Quick Update

Um. Where to start.

Work. Work. Work. Work. That pretty much tells the story of Monday to Thursday.

Friday. Worked -- a little bit longer than planned, but still out of the office in time to run home, throw the dog and the food into the (already packed) car, drive back downtown to pick up Myfanwe, and make it Norbert's school by 2:30.

We arrive at Shell Cottage in late afternoon, and I immediately started mowing the lawn because I wanted to get it cut before it started raining. I got the front law mowed before the rain came down, and it rained the whole rest of the weekend, so I never got to finish the back. It's going to be a bear to mow next Friday.

We had chicken, onions, mushrooms and sweet potatoes roasted with white wine and rosemary for dinner. It was ok. Norbert loved it. The boy is ALL about the mushrooms.

Saturday I woke with a migraine. Lots of meds and an ice bag later it was manageable, and coffee helped keep it at bay for the rest of the day. Which was good, as I had a lot to do. The rain was nice, soothing, and I loved knowing that the roses were being watered by G-d. That way I don't have to tote buckets. (Have I failed to mention that this house has no spigot to take water to the outside? No. Really! None.)

Mitzi had an appointment with the vet in Three Oaks. Mitzi needed her rabies vaccine and she desperately needed to have her nails trimmed. (Click Click Click all through the house!) It's so much easier to walk her over to the vet in Three Oaks than to drive downtown and park. The vet in Three Oaks is a quiet, pleasant man and I really liked that he apologized to Mitzi when he stuck his thermometer up her Hoopdeedoo. I also liked that the bill was half as much as in Chicago. We will definitely be repeat customers.

After the vet, we decided that Mitzi stank and needed a bath, so we drove a few miles to the town of Bridgman, which has a do-it-yourself dog was and feed store. Plastic aprons donned, we proceeded to wash and condition, rinse and dry poor Mitzi. She is such a good dog. I'm sure if I'd been poked and pinched and stuck with a needle, had something stuck up my folderol and then been dunked in water, well, let's just say that I wouldn't be happy about it. Mitzi is, above all, forgiving.

Saturday night there was a hog roast at the American Legion hall, the proceeds of which benefit the Three Oaks Flag Day Parade. Flag Day in Three Oaks is a very, very big deal. If you were taking your ACT, the correct answer would be, "Flag Day is to Three Oaks as the Tournament of Roses is to Pasadena." Or possibly, "Flag Day is to Three Oaks as Mardi Gras is to New Orleans." It's part of the life force -- the spirit of the place.


Sunday I made my favorite coffee cake. In the cookbook put out by the Women's Axillary of the Three Oaks American Legion it is called the Walton's Mountain Coffee Cake. Paula Dean has a variation -- which is really just the Walton's Mountain recipe without the 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon. (And, to be totally honest, it is better with the cinnamon.) I also increase the nuts and mess with the brown sugar, so I guess this is MY version, and I'm going to call it the Three Oaks Coffee Cake.

Three Oaks Coffee Cake

• 3/4 cup chopped pecans, divided
  
• 18 knobs of frozen white dinner roll dough
  
• 1 pack (4 serving-size) NON-instant butterscotch pudding mix
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  
• 1 stick butter, melted
  

• Generously grease a 10 in fluted tube pan.
• Sprinkle 1/2 cup pecans in the bottom of the pan.
• Arrange the frozen dough balls on top of the pecans.
• Sprinkle pudding mix over dough balls.
• Sprinkle brown sugars and cinnamon over the pudding.
• Sprinkle remaining nuts.
  
• Drizzle with melted butter.
• Cover with plastic wrap and leave to rise on the counter for 8 to 10 hours or refrigerate for 12 to 24 hrs.
• Uncover and bake 350 degree oven about 35 minutes or till top is golden brown.
• Let cool 5 minutes before inverting coffee cake onto a good size serving tray.
• Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

I really love that all of the work occurs the night before. And I love the flavor. SO delicious. And, yes, I understand that there are some food snobs who will turn up their noses at a recipe that calls for pudding mix. Feh. This coffee cake is one of the best things I have ever made. And I now make it almost every week. It's that good.

Gotta run.

Lace & Cakes

This is how I am spending my long weekend:


Welsh tea cakes, the Lacy Wrap from Rowan, and decaf black Ceylon tea.


My friend Sinead -- Hi, Sinead! -- pointed me towards the recipe. (And also the book "A Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down: A book about having a sit down, a biscuit, and a nice cup of tea" by Nicey & Wifey.) These cakes are like a cross between an American biscuit and a pancake and a quick bread. They are actually harder to describe than I thought they would be. They are rich and studded (in my variation) with chopped dried apricots and sultanas. Rolled out, cut into rounds, and baked on a griddle. Yum. There are, however, more than we can eat at one sitting. I have been warned away from "jam splits" -- breaking them open, toasting them, then spreading them with jam -- as jam splits are, apparently, "an abomination". Since some of my favorite people/things/foods have been described as "abominations", I might have to try one. But I will do it with the requisite amount of shame...probably hiding it from my family and friends.


I'm also 1.5 repeats into the Lacy Wrap. On slightly bigger needles, so I get an airy, diaphanous look. If it turns out nicely, I plan to give it to my boss' daughter, who is marrying this fall.

I gotta go. The tea cakes are getting cold.
This

LAZY

I am stupid and lazy, and I deserve all the bad things that happen to me. All of them. Except for George W. Bush. I played no part in that. But aside from that, it is all my fault.

How did I come to such a conclusion? Well, aside from my mother telling me, like, a billion times how I was fat and lazy and stupid and would never amount to anything, I was aided in coming to this conclusion by fruitcake.

I love fruitcake. I won't listen to anyone who knocks it. I am completely biased. I love fruitcake. I feel privileged that Myfanwe and I have reached a level of monetary comfort that we are able to afford dried fruit, which ain't cheap, let me tell you! Every year I read Truman Capote's "A Christmas Memory", cry a little bit, then start baking. Oh, yes. I love fruitcake.

Every evening, after the dishes are washed and the kitchen tidied, I like to pull on some comfy jammies, brew a pot of tea, kick back in the recliner and knit. In the autumn and winter, I augment this ritual with a few slices of fruitcake. This is as close to paradise as I can get without a city-crippling snowstorm and a wood-burning fire.

As I may have mentioned in a post or two, this has been a busy autumn for me. But each weekend I have made a batch of fruitcake. Lovely fruitcakes. From three recipes, so far. Because I love all fruitcake.

Fruitcake is, if you don't already know, rather easy in the making, but tedious in the preparation. Most recipes are very specific -- butter the tins, line them with brown paper or parchment, then butter the brown paper or parchment. Cutting and fitting the paper takes something like eleventy-three hours per batch.

Well, the third recipe I made this year came from a very reputable source. I'm not naming names. This recipe instructed the baker only to grease the tins. Sweet Mother of Liver Sausage! I had been waiting for a recipe like this! I was so happy, I decided to bake a double batch! I greased the tins well with my own little hands -- a task I learned at my grandmother's knee. I thought about lining the tins with parchment, but the recipe didn't require it, and it saved me tons of time. What the hell!

I made a few minor variations, including substituting espresso for the prescribed apple juice or water -- I like my fruitcake dark and complex -- not just sweet. But no alterations that would affect the consistency of the final product. They baked beautifully,exiting the oven with a lovely sheen and a delicious aroma. I brushed them with a boiled rum syrup, let it soak in while they cooled for a few minutes, then tipped the cakes out of their tins.

And three of them stuck. %#$@!

I did the best I could to patch them back together, trying to use rum syrup as glue, but it is obvious that these are the crippled children of the fruitcake world. I don't think they will stand up to slicing, even if refrigerated. (Tip: If you want thin slices of fruitcake, refrigerate it before slicing.) I'm so sad.

All this could have been avoided if I hadn't been stupid and lazy.

So now, dear Readers, if indeed I have any readers after my confession here, please answer me this: Do you have any idea what kind of a dessert I could make with 4 pounds of crumbled fruitcake? I can't bear to waste it...that would be a sin.

Did I mention I love fruitcake?

For the Shiva, Darlink.

Since I know you'll all want the recipe, I figure why make Myfanwe look for it! It isn't LOW fat, but it is lower fat. And really a lovely flavor. I don't know who Naomi Rifkin is -- I got the recipe from a my friend Judith, who didn't know either. But credit must be given where credit is due -- Naomi Rifkin -- you sure made a swell kugel.

NAOMI RIFKIN'S NOODLE KUGLE

1# wide noodles
1 qt. low fat buttermilk
4 extra-large eggs (or 4 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter

Optional: 1 can Pineapple tidbits, 1/2 cup raisins, 1/2 cup craisins, 1/4 cup finely chopped candied ginger, 1 cup coarsely chopped apple, 2 coarsely chopped fuyu persimmons.

Topping:

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup crushed corn flakes
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Butter a 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook the noodles in plenty of lightly salted boiling water until still slightly undercooked. drain the noodles well, then return to the pot and add the stick of butter.

In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs well. Add the buttermilk, salt, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon.
Mix well. Pour buttered noodles (and any accumulated butter) into the prepared pan.

Sprinkle the noodles with any of the optional ingredients. Pour custard mixture over the noodles. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. While the kugel is baking, combine the ingredients for the topping. after 45 minutes, remove the kugel, sprinkle evenly with the topping, and bake for an additional 15 to 30 minutes. The custard should be set and the topping crisp.

THis is really, really good leftover for breakfast. I once dipped cold slices of this kugel in some batter left over from french toast -- then grilled it.

Let's just say that it was divine. More yummy goodness than decent people need.