Recipes
I'm giving up on, sadly or otherwise:
. Leek & Goat's Cheese Picnic Loaf, which sounds delightful for a shady afternoon
among the hedgerows quoting P.G. Wodehouse, with its Dijon, thyme sprigs, and
double cream. I copied this out by hand
one afternoon not long ago in London, but find it by far too labor intensive
for me, now, already, after all.
. My
mother's Dilled Salmon Patties, which go way back to childhood ("and can
go back right away, as far as I'm concerned"—as the old quip says). They always sound like a good idea, as do salmon burgers, but somehow I need my
salmon whole and brooking no nonsense instead of flaked or ground or otherwise
deconstructed.
. Amish
Friendship Bread, the very idea of which even now, almost thirty years later, makes
my blood run cold. My life was given up
to Amish Friendship Bread for what felt like eons, ruled and confined by the
obligation to deal with its continual and relentless demands, making travel
impossible or even the odd stolen weekend out of town.
Day
One: Stir and cover.
Day Two:
Stir and cover.
Day Three:
Stir and cover.
Day Four:
Stir and add 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour, and 1 cup cold
milk.
Stir until smooth and cover.
Transfer to 2 quart container.
Day Five:
Stir and cover.
Day
Six: Stir and cover.
Day Seven:
Stir and cover.
Day Eight:
Stir and cover.
Day Nine:
Stir and add 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour, and 1 cup
cold milk. Stir until smooth. Place 1 cup batter in three
separate containers (total 3
cups). Cover and give to two
friends, keeping one for yourself to
start the whole process
over again! (**&*!xx%?!*)
To the batter remaining in the bowl
(from which the three
cups have been taken) add 2/3 cup oil,
1 cup sugar,
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1 1/4 tsp. baking
powder, 1/4 tsp. salt,
1/2 tsp. baking soda, 3 eggs, 2 cups
flour. Stir in 2 cups of
any of the following, or combination
thereof: blueberries,
strawberries, raisins, dates, nuts,
mashed bananas,
applesauce, pineapple, dried fruit,
granola, etc. Use your
imagination!
Pour into two buttered and sugared loaf
pans. Bake at
350 degrees for 50-55 minutes or until
tests done with
a toothpick.
("Starter purchased at an Amish
fair in New York and
brought to California by plane in the
summer of 1989.")
. The
jaunty (gentille) Herbed Bluefish
Flamed with Gin. In another lifetime,
maybe I would make this for a dinner party after work, one snowy February. In that parallel lifetime where I'm living in
Boston as I almost have three times, walking a French bulldog along the Charles
River, working as assistant curator at the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum in
the Fens, or at the Map Room in the Public Library.
image: Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Luncheon of the
Boating Party (The Phillips Collection)
