Batch Blues Photography

I have finally done it. The Facebook page for Batch Blues Photography is up and running finally.  Things will be slow until the beginning of the year with me because I am working 50 hours a week and still try to maintain some kind of normalcy to my life.  Most days I come home and get ready for bed only to repeat the same thing again the next day.

As for cooking, well, I do most of that on the weekends along with all the other things that I enjoy the most.  I still want to post recipes as well as stories. Those times I spent in the kitchen cooking tagines and couscous were the best that I have ever experienced. It is thrilling to try new recipes along with spices that I never knew existed. I grew to love Moroccan cuisine, maybe even more so than American food.

When I started my other blog, Until Morocco, that is when the photography bug bit me. Ever since then I was hooked.  I lived and breathed photography. I have taken a few classes and a zillion pictures in the interim. There is so much to learn and so many ways to make photographic art. Wish me luck in this new phase of my life.  Trust me, I am very excited about it.  

This picture was taken in Roann, Indiana a couple of weeks ago.  I like the country feel when I travel outside of town and breathe in the fresh air. This is living at its best, quiet and simple, away from the noise of the city. What is of most interest is the old buildings, especially the barns.

When I was a child we would take our annual trip to the land of my father, Tennessee.  I love the rusty tin roofs on the run down log cabins and the old red barns with See Rock City written on the side or the roof. Those things remind me of my birthplace (Tennessee) which make my heart fill up with warm memories. So, forgive me if I become a little barn happy with my postings. I'm just thinking about Tennessee.    

Orange Shortbread Cookies

When I discovered orange flavored oil at the grocer, I felt like I was in bakers heaven.  There is so much you can do with flavored oils.  I found a recipe in a book by the "The two fat ladies" Clarissa Dickson Wright and Jennifer Paterson called cooking with the two fat ladies to make orange shortbread. I used to watch their program many years ago and collected a number of their recipes to try.  I am really pleased with this recipe and shall be making it over and over again. 
  
Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of flour
1/3 cup of sugar
1 1/3 cup of ground almonds
grated zest of 3 oranges
1 tsp vanilla extract
4-6 drops of orange oil if you don't have orange rind or use both, which is what I did
granulated sugar for sprinkling on top

Put all of the ingredients in a food processor and mix until it forms a dough.  Roll the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap.  Place in the fridge and chill overnight. 

Take the dough out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter for about an hour to soften. When it is a little soft roll out the dough to about 1/2 inch thick.  Use a cookie cutter, I used a 2 1/2 inch cutter. Line a pan with parchment paper and arrange the cut out shapes.  Place back in the fridge for an hour.

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Place the pan in the oven and bake for about 40 minutes or until they are golden brown.  Remove and place on a rack to cool.  Store in air tight containers. 

Nutmeg: The Spice of the Wealthy

I go to an Amish store to buy my spices.  Generally the prices there are very reasonable.  However, when I needed nutmeg just recently, I was astonished at the cost.  I looked at the unit price and it was $21.29 a pound.  Of course is it not as pricy as saffron, but it is still expensive.  Fortunately the spices at the store are sold in bulk, so, you get more for your money buying it this way.  

Courtesy of the Guardian Newspaper

 Nutmeg grows on trees and once harvested it could take up to two months for the fruit to dry. The nutmeg tree is evergreen with oblong egg shaped leaves and the fruit is light yellow with red and green markings. The nut is dried until the inner nut rattles, which is the edible nutmeg.

The British East India Company brought the nutmeg tree to Penang, Singapore, India, Sri Lanka, the West Indies, and Grenada (nutmeg is the national symbol for this country). In 1760, the price of nutmeg in London was 85 to 90 shillings per pound, a price kept artificially high by the Dutch voluntarily burning full warehouses of nutmegs in Amsterdam. The Dutch held control of the spice islands until World War II.  The poor were excluded from using this spice because of the cost. Luckily today anyone can afford a majority of the spices available or a similar substitute. 

Now that the holidays are upon us we think about all of the sweet dishes we can make with this nutmeg.  But, did you know that you can use this spice in savory dishes too?  I use a large pinch of it in the asparagus and leek quiche pictured above.  Here is the recipe if you would like to try it.

 

I, too, am here: Is trying new recipes...

Today I bought several cookbooks. I am so excited. I am venturing out and trying Mexican , Asian, and Indian cuisine.  It is my belief that one can never have enough recipes under their belt.  Discovering new dishes is a passion of mine. We have a bookstore here called Half Price Books. I took in some DVD's and CD's and basically traded for a few cookbooks. 

In a few days I will be posting  a recipe with paneer. I have asked Ashley to cook a recipe with paneer and then share it with us here on the blog.  I am so excited to try out her dish.