My April

We have all been so involved in the A to Z Challenge this April that anything else goes by the board. Not been the best month for me. I lost a valuable diamond earring which I had had made from a brooch of my mother’s and couldn’t claim it on insurance because our deductible is too flaming high. Subsequently I took the one remaining to the local jeweller to get him to make me two studs from it. Funny really, I had put an Avon butterfly on it and one of the salespeople thought the stones were not diamonds because of the butterfly. The jeweller himself recognised that they were. They ended up being rather tiny.

One night I decided to have tourtière for supper and, being totally stupid, put the pie in the oven without a support such as a cookie tray. Needless to say, the worst happened and the metal pie dish folded on me dumping a large portion of the pie onto the door and into the oven. There was enough left in the pie dish for us to have one supper but not two. Boy was I mad at myself. Not the easiest thing to clean up either. Waited til the oven cooled and in fact used my hand vac to help get up a lot of the pastry crumbs.

I was thinking about people texting and how so many don't talk to one another even when together; I then remembered a book by Isaac Asimov, probably my most favourite author, which was part of the Foundation series, where the protagonists were searching for earth and their origins. They arrive at one planet where nobody has any contact with anyone else other than by computer. They live in their own dwellings and never leave. They have robots to serve them. Not sure what they did about procreating, probably artificial insemination. But doesn’t that sound like young people today? Families who have to text their children to get them to come to supper and such. Asimov wrote a lot of things which have come true in one form or another today.

During the A to Z I posted a mushroom recipe, Tomato and Olive Stuffed Mushroom Caps. The other day I made it. We both enjoyed it very much but Matt said he wouldn’t want to have it again too soon. I could eat it at least once a week but then I love Portobella mushrooms. Typically, I didn’t think of taking a picture until I had already started chomping down on the mushrooms, I took one anyway. I think I should have cut the tomatoes up smaller, but I thought the whole thing was very good.

This is a very special dessert from BBC Good Food. I haven’t used rosewater in years but I can imagine it being absolutely gorgeous in this dessert.

Pistachio and Rose Water Kulfi

Serves 8

This delicately fragrant frozen Indian dessert combines pistachio nuts and rosewater - the perfect way to cool down after a spicy meal

Ingredients

• 200g pistachios, plus extra to serve
• 250g golden caster sugar
• 2 tsp cornflour (cornstarch)
• 600ml whole milk
• 600ml evaporated milk
• 4-5 tbsp rosewater
• handful cherries, or any berries that are in season, to serve

 

Method

1. Pulse the pistachios and sugar in a mixer until fine – be careful not to overmix or the pistachios will become oily. Mix the cornflour with 1 tbsp of the whole milk to make a smooth paste.
2. Pour the remaining milk and the evaporated milk into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the pistachio powder, rose water and cornflour paste, and simmer for 5 mins until the mixture has thickened and coats the back of a spoon (it will continue to thicken as it cools).
3. Pour into a bowl and cover the surface with cling film so a skin doesn’t form. Leave to cool, then chill in the fridge until cold before churning in your ice cream machine following the manufacturer’s instructions. If you don’t have an ice cream machine, transfer to a freezer- proof container, pop in the freezer for 4 hrs or until frozen and stir every hour to break up any ice crystals.
4. Take out of the freezer 20 mins before slicing or scooping to serve. Sprinkle with crushed pistachios and scatter over the cherries or berries.

Have a great day

Helping Hand, Eyes, Baby Bear, Soup.

Alex J. Cavenaugh drew our attention to the following about a young girl who was badly injured and is fighting to get back her life. Do please go and read her story.

“PK Hrezo has been asked to write the story of an amazing young lady by the name of Queena. Six years ago, she was strangled, beaten, raped, and left for dead. She suffered multiple brain injuries and lost a lot of her mobility. PK has started a Kickstarter fund for this project. Help her by either donating or spreading the word. See her site for details.”

As you know, I got conjunctivitis. I went to the optometrist (didn’t know they could prescribe a drug for it) and he gave me some antibiotic drugs which have to be used three times a day, one drop at a time, for 7 days. Yesterday I could hardly see, today I can. The miracles of medical science.

Here’s something to give you a smile. A baby bear playing with the flag on the golf course then walking off with someone’s ball.



Yesterday I made the Cauliflower Chowder recipe which I posted about a week ago. It’s very good. I can highly recommend it.

The recipe came with a bunch of Indian dishes all of which are very popular in England. Today there are more Indian take-aways than fish and chip stores. Don’t forget cornflour is cornstarch. Caster sugar is the same grind as the sugar we get in North America, not sure about the golden part. I googled and it recommend using plain white sugar instead.

Pistachio and Rose Water Kulfi

BBC Good Food

By Anjum Anand

Serves 8

Ingredients

• 200g pistachios, plus extra to serve
• 250g golden caster sugar
• 2 tsp cornflour
• 600ml whole milk
• 600ml evaporated milk
• 4-5 tbsp rosewater
• handful cherries, or any berries that are in season, to serve

 

Method

1. Pulse the pistachios and sugar in a mixer until fine – be careful not to overmix or the pistachios will become oily. Mix the cornflour with 1 tbsp of the whole milk to make a smooth paste.
2. Pour the remaining milk and the evaporated milk into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the pistachio powder, rose water and cornflour paste, and simmer for 5 mins until the mixture has thickened and coats the back of a spoon (it will continue to thicken as it cools).
3. Pour into a bowl and cover the surface with cling film so a skin doesn’t form. Leave to cool, then chill in the fridge until cold before churning in your ice cream machine following the manufacturer’s instructions. If you don’t have an ice cream machine, transfer to a freezer- proof container, pop in the freezer for 4 hrs or until frozen and stir every hour to break up any ice crystals.
4. Take out of the freezer 20 mins before slicing or scooping to serve. Sprinkle with crushed pistachios and scatter over the cherries or berries.

Have a great day