Crazy idea #17 - Cupcakes

Some time in the last couple of years, cupcakes became fashionable in Spain. There were news reports of cupcake bakeries, services, parties, opening all over. I blame Sex and the City.

V insists that I will be forever idenitified as ¨that American¨ once we move, so I might as well capitalize on it. Now cupcakes are not something I´ve had much to do with since I was about 12, but they don´t strike me as mysterious. So, with the excuse of a guests coming to dinner Saturday, I made some Boston Cream cupcakes. *Note that Boston Cream Pie isn´t, in fact, a pie at all - it´s a cake.

I looked around online for a bit, and was struck by the number of recipes that started with ¨1 box of cake mix¨ or ¨1 package instant pudding¨. Then, naturally, I went to Martha. But the only review noted they were heavy and sort of dry. So I looked for a recipe for vanilla cupcakes from the wonderful Chockylit. There is some serious cupcake science going on here. Now realize that I lack a stand mixer, multiple cupcake trays, cooling racks, even the right sized cupcake paper cups so I knew the results were going to vary. Added to that, ovens are tiny over here, so there is only 1 rack. And I´m on a diet, so I don´t want 3 dozen cupcakes lying around calling to me (even though Ohio Farm Girl would have them for breakfast).

In the end, I used Martha´s recipe, halved. I also tried out the tiny tart pan for the batter remaining after the dozen (turns out I should have just filled the standard cups more - they were too short, but that´s why experience helps). But the mini pan wouldn´t fit in the oven with the large pan, so that meant 2 batches. In the end they were too small to be worth trying to ¨fill¨. Another lesson learned.

The pastry cream was surprisingly straightforward and tastes terrific. My error here was not cooking it to a stiffer thickness - I thought it would firm up as it cooled. Not so - it´s too runny. But I cut the cupcakes in half, added the cream, and chilled in the refrigerator during dinner, then opened them up again and added some more cream while I was making the chocolate ganache. That allowed the cream to penetrate the dense cake and soften it up. Win-win!

Chocolate ganache is one of the best things known to man - and it´s unbelievably easy. I like bitter chocolate, so I heat cream just to simmering and add the broken pieces of baking chocolate, stirring to incorporate as it melts. Voila! Yummy, gourmet tasting ganache! The cakes were quite sweet, so I hope the slight bitterness of the chocolate compensates a little.

All in all a pretty good first effort. Is it a business idea? No telling.

Versatile Blogger!

I am delighted to have been nominated for "The Versatile Blogger" award by the lovely Jennifer at Jenora Soaps

Thank you!!!

Here is the information regarding the award.

The concept behind the Versatile Blogger Award is to follow a few rules and then pass it on to whatever blog you think deserves it. The rules are:
1 – Make a post and link it back to the person who gave you the award (and include their website address)
2 – Share 7 random things about yourself
3 – Award 7 recently discovered bloggers with this award and contact them to let them know they have won

OK 7 random things about me:

1. I am from Wisconsin, the land of cows in the US and I´m moving to Galicia, the land of cows in Spain (no offense to Asturias or Cantabria)

2. I studied belly dancing on and off for years and years. No, I was never very good - partly because I couldn´t bear to look at myself in the mirror for very long. But the sparkles and the music were fabulous.

3. I have an MFA in theatre design.

4. Both my parents were English.

5. I have loved pickled onions, pickled walnuts, and blue cheese since I was a child.

6. I can´t watch scarey movies, even stupid ones.

7. I once moved from western Montana to Chicago driving a 24 foot Uhaul truck and towing my car all by myself.

And now to spread the joy, I nominate:

Cold Antler Farm - for Jenna´s passion, grit and terrific writing
My French Country Home - if you didn´t want to live in an idyllic, picturesque corner of France before, you will.
Porcelains and Peacocks - very interesting art/design blog
Ohio Farmgirl - a very funny view of former executive turned farm girl, with great recipes and the pigz.
Latherati - books and soap - genius.
Tales from Toriello - Ian and Luis share their lives in Asturias.
The Unbroken Thread - Kathy´s extremely helpful blog detailing her beautiful embroidery. A great resource.

Cool Stuff - apple peelers

Call me a geek - but I love these gizmos. I think they combine form and function in an admirably elegant way. Maybe there´s a steam-punkista in me somewhere lurking to get out.

Potter Fever

Going to see the last (sniff) installment of HP today with my friend W. Can´t wait. I´m really more of a book fan than a movie fan but at this point I´ll take whatever´s left of the magic.

BTW - this is NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM all grown up!!!

Yes, this Neville Longbottom

Ok so it wasn´t Hogwarts - it was Hollywood magic - more at this link

And for MORE Potter-related fluff - check out who was almost cast in the movie franchise.

And HP COCKTAILS I & II. Woot!

In other frivolous news - I have powered through the first three installments of the Game of Thrones series and have the 4th on my Amazon waiting list. The fifth book is out this month, but I rarely pay hardcover prices so that will have to wait. While not what I would describe as great literature, they are terrific page-turners and would be really good for the beach. HBO´s GoT second season is set for spring of 2012.

Castile Soap

Simply olive oil, lye and water - no fragrance, no coloring, no special effects.

An orchard

The Plan Básico has been submitted to the city for building permission. The architect is working on the Plan de Ejecucíon for plumbing/electrical and the like. So in the meantime, I dream about the garden.

One of the things I´d like to have is an orchard. As already mentioned, there are figs, apples and walnuts already present, although whether or not they´ll survive rehabilitative pruning is unknown. V eats practically no fruit, but he´s got a lemon, an orange and an olive tree, along with 2 apples and a pear in pots that he dotes on. I´d like to have cooking and cider apples, pears, nectarines, lemons and limes (margaritas!) and sour cherries for fruit and pecans and almonds. I´d also like to have raspberries, blueberries, hazelnuts, etc. but being shrubby, I think they´ll be used as dividers or incorporated into hedges.

Now the thing about trees is that they take a long time to produce anything, so it´s important to a) figure out where to put them so that they don´t have to be moved later and can get started growing and b) what kind and where to buy them.

I´ve seen dwarf trees incorporated into cottage/potager gardens within the raised beds, but I wonder if it´s really beneficial to have them in the middle of a cultivated area. Also, from what I read dwarf stock is efficient in terms of space, but semi-dwarf and full sized trees are more long-lived.

photo ruthhallam on flickr

Where space is an issue (and it is) Espalier is often the answer. I´ve always thought it a little like arbor-abuse, but you can get some pretty stunning results. Not sure my skills are up to all that planning, pruning and tieing - but we´ve got nothing but time. There is a 3 foot wall to the east, I wonder if that´s tall enough to use, or maybe trained to form it´s own fencing.

I see 2 potential spots for a small orchard - between the barn and the eastern wall, or off to the west along the creek. Either site would receive full sun and be handy to the house. I wonder how many trees I can get along the eastern edge, and I worry about birds and critters along the western side.

Maybe I´ll just use both.

We have purchased a couple of trees from a place we pass near Lugo on the way home. It seems like pretty standard commercial stuff to me, the surviving pear´s leaves are always droopy, the apple has produced fruit and one standard rose never broke dormancy. I can´t say anything at the big box stores has impressed me either.

But on Infojardin (in Spanish) there was a handy thread about nurseries.

If anyone has any places they´d like to recommend for bareroot trees or fruiting shrubs etc., that will ship to Spain - let me know!

Some links you may find helpful if you´re interested in growing fruit:

Restoring Mayberry - Fences of Fruit Trees
Garden web Fruit Forum
Walden Effect blog 5 part Espalier series

Robbed!

The Codex Calixtinus, basically the ¨rough guide¨ of the 12th century for pilgrims heading to Santiago de Compostela, has been stolen from the Cathedral vaults!

The current theory is that it was a professional commissioned robbery for a private client and the Codex is probably already outside the country.

According to El Pais, the priceless text was uninsured, the costs of doing so being considered too high, though the Cathedral itself has a general insurance policy. It remains unclear if the loss of the text will be covered.

...The Dean of the Cathedral and its Archives, José Maria Diaz, confirmed yesterday what police sources indicated: the lock on the safe was not forced. Sources add that the keys were in the lock when they noticed the theft. Diaz would not comment on any aspect of events on recommendation of the police. He only specified that there are "cameras from all angles of the cloister, so that everyone is photographed 'within the archive´.

Apparently, the volume was last seen on Thursday or Friday, in its place on a cushion and covered, within the safe. The complaint on the missing text was filed Wednesday. Police have already questioned all who have ready access to the area.

It´s like a Dan Brown novel without the Illuminati (as far as we know). I hope whoever had it stolen keeps it in one piece. Do you suppose there´s some wildly rich person out there leafing through it in their private vault? Cue Mr. Burns - ¨Excellent. . .¨

Ortigueira Celtic Festival

The annual Celtic music fest gets started July 7th.

Lineup includes Ireland´s Brian Finnegan, who´s also offering a master class,



The Elders



Galician band Berrogüetto,



and last year´s popular band from Vigo The Crass.

Corpus Christi

We got a long weekend to go up to Galicia because of the Corpus holiday. The village of Ares has a well known tradition of creating flower petal ¨carpets¨ in the streets, over which a procession walks to celebrate the holiday.

And low and behold, when we were at the Sunday market, there were 2 carpets just outside the church in Melide.

We have been trying to swing by the market on Sunday mornings since December, before heading back to Madrid. I´m interested in what´s on offer with an eye to future participation selling something. A lot is cheap plastic shoes, clothes, and trinkets, which doesn´t interest us much, but we did buy some woolly socks once.

Pickings were pretty slim in the winter, except for homemade cheese, bread, potatoes and pork products, but at Easter there were lots of stands selling plant starts - strawberries, onions and greens. This time, I was determined to find free range eggs and some veggies to bring back.

We got cheese, bread, an empanada, eggs, beet greens lettuce and cabbage and a big box of plonk table wine (bierzo) for summer spritzers/sangría. I didn´t see anyone selling herbs, flowers or soap - so perhaps there´s a niche there. Time will tell.