Looking for an excuse to use Brandy butter?

You should be.

Christmas is the season for Mince Pies. And, if you know me, you know that "pie" is most typically followed by "a la mode." In fact, I see pie as more of a topping for ice cream than the other way around.

So I made the offhand comment one day that mince pies would be pretty good if they were served warm with ice cream, and it was one of those moments where everyone suddenly realizes you're a leper and takes a couple of nervous steps backward. I think one person said, "Gross," which was generous. I was assured that the main thing my mince pie experiences were missing was Brandy butter. What is Brandy butter? I was happy to buy some and find out.

My local store-brand Brandy butter consists of about 47% butter, 47% powdered sugar, and 6% forms of brandy (including cognac). Who feels festive now?

Saltmarsh Lamb and Mint Crisps: Pro or Con?

We were discussing British Cuisine the other day at work, and I made some comment to the effect that since moving to this side of the pond, I am in cheddar heaven. Maybe this is what life is like in Wisconsin but, for someone who feels like all good American cheddar originates in Grafton, Vermont, UK Cheddar is the epitome of everything I had ever hoped for in a cheese. I prefer extra-strong cheddar, known locally as level 6.

All of which to say, my colleagues asked me to share the complimentary words. "Please let your fellow Americans know that our food isn't terrible!!" was the rallying cry. And so, out of deference to my British colleagues, I offer you this humble list pro and con list of British food from my current vantage point, two months in.

Jen's Pros

• Cheddar (see above)
• Mustard. Mustard here is really very good. It's strong, approaching high-quality German mustard even in it's most mundane forms. Even the store brand mustard is really good. And Colman's Mustard is basically wasabi.

Needless to say, Dave really, really likes Colman's. Then I found this vintage Colman's ad, which is just uncanny.

Uncanny, assuming that the idea of Dave playing cricket makes sense to you.

• Biscuits. I've never been shy about my love of cookies, but they take it to a whole new level with one kind of biscuit in particular: The dark chocolate covered shortbreads, with the milk chocolate covered ones in a close second. In a different league altogether (because they're Belgian) are the Jules DeStrooper Stroop Waffle. Note, these have a thin layer of caramel in the middle. Sheer joy!!!

• Meat pie. I never thought I'd come around on this one, but it's really good. Maybe it's the shortbread crust and the quantity of gravy involved, but man is meat pie good. In all its forms, including Cornish Pasty. Meat pie. Mmmmmm.
• Whiskey. I've really come around to the peaty thing. I also think it helps that pretty much all of the labels feel like they were designed by Thomas Jefferson in the Monticello library. (They don't look like they were designed by him, mind you, but maybe like they wish they were.)

Jen's Cons

• No tofu. I have to go to the specialty Asian grocery store to get tofu. They don't have it at the grocery stores here (that I've seen), which I attribute to the crazy quantities of meat everywhere--especially sausage.
• No decent coffee. Whole-bean coffee is particularly tricky at the grocery store, where there isn't too much selection in this regard. I think coffee is a delicacy here. Read that sentence again. The mind boggles.
• Mediocre beer. This isn't just about the cask ale thing, as I actually have come to really like cask ale in this cold weather. It's about the mouthfeel, which is often a bit watery compared to some of the American microbrews by which I have been spoiled. It turns out American beer is just much stronger than British beer. No wonder Guinness is the best-known beer outside the country, as it's one of the tastiest ones within it.

Dave's Pros
I'm not foolish enough to weigh in on everything Dave loves here, but there are a couple of items worth noting.

• Wine Gums. They're just gummies, like gummie bears or Swedish fish, but called wine gums. They are shaped like names of wine (e.g., Bordeaux, port) but are not flavored like wine. They're just plain gummies. He thinks they are amazing. I cannot make heads or tails of this.
• Meat-flavored crisps. Tonight's flavor was Saltmarsh Lamb and Mint. He loved them. "Wonky" seems more apt to me.

Making Gin

So, I had this idea after we saw the Sipsmiths' tasting table at the store. Sipsmiths is a micro-distillery in London - apparently the first copper-pot distillery to open in 200 years. The gin was nice, too, and not too badly priced.

I thought I would look into what, exactly, gin is. Whisky or whiskey is grain-based: corn, barley, rye, etc. bourbon is made from corn. I bet you can guess what rye whiskey is made from. Brandy or grappa is distilled wine. I knew gin had juniper berries in it, but how is it made? Ferment the berries? To the internets!

Turns out it's neutral spirits (grain-based, again) with botanicals added. I guess every distillery has their own version, so here's what I tried:


take a liter bottle of vodka - i used smirnoff red, as it was on sale at the store -

add 2 Tablespoons juniper berries. Let soak overnight.

The following morning, add

3/4 tsp coriander seed
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp fennel seed
3 green cardamom pods
2 black peppercorns
1 bay leaf, torn into pieces
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp lavender
1 piece of lemon peel, roughly a 2 inch square.

Let this soak all day. strain out the bits that night and enjoy.


if I was doing it again i would definitely use a mason jar or something and make up a little packet with the spices, fold up a coffee filter into a little teabag and staple it shut.

filtering all the stuff out was a big pain because i didn't have a strainer or anything, ended up pouring into another bottle through a fork, then pouring back through the fork into the first bottle, then dumping the rest into a mixing bowl and then pouring THAT through the french press screen into a wineglass, then into the bottle.

Only spilled about an ounce that way, but still, unnecessary if you go with the packet method.

Two loaves of bread, made for Thanksgiving dinner. 

Left: salami-cheddar bread

Right: Spotted Dick, aka raisin bread

Somehow no other Thanksgiving photos survived. My excuse is going to be that I was busy in the kitchen all afternoon and evening. Little tip for those of you out at home - if your cranberry stuffing has too many cranberries, the chicken will look like it's not cooked for a long time. a looooooong looooooooooooong time. I kept waiting for the juices to run clear; finally we cut up the bird to cook bits individually in a skillet, and figured out what was really going on. The whole cavity was pink from cranberries. Oh well. Eating an hour later than planned was not the end of the world.

The week after, I decided to try my hand at a traditional meat pie. It's cold, so I like having kitchen projects that involve a lot of cooking. First off I started a pot of vegetable stock - step one was caramelizing onions in the cast-iron casserole, then adding carrot, parsnip and onion peels, the ends of some celery, and a bit of garlic. After the vegetables were in, I filled the casserole 2/3rds full of water, covered it, and put it in the oven at 110 C for 4 hours.

While that was cooking, i prepared the other ingredients.

yep, lard.

I dredged the chunks of pork in flour, with a pinch of salt and black pepper, then fried them in a cast iron skillet with a teaspoon of oil per batch. I tried butter, lard, vegetable and olive oil. The butter produced the best looking results. I only did about 5 or 6 chunks at a time, to prevent overcrowding and steaming the meat. Too much moisture makes grey meat, rather than the nice crispy brown stuff.

Meat transferred to a metal bowl

When the vegetable stock was done, I took it out of the oven, poured the contents through a strainer, threw out the veggies and poured the stock back into the casserole. At that point I added oregano, sage, a dash of fennel, cumin, a pinch of chilis and black pepper.

Here we have the homemade vegetable stock, plus spices

While the meat was browning, I sliced up some chestnut mushrooms.  When the meat was done, I transferred it to the bowl, turned the heat down, and added the mushrooms. I let the mushrooms brown a bit, then added them to the stock.

Like so.

Then I added a parsnip, three carrots, two and a half stalks of celery, and one leek to the stock, added the meat chunks, and turned the burner up to high. While that cooked for about 10 minutes, I buttered and floured a pie dish, and lined it with puff pastry.

Then the stock+veggies+meat were added to the pie. 

And then I cut strips of dough from the leftovers and made a crosshatch pattern on top, popped it in the oven for 20 minutes...

 

and there you go.



+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

In his amazing cookbook Mouth Wide Open, John Thorne has a recipe for "pasta in a bag"; basically the point is that by cooking the pasta in sauce, in a paper bag, you trap the moisture and keep a thick sauce that infuses flavor into the noodles. So I tried something similar, only with this little star pasta and in a casserole dish, not a paper bag.

First off. chop some onions finely, brown them in butter, and add the leftovers from a carton of tomato juice that seemed like a good idea when you were getting a cold and wanted vitamins, but then you ended up just eating ramen with an egg in it instead. Since this particular tomato juice was really thick, thin the juice with water until it's about the consistency of fresh squeezed OJ. Add pepper and the stellette. I put in some oregano (good idea) and fennel (not so good. Do not do this with fennel unless you're adding sausage.)

I covered the pot with a lid and let it boil for about 5 minutes, then took off the lid and started stirring. I wanted to get almost a risotto-like texture, where the pasta releases starch out into the sauce.

 

 

It worked pretty well - if I'd made this without the fennel I would have been ecstatic. With the fennel, it was okay but not phenomenal. I thought the fennel was kind of distracting, actually.

Whatever, Jed was really into it, so I'll count that as a partial success. 

"Stellette"

Fun fact: you can make bacon sausage. All you need is a meat grinder, a kilo of bacon collar joint., and some elbow grease. And probably a crash cart, nurse, and blood thinners if you heat more than three. I could feel my heart slowing down as I ate these.

First Blood (Pudding) Part I

First Blood (Pudding) Part II

New foods

Q: Why don't you like liver?
A: It's offal.


I have this theory that certain foods seen as regional delicacies are the product of having tons and tons of something around - collard greens, for example. Other things are just cheap or unwanted, like chitlins. In fact, lobster used to be seen as a less-than-premium food.

" In colonial America servants negotiated agreements that they would not be forced to eat lobster more than twice a week.” 

And some stuff is a delicacy because it's rare or hard to produce - ortolan.

I guess blood pudding falls in the category of "having tons of something around". There's a couple of liters of blood in a pig, if that link is correct - figuring 65 ml/kg and a pig weight of 50-75 kg.

anyway. Waitrose sells blood pudding, so we got one.

I had no idea how to prepare or serve the thing, honestly. Wikipedia is your friend in these cases. First we tried a couple of slices cold. British sausage is unusual for me in that it has fillers besides meat in it - this obviously had some kind of grain and onions in it. Turns out it was barley.  So the texture was not quite like a cold cut or deli meat. Kind of squishy meat-dough. Jed was NOT into this. He spat it out and signed "all done!" almost instantly.

Wikipedia says that it's also eaten fried. I abide by the cooking axiom that anything bad can be improved by frying in butter, and anything good becomes better. So into the cast iron pan it goes!

This was much better, actually. The pudding turned from a dark brown to actual black, and Jed and I liked this more. The consistency improves a bit, although now that one is not thinking about the texture one can focus on the flavor, which is a bit.. I dunno how to exactly describe it. Doesn't taste like blood, exactly, but there is a certain tang to it that's closer to organ meat.

Speaking of organ meat, I was looking for something to go with the cabbage and potatoes last night, and I found pigs' liver was pretty cheap. I've tried liver a couple times and never been that excited about it, but there's always a first time. And Jed is too little to know that he's defying the cliché about kids hating liver.

I tried just frying it quickly in butter, and then dredged some in matzoh flour and salt. The breaded ones were better, but honestly I don't have a taste for meat that pungent. Also, as it cooled the texture went downhill fast. I might do some research on making paté and see if that's a better route. Jed of course pounded the stuff. Jen very graciously tried a bite, but was not a fan either. So Jed also had liver and eggs for breakfast.

Strong flavours were the order of the day, as we picked up another snack at the store. It's a tangy spread, full of vitamins, and was fed to German POWs in Britain; I am unsure of whether or not that violates any of the first three Geneva Conventions. We're talking about this stuff:

 

 

Marmite covered rice cakes. 2 out of 3 Brennemans in this house approve. I like nutritional yeast on popcorn, and this has kind of a similar taste, only slightly more "toasted". Fun fact: Marmite was originally made from yeast supplied by the Bass brewery. 

 

My research has revealed that the New Zealand Marmite is different from British Marmite, AND that in the sordid history of yeast-based spreads there was a "Guinness Yeast Extract" that "could also be used as an emergency gravy without any addition except hot water for diluting."

The mind boggles as what could constitute a gravy emergency.

Breakfast - Ox Tongue, Onion and Eggs with Sweet Potato

Today's breakfast:


Pan-fry 3 slices of ox tongue in butter. If, for some reason, you don't have ox tongue in the fridge, deli slices of ham or roast beef will suffice.

I picked up the tongue at Waitrose - it is kinda crumbly and marbled, not tough at all. The flavor, while not precisely gamey or offal-y, is definitely there, but less pronounced than smoked bacon. There's no salt in this because the meat was already salted. if you use an uncured meat then you may want to add some.

While the ox tongue is frying, chop up an onion, then toss that in the pan. I added a pinch of black pepper.

As this cooks. grate up a sweet potato and heat a teaspoon of oil in another pan. I used a vegetable peeler to create small strips of potato, then tossed them with vegetable oil. When the teaspoon of oil is hot, but not smoking, add the potato to the pan.

Turn down the heat on the onion, and add eggs to the pan. Guesstimate based on the size of the pan - you want the egg to cover most of the bottom of the pan, but not all of it. I scooted the onions to the side of the pan with a spatula, added the eggs and put on a lid. Let this cook until the eggs are firm, but the yolks are still runny.

Give the sweet potatoes a good stir, and monitor both pans - in a minute or two they should both be done.

Red Bean and Bacon soup

Extrapolated from a recipe in the Gourmet Cookbook

• 1/2 pound lean bacon (about 8 slices), cut into 1/2-inches pieces, as garnish
• 1 finely chopped onion, about the size of a tennis ball
• 3 large garlic cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
• 2 ribs chopped celery
• 2 chopped carrots
• 2 cans kidney beans
• 2 cups chicken broth plus, if desired, additional for thinning the soup
• a 16-ounce can chopped tomatoes.
• 2 shots medium-dry Sherry
• salt and black pepper to taste
• sour cream

This recipe can be vegetarian - just omit the bacon and cook the onion in butter. For vegans, cook the onion in oil and use tofu sour cream.

I cooked the bacon in a cast-iron casserole until crisp, then transferred the bits to a bowl lined with paper towel. The chopped onions went into the pan with the bacon grease, then after they were golden I added the garlic. stir well and then add the cumin, the bay leaf, the oregano and the cayenne. Let cook for five minutes, then add the chicken broth, the carrot and the celery and beans. This simmered for bit while I ran around after the kid. Basically let it go until some of the liquid is cooked off, and then add the tomatoes, sherry and salt and pepper. I used a lot of black pepper, probably about a tablespoon and a half.

If there's more than an oz or two of liquid in with the tomatoes, you may want to drain it off and add it if more liquid is needed.

 After adding the sherry, salt, pepper and tomatoes, simmer for five minutes, then dish into bowls and top with sour cream and bacon.

Thursday on the Heath

 On the Heath

 Looking out over the city

On the walk back

Baking (Banana) Bread

 - From The Hummingbird Bakery

270g / 9.5 soft light brown sugar (I used dark brown sugar)
2 eggs
200g / 7oz peeled bananas, mashed - I did slightly more.

280g / 10oz plain flour

1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 tsp ground cinnamon (I did 1 1/2)
1 tsp ground ginger (I did 1 1/2)
140g unsalted butter, melted
(I added the seeds from two cardamom pods)

Grease a 23x13cm loaf tin and dust with flour. Preheat the oven to 170C / 325F

Put the sugar and eggs in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat until well incorporated. Beat in the mashed bananas.


Add the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and ginger to the sugar mixture. Mix it thoroughly until all the dry ingredients have been incorporated into the egg mixture. Pour in the melted butter and beat until all the ingredients are well mixed.


Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and smooth over with a palette knife. Bake in the preheated oven for about 1 hour or until firm to the touch and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool slightly in the tin before turning out to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Notes: I did two batches. The first was as noted, the second I added a cooking apple and a fistful of walnuts, chopped into pieces about the size of the eraser at the end of a pencil.

I didn't melt the butter in the first batch, instead chopping it into small cubes and then working it in the flour.

The dark brown sugar has a higher moisture content, and may require a longer baking time - I checked with a wooden skewer and then gave it an additional 15 mins.

Baking Bread

I'm a big fan of trying the recipes on the back of the box. The success of the King Arthur Flour brownie recipe made me a convert. And, by the way, if you haven't tried making those yet, I highly recommend that you do so.

So I picked up some Hovis yeast at the Atlanta Food and Wine in West Hampstead. According to someone on the internet:  "The word "Hovis" was invented by London student Herbert Grimes in a national competition set by S. Fitton & Sons Ltd to find a trading name for their bread, which used a patent flour that was rich in wheat germ. Grimes coined the word from the Latin phrase hominis vis – 'the strength of man'. "

I just liked the look of the packaging.

More ingredients:

and they had this recipe on the back:

500g / 1lb strong white bread flour
25g / 1oz butter

1 1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp Hovis fast action yeast

300 ml / 10 fl oz water

2 tsp sugar to give added flavour and thicker crust (optional)

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and salt. Rub in the butter, then stir in the yeast.

Stir in the water and mix into a soft dough by hand

Knead for about 5 mins in an electric mixer with a dough hook, or turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 10 mins by hand.

Shape dough, place in greased 2lb tin or on baking tray

Cover with a clean, damp towel and leave in a warm place until doubled in size.

Uncover, and bake in an oven preheated to 230C (450F) for 30-35 minutes.


My adjustments to the recipe:

I used 400g strong white bread flour and 100 g plain white flour. Definitely add the sugar - who doesn't like thicker crust and added flavour?

I did not knead it nearly as much as recommended, instead opting to let the dough rise for 3 hours, then divided the mass in two and put it in two loaf tins, greased and floured. I scored the top down the middle and let rise again until almost double, then popped them in the oven. They looked done after about 25 mins, but I left them in the tins on a rack on the counter until they were just warm, then turned them out onto the rack and let them finish cooling that way.

Jed's Noodles and Cheese

I've been spending a lot of time cooking this past week - it's been a good distraction from the stress of flat searching. One of the things I enjoy most about cooking are the defined stages of the process. First you've got a bunch of ingredients, then you start putting them together, and before long, you have a completed dish. Once it's eaten, it's done.

I made a couple things this week to use up the last bits of things in the fridge - there was a lot of varieties of milk that had been opened; some skim, some whole milk, a container of organic whole milk, some cream... about a liter all together. So, I decided to make Jed some mac and cheese. Alright, it wasn't macaroni, it was ziti. So, noodles and cheese.

I don't have precise measurements, but it went something like this:

1: Dump milk in saucepan, stir briefly
2: Turn the heat on low-medium.
3: Add a tablespoon of white wine vinegar (lemon juice would also work, might to need a bit more)
4: Give a couple quick stirs, then let sit. You should see some curdling right away, and then as the milk warms up it will start to separate even more. Once you've got pretty good separation between curds and whey, you can either pour this through a colander lined with cheesecloth and let sit, or do what I did, and fish the curds out with a slotted spoon. I reserved them in a bowl to the side, and then poured the whey into a container. One of my favorite uses for whey is in place of water when making bread.

okay, so now add a dash of salt to the curds - this will help pull a little more whey out of them, but they'll still be fairly wet, about the consistency of thick yoghurt.


At this point I put on a pot of water for the noodles.

Next I made up a bechamel sauce, then added grated cheddar and parmesan, a splash of the whey, and the curds. Remove from the heat, pour into a dish on the side.

Finally, I chopped up a couple of deli ham slices that were rattling around the fridge, minced up some leeks, and sauted that mixture in a little butter.  While that finishing, I drained the noodles, then added them to the ham and leeks, and then poured the cheese over the top. I stirred this in the pan. Add a dash of salt and lots of black pepper.

Jed was really into it, and it turned out so well that I made another batch for the missus and I for dinner.

Up next: recipes with actual measurements.

Diana, Princess of Wales', Memorial Playground

Hey, this is Jen--not Dave, author of the lion's share of the posts thus far . Just thought I should clarify in case I make some sort of brutal error (e.g., Diana, Princess of Whales). I'd hate for Dave to take the blame for my poor typing skills and general internet laziness.

I needed to get out of the house and away from my work computer for a while this afternoon, and I suspect that Jed wasn't too keen to watch me work either. As such, we walked out the door of the vicarage, headed to the nearest bus stop, and got on the first bus that came by. This was the 328, to Chelsea/World's End. Auspicious start, no?

Jed has been pretty psyched about the double-decker buses since our arrival, so I had been pretty excited to get him on one. And they are loads easier to handle with a kid and a stroller than New York City buses. No stairs to board, and no requirement to fold up your stroller. I did fold it up when we boarded though, since there was a luggage rack (!) available and two empty seats beside it.

I decided to get off at Notting Hill Gate, mostly because I wasn't sure what was at the World's End and how much longer the ride would be before the world would end. Though we had been on the bus for at least a half hour, Jed was irate with me for making him get off and get in the stroller. It worked out well for him, though, since the Notting Hill Gate area was crowded without much to see (at least, by the Tube stop), so we hotfooted it up Kensington Church Street in order to see a bit of the area before going to Kensington Gardens.

Pretty much the first thing we saw upon our arrival in the park was Kensington Palace. They have some sort of "seven enchanted princesses" exhibit/show/extravaganza on view there now, and it reeked of the American Girl Place experience to me. I'm not going without my cousin Lauren, or I won't be able to stomach it. Jed was properly enthralled with the historical statuary, and that's enough for me.

Jed Goes to Kensington Palace from Brooklyn to Britain on Vimeo.

From there, we went and checked out some sort of giant bird pond in the middle of the park. I know it has a name, and I could probably look it up on the internet, but "giant bird pond" works for me and I'm sticking with it. In New York, you've pretty much got pigeons, geese, and ducks, with the occasional seagulls or hawks; here, though, everything just seems a bit classier. Like the ducks are retreating to the corner of the pond for a pint and a pipe once the tourists go home. In the meantime, though, they are swarming on the banks of this pond and terrifying the heck out of me. Proof of terrifying numbers:


Hitchcockian Nightmare from Brooklyn to Britain on Vimeo.

Proof that Jed is not terrified:


Jed chases a white bird of some kind from Brooklyn to Britain on Vimeo.

Proof that I may be overly dramatic, since some of this was really nice:

Still, at this point, I am determined to bring us both to a child-safe part of the park. I am determined to bring us to the Diana, Princess of Wales', Memorial Playground.

I should admit that the only pang of emotion I feel upon seeing this sign is sympathy that she has been immortalized in a sleeveless denim shirt. Bummer.

Immediately upon arrival, it begins raining. And this is one important point about London weather so far (and it's only been a week, so take this with a grain of salt): rain can come and go in five minutes, without warning.

So the remarkable thing is that no one is leaving the playground. Parents and kids alike head for cover, to wait out the drizzle. And there are some pretty cool places at this park to wait out the rain.

It turns out that this is a classic British "adventure playground." It includes teepees (made by Wigwam Sam, according to the label)...

... remarkable wooden sheep...


Jed Pets the Wooden Sheep from Brooklyn to Britain on Vimeo.

...tunnels through bushes, hidden slides, and the coup de gras... A pirate ship.

Needless to say, Mom was thrilled with this park. Jed mostly played with the sand.

C is for Cookie

Raining today; the first really wet day so far. Stewart and I went to Waitrose this morning for groceries. Waitrose is kind of like Whole Foods, I guess - they have lots of organic options, it costs slightly more than Sainsbury's or Tesco, and they have their own store brand. I happen to love the packaging, too. It's pretty recognizable. Stewart and Jonathan are going on holiday - a barge trip in Wales - so Stew got supplies for that. and I tried to figure out what to cook for dinner the next week. Also picked up some rubber boots and a hat for Jed.

Back to the house. Jen had work to do, so I decided to make cookies to occupy Jed. I found a recipe that looked pretty good, but i decided to change it up a bit.

Hazelnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies

200g / 7 oz unsalted butter, at room temperature

85g / 3oz light muscovado sugar - a sticky brown sugar.

85g / 3oz golden caster sugar - caster or castor sugar is sold as "superfine" in the US.

225g / 8oz self-raising flour - if you've only got all-purpose, you can add 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp baking soda per pound of flour. Stir well with a fork or sift through a fine sieve.

100g / 4oz sweetened chocolate, roughly chopped. I used 50 grams each white and dark chocolate

50g / 2oz hazelnuts, also roughly chopped.

Heat oven to 190C/375 F

Beat butter, sugars, and egg until smooth.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, chocolate, and nuts. When chocolate and hazelnuts are well floured, add the dry to the wet. Mix briefly. Spoon mixture onto baking sheets.

I did about six dollops, slightly smaller than a ping-pong ball, per sheet. The cookies spread out pretty quick, so making sure they are well-spaced prevents cookie merge. I did 15 mins on the first batch, and between 10-12 minutes on the second and third, watching them pretty closely. The first batch came out fairly crisp. The shorter bake time meant crisp edges and still-gooey centers on the second two.

 Caster Sugar - a finer grind of table sugar. Dissolves well.

Muscovado sugar - aka Barbados sugar. Apparently also used in making whiskey.

 I love the Waitrose packaging. 

Chopping die haselnuss.

...and the chocolate

There was rigorous testing by our vigilant 

Quality Control division throughout the process.

My new favorite tea.

First batch.

 Comparing first and second batches.

Left: 15 mins 

Right: 12 mins

Batch 3: 10 minutes.

These smelled fantastic, and suffered grievous losses throughout the process; between quality assurance and small, grabby hands, only about half of the cookies made it into the container. The original recipe said it makes about 20, but i think we could have gotten 30 out of that batch easily.

Next time I think I'll add slightly more flour - a tablespoon or two - and moisten the dough with a little water, in an effort to get a thicker, chewier cookie. I think that would balance out the crispiness of the edges. However, I did seal up the survivors in a container, so we'll see if they end up being a bit chewier by dinner time.

October 20th, continued

So, after hauling Jed around all morning and his fussing, etc. I decided that I had been productive enough for one birthday and decided to go back to the vicarage and have some wine. So, after a quick stop off at the Oddbins for a bottle of "Musica en el Camino" - and yes, it tastes just like listening to music in an El Camino - I got back to the house. Stewart was in the kitchen having crackers and cheese, so after some vigorous arm-twisting, I convinced him to drink some wine with me. I went up to our room, put Jed down for a nap, and then went back to the kitchen. We sat there and chatted and drank wine, then Jonathan and Alison came in and joined us for a bit. They opted for coffee rather than wine.

After the wine was gone, I took my computer upstairs and did some more flat-searching in the lounge, and then, groggy from wine and walking around in the cold all morning, i decided, as long as Jed was asleep, I should nap too. This was probably about 5:00 or 5:30

Next thing I know, it's almost 9pm and Jen was waking me up. I had been sound asleep - so asleep that I didn't hear Jed get out of the crib, let himself out of the bedroom, and head downstairs. I have no idea how he got out of the crib. My theory is he tried climbing over the side, which tipped the crib over enough to lean against the bed, and then he slithered ont the bed, hopped down the floor, and headed off. He's already pretty good at opening doors, so that was no problem either. When Jen got home, Jed was sitting with Jonathan in his office, pulling apart a block of styrofoam.

Jonathan said Jed just walked into his office holding a chili pepper with a bite taken out of it, held it out to him and said "uhoh!". Presumably Jed went into the kitchen, sorted through the vegetable bin till he found something he liked, and then took a bite. So Jonathan gave Jed some styrofoam to destroy and the kid whiled away the evening ripping it into bits and putting the particles in a trash can.

(That's Teeny Houdini himself, holding a diaper. His expression accurately reflects the smell.)

I slept right through Jen putting Jed back to bed too. Since Jed was now asleep and I was up, we decided to go to the restaurant down the street - The Alice House. Time for my first fish and chips of this trip!

Fish and chips - or fish 'n' chips - are now 150 years old. According to The BBC, "John Lees opened a fish and chip shop in Oldham and in 1863 Joseph Mallin opened a Fish and Chip shop in the East End. (There is actually some debate as to which was the first to be opened). By the early 1900s there are more than 30,000 chippies in Britain."

It was pretty good, too. What's not to like about cod in batter? Jen had a burger, which she pronounced to be fantastic. We had a great time, though, despite my best efforts, I could not talk Jen into karaoke in the basement. Oh well. Afterwards we walked around for a bit, and I took Jen by this place:

(photo by Jennie Vincent)

Stew and I had gone there for lunch previously, and I had an amazing bacon sandwich. At this point in the evening, they were closed, but I just wanted her to know where it was, in case she was in need of an excellent lunch.

And then back to the vicarage. Jed was snoring away, and soon we were asleep too.

Phone clarification

So, it turns out that the reason I ran out of funds on the phone: setting up my iPhone to receive Gmail was the problem. When the iPhone accessed my email, it used data, and since the plan hadn't been activated yet, there was a small charge. That brought my balance below £15, which mean when O2 looked at my balance to set up the text and data plan, there wasn't enough cash in the account, which meant that instead of unlimited texts and 500MB of data, I was billed at the standard rate, which ran down my balance. Mystery solved, at a cost of £15. Thanks to the nice man at the O2 shop in Hampstead for sorting all this out.


So, if you're setting up a pay as you go phone for the first time, don't do anything until you get your confirmation message. The clerk had told me not to text or call, but didn't mention email...

Phones, Terminology, and cold weather

Still clear today - It's only rained once our first week here, and that was for about 15 mins while Stewart, Jed and I were finishing up lunch. However, it was definitely colder. I'm still trying to adjust to the measurement changes - 13 Celsius doesn't correspond to anything yet.

Today Jed and I took our first ride on the Tube - Jubilee line to Northern, and then got off at Angel in Islington. We walked around that area for a while, heading south to Barbican and west through Spitalfields Market, then up Brick Lane, and finally got back on the train at Whitechapel and headed back. It was really interesting to see those neighborhoods in person, after hearing the description from Jen. I didn't see the same areas she did - she was north of Angel, near the canals - and the bits I saw were less appealing to me. Lots of taller, newer buildings, not much of a neighborhood feel. The Barbican Centre was huge; I was walking down the street, looked up and all I could see was this building.

(photo from the Guardian -  photographer: Greame Roberston.) 

I was trying to remember why the name "Barbican" sounded so familiar, and then when I got back I remembered a bit about the history of the Barbican Estate.

Our trip out was cut short by phone woes. I was using the iPhone map to get around and simultaneous trying to respond to an email from the estate agent regarding an apartment in Shoreditch - calling his office depleted my phone credit. How, exactly, I'm not quite sure - still figuring out the phone policies here - but my phone kept warning me that I needed to "top up".

I had tried to figure out how to do this online the night before, but in order to register with the phone company, even to create an online account, you need to give them your address. Since I wasn't sure how hard it would be to change the address in a week or two, when we're (hopefully) in our own place, I gave customer service a call. They were closed after 9PM.

So I gave them a call while I was out today. However, the customer service line is totally automated, and to top up the credit over the phone requires that you put in your postcode. It does not recognize a US zip code as a post code, and the automated message kept cheerfully requesting that I try again. No luck. Now the phone was fully out of funds, which meant that every couple of minutes I would get a message that said I'd be unable to use the internet until I put more money on the SIM.



The way that mobile phones work here is different than in the States. There's two options for service - "pay monthly" and "pay as you go". Pay monthly is a contract, similar to what I'm used to from New York. It seems to be available in 18 and 24 month blocks. That's not an option for us, as we don't have a credit history, a bank account, or an address here. So Pay-as-you go it is. You buy a phone, and then buy a SIM card with money on it. Different carriers have different options, and you can pick one based on the coverage, the different plans they offer, or whatever other criteria is meaningful to you... Logo color? Spokesmodel?


O2 and Vodaphone are the two biggest, with Orange and T-Mobile being next in line. Stewart said that O2 and Vodaphone had the best coverage, although according to the ads I just saw today, T-Mobile and Orange are now sharing transmitters, which should increase the coverage for those services. The interesting thing about pay as you go is that there's nothing tying you to one provider from one month to the next. You can get a SIM card from Orange one month and Vodaphone the next. I think you can even transfer your number fairly easily, although I haven't tested that out yet.

Anyway, £15 on the SIM card was supposed to get me 100 texts and 500 MB of data free, although there's apparently some kind of procedure where I have to text O2 and tell them which category I want my £15 applied to, but the text cost me several pence, bringing my balance below £15, which made me ineligible to apply the £15 and end up with the 100 texts. The salesman at the O2 store had said that I should be careful and wait until I got the confirmation text from O2, otherwise this would happen, but I'd gotten a text that looked awfully confirmation-esque, "Calltime loaded. Your balance is now £15.00. Thanks for topping up with O2" so I thought I was good.

Looks like today I'll be taking a visit to the O2 store to sort all this out.

Back to the walking around part - in addition to the phone buzzing to let me know that I needed to somehow feed it money, Jed was really unhappy about having to wear his hood. Although it was merely brisk when we were in the sun, if the street was shaded it was downright chilly. I was feeling okay with a flat cap and hooded sweatshirt, but I was also walking briskly while pushing a stroller (pram!) and carrying a backpack. Jed was not at all into the idea of having his hood up, and when I insisted that he wear it, he started yelling... and yelled and sobbed for about an hour, trying to get out of the stroller, pulling at the straps, etc. I tried giving him a scarf to play with, but that only intensified the anguish. Still not really sure why he was so upset - he's worn a hat before with no issues. Ah, two year olds. Fortunately he was much calmer on the tube. Trains do a pretty good job of distracting him.

Apart from those aggravations, the walk was pretty great. Brick Lane reminded me of Atlantic Avenue, only with lots more Muslim-related shops. Even the Subway has signs saying that the meat is halal. We walked past the East London Mosque, which is massive. We also saw Spitalfields Market -  basically an open square with shops like this around the perimeter:

(article on albam)

Then inside that square were a bunch of stalls selling food, plus picnic tables, and then inside that circle were a bunch of vendors. Wikipedia tells me that there's been a market there since 1638 - Charles I gave a license allowing the sale of "flesh, fowl and roots", but I also saw paperback books, Beatles paraphenalia, scarves, jewelry and ironic T-shirts on offer. Kind of reminded me of some of the shops along Broadway south of 14th, only condensed into one area.


At this point the phone battery was almost gone, so we headed to Whitechapel and got on the Tube to head home.

Things that are different between the NYC subway and London Underground:

1: Getting there, and back again:

In London, the subway doesn't run for 24 hours. Sometimes it doesn't run at all. You can look at the Transport for London page to see which lines are experiencing delays and which have "good service". Jen was over an hour late for work the other day; the train stopped. In New York, if the train stops, you tend to just hang out for a couple minutes and see if it's going to go again, or what. Here, she said that the train stopped in the station and everyone just piled off. And not to wait for the next train - they headed out to get busses or cabs. In fact, an informal poll of her coworkers indicated that having an Underground stop near the house is not as big a deal as living near a subway stop in New York was for us. I need to do some research on bus lines that go to her office, and look for housing accordingly.

2: Oyster Card!

  I saw shops with signs advertising "Oyster Top-ups". Despite the name, it's not actually a delicious snack. The Oyster card is like a Metrocard, only instead of swiping, you tap it on this yellow button. Well, by tap, they mean "lay flat against the button till the little light comes on" Also, in the two stations we entered today, the station attendant physically opens the extra-wide door to let a stroller through. And there were two attendants in the station, both of whom were extremely friendly and helpful, even remembering Jed when we came back through later in the day. Not sure how much of that was standard service, and how much was the combination of clueless American and cute baby. I knew teaching him to give people high fives would come in handy!

Unlike NYC, in London you also have to tap your card upon LEAVING the subway system, otherwise you get charged the max amount. The cost of your ride depends on actual use, rather than a flat fee to enter the system, and the cost is higher during peak hours. I'm kind of back and forth on which system seems fairer - on the one hand, why not charge people for their actual use of the subway? Those who commute shorter distances and therefore use the system less, should pay less.

On the other hand, in NYC, cheaper housing tends to be farther from the city center, so lower-paid workers who have to commute longer distances would pay a higher amount, whereas those who can afford to live in the more expensive parts of Manhattan would also pay less for transit. In theory, I like the "level playing field" aspects of the same price for everyone, bum or billionaire.

Not sure which is more effective for the city - I'd have to do some research on how much of the subway's budget the riders actually cover.


3: Physical differences:

Here, the subway cars themselves are actually shorter in length, with a lower, curved roof, and the seats are cushioned and cloth-covered. When I heard that the subway was upholstered, I began grimacing involuntarily, thinking of all the unpleasant things that could be living in the fabric. If you've ridden the NYC subways, you're probably getting your own disgusting mental picture right now. Sorry.

Unlike New York, the tube in London seemed pretty clean - not sure whether that has more to do with social attitudes towards people using the subway like a combination bedroom/bar/toilet or just the Underground lines and stations that I saw.

I have no idea how you get around on the Tube in a wheelchair. There were signs next to the various stops that indicated which ones were handicap-accessible, which didn't seem all that phenomenal to me until I got to one that wasn't. There was easily a vertical 10 inch difference between the door of the subway car and the subway platform. Jed said "Bump!" as the stroller...errr, pram went out.

Additionally, there were lots of stairs. Lots and lots of stairs. I had no problem carrying him up and down them, but if we were riding at peak hours with more commuters, it could get tricky.

(more to come!!)

Sunday, 17 Oct 2010: Stewart and I made butternut squash risotto for lunch. We had the leftover soup and a rocket salad garnished with parmesan first, and an absolutely mindblowing sticky toffee pudding for dessert.

After all that, I was ready for a nap, but Stewart insisted that, as per the recipe's instructions, we should have a walk afterwards. He was right, and it was too nice of a day to sit indoors. So off we went.


View from the front door of the vicarage:

Jed looks contemplative; probably wondering how he can get some more of that toffee pudding.

We are headed to Hampstead Heath; here's some of the things we saw along the way.

Most of the walk was through residential areas. There are tree-lined gravel paths that are little shortcuts between the roads. The foliage was pretty incredible- lots of old trees, walls covered in ivy, ferns, and moss, and a huge thicket of holly.

The Heath itself is like a gigantic park - we came through a parking lot and went down the path through an open, grassy area. Jed was already excited, and kept saying "Outside! Outside!"

After we crossed the grass, we went into the trees. There was very little undergrowth - either the Heath is well-maintained by an army of gardeners, or the huge old trees cut off enough light to prevent smaller stuff from growing too quickly. There was a carpet of leaves everywhere, just right for scuffing.

Along the paths are various invitations to stop and enjoy the views. I saw easily a dozen benches.

Jed was thrilled by the quantity of dogs out for a walk with their owners. I don't know if the leash laws are different here or what, but we only saw one person even carrying a leash, and all the dogs were running free. They seemed well-behaved, except for one German Shepherd who was so excited by two boys playing soccer...errr, FOOTBALL... that he ran over and stole their ball, and then came bounding back across the grass to his owners. The dog seemed pretty pleased with himself, despite their scolding.

Stewart kept insisting that there was a really good view of London around here somewhere, so we wandered around the paths, saw some ducks in the old swimming ponds - there were three ponds; one for men, one for women, and one for 'mixed bathing'. The only swimmers there were ducks, a cygnet, and a few seagulls.

After the ponds, we went up the hill, through the trees, and emerged on a beautiful hilltop. There were lots of people milling around, a guy flying a kite, more benches, and a pretty spectacular view:

Jed was way more excited about the kite than the view of London. He kept shouting "Oh! Oh! Up! Up!"

As the sun went down, the temperature started to drop, and we decided to head off before Jed fell asleep in the stroller. Stewart suggested a stop off at the pub for a fortifying beverage before the half-hour trek back home. We had pints of Guinness at The Freemason's Arms. Here's the view from their patio.

 

Then we headed back to Stewart and Jonathan's place. I made a note to bring a scarf on the next evening trip out; I could have done with just a little more insulation.