Love meme! plus misc

[kaberett]

Hosted by littlebutfierce; my thread in said love meme.

• I made mincemeat! Four jars thereof! One jar made two dozen mince pies! I have three jars left! I also made cheese straws and jam tarts because oh dear my pastry quantity estimation skills! If, therefore, you are local to me and would like a c. 400g jar of (vegetarian, other ingredients upon request) home-made mincemeat, holler. First two as does gets 'em (am keeping one for self because I harbour the fond but probably misguided notion that there will come a point when I feel like making another ginormous batch of pastry).
  
• I have fairylights! They are blutacked to my curtain rails, because I am a student! They are fantastic ~mood lighting~ and very much help to make room feel slightly brighter when I have decided I do not want daylight bulb on.
  
• If you are in any way involved in the Avatar: the Last Airbender fandom, read Drink Some Fucking Tea.
  
• I am currently consuming vast, vast quantities of raspberry-mango boba.

Comments

[noldo]

If overmake pastry next time recommend put in feta cheese comma rosemary comma sesame seeds then attain new enlightened state as direct result of consumption of such glory

am just saying helpful like

[kaberett]

um is plan raspberry jam rosemary pastry tarts the internet tells me only great success will follow

[pseudomonas]

do you have straws to fit tapioca?

[kaberett]

Yep! Cho Mee does both, in spite of the OpenGuide saying otherwise (will edit it to reflect the exciting reality of straws just as soon as housemate D gets home to confirm that CM is in fact where said straws were acquired).

[pseudomonas]

oh, well, next time I'm on Mill Road :D

[kake]

Thank you for updated straw info!

[kaberett]

You are very welcome! If there is better way to phrase it/source my assertion then please let me know :-)

[kake]

Since you are the source of the assertion, and this is clear from the page history, I've just changed it to include the date.

[nickup]

I like mince pies I do

[sorrillia]

(i) I should exchange recipes with you, because I am curious what mincemeat tastes like and ought to make some. My only current reference for it is from an Eleanor Estes book where there is a bit-part character whose only line is "Mincemeat! Can't you see I'm making mincemeat!" while waving her presumably mincemeat-covered arms at the main characters. (I do not recall if you are vegetarian, but this presumably affects what recipes I should offer in exchange.)


(ii) I am impressed by the Britishness of the first two sentences of your second bullet-point, as they contained three different concepts I had to look up on Wikipedia for translations.

(ii-i) I'd never heard the expression "fairy lights" for Christmas lights before, though I did once overhear a very confused conversation between an Indian grad student and a Boston shop clerk in which the grad student wanted to purchase "indoor lights" and the shop clerk could not understand why he was unhappy when offered 100 W incandescent bulbs.

(ii-ii) I think I'd also never heard the term "Blu-Tack" for rubber cement before, though Wikipedia tells me that the Blu-Tack brand does exist here. (I am also amused by the idea that you could distinguish it from being a sweet by color. How quaint.)

(ii-iii) It probably should've been obvious to me that a "curtain rail" was another name for a curtain rod, but it wasn't until I looked it up.


(iii) Thank you for the recommendation; I will examine later, when not on lab computer.


(iv) I believe I am obligated to go MANGO! Although boba usually implies caffeine, which makes less exciting.

[kaberett]

(i) I used a recipe that went a bit like this, and was cobbled together from a Delia Smith recipe and a recipe on BBC Good Food:

c. 200g grated cooking apple (from the garden at home!)
300g raisins
150g currants
150g sultanas
100g mixed peel (i.e. chopped candied citrus peel)
175g soft brown sugar
100g vegetarian suet
grated zest & juice 1 lemon
4 tbsp orange juice (didn't have one to zest, alas)
25g whole unblanched almonds, slivered
2 tsp ground mixed spice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
small amount freshly grated nutmeg
2 bay leaves
3 tbsp brandy

Mix all ingredients except brandy in a large bowl and leave to overnight somewhere cool (fridge will do). Then put in cool oven (GM1/4, 120degC, 225degF) for three hours. Take out & leave to cool, stirring regularly. Once cooled, transfer to sterilised jars.

(iv) I am caffeine-intolerant, which is why having boba + straws + food processor + mangos + frozen raspberries is WIN ON A STICK.

[sorrillia]

(i) Thank you! I shall try to make a mincemeat pie, after making a couple of modifications (no brandy or nuts, and I might have to leave out sultanas if I can't figure out where to get them) and report back. In return, my recipe for pfeffernuesse, http://amiablebowfin.wordpress.com/2009/12/25/this-is-just-to-say-i-have-eaten-the-plums/, since those seem somehow appropriately similar. I've no idea what I was thinking with that subject line; I should've saved it for something with plums, or at least fruit..


(iv) Ah; it had somehow not occurred to me that one might eat boba without the requisite iced tea. I am too unimaginative today, I suppose.

[kaberett]

(i) Brandy and nuts can definitely be left out. So can sultanas - just replace them with a different dried fruit. I shall investigate the pfeffernuesse once I have done my ALL OF THE AUSTRIAN BISCUITS baking :-)

(iv) No worries! It might not have occurred to me were it not for N/D pointing out to me that it was possible...

[sorrillia]

Oh, apparently sultanas are actually what American grocery stores call "golden raisins". I really need to work harder at learning British.

[noldo]

Boba can be eaten on top of shaved ice! Or in drinks that aren't ice tea. You have been meeting sad unimaginative people my friend.

[azuire]

Temporarily approve of boba as am not around to make vast quantities of proper Tea. Approve of mincemeat also though confused as to how anything with 'meat' in title can be vegetarian. MYSTERIES OF LIFE

(contrary to icon chutney is very much found)

[sorrillia]

For some reason the question about vegetarian meat reminds me of a t-shirt a vegan I knew as an epsilon always wore. It had this Far Side cartoon on it: http://i45.tinypic.com/986dzn.jpg

[azuire]

You're asking for it: Carrot Juice Constitutes Murder.

[kaberett]

History of Mincemeat! Short version: this used to be a way to use up meat that was on the turn, via the magic of heavy spicing, but eventually people decided it was nicer without dead animal in.