Rewind to a few days back. Since the days have gotten mightily longer and sunnier here, and I have still to hang the blackout curtain on the bed room window, the Daughter has decided it is a good idea to start the day around five. Which can be extended to six if I'm lucky. To anyone not familiar with the summer at the Arctic Circle ( and that would be most people on the planet, then ) the sun only sets for about four hours at this time of the year. And by the time it's Midsummer the sun won't set at all. And while I'm sure it would be technically possible to be immensely efficient and get all sorts of things done in the morning, it's hardly so if you can barely keep your eyes open and have a cranky child to amuse before it gets to be eight. On Friday, however, we were to visit a friend who is in the last stages of her pregnancy with her second child, and I wanted to make something to take with us. I was too tired to look up any decent recipes so I pretty much just threw whatever I could find in the mixing bowl and poured it in the cupcake pan. Hmmm.The scent coming from the oven was lovely, but I soon realised that combining cupcake dough, apple sauce and apple slices with maybe just a tad too much baking powder was not the most brilliant idea on the planet. And as I took the pan out the dough had spread so that I pretty much had one huge apple pie with weird shaped mounds on the bottom in my hands.
Very much in the style of the past few weeks I just stuck the pan on the table, covered it with a tea-towel, dressed the Daughter and drove to a bakery. Shame on me, I know. But at least I did tell my friends that I got the pastries from a bakery...In the end we spent a lovely afternoon at my friend's house and only got home in time for the Daughter's bedtime. I was not, however, going to let the apple-pie-cupcake go to waste. Too much sugary-cinnamony goodness so spooned the cake with the apples from the pan, scooped some vanilla ice cream on top and there you go, Cupcake Cobbler.
And just in case somebody might want to try it (the taste was lovely), here it is. First, prepare a regular vanilla cupcake dough and spoon it in a cupcake pan lined with cupcake liners. For an apple-pie type of taste I flavored the dough with about half a teaspoon of cinnamon before spooning it into the pan. Unless you want your cakes to come pouring all over the pan like mine did, fill the cups only half-way. Next I added a teaspoon of apple sauce onto each cupcake, and on top of that two thin slices of apple and some sugar-cinnamon mixture. Cook in the oven for about 10 minutes depending on your oven type.
If you were wise enough and your cakes stayed in the pan nicely, you can just soften some vanilla ice-cream and swirl it on top of you cupcake for a nice cupcake sundae. If, on the other hand, you tend for the what-if-I-just-throw-a-spoon-more-of-baking-powder-in-there school of baking like I do, just spoon the cake into some cute cups, add ice-cream and just tell everyone it's a cobbler.
And maybe just add a cupcake and some ice-cream.
Seriously, though, fruit is is obviously fantastic on it's own. I remember being a kid and never being allowed anything sugary except once a week on a Candy Day when we would be allowed to choose a piece of candy each. Instead we ate a lot of fruit and vegetables, and believe it or not, but my favourite snack was raw cabbage cut in strips...Also, we always ate a lot of fish. I know that in many families here it is even now thought so that a meal is not a proper meal unless it includes meat, and fish is only ever eaten once a week or even much less. Here is little something I made one rainy evening...
A tuna, olives, garlic and fresh basil pizza pie. Yes, it's just a pizza. Lazy me.
I choose to make the pizza dough by using durum wheat because it has more viscosity than regular flour which makes for a better pizza dough. First I crumble 25 grams/0.9 oz live yeast on the bottom of a mixing bowl, then add a pinch of sugar on top and pour around 2.5 dl/1.5 cups of warm water on top. Let the mixture bubble for a while, then add a pinch of salt and start adding the flour while mixing with a spoon. When the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl, remove it and place on a floured surface. Knead until the dough is of a chewing-gummy consistency ( I'm such a pro ) and make a hollow in the middle. Pour a generous amount of olive oil in the hollow and turn the sides on top leaving the oil in the middle of the dough. Continue kneading until the oil is absorbed in the dough. Place in a bowl, cover with a tea-towel and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size. When the dough has risen, spread the dough on a dish and top with any nice, savory stuff of your liking.
Canned tuna?
For the topping I used dolphin-friendly tuna, but it can be substituted with pretty much any type of fish. Though I think salted dry cod might be quite, ahem, interesting though...Underneath the tuna I spread some tomato sauce, and on top of the tuna a generous amount of de-stoned black olives. Then I peeled some garlic (OK, a lot, I love garlic), crushed and sliced it and sprikled it on top. Next, a hefty amount of fresh basil and what you don't see in the picture, some chopped up mozzarella on top. By the way, if you wish to try your hand at making your own mozzarella cheese, check the instructions here at Dinner With Julie.
I've been slowly but surely progressing with the dress, but so many things just keep happening meanwhile. For example I run across this little bag in a flea-marker for just one euro the other day. It has been crocheted from some weird type of jute string with very clumsily made green interior and embroidered initials. From the level of the sewing I'd say this was the school-work of some girl in the 1960's. So for one evening I cut flowers out of a piece of leftover fabric and stitched them on the bag by hand. And behold, a nice little flowerbag.
Also, I've been going through my fabric stash in search for a perfect piece for a pencil skirt, or a wiggle skirt if you wish. I used to have a really nice one, a skirt that is, but sadly I, well, outgrew it. As for a pattern, I'm planning to use a simple pencil skirt basic pattern from Burda and draw the back part myself as to my liking as I want it to have a very slight fish-tail shape. Also, I need a made-to-measure pattern for a slim skirt as I always have to make adjustments for skirts in order for them not to look like they're about 10cm/4inches shorter in the back.
Drawing this post to close, I go with Auden.
Make this night loveable,
Moon, and with eye single
Looking down from up there,
Bless me, One especial
And friends everywhere
With a cloudless brightness
Surround our abcenses;
Innocent be our sleeps,
Watched by great still spaces,
White hills, glittering deeps.
Parted by circumstance,
Grant each your indulgence
That we may meet in dreams
For talk, for dalliance,
By warm hearths, by cool streams.
W.H.Auden
No comments:
Post a Comment