The Butterfly of the Sea

 

We went to Puktien Beach on the western coast of the Gulf of Thailand, attracted by a sign that announced "The Best Seafood" was in this direction. Well, the seafood was okay but not great. Even better, we stumbled across this giant statue in the sea. She is Pisuea Samut, the Butterfly of the Sea, a giant who transformed herself into a woman when she fell in love with Phra Apai Mani, the eponymous hero of the epic poem by Sunthorn Phu.  Alas, their love was not to be.  No Juliet, Butterfly was spurned when Apai, who was no Romeo,  discovered her true nature. He ran away from her with the help of a mermaid and her parents. In anger, Butterfly killed and ate the parents. Nobody told Butterfly it was a big turnoff to do this because Apai took up with the mermaid instead of her.  If it was any consolation to Butterfly, there was no happy-ever-after for Apai and the mermaid either. He was truly a butterfly himself, flitting from woman to woman before finally settling down with the Princess of Lanka. 

Cake Monday: Perfect Pound Cake

Yes, it's another pound cake recipe! Actually, making pound cakes is good practice for making the Perfect Cake. It's my goal. It's a little obsessive, I know, but it gives me something else to obsess on. Call it bake therapy!

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The Past and the Present and the Tarte Tatin

Though this is the first time I'd ever baked the tarte, it had the familiar ingredients of a pie:  filling,  sauce, and crust.  A cross between a pie and a tart, this single crust pie is not as difficult to make as it seems. French names always connote gourmet rather than gourmand; this recipe will make your mouth water!  Making the pâte brisée in the food processor was not so new, because I'd made skillet pizza dough in it last week. It made making a pie crust less daunting, saving time and energy, besides.

We took the warm tarte and vanilla ice cream over to Robert and Anne's house for dessert.  We are all fella foodies and Anne is an exceptional cook. She made tom yum soup, chicken larb garnished with mint leaves, massaman curry (her mom made it, actually), shrimp in spicy paste, and mackerel steaks smothered with a spinach-like vegetable, sliced shiitake mushrooms, and slivers of chile pepper. Delicious. For dessert we had two; the tarte and Anne's red beans in syrup served over crushed ice.

It's a strange dessert to me because I'm used to eating red beans with rice as a meal, but to Andy, it brought back memories of coming home from school and having it as a snack. Food can have such strong associations. The tarte reminds me of Wisconsin apples--eating crisp fall apples out of hand, and baking apple pie and apple tart with the bounty.  Khru Ning gave us six Fuji apples for Chinese New Year. Two and a half of them went into this tarte.

Here is the Tarte Tatin from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook. It's certainly good tasting, fun to make, and really quite easy.

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A Heart-Healthy Valentine for the Year of the Tiger: Pear and Polenta Cake

For Chinese New Year, we invited the family over for skillet pizza--I'm starting a new CNY tradition!

For dessert, I tried, for the first time, this cake by Maggie Pannell. This cake is neither pink nor red--not the traditional colors for Valentine's or Chinese New Year either!  I also made some adaptations.  For instance, when I found out polenta is made from corn, I used cornmeal instead.  As I did not want to go out and buy too many ingredients that I can't use up, I substituted one cup all-purpose flour and 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder for 1 cup "self-raising" flour. Don't you just love the way the British use English?

The instructions were cryptic. It did not say how long to cream the eggs, sugar, and vanilla, but it did say it would be "thick and creamy." It wasn't. Since this recipe reminded me so much of Caramel Apple Cake, I have borrowed the method: first cream the oil and sugar, then add eggs and vanilla. I also used firm, fresh, ripe pears for the best flavor. This pear cake is low in sugar and fat, and it is delicious warm a la mode with a scoop of vanilla ice cream--if you want to make it a real treat and ignore the consequences. Okay, make it a small scoop.

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Cake Monday: The Unforgiveable Cake

 

Cakes are unforgiving. 

The cake was sulkily pale, included holes the diameter of my little finger,  and had a dry crumbly texture. All  because the pan was 1/2 inch wider than the recommended 9-inch pan size. Still,  it was edible and there weren't any complaints.  I noted that the recipe capacity is 8 cups (9x2 inches) so I could use an 8x8x2 inch square pan instead. Or I could double the recipe.  But that's too much trouble. It's less bother to change the pan.

I haven't given up. I still want to make the perfect cake! 

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It's a Classic! Banana Cake with Chocolate Glaze

 

I bake for class birthdays, too. The kids in my homeroom always request this one. It's the first cake recipe I ever tried in The Joy of Cooking (1973) and I made it for Taranee's first birthday. When I first made this banana cake, it had two layers with sliced bananas in between and frosted with vanilla frosting out of a box.  I was too timid to try making frosting from scratch. Now I make all my cakes and frostings from scratch, including the yogurt that went into this cake. The cover of this book is tattered, the pages have turned brittle and brown,  and the back cover has fallen off. But I would never throw away this cookbook. It's a classic!

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Thursday Night: Green Chile Porkburgers

What do you do with leftover green chile sauce? Inspired by a recipe from America's Test Kitchen I made Green Chile Porkburgers. I served the burger with oven-fried potatoes and chopped fresh tomatoes.

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Cake Monday: Sour Cream Coffee Cake...

...with yogurt instead of sour cream!


Cakes in The Cake Bible are unique in that you never cream the butter with sugar. Instead the butter is incorporated into the flour and sugar. Because my pan was 1/2 inch more than the required 9 inches,  I doubled the recipe. The finished height of the cake was 3 inches.

Monster cake!

The butter in the streusel topping had melted into the top of the cake.

Have a slice of cake, anyone?

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