Social life
Up late and planning to do nothing whatsoever on this Bank Holiday, apart from perhaps a little light tidying, and wishing you all a very happy (slightly belated) Easter.
The g-d’s friend Greta is off back to Bristol today (if she gets up in time), and I can get back to my solitary life. She turned out to be a much easier flatmate than I had feared, partly because she had access to the terrace from the spare room and smoked there, and mostly because, working online, she is practically nocturnal, and we didn’t overlap much. When we did overlap, she is good company, and we turn out to have very similar tastes in films and TV, which helped. I introduced her to the TV show Hannibal, which meant that we could gang up on the unfortunate g-d with cannibal puns and scary pictures of deer, which was great fun (not for the g-d, obviously). On Thursday, it was Greta’s birthday, and since the g-d’s boyfriend has also got back from 7 months at home in Boston, I had them all over, with the g-d’s two sisters. We had a great time, with an excellent and ridiculously easy to make chocolate orange cake (recipe below), and ended with tequila shots and a spectacular hangover for me. The boyfriend is lovely (i.e he did the washing-up and put it away), but a bit gullible - I spent an entertaining time trying to convice him that, contrary to what the middle sister had told him, I did not pay for this flay by dealing crack.
I had the g-d and boyfriend over again for dinner yesterday, and dug out my glass rabbit jelly mould to make a seasonal dessert of raspberry cream jelly rabbit on a bed of orange jelly grass. The last time I tried this, I turned out what the g-d described as an Easter road-kill that looked as if it had been hit with a hammer. This year, it turned out beautifully, and at Greta’s insistence, I added a tiny set of antlers to scare the g-d. The end result was pretty sinister but delicious.
The rabbit lurks in my bedroom in a sinister way. Actually it was just keeping cool there, as it didn;'t fit in the fridge
The g-d is delighted by the rabbit (or possibly horribly
traumatised)
Chocolate, Orange and Almond Cake
2 large oranges (or 3 medium)
200g caster sugar
250 g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
6 whole eggs
Put the whole oranges in a pan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat and simmer for up to two hours. Check the water to ensure they don't boil dry. After two hours, remove from the heat and leave to cool.
Chocolate Ganache Icing
250g dark chocolate (best you can find)
150 crème fraiche (not the half-fat kind)
1. Chop the chocolate up into pieces about the size of a pea (this is easiest in a food processor).
2. Put the cream into a small saucepan and heat until it just starts to bubble.
3. Take the cream off the heat and add the chocolate, then stir until the chocolate has all melted into the cream.
4. Leave the mixture to stand until nearly cold (it will thicken as it cools).
5. Cover the cake with it.
6. You can add a little orange oil, rum or brandy to the icing when you add mix in the chocolate if you like.
The g-d’s friend Greta is off back to Bristol today (if she gets up in time), and I can get back to my solitary life. She turned out to be a much easier flatmate than I had feared, partly because she had access to the terrace from the spare room and smoked there, and mostly because, working online, she is practically nocturnal, and we didn’t overlap much. When we did overlap, she is good company, and we turn out to have very similar tastes in films and TV, which helped. I introduced her to the TV show Hannibal, which meant that we could gang up on the unfortunate g-d with cannibal puns and scary pictures of deer, which was great fun (not for the g-d, obviously). On Thursday, it was Greta’s birthday, and since the g-d’s boyfriend has also got back from 7 months at home in Boston, I had them all over, with the g-d’s two sisters. We had a great time, with an excellent and ridiculously easy to make chocolate orange cake (recipe below), and ended with tequila shots and a spectacular hangover for me. The boyfriend is lovely (i.e he did the washing-up and put it away), but a bit gullible - I spent an entertaining time trying to convice him that, contrary to what the middle sister had told him, I did not pay for this flay by dealing crack.
I had the g-d and boyfriend over again for dinner yesterday, and dug out my glass rabbit jelly mould to make a seasonal dessert of raspberry cream jelly rabbit on a bed of orange jelly grass. The last time I tried this, I turned out what the g-d described as an Easter road-kill that looked as if it had been hit with a hammer. This year, it turned out beautifully, and at Greta’s insistence, I added a tiny set of antlers to scare the g-d. The end result was pretty sinister but delicious.
The rabbit lurks in my bedroom in a sinister way. Actually it was just keeping cool there, as it didn;'t fit in the fridge
The g-d is delighted by the rabbit (or possibly horribly
traumatised)
Chocolate, Orange and Almond Cake
2 large oranges (or 3 medium)
200g caster sugar
250 g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
6 whole eggs
Put the whole oranges in a pan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat and simmer for up to two hours. Check the water to ensure they don't boil dry. After two hours, remove from the heat and leave to cool.
- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
- Butter a spring-form cake tin (20 cm/8 inches diameter)
- Remove the oranges from the water. Cut in quarters, remove the pips and pulp in a liquidiser or food processor, skin and all.
- Beat the eggs, and add to the orange pulp.
- Mix together the dry ingredients and add to the orange and eggs.
- Put the mixture into the greased and lined cake tin and bake for 45 minutes.
- The cake is done when a knife or skewer stuck into it comes out clean. Be careful not to burn the top of the cake - you may need to put a sheet of greaseproof paper over it halfway through baking to stop this happening.
- Let the cake cool in the tin before taking it out and icing.
Chocolate Ganache Icing
250g dark chocolate (best you can find)
150 crème fraiche (not the half-fat kind)
1. Chop the chocolate up into pieces about the size of a pea (this is easiest in a food processor).
2. Put the cream into a small saucepan and heat until it just starts to bubble.
3. Take the cream off the heat and add the chocolate, then stir until the chocolate has all melted into the cream.
4. Leave the mixture to stand until nearly cold (it will thicken as it cools).
5. Cover the cake with it.
6. You can add a little orange oil, rum or brandy to the icing when you add mix in the chocolate if you like.