You know how you suspect people aren’t actually listening to you? (Husband, children, pets) Oh, they say they are, and really want you to believe them, but you then find out . . . well, here’s how it all transpired:
We were having breakfast, something like toasted Bruegger’s bagels swathed in cream cheese, with turkey sausage on the side. Yum! We were having our second cup of coffee and my darling husband was typing, typing, typing on his laptop, trying to get ready to teach his next chemistry class.
As I’m reading the morning paper, I casually asked him, “Are you still hungry?”
He said, not looking up, “Yes.”
I wasn't sure he was still hungry and said, “Really?”
His eyes glued on the laptop, he immediately responded, “Yes.”
And I said, “Should I make you something more?”
And he stopped typing, looked up at me - like I was asking him to tie my shoes - and said, “Yes?”
So back to the stove I went . . . making a fluffy omelette with veggies and popped some bread in the toaster. About five minutes later, I presented this Second Breakfast (as in Hobbit-Second-Breakfast) to him, presenting the plate at the same level as his eyes on the laptop. He stopped, looking at me with a slightly amused and quizzical expression. I declare triumphantly, “Ok, here it is. Second breakfast.”
He hesitated for only one second, took the plate, thanking me, still with that little amusement in his eyes and I started laughing and insisted, “You just said ‘yes’ because you had no idea what you were saying ‘yes’ to.” He started to laugh and said, “You think I wasn’t listening to you.” And I said, “THAT’S RIGHT. You weren’t listening.” And he started laughing harder and said, “Oh, I’m never gonna live this down.”
He’s right, of course. He will never live this down. But he did eat the omelette. And the next time I think he’s not really listening, I’m going to make sure he says “yes” to a trip to Ireland.
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Friday, September 8, 2017
A Delectable Dessert . . . from the 16th century
In a recent BBC television show, a special Ana von Kleve torte was made in honor of Anne of Cleves 500th anniversary. This was not an historical recipe, but a new recipe created in 2015.
Most likely, Anne of Cleves would not have had cake at all. Some of the dessert recipes featured in the 16th century would have been A White Leach (a.k.a. Sweet Cubes of Jellied Milk), Posset Curd, Apple Moyse (Apple Mousse) Trifle, Fruit Tart, Custards or Bread Pudding.1 Flaky pastry was unknown, and a tart could be either sweet or savory, depending upon available ingredients. A description of “fine cakes” or cookies would yield more along the lines of a small cracker.
Tudor Cookery by Peter Brears, first published by English Heritage in 1985, features transcribed recipes from The Good Huswifes Jewell,1 published in 1585. Although Anne was born in 1515, a good 70 years before, these recipes would undoubtedly be handed down from parent to child for many decades before being printed in book form. Most European "cookery books" did not change much from the 13th through 16th centuries.2 By comparison, back in America at Martha Custis Washington’s first marriage in 1750 to Daniel Parke Custis, she was presented with a handwritten cookbook from her mother-in-law, Frances Parke Custis. Frances was born in 1685, and those transcribed included a recipe for mead, a fermented alcoholic beverage described in the epic poem Beowulf, believed to have been written between 925 and 1025.3 Although our palates of today prefer entirely different flavors, Medieval and Renaissance foods were quite similar.
Some 16th century recipes were gleaned from letters written by Katerina Lemmel, a nun forced to leave her German monastery by a peasant uprising in 1525.4 The food she describes includes Apple Pillows, Cheese Buns and Krapfen (doughnuts) and marchpane, a mixture of almond paste or a marzipan-like creation of colored sugar-paste, also called sugar plate. Most dough recipes were fried in palm oil or steamed first, then partially fried, and steamed again. Rudimentary techniques of the time include cooking over an open fire, thickening sauces with bread, crushed nuts or hardboiled eggs,2 whisks made of a bundle of twigs, spices - still used today and many now unknown or out of favor - used judiciously, payste, paest or paste (dough) to cover meat or fruit, then steamed or baked.
In the 15th century, A Boke of Gode Cookery, contains a recipe for Bryndons, small cakes served in a sauce, which are small strips of pastry fried in a skillet. 5 There is also a Frutowr for Lentyn, a fruit and almond milk cake, which is actually a fritter, fried in a pan. Another popular item was the Sambocade, an elder flower cheesecake cooked in a pie crust. Preparing any of these dishes - thanks to the translations of many authors and the ability to convert recipes into a more modern language - will truly give one a taste of history.
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Huswifes_Jewell
2 http://www.oldcook.com/en/medieval-cookery
3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf
4 https://asunow.asu.edu/content/16th-century-recipes-still-tasty-today
5 http://www.godecookery.com/goderec/grec44.htm
Most likely, Anne of Cleves would not have had cake at all. Some of the dessert recipes featured in the 16th century would have been A White Leach (a.k.a. Sweet Cubes of Jellied Milk), Posset Curd, Apple Moyse (Apple Mousse) Trifle, Fruit Tart, Custards or Bread Pudding.1 Flaky pastry was unknown, and a tart could be either sweet or savory, depending upon available ingredients. A description of “fine cakes” or cookies would yield more along the lines of a small cracker.
Tudor Cookery by Peter Brears, first published by English Heritage in 1985, features transcribed recipes from The Good Huswifes Jewell,1 published in 1585. Although Anne was born in 1515, a good 70 years before, these recipes would undoubtedly be handed down from parent to child for many decades before being printed in book form. Most European "cookery books" did not change much from the 13th through 16th centuries.2 By comparison, back in America at Martha Custis Washington’s first marriage in 1750 to Daniel Parke Custis, she was presented with a handwritten cookbook from her mother-in-law, Frances Parke Custis. Frances was born in 1685, and those transcribed included a recipe for mead, a fermented alcoholic beverage described in the epic poem Beowulf, believed to have been written between 925 and 1025.3 Although our palates of today prefer entirely different flavors, Medieval and Renaissance foods were quite similar.
Some 16th century recipes were gleaned from letters written by Katerina Lemmel, a nun forced to leave her German monastery by a peasant uprising in 1525.4 The food she describes includes Apple Pillows, Cheese Buns and Krapfen (doughnuts) and marchpane, a mixture of almond paste or a marzipan-like creation of colored sugar-paste, also called sugar plate. Most dough recipes were fried in palm oil or steamed first, then partially fried, and steamed again. Rudimentary techniques of the time include cooking over an open fire, thickening sauces with bread, crushed nuts or hardboiled eggs,2 whisks made of a bundle of twigs, spices - still used today and many now unknown or out of favor - used judiciously, payste, paest or paste (dough) to cover meat or fruit, then steamed or baked.
In the 15th century, A Boke of Gode Cookery, contains a recipe for Bryndons, small cakes served in a sauce, which are small strips of pastry fried in a skillet. 5 There is also a Frutowr for Lentyn, a fruit and almond milk cake, which is actually a fritter, fried in a pan. Another popular item was the Sambocade, an elder flower cheesecake cooked in a pie crust. Preparing any of these dishes - thanks to the translations of many authors and the ability to convert recipes into a more modern language - will truly give one a taste of history.
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Huswifes_Jewell
2 http://www.oldcook.com/en/medieval-cookery
3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf
4 https://asunow.asu.edu/content/16th-century-recipes-still-tasty-today
5 http://www.godecookery.com/goderec/grec44.htm
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