salty

stuffing lemons with salt
Originally uploaded by etcher67

That was a bit of a break, wasn't it?

I have been preserving lemons (not all of the time). It is absurdly easy: you slit them in four, stuff them with salt and whack them into a jar. If you are me you also forget to check that they will fit through the jar top and end up with lemon juice all over your face. After that you watch with fascination as the jar fills with lemon juice. They are ready to be used in delicious Moroccan type recipes after a couple of weeks and keep for a year, so don't be at all surprised if you get them for Christmas.

still

It's half term, and the sun is trying to shine.

I might walk to the library.

I might buy Indian snacks.

I might bake bread.

I might play my ukulele.

I might finish my knitting.

I might look for a new job.

I might take some pictures.

I might feel better.

equipped

My new rolling pin has arrived! I have already spent several happy minutes brandishing it, in the style of a 1950's housewife faced with a mouse, only I was in school at the time of its arrival so got to brandish it at children which was surely much more fun.

It has come just in the nick of time to miss all the Christmas baking that we did, where much rolling had to be carried out with the aid of an empty wine bottle. I kept forgetting to keep the wine bottles, and so had to drink new bottles in order to keep myself in rolling things, which was a terrible curse.

Now I must find a place to keep my new equipment until it is needed in the next baking rush. This is going to be a difficulty as the kitchen, which has cupboards that are stupidly small and drawers that are stupidly false-fronted became officially full at the time of the cookie cutter purchase.

I am tempted to make a celebratory cheese straw.

days when I ain't spotty

tablecloth
Originally uploaded by etcher67

1. The Rite of Spring. Monster guiros, Batman!
2. Leffe. I really like Leffe. Yes I do. Really.
3. Nigel Slater's August 14th. Good grief: unfeasably delicious.
4. Zatoichi.
5. Wellies! A bargain at £9.99. No, they aren't flowery.
6. Blackberry picking (in wellies).
7. Shortbread baking (also in wellies, as it happens).
8. Freecycle. I have freecycled away my old chest of drawers, as well as some curtains and a bird table. Freecycle is marvellous.

the cake that refused to go away

Cut and Come Again (with resolutely imperial measurements)

1/2 lb self raising flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 round tsp mixed spice
4oz butter or marge
4oz demerera sugar
30z currants
3oz sultanas
1oz mixed peel
2oz glace cherries, washed and chopped
2 eggs + enough milk to make the liquid up to 1/2 pint
grated rind of an orange (add this to the milk and eggs)
7 inch cake tin

Grease and line the tin (always my job aged about 8). Preheat the oven to gas mark 4 (moderate, or 350 F.) Rub the butter or marge into the flour and other dry ingredients until it looks like breadcrumbs. This is very satisfying but if you are in a hurry I think you're probably allowed to use a mixer these days. Stir in the sugar and the fruit, then add the egg and milk mixture with the orange rind and beat until you have a smooth batter (which is full of fruity lumps, obviously). Pour the mixture into the tin and sprinkle a little more sugar over the top (for the crunch). Cook in the centre of the oven for about 1 hr 20 mins (it's worth checking after an hour if you have a fan oven). Once cooked, remove from the tin and stand on a rack to cool. In other words, have a slice while it's still warm, it'll give you indigestion but it's delicious.

Also:
Cake cooking is generally best accompanied by something on Radio 4. I recommend 'Just a Minute'. Plays are also good, but you'll have to find something else to do in the kitchen after the cake so that you can hear the end. If Radio 4 is unavailable, Radio 2 will do at a pinch but it'd better be Jimmy Young.



Happy cooking!