News blues
Omicron spreading at lightning speed and restrictions tighten as countries battle a new wave of infections >>***
The Lincoln Project reminds us:
Donny, Jr (0:30 mins)
Donny, Sr, and the MAGA Church (1:45 mins)
The Collapse (0:55 mins)
Healthy planet, anyone?
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| Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in the Thames River. The ebbing and flowing of the tide evokes our troubling future. |
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| "Bankers" |
See his underwater sculptures and hear his goals >> (11:09 mins)
More on his work >> (8:13 mins)
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
A friend advises that my recent baking obsession is not, as I thought, ahead of the wave. It’s not even cresting the wave. Indeed, I’m doggie paddling way behind the my fellow baking obsessives. Americans who sought solace from pandemic induced isolation turned to baking last March and April.Back then, I was locked down in South Africa, visiting my mother each day in the Care Center after her fall and subsequent surgery, auctioning piles of no-longer-required workshop and household items, caring for her dogs, her gardens, her swimming pool, and shooing troops of monkeys from her fruit trees. Had anyone suggested I bake, I’d have chuckled my disbelief.
Ah well, being au courant is not my ambition. (Perhaps the late baker earns the tested recipes?)
Yesterday, before my friend carried away a growing inventory of baked goods, I added melktert (aka milk tart) to my culinary effort.
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| Melktert - smooth, custardy, easy to make.... |
Yesterday, before my friend carried away a growing inventory of baked goods, I added melktert (aka milk tart) to my culinary effort.
Surpassed only by dark fruit cake as a personal favorite South African treat, melktert is not too sweet and enticingly jiggly and smooth.
Explore how easy it is to bake by Google searching “melktert” or “milk tart.” (If pastry making scares you, pick up a ready-made pastry crusts at Safeway; brush over an egg wash and bake for just 5 minutes. The wash stabilizes the crust for the delicious custard-like filling, served room temperature.)
My next challenge?
Turns out the odd baking pan, above, forms donuts.
Explore how easy it is to bake by Google searching “melktert” or “milk tart.” (If pastry making scares you, pick up a ready-made pastry crusts at Safeway; brush over an egg wash and bake for just 5 minutes. The wash stabilizes the crust for the delicious custard-like filling, served room temperature.)
My next challenge?
Turns out the odd baking pan, above, forms donuts.
Not a donut fan, I puzzle about other baking options. The challenge is how to outwit the open “top”.
What about:
What about:
- baking an upside-down fruit pie held together by either pastry or sponge cake? Or a layer of graham cracker crust?
- forming a pastry pocket over the “top” then, when cooked, flip it over to serve? The “hole” would form a receptacle sauce or other filling.
- a savory “not-donut donut” with no-knead bread and sprinkled cheese?
***
Until the pandemic forced Otaez, a family style, Mexican family-owned and managed neighborhood restaurant out of business, service included tasty and affordable margaritas on a sunny outdoor patio.
Alas. Gone are the days of margaritas, fresh ceviche, tamales….
On the bright side, a chef locally born and bred bought the very large, standalone building. His chef cred includes cooking at high-end San Francisco Bay Area restaurants.
The menu posted near the door might be a tad ambitious for this neighborhood (no margaritas, or fresh ceviche, or tamales… ).
I hope he can make a go of this new business, particularly as we endure another pandemic wave.
This mural painted on the north wall catches the eye; perhaps it’ll stimulate taste buds, too.
I hope he can make a go of this new business, particularly as we endure another pandemic wave.
This mural painted on the north wall catches the eye; perhaps it’ll stimulate taste buds, too.
***
Winter solstice - San Francisco Bay Area:Sunrise: 7:20am
Sunset: 4:52pm
Summer solstice - Howick, South Africa:
Sunrise: 4:55am
Sunset: 6:58pm
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