Monday Morsel: Judith Viorst

Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands – 

and then eat just one of the pieces

~Judith Viorst

13th Stop: Bahrain

No ordinary demitasse of coffee, here, folks.

This one includes the likes of cardamom and saffron.  It called for "Gulf Coffee" which I did not have. But given Nescafe's international presence, I thought I'd use Nescafe as somehow that seemed right. Then, be still my beating heart, the recipe called for something I had an abundance of...

That's right, Rose Water. You might remember Rose Water made its debut in my blog back when I was in Afghanistan. And now that your wheels are turning, you've probably figured out that this coffee actually has Rose Water in it, too. 

Above is a photo of all the ingredients boiling together. (Except the Rose Water doesn't appear until a bit later.) Please also note that I am intentionally capitalizing Rose Water, as am gaining more respect for it as I travel.

All done, Rose Water now added.  I had myself a cup of Traditional Bahraini Cardamom Coffee. You know, when one goes to a bakery, one often has some coffee or another beverage that's made at the premises. Hence, going the beverage route for Bahrain seemed like the perfect thing to do. 

For such a small country, Bahrain is chock full of flavors.  I can think of only one word to describe this coffee:  REFRESHING!  I took the rest of the coffee and have put it in the fridge to chill. I think it will make a perfect afternoon iced-coffee drink.

The recipe I followed is right here:  http://www.food.com/recipe/traditional-bahraini-cardamom-coffee-304029

Monday Morsel: Jeff Garlin

Fun-sized Snickers? Who’s this fun for? Not me. I need six or seven of these babies in a row to start having fun.
Jeff Garlin

12th Stop: The Bahamas

This lovely chunk of bread goodness is called Bahamian Johnny Cake. It pretty much tastes like cornbread. That's a good thing! However, it has less actual cornmeal in it than a typical cornbread recipe would require. So the texture is more smooth than cornbread. Johnny Cake is best served hot from the oven. In The Bahamas, people will eat this for breakfast with butter and jam (yum!), or enjoy it as an addition to a meal.

The process to follow for this recipe was so quick, that I nearly forgot to photograph any of it! Then, fortunately, I remembered. The dough is sticky and a bit hard to spread into the baking dish (make sure your baking dish is greased as this is very sticky stuff!).

I also had to bake this for 40 minutes as opposed to the suggested 30 to get that golden brown color that makes for a wonderfully crunchy top.

There are many recipes for Johnny Cakes from around the Caribbean, but I liked this one best because it allows you to decide on how much sugar to add (and this recipe, apparently, is more exclusive to The Bahamas).

Since I made this Johnny Cake to accompany a weeknight dinner, I added less sugar (about 1/8 of a cup) and it was just fine. All Bakery Traveler family members gave it a buttery thumbs-up.

Recipe:  http://wanderlustandlipstick.com/blogs/foodfreeway/2010/08/04/recipe-of-the-week-bahamian-johnny-cake/

Monday Morsel

Mug Shot

 

We've been reunited after a long, hot season in which I favored iced drinks to hot ones. Our relationship is, as you might say, a very hot and cold one! We've been carrying on like this for 15 years. So, as irreverent as it may seem, it totally works for us. With a recent chill in the air, I have been compelled to break-out the Earl Grey tea, and hence, this glossy, speckled earthy guy. Don't fret. He uses me as much as I use him. Take, for example, how I must hand wash him as opposed to top rack machine wash him. That makes him pretty high-maintenance to me! And, yet, I give in. So, here it is - my favorite mug's official mug shot. So much more attractive than any mug shot of Lindsay Lohan, isn't it?

11th Stop: Azerbaijan

The Zebra Cake from Azerbaijan - kind of looks like a cake-i-fied version of some continent, doesn't it?  Completely unintentional.  As was my over-baking the cake. Arggghh. Sometimes I over-bake. I'm learning. I followed the recipe from very helpful website http://leylasroom.com/food-and-entertainment/zebra-cake/ and yet, another arggghhh, my cake looks nothing like the one from the link above. Nonetheless! My version does look like an intricate rendition of an unknown continent. Here's a close-up:

 

 

 

 

Too bad I couldn't make it look like the actual country of Azerbaijan! But I wasn't going for a continental or country shape, anyhow.  Just got lucky! Here is Azerbaijan, so you can see, not much of a resemblance...or is there...?

 

 

 

 

 

While I did over-bake it, the cake was really fun to make. Here a scoop of cocoa powder stands tall before being blended into the yellow batter:

 

Once the cocoa was blended into the batter, it was spooned in with its non-cocoa counterpart.

 

 

 

I would go back to this recipe to make it again. I wouldn't over-bake it, hopefully. 40 minutes at 350 was too long for my oven. Also, I would add some kind of icing (maybe a dusting of powder sugar) on top to make it sweeter. Maybe because I over-baked it, the cake didn't have much flavor. But I think an icing would make it a total winner.

 

 

Monday Morsel: Dave Barry

“My therapist told me the way to achieve true inner peace is to finish what I start. 

So far today, I have finished 2 bags of M&M's and a chocolate cake. 

I feel better already.”