Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Making a Battenburg Cake

Ingredients for Battenburg cake; cookbook at bottom left, with a picture of the cake, sliced.
Battenburg cake is a very British dessert, a favorite at tea time.  It has a distinctive appearance – it’s an oblong loaf-type cake, covered in white marzipan; when sliced, each piece is a pink and yellow checkerboard!  According to Wikipedia (dare we trust that source?), the cake was created about 1884 when Queen Victoria’s granddaughter married the Prince of Battenberg.  The four checkerboard squares of the cake are supposed to represent the four princes of Battenberg.


Note in the paragraph above, the variant spelling of Battenburg.  Sometimes the cake name is spelled with an “e;” sometimes, with a “u.”  The place in Germany is with an “e.”

I first saw Battenburg cake on one of my favorite British TV food shows – The Hairy Bikers: Mums Know Best.  It features two hairy biker guys who ride around the English (and Welsh) countryside looking for fabulous food created by local housewives.  The bikers are Simon King and Dave Myers.  Neither one is a professional chef – they’re both just cute, avid foodies with lots of personality.  Their shows are informative and hilarious!
Anyway, the first time I ever heard of Battenburg cake was on one of the Hairy Bikers shows.  The guys actually made one.  It appealed to me because it involves not just mixing things together, but assembling various bits of the dish.  I love putting edible things together.  One of my favorite appetizers is asparagus and ham roll-ups, where you have to cut slices of bread, flatten them with a rolling pin and roll up asparagus/ham bundles in them.  This Battenburg cake was a bit more complicated – it intrigued me.  So, I decided to give it a go!
The recipe I used is in The Sainsbury Book of Teatime Favourites by Brian Binns (shown in first photo).  Sainsbury's is a major supermarket chain in the U.K., so I figured the recipe should work.  It does seem to skimp a bit on the amount of flour and sugar -- but it is a teacake, not a big monster 3-layered baby!
After you mix up the batter, you divide it in half and add a little red food coloring to one half (to make it pink).  Then you divide a loaf pan using aluminum foil, so you'll have 2 separate skinny loaves.


Then you bake it for about 30 minutes.


Let the loaves cool completely, then take them out of the foil.  Arrange them in checkerboard fashion -- using apricot jam to make them stick together.  Then, and here's the tricky part, roll out some marzipan (almond paste) and wrap the cake up in it.  Then use a fork to make lines in the marzipan.  Here's what I ended up with:


Admittedly, it's a bit misshapen!  My loaf pans were too long.  I could have tried to cut off the tops of the cake to make them lay better on top of each other.  I had a sliver, and the cake's pretty good; just sorry it looks so "rustic."  I left it on the table with a note.  Hopefully it'll get eaten by tonight!



Sunday, May 29, 2011

Summertown Charity shops

Oxfam Store Window
Oxford folks are really good at recycling.  We have garbage pick-up every Friday; one week it’s the real trash; the next, it’s the recycling bin (glass, cardboard, junk mail, aluminium, etc).  In addition, every week they pick up the vegetable waste (we have a special bin for veggie bits, out-dated fresh fruits and vegetables, etc.)  It’s all very organized.  Admittedly, we have very large garbage cans…
So one of the main ways people get rid of their old cloths, furniture, household items, etc. is to donate them to charity shops.  In Summertown alone there are 5 shops.  I frequent them at least once a week.  You never know what you’ll find!
Let’s have a little tour of the Summertown charity shops then.  We’ll start with the Oxfam Store.
Most of you have probably heard of Oxfam.  According to their website, it’s a global movement of people working with others to overcome poverty and suffering. They have stores everywhere in the UK.  There are a bunch in Oxford.  Most are general charity shops, with a wide range of merchandise.  However, they do have special bookstores; there are at least 2 of those in Oxford alone.
The Oxfam Store in Summertown has a little of everything.  When you walk in, you might think you’re in a boutique.  Everything is neatly arranged.  The clothes are arranged by color and even have the sizes on the hangers!  One of the people in the store explained to me that they only sell used clothing that’s in excellent condition.  They wouldn’t want any of my junky clothes!
There are a few areas in this store that I always visit.  I love to check out the dishes and knickknacks that line the sides of the front area.  The jewelry cases toward the back are always good too.  I usually go upstairs sometimes to look at linens, books and pictures.

Across the street from Oxfam there are three more charity shops: Scope, the Helen & Douglas House and the Blue Cross Animal Charity.  I only went in Scope recently.  This store supports a British charity that caters to disabled people.  I always thought this was a dress shop till I saw a sign out front about donations!  It does have mainly clothes.

In the same block, you’ll find  the Helen & Douglas House, which supports hospice care.  Now this too looks like a boutique.  The windows are always well dressed, and, like Oxfam, they arrange their clothes by color and size.  The knickknacks are by the front door.  In the back is the book nook.  They have a bit of jewelry too. 
 In the next block is the Blue Cross Animal Charity Shop. Blue Cross is dedicated to improving the lives of sick and unwanted animals of all kinds.  Now how can you NOT support them!  The shop is a little shabby compared to the first three I’ve mentioned, but I always enjoy rummaging through its contents!  They have color-coordinated clothes in the front.  In the back they have the household items and the books.  One thing they have for cheap are knitting needles and crochet hooks (which I purchased for less than a pound).  I also like to look at their book section and their linens.
Well, there’s one more shop on my list – and it is my favorite:  The Oxfordshire Animal Sanctuary on South Parade (just off Summertown’s Banbury Road).  Like Blue Cross, this charity is focused on animal welfare.  Their shop on South Parade is very quaint -- it beckons the junque collector to come in and explore!. 

When they’re open, this shop always have neat things outside.  Inside the door are the clothes, then in the back on the left are the kitchen things.  My favorite section is the linen section in the back right – table cloths, napkins, aprons, etc. 
One of the favorite things I bought here were two old Laurel and Hardy dolls for Karl, who collects L&H memorabilia.  I also bought a really neat tea cozy.  Oh yeah, the other intriquing thing about this shop, is that it’s mentioned in a Morse mystery.  An important pair of red running shoes show up in a bag on the doorstep of the Oxfordshire Animal Sanctuary shop in The Remorseful Day, Morse's last novel!
Window of the Oxfordshire Animal Sanctuary Shop
So here are some of the things I’ve purchased at Summertown charity shops.  I tried to buy things that would pack easily.  Had to bypass furniture, pillows and glassware…

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Inspector Morse

I’ve always loved watching Inspector Morse TV episodes back home on BBC America.  He is one of my favorite detectives, and, of course, the fact that he’s in Oxford endears him even more. It’s neat to see all sorts of Oxford locations while I’m watching the show.  See http://www.itv.com/Drama/copsandcrime/morseweekend/Abouttheshow/default.html

Recently I decided it would be good to read some of Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse novels, the basis for the TV series. I’m ashamed to say, I’d never read one.  So, after I finished the somewhat cheesy Southern cozy (a chic murder mystery set in the South – in this case, a fictitious Georgia town called St. Elizabeth’s…) I’d brought with me to Oxford, I went on a search for a secondhand copy of a Morse novel.
The first one I came across was The Wench Is Dead.  I found it at one of my favorite Summertown charity shops for a mere pound.  The story involves a really cold case – one that happened back in the late 1800s.  In this story, Inspector Morse is laid up in the hospital (he winds up there because he doesn’t take care of himself – drinks too much, eats the wrong food, smokes…).  One of the guys on Morse’s ward is an old Colonel who dies; his widow leaves Morse a little booklet the Colonel wrote about the nineteenth century murder of a young woman on the Oxford Canal.  Morse becomes intrigued; he believes the wrong parties were convicted for the crime.  So he gets people to help him dig up evidence from the distant past.  One of the diggers is a young woman whose father is also a patient on the ward.  She happens to work at the Bodleian – how convenient!  Anyway, after Morse gets out of the hospital, he and his sidekick Lewis visit the old crime scenes, and Morse eventually ends up solving the crime!  I forgot to mention, along the way he also flirts with the Bodleian librarian and one of the nurses, and apparently has an affair with one of the sisters (a head nurse).
This was a great story – really captured my attention – so, I decided I should read another.  At Glouster Green market, I picked up a used copy of Dexter’s The Remorseful Day.  It turns out that my choice of books was in perfect sequence.  In this novel, Morse learns that a year-old murder case is being reopened.  It was the murder of the very nurse he flirted with during his stay in the hospital!  Turns out they did a bit more than flirt.  Anyhoo, even though Morse is sometimes a suspect, he ends up solving the crime.  Oh yeah, he also dies.  Sadly, this is the last book in the Inspector Morse series.  All that hard living finally catches up with him.
I would highly recommend these two books – in this sequence – if you want to get into Inspector Morse.  I learned a lot about him.  In the books, he doesn’t actually live or work in Oxford proper.  He’s based in Kidlington, which is just up the Banbury Road – not far from where I live.  Morse also spends a lot of time in the Summertown area – visiting some of the places that I go to on a regular basis.
Before leaving Inspector Morse, there’s one more thing. I actually had the privilege of meeting Morse’s author, Colin Dexter, back in 1989, the first time I came to Oxford.  He came to a cocktail party that was being hosted for my librarians’ group (we were studying Oxford libraries – mainly the Bodleian).  He was a charming man – he told funny stories and kept all of us amused.  This picture of him is not the most flattering; trust me, he was only being attentive and polite!
Now I’ve got a third Morse novel to read.  This one’s The Last Bus to Woodstock, which is the FIRST book of the Morse series.  I’ll start it right after I finish another Southern cozy.  This one’s about a woman in a small South Carolina town who loves (to the extreme!) cats and makes cat quilts (quilts that cats actually lie on) for a living.  Someone in the sleepy S.C. town is stealing cats.  The heroine, our quasi-detective, finds the cat thief lying on his living floor with a knife through his heart.  Why was this guy stealing all these cats???  I haven’t gotten to that part yet.  Oh, and who dunnit??? 
 

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Christ Church






Toward the end of Sandra's stay in Oxford, we ventured over to Christ Church, which is both a college and a cathedral.  It's famous nowadays as being the site for some of the Harry Potter scenes.  Its Great Hall was replicated for the Harry Potter movies.




Of course, even before Harry Potter, Christ Church was well known.  It is one of the most beautiful colleges in Oxford.  Its history goes back to pre-1500; it was taken over by Henry VIII in 1548 and made the head of his Church of England operations in Oxford.  It was still a college.  Because of this duel nature, the dean of Christ Church is always a clergyman.

During the English Civil War, Charles I lived at Christ Church.  He held Parliament in the Great Hall and worshipped at the Cathedral.  BTW, Charles tried to borrow a book from the Bodleian Library, which did not (and does not) circulate its materials.  He was refused!

The current Dean of House and Dean of the Cathedral of Christ Church is the Very Reverend Christopher Lewis.  I met him back in March when I attended a matins service with Kitty Fouche, a former CSU faculty member who was visiting for the weekend.  Kitty and I went to coffee after the service, and one of the people we spoke to was Rev. Lewis.  He was dressed in priest garb (long, fitted black cassock), but he never introduced himself.  When I asked what his discipline was, he said "theology."  I should have guessed!

Sandra and I entered Christ Church through the passage in Big Tom.  Big Tom is the name of the bell tower that Christopher Wren designed for Christ Church in 1682.  Most visitors must enter the college via a side gate, but I got us in on my Bodleian card -- just flashed it at the porter, and he said, "Please come right in."



Like all Oxford colleges, Christ Church is in the shape of a rectangle surrounding a large grassy quad.  There is the Great Hall for dining and the Cathedral for worship, along with the library.  The remaining rooms are for students and tutors.




Christ Church has had a lot of famous students:  John Locke, John Wesley, William Penn, W.H. Auden, Lewis Carroll and William Gladstone, to name some of the most famous.


16th Century staircase leading to the Great Hall


 



Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Trip to Cornwall

A view from the walk to our hotel, St. Ives

Wow, it's been a while since I posted anything to the Oxford Omnibus.  Sorry for the gap -- guess I've been having too much fun!  I'll try to catch up...

Last week, my friend Sandra and I ventured down to Cornwall for a 3-night stay at St. Ives.  St. Ives is on the northern side of the Cornish peninsula; Penzance, a larger town, is on the southside.  We had wanted to stay in Penzance, but had problems finding a room, so we settled for St. Ives.  It turned out to be a great choice.  St. Ives is a quaint resort beach town, with lots of shops, galleries and restaurants.  The part of Penzance we saw looked more like a London neighborhood, with its standard shops:  Curry’s Electronics, Tesco, Peacock’s, etc.,  and an Oxfam store, of course.  I’m sure if we’d ventured further from the harbor we’d have seen more scenic views, but there wasn't time.
We stayed at the Porthminster Hotel, a.k.a., the St. Ives Harbour Hotel, an old hotel that sits perched high above one of St. Ives's many beaches.  We had a great room with a view of a beautiful beach.

View from our hotel room
The Porthminster Hotel
On our second day in St. Ives, we took an all-day sightseeing bus tour around the peninsula, from St. Ives, to Land's End, then Penzance, then back to St. Ives.  We didn't get out at Land's End (we would have been stuck there for 3 hours), but here's a shot I took at Sennen Cove, a beautiful beach just before Land's End.
 
The third day of our stay, we decided to go back to one of the sites we'd seen on the bus tour:  St. Michael's Mount, which is situated on a small island just off the shore by the town of Marizion (near Penzance).  This is a very interesting historic site, now owned by the National Trust.  It's a castle and a church, with architecture dating back to the 12th century.  You get there by boat -- unless the tide's out, in which case you can walk.  The tide goes out around 4:15pm, so it didn't work out for us to walk.


St. Michael's Mount

The walk up to the castle is not for sissies.  The steps start out as cobblestone paths, then then morph into laid stone walkways, and at the end they're just rocks.  We really got our exercise!




Once at the top, we got to tour the castle.  The St. Aubyn family still lives there; this family has owned the castle for centuries.  Of course we didn't go in their living quarters -- but there was still plenty to see.

View from high atop the castle, looking down at the gardens. Those are people down there!

Dining Room inside castle; those are "folding" chairs.  They're called Glastonbury chairs.  These are reproductions.

We spent the whole day on St. Michael's then headed back to St. Ives for a meal at the Sloop, one of the pubs on the beach.  My fish and chips were great!

Our last morning, we walked through the streets of St. Ives and visited the museum, which is filled to the brim with local history.  St. Ives was once a thriving fishing village.  Not much of that left now.  Now it's a tourist mecca.  Even though the weather was not so warm, the place was crowded; can't image what it's like in the summer!


One of the quaint, narrow streets of St. Ives.  Note: This was taken around 7pm; most of the tourists were at the pubs by then!

Footnote:  Thanks to Sandra for most of the photos; I left my camera at home that day!