Weekend Cooking...The Velveteen Chicken

In an attempt to use up some things that have been sitting in the freeze a bit too long, I dug in there and found a pack of 'fresh' lo mein noodle I bought at some point, so lo mein it is!
But I have never made lo mein, as much as I love it.
OK, let's Google lo mein and look for some recipes...

Noodles..have them
Sauce...have all the ingredients on hand.
Veggies...let's see what is in the crisper.
Protein..well, I have some chicken breasts.

But..hey, I want tender chicken. Like the take-out chicken lo mein.
How do they do that? So back to Google I went.
It seems that they use a technique called 'velveting' where the meat is marinated in cornstarch and some liquid before cooking. And I will tell you, I am not sure why, but it works.
So how does one 'velvet'?

For 1 lb. chicken...you need..

• 1 TBS sherry
• 1 egg white 
• 1 TBS cornstarch 

Marinate the chicken..
Slice the chicken thinly, against the grain. (easier if it is just a little frozen.)
Mix the sherry, egg white and cornstarch in a small bowl and then add to the chicken, coating all the pieces. Let the meat marinate for 30 minutes.

Velveting the chicken..using the water method.
Start this process by bringing a pot of water to a boil.
Once the water boils, lower the heat to maintain a very gentle simmer. Scatter in the chicken, stir to separate and keep stirring gently until the pieces turn white. This should take 1-2 minutes.
Remove the chicken pieces quickly with a slotted spoon (or drain using a colander). Set the chicken aside. Try not to get any of the egg that may have floated to the top in with the chicken....which did not really happen for me.
The chicken can be refrigerated for later or let's go on and make some Lo Mein!!

Chicken Lo Mein 

Marinade the chicken as detailed above. 

Prepare the noodles
Add 12 oz. fresh lo main noodles to boiling water and cook until just done according to package instructions, 1-2 minutes. Drain and toss with 1 tsp. sesame oil and 1 TBS. oyster sauce in a bowl and set aside. 

Prepare the sauce and set aside. 

• 1/2 cup chicken stock 
• 2 TBS. oyster sauce 
• 2 TBS. soy sauce 
• 1 TBS. sherry 
• 1/2 TBS. spicy Szechuan stir fry sauce (or chili sauce, hot sauce, red pepper flakes to taste)
• 2 tsp. cornstarch 

Next, prepared the vegetables. 

• 1 TBS. minced garlic 
• 1 TBS. grated fresh ginger 
• 1 small onion, cut in large dice 
• 2 carrots, thinly sliced or shredded 
• 1 cup broccoli 
• 1/2 lb. mushrooms, sliced
• 2 scallions, sliced 
• 1 small red pepper, cut in dice or julienned 

Cook the chicken as explained above and set aside. 
OK, now we have everything ready, the noodles waiting, the chicken waiting, the sauce waiting and the veggies ready to go. Now it is time to put it all together and in just a few minutes dinner will be ready.!

Heat 1-2 TBS. oil in wok or large frying pan. When hot, add ginger and garlic and saute for a minute, being careful not to burn. Add the rest of the vegetables and saute, stirring constantly until crunchy tender, 3-4 minutes. Add the chicken, stir to heat, then add in the sauce and finally the noodles. Toss to combine. 

This might seem a little complicated but it is just several small steps, preparing each part separately and then combining the parts. Noodles+Sauce+Meat or other protein if desired+Veggies=Lo Mein.

The winner with this recipe is the incredibly tender chicken. I always wondered how Chinese restaurants did it and now I know. This is the first time I tried this technique and it is one that I will use again in various chicken recipes.
I used the water method, but you could also take the marinate chicken and stir fry it in some oil, but honestly, I like the more neutral, un-browned chicken and I can do without the oil. Which is another reason to make it yourself rather than get the sometimes greasy take-out version.

As to the vegetables, the choice is yours! I think the garlic and ginger and onion are required and then just go from there, with what you like and what you have on hand. Snow peas..fresh bean sprouts...celery...water chestnuts..baby corn...napa cabbage..whatever you love to make up several cups. As to the protein, you could use chicken, shrimp, pork, tofu..or some lovely flat iron steak like in the pic above. Oh my, where has this cut of beef been. Tender and delicious and it was on sale!
And if there are no fresh lo mein noodles in your neighborhood, just use spaghetti. No problem.

This is a recipe with a lot of flexibility.

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This is my contribution this to this week's Weekend Cooking.
"Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend."
Be sure to check out the other entries this week. As always, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

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Review of "Black Irish" [29]

Black Irish by Stephan Talty

Ballantine Books, ISBN 978-0345538062

February 26, 2013, 336 pages.

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Absalom “Abbie” Kearney never expected to move back home. She grew up in Buffalo, in an insular Irish-American community on the south side called "the County", “a patch of Ireland in the wilds of America”.
But plans change.

She left home and went to Harvard, then off to a successful career as a police detective in Miami. But when her adopted father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, she returned to care for him, returned to a bleak Buffalo, a city that is even more depressed than the city she left. Especially, she has returned to "the County", an Irish- American enclave in south Buffalo, that like the city at large, has seen better days. The factories and plants that once lined the waterfront are closed, houses boarded up, drugs and crime all too common, the highways, built for workers and commuters, now empty

"When she told her partner Z about how odd she felt driving Buffalo highways, he’d asked her why. She’d brushed it off then, but now she knew why. It’s the emptiness. The enormous emptiness. Or the loneliness, that was it, the feeling of being alone in a place that should be filled with other people, cars full of families headed to the supermarket, to the restaurant on the lake, to the hockey game. Buffalo had built miles of highways during the book years, enough for a million people. The people that were going to come, but didn’t. Why not? Where’d they disappear to? What happened to them?" 

A good place perhaps for Abbie to again make her name as a first rate homicide detective though, because murders are not rare.

It started as just a routine missing person case, when Jimmy Ryan disappeared from his meter reading route. As usual, his friends and family will have little to say to an outsider like Abbie, even though she suspects they have some idea what happened. Even though she grew up in the County, the adopted daughter of a respected cop, she is not really one of them. She attended the weddings and funeral receptions at the Gaelic Club, the heart of the community, when she was a girl, but knew she was only grudgingly accepted because of who her father was. No, they will keep their secrets, even when Jimmy's body turns up, terribly beaten and tortured. The strange little plastic toy monkey left at the scene, especially when another turns up at the next grisly murder, left them know they have something different on their hands his time. A serial killer that appears to be targeting men from the "County".
Then one of these strange little monkeys turn up on the apartment of Abbie and her father. Will one of them be the next intended victim, and what happened in the past that may have caused this very disturbed, very angry kill to seek his revenge?

Although the author has written several best selling non-fiction books, this is his first fiction work and a very worthy effort it is. The plot is clever and fast paced, with a few twists as the story progresses that I never saw coming. A good sign. And the characters, especially Abbie, are quite good, even if Abbie is not the most sympathetic person. Actually, maybe she is better for that.

But for me the real winner of this book was the setting. First we have the weather. It is winter and it is oh so cold and snowy and icy and gray. Then we have the city, both declining the Buffalo itself and the declining Irish-American neighborhood. It is grim and realistic, and I say this as one who grew up in my own declining city and declining Irish-American neighborhood. I remember those first generation Irish immigrants, with there Irish flags and their love of the angry rebel songs. Talty nails the feeling. The murders are gruesome, I will warn you, but if you enjoy a good psychological police procedural this is one you will want to check out.

My thanks to Amazon Vine and the publisher for providing a review copy of this book.

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Wordless Wednesday...A Day with Sock Monkeys

Be Happy! 

..and nothing is happier than Sock Monkeys!

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Rise and Shine! Get up from your Sock Monkey bed.

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Have some Sock Monkeys with your coffee..

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..then get some work done with a Sock Monkey mouse pad...

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Be quiet guys, I am trying to work!

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Then take a nap with my Sock monkey quilt. A gift The Niece made for me!

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Yes, Sock Monkey, it is dinner time.

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Then off to beddie, a Sock Monkey light to keep the monsters away!

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...as always, for more Wordless Wednesday, 
check these out.

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Review of "The Sound of Broken Glass" [28]

The Sound of Broken Glass: A Novel by Deborah Crombie
William Morrow, ISBN  978-0061990632
 (February 19, 2013, 368 pages

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The Crystal Palace, a glass building originally built for the Great Exhibition of 1851, was once a glorious site, a world famous landmark. Now, the building is long gone, burned in a memorable fire, leaving just a park and a name for a neighborhood of London that has seen better days. The sort of neighborhood where finding a dead body in a rather seedy hotel is not that unusual. Still, the way this body is trussed up, the circumstances of his death, is not something police often see and the fact that the victim is a prominent lawyer raises the bar. Is it some sort of kinky sex game gone bad, especially since the lawyer was last seen leaving a neighbor bar with a woman?

It is not clear at first just what they have here. That is until the second victim, another lawyer, turns up killed in the exactly the same way, this time in his home. What ties these men together..and who might be the next victim?

Investigating the crimes will be Scotland Yard DCI Gemma James, with a little input from her husband, also a Scotland Yard detective. Duncan Kincaid, in this, the 15th book in the series, is manning the home front, on leave from work until they can get the latest member of their household, foster child Charlotte, settled in preschool. With Charlotte's history, which is briefly mentioned, that is not too easy. But Duncan is a resourceful man, able to give some unofficial help in the case, while working things out at home as well. Even if he is getting a little desperate to get back to work.

Wait, did I say 15th book?
Do you have to go back and read the previous 14 first?
No, although it is an excellent series and once you read one you will want to read more. Personally, I have not read them all and the ones I have read have been out of order and oddly, that has not been a problem.

The Crystal Palace

I say oddly because while James and Kincaid and a reoccurring cast of characters are key to the success of these books, the author is able to fill us in quickly with what we need to know about their history. And oddly because a character they have met before, in connection with another murder, guitarist Andy Monahan, is a key player (no pun intended) this time around. His sad and moving backstory, growing up right in the middle of Crystal Palace, the fact that he may have gotten in a fight with one of the victims in a pub the night he died, not to mention his romance with James' second in command, Detective Sergeant Melody Talbot, will keep him front and center. Oh, I don't think DS Talbot should be involved with someone who might be the next victim..or even worse, the murderer.

The plot is solid and interesting and how it all weaves together, with the introductory paragraphs about the history of the Crystal Place and several sub-plots, is all very clever. Read those parts about the Crystal Palace carefully and you might pick up a clue to two to the present day mystery. At worst, they are interesting all on their own. And of course, we have the relationship of James and Kincaid and their blended family, always worth reading. They are very likable, with a realistic marriage, trying to balance home and work, and some great co-workers and friends. Poor Duncan plays a bit of a secondary role in this book perhaps, but he still makes his presence known. And someone has to work out wee, sweet Charlotte's future while his wife is out catching killers.

Unlike some series that might be running out of gas by the 15th installment,  this one, without question, is still going strong. This one is as good as any in the series and, as I am sure fans will agree, I hope Crombie keeps turning out these excellent and very enjoyable reads.

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My thanks to Amazon Vine and the publisher for providing a review copy of this book.

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Musing Monday...Order in the Court!

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 Woohoo, another week is starting,
so let's check out the questions at Should Be Reading...

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Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

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I have a rant today, brought on by a book I just finished, and one I am going to read shortly. But both suffer from the same issue. They are part of a series, but book in that series that are bring translated and released in the US out of order.
Really, what are publisher thinking??

The first example, the book I just finished is Blessed Are Those Who Thirst: A Hanne Wilhelmsen Novel by Anne Holt.
A good book and a series I like.
But... the first book in the series that I read, and I believe the first published in English in the US, was the last in the series, 1222. Now, you see, the problem here is that by the time 1222  takes places, a HUGE event has occurred in our heroine Hanne's life, and we have missed what happened.

Then I went back and read the first book, Blind Goddess, at that time the only other one in English. Reading it and having read the last book, you can not help but think about what you know will happen to Hanne in the future, although it has nothing to do with this book. It is almost like reading the ending of a book, something I know most of you would never do. But, in this case, what else can you do? I believe there are 10 book in the series, only three which have been translated and are available in the US. So we meet Hanne in the beginning, then many years later, a changed woman, with a BIG gap in the middle.

Another confusing example is the books of Jo Nesbo.
Worse yet, it appears that some were translated into English, published in the UK, but not available at the same time in the US. I tired (OK, not too hard) to make a list of his Harry Hole series, the order they were written in and when they became available in the US..and I got totally screwed us. Some are available in the UK, or Canada but not in the US, so I lost track of which edition the date published referred to and gave up.

Maybe this is why, while I have read a couple in this series and liked them, I do not love them. I read somewhere that the first, The Bat, presents a young Harry Hole. I would love to meet that young Harry Hole and follow his story. After searching around a bit, I see I could get a Canadian edition from a third party..but it is all a bit too complicated.

Now I just got a review copy of The Redeemer, which will be published in May, the 6th in the series. At least I think it is the 6th...or the 4th..
Which might be fine if they have not already translated the 9th, and I read that.
And found out some rather shocking events.Which I would rather not know when I read the earlier books.
Honestly, it all makes my head spin a bit.

Both of these are examples of series that I think should be read in order. The life of the main characters, their development, is important to the series. That is not always true in a series, but with these two it is. But they are also, sadly, for some unknown reason examples of books published in the U.S. all out of order.
WHY?
Really why?
For a reader, it drives me nuts. 
For a publisher, I think it is very bad business.
The whole appeal of a series is getting to know the characters, watch them as they develop, as their lives change. Jumping all around that is very difficult, if not impossible.
And bad for business.

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Here kitty....

Do you own a cat?  

Maybe you should rethink that decision. 

Or sleep with your eyes open. 

Just saying....

Weekend Cooking...How to Make Your MIxer Love You.

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BEFORE!

I love my mixer.
Minnie.
Minnie Mixer.
A KitchenAid Ultra Power Tilt Head Stand Mixer.
She has been with me for a number of years and has always done me proud.
Ask her to mix a dough, no problem. Knead a bread, right on it. Egg whites, done in a minute, just you see, stiff as can be or gentle peaks, whatever you want.

And it is not just for baking. No indeed. You know, with some of the reports about ground meat these days, you might want to grind you own and know what is in it. No problem, just add the grinding attachment.
BTW, a tip on cleaning the grinder. When you are done, run a slice or two of bread through. Does a nice job. And you can us the bread in the meat to make a panade with a little milk for extra juicy burgers.
But there is also a pasta maker, a veggie slicer, a fruit and veggie strainer, a grain mill..a sausage stuffer!
My dear mixer has stainless bowls and a glass one she looks especially nice in, a flat beater and a whip, a dough hook and a flex edge flat beater that is maybe my favorite.

AFTER!

But, looking at that first picture, you must admit, she is a little dull.
Just plain old white.
She came around before the big push in colored appliances and while she can never be bright red as she wishes, (although a saw instructions from a woman online who painted her's)
 she felt she could be dolled up a bit.
Well, enter decals.
Made just for you helpful kitchen friends.
So many designs.
Just google mixer decals and you will be amazed.

So, we could go with flowers,
or how about a saying?
Or a giant initial.
Cow spots or paisley or sculls and crossbones.
How about cupcakes...or a giant flame?

Well, Minnie wanted something to go with her red band, and something geometric.
She is a Classic afterall.
Not too much, just enough.
$10 and 10 minutes later..and a few days for the decals to arrive in the mail from Lil Punkin Creations on Esty...and she is a beauty!

Don't you agree?

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This is my contribution this to this week's Weekend Cooking.
"Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend."
Be sure to check out the other entries this week. As always, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

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Wordless Wednesday...All Manner of Sculpture

...from the Philadelphia Flower Show. 

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...as always, for more Wordless Wednesday, 
check these out.

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Review of "The Beautiful Mystery" [27]

The Beautiful Mystery: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel 

by Louise Penny 

Minotaur Books, ISBN 978-0312655464

384 pages, August 28, 2012

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No outsiders are ever admitted to the monastery of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups, hidden deep in the wilderness of Quebec, where two dozen cloistered monks live in peace and prayer. They grow vegetables, they tend chickens, they make chocolate. And they sing. Ironically, for a community that has taken a vow of silence, the monks have become world-famous for their glorious voices, raised in ancient chants whose effect on both singer and listener is so profound it is known as “the beautiful mystery.” 

 But when the renowned choir director is murdered, the lock on the monastery’s massive wooden door is drawn back to admit Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir of the Sûreté du Québec. There they discover disquiet beneath the silence, discord in the apparent harmony. One of the brothers, in this life of prayer and contemplation, has been contemplating murder. As the peace of the monastery crumbles, Gamache is forced to confront some of his own demons, as well as those roaming the remote corridors. Before finding the killer, before restoring peace, the Chief must first consider the divine, the human, and the cracks in between. 

I know that several of my readers are great fans of Louise Penny and her Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series. I, myself, have enjoyed several of Penny's previous books. They have an interesting settings and good characters, major and minor, not least of which is Chief Inspector Gamache and usually, good plots. So, when I saw the last in the series sitting on the new book shelf at the library, I was excited.

And shortly after I started it, I was disappointed. Very disappointed.

The problems are many, the positives, few, I am sad to say.
Where to even start?

The entire story take place in an isolated monastery..which we are to believe no one in the Church knew about until the CD, even though they trade with other monasteries in Canada, but that is another issue. The fact that the entire story take place in a monastery, and that except for the police, the monks are the only characters, makes it important that the author gets the basic matters of monastic life right. Which she does not.

Monks and priests are not the same thing..in fact, very few monks in a monastery would be priests, and I have never heard of an abbot of a monastery 'scouting' monks from other orders. Does he offer a signing bonus? Just silly. She calls the chapel of the monastery the Blessed Chapel, which makes no sense. Does she mean the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, which does make sense? Every time she used the phrase...which is many, many times since you have to go through the chapel to go anywhere else in the monastery, which is also wrong...it just grated on my nerves. 

I am no expert..I took a course on monastic history in college that require spending a weekend at a Benedictine monastery, but I found so many mistakes I assume Penny just made this stuff up. If I could have corrected so many mistakes, it does not speak well for her research.

Oh, and then there is the Latin. Now again, I am no expert, but I did take 3 years of Latin in high school, enough to know that the several Latin phrases, phrases that are key to the plot, are badly mistranslated. 

Then, we have the idea that a devout monk would pull some sort of silly prank at the most sacred moment of the Mass, the consecration, to try and lure out the killer, which is totally offense. Well, honestly by then I was so bored with the overly long book and so mad at all the errors and all the repetitions that I really lost interest in who the killer was. His unveiling was just another disappointment. The reason..made little sense..."So he did it huh...OK." 

And then the are Gamache and Beauvior. 

If you are familiar with the series, you know that awhile ago they were both injured, emotionally and physically, in a police action that went bad. Well, that story will come back to haunt us again, causing Beauvior to act in a way that, without giving away a spoiler, is, just let us say, beyond believable. Not to mention that the ending leaves us hanging in a particularly unfair way, I think. 

Sadly, I could go on. 

And on. 

Yes, I was not a happy reader.

As I said, I have enjoyed others books in the series and hope maybe in the future, it can get back on track. This one seems totally phoned in. I really can't recommend it.

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Musing Monday...The Galactic Empire of Amazon

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 Monday is upon us once again, so let's look at the questions at Should Be Reading...

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Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

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OK, a book industry rant this week.
Did you read about it?
I saw it in Friday's Shelf Awareness Pro and I must say, as a reader, as a book purchaser, I found it a little concerning. Rather sad.

Amazon is buying the popular book-focused social networking site Goodreads, which was founded in 2007 and now has more than 16 million members. The acquisition is expected to close by July.

I am a member of Goodreads and have been for years. But to tell you the truth, I no longer use it very much, much preferring the set up at Library Thing. But don't worry, LT has already, at least partially, been gobbled up by Amazon as well. 

The move also adds to the sense that Amazon is slowly buying up much of the book world. Over some 15 years, the company has bought AbeBooks.com, Audible.com, Brilliance Audio, the Book Depository, Shelfari, BookFinder.com, Lexcycle, BookSurge, CreateSpace, Mobipocket.com and (through AbeBooks) 40% of Library Thing.

I knew about Shelfari but Audible and the Book Depository and AbeBooks and all those others as well? Wow.

I like Amazon. I use Amazon. I buy stuff from Amazon.
But...do I want them to become such a huge force in the book world? They sell books, a LOT of books, they publish books, they are by far the biggest review site. They do it all.
NO! I do not want any one company to take such an overwhelming role.

Look, we all know that you have to take the reviews on Amazon with a grain of salt. Authors, publishers, companies hired by authors and publishers, stack these reviews. We have talked about that before. But I thought I was able to trust, at least to a larger degree, what I read on a site like Goodreads. You had to be a member. I could check out your books and if you had only one, this one your were reviewing, OK, that would be a bad sign. Bottom line...

The question is how a site that was prized for its independence and noncommercial cred will fare as a part of the Amazon empire.

Is Amazon going to use Goodreads in a negative way somehow, peppered with Amazon ads, Amazon 'recommendations', everything funneling us to an Amazon site? Well, there is some reason they spent a great deal of money to buy it, and I can't see even one that will be beneficial to those who have been using the site.
I guess we will see what happens, if some bad signs start to pop up. Personally, I am closing my Goodreads account and will just stick with Library Thing for now. 40% is better than 100% and Library Thing is about the best site that I know about at this point. LT is very open about what they do, how things are run and I have seen no change in that way of doing business since the AbeBooks/Amazon buy out.

Oh my, are those Galactic Stormtroopers I see coming done the road?
Ok, maybe not just yet, but keep your eyes open..lol

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Weekend Cooking...Dark Sticky Gingerbread

The week before last, I believe it was, that I post a review of Irish Family Food by Rachel Allen. I am of the opinion that is a very nice cookbook with a large number of recipes that I really need to make and try out.
So in the interest of research, for you my dear readers, I will take up the burden!
So what to make?
Well, how about a sweet?

There are a number of choices available. Fluffy Lemon Pudding..very spring sounding. Or how about  an Irish Apple Cake..or a simple Ginger Cookie...or a fancy sounding Irish Coffee Meringue Roulade?
So many choices...so I picked something that sounds warm and cozy, nice for the still cool (or downright chilly, with the snow we had this week) weather...Gingerbread. Dark and sticky, with a syrup you pour over the warm cake and an optional icing that I think must be added.
Don't you?

"This classic teatime cake can be served warm with cream as a dessert or cold, sliced and buttered at any time.  The flavor is quite intense, and it's the kind of treat that is immensely satisfying. It stays deliciously moist and has a lovely mixture of different spices so will keep very well. Divine with a  cup of coffee."
Makes 1 loaf 

 Dark Sticky Gingerbread

• 60g (5 Tbs.) butter 
• 75g (1/4 cup) golden syrup (or dark corn syrup)
• 50g (2  Tbs. plus 1 tsp.) molasses or black treacle 
• 110g (3/4 cup) plain flour 
• 25g (4 Tbs.) self-raising flour 
• 1 level tsp. bicarbonate of soda 
• 1 heaped tsp. ground ginger 
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon 
• 1 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg 
• 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper 
• 100g (1/2 cup) sugar 
• Pinch of salt 
• 120ml (1/2 cup) milk 
• 1 egg, beaten 
• 50g (2oz) crystallised ginger, finely chopped 

For the syrup

• 80g (6 1/2 Tbs.) sugar 
• 80ml (1/3 cup) water 
• 1 tsp finely grated root ginger 

For the topping (optional)

• 200g (1 2/3 cups) confectioners sugar, sifted 
• Juice of 1⁄2 lemon 

You will need  13 x 23cm (5 x 9in) loaf tin
1. Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F), Gas mark 3. Line the loaf tin with parchment paper.
2. Melt the butter, golden syrup and molasses or treacle in a small saucepan over a low heat. Set aside.
3. Sift the flours, bicarbonate of soda, spices and pepper into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar and salt, then add the milk and egg and mix until smooth. Gradually add the melted butter mixture, stirring until well incorporated, then fold in the chopped crystallised ginger. The mixture will be runny.
4. Pour into the prepared loaf tin and bake in the oven for 50-55 minutes or until risen and firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Do not open the oven to test before the bread has cooked for at least 45 minutes. 
 5. Place all the ingredients for the syrup in a small saucepan and simmer for 10 minutes. Prick the hot cake all over with a fine skewer, pour over the syrup and leave to cool on a wire rack for about 20 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely on the rack.

6. If you wish, mix the icing sugar and lemon juice together in a small bowl until thick, then spread carefully over the top of the cake with a palette knife or a table knife, allowing some icing to drip over the edges. 

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I think it had me at 'divine with coffee', since I gave up coffee..and milk and soda and almost every beverage except water for Lent and am thinking this will indeed be divine when I can have a cuppa java come Easter Day.

Although this has a fairly large number of ingredients, once you have them gathered, it is quick and easy to put together. I got everything prepped and measured and ready to go before I started,  something I would really recommend with this recipe.
as to those ingredients...
I had no self rising flour, so I looked online and found a 'recipe'. 4 TBS is 1/4 cup, then add about 1/3 tsp. of baking power and you should be good to go. And I had no golden syrup..even though I have seen it in my supermarket...so I used corn syrup. Three forms of ginger are used..fresh, powered and crystallized..and I got my hands on all of them.
BTW, I also lined the loaf pan with parchment paper before I poured in the batter. All that talk of 'sticky' had me concerned about, well, sticking.

Adding the icing is up to you. I went with, not least of all because I though the touch of lemon would be nice. Have I mentioned I love lemon? But to tell ya the truth, next time I would make the icing, but half the amount and leave out the lemon juice, maybe using milk instead, with a dash of vanilla..or a touch of cinnamon. The lemon conflicted rather than complimented in my opinion.
But it was still very good.

And very cozy.

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This is my contribution this to this week's Weekend Cooking.
"Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend."
Be sure to check out the other entries this week. As always, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

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Review of "A Dying Fall" [26]

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A Dying Fall; A Ruth Galloway Mystery by Elly Griffiths

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, ISBN 978-0547798165

March 5, 2013, 400 pages

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It is shocking when Ruth Galloway finds out that her old university friend Dan Golding has died. She had not been in contact with him for years, but at one point in her life he was one of her small band of friends. She is even more upset when she finds out that it appears he was murdered, the front door to his house locked from the outside after a fire was set, trapping him inside. But who would want to kill Dan, an unknown archaeologist in a small unknown college?

Then Ruth receives a letter, sent by the dead man shortly before his death. He talks about a discovery he has made, a huge discovery that will change history...and about being very afraid. So when Dan's boss from his university ask Ruth to head up to Blackpool and check out the discovery...she being a renowned bone specialist...in a flash, she is packing up her wee daughter Kate, and with friend and part time Druid priest Cathbad along to visit a friend, heading to the scene to check out this discovery.

Cue the Neo-Nazis, the King Arthur fans, and a range of Old Religion followers to enter stage left, all with their own dangerous agenda, Ruth right in their sights.
Happily, she is not alone.
Her good friend..and Kate's father...DCI Harry Nelson...is vacationing nearby, visiting family with his wife. For those who have not read the previous four books, let it be known that who Kate's father is is not a total secret. Harry knows..as does his wife..which, of course, leads to a few problems. Harry loves his wife dearly, but he can not deny his connection to his latest daughter, or, in a different way, to Ruth as well.

The development of this story line is just one reason I love this series..and one reason why this is one series you really should read in order. Which, believe me, is not a trial, since every one of the book has been very good. As with many of the storylines in these books, the plot here is clever, with enough red herrings to keep you guessing. Not unusual, but I picked the wrong person as the murderer.

Without question, one major reason I like this series  so much is Ruth, one of my favorite characters of all time. She is...very smart, rather overweight, about as far from glamorous as a woman can be, curious, a very messy housekeeper, unlucky with men, a respected professor, a rather grumpy introvert, someone who never expected, especially as she will not see 40 again, to be a mother..and yet is a wonderful, if rather unconventional, mom.  She is very real and very likable and surrounded by a great cast.
Her relationship with Harry is without question interesting, even more so since his wife has found out he is Kate's father. I must say, she has taken it better than most women would. But we have to think that Ruth's and Harry's continued interactions...if even now only on a professional basis...will take it's toll.

And I do love the setting of the books, centered around Ruth's lonely rather ramshackle cottage on the marshy coastline of Norfolk, the Saltmarsh. I am not sure I would want to be living there on a stormy winter night as the tide comes closer, but Ruth talks it in stride and it adds great atmosphere to the books.

Yes, it is another series I am recommending...but it is only five books so far. Now is the time to start it before it gets out of hand! lol
Good plots, good settings, good..no great..characters...really, you need to be reading these books.

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Wordless Wednesday...Reading Terminal in Neon

Reading Terminal Market in Philly.
Full of great food...and great neon signs. 

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...as always, for more Wordless Wednesday, 
check these out.

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Musing Monday...A Different Shade of Gray

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 Monday is upon us once again, so let's look at the questions at Should Be Reading...

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Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are(or, aren’t) enjoying it.
 • Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up?
 • Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it.

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I finished a couple of books this week, and started a few more. The first was the fifth in a series, Dying Game by Elly Griffiths, which bring back the ever interesting Ruth Galloway and her charming little daughter Kate. This time, everyone is heading to Blackpool, England. Ruth is off to check out an archaeological dig..that is what she does... with her daughter Kate in tow and her friend, and Druid priest, Cathbad, along as baby sitter and occasional bodyguard. Meanwhile Harry Nelson, Kate's father (but that is another story) and a police Detective Chief Inspector, is visiting Blackpool as well, with his wife, visiting family on vacation....but you just know the two, Ruth and  Nelson, are soon to be linked in a nasty crime.

Next, I read Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville. The book takes part in Ireland, so it was sort of in celebration of St. Patrick's day, although I doubt the saint would be too happy with the goings on in this story.
The main character is Gerry Fegan, a former IRA hitman, a hero in the republican community for the years he served in a British prison for his deeds. But now the 'Troubles' are over, a political agreement in the works, and Gerry is left with memories that cause him to spend his nights getting drunk, trying to ward off the ghosts. Because you see Gerry is a man who is literally haunted by the 12 people he killed, 12 ghosts that want revenge if they are to leave Gerry in peace.

So that bring up my muse for the day, a question I raised in another recent review of a book called Resolve. In that book, we know at the beginning that our hero is going to kill a man that very day, in the midst of a marathon he is running. Can we still 'like' him, care about his story if we know he is going to take someones life?

In this book, Ghosts of Belfast, he know that Gerry has killed 12 people. True, several of them were soldiers on the other side, which you might explain off as fellow combatants in a war. But several others were innocent passersby...a mother and her infant child..a butcher, killed when his store was bombed. And the revenge they cry out for will call for more deaths, the deaths of those they..and Gerry...hold responsible as well.
So, can you like a book where the hero is a killer?

Well, sometimes a writer can make it work. In Ghosts I think he does. Gerry makes no excuses for what he did, which is part of his appeal. He knows he deserves to suffer for his deeds...but he also does not want others to to get away without paying for their part as well. He is not a good man..but he is not all bad either, and for all his many faults you can't miss that small flame of light inside him, that small glow of goodness that may call him to do something noble and protect a few innocent lives.
Even if he is still a man very skilled in killing.

As I said last week, I like books that explore the Big Questions, the whole balance of Good and Evil and a book like this does that very well. Because it is rarely all black and white, rather frequently, shades of gray.
And Gerry is a very gray, but interesting man.

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A Kaleidoscope of Kitties