Friday, May 21, 2021

Long time no figs, and other shouts from the past

Ages since I made Figgy Snack Cake, and I've had great Misfits dried figs in the freezer for a while. So last night I got one package out and left the figs overnight in water to soften and shape up.


Which they did, then I hauled out the Melissa Clark recipe, which you see here, not to squint at in order to use, just to get the reference if you're interested.

 
Usual disclaimers: I don't have demerera sugar and couldn't be bothered to mix molasses with white as a sub, so white it was. I don't have brandy, so added in extra milk for the liquid missing.  None of these makes a discernible difference, to me.


So here's the dough in process about to have an egg added. After this, alternating flour mixture and milk, and it's done, a spreadable dough. This makes a ton of cake.


And you halve the figs, press them in cut side down. The whole container did it. You could use any sturdy stone fruit.

And since I noticed the oven temp needed was 400°f, just right also for a pasty, I put the cake in the oven, then rolled out a chunk of dough to make a chicken pasty.

The cake was in for 45 minutes, so the pasty went in for the last 20. Worked fine.  


The filling was the rest of the chicken salad I'd made using a fancy flavored spreading cheese I found at a terrific price in my recent grocery outing. Close to sell by date, but I planned on using it right away, it was reduced from 4.99 to .99 that is not a typo. And it's Rondele, a brand I haven't thought of for years. 

You forget these little occasional treats when you don't shop at Western supermarkets for years. Between farm and Asian store and Misfits, I'm a stranger in the supermarket. 

Not a sad heart though. Do you know Randall Jarrell's A Sad Heart st the Supermarket? Wonderful writing, wonderful person, gone too soon.


Anyway here's lunch ready to go in.


And the cake and pie a while later. Both pretty good. After the cook's sample, there are containers in freezer and fridge. We're caked to saturation point for now.
It's fruit and whole wheat flour, milk, all suitable for breakfast. Or any time really.


Which is good because I have plenty of stuff to attend to. This is the latest Maisie Dobbs, and it's excellent. Runs from 1940 to  late 1941 in Britain. 

Great complications of spies being smuggled into occupied France, French spies in Britain liaising with secret operations, you never knew who would turn out to be an agent. 

Historically accurate even to the fast running little schoolboys acting as foot couriers for MI 5, under bombardment, everything, incredibly brave little kids, news to me. But the author's father was one of them, so she can attest.

And since I'm ready to assemble these pieces any time now, I need listening material, too.


Turns out this will be my Martha Stewart skirt, it evidently being a MS pillowslip, nice quality cotton, drapes well.

So here's an Angela Thirkell, she wrote a lot and you think of the books as thirkells like a unit of currency. 

I can't read her much in print, but with a terrific narrator like this one, known under various names, Nadia May, Wanda McCarron probably because she did a lot of work, it goes well.

She is excellent, well worth finding. Great perception of the subtleties, knows how the rhythm goes, plenty of energy but doesn't draw attention to herself. 


Thirkell wrote comedies of manners, similar social context as Austen, Pym, Benson, very wry, gentle but astute. Great to sew by.



And here's an ancient one I put on my Kindle for old times' sake, classic advice to writers which I read long ago, as a kid, and even then the library copy was tattered. 

This is a bit of memory lane as much as a reading event. It's about writing without trying to impress on the reader how hard it is to write material that's easy to read. She realizes there's no need, they'll find that out soon enough. It's encouraging instead, what a concept.

The decks are cleared for the arrival of the Misfits box this afternoon, all being well.  Then it's a frenzy of washing and slicing and chopping and freezing. And gloating, don't forget gloating.

14 comments:

  1. I love figs, so that cake appeals to me! I've been meaning to read Jacqueline Winspear's WW2 series for a while now, I must get around to them!

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    1. If you start with Maisie Dobbs, the first of the novels she eventually wrote with Maisie as the main character, I think you'll want to go on. They follow a chronological sequence but you don't have to. I just read them in any order I could get them.

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  2. What a great idea for figs. I always cut them for quinoa salad. They are delicious in the salad.

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    1. I got quinoa recently from Misfits abd need to learn how to use it. Noting the salad.

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  3. mmmm - that cake looks pretty tasty (sez I, currently relegated to eating whatever can be pureed in the blender...sigh). And now, thanks to you, I'm craving cake AND chicken salad.

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    1. Maybe start a wishlist for Jack to study ready for when you can tackle solid food.

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  4. Have you read the non-fiction book A Woman of No Importance, by Sonia Purnell? The story of an American spy in France during WWII? It would dovetail well with your current Maisie Dodds.

    I should not read your posts mid-afternoon. Must rush off for a snack, though nothing in the house as good looking as either your Demerara Figgy Cake or your chicken salad pastie.

    Have fun with the Misfits box! Looking forward to seeing the contents.

    Chris from Boise

    PS Have read a few of Randall Jarrell's poems, have not read "A Sad Heart At The Supermarket". Lovely title. Thanks for the suggestion! Have also not heard of Angela Thirkell before. The list grows...

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  5. There is an Oscar Wilde (?) play I think, a Woman of no Importance. But I'll look for the Purnell.

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  6. I've never cared for figs. I wonder if the taste is different, baked?

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  7. Fresh figs are quite different from rehydrated dried ones. These are like more interesting Fig Newtons.

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  8. Waiting for your misfists box...
    You've reminded me that I need to make a cobbler this morning for my husband to take to a fish fry. I am invited but I'll be staying home. I'll gladly send the cobbler in my place and quite frankly, I doubt anyone would rather see me than the cobbler! I'm assuming it's going to be good.

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    1. A person after my own heart. I'm glad he's willing to go without fussing at you.

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  9. I do like fresh figs and dried ones too. I don't buy store bought cookies though I did buy fig newtons on occasion. been a long time though. that pretty fabric is/was a pillowcase? I wouldn't think it would be enough fabric for a skirt so I must be misunderstanding.

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    1. A king size. And I'm a small size. I think it will work. I might have to add in a bit of other fabric, same stuff, which I found in a bunch of odd pieces upstairs.

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