Friday, April 30th

Autumn Salad
for 2

350g Baby potatoes, boiled & quartered
60ml Salad dressing, pour over hot potatoes
40g Rocket, parsley & chives
4 Ripe figs, quartered
4 Fresh dates, quartered
1 Yellow paprika, thin slices
2 Free Range eggs, hard boiled, peeled & quartered
200g Cocktail tomatoes
70g Parma ham, shredded
100g Gorgonzola, cubed
Assemble in individual bowls.

Thursday, April 29th

Finished Creators by Paul Johnson last night. Was going to say its a book full of interesting facts if very old fashioned views, but I bought a new book just now, Book of General Ignorance by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson, and am now less certain of Johnson's facts.

In Johnson's chapter on Tiffany, he calls glass "... a mobile supercooled liquid..." while Lloyd & Mitchinson, in What is the normal state of glass? say "It's a solid. You may have heard it said that glass is a liquid which has cooled.......... this is untrue - glass is a bona fide solid."

Had a discussion with a dinner guest recently as to inability to trust the written word, now quite gobsmacked.

Cucumber salad

2 Cucumbers, washed and grated (600g)
Salt
60ml Salad dressing, your favourite

Salt grated cucumber well and place in sieve in sink. Allow to stand for several hours. Rinse well, dry with clean dishcloth, put in small bowl, cover with dressing. The cucumber will diminish alarmingly, salad will serve only two as a side dish.

Wednesday, April 28th

Busy long weekend, no reading to speak of. Cooked nothing good enough to share.

Recipe for delicious hot chocolate in lieu of dessert. Fills 4 espresso cups.

Hot Chocolate

100g Dark chocolate
250ml Cream
2ml Cinnamon
2ml Mixed spice
1ml Cardomom
1ml Chilli
Put everything in small pot on high heat, whisking all the while. Do not allow to boil.

Friday, April 23rd

Paul Johnson's Creators starts with Chaucer. No matter how interesting his (Chaucer's) work, I cannot bear to figure out the spelling. Johnson's essay was informative.

Recipe is for wheat free chocolate cake, not as dense as most wheat free cakes and very easy.

Poppy seed chocolate cake

60g Almonds, chopped and sprinkled on the base of a loose bottomed ring tin

100g Butter
200g Dark chocolate
Microwave together for a minute, 2 at most.

6 Large free range eggs, separated
5ml Baking powder
Add baking powder to whites and beat.
Add yolks to hot chocolate mixture while whisking.

5ml Mixed spice
5ml Cinnamon
10ml Lemon juice
150g Poppy seed (ground)
Add all to chocolate mixture, mix well. Fold egg whites in. Pour over almonds in ring tin and bake for 1 hour at 150C.

I chose not to add any sugar, but you might feel differently. Taste cake mixture before pouring into tin and add sugar if you feel the need. Serve cake with cream or better yet, Lemon syllabub, see February 24th.

Thursday, April 22nd

Stayed up late to read Mercedes Lackey's Joust. Fun read about a boy & a dragon.

Corned beef soup

Cooked a corned beef yesterday and used the resultant stock to make a delicious soup. Added broccoli because I needed to use it and for the lovely colour.

1l Corned beef stock
125g Tender stem broccoli, washed and chopped.
Add broccoli to stock and boil for 15 minutes.
250ml Cream
10ml Lemon juice
30ml Pesto
20ml Flour
Remove pot from heat, add ingredients, leave to cool & puree all.

Wednesday, April 21st

embracing Mind is fascinating.

Coleslaw

500g Cabbage, finely shredded, place in fridge in cold, salted water for an hour, dry well
300g Paprikas, finely shredded
200g Chunky cottage cheese
30g Herbs, finely shredded (chives, rocket, parsley)
10ml Lemon salt
20ml Fresh lemon or lime juice
Mix together.

Tuesday, April 20th

Now reading embracing Mind by B. Alan Wallace.

Saw Met Opera movie, Hamlet. Fabulous!

If you replace the butter in the recipe below with olive oil, it would be suitable for vegans.

Mushroom soup
1.2kg Mixed mushrooms (I used shiitake, brown, portebellini and shimeji)
150g butter
2 large onions (peeled and chopped)
200g cabbage (washed and chopped)
5ml dried tarragon or 50ml fresh
10ml ginger, peeled and grated
10ml garlic
Fry all (mushrooms except shimeji chopped) in butter in batches.

800ml Coconut cream
25ml Fresh lemon or lime juice
5ml Lemon salt
Put in pot, add all fried ingredients, except whole sjimeji and puree together. Heat through without bringing to a boil. Garnish with shimeji.

Monday, April 19th

Again not a reading weekend. Managed to finish Stargazers, Stories of the first philosophers by Paul Rossetti Bjarnason. Very enjoyable. The Afrikaans word for philosophy, which is wysbegeerte, translates as desire for wisdom, very apt I realise now.

Regarding recipe, some people say that if legumes are soaked for more than 24 hours, with constant water changes, there will be no flatulence problem. Others say that a bit of baking soda should be added to the cooking water.

Chickpeas in Yogurt

500g Dried chickpeas, soak overnight or longer
250ml Rosemary, thyme & tarragon
Boil together in enough fresh water to cover, until soft. Cool and slip peels of if you want to.

50g Fresh ginger, peeled and grated
160g Peppadews, drained and finely chopped
30g Salted lemon, minced
500g Greek or Bulgarian yogurt
Mix all. Add salt if needed.

Friday, April 16th

The interesting information regarding memory in the Knowledge chapter in The World in Six Songs prompted me to read the last chapter of How The Mind Forgets and Remembers by another Daniel, this one Daniel L Schacter. Both are interesting reads.

Lemon Chicken

700g Chicken breasts, bones and skins removed, cut into bite sized squares
100g Butter
150g Yogurt or cream
30g Thyme, leaves only
5ml Garlic, chopped
5-10g Salted lemon, minced

Melt butter in heavy pan. Add garlic and thyme, stir for a minute, add chicken and minced lemon and fry on high heat for 5 minutes. Lower temperature, stir yogurt or cream in, simmer for 5 minutes more and serve with fettuccine or mash.

Thursday, April 15th

Dinner guests last night. Two new recipes, but no reading.

Cheese balls' taste becomes stronger the longer it is kept. When too strong to eat, they are still useful to flavour sauces etc.

Cheese Balls

1 part Ricotta
1 part Gorgonzola or Roquefort
Cayenne pepper to taste
Lots of fresh herbs
Olive oil

Use a fork to mash two cheeses together, easiest on a flat surface like a chopping board. Flavour with pepper. Form into balls and place in glass bottle with lots of fresh herbs like rosemary and thyme. Add a chili as well if you want. Fill bottle with oil, making sure the balls are entirely covered. Leave for a week before use. Delicious on hot ciabatta.

Wednesday, April 14th

Now reading The World in Six Songs by Daniel J Levitin. Great so far.

Someone once asked a group of us what each of us considered to be a thorn in our flesh. I was recently reminded of this and have been giving it some thought. In South Africa we are struggling with serious criminality issues, so maybe I could have said the fact that every house is a prison, where we cower, while criminals roam outside, is my thorn, but I've decided that our draconian anti-smoking laws are my thorn. Although obesity and alcohol are the cause of far more health problems than smoking here, fat people are still allowed to eat cakes, chips, anything in public. Alcoholics may still drink as much as they please in public. I may no longer smoke while having an espresso on the veranda of a restaurant and I deeply resent that.

Vegetarian Tapenade

200g Olives, pipped
20g Capers
5g Green peppercorns in brine (drained)
30ml Fresh Lemon Juice
50ml Olive oil
5ml Garlic
5ml Salted lemon

Combine.

Tuesday, April 13th

Saw Hurt Locker. Surprisingly enjoyable for a war movie. A Single Man was my favourite of the Oscar contenders.

Paged through The Beautiful Boy by Germaine Greer in Exclusive Books. Eye candy. Text looks promising, should probably get a copy.

Another easy meze recipe.

Honeyed Paprika's

6-8 Varicoloured paprika's
Put on baking sheet in 200C oven, bake for 40 minutes, turning occasionally. Leave to cool, peel skins off.

50ml Honey
50ml Fresh lemon or lime juice
50ml Olive oil
Black Pepper to taste

Mix all, pour over sliced paprika's and refrigerate, making sure that fluid covers paprika's. If not, use different container or add more ingredients. Leave 12 hours for flavours to blend before use. This will go off in about a week.

Monday, April 12th

Finished The End of Alice. One of those books that will haunt me for years to come.

Today's recipe is super easy. (These days I see the apostrophe "s" used incorrectly so often, that I am hesitant to use it even where appropriate.)

Marinated Mushrooms

500g Button mushrooms, washed or otherwise cleaned
32g Knorr Greek Salad Dressing refill
25ml Lemon juice
25ml Olive Oil

Put all together in glass dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Refrigerate for 12 hours before use.

Friday, April 9th

No reading. Saw A Prophet. Too long, boring, dreary, violent and yet fabulous.

Another recipe for a meze dessert.

Mascarpone & Fig Dessert

1kg Mascarpone (4 tubs)
500g Green figs in syrup (drained & sliced, syrup reserved)
500g Pecans

Line loaf Pyrex with clingfilm. Spread one mascarpone evenly on base, layer with half nuts, another mascarpone, layer with half sliced figs, mascarpone, nuts, mascarpone, finish with figs. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or so before slicing. Serve with reserved syrup.

Thursday, April 8th

Read Angus Taylor New Work Circa 1/2010 catalogue yesterday. Many interesting essays on a spectacular exhibition. Two essays of the kind that I loathe, interestingly enough both referring to that overused saying by Descartes: "I think therefore I am."

Recipe is perfect dessert for a meal of meze.

Turkish Apricots

250g Soft sundried Turkish apricots (split open)
50g Almonds, whole (same number needed as apricots)

100g Macadamia paste (ground macadamias, no additives)
25g Icing sugar
5ml Cinnamon
Mix together.

Fill apricots with mixture and one almond each. If this is the only dessert, you will need at least 6 per person, this recipe will do for 4.

Wednesday, April 7th

Party last night, no reading.

Recipe for easy cake.

Caramel Roll

4 Jumbo Free Range egg whites
5ml Baking Powder
Beat together until whites stay in place when bowl is turned upside down.

4 Jumbo Free Range egg yolks
125ml Sunflower oil
2ml Vanilla paste
250g Sugar
325ml Boiling water (pour in while beating mixture)
Beat together well.

200g Flour
50g Cocoa powder
10ml Baking powder
2ml Salt
Sieve into sugar and yolk mixture and beat well. Fold beaten whites in. Pour mixture into two 30 x 40cm baking trays generously lined with baking paper. Bake at 150C for 25-35 mins. Remove from oven, lift from baking trays using paper and leave to cool.

2 x 385g Cans of Caramel
Spread each cake with one can of caramel. Roll first cake, pulling paper off as you go. Start rolling second cake where first ends. Place roll on serving platter.

500ml Whipping cream
25g Cacao nibs
Beat cream until stiff and spread over cake. Sprinkle with cacao nibs.