Halfway Mark

We've reached the halfway point of N being away, and today happens to be our 13th wedding anniversary (in NZ, it's tomorrow here).  I guess, unlucky for us, given we can't celebrate together this year.

We've had a less hectic week, but still haven't much to show for it!  Some highlights:

* Playgroup at our place this week

* A bunch of skype conversations with family and friends (Thank you all)

* An impromptu playdate with J's friends that ended up with them staying for dinner after splashing in the paddling pool

* Hearing a friend preach at church on Ephesians 4:1-16

* Fun at Kai's 4th birthday party at a spray/splash park. Left my camera on the countertop with our sunscreen, but it was awesome to watch both boys having fun with the fountains of water, and chowing down on watermelon.

* Dessert for one (or two if you're not as greedy as me!)  Here's the recipe and my modifications.

Dangerous Chocolate Cake In-A-Mug (from St Matthews Church Recollections Recipe Book 1961-2011)

Ingredients:
1 coffee mug
4 Tbsp flour
4 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp cocoa
1 egg
3 Tbsp oil
3 Tbsp milk
Small splash vanilla essence
3 Tbsp chocolate chips (optional)

Method:
Put dry ingredients in the mug and mix well with a fork.  Add egg, mix thoroughly.  Pour in milk, oil and essence, combine then add chips if using.  Put mug microwave and cook for 3 minutes (1000W oven).  Cake will rise over the top of the mug, do not be alarmed.  Allow to cool, then tip out.  This can serve 2 if you want to feel virtuous!

And WHY is it the most dangerous cake inthe world? - because you are now only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake any time of the day or night!

My notes: a bit stodgy for cake so better as pudding eaten right out of the mug.  I have also made a variation (when cocoa was unavailable) substituting orange essence for the vanilla and spooning a couple of tablespoons of caramel sauce/icecream topping over the cooked cake still in the mug.  Yum!

Berry Nice

The kitchen has been busy here lately, despite the heat.  I got a good deal on some blackberries (12 x 6oz punnets) through our food co-op a fortnight ago and this week I've ordered strawberries.

One punnet was made into blackberry and apple galette based on Sophie Gray's "Free-form fruit galette" (from Destitute Gourmet: Everyday Smart Food for the Family, p. 51).  The pastry is deliciously 'short' and easy... 1 heaped cup flour mixed with 80g butter until crumbly, add enough water (a few tablespoons) to bring it together in a smooth dough.  Rest in fridge 20 mins.  Roll out in rough circle of 35cm and place on baking sheet.

The recipe calls for egg yolk to seal the pastry but I didn't bother.  It is then supposed to be sprinkled with 2 Tbsp of semolina, which I didn't have.  I didn't have quick cooking tapioca either (the US pie-making staple) so I substituted 2 Tbsp of dry baby rice cereal (of which I have plenty at present!) to absorb the fruit juices as the galette cooked and prevent soggy pastry.  Then pile prepared fruit in the centre (about 700g).

Fold up the edges to encase the fruit and sprinkle with sugar, up to 1/3 cup.  Instead of using egg white to glaze the pastry, I dampened the exposed edges with water and sprinkled some sugar there too.

Bake approximately 35 minutes, or until fruit is cooked and pastry golden.  Serve with cream or icecream for a decadent touch. :o)

This one wasn't as spectacular as another galette I baked earlier in May with super-ripe apricots, mangoes and blackberries... odd but delicious combo!  This is a very versatile recipe that can be used with preserved, tinned or fresh fruit in virtually any combination (draining the juice or syrup off, of course).

Two more punnets of blackberries have been frozen for use in future pies, muffins, etc.

The remaining punnets were cooked in two batches of apple and blackberry jam.  The recipe is from a NZ food magazine but I've lost the reference (I think it may have been the inaugural issue of Dish).

Wash and thinly slice 350g of apples, leaving the core in and skin on. (I took out the stalk.)

 Place in a large saucepan with 1 kg of (washed) blackberries and 2 c water.  Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer until apples are very soft.

 Remove the fruit with a slotted spoon and blend in a food processor until smooth.

 (Weigh the bowl you are about to use, or reset your scales to zero with the bowl on top.) Place a sieve over a bowl and push the fruit pulp through using the back of a spatula or metal spoon.  You should have about 1/2 c of seeds to discard, or else your sieve may be too fine. (I had way more to discard but I wasn't about to ruin my flour sifter!)

 Strain the cooking liquid over the sieved pulp and whisk together.  Weigh the mixture and add an equal weight of sugar, e.g. 500g of fruit pulp needs 500g sugar.  (See why it was important to weigh the bowl now?)  Put fruit and sugar back into the cleaned saucepan.  Add the juice of 1 lemon.  (I had frozen lime juice so I used about 4 Tbsp.)  Heat gently to dissolve the sugar - important so jam doesn't crystallize and go sugary when stored. (Put a saucer in the fridge to cool.  Sterilize jars.)

 Increase the heat and boil rapidly to setting point (see below), skimming any foam from the top.  (It only means the finished jam is more attractive, but I figure that the apples here are usually waxed so skimming of the froth can't be a bad thing!)

 Pour quickly into sterilized jars and seal.  (I finally found a use for all those baby food jars that are accumulating.)  Seals should 'pop' in when cool.  Store in a cool dry place.  (If seals don't pop, store in fridge and use within 6 weeks.  Makes about 4 cups.

Setting point:  To test for setting point, place a small amount of jam on a chilled saucer.  Gently push it with a spoon (not your finger - this stuff is hot!).  If it wrinkles it is at setting point otherwise, keep boiling.  When setting point is reached this jam sets quickly!
Sterilize jars: put through a hot cycle of the dishwasher.  Or wash in hot, soapy water; rinse well; place on an oven tray on a cold oven; heat to 250*F and leave for 1/2 hour.  Handle with care!

Lovely Leftovers

On Tuesday we were getting a bit tired of leftovers from our Easter meal.  So I 'invented' something new for both mains and dessert.

Ham Salad

Combine (in proportions you have to hand):

ham, cubed
pineapple pieces (I cut up the pineapple on the ham itself)
asparagus, chopped (steamed or boiled)
green beans (I used the last of the leftover green bean casserole so it had a bit of mushroom soup too)
cooked pasta shapes (we had some gifted Italian Pesto pasta from Pappardelle's at Pike Place Market)

Dress with mayonnaise thinned with orange juice.  Serve with romaine lettuce leaves and crusty fresh bread.

Notes: adding something crunchy (like nuts) or peppery (like radishes) would be good too.

Hot Cross Pudding

This is inspired by bread pudding, strata, and "Poor Man's Souffle" - so it is basically a bread and egg bake.

Ingredients:
1/2 doz stale hot cross buns (or thereabouts!)
2 eggs
2 c milk
2 T sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp orange essence
1 Tbsp butter (plus more for greasing, or oil)
2 handfuls of blueberries (about 1/2 a small punnet? Sorry, they were frozen in a big bag!)

Method:
Grease a shallow baking dish.  Cut the buns into roughly 1-inch cubes.  Spread in the baking dish.

Whisk together eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon and essence.

Pour over buns.  Gently turn pieces to soak up more egg mixture.  Turn on oven to 350*F/180*C.  Leave buns to absorb egg mixture while oven heats. When oven is heated, sprinkle blueberries over buns and dot with butter.

Bake for 50 minutes or until egg is cooked (a knife inserted into the centre comes out clean).  Serve warm.

Notes: Not overly rich or sweet.  Would be good for breakfast, too.  (Construct night before and bake when first getting up.)  Try substituting ginger for the cinnamon, and zest for the orange essence as neither flavour was particularly strong. Make sure you grease the dish well!

Food Course: Taste and See

Our class was really a book discussion on May 15. Our reading assignment was "the WHOLE book if possible"... that is, "The Supper of the Lamb" by Robert Farrar Capon. I had read this book for the Christian Thought & Culture class last year, so this was a pleasant refresher for me.

Capon focusses on the need to be mindful of the world we live in, in order to appreciate God's goodness more fully. He sees our role in the world as priests; making meaning in our actions, living in a posture of thanksgiving to God, paying attention to things for their own sake and appreciating and using them at their best. Our discussion ranged far and wide, bringing together many strands of our previous classes.

The whole book is quotable, so here are some of my favourites that the class picked:
“… let us eat. Festally, first of all, for life without occasions is not worth living. But ferially, too, for life is so much more than occasions, and its grand ordinariness must never go unsavored” (p.18).
“Against all that propaganda for fancy eating and plain cooking, I hope to persuade you to cook fancy and just plain eat" (p.144).
"Man's real work is to look at the things of the world and to love them for what they are. That is, after all, what God does, and man was not made in God's image for nothing" (p.18).

In the afternoon, we had a visit from a friend and farm meighbour of the Wilkinsons, Sherri Koster. Sherri is a clinical counsellor, and we had a helpful Q&A time with her about food disorders from a medical (and Christian) point of view.

Our final mindful meal was centred on a Turkish theme:

We ate appetizers with headscarves on, before Debbie read a New Testament passage about our freedom in Christ. We were then invited to either remove our headscarves, or to eat with them on, in solidarity with persecuted Christians around the world.
Olives, Hummus, and Pita Bread

Roast Lamb, Kabouli Palau, Eggplant Bake, Greek Salad (accompanied by raki/ouzo... much better with water!)

Halva, and Turkish Apricots Afterwards, Ben set up a houka for some to smoke...

and some of us just enjoyed the turkish coffee...or giggled our way through some belly dancing!

The night ended with a little talent sharing... poetry, banjo, piano, story reading... and an impromptu campfire on the beach.

Food Course: The Hungry Soul

The discussion this day focussed on food disorders: obesity, anorexia, bulimia, and the greatest food disorder, hunger. Mary Ruth explored three basic roots of all these disorders - geographic change, cultural change, and familial change.

The conversation about geographic change focussed on the effects of urbanisation, changes in the size and nature of farms, and the change in how we use our homes (especially how zoning and consumerism 'feed' our lifestyles in the latter). We talked about how cultural changes are shown in the denial of real stages of life (e.g. in fashion, aging or anti-aging, tween culture), conformity to a prescribed beauty, and denial of classic sources of wisdom (family, place, and self are replaced with media influences). Familial change reflected the impact of households where both parents work, changes in food preparation and preservation, and children's schedules that rival their parents.


Some possible small steps we discussed were:

• refusing to buy into fads - thinking carefully before we buy/do things
• choosing to walk - a way of promoting community, exercise, safety, slowing down...
• reducing meat consumption - awareness of animal care issues, sourcing food resulting in intentionality, seasonal eating, meat flavour trumping size
• modelling healthy attitudes to food and our bodies - acknowledging that most people hunger for love, joy, acceptance and approval... and that churches ought to be places of healing in these areas too

Our reading was from two books: Harvey Levenstein's "The Paradox of Plenty" and "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan. The quote I chose comes from the latter, page 81: “But the industry’s influence would not be nearly so great had the ideology of nutritionism not already undermined the influence of tradition and habit and common sense – and the transmitter of all those values, mom – on our eating.”


Our mindful meal this evening was an Indian meal with a focus on our senses. We started by washing our hands. The meal looked beautiful, as did the spice illustrations. We ate with our hands (even though we tried to use only one - as is traditional). We smelt all the beautiful spices as the group cooked and tried to identify them at the table. We tasted a wide variety of flavours: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, hot... And we heard the crack of poppadums, the crunch of radishes, the gentle whisper of naan scooping up dhal, and the satisfied sounds of diners as they tasted the chai tea icecream!
The menu was:
Appetizer - Poppadums serverd with Mango-Apple Chutney, Lime Pickle, Cucumber Raita, Cilantro (Coriander leaf)-Onion Relish Salad - White and Red Radish Salad Entrees (Mains) - Basmati Rice and Naan Bread with Baji Dhal (East Indian Spinach and Lentils) and Roasted Vegetables Dessert - Chocolate Cake with Chai Tea Ice Cream

This day also happened to be Mel's birthday, so the chocolate cake became a birthday cake...

complete with a hidden thimble - a la Nancy Willard's book, "The High Rise Glorious Skittle Skat Roarious Sky Pie Angel Food Cake" (illustrated by Richard Jesse Watson).

"Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see -- how good God is." Psalm 34:8

Food Course: Our Mindful Meal

One of the assignments for the food course was a 'mindful meal': "students will work together to plan, cook, serve, and present an evening meal to the class. The presentation should include 1) their rationale for the choices of the particular meal; 2) any history they can discover about the food used, the cooking methods, ethnic origin, and so on; 3) the point of origin and transportation details of the food items. In other words, their job is to awake in us a mindful appreciation of and sense of responsibility for what we are eating - AND a delight in food as a gift of God in creation."

My group discovered early in our discussions that we all came from different countries... me from NZ, Esther from England, Matt from USA, Elly from Canada, Claudia from Austria, and Soohwan from Korea. Consequently, we planned our meal around a simple lamb stew. Wanting to bring a bit of ourselves to this meal, we chose to unite 'homestyle' elements of each of our food heritages, in the same way a stew brings together many ingredients to add flavour to one another. Since the majority of our cultures were western, we chose not to include a Korean dish, but instead, to eat our meal in the context of Korean manners, where traditional ettiquette is governed by social class and respect for elders.

Our menu was as follows (sources in italics):

REFRESHMENTS
Beer, Water, Wine
Beer: Matt’s kitchen (with transport via the ferry with Roxy)
Water: from the farm well
House Wine: from the Wilkinson’s cellar
APPETIZER
Spinach Dip in Bread Bowls with carrots and bread for dipping
Spinach: Matt’s garden (again, thanks to Roxy)
Bread: made right here
Other ingredients from Vancouver Island
MAIN COURSE
Lamb Stew with Dumplings, Garlicky Mashed Potatoes, and Green Beans
Lamb: Campbell’s Farm, Saturna Island
Beans: canned by the Wilkinsons last summer
Fresh Herbs: from the Wilkinson’s garden
Other ingredients from Vancouver Island
DESSERT
Topfencreme
Quark: from Foothills Creamery, Alberta, that makes European style cheeses
Other ingredients from Vancouver Island

We each wrote about why we had chosen these foods and how they represented our cultures, and included this information, along with a summary of Korean table etiquette, on our menu sheets. My ingredient was lamb so I wrote about NZ sheep farming and my grandparents' farm. Our table decorations were 'homestyle' too: bouquets of grass, driftwood to sit breadbowls and hot dishes on, and simple candles.

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Matt's beer and his spinach dip were great (and I don't even like beer much!) There was enough lamb stew and dumplings for two dinners (Esther and I made it stretch a long way, based loosely on this recipe). Elly's green beans and mashed potatoes were gobbled up quickly. Claudia's topfencreme (see recipe below) was delicious. By far, the most difficult part of the evening was sticking to the Korean manners that Soohwan explained to us - but that made for a lot of laughter, learning and conversation.

TOPFENCREME

• 250g quark
• 250g whipped cream (250ml whipping cream)
• 500g vanilla yoghurt
• sugar
• mixed berries (fresh or frozen)

Defrost berries if necessary. Add sugar to berries to taste.

Mix quark and yoghurt until smooth. Fold in whipped cream. Add sugar to taste.

Serve cream mixture with berries drizzled over. (Leftovers... if there are any... make a nice topping for sweet pancakes or waffles.)

Serves 4.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Here is our Canadian Thanksgiving dinner before: And after:We had roast chicken with cranberry sauce, roast sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, and green beans. For dessert we had pumpkin pie with whipped cream (sorry, I forgot to take a picture).

As you can see from the first picture, I got the cranberry sauce from a can, and a ready-made pumpkin pie from the supermarket bakery. I had not intended to do this. Being on a budget, however, I was surprised to find that it was cheaper to buy both these items rather than to make them from scratch. Even cheating - by making it with pumpkin pie filling in a can - was more expensive!

Apparently, the North American art of baking is being lost. It is rare to find someone who has the time, budget, and inclination to cook from flour, sugar, butter, etc (except in food blogs - see links). Maybe this is why the faculty are gobbling up my baking so readily! It is generally accepted that cookies come from a tube of dough, frosting comes in a can, muffins are packet mix with milk added, pie crusts are not made but bought, and afternoon tea for guests is bought at a bakery on the way home. This is a tragedy! (Can you tell I'm calling for a counter-cultural revolution?!)

The tragedy of packet cooking aside, the other possible tragedy of big dinners is wasted leftovers. So the chicken and veges were made into potato-topped pie and the pumpkin pie was happily consumed in the following days. My one dilemma was what to do with the cranberry sauce because most of the can was leftover. After a stint in the freezer as I deliberated, the sauce was drained of excess liquid and became the filling, along with a red eating apple (skin on), for a cranberry & apple shortcake. Here it is with some apricot yoghurt, before being devoured.

P.S. Check out the library blog my mum contributes to here. It is a great resource for teachers and lovers of children's books. She is 'Lynn, P. North', and you can see a picture of her display "Kikorangi Blue" there too. Well done, Mum!

A Call to Cater

The past week or so has been a flurry of first classes and catering functions. My new job, as catering assistant to the Dean's office, kicked off with a hiss and a roar on the Friday before classes started. With some input from my boss, Lynne, I planned and catered for the faculty and spouses dinner at the start of the academic year. An 'old' friend, April, and a 'new' friend, Amanda, helped me prepare and serve a three course meal. Talk about pressure to perform! Not only my lecturers, but also their spouses, had their first taste of my food, and formed ideas (and expectations) of my offerings for the remainder of the year. I hope the bar hasn't been set too high.

For those who want to know, the menu was as follows:

Appetisers - creamy dip with carrot, cucumber & celery sticks, and pita crisps
- crackers with a selection of cheeses (French brie, goats, & various shades of cheddar)

Main/Entree - chicken thighs, stuffed with roasted red capsicum & wrapped in bacon
- lettuce salad & pasta salad (both laden with vegetables)
- a wild rice medley
- fresh bread and butter

Dessert - chocolate and lemon yoghurt cakes
- vanilla icecream
- fresh fruit platter


All the planning came together smoothly and it was deemed a success by Lynne, my helpers, and the faculty. One of the most enjoyable parts of the job, apart from the good food and great help, was the privilege of interacting with the faculty in a social setting. Another highlight was being hosted in the home of Phil & Polly Long, having free reign in their kitchen and access to all their beautiful (possibly antique) dinnerware and their handmade pottery servingware.


The food must have made an impression because it resulted in an 'on the spot' request for me to cater for a library function this past week so a lemon and a chocolate cake were duly dispatched. This then expanded to an order for 120 chocolate chip cookies, advertised as the incentive to attend library orientation for new students! Apparently they were well received also.


When the cookie order was placed the caveat was "no nuts please". Thinking chocolate chip cookies and chocolate chip biscuits were one and the same, this came as a bit of a surprise. Further research, however, revealed quite a difference in recipe and result. I used this recipe, and found the accompanying story rather sweet. Be warned: the recipe yielded 3 dozen cookies, not the 4 dozen promised... thank goodness I had enough extra ingredients!


These two extra jobs have been perfectly timed by God. The money was provided just as we had to purchase a new electric kettle/jug. We discovered the stove-top kettle was rusting from the inside out, so two days of boiling water in a pot for the numerous cups of tea we (well, one of us) consumes was getting a bit tiresome!


My more regular catering duties were also fulfilled during the week too. The faculty meeting coffee & dessert consisted of baby lemon meringue pies and chocolate zucchini muffins. The faculty at coffee break enjoyed savoury zucchini muffins and cheese and crackers left over from the faculty dinner. As you may have guessed, there were a few zucchini left over from the dinner too!


Some more focus on the actual reason for being here (i.e. study!) is needed now, as my call to cater has eased off for a wee while at least.

Coconut Cupcakes

This recipe was adapted by our friend, Tien, from an online coconut cake recipe she found. She made cupcakes instead, and they're scrummy! We had them with fruit-salad-icecream from the Filipino bakery around the corner from Tien's place.

2 c all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 c butter
1 c sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla flavouring
1 c coconut milk
1 c flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350ºF (175ºC). Prepare cupcake cases in muffin tins.

Mix flour, baking powder and salt together, and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Mix in vanilla. Alternately add flour mixture and coconut milk, mixing well between each addition. Fold in flaked coconut.

Spoon batter into cupcake cases. Bake until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. The original recipe for a cake says 1 hour, but start with 15 minutes and check after that.

Raspberry Bars

(adapted from Taunton’s Fine Cooking Magazine – Dec 2006)

Yields about 4 dozen bars.

375g unsalted butter at room temperature (plus more for pan)
1⅔ c granulated sugar
2 large eggs
3½ c all-purpose flour
2oog hazelnuts, toasted & chopped (1⅔ c)
2 c raspberry jam

Heat the oven to 350ºF. Butter a 9x13-inch baking pan.
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the flour and mix just enough to incorporate. Add the nuts and mix until just blended.
Press about two thirds of the mixture into the prepared pan. Spread with raspberry jam, then crumble the remaining dough on top. Bake until the top is lightly browned, about 1 hour. Cool and cut into squares.

Yummy as a dessert, served warm with icecream!