Dec 25, 2015 Culture, Daily Life

 

Photographs©Vijaya Sundaram, December 25th, 2015 (Some presents, walk in the woods in the late December afternoon, some brownies, and that cake!)

We spent yesterday with extended family at Amherst, eating our “traditional” Christmas Eve Chinese food at Amherst Chinese Restaurant.

Today, a quiet day with just us — we had lovely pancakes which my husband made for breakfast, then exchanged presents, followed it with a couscous-veggie lunch, after which we took a walk in the woods with Holly in the late afternoon.

Then, I took it upon myself to bake — it’s been a while since I did that.
First, just a brownie from mix, but I substituted butter with veg. oil, and then glazed it with chocolate sauce.  Very nice, actually!

Then, to follow it up, I created something from scratch (I’d baked from scratch once before in the summer, on a whim without a recipe, and it was GOOD), — well, this one turned out “beautifully,” according to my daughter.  I was worried, because it was so impromptu.  I didn’t dare to hope for much. 

Still, this is what I baked:
A lemon-poppyseed cake with crushed almonds, vanilla extract, glazed lemon peel and raisins (I’d saved some lemon rinds, from which my husband decided to make glazed lemon peels the other day), plus cardamom, saffron, almond, yoghurt and brown sugar.  I also used butter AND sesame oil.  Sounds weird?  

Well, it turned out to be really, really light, tasty and rich.  All three of us had seconds.  Nice, no?

Perhaps, I should make it again.  The question is:  Will it come out the same way?  I tend to do things on a whim.  Not good, if you want to be a baker-type.  Right?  

Anyway …

I finally baked something on Christmas Day.

Must be turning into an American.

This was a nice Christmas, very low-key, quite relaxed.  Thank goodness!

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Here’s my recipe for my Poppy-Seed-Candied-Lemon, Cardamom-Saffron-Yogurt Cake:
Ingredients:
Candied lemon peel with raisins (a harried clutchful)
Cardamom – 1/2 teaspoon
Saffron — a miserly pinch
3 cups flour, a white flurry of it
2+cups sugar, brown and earthy
Dash of white sugar — we like mixed marriages here!
2 eggs, beaten into submission
3/4 poppy seeds, toasted, but not in hell-fire
1 stick butter, melted and cooled (like the Arctic)
Equivalent sesame oil, for that nice, virtuous taste
Splash of vanilla extract (a reminder of our hedonistic leanings)
3 big tablespoons of yoghurt — to lighten things up, or the mood becomes sombre
Crushed 8-12 almonds. (Die, almonds, die!)
Mix all well.

Tags: #Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Gifts and Food, Happy Christmas!, Walk with Family and Dog