TheBanyanTree: Cooking72

[Kitty]

Thanks for doing the research, Pam.  I questioned "slice" as well, but was 
slow about typing the five letters for a Google search.  So now I 
know.......as do many other non-Aussies.  Already today I've learned 
something new!

Kitty


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Pam Lawley" <pamj.lawley at gmail.com>
To: "A comfortable place to meet other people and exchange your own 
*original*writings." <thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2011 9:19 AM
Subject: Re: TheBanyanTree: Cooking72


> Interesting...  I've found that I'm not terribly good with 'food'... I can
> follow a recipe to a tee and it just doesn't come out very tasty.  But, I
> can whip up some scrumptious desserts quite successfully!  :)     And 
> there
> doesn't have to be an occasion for 'cake' - like breakfast or dinner or
> whatever...  One can eat cake anytime!!!   And I find baking fun, 
> soothing,
> relaxing...
>
> So this fall, I took a course at a local community college's Culinary
> School for Pastry Certification.  Not that I have any plans for the
> Certification - I'm not going into business or looking for a job at a
> bakery - I just wanted to learn new stuff!   It was a very intense class!
> We spent three hours, two nights a week, moving!  Luckily we were
> partnered up (and I had an awesome partner, we worked together 
> perfectly!!)
> so while one was mixing something the other could be at the stove heating
> something else!  Time just flew by and we had some delicious rewards for
> our efforts!  Oh, and yeah, we had a few failures to show for our time as
> well - but then we just went home and tried again in the comfort of our 
> own
> kitchens!  :)
>
> But what a learning experience!!  For example, I learned how super-easy it
> was to throw some ingredients into my mixer and just turn it on, take it
> out and let it rise, and viola!, I had bread!!  I've made it several times
> since.  Of course, I also learned that I will probably NEVER  master pie
> crusts...  :D  (It's important to recognize one's limitations!!!)
>
> My point to all this was, sitting her in eastern North Carolina in the 
> USA,
> that I had NO clue what a "slice" was!   So I googled it!  And it appears
> to be what we would call a 'bar'...  For example, I saw a photo of "Lemon
> Slices" which look exactly like a "Lemon Bar" - a crust, a filling, and a
> topping!!  Yum!!
>
> Thanks Roger - I'm still learning, and now I'll have to make some
> 'slices'!!  :)
>
>
> On Tue, Dec 27, 2011 at 7:23 AM, Roger <woodcatau at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Six months ago Robin and I moved from one extreme to another - biggish 
>> city
>> with many malls and shopping centres to tiny rural settlement with none!
>> The reason? Our landlord put the house we were renting up for sale and
>> friends near the village offered us a house to live in. We had notice of
>> when it would happen and time to make our own plans, it wasn't done
>> sneakily or anything like that. So a particular day in June saw us arrive
>> in the beautiful Araluen Valley, southeast NSW, with our worldly
>> possessions and our menagerie - seven chooks, four cats and a dog (since
>> increased to two dogs). Whilst I have been semi-retired for some time 
>> Robin
>> was and still is an assistant professor at the University of Canberra so
>> she commutes each week and boards with a friend and some of her research 
>> is
>> done at home. All well and good but not a long time had passed when I
>> realised that whereas before I met Robin sixteen years ago I had
>> practically existed on soup, I had had such good food since meeting her,
>> and got used to having it, that I would have to learn pretty quickly how 
>> to
>> cook. Something I had not even tried to learn let alone master in my 72
>> years.
>>
>> We are both vegetarians, she on principle and I for practicality's sake,
>> and after producing an excellent vegetable and soy stew for dinner, I
>> decided that provided one treated the ingredients of main meals with
>> respect, did not hurry the preparation and cooking time, and generally 
>> took
>> great care in judging what went with what, one could cook just about any
>> main meal offering. Biscuits and slices were something else again 
>> however.
>> So on the basis that 'Life is uncertain, eat dessert first" that was the
>> area I began my true cooking lessons in and, to date, that is where I 
>> have
>> stayed. Muffins and suchlike are not my strength but I do love making
>> biscuits and, even more, slices. In the doing I have learned many things.
>> Like, for instance, when the recipe lists the ingredients they are not
>> generally in  the order of preparation; cooking on a slow combustion 
>> stove
>> as we do is vastly different to cooking on a gas or electric stove whose
>> oven can be set to switch on and off at specific temperatures; and words
>> such as combine, fold, beat and sift have precise meanings which must not
>> be forgotten.
>>
>> It still amazes me that putting different substances together in the 
>> manner
>> described in cookery books and exposing the mixes to heat for varying
>> periods of time does usually produce a yumminess though possibly not the
>> one expected by the recipe's author. However, in terms of the following
>> recipe I would have to say without any doubt whatsoever the yumminess
>> achieved is fantastic!!
>>
>> *Fresh Berry Slice*
>> 1/4 cup softened butter
>> 3/4 cup white sugar
>> 1 egg
>> 2 cups self-raising flour
>> pinch of salt
>> raspberry jam, for spreading
>> 1/2 fresh raspberries, blueberries or blackberries
>>
>> *Topping:*
>> 1 cup white sugar
>> 1 cup dessicated coconut
>> 1 egg
>>
>> Preheat oven to 180C (try THAT on a slow combustion stove!). Lightly 
>> grease
>> a 19cm x 29cm slice tin.
>> For the base, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in egg,
>> sifted flour and salt.
>> Press mixture into tray, spread thickly with jam and sprinkle with fresh
>> berries.
>> For the topping, mix all ingredients together and spread evenly over 
>> base.
>> Bake for about 20 minutes. Cool before slicing (makes 24).
>>
>> (from the Biscuit and Slice Bible copyright Penguin Group (Australia) 
>> 2007,
>> published by Penguin Group)
>>
>> Wishing you All the Best for 2012
>>
>> Roger
>>
>