Life is only life forevermore

All,

Off on adventures of the marital and ice kind. Be back in three weeks with lots to tell and pictures to share. Until then Robert Frost's poem "Master Speed."

No speed of wind or water rushing by
But you have speed far greater. You can climb
Back up a stream of radiance to the sky,
And back through history up the stream of time.
And you were given this swiftness, not for haste
Nor chiefly that you may go where you will,
But in the rush of everything to waste,
That you may have the power of standing still-
Off any still or moving thing you say.
Two such as you with such a master speed
Cannot be parted nor be swept away
From one another once you are agreed
That life is only life forevermore
Together wing to wing and oar to oar

With a Cherry on Top...

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England. The tart is complete with homemade jam, David Lebovitz style with a bit of contrieu of course.

I haven't had much time to write up a proper post or even edit the pictures, but hope the following are worth a thousand words (as in the empty plate at the bottom means it was delicious). The tart is dedicated (can you dedicate a tart?) to Lorna who is an almond and cherry addict and who has been so helpful, kind, supportive and amazing. So lets rename the Bakewell tart to the Lorna's-swell tart!

(thats Lorna sewing away!)

Is Food Blogging the next Twitter?

First Al Gore 'invented' the Internet. Then there was email. Then blogging. Then Facebook. Now Twitter. Life just seems to be getting more brief. While at the same time, more and more people find new ways of 'expressing' themselves or at least claiming to so through text abbreviations and copyrighted pictures.

As a side note, it should be know that I'm not a fan of Twitter. I can see the potential for say CNN, but the fact that Ashton Kutcher - a wanna be celebrity - has more of a following, what is that really saying about our society an our intellect.

Anyways back to the blogging point, I'm afraid Food blogging is evolving to a new stage. I'm not a technology expert, but in looking over the increasing number of food blogs, I calculate that everyone and their grandmother now having a food blog. In fact they are making a movie out of it (Julie & Julia), take that Facebook (although -whispering-I am excited for the movie). It doesn't seem as special as my naive hopes had dreamed it to be a few months ago. I saw it as a creative outlet when I moved to London, to challenge myself in the kitchen and at the keyboard. But its a tough world out there, considering I believe that the number of people who read this blog can be counted on my hand. I know you've been busy, I've been busy -- you want to see more travelling and more novel things in the kitchen. I know, I have no excuse. In this Food blogging world, it certainly is dog-eat-dog (not a recipe option that I plan on trying to only get more readers). This 'situation' is even driving people off the food blogging bandwagon, such as those who started before the emergence of digital kitchens around the world are seeking new adventures or are leaving familiar communities because they are getting too large (such as Daring Bakers).

So does all this make me a blogging cliche? It scares me and reminds me of this New York Times article. If anyone is out there, what do you want to read? What do you think makes something a special blog? How is blogging taking over our world our form of communication? I mean you can even Twitter recipes now a days.

Lorna-lou's Birthday!

Happy Birthday Miss Lorna!

In the midst of all this wedding planning and preparation, a fun cake thrown in is the best ingredient. It is a riff on the wedding cake I will be making for the pending nuptials -- Chocolate Butter cake from Sky High Cakes with Nutella Buttercream and a little extra strawberry love on top. Yummy!


To be honest, I can't remember the last time I even made a birthday cake. There are too many cupcakes and fairy cakes in this world now, that the big layer cake piece of heaven is at the back of the line. Let me tell you after this tasty treat, I feel a comeback.


Back to the wedding bonanzas, I promise more cooking soon...but even more important is upcoming travel!

Bribery & Fish

Jussi is off in Chicago, while I'm sticking it out London style. So in an attempt to bribe him to come back to London as soon as his business trip is over I'm posting about the sushi we made before he left. He is the sushi master.

The thing about sushi is that it is much simpler to make than it actually looks. Well if you are also under the impression that rolling things up together looks complicated - but it does when you have all those colours, swirls and raw things wound up into a delicious piece of tastiness that melts in your mouth, not in your hand. But for some reason, no one ever (or at least out of the people I know) makes sushi.

I highly recommend it for a dinner party or date evening even, because you can get really into it - pairing this that and the other. Perhaps that is how you find a soul mate, its really your sushi mate. Who doesn't think that having prawns, salmon, spicy mayo, mango and cilantro all in one is totally ridiculous, but rather makes it for you every time with some toasted seasame seeds sprinkled on top. Now say that ten times fast every time you pretty please? See soul-sushi mate.

The most essential item in making homemade sushi is the quality of the fish. Get something that is fresh, beautiful, and the guy who is preparing it for actually knows what sashimi is and doesn't look at you funny. Your basics would include salmon, tuna and some eel, throw in a bit of yellow tail, squid or roe if you want to impress. For the two of us, 100 grams of two types of fish plus some extras is more than enough.

By extras, I mean if you want to take your sashimi to the maki level. Not to the next level, the MAKI level (make you say that with a deep voice with sushi master knife in hand and master chef bandana around your head). We tend to go for mango (oh yes mango), avocado, imitation crab, cilantro, crispy onions, cucumber etc. But just play with your flavour sensations and experiment. We tend to get a bit carried away with the maki and should be really having more nigiri, but perhaps thats the sake.

As for the rice, that itself is also easy if you know how to cook rice perfectly anyways. Somehow growing up in Hawaii with rice at every meal I was trained well (on a side note, it also took me a really long time to decide that I could actually live without a rice cooker, I still think they are brilliant).

So Jussi want to come back and maki sushi with me (oh bad pun). Or better yet, lets plan a trip to Japan! Oh and remember the chop sticks!

I went to jail last weekend

I swear I'm innocent. Its not what you think.

It is exactly that, not what you think. When we journeyed to Finland last weekend we stayed in the white-collar heaven of a prison in Helsinki. Sure enough, it would work as a business hotel but for our purposes it provided a basis to witness Johanna (Jussi's sister) get out a prison, I mean graduate from high school.


The weather in Helsinki was brilliant, sunny, perfection. I only hope we are as lucky in July. The esplanade was in its full glory, the water resting beneath the sun, and well lots of wine, food and good people around. And lots of motivation to learn more Finnish as always.


As a tribute to Johanna for her accomplishment, I present peanut butter brownies (Smitten Kitchen style). As Johanna, like myself, is a big fan of peanut butter, chocolate and well a big glass of milk to go with. Although I can't say that these made it to Finland, they also didn't really make the final picture (eaten up too soon) and for this we must go to prison (only the Helsinki one of course). Maybe one day I will have the patience to wait and snap a photo of the final product, until then you'll be left to imagine the greatness. (http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/10/peanut-butter-brownies/)

Crisps, Strudel and Recession, my oh my

The May Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

Its already that time again, Daring Bakers. Time is surely flying. June. I thought yesterday was February. It doesn't quite feel like spring, or it might even be summer. Its been a bit of a odd spring. It is probably because this is the first time that summer won't bring a new place, a new start, a renewal. Instead, I am officially an adult -- working. Eek that seems even stranger to say out loud.


It is also strange due to this economic climate, that one of colleagues who sits nearly next to me was made 'redundant'. In the US, the term is 'laid off'. What do you say to someone who has more experience, who has been at the company longer? I'm just a graduate with a lower salary, must be cheap labour, will I be next?. It's getting tougher each day. On top of it, our expenses are going up and we are attempting to save for our trip to Iceland in July. Yesterday, Jussi and I were checking every pocket, corner, and purse for a bit extra change to buy some crisps. Yum, Kettle crisps - the recession antidote.

In light of this penny-pinching or perhaps pence-pinching, I've been making lots at home, however nothing too revelational or exciting. Old budget staples and using up what is in the fridge. Notably, lots of dough from scratch - lets see pizza, focaccia, even hot dog buns (and somehow I don't deem white flour preparations worthy of this blog, perhaps I should get over myself). In the same budget mood and doughy festivities, strudel fits in perfectly around our tiny flat.


Although strudel looks intimidating as we eye it at the Borough Market with its flaky layers, the purse strings yank at us to make at home. Apples are cheap, but even less expensive are the few pears sitting at the bottom of the fruit bowl and frozen berries ready in the freezer. And speaking of pence-pinching, no gym membership - try strudel stretching.

The original recipe can be found here: http://linda.kovacevic.nl/

The budget-saving variations were applied to the filling to accomodate what we had around:
2 tablespoons contireu (what we have around)
3 tablespoons (45 ml) raisins (omitted)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (80 g) sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick / 115 g) unsalted butter, melted, divided
1 1/2 cups (350 ml) fresh bread crumbs
1/2 cup (120 ml, about 60 g) coarsely chopped walnuts (omitted, too expensive)
2 pounds (900 g) tart cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into ¼ inch-thick slices (use apples that hold their shape during baking) (replaced with 1 pound pears, and half bag frozen mixed berries)


Even with the cost cutting measures, it was tasty. We didn't run into any challenges into the process. Except for when we tried covering the entire table in parchment paper (lack of table cloths in our tiny place), which didn't work at all. Just failed, don't try it. Oh well. Also we ended up rolling it the short way versus the long way to make a snake, as we were hoping for millions of layers of flaky crust, which we preferred over volume. It might of been too many millions, as we ended up with reasonably flaky crust with a number of layers stuck together.

As far as on list of recommended recipes, it was good for strudel, but I've decided I'm a bit more of a turnover kind of girl. No not the one you take to bed, but those of goodness, sweetness, and everything nice inside. Perhaps this recipe can be modified to satisfy the turnover urges in you.



Okay, I know I'm covering up the lack of posting with this post. Yes for economic reasons, its been difficult to post about cooking, much less travelling. Its been busy - there is a recession out there, you hear! But we are off to Helsinki tomorrow for a long weekend of graduation parties, so hopefully will have celebratory food stories to share.