Photo diary: week 44, project 365

 I am still slowly recovering from the cold.

Most of the photos taken this week was of food and books, so if the sight of someone's lunch and dinner bores you to death, my apologies. 

It was Hallowe'en last Sunday. The only token gesture for the celebration on my part was the pumpkin carving. We never do trick or treating, but I've been carving pumpkins for years, each time coming up with a new design. I even did a post on Insta, of evolution of pumpkins in our family, from Meg and Mog to The Gruffalo, Dracula to Merlin's dragon, Baby Yoda to Loki. 

As we are big fans of the MCU and especially Loki, my pumpkin is the homage to the god of mischief. It's not the Tom Hiddelston's Loki, but more of a comics character. 

Unfortunately, the only pumpkin I could find on the day was an oval-shaped variety with a very thick green skin. I managed to break two of my carving tools, and never managed to finish the design as planned.

A few weeks ago I started a Ravensburger 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle Send Off for the Queen, which I bought in the charity shop. I had to abandon the project, as I couldn't find time to finish it. Then with the midterm break I had absolutely no opportunity to sit in peace.

On the first day of school I decided to have a quiet me-time, with a puzzle, cup of coffee and Netflix in the background.

And I finished my puzzle. Do you like it?

On Tuesday I was taking part in the blog tour for The Twelve Even Stranger Days of Christmas by Syd Moore. 

It's a collection of short stories, written in a mix of genres, from mystery to horror, with elements of paranormal and crime alternating. What unites them is not necessarily the concept of Christmastime (as not all stories are set at, or are about this special season), but the word "strange". A quick and easy read. I already passed the book onto my friend who shares my love of ghost stories.

Earlier this month I received a Cold Degustabox (all products are found in the refrigerator section of the supermarkets). 

I've seen a selection of fresh pasta kits from La Famiglia Rana in Waitrose, and meant to buy one of them to try, so I was pleased to see a pack of Rana Tagliatelle Carbonara among the Cold Degustabox selection. 

It is very easy to use, and takes hardly any time at all. 

I don't have a microwave, so cooked the pasta on the hob. I had a bite from Eddie's plate, and it was tasty, but the sauce was too runny.

Still going through the contents of the Cold Degustabox. One of the products in the box was What the Cluck vegan "chicken" from The Vegetarian Butcher. I haven't tried this brand of plant-based meat substitute before, and was rather curious to have a go.

I didn't like the look of the raw product, it looked just like ham chunks which have gone off. But don't scorn it before trying. Once cooked in the frying pan with sweet pepper, plum and carrot with honey, soy and miso sauce it was actually quite good. 

It doesn't take like chicken at all. I suppose if you haven't had chicken for years and forgot what it tastes like, it might resemble chicken, as the texture is wrong. It tastes more like ham.

For plant-based protein I prefer tofu, which I cook at least once a week, in Teriyaki sauce. But it's always good to have a choice, and I'd be curious to try more products from this brand.

Every time my husband attends the high table in his college, I ask him, What did you have for dinner? The answer is usually, I don't remember. Some vegetables. So, I asked him to take a photo of the menu. If you're curious to know just what is served at the high table at one of the Oxford colleges, here is the peek of the menu.

I love mushrooms, and would have been happy with the menu. Alas, I was not invited. :)

It is usually my very enthusiastic Mum who made the bonfires in our garden on the Bonfire Night. I didn't do it last year, and this year I couldn't find any enthusiasm either. 

I wish my Mum could be here. I know how much she would have enjoyed building the fire. She's like a child, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. 

This is a picture of my Mum and Eddie form two years ago, the last time she visited.

On Saturday we usually accompany Sasha and my husband to Cafe Nero or Costa, help them find the table, and buy the drinks and food. 

While Eddie has chosen a mac-n-cheese, I opted for a quick latte with a mince pie. This was my first mince pie of the season.

What else did we do last week? I started watching Shetland on BBC i-player. I completely missed the fact that it was on, until a friend mentioned it. I do love Douglas Henshaw, all windswept among the bleak landscape, in his duffel coat, and sleepy eyes with heavy lids.

I finished reading a couple of books, both for reviewing. I have so far agreed to only one blog tour post in December and plan to read some of the books I bought recently.

How did your week go?

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Bonfire Night: the full Moon, friends and marshmallows

My Mum started her journey back home very early this morning. As I write it now, she must have arrived to Moscow, if there was no delay. I am always very sad when she goes home. We see each other once a year, and this year her trip almost didn't happen. She was very poorly, and had to cancel her trip arrangements.
She usually stays earlier in the year, mostly in summer, and this was the first time when she spent October and early days of November with us.
I thought it might be a fun idea to do something for the Bonfire Night, while Mum was with us.

You have to be English-born to fully understand the reasoning behind the 5th of November festivities. What this celebration glorifies is in fact the gruesome persecution of Catholics in this country (hasten to add, I'm not a Catholic, so let's say, an impartial side). I don't find any cause for joy in killing Guy Fawkes, and it seems bizarre that this fact is being lauded for centuries.
Living in the UK for more than 21 years, I rarely acknowledge this day. In the past we have attended a couple of big bonfires and fireworks displays, but this year we decided to make a smaller scale bonfire in our garden and invite friends over.

I wanted to make my Mum happy. She loves bonfires, and I have been telling her off for lighting the fires in the garden since she arrived. Eddie was ecstatic when Baba (grandma) roasted frankfurters for him over the bonfire in the garden a couple of weeks ago. He wanted to invite his best friend Peter over and roast marshmallows.
We bought a pack of Mega marshmallows for the occasion.

It was a beautiful night, with the full Moon and a starry night, clearly visible in the darkness.

On Saturday I cooked a big pan of carrot, sweet potato and ginger soup.
Take 1kg of carrots, peel them, chop into smaller chunks and cook on low, simmering for an hour+. Add a chopped sweet potato, 1tbsp vegetable stock, 2 tbsp red lentils, grate ginger (as much as you like, I had quite a big piece), season with sea salt, and when the veg is all cooked, blitz it all.
Serve hot in smaller cups or mugs.

I have also baked a gluten free parkin and made a big batch of white chocolate Oreo fudge, on request from my men.

We had lots of sausages, with a simple potato salad, Russian-style (with soured cream and gherkins) and a big bowl of pickled onion among other things.
Prepare the pickled onion a day in advance: slice 2 onions in thin rings, using a mandolin slicer, then add 2tbsp of demerara sugar, 2-3tbsp cider vinegar, 1tbsp honey, 1-2 tsp paprika, mix well, and put a smaller heavier dish on top of onion + add some weight on top (like a soup tin) to slightly squash the onion mix. Place in the fridge overnight. It is great in sandwiches or with cold meats.
It might not look very pretty but it tastes really nice.

Eddie and his friend were very excited about roasting marshmallows. My Mum was in charge of the fire.

We looked up at the bright stars and the full Moon, and even howled at the Moon jokingly, like urban werewolves.

After stuffing ourselves with marshmallows, we had a go with sparklers (cheap ones, from Poundland). Two of our younger guests are disabled, and couldn't go in the garden, so we had lights off in the sitting room, with a mini-display of sparklers outside the windows.

It was a lovely evening, and having Mum with us made it extra special for me.

Gluten free Parkin for Bonfire Night

Parkin is a firm British favourite for Bonfire Night. For many Northerners the Bonfire Night is almost unthinkable without a big slice of this dense spicy cake.
As we have invited friends over for Bonfire Night meal, with hot drinks and all the roasting marshmallows' caboodle, I fancied baking a spicy parkin. One of our guests is on a gluten free diet, so off I went googling for the right recipe.
One that caught my eye is a recipe found on All Recipes - see Gluten Free Parkin. I followed the recipe and method closely enough, but adapted it to what we have in the kitchen. I bought a fresh pack of gluten free flour. I have also used only one type of gluten free flour as opposed to three used in the recipe above, I didn't want to buy 3 different products, which I don't really need.

Gluten free parkin
Ingredients:
110g margarine (I used Stork)
100g golden syrup
70g black treacle
225g gluten free flour
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1tsp baking powder (gluten free)
110ml milk
2tsp Waitrose signature spice (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cardamom, allspice, star anise, black pepper, tangerine oil, cloves)
1tsp ground ginger
2 medium eggs

Melt margarine with golden syrup and black treacle in a saucepan. Set aside, and add milk, stir together and allow to cool.
Preheat the oven to 180C, and line a square cake tin (brownie tin) with parchment paper.
In a deep mixing bowl sift in the flour, xanthan gum and baking powder. Mix in the spices, and beat in the eggs. Add the milk/margarine/syrup mix, and combine together well to the consistency of thick yogurt. The addition of xanthan gum adds the viscosity to the batter.
Pour the batter in the cake tin and smooth the edges to even it out.
Bake for 50+ minutes. Check readiness with a wooden toothpick.
Cut into squares, once it's cold.

I forgot to add sugar, but the cake was sweet enough, thanks to golden syrup and treacle.
If you are not on a gluten free diet, obviously use the standard flour, which I think will improve the flavour. I am not the biggest fan of gluten free flour, it just doesn't taste the same, but we are lucky that we don't need to use it often.
Maybe the combination of three different flours would be better, as in the original recipe. I used the Doves Farm gluten free flour which is a combination of rice, potato, tapioca, maize and buckwheat.

Let's say it was not my best bake. You might ask why I blog about it, if it's not perfect. It is more of a diary and a cooking reference, so that I would know what I have baked, how, and what to do to try to improve it in the future. It needs something to make it less dry, perhaps swap margarine for oil?

If you have suggestions, please let me know, how you make your gluten free bakes moist.