piece of parchment paper, cut in a circle to fit perfectly on the bottom of the pan. Grease the bottom of hte pan very well but NOT THE SIDES.

With a handheld or standmixer with whisk attatchment, beat the eggs on high speed until fluffy. Add the sugar to the eggs, gradually, and continue to beat on high until it triples in volume and forms a slowly disappearing ribbon on the surface when some of the egge mixture is lifted with a utensil and allowed to fall back into the bowl.

Fold in the salt, lime juice, and lime zest.

Fold in the flour, 1/4C at a time, alternatively with the melted butter, one TBS at a time.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 mins, or until the top of the cake springs back when pressed with a finger.

Loosen the cake from the pan around the edges with a butterknife and let it cool completely inside the pan. Once cool, slice the cake in half horizontally with a serrated knife and set aside. Or bake a second cake if your first layer comes out too thin.

Ingredients for the Strawberry-Marscapone Cream:

• 3C of fresh strawberries, hulled and cut into 1/4″ dice, keeping as many strawberries as you need to go halfway around the springform pan and about the same height
• 4oz (125g) of softened marscapone cream
• 8oz softened cream cheese
• 1 envelop (7g) unflavored gelatin powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 8 fl oz (1 C) heavy whipping cream, well chilled
• 1/2 C sugar

First, sprinkle the gelatin on the surface of the chilled whipping cream in a small bowl. Once the gelation has softened, whisk the mixture just to get the gelatin to disperse, set aside. (If you want a firmer cream filing, separate out 1/4C cream and sprinkle the gelatin on the surface, wait until it has softened and heat the mixture in microwave until the gelatin has dissolved. Then mix the cream-gelatin mixture into the remaining cream.

With either a handheld or electric mixer with whisk attatchment, whip the cheese, sugar and vanilla until creamy and lump free. Add the cream-gelatin mixture to the cheese mixture and beat on medium-high just until fluffy and somewhat stiff, being careful not to beat the cream to the point where it turns into butter. Fold in the diced strawberries.

Assembly:

1. Place one half of the cake on the bottom of the springform pan in which it was baked, cut side up.
2. Cut the whole strawberries in half and stand them, cut side pressed against the side of the pan, aroundd the ege of the cake.
3. Spoon the strawberry cream mixture into the middle of the pan, pushing the strawberry halves more closely against the side of the pan as you go. THe halved strawberries should be completely buried once all the cream has been spread into the middle.
4. Smooth out the surface of the cream and palce the other half ot he cake on top. Press lightly. Cover the pan with foild and refrigerate for at least 5-6 hours to allow it to set before you enjoy.

how cool is this??!

Once the cake had set, we got it out of the fridge to enjoy over breakfast. I found that the spongecake soaked up some of the juices rendered from the berries, but other than that, it seemed fine! I carefully set it on the counter and naviagated it out of the springform pan. Now a word to the wise. When you are assembling this cake, you should slip a piece of round parchment, just a little wider than the base, so that once you have this cake ready to display and eat, then you can take it off the bottom of the pan much more easily. Not wanting to chance an early disassembly, you will notice that I left it on the pan. Since the top of the cake did not brown very much, I decided to dust the top of the cake with powdered sugar and I even set a cookie cutter over it so that it would dust in a subtle little design on the top. The strawberry pedestals came out beautifully!

Once the cake was dusted, I got a few pictures of it, and then set to work cutting out a slice with a serrated knife. Carfeully lifting a piece onto my plate, I quickly made notes to go with a firmer filling next time. The cream and cheese mixture didnt get as stiff as I had anticiapted, it held its shape, but not once you cut into it. I think the firmer filling would help with that. Since this cake does not lend itself to being out of the fridge, store it there until you are ready to eat it.

The cake was a bit more tart tasting against the cream filling, so I think I will skip the lime and zest next time, but if you like your fruit a little more tart, keep the lime! Other than that, I am considering making this cake with other fruit, as it can be a year-round, versatile cake and can be varied. Although it would not lend itself to becoming a tiered cake… its too bad, the assembly creates a particularly visually stunning cake that would look really neat tiered!

Happy eating!

P.S. I have decided to have a friend help me take the mixer apart to determine which part might need replacing. This will help me assemble the mixer once the part arrives with an insurance policy on the success of the process. Stay tuned!

You should use a heavy saucepan with a light colored interior so you can gauge the color of the sugar, if you use a dark pan, the color of the caramel will decieve you and its possible that you will wind up making a black sugar instead of the golden, amber caramel you desire. Also, use a pan that is deeper than you think you will need because when you add liquid to the caramel, it rises up in the pan and boils vigorously.

To caramelize a cup of sugar, pour some water into the saucepan between 1/3-1/2 C, or as much water as you like, but the more there is, the longer it will take you to make your caramel, as the sugar won’t transform to caramel until the water has evaporated and it used only to dissolve the sugar. Add corn syrup or cream of tartar at this stage.

Why corn syrup or cream of tartar? Because sugar crystallizes very easily and once you have melted the sguar, you dont want them to recrystalize. Crystallized sugar looks like damp, white sand. Any speck of debris in your sugar sryup can cause one crystal to form which will create a chain of crystal links that link together like monkeys in a barrel until your pan is suddendly filled with a chunky, sugary mess. This is why we add the syrup or tartar. A light corn syrup (1 TBS per 1 C of sugar) or cream of tartar (1/8 tsp per 1 C sugar) can have dramatically different effects on granulated sugar crystals. Corn syrup will invert sugar and interefere with the formation and linking of crystals. Cream of tartar is an acid and does the same thing as the corn syrup bu by turning some of the granulated sugar into invert sugar. Think of these as insurance policies for your caramel, you can use them even if the recipe doesnt call for them.

Next, sprinkle the sugar slowly over the water and set eh pan over medium-low heat. Warm, stirring freqeuntly, until the sugar has dissolved and the liquid is clear. Set the spoon into the measuring cup of hot water and dont stir again until the end. Sitrring can cause crystallization or introduce microscopic debris that results in crystallization.

Once the liquid is clear, turn the heat to med-high and cook, without stirring, until the sugar beginst o turn golden around the edges. Swirl the pan gently to distribute the color  and to ensure that the sugar cooks evenly. Test the sugar wtih a spoon, dipping it intot he sugar, pulling out a tiny bit and dripping it on the plate. Continue testing every 5-10 seconds until the correct color is reached. Sugar always looks darker in the pan because you are looking through several layers of sugar. A drop on the white plate reveals the true color. The tendendcy is to undercook caramel. You want it dark enough so its not just sweet and takes on an endge of bitterness that balances the remaining sweetness. As caramelization begins, the sugar will appear clear with a yellow tinge. As it continues the color progresses from light yellow to light amber to dark amber to golden brown, then dark reddish brown and finally black. You want to avoid black sugar. The darker the caramel, the stronger the flavor. But keep in mind that the caramel will continue to cook and darken in color even when you turn off the heat.

Once the sugar has reached the desired color, you need to immediately stop the cooking. you can add osme liquid to the caramel or put the pan in an ice bath. If you add liquid, add it all at the same time,  but be careful because the liquid will cause the caramel to sputter – but it wont be as violent as if the liquid is warm, so you can warm it first and stir or whisk the caramel to finish blending it in with the liquid. If the liquid was cold, there will be hard spots in the caramel, if this happens, you can return the pan to low heat and stir slowly until the hardened bits melt again.

If you dont add a liquid to the caramel, have an ice bath handy to dunk the bottom of the pot so that the caramel stops cooking.  You can also remove the caramel from the heat a few seconds before the correct color is reached and then swirl until the color you want has been achieved.

final product... !

To clean the pan and utensils, fill the pan with water, add the utensils and bring everything to a boil and cook for five minutes then dump the water, this should remove the caramel. You can repeat this process if all the caramel has not un-stuck itself from the pot or various utensils.

1 stick of butter

1/2 C plus 3 TBS flour

Heat a saucepan and begin melting the butter. Once it is almost melted, whisk in the flour until it is all incorporated, cooking on low heat until it emits a nutty aroma but does not turn brown. Once it is all sticking together and all incorporated, then your roux is ready! Make more or less depending on how much you need for your recipe.

Using parchment paper as a lid for soups, stews, and braises allows some evaporation because of the small steam hole cut in it. But because it covers the meat, it keeps the liquid from reducing too quickly and prevents the surface from becoming caramelized as it cooks. It’s like having a lid and not having a  lid at the same time.

Fold a length of parchment paper in half to give you a pice bigger than the pot to be covered. Place the crease to your right. Folding away from you, fold in half again to make a crease in front of you. Fold this bottom crease up to make a narrow triangle. Continue to fold the triangle over until you have reached the opposite side of the parchment paper.

A parchment lid at work!

To gauge the size, place the tip over the center of the pot to be covered and mark the edges of the pot with your thumb, then cut the end off there. With a pair of scissors, cut 1/4 inch off the narrow tip of the triangle. Trim the pointed edges of the triangle to form a smooth, rounded edge. Unfold the triangle. It will be a circle the size of your pot with a steam hole in the center. Put the paper lid in the post so that it rests gently on the good you’re cooking.

Not sure what we were looking for, I began to thumb through a couple interesting titles when out of the corner of my eye, I spotted “Japanese Cuisine” by Chen Shiu-Lee. It was translated over to English and published in 1988 for “readers living in all parts of the globe” – so it must have authentic recipes right? RIGHT! This is the first “Japanese cookbook” that has non-gourmet versions of the classic dishes, with classic preparations, written in a way a Westerner could appreciate, understand and execute so we immediately added it to our pile to take home and study.

It pages worn and some splattered with what only one could guess was once soy sauce or dashi – it held the promise of good, “just like grandma made it,” food! There are even small, intricate looking, color photographs on each page, with a thorough explanation of the instruction for that particular step in the recipe. It’s wonderful! These are the types of books you can no longer find (not even on Amazon) that makes me want to keep renewing the book until the library forces me into buying it – after paying a few late fees of course…. Shhhh! Don’t tell any librarians you might know or run into at a library or any other place! This is probably their nightmare – or one of them.

the presentation is always delectable!

The introduction is very enlightening and proper – I can just picture ms Chen Shui-Lee speaking, perfectly groomed in her black cashmere sweater and pearl earrings.

“In preparation for this book, I visited several famous cooks in Japan, such as Tsurumatsu Koshino, Miaraki Yuki, Motoko Matsumoto, Terue Ojiai, Chiromi Ueno, and Ikuo Hatsuda, to solicit their opinions and discuss the various recipes. I learned much from all of them, and their knowledge and experience have greatly enriched this book. I offer here my sincerest and heartfelt thanks to each one.”

I can’t wait to try out some of the recipes for foods that my grandmother made for me and then my mother, but has been passed down from generation to generation with no recipe in sight to see how close to the versions I made with my family they are! I just can’t imagine having any other background – I love the food, the language, the culture and miss Japan dearly! This truly takes me back to my grandmothers kitchen, adding more features to the dream kitchen blueprints in the house my husband and I are building all the time. All I know is that the kitchen is going to be an expansive project for our future builders!

I adore carved veggies!

One day soon, I’m going to be in Japan, shopping for dishes, serving platters and all the types of cookware I have been looking for, for some time -further expanding my kitchen storage requirements.

Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming recipes!

While we were at the market, we stopped off at the cookshop and found a few things I wish I could buy, but are always a bit out of reach. Anything Le Creuset would work – for all those family members looking for an useful holiday or birthday gift…. but each color of Kitchen Aid mixer is inspiring and while I’m happy with the one I have, the beautiful tangerine orange, my heart just can’t help but to admire the stunning colors that they are available in, as well as the glass bowls instead of having the standard stainless steel ones that come with every model in the US. Look at these beauties!! And it should be mentioned that they dont have to tempt me to “make a giftbox” where I pick my own four colors of Le Creuset individual casserole dish and either take home or give away… bah! give away???…hmmm maybe for a wedding… anyone out there getting married? I couldn’t justify this purchase since I had just purchased (on sale, of course), two heart shaped, deep red shaded individual casserole dishes for my husband and I for this past Valentine’s day – I would have to wait awhile longer to indulge in these.

such inspiring colors!

notice the glass bowl? I might have to get one for myself...

I wonder if Bumblebee would burst out of this if I plugged it into my kitchen???...

I absolutely love all these colors!

you really can't see the yellow one as well, but its so amazing! I want it!

it makes me want to haul these to a beach and make something amazing in them!

I blanched a cup of peas, and added the pot of carbonara sauce – which had lovely little bits of bacon lardons in it, and added the salmon fillet that I had poached before hand. The salmon was poached in a shallow frying pan filled half way with white wine, sliced onions (since the market was still out of shallots – maybe I got there too late today…hmmm…), a couple sprigs of thyme, a sliced lemon with the juice squeezed into it, a diced clove of garlic, bay leaves and a teaspoon of peppercorns. I got SO involved in the poaching and making the pasta that I forgot to take a picture of the poach! It was truly beautiful and smelled so great! For those that have never poached a fish before, bring the “brine” to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium, add the fish, cover and cook until the meat pinks up or cooks through, about ten to twenty minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish. If some of the fish hasnt cooked through, it will once you break it up a bit and set it the sauce and bring it to temperature.

There was still half a brick of Parmeasan Reggiano in the fridge from making the risotto, so I got that out and grated some fresh to top my spagetti alla carbonara with fresh garden peas and salmon. The salmon had just a hint of bright pink, tasting a little peppery but with plenty of good lemon taste and smelling amazing!

Once the spagetti was cooked, I added 1/4 laddle of the cooking water from the pasta to the carbonara sauce, that made it more smooth and creamy, so that it could be laddled on the perfect nest of spagetti noodles I had dished onto my plate. With a sprinkle of some freshly grated parmesean and a side of two slices of a warm, fresh baked and buttered baguette - we were ready for dinner!

I suppose making carbonara sauce myself seems daunting without my husband around to share it with me – since most recipes make four portions of it. On the other hand, being able to make it, mess up and toss it is a luxury I can really only enjoy when my husband isn’t around. Hmmm… something to consider on another day where I haven’t been busy taking Patella out for a long walk. Mei loves to look at the trees and the clouds, and Patella likes to try and pull us faster than we are interested in walking so she can sniff the next bush, tree, grass patch or whatever catches her eye — err nose. She reminds me of an oxen pulling a really heavy load! She bears down, nose to the ground and pulls with all her might!

On another note, there is a story behind the carbonara. A dish for countrymen or the everyday people, people that cant spend the money on a three or four course meal it is believed to have been invented by the carbonai – who is a charcoal maker that worked in the Italian Apennine Mountains.

“In the old days, carbonai camped outdoors for months at a time and brought most of the ingredients for carbonara with them. Cheese, cured pork, olive oil, salt, pepper, and pasta kept fresh without refrigeration and eggs were readily available at local farms. All that was needed was a pot and a campfire.”

More of this story can be found at http://www.departures.com/articles/carbonara-secrets-of-a-perfect-dish . It is truly interesting to know the roots of a dish.

Keeping in the spirit of enjoying “prepared” luxuries, I also picked up a couple Bonne Maman’s creme brulee – which comes in a shallow, wide, glass ramekin that I can wash and reuse for little mise en place dishes or something! How cute! The creme brulee came with a small packet of caramel crystals that you dust on top of them and they slowly melt and its a dishful of deliciousness to end another perfectly seasonal meal!

doesn't it look cute?!

with all of it's beautiful, delicious carmel bits!

I can’t wait for tomorrow – we are going to take on a major baking project, homemade rolls (of course, that the dough rests), and then brining our own corned beef for next week’s menu!

1.  a wooden spoon – mine were busted by a friend trying to stir an unsuccessfully stubborn recipe
2. Magimix by Robot-Coupe Food processor
3. a basic pepper mill
4. Vitamix Professional Series 500 Blender
5. stainless steel roaster
6. 14″ X 16″ pizza stone
7. cake stand, domed
8. Le Creuset, oval dutch oven

I wonder if I could find a way to fund my “cooking habit”…. ? Any suggestions?

“Does she have any idea what that means?”

As I stare at the recipe in hand, small beads of sweat form on my forehead. It was always the SLAM! of the kitchen door or loud shouts from children, that induced immediate anger or tears from the impatient, nail-biting woman, adorned in a cute apron, staring into the oven, tip-toeing around the kitchen, waiting for her souffle to rise on countless soaps and movies on t.v. when I was a child.

In fact, I have never personally known one soul, brave enough to attempt a souffle – which meant no one to ask for advice or to talk me down off the ledge! I was however, six months pregnant, legs beginning to swell enough to make long cooking endeavors uncomfortable, and a perfectly supportive husband cheering me along to attempt this feat if my (pregnant) heart so wished and desired it to be so!

I read and re-read the recipe, making note of each step and reading other souffle recipes before choosing a lemon souffle, and keeping in mind all the tips I have read throughout my research on Saveur, Food & Wine, and countless French Cooking Cookbooks and texts and went shopping for the ingredients.

Souffles have been notorious for being quite temperamental. If you don’t treat your souffle properly, respectfully – it will crash and burn. The very first step in executing a successful souffle is wrangling your emotions. DO NOT BE AFRAID OF THE SOUFFLE!

It’s all in your head! If you keep thinking it won’t turn out, or doubting yourself at every step, then your souffle will fail. You won’t succeed. Maintaining your confidence will start you on the road of success.

There are many souffles out there for you to pick from, a range of savory to sweet – the most popular of the savory being the cheese souffle, and the sweet being the chocolate. However, each souffle has two major components: the base and the levener. More often than not, your souffle will be leavened with whipped egg whites. If you’re using anything else, then you’re cheating on your souffle, like you’re having an affair (not with your spouse or significant other….).

When it comes to the egg whites, it has to be PERFECT. t This will take some practice, or a lot of practice for some. Under whipping will not give you enough lift and over-whipping will more than likely cause your souffle to deflate. You need to find the perfect balance.

Next up is to mix your levener with your base. Just as a runner or any athlete stretches to warm up their muscles for a race,  you need to be equally gentle and gradual when folding your egg whites into the base for maximum performance! You spent all that energy and put all your love an attention into not over or under whipping your whites, so you want to take care not to collapse this perfect mountain of frothy whiteness by being overly aggressive or rushing it. But take note that with your first addition, your base might need to be tempered, so you can afford to be a bit aggressive.  But relax your subsequent additions and use a gentle hands so as not to kill your souffle before it even gets to the oven.

Now that you have your souffle in the oven, let it be. The magic happens when it is allowed to sit, uninterrupted in the oven. Think of it as working up the courage to ask your high school crush to the prom, dont be unassertive – but being overly assertive can be detrimental. If you do feel like you  need to check on your souffle however, then make it brief and DO NOT SLAM the oven door. Keep in mind that the smallest wisp of air can be enough to deflate your souffle. This beautiful work of art, that you just spent all that time and put sweat, blood and tears into. Just as the slightest wrong comment can derail your (impending *fingers crossed*) relationship!

Don’t forget to savor every luscious bite of your masterpiece! It is quite the feat, both emotionally and physically, to have accomplished and should be shared by (at the very least), the person closest to you.

Now. Has that got you all hot and bothered and filled with the sudden inspiration to rush out to the store, buy up eggs and lemon and hole up in your kitchen to try your hand at the lemon souffle?? Well. It should!

Ingredients: will make four 6-8oz ramekins, or two larger ramekins

Lemon Curd

•  1 egg
• 1 large lemon, zested & juiced
• 1/4 C powdered sugar
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 2 TBSP unsalted butter, cubed

Topping

• 3 egg whites
• 5 TBSP powdered sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 large lemon, zested & juiced
• 2 TBSP sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 175C.

Whisk the egg in a medium saucepan and mix in the zest and juice from one lemon, 1/4 C sugar and cornstarch. Set over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly until mixture thickens. Reduce the heat to low and continue whisking  for one minute.

Remove from the heat and stir in butter. Divide lemon curd between four 6-8oz ramekins.

In a medium glass bowl (this is important, as it is a non-reactive substance, or use copper – but avoid plastic or metal mixing bowls; your eggs wont whip properly otherwise) whip egg whites with an electic mixer. When it is able to hold soft peaks, sprinkle one TBSP sugar and continue mixing until stiff.

Whisk remaining 4 TBSP of sugar into the egg yolks along with the zest and juice of second lemon. Fold a couple of spoonfuls of egg whites into the yolks to lighten them up (the point where you can afford to be aggressive) and then fold in the rest of the whites.

Spoon the mixture into the ramekins over the lemon curd and run finger/butter knife blade around the inside of each rim (this will help it to rise higher and more properly).

Place the ramekins onto a baking sheet and place in oven to bake for 15-17 mins or until puffed and golden brown. Let cool for five minutes before serving.

This day, I chose to add fresh raspberries from the market to adorn my souffles and pre-made a beautifully luscious, silky, tart and slightly sweet raspberry sauce to drizzle over each souffle.

Raspberry Sauce:

7oz raspberries, 2/3 C water, 1/4 C sugar plus one tablespoon

In a small saucepot, place 5 1/4 oz raspberries, water and sugar and bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and reduce by half. Turn off heat and cover for 30 mins. Mix in remaining raspberries with syrup and strain. Pour on your favorite dessert!

But now that I have your attention… tonight, I made Jamaican Jerk Salmon over Curry Tomato Rice, side of steamed and butter seared snap peas and made up some peanut butter cookie dough while my dinner simmered.

My husband was pulled away for work some months ago, and in the first few days after he left, since we had no notice, we had bought some fillets of salmon to bake for dinner during the week – three whole fillets by myself?? I mean, I could totally eat them, but I was kind of sour on his having to leave, and didnt want to eat it all by myself! Especially trying new recipes without him around? It’s not something I like to do, especially since Mei was only two months old or so, I couldnt make new recipes and take care of her all at the same time, right? But our friends and neighbors were moving and had their house packed up, so I took advantage of an evening where Mei napped so I could cook dinner and I invited over our friends to have dinner with us! I had been to the spice market a couple weeks before to pick up fresh herbs to make the jerk seasoning mix by myself and mangos that I had been ripening for the mango cilantro slaw and I wouldn’t be sharing it with my husband… but not to fear, we love our neighbors!!

So I proceeded to make the first round of jerk salmon with the tomato rice and mango slaw. Although, the mango slaw just kept separating and none of us thought it would be “safe” to eat… but otherwise, the salmon was cooked perfectly and seasoned really well, as  was the rice! Since it went so well, and we all liked it so much, I thought I would make it again – not to mention the fillets of salmon looked so good at the market last saturday so I had to get some!

I took my two fillets home and stuck them in the fridge, til I was ready to eat them – which really was based on how many nights my Thai green bean chicken would last (post on that next). So tonight, finally (!) I set out to make jerk salmon. However, during the day – I had been looking into peanut butter cookie recipes and trying to find one that had the promise to turn out as amazing as the chocolate chip cookie recipe, and I found one where the dough needed to rest, so I figured I would make up the dough while the rice was simmering away and the salmon was slowly cooking through in the pan.

It worked out perfectly! I measured out all the olive oil and jerk seasoning to mix together so I could rub down the fillets and marinate for 30 mins, then set out to mix up all the flour and measure out the sugar and peanut butter for the cookies and get all the cookie making ingredients together. One short stop to let Patella out into the backyard to take care of business so she could eat dinner and a diaper change later, we were ready to start making dinner! I fried up the onions and garlic, tomato paste and rice and got the water in the pot so the rice could cook then pulled out the fillets and brought a frying pan to temperature, added a dash of olive oil – let the oil warm up and plopped in the salmon; and turned on the mixer to begin beating the eggs, sugar and peanut butter into a sweet, creamy base for the dry ingredients to follow.

The snap peas were fired too soon, so they began to “wilt” while the salmon and rice cooked – that was just lack of forethought on my part. Mostly I dont fire things off too soon, so that everything is fresh and just prepared at the same time (it takes practice, believe me!) Then the cookie dough was ready, and while I know that the dough needed to rest for twelve hours, I had to make a control batch right after the dough was made to compare the 12 hour rested dough to!! So I balled up some cookie dough and stuck them on a cookie sheet and pressed them down slightly with the tines of a fork. I did notice that the dough was very dry and didnt stick too well or ball very well being so dry – which is interesting because there is very little dry ingredients in this recipe!

The salmon began to smoke slightly, so I took them off the heat, and left them on the pan to cook the very center through to “well” done (even though its not necessary), and all that was left was the rice. The cook time for the rice was estimated at about 15 minutes, but it really took about 30 mins – which was fine because the cookies came ready just before the rice! I got the cookies cooling on a rack and scooped up some rice, a salmon fillet and some snap peas to take my “food porn” shot for this blog entry! Mei, Patella and I headed into the living room to eat our delicious dinner while watching the last half of “The Accidental Husband” – which was a great movie! Really, Patella had a greenie treat, since she only gets kibble for “dinner”… she did not share my salmon with me…although she would have loved it!

So here is the recipe for the jerk salmon, adapted from a Top Chef recipe from Season Five’s Rhadika. This is enough for four (generous) fillets of fish.

Jerk Seasoning:

1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspon ground allspice, 1 teaspoon sugar,  1 teaspoon dried thyme, 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon caryenne pepper, 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg. combine all ingredients and store for up to two months.

Jerk Marinade for Salmon:

1 teaspoon of olive oil whisked together with 1 tablespoon of jerk seasoning. Pat dry the salmon (or other fish, halibut is also a great choice) and rub the marinade over the flesh, cover and refrigerate for 30 mins.

Curry Tomato Rice:

1 onion, 1 clove of garlic, 1 tablespoon of tomato paste, 1 tablespoon Jamaican curry paste, 1 C rice, 2 C water

Add diced onion and minced garlic to a saucepan and fry until translucent. Add tomato paste, curry paste, and rice, cook for a minute or two until toasted then add water, cover and reduce heat to low and let simmer for 15 mins or until water is soaked up and rice is tender.

Jerk Salmon:

add a dash of olive oil to a hot frying pan and cook salmon fillets to desired doneness on medium-low heat.

Place a portion of rice on a plate and top it with a fillet and place mango slaw ontop of the fillet (if desired).

Mango- Cilantro Slaw:

1/2 C coarsely chopped fresh cilantro, 1/2 C coarsely chopped fresh mint, 1/2 in piece fresh ginger (peeled and chopped), 3/4 C extra-virgin olive oil, 3/4 C rice vinegar, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/2 tablespoon lime juice, salt and pepper. Puree in a blender until smooth, season with salt and pepper.

You can also toss juilienned mango, chopped cilantro, salt and pepper in a bowl with 3/4 of the vinegarette to top your completed dish.

Voila! Dinner is served!

Where is the peanut butter cookie recipe??? I guess you will have to wait til tomorrow, when we bake the “official” batch! But a short note? They tasted great today!!  Have a good night!

If only someone would bring me this tea service in bed every morning...

I feel it my responsibility to learn to make decent scones, while living in England – and I came across a recipe that uses yogurt – meaning that, if handled correctly, each scone will be light and airy and rise just so, and I can put in any kind of filling I want and make it wonderful and special! My husband’s first scone was a raisin and milk chocolate and baked for him by his friend and neighbor – and it sealed the deal! It was the perfect on-the-way to work “meal” – since he rarely eats breakfast to begin with, it made both of us happy and was a great combination with his morning pot of coffee.

Seasonality is something that I consider when cooking or baking, and I try to be as seasonal as I can, especially when it comes to something so versatile! With a friend and her mother that visited us just recently, we bought (twice), the most plump and juicy blueberries I have had since living here and we made the best blueberry scones I have ever had!

the London skyline on oven mitts, how appropriate!

When I think of England, London Bridge, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Peter Pan, Mary Poppins, tea and scones come to mind. Scones were something I was determined to try every type I could find, and so was the tea. Somehow, the tea was easier. I figured, the best place to find scones would be at an afternoon tea! During the period after Christmas until just after New Years, a visiting friend from Italy and I were determined to find a good place to go and have afternoon tea. I have personally wanted to try the one at Harrod’s – though expensive, it was the most grand of them all and not too expensive, but I was pregnant and didn’t feel comfortable going to London or too far from home, anyways. So we found a place in Cambridge that was weird; and the bartender sat and stared at us the whole time, and generally, we confused my husband – who we drug along, with the size of tea sandwiches and the overall 12 pound cost of this meager “tea.”

After she left, of course I found the BEST PLACE EVER!!! It was a tea house, run by a man and his wife, who spent their years traveling for work, and during their travels, collected tea from around the world to one day run a teahouse. One of the owners, George, wears any color of cords you can imagine and wildly bizarre button down shirts, and is someone who I enjoy visiting with when I go for tea. We have been going almost twice a month since Mei was three weeks old, and we absolutely love it! The atmosphere is something akin to being in someone’s grandmother’s house, with many knick knacks, mis-matched tea sets, bread knifes, storage tins and other things adorning the walls. The hired help is warm and friendly, helping you to find something on the menu that you will enjoy and a pot of tea that will “hit the spot.” It is my ambition to try each and every one of their over 70 teas that they offer. Of their list, I have tried…. well… count them! (they are bolded…)

1 Peacocks Breakfast Tea – A bright, fragrant flavoursome cuppa: a blend of Assam & Ceylon teas
2 Ordinary Tea – A stronger tea that brews quickly: Assam, Ceylon and Kenya teas blended
3 Builders Tea – Stronger yet: with an extra spoonful for the pot: how our painter likes it
4 Decaff. Tea – A rich smooth Ceylon tea with all the flavour but no caffeine
5 Ceylon – A refreshing oaky medium-strong blend of tea from Sri Lanka
6.TaylorsYorkshire – A strongish blend mixed to console and cheer Hull City fans and other tykes
7 Russian Caravan – A tasty, slightly smoky blend, harking back to the days of camel caravans
8 Earl Grey – The famous English blend, flavoured with bergamot orange from Calabria       
9 Decaff. Earl Grey   – Ceylon tea, bergamot oil, but none of the caffeine; refreshing and delicate
10 Blue Lady – Better than Lady Grey, we think; a subtle mix with bergamot and lemon
11 Grapefruit EarlGrey – Deliciously refreshing variation on Earl Grey; our favourite Earl Grey
12 Lapsang Souchong – A smoky Chinese speciality; like Marmite you love it or hate it
13 Sherlock Holmes  – Earl Grey with Lapsang Souchong; our own mix: its elementary & good
14 Doctor Watson  – Our blend of Keemun, Darjeeling & Lapsang Souchong;: good with food
15 Moriarty  - Black Chai with delicious spices: star anise, pepper, cinnamon, fennel etc
16 Rose Congou – Sweetly fragrant rose-scented tea, ideal in the garden
17 Spring Tea     – China tea with raspberry & elderberry flavours juniper heather & more
18 Norfolk Lavender – China tea with lavender flowers from Heacham Mill; the scent of summer
19 Violet – China tea with violets: what better to accompany a Devon Cream Tea?
20 Lemon -  Flavoured with lemon and served with lemon slices: a tea to restore zest
21 Liquorice – For fans of Pomfret Cakes and Liquorice Allsorts, or just for a change
22 Vanilla – Gentle & exotic, an old favourite of ours to soothe the nerves at any time
23 Sweet Orange – A simple mix of black tea with the peel and essential oil of sweet oranges
24 Apple & Cinnamon – A warming blend with the aroma of apple pie
25 Arabic Tea – A simple favourite from the Middle East, spiced with cardamom and clove
26 Bengal Tiger – Flavoured with ginger, tasty tea with a bite: if you like ginger, you’ll love it
27 Cardamom  – Our recreation of a warm spicy blend we first came across in Mauritius
28 Keemun Best – Fragrant China tea from Anhui  a rich copper brew & slightly sweet taste
29 Yunnan – From the south-west China, it brews a rich, slightly earthy, malty flavour
30 Java    – A rich, golden-coloured brew from Indonesia, light and full of flavour
31 Darjeeling – A fragrant lighter Indian tea, from the foot hills of the Himalayas
32 Singbulli  – Early-picked, single-estate Darjeeling; a good breakfast tea
33 Ilam Valley – From Nepal with flowery tips for a delicate golden brew; well worth trying
34 Assam Special – Strong rich malty brew from north-east India; perfect in the morning
35 Nilgiri – From the Blue Mountains of south-west India: golden, brisk and fragrant
36 Lovers Leap – A famous, delicate, golden Ceylon tea, from Nuwara Eliya in the highlands
37 Kenya         – Specially made large leaf African tea with a smooth flavour
38 Kwazulu – A bright & rare South African tea, perfect to celebrate the 2010 World Cup
39 Margarets Hope – A light Darjeeling from a great tea garden; good without milk or lemon
40 Gorgie Best- From Georgia, via Paris; and a tribute to the worlds greatest player
41Tregothnan Classic – Real English tea  grown in Cornwall & blended with Assam & China tea
42 Autumn Blend  – China & Ceylon tea flavoured with fruits: quince fig grape hazelnut raisin
43 Kashmiri – Our first and best Chai: a rich blend of Indian spices, orange peel and more
44 Black Witch -  Dark spicy blend from Berlin including star anise, ginger, apple & cinnamon
45 ChocolateImperial- Chocolate and burnt caramel; rich, tempting and delicious; great with milk
46 Marco Polo – A real classic from Paris; with fruit & flowers of China & Tibet
47 Pleine Lune- Our favourite French tea; almonds, vanilla, honey etc; OTT & wonderful.
48 Billy Tea – From Queensland, mixed with Eucalyptus leaf & a bit of Lapsang Souchong

49 Moon Palace- Fine China Chun Mee; a smooth, sweetish yellow liquor with a hint of plum
50 Young Hyson- A historic China tea; picked in the early spring for a light fresh flavour
51GunpowderGreen – Rolled into small pellets; the amber liquor has a gentle herbal flavour.
52 Jasmine Blossom – Beautiful, fragrant tea, flavoured and decorated with jasmine flowers
53 Moroccan Mint- Green China Tea combined with spearmint for a refreshing N African tea
54Genmai Cha- Traditional Japanese blend of Bancha green tea and roasted brown rice
55Green Earl Grey- A delicate mix of China green tea with the citrus taste of bergamot
56 Blue River- A  Parisian blend of Green tea with fruit and flowers
57 Cerisier - A delightful cherry-blossom scented Japanese sencha tea: perfectly relaxing
58 Marengo- With a fruity North German flavour of sanddorn (sea buckthorn): delicious
59 Grapefruit Moon- Stunning citrussy blend: lemon grapefruit blood-orange bergamot cardamon

60 Formosa Peach – A light liquor with a slightly peachy aftertaste from large ragged leaves of tea
61 Orange Blossom Special – A fine Formosa oolong gently flavoured with orange blossom
62 Pai Mu Tan  White Peony Tiny new silvery-green leaves, giving a pale yellow liquor with a hint of nuttiness
63 Pu Erh – A dark China tea, specially stored after drying, for an unmistakable earthy taste
64 Vietnam Imperial An oolong with a great woody bouquet from First Class Teas; strongly recommended

65 Ginseng Oolong – Wonderful, smooth and balanced; rolled leaves coated in powdered ginseng
66 Charleston Tea – Black tea grown in the USAs only tea plantation on Wadmalaw Island SC.
67 Flor de Oro - Traditionally-made black tea, from Misiones province, Argentina; full flavoured
68 Cloud Forest – From Guatemala, organic black tea grown on the slopes of the Atitln volcano
69 Cha Gorreana - Azores Orange Pekoe – Black tea grown mid-Atlantic, at the very edge of Europe
70 Cochabamba – A rare, rich and distinctive Bolivian organic black tea grown high in the Andes
71 Golden Hook – An exotic black tea from China, with a colour, smell & taste all its own
72 Old Gentlemans Tea – An unusual black tea from Georgia; handmade by the grower, Yuri
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Does the list exhaust you? their teas are always an adventure and they also do something else that astounded me at first and now? I make a regular habit of! So what is it??? Their full monty tea service comes with a pot of tea, two scones, a slice of cake and a selection of tea sandwiches…. the sandwiches are made between two types of bread, a multi-grain brown bread and a white! A complete culinary revolution (for me, anyways…)!! Why not bind your sandwich between two slices of different breads??? It added a depth to a simple egg and cress (which btw, cress in an egg salad is AMAZING… something I would have attributed to health freaks in the States, but is almost a rule here! I might even grow my own cress for the occasion!) or cucumber and cream cheese! Something I encourage all you readers out there to try!

Another “fetish,” if you will? There is a tea shop in a town, a little ways away, where I like to get a different type of tea every time I go. I can get almost 1500 grams of tea for no more than 10-13 pounds, which is a steal and it lasts me plenty of months – and plenty of mornings to start with an adventure in tea.

Even the “original” Girls Next Door, that’s Bridget, Kendra and Holly went to London and experienced clotted cream, scones and tea while on a River Thames (pronounced ‘tem,’ for all you Americans and non-Brits! : ) )! And while the tour guide got Kendra and Bridget to try a dollop of clotted cream, all on its own – which I attribute to eating straight butter, and got them to hate it – I adore clotted cream! It’s lighter, sweeter, and much smoother than butter can ever be, whipped or not, and it is a great pairing for whatever preserve you “fancy” (check out that British-ism!).  I imagine Bridget and especially Kendra would have preferred their clotted cream to be smothering a scone and possibly with some kind of preserve rather than eating a tablespoon of it on its own. And if they had, its possible that “Parliament” would not have confused Kendra and she wouldn’t have flashed Parliament in that blight of confusion! … or maybe she would have. She was fairly susceptible to flashing anything and anyone that confused her when she was younger and in the earlier years of GND…

So now, you must be wondering where that recipe is??Would you pay me in gold for it? It is SO versatile!! I plan to make whatever kind of scones are seasonally calling my name, although my personal favorite and standby, available through my pantry, all year-long is the cran-rasin-white & milk chocolate!!

Here it is!!

Ingredients:

• 2 C unbleached, all-purpose flour
• 1 TBSP baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon (omit for blueberry scones or any type where you don’t want the cinnamon in it)
• 6 TBSP granulated sugar
• 1/2 C (1 stick) cold, unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 2 L eggs
• 1/4 C yogurt
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• you want generally 2/3 C of the main ingredients, then a half cup each of nuts, chocolate or other fillings. so a total of 1 2/3 C of fillings

Heat the oven to 350F/180C.

In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and cinnamon, set aside. Whisk in, until just combined (very important), sugar. Knead in butter with your fingers until it is well incorporated and forms pea size lumps or smaller.

the perfect texture of the flour mixture and butter... try to achieve just this...

Gently stir in the fillings until combined. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, yogurt and vanilla until silky and combined.

Patella gets to lick the spoon of eggs, vanilla and yogurt! One day, she will have competition over the spoon....

Sprinkle into the flour mixture gradually and toss with forks. At this stage, it is important to note that the less a scone mixture is handled, the fluffier and lighter it will be once it is baked – although there is a direct correlation between the height of the baked scone and the weight of the fillings, if you have too much filling to the amount of dough, the scone wont rise properly – which wont affect the flavor at all, just the consistency of the overall baked dough. A great way to tell is if the dough looks particularly “wet”… if it looks too wet, it will bake a little more dense than desired.

You can turn the shaggy dough onto a floured surface and gently pat and knead until it comes together on a dinner plate and flatten a bit, although the direct center should be a little higher than the rest of the mix. – or you can glob out bits of scone mix onto parchment paper and bake, the difference is only the shape. Of course, if you glob out bits with a spoon or the fork you used to toss the mixture, you handle the scone less and increase the chances that you will have a properly risen, light scone in the end. It was at this point that I had to stop and sing songs and play with Mei a bit to keep her content and let Patella smell the bowl of “goodness”…

getting a cheese bite for being such a helpful puppy! while Mei tries to sneak a bite!

If you choose to knead the dough on a dinner plate, cut it into triangles with a pizza cutter and gently move each triangular-shaped scone onto a parchment lined baking sheet.  Whisk an additional egg and brush onto the surface of each scone to give it a truly golden color. Aesthetics are half of the battle with a scone… : ) Making a beautiful bite of airy dough.

oven ready!

Bake for 20-25 minutes and until golden. If you handled the scone mix properly, there should be a “fault line” somewhere on each scone, where the dough broke and rose. If it tastes and feels dense and is missing the “fault line” the dough was over-handled. It will be tasty though, so enjoy it with your cup of coffee or tea or however you would like to enjoy it! Sometimes, we enjoy ours slathered in clotted cream, since we are in England, or just plain butter and some kind of preserves! My personal favorite is apricot – although strawberry is always a great standby! Or you can be really British and find yourself some blackcurrant preserve!!

Baking bread has been something I have been interested in for a long time, sliced or in rolls. I recently bought my husband a great book that is like an encyclopedia on the different types of flours and yeasts and their different properties and how each affects the types of bread you can bake, and how to get each to rise properly, etc. Reading up on the different loaves I’m interested in baking and different methods for doing it in your own home has been a time consuming and long process, but (hopefully) completely worth my while.

While I work up the courage to begin baking my own bread, I buy bread about once (sometimes twice) a week at the “bread people” – as I like to call them, in Bury at the market. They have a vast selection, all fresh baked for the market, lasts me 5-6 days, gets to the next market day the following week anyways. And the different types of loaves I buy depends on what I’m going to be having for meals during the week. If you get there early enough in the morning, yu cab smell the warm loaves and sweet taste that rolls out if the truck!

Today, I went with a friend and her two kids to Bury – they had never been before, and we bought a few granary (whole wheat) rolls for 25p to feed the ducks in the park at the Abbey. They had so much fun, and in between feeding the ducks, we munched on bits of the rolls.

They are open longer during the summer and tend to have a better selection of fresh foccacia breads and other baked goodies! We got the kids each their own cupcake, which they smeared all over their faces, content with a delious and beautiful treat - or “muffin” as one of them would say.

It reminds me of Kiki the Witch and fortunate I thought she was, as a child, watching the movie and wishing I could talk to a black cat, ride on an enchanted broom and work in a bakery! How great it must smell!! I think of it everytime I pass Le Panier at Pike’s Place Market in Seattle, I love going down there to watch the flying fish, getting a fresh baked croissant and a loaf of something for later that night and sometimes a bit of fresh cheese from the local cheesemaker on the next block down.

The Suffolk Food Hall in Ipswich has an artisan bread baking class that is offered a few times a year, but it costs quite a bit to take – of course, as it is taught by some of the best bakers in Suffolk … which is unfortunate. Is taking a class necessary to achieve the skills to bake bread? No, but it would possibly boost my confidence and help resolve some of the issues I attribute to baking my own bread. I would hate to turn out dense loaf after dense loaf, even if it tastes great – it could be awfully discouraging! Any tips out there from bread bakers??

In the meantime, I have added some “must-have” bread baking recipe books to my Amazon wishlist, so I can dream, research and continue to drool over the loaves in Bury while dreaming of baking my own!

My husband knew about my rather black, green thumb before we got married, but he really got to see it in action then! We planted a bunch of seeds in starter trays – vegetables, herbs, flowers… we had a few seedlings turn into leaves, but aside from that? Not much going on in our greenhouse, or in the ground… We planted potatoes, a whole bag of starter potatoes and they grew tall and flowered, but we never dug them up since  I didn’t quite know when they were ready. We also planted carrots and beets and actually grew some carrots – but we learned that it’s about two or three seeds per finger poked hole, spaced at least an inch apart. You only learn one way I suppose!

Our "bounty" of carrots!

All these things considered, today, at the farmer’s market, I couldn’t resist buying three starter tomato plants and one (spicy) red pepper plant. The price was a steal, considering for the cost of one starter tomato plant in the states I got four plants!! Since I was on vacation, introducing Mei to our family members at the beginning of this year when we start seedlings and plant things outside int he UK, I couldn’t plant the seeds that my husband and I bought this winter and I was kind of bummed about it. But the gardener who sold me the plants assured me that I could get the plants to bear fruit if I kept on top of them so he wrapped up four plants and I took them in my arms, carrying them proudly to my car, and safely to the house.

After Mei and I got home, we relaxed for a little while and played with a friend and her kids with Patella – then we got down to business (after finding my trusty shovel, gloves, and weeding hook tool thingy – so technical!). We have a greenhouse but the dirt in it is very, very dry (which is probably means the greenhouse is working like it should)and all last year I couldn’t get the dirt to stay damp or moist for any longer than a couple of hours, so I opted instead to weed out one end of one of our overgrown raised beds in the side yard and plant my precious tomatoes and peppers there. I started with dampening the soil with almost an entire bucket of water with a little miracle gro booster (which I hope works only for the vegetables and NOT for the weeds…) – it was like playing in the mud as a child again! Only the dirt was not very good at making mud. I just hope the sun doesn’t burn the leaves in the morning – that was a real problem last year.

trusty Patella, inspecting my work

In the process of rogue gardening, I discovered new plants! Of all the things we planted last year, the flowers have been the most mysterious… the ones we plant come up at weird times during the year, such as during the first snow in december, and then ones we didn’t see at all last year are coming up this year. Our rose bush bore flowers at three separate times last year, all of which made no sense whatsoever. I began pulling what looked like weeds and noticed that one of them headed out in a beautiful purple and red flower, unlike anything I have ever seen before!

what is this??

Maybe one of my readers can recognize it? Let me know what it is! We have only six or so of them, so instead of pulling them out, i weeded around them and gave them some room, so that I could watch them grow.

While I was weeding and making holes to transfer the plants, Patella found a crack in the fence where she could see the neighbor kids in the next cul-de-sac playing – it made her crazy!

She loves kids, slobbering all over them and following them around. Mei, on the other hand, played with links and her hippo, Lulu, in her car seat, in the shade while I was working the soil.

I followed the directions on the back of the tags and we now have three different types of tomatoes ”growing” (we will see anyways), two red – one of which resembles cherry tomatoes, but bigger, and the other is like a beefsteak, but not as big, and then the third is a beefsteak size yellow tomato and the only starter tomato that he had that was any other color or type other than red – so we brought that one home.

The peppers are cayenne, which, if they come to bear fruit, are going to make my husband very, very happy!

He can make 22 quarts of chili - or however large the crock pot we got for Christmas hold. He loves making chili in HUGE quantities, although we have not yet found a great go-to recipe. Does anyone out there have any suggestions?

So here is to my tomato plants and pepper plant! If any of you have suggestions for keeping them alive and getting them to bear fruit and/or be very successful, please share them! We are going to work on keeping them alive and fruitful everyday!

Patella munched on her breakfast while we waited for my tea to brew in the cup, lavender earl grey with a splash of milk and then, all of a sudden, Mei had a meltdown! She just needed a hug and in the meantime, the eggs started to get a bit overcooked so I quickly set her down again and grabbed my spatula to fold my omelet, and the eggs were a bit more golden than I would have liked. *sigh* But still darn tasty!

As I sat, enjoying my eggs, I began to think about lunch. No, I don’t just sit around and think about food all the time – but Mei and I needed to go grocery shopping, so I was making a list also and menu planning for the week so I could pick up the appropriate ingredients and thought a nice chicken salad would be nice! During my trip back to the states recently, I had a chicken salad sandwich at Arby’s that was amazing, with apples, pecans and grapes and just had a sudden hankering for it again! Why not? Those products are seasonal and fresh now, and aside from the pecans, I was really jazzed about this choice!

At the store, the granny smith apples were nice and tart and shiny, a vibrant spring green color and the grapes looked majestic, plump and juicy! I bought a rotisserie chicken, being that I was too impatient to want to bake or roast my own chicken – and it cost about the same! Although the next time I make this salad, I’m going to make the chicken myself and brine it the same way I brine the chicken for the buttermilk fried chicken recipe – because it has such a nice flavor this way.

Usually I like to go to Bury on either Wednesday or saturday to find the bread people and buy a good quality, artisan loaf, but Tesco happened to have a pretty decent multi-grain loaf that I bought for only 80p to use for this chicken salad sandwich endeavor.

I pulled out the ingredients and set them on the counter to begin assembling the salad.

 Patella impatiently waited while I stripped the bits of meat off the bones of the chicken.

 The apples were next, I diced them into bite size pieces and tossed them into the bowl with the chicken bits. I finally gave into Patella’s cuteness and gave her a bite of apple.

The grapes were sliced in half and tossed in the mix. In a separate bowl, I whisked together about 1/4 C of mayo and one cup of plain yogurt with a couple squeezes of lemon, salt and pepper and folded the resulting mix into the chicken mixture. It was about this time that Mei began to fuss and need to be held so I brought her up to the counter to check things out and approve the progress we were making with the chicken salad.

Then it was time to put the sandwich together – I sliced out the pieces of the multi-grain I needed for the sandwich and slathered one side with a heaping helping of chicken salad! YUM!!

It has been around for centuries. I remember reading in school how thrilled the British were with it when Colombus returned from India with it and they began using it on everything and sailors around the world would cure meat for their voyages with it; and driving India to gain independence from Britain.

Salt has impacted virtually every human civilization in recorded history. Placement of settlements, neolithic and nomadic groups searched for it and traded it for gold! How many of us can recount tales in any culture of offering bread to visitors to your home or town? Certainly the Bible, possibly the most widely read book throughout our history, has many references to salt; and many catch phrases such as “worth their salt” or “salt of the earth” has sprung from such sources. Although “worth his salt” stemmed from Ancient Greece where slaves were exchanged for salt, rather bleak, but it highlights the importance and value placed on salt, even then!

There is even an economic and military significance to salt! It has provided grounds on which to trade goods and to pay Roman soilders for their efforts. Once called salarium, which is the entemology of today’s “salary.” Salt, it simply amazing! It has the ability to make sweet things taste sweeter, mask bitter tastes and making naturally bitter foods (like chocolate) taste delicious! It even retards the growth of microrganisms that causes food to spoil!

So many people, huges fans of salt – yet me? I love it on mashed potatoes and roast beef, in moderation, but I could not possibly sprinkle it on cookies or even use a pinch or dash of it in any sort of baking recipe. And certainly I would not “salt to taste!”

But then I began really cooking, and realizing that in savory cooking, I use salt all the time, it is my number one go-to herb/spice in my mise en place by the stove! So why would it be such a problem to use it in baking?

Most bakers would argue that the pinch of salt in completely and utterly necessary and it goes unnoticed in the end product. I now realize, that it brings out all sorts of natural flavors in the food. I have begun to make small steps to overcome my “fear” of salt and use it. Sparingly at first, then testing the end product, and then more and more each time until I am happy with the amount that the recipe requires. This is especially important for me to be this tentative with salt because in baking, you dont know how it is going to turn out until it is done and I would rather avoid throwing out lots of baked goods because they were too salty.

Maybe, it is the growing debate that, being part American myself, that Americans have – as a culture, a disease called obesity. It is something that my husband fears! As many other people concern themselves with it. Even though salt naturally occurs in sweat, and we “need” it and consume it, so many people are concerned with the rate and volume at which we consume salt.

Growing up, in my mother’s kitchen, she limited the use of salt to the amount required to produce our family dinners and neglected to set a salt shaker out on the table. This made roast beef, one of the most entertaining meals we could eat, as I would (secretly, of course) search for the rump ends of the roast, where the most salt was deposited, scraping off the excess salt and eating a perfect bite of roast beef and a mound of rice on my fork, which was perfectly seasoned! The further you get into the roast, the sweet, salty taste diminished and the meat became more bland, so it was important to get the rump end. But other dishes we ate, had just the perfect amount of seasoning, so that you could not taste the salt, but rest assured, it was there!

Maybe, doing something as simple, as not providing excess salt throughout a meal would decrease our culture’s fear of salt and obesity? *shrugs* I certaintly don’t add additional salt to my meal when I eat out. Restaurants of today dont add additional salt, or render out natural salts from other foods to complete a dish, so that the diner should not need to add additional salt or seasonings. And as a growing cook, I find myself (slightly) offended if my husband and I sit down to a meal and he adds salt to his food – it maybe happened once, by the way… usually he adds sriracha! The man LOVES sriracha!

Red Cock Sauce! as my husband says!

Then I sit and wonder what I could have done to make the dish better… but the “red cock sauce” is always a ready condiment for any dish my husband eats, except cereal – but I wouldn’t put it past him!

As I raise my own daughter in my own kitchen, I noticeably limit her salt intake. In fact, until she is old enough to appreciate the difference, she will not have added salts to her foods, unless it is a dish I prepare with salt. There will be no salt shaker on her dinner table either, in hopes that it increases her ability to taste natural flavors and develop her palate so that she may one day appreciate the foodie that her mother is slowly becoming.

Im a mother, to a beautiful four month old baby girl – Mei and of course, a loyal one year old, chocolate shar-pei, Patella Starscream, working through recipes in a quaint kitchen in England.

Since becoming a mother, cooking has become something of an act in the show “O” – in Las Vegas, one foot bouncing a baby, the other tripping over a puppy, cracking eggs carefully into a hot frying pan, attempting to fold green bell peppers, ham, mozarella, and tomatoes into a perfectly formed omlet for breakfast. Taking care of course, not to overcook the eggs, over the background of an impatient baby and puppy, and spit of the olive oil against the egg in the pan – all rapidly growing in their need for my attention. The hiss of the frying pan competes with Patella, both of whom are competing to be heard and tended over Mei’s insistent cries. My tea patiently brews, quietly in a cup, waiting to be cooled by the perfect amount of milk.

Once the omlet and tea have been made, we all move into the living room to parse facebook, read the current issues of Saveur and Food & Wine, chat with my husband online and hunt down more recipes to try out or tips to increase the quality and success of “recipes in progress” …

I have been cooking, or at least ‘supervising’ my mother cook at first, while working up to cooking chores as my ability to peel vegetables were developed, since I was five years old. My first food memory is being asked to peel a carrot.

My mother handed me a peeler and a carrot and asked me to peel it so we could add carrot slices to that evenings miso soup (we had a bowl of rice and miso soup for nearly every meal while I was growing up). So I sat on the stool in the kitchen, and over a bowl set on my lap, I began to peel the carrot. I peeled and peeled and peeled away, working my way around the carrot, diligently peeling away layer after layer of orange carrot peel. Eventually, I realize that the carrot is growing smaller and smaller and I cant seem to get rid of the “orange peel” exterior and ask my mother when you know that a carrot has sufficiently been peeled. She looked at me, laughed and added the tiny, twig of a carrot to my miso soup portion while my brother, mother and father had, literally, carrot peels in their portions. I learned an invaluable lesson in peeling vegetables that night – not all vegetables “change colors” when they are “peeled”…. good to know!

Most of my food habits were taught to me by my mother, the rest I have various chef “icons” to thank.

Before my husband and I moved to England, I was in the middle of my career and working on my bachelors degree, so I had very little time and energy to devote to actually working through complicated, multi-step, multi-day recipes and was reduced to collecting tools, gadgets and cookbooks. A now tattered notebook holds notes, tips and recipes jotted down from friends, famliy, websites, that I have either tried or put quite a bit of research into, with fresh sticky notes and notes now that I have been able to begin executing recipes.

A gift of cookbooks from my mother-in-law, this past Christmas, has only expanded my growing cooking library.

Usually I look the other way, flip the channel or ignore any mention of Martha Stewart, but, as you can clearly see in my library, I own a copy of Martha Stewarts Cooking School. This one came highly reccommended and I extend the reccommendation to aspiring foodies and all home cooks, interested in expanding their food “how-to” as her book has fabulous frame-by-frame, color photos, on doing very basic things required in most recipes that generally “assumed knowledge.”

The others are much coveted and lovingly sticky-noted throughout, as I make plans to try my hand at each delicious dish awaiting my growing talents and taste buds.

The beneficiaries of my cooking, my husband, Patella and Mei, definantly don’t discourage my obsession with cooking, trying new techniques and recipes but sometimes my husband has a hard time approving of the amount of an ingredient that is required for one step in a recipe that will get tossed out; ie. the amount of salt required to salt bake a fish. But all these details melt away with the first few bites of a new, delectable dish!

There is so much to blog on, dishes to document and new recipes to try!