Hogswatch 2013 report - part 1

So you read the header and are itching with curiosity already, aren't you? 

Geez, hold your horses, pard! Because the Discworld convention's technically starting tomorrow. 

Thus for now, I'm just going to ramble about food, me and sweetie, food, and my first glorious day in England. But mostly FOOD.

Are you thrilled or what?

First of all I want to show you the place where we're staying - the Half Moon Inn in Horsington, a delightful little B&B with an appropriately quaint name. 

See? Very picturesque!

(OMG am I sounding like Twoflower already?)

The best thing about the place, though, is the pub! Of course, of course!

See what I mean? It's to die for!

 The fireplace! The dried hops wreaths! The comfy sofas!

And well, yes - the beer!

We ended up in this place simply because all the hotels in Wincanton were fully booked already, but I'm so happy about it! 

The rooms are clean and super comfy and the breakfast buffet, while somewhat on the frugal side in comparison with some other places we've stayed at, includes homemade orange marmalade, which is one of my favourite things in the world...

...as well as the traditional egg-and-sausages, if you're so inclined!

I didn't dare starting off my day like this, but sweetie did, and looked quite happy too!

Me, I fully mean to lose my English sausage virginity at the Hogswatch feast on Saturday - and gosh, this sounded way worse than I actually meant it to. 

Sorry for the mental picture, peeps! 

Well, since I grossed you all out just now, I'm going to show one more yukky pic...

Now this is actually not gross at all, as the bathroom was spotless like the rest of the room.

But, apart from the lack of a bidet - which I won't dwell upon, as it already is the butt of too many jokes among us debauched Continentals - I want you to notice how hot and cold water come from separate faucets (something I haven't seen in use for almost 3o years), and how the washbasin is placed at crotch height. Feel free to draw you conclusions - ewwwww!

(Once again, the brain bleach is on me...)

Right after breakfast we thought we could take our smart Italian arses to Wincanton and secure our picks from the Emporium before the con madness starts. 

Alas, the shop was closed! We could see the personnel inside, dusting shelves and getting stuff ready. I was so giddy with excitement that I didn't even curse that much, and was content with simply snapping pics of the outside for the time being. 

Apart from its geeky connection with everything Discworld, Wincanton is a lovely little rural town, so quintessentially English - like everything around here!

 It boasts many interesting buildings, like the old Town Hall...

...plus it comes with three pubs, a Chinese and an Indian take-away, an Italian-style cafeteria, a butcher...

...and a real British bakery OMG!

Of course I got my foodie shopping done right away (while I still have some money left, as you might be guessing...)

(Right, I'm buying booze. Sue me!)

Then we got ourselves some proper, honest-to-God fish & chips from The Bridge in Templecombe, which is famous around here for its fried fish fares. Yay allitteration!

(Sweetie actually did a thorough online search and compared feedbacks. No kidding!)

Somehow I had picked up the idea that it would be fish nuggets, so the huge battered fillet scared the heck out of me. But it really tasted wonderful, and in the end I cheerfully devoured it all!

(Sorry for the crappy pic btw - it was taken outside, late in the evening with my cheap camera's flash. That was because the fried oil smell was so powerful that hun squarely refused to go eat it in our room LOL)

And now, to bed we go. Tomorrow's when the fun starts for real!

Tomato Jam

...Well, I am Italian. What else were you expecting? 

Hetalia: Axis Powers belongs to  Hidekaz Himaruya and Gentosha

S. Italy's character song, Oishii Tomato no Uta/The Delicious Tomato Song, is sung by Namikawa Daisuke

Making jam out of tomatoes might sound freakish to some, but please consider this: tomatoes are actually fruit. There's nothing weird about turning fruit into jam, right?

Right.

Just trust me on this one, hmm? 

Tomato Jam
Ingredients: 

* 2 cups pureed tomato (bottled sauce is fine as long as it's just tomato)
* 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
* 1/3 cup candied fruit, diced
* 1 cinnamon stick
* 6-7 whole cardamom pods
* a slosh of Alchermes (rum will do, too!)

1.  Pour the pureed tomatoes (or fresh bottled tomato sauce) into a saucepan. You can use a pan if your're in a hurry - the whole process will be faster that way, but you will need to keep  an eye on it all the time, otherwise it will burn. 

2.  Add sugar. Put on low fire and keep stirring with a wooden spoon, until all the sugar dissolves and the mixture bubbles gently. 

3.  Take the spices. Oooh pretty!

4.  Throw them into the tomato-and-sugar mix. Let it all simmer for about half an hour, stirring occasionally. Don't let it to its own devices or it will burn! *

5.  Once it has thickened to a proper jam-like consistency, remove it from heat. Fish the cinnamon stick and cardamom pods out of it. Pop them into your mouth while no one is looking. 

6.  Pour the jam into a bowl. It is perfectly fine to call it done at this stage, but to make it jummier, add the diced candied fruit and slosh in a little rum (or, ideally, Alchermes). 

Let it cool off, stirring from time to time so that the fruit is distributed evenly.

7.  Can your tomato jam, or bake it into a pie (the doses I gave you yeld enough to fill a medium, 8 servings-worth pie). Or you might want to try it as cookie filling, or just eat it with a spoon.
I grant you, next time you'll want to make a double batch!


* = It will burn anyway, unless you sing the Oishii Tomato no Uta the whole time while making this. True story! 

Lazing on a Wednesday afternoon

Yup. Sorry about that, Freddie. 

It's just that I've worked my bi-monthly cluster of night shifts over the weekend, and felt totally pooped ever since. 

Well, today I can safely say I feel remotely human again. It being, you know, Wednesday. 

That said, you are probably expecting me to show you some breath-taking example of my baking prowess. All right. Here you go. 

I SO wish I could take credit for bringing this marvel into the world, but no - this is Kristin Rosenau's Peach & Blackberry Galette.

Go get the recipe from her blog directly, and be sure to swipe a few more while you're at it!

Now incidentally - much as I generally dislike French-style desserts, I find that the mere word, galette, is so evocative of all things sweet and decadent to have me salivating like Pavlov's proverbial dogs in zero time. No matter that this particular dessert is not nearly as rich and heavy as quite a few others that I would serenely scarf down by reason of a less debauched-sounding  denomination. The moral of the story being: What's in a name?, my arse!

This is something of (gosh!) an healthy treat actually. Which means you'll have to warm up your slice and plop a dollop of vanilla ice cream on it, so that the balance of the universe is restored.

...oh, and before I leave you to deal with your galette, let me tell you a word concerning Kristin and her wonderful blog, The Pastry Affair.

She is a human being I admire unconditionally; I wish I'd had the courage, ten years ago, to make the same choice she did and dump a job I was miserable with in order to pursue my true calling. I am not sure I would have chosen to become a baker back then, or whether I'd have been successful if I had tried, but... yeah. HUUUUGE missed opportunity right there.

Baking-wise, I am in love with her. Nothing less.  He confections are perfectly balanced, elegant in a "less is more" way - something you don't always get from online recipes, where the wow factor is often the main concern.

When food is discussed, we Italians have a bad habit of looking down on other people, Americans especially. Since, you know, the Mediterranean diet is so awesome, whereas they created McDonald's and everything nasty and evil, right? No matter that we cheerfully ignore our much-flaunted "golden pyramid" thingie and stuff our faces with carbs for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Well, anyway - Kristin's recipes can give any Italian diet doctor a run for his money. A little while ago they went, if anything, a little too healthy, as she was experimented with the Vegan lifestyle for a whole month. What can I say? I still loved her recipes, but I am glad it is over. Butter and eggs are staple food as far as I am concerned!

Image belongs to Kristin Rosenau @  http://www.pastryaffair.com

Last but not least, her pics. Will you just look at them? Her photography is flawless. I would like to say I envy her for it, but then again, I have no right to because most of the times I'm not even trying.

Her galette's like a Platonic ideal; mine looks like something butchered by a maniac... The red tablecloth doesn't help, of course. Nor does the pack of tissues peeking from the upper right corner. Oh well...