Archives For keifel

I came home from work early because I was coughing and sneezing and have a headache in my face. Keifel picked this particular ick up somewhere and passed it along to Julian and me. Julian has a brand new job at POP and he’s working on the Biscuit Love food truck, so he can’t really afford to be sick. I have a stack of work as we get ready for our national conference, so it’s particularly inconvenient to be sick. Alas, it is what it is. I’m eating oranges and drinking gallons of water. And going to bed at 9 p.m. And Julian has a day or so to recuperate (I’m too much of a ServSafe stickler to let him go to work sick).

I had great plans to clean out the fridge (it’s my chore of the day in the cleaning rotation I put together in my attempts to do less housework and more writing), make a big salad for dinner, and get some editing/writing done on the Slovenia project. My focus isn’t very good. Instead, I found myself perusing Pinterest while watching Midsomer Murders (I’d say it’s a guilty pleasure but I don’t feel particularly guilty about it). Dinner reverted to leftover homemade mac and cheese.

Pinterest is full of recipes to make ersatz things out of cauliflower. Pizza crust. Mashed “potatoes.” Couscous. Even “mac” and cheese (can food be blasphemous?). Also, roasted, baked whole like a great white brain, sautéed, and available in gold, green, and purple like a cauliflower mardi gras.

I’ve tried to love cauliflower. I’ve tried it roasted and pureed and in soup and raw and steamed and covered in cheese. I’ve tried its particolored cousins.

I have given up.

My last, best attempt to kill it with curry.

I can eat broccoli until the cows come home but I’ll be leaving the cauliflower for others. For the life of me I can’t get past the fact that it smells of wet socks and tastes of creeping damp.

Part of the work I’ve been doing to make the blog more search engine friendly seems to have attracted comment spammers so until that problem is solved, all comments are going to have to be moderated.

edit: moderation is frustrating me, it seems as fast as i moderate is as fast the spam comes back, so until i can decide which comment spam tool i’m going to use, you’re going to have to register to leave a comment. sorry about the inconvenience.

I see Paris, I see France

keifel —  January 6, 2005 — Leave a comment

or the saga of Winnifred’s cakes.

About two weeks before Christmas we decided to attempt the next stage of Winnifred’s black cake recipe. We started with four different sized cake pans, three of which had been bought in the last month for this specific purpose, the other pan was a gift I’d bought for Victoria on my very first visit. We took the cake pans; one 8″, two 9″ and one 10″; to the dining table and cut patterns out of parchment and unprinted, brown paper, grocery bags to line them.

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in the Caribbean there is tradition of Black Fruit Cake at Christmas time, making this cake is an artform, my grandmother; Winnifred; was one of its masters. I’m reproducing her recipe here as it was passed on to my mother and now to me. reading my mother’s handwriting to transcribe here, i’m realising that this is not a single cake recipe and by my calculations it may be too late to get started on cakes for this year.

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I need sugar

keifel —  October 18, 2004 — Leave a comment

When I came from the Caribbean in March, I came with a couple bags of washed grey sugar. Sugar, along with rum; in the Caribbean; are by products of the sugar cane plant.

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Her name was Zola

keifel —  June 5, 2004 — Leave a comment

Earlier this week we were speaking online and he informed us he was coming and suggested we find somewhere good to eat that had a fairly descent wine list. Being pauperised we didn’t have any immediate experience with such an establishment, but vic asked around the office and the unanimous recommendation was Zola.

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Pork in mustard

keifel —  March 24, 2004 — Leave a comment

last night we hosted our first official dinner. we had a guest and as befitting such an occasion we cooked our hearts out. last week when we came from the grocery vic suggested i make something with the pork chops and mustard, so i took the opportunity last night experiment.

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vic’s entire posture changes in the kitchen, she is assertive and completely in charge. watching her cook is a joy to behold. nigella, alton, yan, that ‘bam’ guy; pshaw, none of them hold a candle. well maybe nigella, but that’s just a tiny bath candle. she is truly goddess and mistress of her domain. her technique is amazing. from the careful preparation of ingredients to actually cooking, everything is done with precision and skill. i’ve seen a lot of the stuff that’s done on the food network but to sit in your own kitchen and experience it, is amazing.

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my mother can burn water. she was not built or trained for housekeeping. her mother, my grandmother decided early on that she was destined for greater things and sent her off to school.

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the hunt for good doubles

keifel —  December 29, 2003 — Leave a comment

last wednesday i made my way back to trinidad for the christmas holiday and the first thing on my agenda was a doubles.

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