THINGS I LEARNED FROM OUR WEEK IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
1. Washington D.C. is HUMID.
2. Library book sales and used book stores that have no organisational system are incredibly stressful because you can't look for specific titles or genres and therefore you are terrified that unless you spend FOUR HOURS looking at every single book you will miss something life changing. This can annoy the people you are with when you refuse to leave.
3. The Washington Post is not as good as The New York Times.
4. A packet of dried apricots, a tiny bar of dark chocolate, a single serve container of soy milk, and a container of yoghurt costs $24 at the hotel store.
5. Speaking of soy milk . . . New York, NY, and Bar Harbour, ME, are apparently the only two locations in the world where it is common to put soy milk in your coffee. In Washington, D.C., you have to ASK for it to be brought out, which makes you super self conscious because of course the barista then hates you and thinks you are a princess, and then she WATCHES YOU pour it in and you feel even more self conscious like you're using too much, and everyone else waiting for their half decaf sugar free vanilla frappuccinos with light whip looks at you like you are a crazy person and you want to be all UM HELLO HAVE YOU SEEN WHAT YOU JUST ORDERED?
6. Apparently, a German portraitist named John Valentine Haidt painted a portrait of me (or my doppelganger at the very least) in 1755. (see image) I was unaware of this until I wandered into a small room in the Smithsonian American Art Museum. General consensus has been that it is, actually, definitely, completely, me.
7. Upon reaching a . . . how shall I put this . . . "relatively advanced age" you are considered too old and feeble to be a terror threat. I guess they figure you can't handle detonating a bomb or carrying a concealed weapon or anything because you'll get too tired, or you'll forget you're supposed to blow something up, or you'll get your C-4 explosives confused with your Ensure or something like that. I learned this because at the Manchester airport, MUM WAS FAST TRACKED BY THE TSA AND I HAD TO WAIT IN LINE WITH THE REST OF THE NON-OLDS. She attempted to lord this over me for a few minutes but I reminded her I had the parking validation and the car keys, and I would, without hesitation, leave her aged self to be eaten by wolves and Republicans in New Hampshire.
ALSO. I love the World Cup. This doesn't count as something I learned, per se, because I totally already knew it, but the World Cup is awesome. It's so exciting, it's so fun to see all these countries coming together and all the fans cheering and how crazy they get about football, and it really makes me wish that America took more of an interest. I for one would much rather watch a football match than, say, an ice hockey game. Or, SNORE, golf.
ALSO. Football players are so incredibly handsome. That's fun too.
However. We are back at Beetle HQ and summer baking continues.
IT'S TIME FOR BERRIES, YOU GUYS. BERRIES. SPECIFICALLY. BLACKBERRIES.
SPECIFICALLY. BLACKBERRIES AND CREAM.
I decided that I would use one of my favourite Beatrice recipes, that of her Cardamom Cream Cake, and replace the cardamom with a ton of blackberries. Hence, Blackberry Cream Cake.
INGREDIENTS
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- BLACKBERRIES. I don't remember how many, I think it was a pint? I just threw them all in there.
In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the eggs one at a time, then the cream. Beat it at high speed for about five minutes until the batter is very light and fluffy and whippy.
Roughly chop your blackberries, it's ok too if you leave a couple whole, and gently fold them into the batter.
Pour the batter into a loaf pan or a cake pan (I used my 10 inch springform) and bake at 350 degrees for about an hour until the top is golden and the edges are starting to pull away.
Allow to cool completely before turning out and slicing up.
BEETLE NOTES
There's no butter in this cake. The density and moistness really just does come from the heavy cream. But it manages to be dense and moist without being "pound-cake-heavy" if that makes sense. It's substantial but not "thump in your stomach" substantial. Just "summer afternoon on the porch take a nap after eating" substantial.
I decided not to add the Cardamom this time, since it was my first attempt at an adaptation, and I wasn't sure how Cardamom and Blackberries would combine. I did consider ground ginger, in fact I actually went as far as taking the ground ginger down from the shelf and unscrewing the lid, but then I thought that maybe it would detract from the berries, and that something as simple as a cream cake only needed ONE flavour (blackberry) and that adding ginger might confuse things. I'm open to experimentation later on, but for the first time out, figured I'd play it safe.
The fun thing about baking with berries is that they go all melty and squidgy when they cook so when you slice the cake you end up with these awesome dark berry stains all over the pale cake insides, and it looks so pretty and delicious.
If this does work, then the base cream cake recipe is going to be a big staple this summer. Mum approved it last night, and again this morning (breakfast cake is always a good sign) and it just remains to be seen whether the LL's deem it worthy of an afternoon treat.
And heads up, dear reader, because Mum's BIRTHDAY is on Monday, so there will be pancakes, and potatoes, and pancakes, and salmon, and pancakes, and a big cake, and, um, pancakes.
Have I mentioned she likes pancakes?
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