Home

After spending a too short two weeks in Australia I find myself thinking about what home means - and how many homes can a person have?

I live in Dubai and have lived there for over ten years. I have good friends, friends I want to see regularly and often, in Dubai, the UK, Switzerland, Canada, Macedonia, Poland ... These are all people I have met since I moved to Dubai - they are the friends of my midlife and I love them dearly.

That said, I have friends in Australia who I have known for way longer and who I wish I could see more often. Two or three weeks a year visiting the country of my birth doesn't allow me to spend the time with them that I would wish to spend.

Then of course there is family. Love them or hate them, we can't live without them. They made us who we are. They shaped our lives, supporting us in times of trouble and grief, cheering us in times of triumph, and they are just there during the plodding days of ordinary life. And that's the important thing. They are there. Always. No matter what family ties tie. I have found that even remote cousins can sometimes seem at least as close as good friends because of our shared background; the family ties we have in common making up for any lack of shared experience.

So when it comes to ideas of home, and where I will spend the rest of my life, I confess I am torn. Sure I live in Dubai, but that's more because it's convenient than through any sense of belonging there. And Australia as the country of my birth, the home of my family, the place with which I am most familiar, well, it's home.

At this stage I find it impossible to say where I will end up - but I have a strong feeling that no matter where I keep my belongings, airport lounges will remain familiar places.

More experimenting in the kitchen

Today I was inspired to experiment in the kitchen again. In my ongoing quest to create high protein vegetarian dishes I made drop scones. (Some may call them pikelets, or even thick pancakes - where I come from they are drop scones.)

Basic recipe

1 cup skim milk ricotta
4 eggs
pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 cup besan (chick pea flour)
1/8 cup soy flour
1/4 cup ground almonds

Whisk eggs and ricotta. Mix together with the dry ingredients.


Once I got to this stage I decided to make both savoury and sweet versions. To do this, I divided the mixture in half.

Savoury variation:
I added some grated cheese (with cumin) and some chilli powder.

Sweet variation:
Add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (never, never, never vanilla essence!)
1 packet splenda (artificial sweetener)

Melt some butter in a fairly hot pan. Drop spoonfulls of the mixture into the pan. Cook on one side until golden then turn and cook the other side.

Serve. The cheese ones are perfect by themselves. I topped a sweet one with no sugar added strawberry jam. Delicious.

The rest are in the fridge for later in the week!

Playing in the Kitchen

Today I decided to experiment to create a high protein vegetarian dish. I was inspired by the ending of an episode of Iron Chef America where one of the chefs created what she called Farro and Edamame Polpette. I searched for hours in vain for a similar recipe and finally had to resort to creating something myself, with a little guidance from Carluccio's Chef Guilio.

1/4 cup farro (spelt)
200 grams edamame (in their pods)
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
olive oil
besan flour (chickpea flour)
1/2 egg, beaten (well, of course you have to beat the whole thing!)
salt and pepper to taste
sprig of rosemary, chopped (about 1/2 tbspn)
sprig of thyme, chopped (about 1/2 tbspn)
soy flour (for tossing)
Your favourite tomato pasta sauce
Grated parmesan

Heat some olive oil and cook the farro for about two minutes. Add 1 1/2 cups boiling water and simmer farro until cooked (about 30 minutes).

Boil some water and cook the edamame in their pods for about 2 minutes. Remove from the pods (and yes, you throw the pods away) and chop the edamame in a food processor.

Fry chopped onion, taking care not to brown it, then add the garlic and continue frying. Add rosemary and thyme.

Drain farro and mix in a bowl with chopped edamame and onion mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Add the egg and mix well, then add as much besan as you need to form a mixture that you can roll into about 8 small balls. You want the mixture to be firm but not too dry as it will fall apart. Toss the balls in soy flour.

Heat some more oil. Fry the polpette (okay, it's pretentious to use the Italian name, but I can't think what else to call them - balls, I guess), turning regularly, until brown and crisp on the outside.

Put balls in a baking dish, top with the tomato sauce and cover with grated parmesan. Bake for about 10-15 minutes in a moderate oven (180 degrees C, 350 degrees F for my American readers).

Enjoy.

A hint of chocolate

Well this week saw my return to work after a break and I decided to bake some treats for my colleagues. I was only going to make a vanilla layer cake, but my boss put forward a pretty persuasive argument for some chocolate cake so my colleagues got both.

Chocolate Almond Cake

180g 70% chocolate
180g unsalted butter
Extra butter for greasing tin
200g ground almonds
8 eggs
1 tspn vanilla extract
215g caster sugar
60g cocoa powder
pinch of salt
Extra cocoa powder for decorating

Preheat oven to 150 degrees C. Line a 23 cm tin with greaseproof paper and grease with extra butter.

Break up chocolate and cut up butter. Place in a bowl over simmering water and melt them together. Cool.

Meanwhile beat together 2 whole eggs with 6 egg yolks and 200 g of the sugar until it thickens and is light. Fold in the cocoa powder and the ground almonds. Mix together with the melted chocolate/butter mixture and stir in vanilla extract (Don't use essence - it tastes yucky).

Beat 4 of the egg whites with pinch of salt to form stiff peaks. Fold in the remaining 15g sugar. Add a couple of spoonfuls of beaten egg white to chocolate mix and stir it in. Then fold in the rest of the egg whites gently keeping as much air in the mixture as possible.

Pour the mix into your prepared tin and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes.

Cool cake in tin, then turn out.

Dust with extra cocoa powder and maybe, if you want it a little sweeter, some icing sugar - you can make nice patterns on the top by putting strips of paper across the cake when you dust it.

Serve it plain, with cream or with some yummy vanilla icecream.

So there it is. A nice easy cake. Great for people with gluten intolerances, but not for those with nut allergies.

Sorry, I didn't think to take a photo until it had all disappeared!!

Saying goodbye to old friends

I know that autumn is almost here (well, not really, because in my book it is always summer in Dubai), but I am spring cleaning. Yes,the carpets are getting a beating, the curtains being cleaned - all those once a year tasks are happening. But this year I am doing something that I usually find myself unable to do ...

I am culling my book collection.

My lovely Concise Oxford English Dictionary talks about "reducing the population by selective slaughter". It sounds brutal and as I sort and select it feels like brutality.

How can I choose which books have to leave my shelves forever, and which get to stay? Why must I make this choice?

The second question is fairly easy to answer. I have six bookcases. After thinking long and hard I have decided that another bookcase is not really an option. I just don't have space for it unless I get rid of the sofa, the bed, the bath or something else which may prove useful. Also, walking across my bedroom has become a bit of a minefield as I navigate my way between piles of books, hoping that I don't accidentally knock over one of the tottering high rises.

Seriously, it's time to find homes for the new and to send some of the old to a new home.

As I look at each book in my collection, the flashflood of memories is overwhelming. I remember where and when I bought most of them. Can I really bear to part with them even if I know they are going to a good home? (Our office runs a book collection - people pay 5 dirhams to borrow a book and the money goes to charity.)

How can I decide?

1. Books that have been given to me must remain. They are dearly loved not merely for their content, but for the thoughtfulness of the giver
2. Books that I have disposed of before, and then re-bought deserve to stay. It's unreasonable to expect me to buy them a third time and if I needed them twice, I'm sure to need them again
3. Books by my favourite authors continue their residence on my shelves. Even if they're not my favourites sometimes I need to look at them again
4. Books ...

Okay, so deciding which ones should stay and which should go is proving difficult. This is no small task.

Maybe I'll beat another carpet instead.

The Big Question

Okay, so I've misled you. This is not THE big question, but ít's the one that's been perplexing me for the past few minutes, and I think it's important.

Once upon a time, labels on jars and bottles needed a mere soak in water to smoothly, most often in one piece, slide from the glass, without leaving a nasty residue. When did this change?

I am sure there are some people out there who collect labels. If they live in the Middle East I am sure they create designs of the UAE flag or the president, or some other illustrious personage, with them (why not, they do it with matchboxes!). How these people must be suffering from this 'difficult-to-remove-label' trend?

Some weeks ago I made the decision to cook Indian food. Anyone who does this will know that you end up with a ridiculous number of different spices. In the UAE many of these come in plastic bags, rather than jars. But jars are better for storing them. So instead of taking glass jars to the recycling bin, I decided to remove their labels and reuse them.

Now I regret this decision.

I have one particular jar that I have soaked for hours - twice! Yet the residue remains.

If anyone reading this blog is a label collector and has an elegant solution to this problem, please post a comment.

Not about football

Dear blog readers,
It's World Cup time and the world, or at least Dubai, seems obsessed by it. So, in protest, that is all I am going to say about it.

I often hear how smells are very powerful at triggering memories. I don't know about smells, but for me, it's words and music.

Every now and then I think back to moments or words that have special meaning for me. In particular I remember one poem and one song that hold beautiful memories. My then "best friend" at high school wrote some verses from the Stones song "Wild Horses" on a birthday card. I remember her each time I hear that song. Recently we have connected again, and I wonder if she remembers writing those words so many years ago.

A couple of weeks ago I finally tracked down a poem I had loved when I was a teenager. I can't remember how old I was when I first read it - maybe 16 or 17 and a group of us had gone to a drama camp at Sydney Uni. I met a person there who really brought this poem to my mind. A couple of years back I met another but I couldn't find the poem. Now I've found it. I guess I can't quote it in its entirety - copyright and all that. If you want to look it up, it's e e cummings - Number 30 in 73 Poems.

... but a few lines should be safe.

...
Nobody,it's safe
to say,observed him but

myself;and why?because

without any doubt he was
whatever(first and last)

mostpeople fear most:
a mystery for which i've
no word except alive

-that is,completely alert
and miraculously whole;

with not merely a mind and a heart

but unquestionably a soul-...

it is my dearest wish for you all that you know at least one person like this.

Do you get loads of emails from friends with attachments designed to make you feel good? You know the ones. PowerPoint presentations with calming music, and either photos or paintings. And usually at the end there is a message telling you that if you don’t forward the message immediately to at least ten people, your wish won’t come true. Sometimes they even threaten that something bad will happen to you.

Much as receiving these emails annoys me, I admit that it is nice to know that people care about whether I have a smile on my face or not. But, surely there are much easier, and even much more personal, ways to bring about that smile.

My latest purchase is an iPhone. Yes, I am addicted to the gorgeous gadget, and am longing for the 2nd or 3rd iteration of the iPad and my next bonus cheque.

One of the “funnest” things about the iPhone is, of course, the apps. Now I’m going to admit to something very personal here. I am the proud owner of a virtual fish named George. And George, or rather that app that runs George, knows just how to put a smile on my face. Every now and then, after I’ve visited George and played with him, I get messages. “You are the owner of one happy fish.” “Your fish has a smile on its face.” And, regardless of how bad I’m feeling, these simple messages, from an electronic gadget, make me smile.

Again I ponder, if it’s this easy for a gadget to make me smile, how much easier for a real person to do the same, and for me to do the same back.

So my resolution for today is to spend more time making people smile (but I warn you, I’m not giving up George!)

I will never be "regular blogger of the year"

So again it's been a while. No excuses. I just haven't got around to blogging.

Yesterday I found something I haven't seen for a long time - rhubarb. So many of us have been talking about it, but no one knew where to find it - Choitrams Safa Park - but beware, it's not cheap.

So today I chopped it up, stewed it with a cinnamon stick and a little sugar thinking I'd make a rhubarb crumble. Sadly there wasn't enough so I added apples (always a great combination). My crumble topping was fairly standard but I added some quinoa flakes (instead of rolled oats) and an Aussie touch - some wattle seed. So there's a treat for the office tomorrow.

First course is going to be lentil fritters - make a standard batter (flour, egg, milk), but add egg yolks first and whip up whites and fold them in. Flavour with chilli powder, cumin, cardamon, salt, pepper. Fry, flip, fry other side. Serve with chopped tomato, rocket and labneh.

Looking forward to lunch tomorrow.

'Til next time...

Things to do with egg yolks

Dear trainee housewife,

First confession - I am feeling stupendously guilty because I haven't solved your egg yolk dilemma yet. I sleep at night and dream of large quantities of egg yolks piling up in your fridge, leaving scant room for other foods. Sorry. I did plan to provide a list today of things to do with egg yolks, but sadly work has been taking over my blogging time. I did however drag out the recipe for bread and butter pudding for you.

Now, another confession. I don't follow the recipe exactly. Experimentation is part of my cooking style. But I will provide the basics and you can go from there.

Raisin Bread and Butter Pudding

50 g butter
400 g raisin loaf (keep the crusts on - they make your hair go curly - or so my mother says)
750 mls milk
142 mls double cream
grated zest of 1 lemon
4 eggs (here I would mess around and use maybe 1 full egg and five or six yolks)
50g caster sugar
2 tbspns brandy or 1 tspn vanilla extract (no prizes for guessing which I prefer - if you do decide to go for vanilla, make sure it's a quality extract and not synthetic essence)
2 tbspns demerara sugar
2 tbspns chopped nuts
1 tspn ground cinnamon

1. Butter a shallow ovenproof dish, about 2 litres. Butter the slices of bread and halve them diagonally.
2. Put milk, cream and lemon zest in a saucepan and het slowly to boiling point. Cool to lukewarm.
3. Beat eggs and sugar. Add brandy (or vanilla) and warm lemon milk.
4. Arrange half the bread over the base of the dish. Pour over half the milk/egg mixture. Repeat the bread and milk layers. Let it soak for about 15 minutes.
5. Preheat over to 180C.
6. Mix demerara sugar, nuts and cinnamon and sprinkle over pudding.
7. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes until golden brown and firm. Leave for 5 mintues before serving.

Keep checking for more ideas on what to do with egg yolks...

Mushrooms

After breakfast of mushrooms and scrambled eggs at Carluccios I decided to repeat a recipe I made earlier in the week - actually part of a recipe. For a pot luck lunch at the office I made crepes filled with a cheesy bechamel sauce and a fabulous mushroom concoction which proved more delicious than I thought possible.

So today I am repeating the mushroom part.

Saute some chopped onion in oil until brown and caramelised. Add torn up mushrooms - as many as you want. Soak some dried porcini in boiling water. When they are soft, drain them and toss into the mushroom and onion mix in the frypan. (My hot tip: if you want the porcini in smaller pieces, rather than cut them when they have soaked which can be really messy, rip them up before you soak them.) Add some red wine, some tomato passata, salt, dried chilli flakes, strained porcini liquid (strain this to remove any dirt) and simmer until the liquid reduces and mixture is thick.

I'm not sure what I'm going to serve this with this time. I think it will go nicely with some brown basmati rice, and it should be great with some pasta - maybe tagliatelle. Only problem is, if I have it for lunch at work, I can't enjoy a glass of red with it...

A fairly lazy Friday

After a few nights of not sleeping well, it was a relief to roll-over at 6 am and continue snoozing. Then it was to Carluccio's at Dubai Mall for breakfast. The scrambled eggs and mushrooms were the best I've tasted. I'll definitely be doing that again.

On Tuesday we plan to celebrate arrivals and birthdays at the office and as it's Shrove Tuesday, I thought my contribution to the pot luck lunch would be pancakes. I have been wanting to try a new recipe (picked up at Organic Foods and Cafe) for some time and thought I had better try it out before I inflict it on my unsuspecting colleagues.

Orange and Ricotta Pancakes
(makes about 8)
250g Ricotta
4 tbspns sugar
3 eggs separated
1 large orange
50g plain flour
2 tbspns butter

Combine ricotta, sugar and egg yolks. add grated orange zest and flour and mix well. Beat egg whites unil stiff then fold into ricotta mixture (remember, you want to keep as much air in them as possible, so don't beat the mixture too hard - cut and fold with a metal spoon is how Miss Searle taught me to do it in Home Science classes in the 70s). Melt butter in a non stick pan. Drop heaped tablespoons of batter into the pan (don't try more than 3 at a time). Cook over a medium heat until coloured and turn to cook other side. Eat.

Now I'm spending today thinking about what to serve them with. Tried honey and jam (separately!) yesterday and they were quite nice. Looking for something a little more exotic today...

Living in Splendour

For anyone who's wondering why "splendid" ...

"In aging it is even more important to live in splendour, seeking the beauty of mortal life." Munekata Toshiyuki, a retired Japanese high school principal, wrote this as the subtitle of his book "What the Oldest Cherry Trees Saw."

Cougar

Well tonight I got to feel a bit cougar-ish at Ronda Locatelli as my dinner guest, who grew up on 80s music rather than the 60s and early 70s tunes that marked my youth, and a splendid woman were welcomed as "Mr and Mrs"! A minor gaff. That said, the rest of the evening was excellent. Borlotti beans and tomatoes, mozzarella and roast beetroot, four cheese pizza and pasta with pesto, green beans and potato - all cooked to perfection. The company was entertaining and amusing - overall a lovely evening and I have a cougar moment to cherish...
Live in splendour

The meaningful things in life

This blogging thing has brought up some new linguistic challenges. What is it that people do when the blog and use twitter?

Do they twog or blitter? Perhaps they bleet?

These questions could use all my available brainpower for the next day or two.

In the beginning there was the word ...

...and the word came from a friend who repeatedly advised me that I should write a blog. After many months the combination of camembert and pavlova (not at the same time) inspired me to write a word or two, or three, or four...

That said, there is a high probability that this will be the last posting to The Pillow Book. Alternatively, it might end up with a few more postings and more closely resemble, in size if not in quality, the book that inspired the blog name - The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon.

You see, when I thought about blogging I was at a loss - what would my blog be about? Would it be like Chocolate & Zucchini, or more along the lines of Sex and Dubai? I had no idea.

So using my highly advanced problem solving skills (first avoid the problem, second ignore it, three scream at it, four curl up in the foetal position and rock, five...) I decided that my blog didn't need to be about anything. Or it could be about everything.

If you are fortunate enough to find it, if you find anything on it remotely interesting or useful, if, if, if ... then please post messages. However, if you find it and you want to increase my size, help me please my whatever in bed, sell me meds cheaply or anything else, if you think you have the right to spam my blog, then please go away. I will only ask nicely once. You send me crap and I warn you, I won't be so nice next time.

Now, after making pavlova last night for the office, I am now going to make a warm, comforting bread and butter custard (enhanced with a little lemon zest and brandy) to use up the egg yolks.

Until next time
Live in splendour