A BIENTOT! - CREPES AND GALETTES

Always a delight to spend an afternoon with Serena.  Today we were at Madam Flod.  Ate French crepes and shared a galette!  

退休生活

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退休后，早上都要出们走走。Light grocery shopping，回家交代帮佣午餐为母亲煮点什么。

然后喝上一杯黑咖啡，写字，拍照记录生活小点滴。日日如是。

与朋友小聚 (今天吃的是法式可丽饼) 。她刚从北海道回来，送我一盒“薯条三兄弟”。她说：我知道你喜欢“薯块三姐妹”但我没找到。

姑姑邀我明天到教会主办的 lunch 聚会。我不是信徒，就单纯想陪她到教会，表明她家里有人支持她的选择。

FOR THE LOVE OF POTATOES

Who knew boiling potatoes can be so complicated?

Bought 5 russet potatoes.  Was getting ready to cook one when my mother asked, “How do you intend to cook it?” I guess I would boil it in its jacket. “Leaving it unpeeled is silly,” Mum scoffed. “Are you going to eat the skin too?!” 

Two days later I decided to cook the remaining four potatoes. Remembering Mum's remark about their spud brother, I embarked on the process of removing the jackets from each. “How do you intend to cook them?” I'll be boiling them. “Then you shouldn’t peel them,” said Mum. “It would be much easier to remove their jackets once they’re cooked. Sometimes you’re so stupid.” 

"Oh for the love of potatoes, leave me alone already!"  I wanted to say but arguing with a 81-year old would be bad for my karma.

We have a love-hate relationship, my mother and I.  Some people don't appreciate the way I blog about these regular squabbles.  "Stop complaining about your mother," they would chide.  "One day you will grow old too!"  Perhaps my friend Serena understands me most. She once told me, “I made a pact with my sister that when we grow old and I should turn out like our mother, she is to shoot me!”

“Would you like her to shoot you too?” she offered.

OH CRUMBS!

Nope, this isn't a UFO! It's a chocolate cake in a bundt pan!

Today I had the good fortune of having Jenny, Sally and Serena over for lunch.  Even though they didn't stay very long (since Serena had to return to work) and lunch was only a humble affair of plain porridge with four simple dishes, I think it is safe to say that everyone had a great time. It is, afterall, not everyday that we have so many GPs sit around the lunch table all at once.

For dessert, I made a cake.

CHOCOLATE-SOUR CREAM POUND CAKE WITH CHEESECAKE SWIRL

Adapted from Baking for All Occasions: A Treasury of Recipes for Everyday Celebrations by Flo Braker

Makes one 9-inch Bundt

Cheesecake Swirl

225 grams cream cheese at room temperature

50 grams caster sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
15 grams ground hazelnut
2 tablespoons dried sour cherries (I used orange-flavoured dried cranberries)

Chocolate-Sour Cream Pound Cake
65 grams unsweetened cocoa powder
180 ml warm water
260 grams cake flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
170 grams unsalted butter at room temperature
300 grams caster sugar
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
170 grams sour cream

Place a rack in the centre of your oven and preheat the oven at 180 degrees C (or 165 degrees C if the pan has a dark finish). Lightly butter and flour a 10-cup capacity Bundt pan.

For the cake batter, whisk together cocoa powder and warm water in a medium bowl until well blended. Set aside to cool. Have all of the remaining ingredients at room temperature.

To make the Cheesecake Swirl:  In a medium bowl, the cheese with a rubber spatula just until the cheese is smooth and creamy. Beat in the sugar until blended. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until combined and creamy. Stir in the nuts and cranberries until evenly distributed. Set aside.

To make the Chocolate-Sour Cream Pound Cake: Sieve flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt onto a sheet of waxed paper. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat butter until creamy and smooth then add sugar, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl. Continue to beat until the mixture is very light in colour and texture.

Add eggs very slowly, about 1 tablespoon at a time. Continue beating until mixture is fluffy and pale ivory in colour. Add the vanilla and sour cream to the cooled cocoa mixture and stir to combine. Add flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with the cocoa mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture and mixing after each addition only until incorporated.

Spoon half of the batter into the prepared pan and spread it with the rubber spatula, working from the centre outward to create a slightly raised ridge around the rim. Carefully spoon the cream cheese filling over the batter, trying to contain it within the rim. The idea is to keep the filling from touching the pan so it will remain concealed when the cake is finished baking. Spoon the remaining batter over the filling and smooth the top.

Bake the cake until the top springs back when pressed lightly and a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out free of batter, 60 – 70 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 10 – 15 minutes before turning the cake out of the pan.

The cake would've been perfect if not for the crumbs.  As we ate, we left crumbs on the plate and crumbs all over the table - and on the floor!  God knows what went wrong.  Fortunately, the GPs, being people who focus on the big picture, didn't fuss over silly things like crumbs.  Instead, they made very nice comments about how wonderful the cake tasted and how great everything was.  Makes it impossible to ask for better friends.