kerewin's whine cellar

Poppy Seed Lemon Cake

Everything the lady at Smitten Kitchen cooks looks delicious. Usually I can't eat it because there's either flour or milk. Last night there was a cake up there that I just couldn't resist. All it had was 1/2 cup of flour. I don't like to use gluten-free swap outs as a rule but that seemed like a low enough amount I could use half buckwheat flour and half gluten-free flour and not have it taste too different.

One problem. I don't have a bundt pan/tube cake. This is so typical of how I cook, I see something shiny and new and must cook it NOW and that requires running around town looking for what is missing.

There's so few ingredients!

So, I got up Sunday morning with two things on my mind. Find leg of lamb for the Mrs. Beeton's project and buy a tube pan so I can eat gluten-free poppy seed cake. I wasn't looking for a bundt pan because, well, I don't know, bundt cakes seem ghetto. Plus, the recipe calls for generously buttering the pan and all those nooks and crannies in a bundt pan, I am sure I would miss a couple making the cake stick.

The batter whips so creamy from the yolk/sugar mixture, this was one of the easiest, most fun cakes to make.

So I went to Mrs. Cooks in University Village and they had PLENTY of tube pans and bundt pans. However, every single one of them was non-stick. While I suspect it isn't good to cook with stuff that flakes off into your food, I am not militant about it. However, my husband is. I suppose that means I am as well. I spoke to one of the salespeople where I learned that they keep a small stock of non-non-stick tube pans but they were out due to the holiday season. The only baking pans they had were regular 8" round cake pans. She them turned to a chart and showed me that if you use one bundt pan, it equals two 8" rounds. I knew this was a pretty thin cake and figured just one pan would work but I bought two, just in case.

Just ready for you to finish your computer surfing before you devour me.

The cooking time was a little bit longer due to the difference in cake pans. I went an hour, which I would say was about 3-5 minutes too long as the cake is a little dry. But who cares? The poppy seeds have such a great crunch, texture and flavor to them. The cake smells of lemon essence. It has a lightness that I wouldn't have thought. Next time I have a party this is my go-to dessert. AND I get to eat it!

Whenever I see "All Purpose GF Baking Flour" it looks like "Girlfriend Baking Powder." I mean, what would one use that for? Weird.

Promises, Promises

This was dinner tonight, chicken salad stuffed tomatoes. Too bad we only had three tomatoes or I would have stuffed a lot more. Yum. We were also missing tarragon and red grapes. I subbed apples for the fruit and capers for the tarragon. Nothing can make up for no tarragon.

I decided tonight that tomorrow I will make 2 recipes. Both will require me finding specialized ingredients/cooking utensils. First, Mrs Beeton's Braised Leg of Mutton and second, Smitten Kitchen's Poppy Seed Cake. Now, all I need to find is a leg of mutton and an 8-inch tube pan. And bacon, stock, poppy seeds, lemons, and cornstarch. Easy Peasy.

Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management

SJ started a blog revolving around the Victorian era and a series of pamphlets about household management between 1859 and 1861 and then later published together as a book. She asked for contributors and it seemed like something exciting and new, so you can now find me here, as well:

The Queen's Scullery

There are lots of different takes on the era. I am excited!

All The Hungry Ladies

Richness of Embarrasment

Today was very messed up.

I woke up early and got some work done before doing stairs with a friend. I got home and showered and was trying to get out of the house. I had some things to get from the warehouse and then many customers to visit. So I was surprised when a supplier called me, hair dripping, no makeup, just dressed. "Hey, I am at ________, are you on your way?"

Last week I was with this supplier at a major account and ran into the buyer. We made an appointment for this morning, which I forgot to write down. So, hair wet, I tossed everything in my bag and got out the door. When I started the car I realized I was out of gas. I stopped to put in $5 and raced to the account. Just 25 minutes late. Wet hair and only the makeup I could put on in the car.

So, I was back on the way to the warehouse, running behind. I had some issues to talk about with my boss so I called him. We covered work issues and then some funny personal back and forth, as we were getting off the phone he said, "See you in a bit."

I replied, "You mean tomorrow, right?"

"No, we have our team lunch in 15 minutes."

"No, it is tomorrow," I said.

Nope. So I turned around and headed back to Seattle. I got to lunch about 5 minutes late, only to have most of the team roll in later and later. When just two people were missing I decided to get my work computer out and put in some orders.

Oops. I left the computer at home. When lunch was finally over (hello, one person was over an hour late!) I raced home and grabbed it. I barely got my orders in on time today, including two no-miss appointments. Today, I showed my clients a bottle of wine from Greece. It reminded me of our recent vacation.

When I finally got home tonight, I decided I deserved a glass of wine and lo and behold, there was a partial bottle of wine that reminded me of my vacation. So I grabbed the bottle and walked to the house. As I was walking up the stairs to my back door the bottle slipped and broke in about eight million pieces. In the middle of winter. Describing how I took the anti-freeze thing off the hose and still didn't get the steps cleaned off would require too much work. Suffice it to say, this is not my day and by the end it just got funny.

All I hope is that tomorrow is a lot more organized than today.

Full Moon

I took the digital camera with me to work yesterday because one of my accounts bought a lot of wine and I wanted to get a picture of the display to send on to my boss. Hours later, near sunset, I was at a restaurant, upon leaving I looked towards the Seattle skyline and I could see the full moon just coming up, hanging over the horizon. The setting sun lit everything up. I thought to myself, "Damn, I wish I had a camera!"

Pause, pause. Oh! So I pulled over and took this picture. Then the battery died. At least I got one photo.

Terrine Finale

The final result of all that work:

This is it right after I coaxed it out of its mold. I LOVE how the bay leaves and thyme turned out.


My friend Moni took these pictures (she was the only one with enough sense to bring a camera to Thanksgiving). Moni has macro down pat. I am seriously in love with this picture.


Up close and personal with all that great duck, pork, and chicken. The pistachios look especially good here.


Some very serious food here - three kinds of cheese (pierre robert, an aged gouda, and some sort of ash rubbed goat cheese if I remember right), marcona almonds, orange peel-marinated olives, tarragon mustard, blueberry ketchup, pickled cherries, drunken fig jam, rice crackers, crackers, bread and cornichons. How did we have room later for actual dinner? I will say it again, Thanksgiving was AWESOME.

Duck Terrine, Part 1
Duck Terrine, Part 2
Duck Terrine, Part 3