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a talking point

We live in a flat in a terraced house, I think it was converted to flats some time in the 80s or 90s. It’s a standard sort of place with a low wall that separates the front “garden” (all flagstones) from the pavement. People stop and sit on the wall to chat all the time. No idea why, and no idea who they are. Maybe it’s perfectly butt height? Or the perfect width? Or it’s well positioned under a big, fluffy tree? Who knows. It’s kind of nice.

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A foraging foray

Poplar mushrooms

This past Saturday, I went on a guided foraging walk with Daisy in east London. Got way too much sun!

It was so helpful to have a guide. I’ve considered just trying it with a book, but it’s hard to beat being able to ask questions and watch the way someone else watches. It reminds me of learning how to draw or paint, part of learning how it works is learning how to change your perspective. So it’s useful to observe the way someone else sees things. I’d still like to get a good book about it, but now I feel like I have a better idea of what I’d like to get out of that book.

The walk was from 10:30am to 2:30pm with one bathroom break but pretty much no other stops. Didn’t really need to stop for lunch since we were grazing anyway, but we did pause at the floating bakery. I had one of the best muffins I’ve ever had, felt like I needed to lie down afterward. He’s open Friday to Sunday, worth checking where he’s at online since he moves around a little.

Read list of what we saw and collected

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Me-proof boiled eggs

Boiled eggs 🥚

I’m decent in the kitchen yet always screw this up. Don’t wing it, follow instructions below.

  1. Place eggs in saucepan. They should fit comfortably.
  2. Fill saucepan with water, covering the eggs by the breadth of a finger or two.
  3. Turn heat on high and bring to a boil. Stick around, read a book or do some dishes or something. You need to be there when it starts actually boiling.
  4. Right when the water has come to a full boil – you can tell by listening, the eggs will probably be knocking around a little – take the pan off the heat and cover the eggs.
  5. Allow the eggs to sit covered in the hot water for 4-10 minutes. 4 = soft, 6 = jammy, 8 = firm, 10 = hard. If making soft boiled eggs for eggs and soldiers, let them sit for about two minutes, three max. The egg will continue to cook when you place it in the egg cup.
  6. When they’ve reached the desired done-ness, remove the eggs to an ice water bath. Allow to rest in the cold water at least 10 minutes.

In the fridge with the shell on, soft boiled eggs keep about two days and hard boiled eggs keep about 4 days.

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uninvited odours

My grandma on my dad’s side was a great cook and known throughout the family for her dislike of garlic. I think she was convinced that it would “come out of the pores”, that you could smell it on her if she ate it. We all thought this was preposterous. WELL. Now suddenly I’m noticing it… I think her garlic affliction has caught up with me. Was she trying to warn us about a simple fact of life for some 30+ year olds? Were we all wrong? Not enthused.

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chickpeas for days

Made a chickpea salad last night that was a riff on this one by Bon Appétit and loved it, ended up finishing the whole thing. I’ll definitely make it again. My changes (due to dietary stuff and what I had on hand) were:

  • Didn’t have any parsley and not enough basil (scrounged a tiny amount from my not-happy plant), so I bulked it out with big handfuls of chopped spinach
  • Added ½ of a small bulb of fennel, sliced very thinly
  • Added about ⅛ of a cucumber chopped in to quartered rounds
  • Added one very finely chopped scallion
  • Used lactose-free “cheddar”

You could easily make a ton of different tweaks. I’d like to make it with some tahini whisked in to the lemon, sumac, a very thinly sliced red onion, and some mint. Or do a ginger + garlic + soy sauce + rice vinegar dressing, swap basil for coriander, drop the cheese, and maybe swap some of the chickpeas for edamame. That might be lunch today.

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Nan-nan’s cupcakes

Looking through Nan-nan’s recipe books, the first thing that caught my eye was a recipe for cupcakes from her sister June, see below. I’ve preserved her notes and phrasing as much as possible but have adjusted certain elements to be more usable.

I’m an OK baker but more of a pies-and-cookies person. Every cake I’ve ever made seems a little meh. These were not meh, 10/10.

Cup Cakes

From June, Merle’s favorite. Good with baked icing or white fudge icing. Makes 12.

Preheat the oven to 350F (175C).

In a large bowl, cream together ½ c (113 g) softened unsalted butter, 1 c (200 g) sugar, ½ t salt, and 1 t vanilla extract until very fluffy and light. Next, beat in 4 egg yolks until thick and light in color. In another bowl, sift together 2 c (230 g) all purpose flour and 2 t baking powder. In small, alternating amounts, add the flour mixture and ⅔ c (158 ml) milk to the butter mixture. Beat after each addition, until smooth.

Pour the batter in to a lined cupcake tin, filling each cup ⅔ of the way. Bake in a moderate oven, about 350F (175C), 25 to 30 minutes. Turn the tin once halfway through if you find one side is browning more than the other.

Additional notes

Note that the cupcake recipe originally calls for Spry, a vegetable shortening. I’ve substituted butter here since that’s what I’ve got.

The original recipe also specified 2 c of sifted flour, with an additional note that specified Gold Medal or Swans Down flour. Gold Medal is usually plain / all purpose flour, and Swans Down only produces cake flour AFAIK. This made determining the metric measurement kind of ambiguous, 2 c sifted all purpose flour is significantly different than cake flour. The measurement below worked well ultimately, but I’d like to try cake flour eventually so will need to keep this in mind.

She originally said it makes 18, but I found that it is much closer to 12 in a 12-cup cupcake tin with cups that measured 2″ (4.25 cm) in diameter across the base. The flour debacle might have caused the difference.

The cupcakes supposedly go well with “baked icing”, something I had never come across before. I tried it with baked frosting and failed *spectacularly*. I can see that it could be great though, kind of like a molasses-y meringue on top, so I’ll try again and note here if successful.