CC seed-cake

     I have carrots. What with the biweekly veggie box, and the weekly fruit box, I seem to always have produce rotting all around me. This semester is killing me, and I'm cooking much less than I'd like. Carrots have mostly just been peeled, sliced, and cooked along with ramen for the last month. Which is a shame, because these are very pretty, Nantes carrots care of Farm Fresh to You, fresh and fragrant, with some mud still on 'em. Lovely. But I've been craving sweet, and wanting to make a traditional Seed-cake for some time. Needing to, almost. Between taking Brit Lit 2 (We're in the Victorians now) and feeling a need for slightly more healthy but reassuring foods to eat with tea while studying, I googled "Carrot tea cake" to find something a bit simpler than the big, cream cheese-frosted American-type carrot cake, and something a bit more like banana bread, or the apple cake I made a few weeks ago.

      So we're not reading Jane Eyre (pity), but rather Charlotte Brontë's hysterical sister Emily's opus Wuthering Heights. Best guess, everyone, which I prefer. Nonetheless, I have relistened to Jane Eyre, courtesy of Librivox, read by the incomparable Elizabeth Klett. I feel both stimulated and reassured by a heroine as passionate, yet outwardly calm, as the titular Jane, and elements of the novel have shown up in bits and pieces of my recent creative life, including an NPC named Helen Burns and a craving for Caraway seed cake.

 

 Jane and Helen feasting with Miss Temple. Illustration by John Huehnergarth 1954

 (brazenly stolen from another blogger making seed-cake)

      At any rate, I found a recipe on Cooks.com, and added about 3/4 tsp caraway seeds (for the classic English seed-cake flavor, probably limited somewhat by the sweetness of the grated carrot), and 1/2 tsp of chia seeds, splashed with a bit of water, since chia sucks up moisture to make that . . . gel stuff they do.

      The name? Not terribly clever - Carrot-chia seed cake. The caraway is insinuated by the fact that I'm a purist (when it suits me), and the Brontës would definitely assume caraway seeds. Shortened to 'cc' to evoke a desperately needed injection of something (2 ccs of tea cake! Stat!)

       Pictures to come. Phonecam is busted to death, and I'm not used to Hex's camera and pic-sharing stuff yet.

Too Hot to Trot

Burn-your-fingers-hot cookies fresh out of the oven, melting between the wires of the cooling rack under the force of their own melted butter.

No picture follows - you should go make a few for yourself. /enabler

Adventures in Faux-Meat, Parte Deux

So the Seitan didn't work out. I will try again, though. At some point. When I feel up to trying again. In the meantime, I purchased some Tempeh at our last jaunt to the Co-Op. It doesn't have the vaunted "Meat-like texture" of seitan - it's more like a really dense bready stuff, or a meatloaf where the very lean meat has been strrreeeeeeetcheeed with millet, bulgur, etc. I fried it up in some oil and soy sauce (as advised by the package) then doused it all in Soy Vay! Teriyaki sauce and served over whole wheat spaghetti.

It wasn't bad. The lots of teriyaki sauce turned my stomach (and DBF's), it being so very sweet. And I think having the tempeh just sit in the sauce adversely affected its texture. Next time, I'll do differently. However, the inherent texture was good, and it was very filling and comfortable, so tempeh may be a new thing for us.

Good Morning Starshine, the Earth Says Hello

Also known as: evidence of growing hippiety*, shown by what I eat for breakfast these days. All 'granola, fruit, naturally sweetened** yoghurt' and the deep satisfaction of knowing you're getting enough fiber and other nutrients.



*Pronounced "Hip-piety", at least by me.

**With local honey, of course.

Pomerantzen

Or candied citrus peels. I love these things. Love them, love them. So today, in the heat of the day, I'm hiding inside, watching 'Allo 'Allo, an English sitcom set in Nazi-occupied France, and candying the peels of oranges and lemons. Leftover faux-chicken soup with Quinoa and red bell peppers for lunch!

Adventures in Mock Meat: Part One, Addendum Two

So I simmered the seitan for well over an hour last night, and it seemed to firm up well, expand as indicated, etc. It was . . . slimy, though. I soaked it a bit on paper towels before placing the 'cutlets' on aluminum foil and freezing them, and they left a thick, floury sludge behind. I'm starting to worry if what I bought from the Bulk section was not vital wheat gluten but a high-gluten flour, which would still have that starchiness in it. Hm. But neither Safeway nor the Co-op seemed to have anything marked simply "Wheat Gluten", despite the guy on Youtube insisting it's common enough to be bought at Wal-mart, of all places.

If it is straight-up Gluten, I should try again, maybe frying it this time instead, or baking it. Anyway, the taste test happens tomorrow, I imagine, as we have swimming class this afternoon/early evening, and I know I won't want to cook anything as complex as a theoretical-seitan-based-developed-from-what's-in-the-house dish.

Best Apitherapy Ever

I've been warned by many natives that Sacramento is a veritable Mecca of allergens. I nod, thank them for the warning, and smile to myself, as apparently whatever stuff they have here just doesn't bother me. The palm trees, citrus groves, giant succulents of awesome don't have bothersome pollens.


But, to prevent growing allergic to my new home, I've begun a steady regimen of natural medicine, namely daily walks through the green, shady streets of midtown/east sac, taking in the gardens of the bungalows, Craftsmans (there are several Buffy houses in the immediate area), faux-Spanish homes, etc. Also, every other day or so, I get a big spoonful of histamines, cunningly neutered by the busy activity of our friends Apis mellifera.



The Co-op stocks local Wildflower honey- raw, unfiltered, and uncooked*. This stuff comes straight from Mr. Lienert's bees to me, and I eat it on toast, and one big spoonful of the stuff, to help my body get used to delicious pollen. This stuff is made of seven-times awesome. New favorite thing.

*Most commercial honeys are heated to above 140 degrees, which kills the antioxidants and and enzymes that increase immune functions, and lessens their natural anti-microbial qualities.

Home, home, home.

Am v. pleased to be back in the great desert wastes. While the climate of the Bay area is superb, the array of ethnic restaurants dizzying (Mem: Am fond of Peruvian food. Who would have guessed it?), and the hammock a great distraction, all my people are here.

Off to prepare for school.