A Cake for Midsummer

I am so confused by the concept of midsummer, I've written about this before. How can it be midsummer right after it officially begins to be summer? (Usually on or around June 21.) Apparently midsummer is just the name for celebration of the summer solstice, or the longest day of the year. BE THAT AS IT MAY, I am a very literal person and it confuses me as to why midsummer is not really in the middle of summer.

To take our mind away from these puzzling and weighty matters, let's look at a cake from Mr. Nigel Slater, with whom I am obsessed. I'm going to buy, yes, BUY his two Kitchen Diaries cookbooks. Either that, or do some tricky ninja technique of keeping them on semi-permanent renewal from the library. I tore through the first one and loved every last thing in it and I've heard that the second one is fab as well.

His cake for midsummer though, comes from his book 'Ripe', which is a stunner and I just loooooooove that book. Looooooooooooooove that book! It's all about recipes involving fruit. His book 'Tender' highlights veggie recipes, but it's not a vegetarian cookbook. You should read it, and be prepared to want stews and roasts and tagines.

Nigel can lay a scene for you and then make you WANT TO EAT IT ALL.

And he wrote a recipe for a midsummer cake. Which I think is the most charming idea I've ever heard of. There should be more cakes for this kind of thing, random obscure holidays and whatnot.

Like, a Weekend cake. Or a It's Tuesday cake. Or a Harvest Moon cake. Or a Eat Cake at 10pm cake. Or a Snuggle cake. OMG a snuggle cake. I am a genius, just like Nigel! I am totally going to make a snuggle cake, when I figure out just what such a cake might entail.

But for today, a cake for midsummer.

It has delightful things in it. Almond flour, apricots, and raspberries. I will show you. It isn't the most beautiful cake in the world. But that's ok, I prefer more rustic, homey-looking cakes anyway. I can eat a cake with frosting maybe once a year these days; I just can't take that kind of sugar hit anymore.

We all ate this cake warm right out oven. Andrew went to go get Julia from school that day because I had to babysit the cake in the oven. As soon as she walked in the door, I had a slice of cake ready and I shoved it at her and made her sit down within two seconds of dropping her backpack. Then I hovered and hopped around, there might have been some hand clapping as well, and I kept saying, 'isn't it great? what do you think? it's awesome right?'

I am the first one to compliment my own cooking, I never wait for others to do it. If I make something that's good, you'll hear about it....FROM ME. I believe in self-congratulation. Congratulate first, and then wait for secondary affirmation. If that's not forthcoming for some reason, that's the time to let people know that they're crazy, or wrong, or misinformed.

Don't ever accept anything other than congratulations when you cook, even if it sucks. You went to the effort, you deserve congratulations. Yes you do. I'm trying to train my kid to say "Thank you for the very nice dinner Mommy." Every one dinner out of 10 she remembers to do it. If she hates it, she can think it in her mind. But by gum, I want some congratulations. Or a high five. I'm not picky.

But back to midsummer cake. It was great right out of the oven, and it was great on the following three days when we ate it for breakfast. This cake is somewhat akin to a coffee cake in nature, and the fruit most definitely makes it an appropriate choice for morning. You can even put a little butter on it, that wouldn't be anything but A Good Thing when you're heating it up a little to have with breakfast. You could soft boil an egg to go with it, and have some tea, and think that it really IS some kind of special holiday, this midsummer thing.

A CAKE FOR MIDSUMMER  ~via Nigel Slater's (I love you!) book 'Ripe'

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter (175g)
1 cup minus 2 tablespoons light brown sugar (175g)
4 or 5 ripe apricots (200g)
2 eggs
1 and 1/3 cups self-rising flour (175g)
a scant cup of ground almonds (100g) ~ I used ground almond meal/flour
2 tablespoons milk
about 1 and 1/2 cups raspberries (170g)

Directions:

Line the bottom of an 8 inch springform pan with parchment paper. (I used a 9 inch round pan with high sides and greased and floured the pan.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Halve, pit, and coarsely chop the apricots. Beat the eggs lightly, then add to the creamed butter/sugar a little at a time, pushing the mixture down the sides of the bowl occasionally with a rubber spatula. If there is any sign of curdling, stir in a tablespoon of the flour.

Mix the flour and almonds together and fold in, with the mixer on a low speed, in 2 or 3 separate batches. Add the milk, and once it is incorporated, add the chopped apricots and the raspberries.

Scrape the mixture into the cake pan and bake for an hour and 10 minutes. (start checking at 55 minutes, just to be safe.) Test with a skewer; if it comes out relatively clean, then the cake is done. Leave the cake to cool for 10 minutes or so in the pan, then run a thin spatula or knife around the edge and slide it out onto a plate, decorating "as the fancy takes you", says Mr. Nigel.

~enough to serve 8-10.

(The cake is not overly sweet, which I liked. I thought it was plenty fine and sweet with the generous dusting of confectioner's sugar on top. But if you like your sweets really sweet, I'd throw in a 1/8 to 1/4 cup of additional sugar mixed in with the fruits.)

Party Lights

Just a random pop in today! Random pop ins are going to be a more happening occurrence now that summer is upon us and I should be doing activities and whatnot with my kiddo. I'm pretty sure there is something compelling that we should be doing, like checking out the Hello Kitty store.

Remember the lanterns of Extreme I-Love-Them and I-Hate-Them? Well, they've had their time in our kitchen, but since it stays light so late in my kitchen now that it's summertime, I haven't really been turning the lanterns on in the late afternoon or evening. So I figured it was the right moment for them to move on up to Julia's room and add even more flair to what's already going on in there.

It's sort of looking like a pinata exploded in her room lately, but my motto is More is More. Actually I have several mottos. Pink is Perfect. More is More. And if a room doesn't look like a party could happen at any moment, well then, that's just la catastrophe, mais non?

Orlando the Marmalade Cat

I love having pals who love books as much as I do. My blog buddy Miss Lucy asked me not long ago if I had ever heard of the Orlando the Cat books, and I said, NO I HAVE NOT!, and she said they were quite wonderful and then I said I'M GOING TO FIND THEM RIGHT NOW! and then I very quickly scurried to go find out about them, and well will you LOOK at this bizness?

The only book I was able to get from the library was the 'Orlando's Evening Out' story, which was loads of fun. Good for ages 4-7 in particular. Maybe up that age to 5, I had to explain a lot of the old fashioned language to Julia, as in what "combinations" were (a type of old fashioned underwear involving a vest and trousers). In this one, Orlando takes his kittens to the circus.

One of his kittens' names is "Tinkle". I laughed every time I read the word BECAUSE I AM REALLY THAT MUCH OF A TODDLER.

But the one I really really super want to read is 'The Seaside Holiday' book and 'A Camping Holiday'! Also, I would really like to altogether abandon using the word "vacation" and just use "holiday" in its place, like the Brits do. It sounds so much more festive.

For the passionate finders amongst you, there are hordes of these stories ~ about 20 or so. Kathleen Hale began writing them in the 1940's.

Pickle. I might just have to buy the seaside book. Look at the little bathing gown outfitty ensemble on Orlando's wife!

Oh and I also really want to read 'The Invisible Pajamas' story! Is that another phrase for just being unclothed? "Oh I'm just wearing my invisible pajamas."

(update: we also were able to find 'Orlando's Home Life'!)

Cool Stuff I Like

Happy Friday! This is a really old picture I found in my files. Like, three years old. Aren't these fun looking canoes? Boats in general make me 1) very scared and 2) seasick, but I think a small canoe on utterly calm and flat water would be a Very Great and Fine Thing. Particularly if I had a parasol and a small tea sandwich. But I don't think that's going to happen. If I'm ever in a canoe, Andrew is going to make me row.


COOL STUFF I like this week:

Are you KIDDING ME with this book? Oh I am all over this one. Thanks Heather!

Make your own hedgehog. Because why not?

What to Cook Tonight. ( i may have linked this before? but it bears repeating.)

The Little Boy Who Lost His Name. (looks delightful!)

Lalaloopsy doll recipes! (and xo to sweet Jane Cherie for putting this onto my radar.)

I told Andrew that I need to see the new 'Diana' movie in the theater, and he said "Go to talk to your mother."

Breakfast Banana Bread Ice Cream Sundae?!

A rotating supercell. Amazing.

RIGHT HERE is the perfect summer list. Amen sister.

I just created an EPIC new Pinterest board.


Cool Book of the Week: 'The Willoughbys' by Lois Lowry. On a bit of a Lois Lowry kick lately, as I also just checked out the first of her Goony Bird books for Julia from the library. This book looks just a skosh above Julia's level, but I had to go for it, and I think if I read it to her, we'll have a great time with it. How could I stay away from this one? Just listen: a family of kids who long to be orphans, just like the famous literary orphans they read about in books, like James from 'James and the Giant Peach' and Anne of 'Anne of Green Gables'. What the kids don't know is that their parents are also enthralled with old fashioned stories....particularly the tale of Hansel & Gretel. It really looks like an absolute hoot, and right up our alley, dark humor-wise. Suggested for ages 8 and up.

Have a lovely weekend! And Happy Father's Day in advance to my sweet Andrew, who makes me laugh every day of my life, and who is the kindest and most patient dad in the universe.

~Melissa

The Julia's Bookbag Summer Bucket List

Hello friends! I'm sure some of you have seen those summer bucket lists that are floating ALL over Pinterest and on other blogs or on Facebook. Of course Julia and I thought that we had to create lists of our own. She made a list, and I made a list, and we're going to cut them into strips, throw them into a jar, and pull one out on days where there aren't any swim lessons or playdates.

You'll forgive me, I'm sure, for being so utterly Melissa in compiling my list. And you will also forgive me for thinking that my kiddo's list is utterly ADORABLE.

Our lists are supposed to be treat-type fun items, in addition to summer reading, and craft activities, and other random Outings & Excursions.

My list looks a little something like this:

~ make a cake
~ maybe make another cake
~ eat some cake
~ make a fairy house
~ watch movies ALL DAY!
~ have a picnic lunch at a park
~ tea shop lunch!
~ create a giant chalk hopscotch on our sidewalk
~ make a solar oven from a pizza box
~ sushi lunch! (either make it or go get it)
~ go to a bookstore
~ let Julia paint my nails
~ make cookies and give some to a neighbor
~ go get ice cream
~ write a pen pal a letter
~ turn the family room into an indoor fort/camp ground
~ GO TO THE HELLO KITTY STORE

Some items might be written down more than once. Like ice cream and the Hello Kitty store.

(pix at the beach from last summer)

And here's Julia's list:

~ learn about Count Dracula (the real one. um, are there any sanitized versions about his life??)

~ practice writing in cursive

~ reading Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle

~ video games

~ have a bake sale (so cute! maybe we'll sell these cookies.)

~ have a drawing contest (with her friend. also a baking contest. my kid is very competitive apparently.)

~ do crafts

~ go to a toyshop

~ make jam

That's what we've got so far! How about you? Any fun summer plans you want to share? Remember, sharing is caring. Also, I think maybe our list will last us one week and then I'm all out of ideas.