Roger's View of the World, Love and Seafood Gumbo!
Seize the Day! Put no trust in the morrow! — Horace
It looked like we were going to have two seasons… cold and then winter. However, we seemed to skip over spring and wind up right into summer! Today it hit over 100 degrees and that was a bit of a shock for those who had to gear up everyday with layers and Uggs.
Still, it was a beautiful day!
Roger Freberg
Oh, this might sound just a mite strange talking about the wonders and virtues of mouse pads… but even with the advent of optical mice years ago… I still find using one much much more comfortable and reliable.
Having become one of the worlds leading experts on mouse pads… it was my job to search the cosmos to find the perfect mouse pad manufacturer. Laura with the help of her daughters worked up a great design, and it became my job to find someone who would make it and sell it for very very little. hmmmmm
Here is Laura and her prototype… the rest arrive tomorrow!
Life can be full of little pleasures.
Roger Freberg
I have noticed that if ingredients in a recipe tend to be pricey — as is the case with lobster tails — chefs tend to develop presentations to feature them. However, if you take the challenge to use lobster in a more ‘supporting role’ then I think you can really bring out it’s wonderful and tasty nature and it’s real beauty.
There are a few lobster pie or lobster quiche recipes on the net and most of them are relatively bland, some with virtually nothing added to distract from the subtle taste of lobster… some recipes come with virtually no spices.
This recipe is very different and filled with spices and various herbs, vegetables and sauteed in Sherry . Of course there is nothing wrong with preparing a wonderful dessert to complement the meal… and Baklava provides just the right sweetness for the occasion!
It was a good day to celebrate.
Roger Freberg
Laura has some fond memories from childhood regarding something called Gingerbread Cake often served with a ‘hard sauce.’ I am very familiar with many cakes… especially something called ‘spice cake’… but this isn’t that.
Gingerbread is a ‘firm’ cake sliced in layers and served often with a wonderful hard sauce… and ice cream ( which is how I like it). Laura enjoyed her serving with tea (Earl Grey), honey and lemon. The hard sauce contained: orange brandy, orange zest, cream, rye whiskey, powdered sugar, ginger and butter.
I have to admit… it was very nice.
Roger
There are many claims to gingerbread and gingerbread cake alike. Both the Romans and the Chinese were fond of a honey cake with ginger. In middle age Europe, gingerbread was viewed as a medicinal aid to digestion with curative powers. In pre-Christian Europe, gingerbread was part of the winter solstice ceremonies and continued on to help ring in Christmas. The ancient Greeks and the Egyptians were said to use it in their ceremonies.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) has often been quoted as a fan of gingerbread:
“Had I but a penny in the world, thou shouldst have it for gingerbread”
In America, gingerbread has been a favorite from the very beginning . It is said that President George Washington’s mother served gingerbread to the Marquis de Lafayette on his visit to America in 1784.
The ingredients and preparation styles of gingerbread have always reflected the times. When stoves didn’t have ovens, gingerbread was cooked very much as you would Boston Baked Bread in a container surrounded by boiling water. The availability of spices and cost considerations also limit the recipe construction. I have even found recipes for gingerbread where the addition of ginger appears to be an afterthought and much reduced.
Fortunately, we won’t bother ourselves with trivial concerns for time, effort or expense in our recipe.
By the way, Gingerbread is one of those things you can bake the day before, reheat, top with hard sauce and it’s all to the good. I will be producing a hard sauce (tomorrow) to drip over the final creation… should be fun.
Our extravagant and delicious Recipe to follow!
Roger