Post a good thing that happened in your life today

[Ed Rooney]

 

Kidding aside, Mark, I don't recall being in that bistro. I did the Highway One drive for American Airlines. That was a lovely part of the world. I hope it still is.

[Ed Rooney]

 

These are tagged tea cakes, but I think they were hot cross buns. Yum, gotta get me some of those.

 

[Betty LaRue]

20 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

These are tagged tea cakes, but I think they were hot cross buns. Yum, gotta get me some of those.

 

I enjoy over medium fried eggs and dipping toast in the yolk, but do not want my scrambled eggs wet. My throat closes up.

yeah, I’m weird.

[Dave Richards]

37 minutes ago, Betty LaRue said:

It seems the apples you have in the UK don’t relate to what we have in the US. When I bake an apple pie, I use Granny Smith apples. They are green colored, quite large, tart and hold up well to baking. They are too tart for hand-snacking.
Sometimes I buy two kind, those above and another recommended baking apple and use a mix in my pies. The spices I use are nutmeg & cinnamon, along with 3 tablespoons flour, butter, brown sugar and white sugar and a tad of salt. The delicious aroma of it baking makes me want to tear the oven door off.

In the UK Granny Smith apples are considered a desert apple. As you say they are quite sharp and not my favourite but have never tried cooking with them. I’ll try them out using your recipe. How do you use the flour, sugar and butter? It sounds a bit like a crumble topping where they are rubbed together in a bowl to form a loose crumb then sprinkled over the apple and baked.

Edited August 29, 2022 by Dave Richards
corrected text

[Dave Richards]

53 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

These are tagged tea cakes, but I think they were hot cross buns. Yum, gotta get me some of those.

 

Scrambled eggs with tea cakes seems a novel idea Edo. Prefer mine with a slice or two of smoked salmon or trout and a couple of slices of toasted multigrain seeded bread. The second piece of toast MUST be spread with a generous helping of marmalade to be eaten last. A nice fresh brewed coffee rounds it off a treat.

Edited August 29, 2022 by Dave Richards
added text

[Ed Rooney]

Where can I begin? 

 

Betty is obviously a far better cook than me, but she's using the terms wet and dry regarding eggs? That sounds about as unappetising as the British term for coffee with milk -- a flat white. The French or Italians would never talk about food or drink that way! 

 

Smoked salmon? Fine, but I eat salmon for lunch three days a week. Toast? I don't have a toaster so I never buy bread. Marmalade? I think that's one of those things Brits are force-fed as children, and so learn to love. We had no marmalade in Brooklyn. 

 

There are many many things I can't do in my tiny substandard kitchen. I'll spare you all that list. 

 

 

[John Mitchell]

My parents were British, and I grew up eating marmalade. Have to admit that I'm still somewhat addicted to toast (whole grain of course) and marmalade. I was also fed sickly sweet treacle, which I don't miss. Canadian maple syrup is far tastier, I must say. 🍁

 

 

Edited August 29, 2022 by John Mitchell

[Bryan]

11 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

It seems the apples you have in the UK don’t relate to what we have in the US. When I bake an apple pie, I use Granny Smith apples. They are green colored, quite large, tart and hold up well to baking. They are too tart for hand-snacking.
Sometimes I buy two kind, those above and another recommended baking apple and use a mix in my pies. The spices I use are nutmeg & cinnamon, along with 3 tablespoons flour, butter, brown sugar and white sugar and a tad of salt. The delicious aroma of it baking makes me want to tear the oven door off.

Thanks Betty, we have Granny Smith's here too, and other people have also recommended them for pie purposes. UK apple pies don't normally include cinnamon, but when we cycle toured in Germany that was the norm, and very nice too ! At the allotment we have a bunch of inherited apple trees, ours are grown as step overs or cordons,, the only one we planted is a James Grieve, which is a cooker/eater, the others are anonymous types. I guess that we need to experiment a bit.

[Ed Rooney]

 

Let's not forget that, in addition to her pies being tasty, Betty had one of the giant sales at Alamy for an apple pie. I think I remember that right?

 

Gee, John -- I thought you were a Québécois.  

[Allan Bell]

14 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

Where can I begin? 

 

Betty is obviously a far better cook than me, but she's using the terms wet and dry regarding eggs? That sounds about as unappetising as the British term for coffee with milk -- a flat white. The French or Italians would never talk about food or drink that way! 

 

Smoked salmon? Fine, but I eat salmon for lunch three days a week. Toast? I don't have a toaster so I never buy bread. Marmalade? I think that's one of those things Brits are force-fed as children, and so learn to love. We had no marmalade in Brooklyn. 

 

There are many many things I can't do in my tiny substandard kitchen. I'll spare you all that list. 

 

 

 

 

I hate Marmalade.

 

Allan

 

[sb photos]

54 minutes ago, Allan Bell said:

 

 

I hate Marmalade.

 

Allan

 

 

How can you hate marmalade? I sometimes treat myself to a light scraping of no added sugar orange and ginger marmalade on toast, delicious! I did this morning.

[Betty LaRue]

4 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

Let's not forget that, in addition to her pies being tasty, Betty had one of the giant sales at Alamy for an apple pie. I think I remember that right?

 

Gee, John -- I thought you were a Québécois.  

Actually, it was coconut meringue cream, a whole pie.

[Ed Rooney]

 

Ah so -- virtual pies all taste alike. 🤪

[Betty LaRue]

19 hours ago, Dave Richards said:

In the UK Granny Smith apples are considered a desert apple. As you say they are quite sharp and not my favourite but have never tried cooking with them. I’ll try them out using your recipe. How do you use the flour, sugar and butter? It sounds a bit like a crumble topping where they are rubbed together in a bowl to form a loose crumb then sprinkled over the apple and baked.

My homemade pastry/crust:

2 cups white flour

1 rounded teaspoon salt

1/3 cup of shortening, I keep mine cold in the refrigerator 

1 tablespoon cold butter, cut into tiny bits.

Using a pastry cutter, blend all of this together

Add another 1/3 cup shortening and another 1 Tablespoon cut up cold butter and cut in with pastry blender

add somewhere in the vicinity of 6 tablespoons of iced water, a few at a time, stirring in with a fork until mixture just holds together.

Roll out just a bit over half of it on a floured surface to line the bottom of a 9 inch pie pan, roll out the remainder in reserve for top crust. Roll out crust large enough that you have hangover at edges of plate, don’t trim yet.

If pastry-making gives you nightmares, buy it frozen. I have never done this and will definitely look down on you. I’m a pastry snob. 😂

Filling:

Slice thin 6-7 cups of Granny Smith apples. Toss with 1 tablespoon lemon juice.

add: 1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 rounded Tablespoons of flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Mix it all up to coat apples and put into bottom crust in the pie plate

dice 2 tablespoons cold butter over the top apple mixture, place top crust over. Crimp edges and trim any excess. Make a slit with sharp knife and a few smaller ones beside it to vent steam. I roll out my pastry on a large piece of waxed paper which helps to place it, because I only add enough flour in the rolling out process to still have the pastry stick to the paper, allowing precise placing of it without tearing.

Bake at 375-400 degrees until top is golden brown, don’t underbake. I set something, foil or metal cookie sheet on rack beneath pie in the oven to catch any dripping juices.

If one wants, you can brush the top crust with a bit of rich milk before baking, and sprinkle a mix of sugar and cinnamon over it, then bake. Allow to cool until warm, not hot, before slicing.

I’ll leave it to you to translate my measurements into UK measurements. I have NO idea why I used red apples for this image, lol.

With sugar/cinnamon on top

 

Edited August 30, 2022 by Betty LaRue

[Bryan]

Thanks for the detailed instructions Betty, I'll pass them on to the cook. Two good looking pies there too !

[Allan Bell]

2 hours ago, Bryan said:

Thanks for the detailed instructions Betty, I'll pass them on to the cook. Two good looking pies there too !

 

 

I need a good cook. Do you know where I can get one?

 

Allan

 

[Bryan]

1 hour ago, Allan Bell said:

 

 

I need a good cook. Do you know where I can get one?

 

Allan

 

There's a little café in Whitburn where we occasionally indulge in apple pie. not sure what the transfer fee would be....

 

 

 

[John Mitchell]

11 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

Gee, John -- I thought you were a Québécois.  

 

I'm actually something of a tourist on planet Earth. 🌎

 

I used to sometimes indulge in traditional Quebec sugar pie (tart au sucre) when I lived there. It's very good but so sweet that it makes your teeth curl.

[Dave Richards]

9 hours ago, sb photos said:

 

How can you hate marmalade? I sometimes treat myself to a light scraping of no added sugar orange and ginger marmalade on toast, delicious! I did this morning.

Each to his own, but for me it has to be a large dollop of full-on high fruit, dark and thick cut. Frank Coopers Vintage Oxford is right up there, but in my humble opinion the king is Fortnum and Masons Sir Nigel Vintage thick cut. You can buy it in a whopping great 890 gramme amphora jar. A bit pricy but once you’ve tried it you’ll be hooked.

They also do a sublime mustard Piccalilli, again in a big amphora jar.

[Dave Richards]

6 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

My homemade pastry/crust:

2 cups white flour

1 rounded teaspoon salt

1/3 cup of shortening, I keep mine cold in the refrigerator 

1 tablespoon cold butter, cut into tiny bits.

Using a pastry cutter, blend all of this together

Add another 1/3 cup shortening and another 1 Tablespoon cut up cold butter and cut in with pastry blender

add somewhere in the vicinity of 6 tablespoons of iced water, a few at a time, stirring in with a fork until mixture just holds together.

Roll out just a bit over half of it on a floured surface to line the bottom of a 9 inch pie pan, roll out the remainder in reserve for top crust. Roll out crust large enough that you have hangover at edges of plate, don’t trim yet.

If pastry-making gives you nightmares, buy it frozen. I have never done this and will definitely look down on you. I’m a pastry snob. 😂

Filling:

Slice thin 6-7 cups of Granny Smith apples. Toss with 1 tablespoon lemon juice.

add: 1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 rounded Tablespoons of flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Mix it all up to coat apples and put into bottom crust in the pie plate

dice 2 tablespoons cold butter over the top apple mixture, place top crust over. Crimp edges and trim any excess. Make a slit with sharp knife and a few smaller ones beside it to vent steam. I roll out my pastry on a large piece of waxed paper which helps to place it, because I only add enough flour in the rolling out process to still have the pastry stick to the paper, allowing precise placing of it without tearing.

Bake at 375-400 degrees until top is golden brown, don’t underbake. I set something, foil or metal cookie sheet on rack beneath pie in the oven to catch any dripping juices.

If one wants, you can brush the top crust with a bit of rich milk before baking, and sprinkle a mix of sugar and cinnamon over it, then bake. Allow to cool until warm, not hot, before slicing.

I’ll leave it to you to translate my measurements into UK measurements. I have NO idea why I used red apples for this image, lol.

With sugar/cinnamon on top

 

Thanks Betty, I’m liking the look of that a lot; you are clearly a great cook.

I will try your recipe and I will make the pastry from scratch. My dear departed mum used to make superb pastry. Not sure if I’ve inherited her skills in that department but I’ll give it a go.

[Dave Richards]

10 hours ago, Allan Bell said:

 

 

I hate Marmalade.

 

Allan

 

NO!!!!!!   That cannot be.😳

Please don’t tell me you don’t like apple crumble and custard too.

[Dave Richards]

1 hour ago, Bryan said:

There's a little café in Whitburn where we occasionally indulge in apple pie. not sure what the transfer fee would be....

 

 

 

The pie looks OK but not sure about that cream. Looks like the sweetened squirty stuff that comes in aerosol cans.

Edited August 30, 2022 by Dave Richards
added text

[Betty LaRue]

2 hours ago, Dave Richards said:

Thanks Betty, I’m liking the look of that a lot; you are clearly a great cook.

I will try your recipe and I will make the pastry from scratch. My dear departed mum used to make superb pastry. Not sure if I’ve inherited her skills in that department but I’ll give it a go.

I like a man who cooks. Your mum would be very pleased.
I taught my son how to make pies, and he does a good job. Also taught my son-in-law, and of course, my daughters. The first time I served my son-in-law a piece of pie, his eyes bugged out. It was 1/4 of the whole pie. His mom served slivers. From then on, he said “I want a LaRue piece of pie!” 😂 but then, when I ate a fourth, that was all I ate. With a glass of iced tea. If I ate a regular meal, my piece of pie was 1/8th of the pie.

This is what it looks like with the brown sugar & spices.

Edited August 30, 2022 by Betty LaRue

[Bryan]

15 hours ago, Allan Bell said:

 

 

I hate Marmalade.

 

Allan

 

I suffer from the absence of marmalade. My wife makes various types of lovely jam using fruit from the allotment, but we can't grow oranges. On the odd occasion when we stay in a b&b or hotel I always go for the marmalade with the breakfast toast. 

 

I also enjoy eating oranges, a guilty pleasure as I presume that they are air freighted into the UK ?

 

Edit - Apparently DB runs a refrigerated train from Spain to the UK carrying fruit, but I suspect the bulk of citrus fruit arriving comes by plane ?

Edited August 31, 2022 by Bryan

[Allan Bell]

13 hours ago, Bryan said:

There's a little café in Whitburn where we occasionally indulge in apple pie. not sure what the transfer fee would be....

 

 

 

 

 

I used to go there when I was visiting my mother.

 

Allan