As I mentioned a few days back, I bought quite a few cookbooks while I was in London, and I've been putting them to good use since getting back. Somebody asked me ages ago for my cookbook recommendations, and I wasn't sure what to say. The truth is that I didn't use cookbooks that much, and the ones I had were more for inspiration than instruction (as with Japanese craft books). But this latest crop was a good one, and I've been loving Grub a lot lately.

I don't like to share recipes from books, because I find it a bit disrespectful to the author, but I would like to post the recipe I used for this apple compote. I've halved it and changed it just a bit, but if you try it and like it, do make a point to buy the book. The photography alone is worth it!

Granny Smith Compote
1/4 cup white sugar
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1.5 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into small chunks

Put 1 1/4 cups water into a saucepan. Add the sugars, cinnamon, and vanilla and bring to a boil on the hob. Stir the mixture as it heats, to dissolve the sugar. Once boiling, add the chunks of apple and return the mixture to a boil. Drop the heat and bring it to a very slow simmer. Let it simmer for two hours; cover it after the first hour. It will turn golden brown and the apples will look like puree.

The original recipe doesn't call for the saucepan to be covered at any point, but I think you'd boil off too much of the liquid if you didn't put on a cover. As with anything you make, just keep an eye on it and adjust as you go along.

It's best just after it's finished cooking (and has cooled to a non-mouth scalding temperature), but I've kept the leftovers in a jam jar and simply stirred it into my oatmeal or spread it on hot toast. It's like spreadable apple pie!

Forget about the rice pudding. It was so rich that I nibbled about three tiny spoonfuls and then binned the rest. I really hate wasting food, but there was no sense in kidding myself that I was going to eat it. Ah, well. The first time I made oatmeal for myself, I cooked it in milk instead of water, and I couldn't finish that, either. So no more milk on the hob for a while.

Poached pears for breakfast!

Even better than last time (although I liked the blueberry sauce), as I had access to actual ingredients here in my own home. I think poached fruit is usually approached as a dessert, cooked in a sugary sweet syrup with a good splash of alcohol. My version is much lighter -- just enough sugar to keep the flavour in the fruit, so it's not too cloying as a breakfast food.

Poached Pears
-- 2 ripe pears
-- 750ml water (just over 3 cups)
-- 1 heaped tablespoon sugar
-- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
-- a pinch of cinnamon (or a small stick of it, for a stronger flavour)

Peel the pears, slice them in half, and cut out the seeds (cut out the center stem if it's very woody). Mix the water, sugar, vanilla, and and cinnamon in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the pear halves and arrange them so they're covered by the water. Turn down the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the pears are very soft and turning translucent. You can cool them in the syrup (they will dry out if removed) or eat them warm. Store leftovers in the fridge, covered with the syrup.

I like to have even the smallest drizzle of heavy cream with a poached pear -- the smoothness goes very well with the sweet-but-bland, warm pear halves. I imagine they have more flavour once thoroughly cooled, but I don't have the patience for that, and I prefer the feeling of eating something warm. It's a very fortifying little meal, especially with a nice slice of the brown bread I made yesterday.

You know how sometimes you pack a suitcase, zip it up, try to lift it, and wonder what on Earth could have made it so heavy? My journey back from the UK was not one of those times -- I knew exactly what was weighing down my bags: cookbooks, of the extra-heavy variety.

It started with The Kitchen Diaries, which Rob kindly bought me after I mentioned it several times (not in a hint-dropping way, just conversationally). This led to the other Nigel Slater books being bought, and I picked up the other two just before I left. The cookery book section in UK shops has to be one of the most gorgeous -- all the up and coming photographers must be going down the food route these days.

As if in reaction to the vast quantities of prepared food I wolfed down during my holidays, I've been feeling a bit frenzied to make everything from scratch. I paid a visit to The Wedge co-op today and stocked up on all the essentials, which apparently included rainbow chard.

I've nearly bought it several times before, and was finally convinced by a few mentions of it in The Kitchen Diaries. I just steamed it and topped it with balsamic vinaigrette and some feta. It was nice, if a bit (a lot) chewy. The big successes of the day were the brown bread and baked beans:

Rob and I had breakfast at a little cafe one day in Ireland, and in our toast basket were several slices of a brown quick bread. A Google search for 'Irish Brown Bread' turned up several recipes, and I tried the first. Seems about right. The baked bean recipe is from the book Grub; I used fake bacon -- and wholegrain mustard in place of Worcestershire sauce -- and they're pretty darn good.

I've also just made rice pudding, from the same book as the beans, but it'll have to have its own post. Phew.

We had a very nice time in Ireland, thank you. I thought I'd be able to update while we were there, but the computer/internet situation was not quite up to speed -- just trying to read my e-mail was a bit tedious, never mind replying. So, hardly any internet for five days, and we watched only forty-five minutes of television (Doctor Who) the entire time. Instead of being plugged in, we read books, drank tea, and got out and about -- oh, and ate a lot:

I brought Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries with me, as I was only half through with reading it. I was late to discover Mr. Slater; though I used to see his books in the shops the whole time, I never thought to buy one. I picked up Toast -- his childhood memoir -- almost by accident a few weeks ago and have really come to adore his way with words and the obvious passion he has for real, good food. Even though I finished Kitchen Diaries our second day in Ireland, I kept picking it up and rereading bits of it, thumbing through and finding recipes to try someday soon.

I told Rob that, what with the farmer's market starting up soon in Minneapolis, with my own vegetable patch in the works, and with my growing love for experimenting with food, I'm going to have to just break down and admit that this is at least 80% a food blog. I keep banging on about feeling guilty for not posting more craft, etc, etc, but I think we'd all be happier if I just started posting more often and quit whining. So that's going to be my aim when I return to Minneapolis -- update more frequently, probably mostly about foodie things, and hope people don't lose interest.

To backtrack now, and explain the photos: The bread at the top came from the farmer's market in Carlow. It was an apple-sultana-poppyseed loaf -- very, very nice. I don't usually buy baked goods off others, since I enjoy making my own, but the stall selling these had such an amazing selection that it was impossible to resist.

On our last day in Ireland, I had lots of eggs to use up, and one remaining potato kicking around, so I made a Torborg family classic: eggy hashbrowns. The pre-cooked potato (microwave) was chopped up and pan fried with a bit of onion, and then in went the eggs, creating a tasty, scrambly jumble.

The last photo is of a poached pear I made for breakfast one morning. It was meant to be a modest meal when I started, and then I started poking around in the fridge and turned up a bottle of cream and half a punnet of blueberries. After the pear was done poaching, I kept just a little bit of its syrup in the saucepan and added half a handful of blueberries. I cooked that for a bit over a low flame and poured it over my pear, along with a little of the cream. It wound up looking more like a dessert than breakfast (and a bit like a messy puddle, whatever the meal), but there was hardly any sugar in the whole thing; it wasn't especially sweet -- if I hadn't given in to the cream, I could have convinced myself it was just a nice plate of fruit. There may be many more poached pears (and baked apples) in my future -- a cooked fruit seems much more satisfying than something raw from the fruit bowl.

So, I think I shall return to America tomorrow. I hope the pet animals remember me and that I didn't leave something really smelly in the fridge.

Hello there! I've really got a feeling of being back 'at home' now that I'm in London. It's strange, but it just feels like I know what to expect better than in Minnesota, know my way around, recognize things, etc. This morning I made some of my sort-of scones:

With clotted cream and jam, naturally. Yesterday was just about as perfect as you like: We had breakfast at the cafe across the river and then walked to my old bank so I could close out my account. Came back to the flat, got in the car and drove to the Cotswolds to see the house Rob is buying. It's in the country, pretty much; these ponies live no further than a mile away:

We stopped for tea and pie, had an ice cream on the drive back, and there was a new Doctor Who on in the evening! It doesn't get much better than that.

A warmer clime indeed! This afternoon/evening, I'm leaving for London, which is predicting temperatures in the 60s and 70s in its ten-day forecast. Compare to the snow that's on my front lawn, and you'll understand how exciting this is. Yesterday, since I was still in my biscuit groove, I decided to try a small 'scone' batch.

When I made the baking powder biscuits, I was surprised at how close in texture (and appearance) they were to what I think of as 'proper' scones. So I used the same recipe and added a bit of sugar, some cinnamon and cloves, and raisins. I have to say, it feels a bit cheeky to do that and call the results 'scones' -- but they're so much better than what I get whenever I try a real scone recipe (flat, too buttery -- halfway between a scone and shortbread, really). These rose well and looked and tasted very nice, so I think I'll make them for Rob this weekend and see what he thinks.

Flying to London means leaving in the evening and arriving mid-morning the next day. I've never really had trouble adjusting to the time difference (+6 hours), but it does make for a strange, elongated travel day. I've decided to stop fighting it, and instead am thinking about all the things I can do later 'today'. I can feel a trip to Waitrose in my near future. . .

Yesterday was my mom's birthday. The perfect excuse for creating elaborate and miniature cakes!

The cake was just a basic chocolate sponge that I made by saying, 'Let's see, a cup of flour, hm. . . one egg. . . quarter cup oil. . . this and this and this. . . some milk. . . some more milk. . . better put more milk. . . ' Not a very scientific method for baking cakes. It was good, if a little dry, which gave me the perfect excuse to make cake-bread pudding with the (copious) leftover bits.

I made buttercream frosting for the first time, and I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say my life would be perfect if only I could top everything I eat with buttercream. I melted some chocolate and poured it into the same cutter I used for cutting the layers of cake, and once it hardened again I placed it on top and sifted powdered sugar over it. Finished it off with a homemade chocolate truffle. Perfect.

I surprised my mom at work with the mini cake and some flowers and coffee from Starbuckses', which should have been enough on its own to get me into the child hall of fame, but I also made some proper presents:

She had requested a small quilt, since I made one for my dad for Christmas, so I complied and threw in a matching totebag to boot. My favourite part is the patchwork handles on the bag:

My mom chose The Vegetarian (and Indian restaurant) for her birthday dinner, which I consider a big triumph for my efforts, as my birthday has been the only day I can reliably coerce both my parents to eat at my favourite Indian establishment. A birthday just isn't a birthday without a good curry.

Ah, this is better:

I made (two) biscuits from scratch this morning, and they puffed up just like they were supposed to! I've got no history of loving American biscuits, but I was determined to have one come out properly. Plus, I've got no other bread or bread-like substance (ie, a surface upon which to spread jam) in the house, so I needed to make something.

Rani tagged me for a meme about goals, so I present to you my list. I've tried to stick to goals for the relatively near future, otherwise things would just get ridiculous.

1. Assorted House Projects: I'll make this one item, otherwise the entire list could be filled with the projects I'd like to tackle around the house. I started priming the (wood-paneled) porch weeks ago, but the dip in temperatures has kept me from finishing. When I get back from London, my first project will be painting the porch white, doing something about the floorboards in there, and generally just making it a pleasant place to be.

I'd also like to refinish my bathroom, which I'm hoping to do when I finish (and get paid for) a pending freelance project. Bigger house goals include a kitchen overhaul, finishing the basement, and solar panels for the roof. And something should be done about the garage and its roof, but frankly, I don't have to live in there, so it's pretty far down the list.

2. Become a Vegetable Gardener: Because I'm so keen on the idea of having a garden, I keep forgetting that I have very little first-hand experience with maintaining one. Right after I finish with the porch, I'm going to dig out my garden plot and start working on that. I'm mainly interested in growing my own veggies and fruit, as I can't think of anything better than making my own homemade, homegrown vegetable soup or eating raspberries off the bush on a summer's day. Lucky for me, my mother has tried growing just about everything, it seems (corn, broccoli, potatoes, POPcorn, squash, etc, etc), so I can have her 'expert' opinions to guide me.

3. Start a Compost Pile: I'm constantly chucking out bits of organic material, thinking how much better it would be to compost it. Part of me is convinced that you have to do it properly, and the other part thinks, 'Eh! Just throw everything in a giant bin and mix it up every now and then!' Any Minnesotans/northerners who maintain a compost pile all year long? What happens during the winter?

4. Do Something Foodie in the Mainstream: I'm not sure exactly what this would be, and I'm happy for it to be in the long-time-from-now future. It could be anything from self-publishing a mini book of recipes to doing a more substantial book about my thoughts on eating (plus recipes), doing a proper cookery course, opening a little cafe, etc, etc. Mainly, food is just something that excites me right now, and unlike crafts, I could see wanting to develop it into more than a hobby.

5. Train for a 10k: No reason I can't get started on this right now (well, obviously not RIGHT now -- it's all windy outside. . .). I've sort of got stuck, mentally, at the 5k line, but I'd like to break through that and start running longer distances. I might make this a goal for the summer.

6. Act on Good Intentions: Mostly this has to do with things for other people (correspondence, etc), but I tend to flake on good ideas even when it's something I want for myself. I dream up all sorts of nice things to make the people around me happy, but it's not much use if I don't follow through on those whims.

Well, that might be it for goals for the time being. They start to sound like New Year's resolutions after a while. I always draw a blank when it comes to 'assignments' like this and then remember a hundred possibilities in the following weeks. For example, I should have included this in that 'weird' meme from a while back:

Things I have developed a fear or suspicion of in the last few years: Apes/dolphins/parrots (too clever not to be up to something), fiddlehead ferns (mainly the bigger ones that people eat), Google Earth (the zooming up to/down from space effect), and ferrets (just kidding -- I've always been suspicious of them. They're waiting for you to go to sleep, so they can eat you alive. Starting with your eyes.). See? Weird.

Isn't the morning light unusual?

I usually eat breakfast long before the sun is up, but longer days + today's bank holiday bring you the above photo. I thought it would be fun to have a fresh, fluffy Bisquick (American) biscuit with my breakfast, but it didn't rise at all and wound up being like a flat, unsweetened scone. Bah. I liked the little heart I cut from the extra dough, though.

Off to have some bank holiday fun in a country that's hard at work!

p.s. -- Because it's bound to be mentioned in some local/regional news story soon, you can say I was the first person to bring it to your attention: Dude, what's up with all the robins? I can hardly take the dog for a walk without tripping over a small army of American robins every fifteen feet. Is it the weather? The worm population? What's going on?

I was going to post some photos of the little recipe pin board I made, along with the banana walnut cake I baked this morning, but I'm feeling more in a listy mood.

-- The photo above is of my first besan dosa -- good flavour, but not perfect (of course) -- and some roast veggies in a homemade tomato sauce.

-- My banana cake turned out very nicely! I used melted jaggery instead of sugar; the flavour goes very well with banana.

-- There a little 'Gold Medal' grocery store a couple of miles from me, and I was very pleased to find it open this morning, while all the big supermarkets were closed for Easter. They had some nice speckled bananas (as well as fresh ones!) and a bag of walnuts -- key for making banana walnut cake.

-- I don't think I've mentioned that I'm going to London on Thursday, have I? The excuse is the London Book Fair, but of course there's a little bit more holiday wedged in there than book fair.

-- Speaking of holidays, I take (England's) bank holidays off and work on most American holidays, but I need to work out a better alert system. I worked, like a chump, on Friday, when I should have been lolling about. I've since been notified of Monday's bank holiday, and so plan to spend tomorrow. . . well, doing whatever I want!

-- I'm really looking forward to being back in the UK (and Ireland, where Rob and I are having a mini holiday-within-holiday). I'll be eating Kit Kats and jammy donuts the entire two weeks. Just kidding. Chips too!

Clearly, I should just give up on cookies and stick with cakes. The cake I made today came out beautifully:

I came across this foodie blog yesterday and have been obsessed with it for the last twenty-four hours. Everything looks so delicious, especially the savoury dishes, but especially the the sweet things. My cake was based on her honey date walnut cake, with some changes. Namely, no honey, dates, or walnuts! Instead, I soaked raisins in maple syrup, since that's what I had to hand.

Sara and I had been planning to try a new (to us) Indian restaurant for lunch today -- The Vegetarian -- and it didn't disappoint. They even directed us to a great little Indian grocer (Asia Imports on Central and 18th) afterwards, where I was able to find jaggery and gram flour, and they even sell pans and dishes.

I'll definitely return -- because they also sell biscuits from the UK! Digestives and Bourbons and what seems to be HobNobs (with a different name). Delicious. I'm not crazy about empires and flags and guns and all that, but I do like a new source of oaty goodness!

The Bad:

-- My second batch of cookies in less than a week wound up being woefully underfloured. I just wrote a long explanation but then realized how boring it was -- suffice to say two batches of flat, greasy cookies do not a happy baker make.

-- I shut Minnie's tail in the door. She was very scared, and I felt very guilty.

-- It's cold out again.

The Good:

-- I made more asparagus soup for dinner. It's so tasty. Steam 100 grams of asparagus until tender and then put it in a blender with 300ml of vegetable stock (I like Imagine brand). Blend until completely liquified, then pour into a saucepan and heat on the stove. Add Cayenne pepper, ground cumin, and garlic salt (about half a teaspoon of the cumin and a few shakes of the other stuff), and then whisk in one tablespoon of sour cream when the soup is hot. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with grated cheese. Yummo. Makes two servings if you're having lots of other tasty things as well.

-- I made a Really Good cup of tea. Don't underestimate the power of that.

-- Today was Rob's birthday Happy birthday, Rob!

At the end of last week, I was feeling a little bit fed up with myself. I don't usually have a problem working from home -- in fact, I love it -- but I'd had a couple of weeks of dwindling motivation. But a nice weekend and new 'to do' list strategy has got me back on track.

I made a loaf of white bread this weekend. Really, really white bread. It's like homemade Wonder bread! Generally, I prefer the flavour of whole wheat bread over white, but it's fun to have something light and fluffy like this every now and then.

I spent most of Saturday tackling cleaning tasks I'd been putting off -- I can actually see the floor of my pantry now! And I've got a lot of cardboard to recycle on garbage day. I generally regard it as perfectly acceptable to dump as much as possible into a closet; as long as the door still closes, you're good to go. But I recently realized there was no reason to be storing my (large) suitcases in my crowded bedroom closet when there's over 1000 square feet of perfectly good storage space in the basement. So not an exciting weekend, necessarily, but productive.

Actually, scratch that -- there was reason to be excited Saturday afternoon, because Sara stopped by for tea and to share her ridiculously tasty chocolate bread pudding (made from homemade bread, of course -- she's my kind of person!). She even brought extra for me to pass on to my mom, who I generally associate with bread pudding (because she makes it. . . not because she looks like it, or anything -- no, honestly! Stop thinking that right now!). You know it was good when it got the thumbs up from her.

On Sunday, I finished piecing my stained glass quilt, and now I just need to quilt it. Yup, that's all. Should be finished in no time at all. Ahem.

I'd better put that on my to do list.