Fusion cuisine

[shewhomust]

We are just returned from doing a Big Shop at the Big Tesco's, which leaves me feeling light-headed. Among the strange sights seen there:

The shelves labelled 'Breads of the World', displaying mini-muffins and hot cross buns, which were not what we wanted. "Where," demands durham_rambler "is the Bread of Heaven?" That's what I bake. There was no pitta bread with interesting herbs, so we bought some garlic and coriander naan. What will happen when we eat it with hummus and olives? "We'll probably explode," says durham_rambler.

I snagged some blood oranges. Strawberries in February are just Wrong, but blood oranges are in season. They weren't called blood oranges, of course, they were Jaffa reds, and they came from Sicily. To appreciate how completely confusing I find this, you need to know a) that as far as I am concerned Jaffa oranges come from Israel (this fact ingrained in my childhood, before Israel became the Evil Empire, and when the important thing about buying fruit was that it not be South African) and b) that in culinary terms, dishes made with blood oranges are Maltese.

It seems impossible to buy rice cakes which are not flavoured with anything other than rice. I settled for 'slightly salted', as opposed to chili, salt-and-vinegar and chocolate chip. But can't they just leave things alone?

Spinning off from that last, I forgot to add salt to the most recent batch of yeast dough. Not adding it too early is one of my culinary superstitions (i.e. it is alleged to inhibit the working of the yeast; I haven't tested this, and don't intend to. Hence, superstition), and on this occasion I forgot altogether. The marmalade buns are fine without.

Comments

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

::sigh::

I miss Tesco's. I'm guessing that you went to the one up Claypath? (is there any other Big Tesco's?)

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

That's the one. There are others, but not in Durham (there's a massive one on the edge of Newcastle...)

Sometimes Big Shopping is just something you have to do, but actually missing Tesco's is taking nostalgia too far!

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

Ha. You'd miss it if it wasn't there. There's so much of the UK I miss. If it weren't so dang far away from so many loved ones, I would have been glad to stay there. That was my impression back when I lived in UK in my early 30's too.

::shhhh:: I'm working on a sooper seekrit plan to visit Durham in August. A lot depends on how much money I can save up and whether I can justify using it when we're also saving up for a down payment on a house.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Would that be part of the LonCon3 trip? Would be nice if you could fit in a visit...

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

There wasn't a LonCon3 trip, at least not for me. My partner sunspiral and his wife roozle are planning to attend the con, but I'm not of the impression that they are planning to include Durham in their general itinerary. sunspiral would love to show her Durham but I don't think that they feel that they'll have the time.

There was a time when there was talk of my crossing paths with them and then travelling onward with sunspiral after LonCon but that was nixed a while ago when there was a suggestion of sunspiral and roozle meeting their son folzgold's girlfriends parents in Germany. It just got so complicated that I voluntarily bowed out.

If I do end up coming to Durham in August, it will likely be on my own. I would of course keep you posted.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Not surprised I'd misremembered that: as you say, complicated!

I shall hope all works out - but I know you have other things to think about...

[gillpolack.livejournal.com]

Blood oranges! They make my mother very happy.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

They make me happy, too! But I don't mind sharing happiness with your mother.