Olympic Cooking

Who doesn't love the Olympics?  No one around here!  Those two weeks go far too fast, in my opinion, and we watch as much as possible, even the table tennis and badminton.

We did a little Olympic cooking to celebrate.  The first Saturday, Clay and I tried Tikka Masala (although Indian, one of the most popular dishes in London, accoring to the BBC).  Oh my.  It was complicated, but delicious.  As soon as I can locate the pictures we took, I'll post the recipe we used.  I think it might become a new standard around here.

Then, on the second Sunday, we had a family dinner, British-style.

The boys helped me decorate:

and set the table:

We made Mushy Peas, which Clay remembered fondly from his trip to England:

The recipe for these is so simple:  cook a 10-ounce bag of frozen peas (we microwaved them), drain them, smash them with 1/4 cup of heavy cream, a Tablespoon of butter and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 of pepper.  Oh my goodness -- sounds weird, tastes wonderful! 

We also had roast beef and mashed potatoes (sorry, no pictures -- why do I always forget?), but no Yorkshire puddings as planned -- the meat took a little longer than we had hoped and we were all starving.  So, nice rolls did just fine.

For dessert, we had Eton Mess, which I had seen Jamie Oliver make earlier in the week on the Today Show:

Again, pretty easy.  Meringue cookies, crumbled in the bottom of your dish, raspberries spooned on top, whipped cream (leftover from the Mushy Peas!) and raspberry sauce over all.  I read lots of recipes for this; most call for using meringue cookies you buy from the store, but of course, this not being England, our stores don't carry those.  So I made them, using this recipe. Not too difficult, and very good.  Just make sure to keep them in an air-tight container, or they'll be just like yesterday's cotton candy -- you know, still delicious, but almost too sticky to eat!

The sauce is just a small bag of frozen raspberries and a 1/2 cup of sugar cooked low on the stove until the sugar dissolves, then put through a sieve.  Let it cool completely before putting this dessert together.

If I do say so myself, this is one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten.  But then, I am a red raspberry fan -- probably my favorite fruit.  Many of the internet recipes call for strawberries, which I'm sure would be great, and blueberries, which I'm sure would be horrible.  To quote Grandma P, "Bleck."

Finally, last Saturday morning, Clay and I got up and made little scones; I had been awarded the Silver Slacker at National Council (a silver tray lovingly given to the last council member to arrive at our meetings) and was responsible to fill it with a little treat for Saturday's meeting.  Since I don't really believe in little treats, I took my teapot, teacups, Earl Grey, scones, jam, pseudo-clotted cream (a little bit of homemade clotted cream plus a can of Crema -- delicious) and we had a lovely afternoon tea.

Unfortunately, I was the last one to arrive at the meeting Saturday (not late, but still my fault -- I had to make a Starbucks run) and was once again awarded the SS.  Thank goodness, my pal (and candy-making Queen) Cathy offered to fill it for our December meeting.  She doesn't know about little treats, either!

We're ready for the Winter Olympics, since we have experimented with Russian food many times and we all love it.  For Rio in 2016?  I think I'll have to do a little research, as the only thing that comes to mind is lots of meat.  On a big stick.

Cheerio!  And Peace.