Elevenses and Solving the Credit Crunch with Cake

Much like knowledge, a little nostalgia is a dangerous thing.

Get too wrapped in thinking that life was better ‘back in the day’ and you start to forget that everything wasn’t chocolate boxes and roses. No matter what the right-wing press will have you believe, life is better now than it ever has been.

However, take off the rose-tinted glasses for a moment and there are still some aspects of bygone times that are just as appealing: train travel, picnics, cricket matches, slow food as the norm rather than a concept. And elevenses.

Elevenses is a notion that, along with Gentlemen’s Clubs, steam engines and cholera seems to belong to the past, to an age seen only in history books or episodes of Jeeves and Wooster (or Zimbabwe).

Elevenses don’t belong in an era of conference calls, celebrity perfumes and instant messaging.

But they should.

In fact, I have an idea: it should be mandatory for employers to provide coffee, tea and cakes and a fifteen-minute break at some point between 10:45 and 11:30. Actually, sod it, make it twenty minutes.

Hear me out on this one. Not only would it make the work place a far happier place (little things go a long way), it would also make the prospect of Monday mornings a lot more bearable, knowing that there was a steaming mug of coffee and a slice of Victoria Sponge cake just round the corner.

It would allow socialising and chatting and catching up and all those important human interactions to be done in a designated window.

It would foster a sense of community spirit and help to iron out any differences or bubbling animosities. It is hard to be angry with someone if they have cream running down their chin or chocolate round their mouth.

It would give employees a sense that they are being appreciated and not just being shafted by ‘the man’ in return for the privilege of a monthly paycheque.

Pretty soon, this happiness would start to spread from company to company, city to city, politician to politician, nation to nation and NGO to NGO.

The UN would be a different place altogether if they stopped for Sachertorte every day and imagine how much easier diplomatic relations in the Middle East would be if they knew there was a baklava break to look forward to in an hour?

For those that have to whittle everything down to a balance sheet - Happy people are happy employees. Happy employees are more productive and more productive employees are more profitable.

In short, it would make the world a better place.

The logic is flawless and my own projections (done on a spreadsheet, I’ll have you know) suggest that not only would the cake start to pay for itself after just a month, you would start to turn a profit (thanks to productivity going through the roof) after only six weeks. Depression, recession, credit crunch solved and a new era of world peace and harmony entered. All through cake. Here’s one to start with:



Recipe – Chocolate, Hazelnut and Coffee Cake
This is based on a Nigel Slater recipe which he, in turn, adapted from a Tamasin Day-Lewis recipe. It is awesome. Serves six.

125 grams of unsalted butter, cubed
125 grams of Demerara sugar
2 large eggs
A large shot of espresso
A heaped teaspoon of baking powder
125 grams of plain flour
100 grams of ground hazelnuts
125 grams of ground dark chocolate

Mix the butter and sugar together until they are fluffy and pale. Unless you have arms like Brian Blessed, I suggest you use an electric mixer. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat it all together.

Stir in the coffee then sift in the flour and baking powder. Using a spatula of some description fold the mixture together before adding most of the hazelnuts and chocolate. Hold some back for topping the cake.

Tip the cake mixture into a lined cake tin and pop into a pre-heated oven (about 180 degrees). It will take about an hour. You know its ready if you stick in a skewer and it comes out clean. Turn it out onto a wire rack and leave to cool for about fifteen minutes.

If you are feeling really decadent smear on some cream cheese mixed with icing sugar and cocoa powder.

Call someone, anyone, who enjoys cake. Brew some coffee, cut large slices and enjoy, smug in the knowledge that you’ve done your bit in fostering a new age of global harmony and happiness.

For more world-changing ideas, follow me on Twitter.

Food for the HEART!

Since heart day is just around the corner , I wanted to share to all of you what I have just learned ...

"Love is not about finding the right person, but creating a right relationship. It's not about how much love you have in the beginning but how much love you build 'til the end"

Hope you guys are with me as I ponder on this note... :-)

hugs,
joanie xxx

Fuwari, Hojo

8 Januari 2009, minggu,

Hari ini cuaca cerah, walaupun anginnya agak dingin dingin...kebetulan husband libur, jadi kita sekalian jalan2 ke hojo, 40 menitan dari matsuyama..liat liat lautnya.

Disini, lautnya bersih banget...kalo musim panas, banyak yang mana main air ato berenang ...wak, senengnya Mei kalo kesini, bisa main main air...tapi kali ini ga bisa main, coz airnya dingin, sedingin air es...bzzz..bzzzzzz...





So kita liat liat aja toko yang ada di seberangnya laut...ada toko yang jual dari sayur mayur, telur, bunga2 mpe ikan seger ...hehe, lumyan, kemarin sempet beli sayuran n jeruk. Jeruknya ternyata maniz banget, sayang cuman beli 1 plastik aja..hehe..

Disana ada toko jakoten, sejenis tempura, tapi bahan dari ikan...kayak pempek2 di jakarta, tapi tanpa saos cukanya...mmm..enak bangettt....kalo dimakan panas2 di hari yang dingin ini...hahhaaa...

You Can Wrap a Crêpe Around Anything

It was hot that day walking down the Rue Mouffetard in Paris. My friend Katy and I had already been to a couple of museums and the Latin Quarter that morning, and it was barely lunchtime. But we were in the perfect place for lunch because the Rue Mouffetard has a number of food stalls, tiny shops, and an open air market.
We were in Paris for only two days and I had a list of food I wanted to eat while I was there. Duck confit, paté, pain au chocolat, a variety of cheeses, and of course crêpes. I had read in my Lonely Planet guidebook about some crêpe stands which could be found on Rue Mouffetard. So I suggested that we should find one of them for lunch.
Katy was hesitant. I couldn't figure out why. I had been eating crêpes for years, since my 7th grade french class went to La Crêperie in Chicago for dinner. I had an escargot filled crêpe in Ft. Lauderdale of all places. My roommate Kristen's German classmate held famous crêpe breakfasts with a buffet of fillings. I took visitors in Minneapolis to the Mall of America crêpe stand. And (naturally) I finally got my own crêpe pan and started making them myself, filling them with mushrooms and bacon when I took brunch to my friends Dan and Bonnie after they had a baby, or spending a day making three dozen crêpes for a dinner party for 8, which included a choice of fillings of chicken and mushroom, or ham, spinach and cheese, as well as fruit, whipped cream, and nutella for dessert. As I said to Kristen when she took me to the famous crêpe breakfast, you can wrap a crêpe around anything.
Eating a crêpe in Paris was not optional. So I dragged Katy to the crêpe stand. The options included fillings like ham, cheese, mushrooms, and tomatoes. What was unusual about the crêpes offered was that they came with lettuce, like a deli sandwich. Katy ordered reluctantly, got her crêpe, and then was surprised to find out it was quite good. Why wouldn't it be, I asked. It turns out she had never had a savory crêpe before, crêpes were always a dessert in her mind. Until she tried it, a savory crêpe was the equivalent of having a ham and cheese cake (given the stuff I see done on Iron Chef, this may not be half bad).
Savory crêpes are the best kind. Cheesy, sauce oozing out the sides, flavorful meat and veggies on the inside of a buttery thin pancake. The batter can be made without sugar, neutral, so the crêpe can be filled with savory ingredients for the entree and sweet ingredients for dessert. Here's my foolproof recipe, easy to memorize in case you have to make dessert for a cooking challenge, and a suggestion for a savory crêpe dinner. But of course, you can wrap them around anything in your kitchen.

Spinach Stuffed Crêpes with Feta Cheese White Sauce

Crêpe Batter:
1 cup milk
1 egg
1 tablespoon melted butter
1/2 cup flour

Filling and Sauce:
6 cups packed spinach leaves
1 tablespoon water
1/2 tsp salt
dash of pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
1 cup whole milk
3 tablespoons feta cheese
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Make the crêpes: Beat together the ingredients for the crêpe batter. An immersion blender works great for this to get the flour completely incorporated into the wet ingredients. Heat a crêpe pan or non-stick frying pan on medium heat. It is ready when a drop of water sizzles on it. Add about 1/4 cup of batter to the pan and swirl to coat. Add a little more to fill in the holes. This does not have to look perfect. Cook for 3 or 4 minutes, until you can slide a spatula underneath and the crêpe holds together and is lightly browned. Flip and cook for another minute. Remove to a plate and keep covered with plastic wrap or paper towels, or keep warm in a 200 degree oven. Repeat with remainder of batter, should make about six crêpes.

Make the filling: Put spinach leaves and 1 tablespoon water in a large pot. Cover and heat over medium heat until spinach is wilted, about five minutes. Remove from heat and sprinkle with 1/2 tsp of salt and a dash of pepper.

Make the sauce: Remove the spinach from the pot and reheat the pot on medium heat. Add butter and allow it to melt. When just melted, add the flour, whisking until smooth. This forms a roux, the base for many sauces. Cook roux about two minutes but do not brown. (Brown and dark brown sauces can be made by browning the butter, but in this case we're making a white sauce which would be aesthetically less pleasing if browned). Whisk in the milk slowly, adding a little at a time to maintain a smooth sauce. Sprinkle in the feta cheese and allow it to melt, then remove sauce from heat. Stir in nutmeg.

Assembly: Distribute the spinach among the crêpes and roll them up. Top with sauce. Sprinkle additional feta on top. Serves three, two crêpes each.

MURUKKUS

Ingredients:

Rice Flour.....1 Glass (Glass you use for drinking water)
Powdered Putani......1/4th Glass
Red Chilli Powder.....2 tbsp
Asafoetida......1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Sesame Seeds.....2 tbsp
Ajwain....1 tsp (Crush them a little)
Dalda Ghee....3 tbsp

Method:
1. Mix the above ingredients with the help of water into a soft dough.

2. Now, take some of the dough, mix it well so that it becomes softer. Put this dough into the murukku-maker and make murukkus as shown in the pic.

NOTE: If the murukkus are breaking, that means you have not mixed the dough soft enough. Try to make it very very soft by adding a little water.

3. Now, deep fry the murukkus till golden brown. Remove, allow them to cool and store in a container.