sick

sick sick sick.


I had this rotten fever + ache combo Sunday evening through Monday... not particularly high, as fevers go, but I felt terrible. As in, I was lying there thinking "Well, this could be swine flu. These might be my last few days on earth... I'VE WASTED MY LIFE!"

Lots of feverish apologies to Jen and Jed for being hard to deal with, etc.

In the words of John Cleese "I got better".

Well, actually, I felt so much better after the fever was gone that I sort of ignored the stopped up sinuses and drainage. After two days of coughing, and with Jed running a mild fever, we decided that we should go to the doctor.

If you move to the UK, I'd suggest setting up a GP before you get sick, as it's not fun to think about once you're actually unwell. We took a look at the NHS website, found the closest doctor's office - which they call a "surgery" - and gave them a call at 9AM. They were taking new patients, and said they could see us that morning at 10:15. If we got there at 10 we could fill out the paperwork.

The paperwork consisted of.... writing down my name, Jed's name, and our address. The doctor saw us right away - and since Jed and I had the same thing, we both went in together. A discussion of the symptoms, we both got an examination, and then a prescription for antibiotics.

I'd heard a lot of horror stories about the NHS - and undoubtedly it does have its drawbacks - but my experience was really pleasant. The staff seemed competent, they were nice to deal with, and, unlike Brooklyn, I didn't have to take a train to get there. We'll see how future interactions go, but this was a pretty good intro.

Ham Sandwiches and veggie stock

Making veggie stock:

I've started throwing all my carrot and onion peels, plus whatever other veggie scraps are leftover from preparing dinners, and tossing them in a tupperware on the counter. By the end of the week I usually have enough sitting there to make stock. So, into the cast-iron casserole they go, along with some herbs, garlic, onion, and maybe a little carrot and celery. Add water and pop in the oven at 150 C for a couple hours. It warms up the kitchen nicely, smells great, and gets one more use out of stuff I would previously just toss into the garbage.

Jed helps prepare some carrots. That's a butter knife.

We got some lovely ham at the farmers' market on Wed. I wasn't originally going to get any meat, but Jed tried some of their samples, and then said "Ham? Ham? Ham? Ham?" while I picked out the vegetables. I though it'd be a nice treat for him, so we headed back over to their table and bought a couple thick slices. The farm's called "Animal Farm", according to their sign, which, though a correct description of their work, made me think of "Two Legs Good, Four Legs Bad" and other slogans.

I was trying to think up other adaptations of Orwellian phrases for the farmers' market:

"If you want a vision of the future, imagine a beet stamping on a human face - forever."


"Big Butter is watching you"

"We have always been at war with Yeastasia"

Orwell also said "Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket " which sums up my attempts there pretty well.


So, here's the ham, along with homemade sourdough, Colman's Mustard, and a jar of Stilton. I sliced the ham super-thin, since that slice is probably 1.5 cm thick, and got two lunches worth of sandwiches for the kid and I out of the two slices.

boozy tarts and other edibles

So, Jen's off to India for 10 days. While she's off sampling the delights of the Curry Mothership, I'll be consoling myself with boozy tart.


This is one I didn't make myself - our upstairs neighbor brought some down for the boy and I to check out. And let me tell you, it is pretty good. Pretty, pretty good.

I didn't ask them for the recipe yet, but I know it's got cider brandy and golden syrup in it. Can't go wrong there!  Not sure if this is exactly it, but it seems pretty close:

• 250g plain flour plus extra for dusting
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 180g caster sugar
• 125g unsalted butter, softened
• filling
• 100g cooked, peeled chestnuts, roughly chopped
• 150g hazelnuts, roughly chopped
• 150g walnuts, roughly chopped
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1tsp vanillla essence
• 100g unsalted butter, melted
• 120ml cider brandy, such as Somerset Pomona
• 220g golden syrup
• 200g soft brown sugar
• 3 medium eggs, beaten

 

1. First, make the pastry. In a food processor or by hand, cream the butter and caster sugar together until fluffy. Slowly add the beaten egg until well mixed, then fold in the flour. Mould the dough into a ball and wrap in clingfilm; chill for 30 minutes.
2. To make the filling, blitz all the ingredients, except the nuts, in a food processor until smooth. Fold in the nuts and mix well.
3. Roll the sweet pastry on a floured table to 5mm thick. It is delicate, so go carefully. Grease a large 25cm tart tin, line the tin with the pastry, trim the edges and refrigerate for about 1 hour.
4. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 5. Fill the tart with the nut mix; bake for 20–25 minutes until golden. Leave to cool before cutting.

Serve with vanilla ice cream, crème fraîche or cream.

So, how was it? Here's Jed's reaction:

 Golden Syrup is interesting stuff: it's a byproduct of sugar refining, is about the consistency of Karo, but has a more complex flavor. We have a can in the cabinet; it's potent stuff!

I used it to make this school treacle sponge:

• 6 overloaded, oozing tbsp of golden syrup
• 100g butter, plus extra for the dish
• 100g sugar
• 2 eggs
• ½ tsp vanilla
• 100g self-raising flour
• custard, to serve 

1. Butter a 1-litre baking dish, and dollop the syrup in the bottom. Put the butter and sugar in a food processor and blitz until pale. Beat in the eggs one by one, then the vanilla. Add the flour and pulse until just mixed. Scrape into the dish, on top of the syrup.
2. Bake in the oven at 180C/fan 160C/gas 4 oven for 30 minutes until risen and golden. Serve with lashings of custard.

Not sure why "lashings" means "lots" - there's probably some interesting etymology behind why "quantity" would share a homonym with "savage beating" but that's English for you.


Chowhound has some suggestions as to where you can find Lyle's Golden Syrup in the states, or possible substitutions.

One of the comments in that Chowhound thread states that Golden Syrup is an ingredient in John Thorne's pecan pie recipe. John Thorne is one of my favorite cooking writers; if you have not read his stuff, do yourself a big favor and check it out.

• 200g/7oz full-flavoured brown sugar (eg muscovado)
• 3 eggs
• 14 teaspoon salt
• 200ml/7fl oz Tate & Lyle's Golden Syrup
• 230g/8oz broken pecan nuts
• 2 tablespoons premium dark rum
• a 23cm/9in unbaked shortcrust pie shell
• 55g/2oz butter
• whipped cream for topping

Preheat the oven to 350F/180C/Gas Mark 4. In a large saucepan, heat the sugar, golden syrup, rum and butter to boiling point. Stirring constantly and scraping back any foam that clings to the side of the pan, let this mixture boil for about a minute. Remove from the heat and let cool while you beat the eggs until creamy in a separate bowl.

When the boiled syrup has cooled, beat in the eggs, salt and the broken pecan nuts. Pour into the unbaked pie shell. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the pie comes out clean. Cool on a rack, and serve at room temperature with plenty of unsweetened whipped cream.

 Bread baking, continued:

I've been working on this sourdough ferment, and it's coming along pretty well. I add a splash or two to most breads that I make now, as well as some of the whey from this massive cheesemaking last week. I'm making a smaller loaf on a daily or every-other-day basis.

It goes a little something like this:

300g flour - I vary this up, depending on how i'm feeling.  A mix of organic plain white, strong white breadflour, whole meal, and rye flours. 

1/2 tsp yeast

1/2 tsp salt

Stir these together. Add

210 g fluid - water, whey, sourdough starter, or a combo of all three.

Stir well. it should be pretty sticky. I usually use a bench scraper to get this whole mass together, then I put a shower cap over the bowl and let sit for a couple hours. Then I use the bench scraper again to stir it up, add a dash or two of flour to get things a bit more solid, and turn it out on the counter. Knead and add flour until it's more dough-like - the final consistency should be as sticky as a post-it note. Grease the bowl with a splash of olive oil, pop the dough back in, turning it a couple times to cover the surface with a film of oil, put the shower cap back on, and wait. when it's doubled in size, you're ready to go.

At this point I would normally make loaves, but I decided to try making naan. So i put the cast iron pan on the stove, heated it up, and when that was good and toasty, i stretched out some dough and tossed it in the pan.

 It worked amazingly well. It is by no means an authentic recipe or the same as it would be if baked in a tandoori, but it's better than the premade frozen stuff and cheaper than takeout.