Almond Syrup (Almíbar de Almendras)

Swift As A Shadow, Short As Any Dream

Since this was posted early, to coincide with Litha, there will be no posts next week.

A Litha Poem.

Night of the unconquered sun. Virulent tonight, vigorous next solstice. Love with unbound protection. Waves matted with gold. Heavy, humid sighs. Still air, so thick you can taste it. A rose by any name, the sacred heart. Lucid lavender, for a midsummer night’s dream, and waking in a sweat. Innocent, white heather, my personal aphrodisiac. Smudge a path for two. We’ll find our way by leaving a trail of chamomile flowers and raising firefly lanterns.

What Fools These Mortals Be!

Almond Syrup (Almíbar de Almendras)

This is a syrup for pound cake (bizcocho mojadito), but you can use it in cocktails or as a pastry glaze.

Brandy (I used Paul Masson Grande Amber Brandy) 5 tbsp

Amaretto (the name for all almond liquors; I used DeKuyper Amaretto) 5 tbsp (When I run out, I use a vanilla liquor called Licor 43/Cuarenta y Tres.)

Vanilla extract 4 tbsp

Almond extract 3 tbsp

1. Heat all ingredients on medium-low. If you are using the syrup for bizcocho mojadito and are not planning to add sugar to the cake itself, you can add 3/4 cup of brown sugar to this syrup.
2. The syrup isn’t thick, but you can add cornstarch to thicken it. Thin syrup seems to make it easier for bizcocho mojadito to absorb.

Native American Sweet Meat Or Tofu Balls

We All Have Spices

Like We All Have Traditions

I’ve joined a foodie club called Food ‘N Flix, where members watch a designated movie each month, make a dish inspired by the movie, and submit it to whichever blog was chosen to host that movie. This month’s movie is Mistress of Spices (2005), hosted at Culinary Adventures with Camilla. The movie is about a woman (some kind of Hindu goddess or witch), named Tilo, that vows to (a) never leave her apothecary, (b) never touch the skin of a human, and (c) never use consume or apply her merchandise. The spirits that attach themselves to the spices in her apothecary give her visions of the past, present, and future so that she knows exactly what her customers need. She also puts her will into the spices she touches, so they get used in her intended way. Tilo’s crush, Doug, is a Native American (Irony?) whose mother pretended to be white, denying him his heritage his whole life. My husband grew up with his Native American culture repressed, like Doug, but pressed on with it and learned what he needed to learn in order to become a witch like Tilo.

You Will Never Leave The Spices

My Food ‘N Flix recipe is a Native American dish, using La Cocina de Leslie’s Food of the Month Club ingredient: ground beef. You can also use textured soy protein (chunky tofu), like I did (I’m no vegetarian, but I love the idea of reducing fat.). This was my first time cooking tofu, ever. I’m thrilled with the results!

I made these for a party Saturday and the host (who absolutely loved them) told me I shouldn’t tell anyone that they’re tofu to see how people react when they eat them. In fact, she declared out loud that everyone should try my meatballs (Or, as she said it while basking in her prank, “MEATballs!”). Everybody thought they were meat and really enjoyed them, even though they were cold by the time I got to the party (I didn’t anticipate the fact that nobody wanted to heat up their tofu balls in the microwave.).

Spices Remind Me

Of My Duty To Others

To someone from Northeastern U.S. (in my case, New Jersey), these taste like meat that you would eat with your breakfast. Specifically, they taste like smoked sausage marinated in maple syrup. The pine nuts and blueberries add to the breakfast taste, because we Northerners like a lot of fruit and buts to start off our mornings (ex. fruit salads, parfaits, oatmeal, pancakes, crepes, French toast, waffles, muffins, scones, bagels, Pennsylvania Dutch-Deutsch bread, etc.).

Native American Sweet Meat or Tofu Balls

You want to use frozen blueberries so that they don’t cook as fast. I just bought fresh blueberries and tossed them in the freezer overnight beforehand.

Yield: about 27 balls

Ground beef-10 oz.-mixed with 1 1/2 tsp liquid smoke; or vegetarian ground beef (textured soy protein) with a smoked (I used Boca Burgers, which have a smoked taste, but you could try grilling other brands of vegetarian burgers) 10 oz. (6 oz. is 1/2 lb.)

Butter about 1 1/2 tsp for greasing (or canola oil for greasing)

Maple syrup about 1 1/2 cups, but you may want to have more than that

Pine nuts about 81 (I’m guessing that’s about 2 tbsp)

Frozen blueberries about 27 (a little more than 1/2 cup)

Ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp

Ground ginger 1/4 tsp

1. If you’re using tofu burgers, let them defrost then cut them to pieces until the consistency is that of ground beef.
2. Put on rubber gloves and mix the cinnamon and ginger into the beef or tofu. If using beef, have all the ingredients already laid out for you before touching the beef. When thoroughly mixed in, flatten the beef, but don’t press down more than you need to. The more you mess with the texture of the beef or tofu, the harder the consistency gets (you want it to be as soft as possible).
3. Rip off a piece of beef or tofu that’s just large enough to wrap up a blueberry. You can start by putting the blueberry towards an edge and breaking off a piece around it. After a few balls, you will know exactly how much you need. Place 1 blueberry and 3 pine nuts inside and fold up the sides, forming a ball. You should be able to make about 27 balls that are 1 inch high and 1 inch wide.
4. Preheat oven to 350°F.
5. Grease a baking sheet with butter. Make sure it has sides (as opposed to a flat cookie sheet) so that the balls don’t roll off.
6. Roll balls in maple syrup to make sure they don’t come apart, and also as flavoring.
7. (A) For both beef, bake for about 20 minutes. They will be cooked when the insides are no longer pink. OR (B) For tofu, bake for about 13 minutes. They will be cooked when the insides are warm.
8. When cooked, pour maple syrup on top, and serve hot.

 

The ground beef version is on the left (atop wild rice) and the tofu version is on the right.

Six Milk Cream (Crema de Seis Leches)

I Was Born To Be With You.

Just as spiders are beckoned by curds and whey, so my love responds to gestures from my wavy locks. Every morning he calls me to the sunrise and asks, “Wilt thou be mine? That first glow snagged on all of your tresses would keep my madness in line.” Every tea time he comes home to me and pouts that his cohorts are swine. Every tea time he assures me, “Thou shall’t not wash dishes. I readily take them in no time. The dazzling sun on all of your tresses would keep my madness in line.” Every evening he draws me a tuffet made from the wood of the pine. Every evening he instructs me, “Give me your answer sewn in fine seam. Astride feathery messes lay torn up cotton dresses, and the last glow tangled in your tresses would keep my madness in line.” Every night, when the hour is right, I slip into a longing gaze. Every night my love delights in feeding me strawberries, sugar, and cream.

We’re Bound Together By Destiny.

The two quotes in bold are from Suzette/Mikaila in the Cain Saga manga. After she is resurrected from her early tomb, her childhood sweetheart calls her Little Miss Muffet because has acquired the ability to control tarantulas and consequently poison anyone of her choosing. Ultimately, she determines that a life without her love is no life at all. No amount of blackmail could retrieve what was lost. To me, life really is that simple: love; or be lost, and lost still, beyond the grave.

Six Milk Cream (Crema de Seis Leches)

This is the cream I ‘whip’ together for milky sponge cake (bizcocho tres leches). Technically, the ‘milk’ Puerto Ricans use for tres leches are condensed milk, evaporated milk, and cream of coconut. However, I know that those are not the only things Puerto Ricans would consider substitutes for milk. My recipe includes the other three ‘milky’ products, and when I post my recipe for the cake, you’ll see that I use milk itself in the batter.

If you don’t like tres leches, you can add a large pineapple (about 4 1/2 cups cubed) and 5 ice cubes to make pineapple slushes (piña coladas).

Use Hispanic, rather than Asian, coconut milk, because Asian coconut milk is thicker. You could also do as I do and buy all-natural coconut milk, such as the brands Silk and So Delicious.

Evaporated milk 2 tbsp

Half and half 2 tbsp

Heavy cream 2 tbsp

Coconut milk 2 tbsp

Cream of Coconut 4 tbsp

Condensed milk 4 tbsp

1. Blend them in a blender. They have very different consistencies, so blending them evens out the texture better than stirring them together.
2. Taste and add sugar if desired. Keep refrigerated.

Rum Syrup (Almíbar de Ron)

Lie? The Truth Is Far Too Much Fun!

They say all adults are pirates. While that was a bad thing to Peter Pan, to be free to make mistakes gives me the greatest joy. The waves in my hair are like flames of a black candle enveloping me in shadow, and the cadaverous darkness in my eyes see beyond what is. If you put a lantern to your window, someone or something will always be drawn to it. If you learn to use a sword, someone will always challenge you. If you tell the truth, you will truly live with every breath. But the most important lesson is that only adults fall in love. Even someone as dapper as I could hold up a lantern by the right hand and duel the gnashing jaws of hungry swamp gators in the other, but for nothing short of love.

Do You Want To Be Saved?

Saturday was the annual Sir Francis Drake pirate raid here in Saint Augustine, Florida. In 1586 Drake and about 2,000 British soldiers on 23 ships sacked the city. They attacked the fort, stormed the streets, and burned the Spanish city to the ground. Good thing the British didn’t have the cash to occupy the city because we all know what happened to Sir Walter Raleigh’s 1585 Roanoke colony-no wait, that’s just it, we don’t!

My mom rooting for the Spanish soldiers at Drake’s Raid.

Rum Syrup (Almíbar de Ron)

I took Mad Hatter to see Dark Shadows and Snow White & the Huntsman, and Dark Shadows was in theater 13. How cool is that?? Anyway, this is a syrup for bizcocho de ron (rum cake), but get creative with it. Maybe mix it into a cocktail or use it as a pastry glaze. My bizcocho de ron recipe is coming up next month.

Rum (especially a fruit-flavored rum) 1/2 cup (I used Malibu Mango.)

Orange juice 1/4 cup

Lime juice 1 1/2 tbsp

1. Heat all ingredients on medium-low. If you are using the syrup for bizcocho de ron and are not planning to add sugar to the cake itself, you can add 1/4 cup of brown sugar to this syrup.
2. The syrup isn’t thick, but you can add cornstarch to thicken it. That the syrup is thin, seems to make it easier for bizcocho de ron to absorb.