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Speaker: Dancing with Dingoes, Part II

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  • Joe Wylie, in reply to recordari,

    So?

    Respect, your blood's worth bottling.
    Got any with those weird flavour buds? Only Lushus had them.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Jacqui Dunn,

    Loved the Truman Capote story.

    Deepest, darkest Avondale… • Since Jul 2010 • 585 posts Report Reply

  • recordari, in reply to Joe Wylie,

    Got any with those weird flavour buds? Only Lushus had them.

    Don't think so, although have a White Crest Lime Pie Filling, which looks scarily green.

    Oh, and thanks. ;-)

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    Got any with those weird flavour buds?

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • sally jones, in reply to Jacqui Dunn,

    Loved the Truman Capote story.

    This. Nice finish: "As if I expected to see, rather like hearts, a lost pair of kites hurrying toward heaven." Almost too poignant.

    Auckland • Since Sep 2010 • 179 posts Report Reply

  • dyan campbell,

    dyan, that is such an invitation! And I think he'd like his friend (cousin Sookie?) just as much. (And, Haha Jones..)

    I always thought they'd all have a thoroughly good time and get along like a house on fire...

    I especially loved Capote's conceit of sending off brillant cakes to unmet (though not random) folk.
    Maybe we could do this?

    Heh, I love that too. Capote was a genius - and the cakes his characters make sound awfully good. My favourite point in the story is when Haha Jones takes a good look at who's buying his whiskey, and bursts out laughing. "Which one of you is a drinkin' man?"

    Dyan - my Nan used to make the most awesome walnut cake. She had a walnut tree in her garden and had to find some way to use them all up - preferably with as much lovely golden syrup (rather than all treacle) as possible.

    I'll bet it's the same recipe! In my old book it says you can make this cake with golden syrup which in my childhood was sold in 3 shades, light, golden and dark, (dark being like light treacle). It's incredibly delicious, much more delicious than you think anything that simple might be.

    The Mt Eden bakery, years ago, used to sell these things called beestings

    Ohmigod we used to buy a lot of stuff from that place. I'd reacted with Canadian scorn to most bakery goods here, then someone took me to that place and I had to conceded their cinnamon scrolls, eccles cakes and beestings were very good indeed. The bakery is gone, sadly, but not forgotten.

    "Flavour buds" - I googled the phrase because I was pretty sure it was an advertising phrase, and sure enough it was from an instant coffee ad campaign that ran through the 50s and 60s. But I remember the term "flavour buds" being used to describe Jello mix too. Also in "Tang" the orange flavoured astronaut's drink.

    Jello - formerly "calves' foot jelly" does have some pretty impressive theraputic properties - as it is high in albumin it was (and still is) a good thing to offer anyone who is convalescing. I can see why getting the calves' feet and making your own gelatine went out of style though.

    I am fascinated by - and used to research and refine exhaustively for one of my jobs - food for convalescents. To know which foods are high in albumin, or the difference between beef tea and beef consomme (one is made of boiled water poured over raw meat, then flavoured with pepper, fennel or aniseed to make it palatable) and the other is a cooked beef stock - with very different properties in terms of how they react in a seriously ill person's digestive system.

    Barley water, peach snow (or pear, apple, berry snow) all have particular properties for particular conditions. In days gone by, if a fussy, unwell child would or could not eat would be tempted with things like a whole egg and milk custard, flavoured with vanilla and strawberries, or peach snow, if very ill - and these treats would often be enough to get them eating again.

    The whole concept of food and our relationship to it has changed since those days, and the lost art of tempting appetites for the purpose of getting people to eat what their bodies need is in need of resurrection for modern eaters.

    auckland • Since Dec 2006 • 595 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie, in reply to dyan campbell,

    But I remember the term “flavour buds” being used to describe Jello mix too.

    The “flavour bud” (I think that’s the spelling) in NZ was a proprietary feature of Lushus Jellies, though it doesn’t feature in recordari’s interesting versions. It was a single little hemisphere in each packet of otherwise plain jelly crystals, that presumably dissolved along with them.

    There was a radio jingle that was probably still on the go in the early 60s:

    The bud seals in the flavour and the flavour’s mighty good
    Your jelly’s filled with flavour so let this be understood
    That only Lushus has that flavour bud

    New Zealanders never took brand names quite as seriously as Australians, for whom they’re deeply embedded in the national psyche:

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • ChrisW, in reply to dyan campbell,

    Dyan - your recipe for colonial brown walnut cake - something like this? I have the colonial brown walnut tree, and am seriously tempted, it sounds great.

    I've just picked the accessible green walnuts for pickling, but there's plenty brown ones in the sack still.

    Gisborne • Since Apr 2009 • 851 posts Report Reply

  • recordari,

    Imagine my excitement when I found this. (Scroll down to "Best Smiles of the Week" by Hal). From 1937.

    "The couple next door seem very devoted. He kisses her every time they meet? Why don't you do that?" "Well I don't know her well enough yet".

    Lushus Jelly Dessert becomes an immediate friend of the family with it's double-rich fruit flavour.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark, in reply to dyan campbell,

    Au contraire, ma cherie - the Mt Eden bakery is there, it's just run by a Frenchman now. They sure don't do beestings anymore, though. But their almond croissants, and chicken/cranberry/brie pies make up for that. In spades.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Jacqui Dunn, in reply to ChrisW,

    green walnuts for pickling

    Yum!

    Deepest, darkest Avondale… • Since Jul 2010 • 585 posts Report Reply

  • dyan campbell,

    Dyan – your recipe for colonial brown walnut cake – something like this? I have the colonial brown walnut tree, and am seriously tempted, it sounds great.

    ChrisW almost that exact recipe – minus any condensed milk at all but with much more butter and sugar – is in my book. I have 4 types of Brown Walnut Cake in this book – which has multiple versions of every cake there is – their section on “sponges” goes on for pages and pages. The book assumes you know the method (or rather explain general methods for different categories of foods it at the beginning of the book itself) so recipes are lists of ratios and measures of ingredients. You can fit way more recipes in that way – this is a very information dense book with a lot of different things in it.

    But I make their Brown Walnut Cake version 4 – it goes like this – I have modernised “teacup” and “dessertspoon” measures.

    1/3 Cup butter
    1/2 Cup brown sugar
    3 eggs
    3/4 Cup treacle
    1/2 Cup milk (or buttermilk for a more moist cake)

    1 & 1/2 Cups standard flour (as opposed to “high grade”)
    1/4 teaspoon salt (slightly < about 1/6th really)
    1 teaspoon baking soda (baking powder hadn’t been invented yet)
    1 Tablespoon ground ginger
    3/4 teaspoon mixed spice

    1/4 lb (about 1 & 3/4 Cups) fresh walnuts
    1/3 Cup finely chopped, crystalised ginger

    Method: Mix butter & sugar together until fluffy, add treacle, milk and stir together. Add dry, mixed ingredients, keeping walnuts and ginger until just at the end.

    Bake in lined, 8 or 9 inch cake tin at 180C or 350F for 40 to 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. This cake tastes better made a day before, as flavours develop.

    auckland • Since Dec 2006 • 595 posts Report Reply

  • ChrisW,

    Thanks - temptation will definitely be succumbed to! Will report back, within a week or so I reckon.

    Gisborne • Since Apr 2009 • 851 posts Report Reply

  • dyan campbell,

    Thanks - temptation will definitely be succumbed to! Will report back, within a week or so I reckon.

    Yr welcome. You may already know all this, but in case you are not a very experienced cake-maker when I wrote this:

    "Method: Mix butter & sugar together until fluffy, add treacle, milk and stir together.Add dry, mixed ingredients, keeping walnuts and ginger until just at the end."

    I should really spell out this - when mixing the wet ingredients, don't over beat the eggs into the mixture - just blended in - and when mixing your dry ingredients, you can just blend them in a bowl (still dry) with a whisk, to avoid clumping, and add it quite gently to the wet mixture, adding the nuts and ginger before you are finished blending. The object is to blend wet & dry with as little stirring as possible, as this is the main cause of tough cakes.

    With muffins, it's even more necessary to barely blend wet & dry - very gently turning it over and stirring is one of the real tricks.

    Also - when measuring your treacle, retain the syrupy measuring cup and when you measure your milk or buttermilk, you can stir it with a spatula and get the rest of the treacle (as a great deal sticks to your cup).

    Buttermilk is worth getting for this - it works wherever milk works in a cake, and makes a much nicer (moist, soft) texture for most cakes. Ditto scones and (especially) pancakes and waffles.

    auckland • Since Dec 2006 • 595 posts Report Reply

  • ChrisW,

    I make a mean carrot cake, recognise the principles, but happy to be schooled.

    Gisborne • Since Apr 2009 • 851 posts Report Reply

  • sally jones, in reply to dyan campbell,

    Does anyone (dyan) know anything controversial about nuts? Anything that might challenge the standard view of nuts as a health food. There was something on RNZ recently, I believe. I didn't catch it.
    They feature in so many delish cakes. Where would dessert be without the 'umble nut?
    I sure hope they're still a health food.

    Auckland • Since Sep 2010 • 179 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    sally jones, most of the nuts we use are perfectly healthy - provided the valuable oils they contain havent turned rancid (then, they're another story.) Always keep *all* nuts in the 'fridge!

    Cashew nuts & the people who pick them are a whole other story...

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    O, that is *picked & shelled* nuts.
    But also, unshelled nuts dont last very long - either shell 'em and chill 'em, or eat them quickly.

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • sally jones, in reply to Islander,

    Thank you Islander. So was the RNZ piece on cashew nuts? That would explain why they're going cheap at the supermarket.
    But all else is well on the nut front - provided you keep them in the fridge or eat them as soon as shell them?
    It is fortunate for me that I eat most of my nuts in chocolate or cake where their freshness is preserved. But I do like a toasted almond or two.
    I'm afraid neither my pantry or my fridge will easily adjust to refrigerated nuts. The fridge is conservation-friendly small (there are five of us), and the pantry is purpose-built; nuts in section 12b3. Not quite, but not so simple to change either. Another challenge for the new year.

    I am looking out onto a wet Auckland morning (usually makes me write, the rain) and not looking forward - as I do look - to a funeral we're going to this afternoon. It hasn't rained in Auckland or anywhere north for a while, and it chooses today, the day of the funeral, to rain. Perhaps it's somehow fitting, the rain and tears intermingling to make a wet grief indeed. She died of a brain tumour, she was just fifty. She leaves behind three young adults, very much devoted. She was our neighbour.

    Auckland • Since Sep 2010 • 179 posts Report Reply

  • sally jones, in reply to Joe Wylie,

    Joe. Thank you for the nostalgia, and for the head-jingle that wouldn't leave ;) I hadn't realised I'd forgotten it, the jingle that taunted my childhood - why didn't I have a swing like that?
    "I like aeroplane jelly, aeroplane jelly for me...!"

    Not a good day for a head-jingle.

    Auckland • Since Sep 2010 • 179 posts Report Reply

  • dyan campbell,

    Does anyone (dyan) know anything controversial about nuts? Anything that might challenge the standard view of nuts as a health food. There was something on RNZ recently, I believe. I didn't catch it.

    Islander put her finger on it for you - the oils in nuts can go rancid fairly quickly, but if they are in their shells, they keep fresh for ages.

    This World's Healthiest Foods website has a searchable database, and is incredibly useful for info on storage of foods, nutrition info, and pretty fine recipes too.

    We eat an incredible amount of nuts - walnuts, pecans, brazil nuts, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, peanuts (a legume actually) and seeds - sesame, pumpkin, sunflower seeds, pinenuts... sometimes I take stock of how much we're consuming and briefly worry it's excessive, then I make a frangipaine pie or a walnut cake. Or Waldorf salad. Or blue cheese, pear and walnut salad. Or kung pao chicken. Or satay. Or kipferols. Or hazelnut plum torte. Or pecan pie.

    Cooking them (baking) destroys some of the best nutritional properties of the oils, though. The protein and fibre remain, and it's the protein content I think of when I use them in baking.

    Finely chopped macadamias on asparagus with butter is very nice this time of year...

    auckland • Since Dec 2006 • 595 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to sally jones,

    V. sorry to hear about your neighbour sally...
    chatter about food may seem unnecessarily intrusive, but-

    cashew seeds (yes, they actually are) have a seed case that contains an irritant resin: if you dont give your pickers and seed-shellers protection (aka known as gloves) this can be a problem. A certain percentage of the human population are also allergic to cashews - and, family anecdote only - 2 of the whanau wound up with burst appendixes after eating a lot of 'em.

    Why this should result in cheap cashews currently in our supermarkets, I have no idea...I do enjoy using raw cashews in some of my Asianish dishes, and love, with a passion, other crunchies (brazil/hazel/macadamias/walnuts/pecans/and a slew of good seeds (pepinos & sunflower top the list but there are a host of others.))

    May I second dyan's hat-tip to World's Healthiest Foods? A site well-worth bookmarking.

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • dyan campbell,

    Perhaps it's somehow fitting, the rain and tears intermingling to make a wet grief indeed. She died of a brain tumour, she was just fifty. She leaves behind three young adults, very much devoted. She was our neighbour.

    I almost missed this - but just wanted to say how much I liked this simple paragraph - it's a nice tribute, and sorry to hear about your neighbour.

    auckland • Since Dec 2006 • 595 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    I was so sorry to learn of your neighbour's death, Sally. She obviously meant a great deal to you. Big hugs and kisses to you.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • ChrisW, in reply to dyan campbell,

    Report-back on the brown walnut cake - 'twas great, verified by independent witnesses, so thanks for the inspiration and information.

    First time I've used treacle rather than gol'slurp in anything. I toned down the ground ginger a bit, and used straight cinnamon rather than mixed spice as in the 1924 "Highlander" recipe, could easily have used more. The 1 1/2 cups flour (less flour than chopped walnuts?) meant a very sloppy mix, added another 3/4 cup at the end and it still took 55 mins to cook but came out just so.

    Will make another with soft lemon-and-ginger icing for Christmas.

    Gisborne • Since Apr 2009 • 851 posts Report Reply

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