| 19 March 2010
Tea and Crumpets by Margaret M. Johnson (Chronicle Books)
This one's for all you anglophiles out there who crave afternoon tea and its accompanying requisites, like tea sandwiches, scones, cookies and, of course, crumpets. The latter is what drew me to this book. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with this little delicacy, it's something of a cross between pancakes and English muffins -- brown and crisp on the bottom with a top that's covered in holes and crevasses. For years now, I have been on an unrelenting quest to find the best store-bought crumpets in Toronto. Why store-bought? Well, these are the most accessible. Unfortunately, out of the three or four brands I've tried, not one has won me over. In each case, the crumpet leaves a bitter aftertaste.
The other option is to visit one of the many tea houses around the city in the hopes of finding one that serves up fresh crumpets. Again, you may be sorely disappointed. There aren't too many establishments that offer crumpets, let alone homemade ones. Although I realize that making them from scratch just isn't an option for many of us most of the time, it was really the only possibility left to me. All of the recipes that Johnson has compiled in this little book of 180 pages are those actually made every day in the tea houses, restaurants and hotels around Europe.
| 17 March 2010
How do you celebrate St. Patrick's Day?
A former colleague of mine and her daughter once decided to create an entire green menu -- the colour, not the concept. Green ham served alongside green mashed potatoes, green beans, green butter spread on green buns, all washed down with green milk. They must have had stock in green food colouring. Unfortunately, just looking at all that green food left them feeling a tad green. Forget the food colouring, check out this menu of updated Irish classics -- corned beef and cabbage. Prepare the corned beef recipe the day before you need it. The next day, set it to a simmer and re-heat it while you whip up the cole slaw. By the way, the term 'corned' has nothing at all to do with that juicy summer vegetable that we enjoy eating off the cob. It actually refers to the coarse grains of salt used in the curing process. One can, however, enjoy corned beef with a side of grilled cornbread.