DeRosaWorld

A Treasonously Good Cake

Guy Fawkes Day: November 5th marks the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot, a conspiracy to blow up the English Parliament and King James I in 1605, the day set for the king to open Parliament. The anniversary was named after Guy Fawkes, the most famous of the conspirators.

The day is celebrated like Halloween. A cake is part of the tradition.

Here is a modern interpretation of a very old cake.

Guy Fawkes Day Cake

(recipe inspired by Le Cordon Bleu)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup molasses
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup dark corn syrup
1/2 cup soft light brown sugar
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup rolled oats, blitzed to powder in coffee grinder
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line an 8 inch cake pan with waxed paper. Grease the paper with butter and dust with flour.
2. Melt the molasses, butter, corn syrup, brown sugar and milk in a saucepan. Remove from heat and cool.
3. Put dry ingredients into a separate bowl: oat powder, flour, spices and baking soda. Pour in the butter mixture and beat. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Continue beating until mixture becomes a smooth paste.
4. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake pan and bake for 35 minutes. Poke the center with a tooth pick. If it comes out clean, it is done. Leave in pan to cool for 5 minutes.
5. Turn the cake out onto a cooling wire rack, peel off the waxed paper and leave to cool.
6. Frost with ready-made dark chocolate icing. Cut cake into squares and serve.

It's Not Going To Get Any Better.

When a war has no end game, there is no end. If we can't take the capital city and win the war, maybe we shouldn't be fighting it. That seems to be the lesson of last century, but we are making the same mistakes in war as we did during the entire last half of the 20th Century.

What is victory in Afghanistan?

Saturday Musings: 'Having A Cuppa' Edition

It would be nice if all the progressive blogs, especially the A-list ones, simply didn’t report on what FOX News and Glen Beck said that day.

That way only the people who watched FOX News would know. We can start by picking one day a week for not telling everyone what FOX News said. Then try expanding that to one week of not relaying FOX News headlines, them maybe FOX News will wither on the vine or go to just being what the Republican Party actually is, a side-lined, fringe group.

I’ve been trying it on this blog and my traffic has increased. I thought it would go down if I wasn’t always on the Republicans and their Media, but there are other ways of presenting liberal views while not raising the opposition to a position of authority by making them the only alternative voice.

For example, instead of reporting what Chris Wallace thinks, here are some statistics from President Franklin Roosevelt’s’ Works Progress Administration or WPA: The breadth of WPA public works and social programs was enormous: It built 65 0,000 miles of roads, 78,000 bridges, 125,000 civilian and military buildings, 800 airports (built or improved), and 7 00 miles of airport runways. It also served almost 900 million hot lunches to school children, and operated 1,500 nursery schools. It presented 225,000 concerts to audiences totaling 150 million people, performed plays and circuses before another 30 million, and created 475, 000 works of art.

That’s something people can sink their teeth into. Their Government doing good things for them when Democrats are in control. Arguments against ring hollow.

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And I wouldn’t mind hearing a speech from Secretary of State Clinton now and again, maybe interrupt the news cycle or games shows and show Americans their State Department in action. She made a good one at the UN General Assembly last week.

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I do hope President Obama hasn’t completely missed his ‘New Deal’ moment. They don’t come along very often.

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Well, the summer is over. That was quick.  Rush hour traffic is back to full capacity. It’s getting dark earlier and earlier. I needed a hoodie the other night when I went out.

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Music: I somehow fell into a time warp and am exploring the early Abbey Road Studios. The Pretty Things and Pink Floyd are getting a work out.

Books:
In the Bathroom: Nothing To Fear (FDR’s Inner Circle And The Hundred Days That Created Modern America) by Adam Cohen.

On the Night Stand: The Turnaround by George Pelecanos and The Peppered Moth by Margaret Drabble.

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And right now I am enjoying a strong cup of Scottish Breakfast Tea from Taylors of Harrogate… with a splash of milk.

Beluga VS. Bolognese?

You call this a trattoria?

One of my first posts was about two of my favorite Italian restaurants in the Beverly Hills neighborhood where I used to live. Not all of Beverly Hills is TV and movies stars. There are some sections where regular working folk live.

I eventually moved away from there because I grew tired of apartment dwelling and wanted a house and could not afford the Beverly Hills rates.(Which may not apply anymore) But I found paradise near the beach. I even have a yard!

I occasionally go back to the ‘old’ neighborhood which lies about 20 miles north and east. I made this trip this weekend with the intention of timing my chores so I could eat dinner in Trilussa. This restaurant had the best tomato sauce I ever had outside of my own… maybe even a little better. I once asked the owner about the recipe and he told me that when he was auditioning chef’s his test was to simply make a tomato sauce. The best sauce won the job.

Well, after my day of running around,  I was looking forward to sitting down to a nice Italian dinner. Trilussa was gone. Replaced by… I don’t know what. A sort of Russian inspired lounge-like restaurant whose menu was as confusing as its new décor.

The new Beverly Hills ‘working class’, the remnants of the Cold War, middle-European and Russian men and women dressed like it was either prom night or an Oscar party gone very wrong.

You couldn’t get a decent bowl of pasta. But no one in the restaurant wanted a bowl of pasta. That would be too working class… these were not comrades of the old Soviet Empire. These folks were the new American Dream chasers.

I don’t like caviar, penne al a vodka or cigarettes.

Saturday Musings: 'Bipartisanship Means Never Having To Say You're Sorry' Edition

Actually, according to the RNC Play Book: Bipartisanship: Democrats suck it and Republicans promise not to cum in their mouths...we lie.

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Imagine an America where John McCain was President and trying to salvage the economy with Lindsey Graham.. and Sarah Palin was going to talk to Europe today.

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I want…I voted for…a SPENDING stimulus. I’m voting against anyone who does not give it to me.

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I want rich people and corporations to pay MORE taxes…this in answer to John McCain’s concerns about the budget deficit.

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I want to see more Democrats on the TV news programs or I will only get my news from the Internet. TV news can go the way of magazines and newspapers.

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Frank Sinatra comes to iTunes! Those of us addicted to iTunes downloads throughout the day can now access a lot more Sinatra.  Frank’s first album with Don Costa Sinatra & Strings (1962)  just became available. Recorded in the heart of Sinatra’s ‘golden years’…the mid-50s to mid-60s sessions that made him the Chairman of the Board. This is a masterpiece from that era. This version of Night & Day will stun you.

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In these hard times I suggest Jamie Oliver’s new cookbook: The Ministry of Food. You need to have it dispatched from Amazon UK, but it will be worth it in the long run. Healthy meals prepared simply and economically. He looks back at how England dealt with food during World War Two. Great fun, a great read and great food.

Saturday Musings: Chevy Volt Edition

The best the Republican Party can do is Newt Gingrich? Every time I turn the TV on, one of our right-wing, suck-ass News shows is interviewing the biggest loser from the 1990s.

Where are the Republican leaders? Where are their smart people? And don’t give me this Sarah Palin bullshit.

Are there no Senators or Congress-folks from the Republican Party that are not consider freaks by any normal American? I guess not because there are none available…and my cable news babble is 24/7.

The Republican Party is deader than dead in the water. Looks like their policies, both domestic and foreign, have left their philosophies and their 'brand' in tatters…as well as leaving the nation shipwrecked.

So why not just not interview any Republicans? Nobody wants to hear from them. We want to know what the Democrats are thinking.

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I don’t like Bill Richardson, never have. But I do think it is very interesting that President-elect Obama would talk to Senator Clinton about the Secretary of State job. Boy, what a Democratic whammy that would be.

The professional Clinton haters, both conservative and liberal progressive, are already screaming reasons why Bill would fuck things up if his wife were in such a prestigious job.  But think about it; think of how Democrats voted in this last primary. It sure would be tempting to have Hillary around and Bill only a phone call away, even if just bounce ideas off of.

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Well, there just doesn’t seem to be any good news for Americans as the holidays approach. Our kids are so used to getting anything they ask for and this season that may just not be possible. It will test our mettle as a ‘brat-nation’. We’ll see if our kids still love us when they can’t have a new Wii or iPhone...or worse, have to drop out of college...or move with the family out of your house and into an apartment.

I don’t want to debate a New Deal; I just want a rocket lit under one.

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I have a credit card that has moved between four different banks since the summer.

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Question of the day…I would call it the question of the week, but we may not have that much time…Will the Volt save Detroit?

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I couldn’t wait for Christmas. I bought myself the latest installment of the Oxford History of the United States, From Colony To Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776 written by George C. Herring. 1000 pages of history. Yummy. It’s going straight into the bathroom.

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My favorite song this week is Elvis Presley’s Tomorrow Is A Long Time, a cover of the Bob Dylan song. I have listened to this song over a hundred times this week. It is a great version and brings out the best in both artists. I wish Elvis had done more serious work like this song. He never seemed to trust himself to take himself seriously…or had doubts others would. This song shows why Elvis is the once and future King.

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I’m out of Port! That will not stand. Today’s mission is to venture out and re-supply.

Homemade Pasta A Success

DeRosaWorld has created its own semolina pasta. Now if I could only make red wine in my tub, I'd never have to leave the house.

As I posted earlier. This was eaten with homemade tomato sauce and some pepperoni.

Rosemary Clooney was played throughout the process.

Saturday Musings - 'Two Weeks Out' Edition

Senator John McCain has no dignity left.

The automated phone calls filled with lies and hate will be his campaigns' final legacy. A sad end to a sad political death. He can't blame this one on Palin. This is his shame.

Does Viagra work for dirty phone calls?

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The fact that this race isn't over makes me very nervous. With the Republican ticket and their campaign this should be way into a Democratic double-digit lead.

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Can you image what this election cycle would have been like without the Internet or the blogs? If all we had was TV?

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How's that financial system bail-out going? Every rich guy get what he needed?

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I saw Oliver Stone's W. A review will be following shortly, but let me say this: Fuck you George Jr.! And your whole fucking family. Because, guess what...it does apply to your entire fucking family.

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I posted a video of Joan Baez singing from her new album, Day After Tomorrow. This is a very moving folk record. Produced by Steve Earle, Baez performs a collection of Americana songs that are compelling and powerful and very moving. Her performance is understated and the production is very sparse. A very beautiful collection.

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K.C. Constantine kicks Tawni O'Dells' ass. Sorry Oprah.  Grievance is literature, not just a mystery, but Back Roads is just a mystery and not literature.

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We brought an electric pasta maker! I am going to get so fat, it's going to be awesome. Tonight: black pepper pasta. arriabbiata sauce with pepperoni and slightly chilled chianti...followed by heartburn and TUMS. Tomorrow, a day of rest.

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Go Phillies!

Pepperoni

We made spaghetti tonight with pepperoni.

We made the sauce with extra crushed red pepper flakes and garlic. Spicy, but not killer hot.

Then we sliced up Margherita pepperoni and boiled that in some of the sauce in a separate pot.

When the spaghetti was done and the sauce was poured all over it, we threw some of the pepperoni 'coins' into our pasta bowls and there you have it. Heaven. 

Something Else To Do Instead of Watching The Olympics - Day Six: Bake a French Chocolate Cake

NBC Olympic Coverage: Thursday, August 14th (prime time)

8 p.m.-1 a.m. — Women's Gymnastics - Individual All-Around Gold Medal Final (LIVE); Swimming (LIVE): Gold Medal Finals: Men's 200-meter Backstroke, Men's 200-meter Individual Medley, Women's 200-meter Breaststroke, Women's 100-meter Freestyle and Men's 100-meter Butterfly semifinal; Beach Volleyball; Men's Volleyball - USA vs. Bulgaria

Instead of watching the Bulgarian beach volleyball team tonight, how about baking a cake for the family. Here is a the Le Cordon Bleu Home Cookbook Collection recipe for French Chocolate cake. It doesn't take long, but you do have to concentrate. There is a little timing and coordination of ingredients. the result is not a high and airy cake, like a traditional box cake. It is a flatter cake, more like a brownie. It will be a fun evening with a great pay-off.

½ cup unsalted butter (room temperature
¾ cup of semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate
3 eggs, separated
½ cup sugar
2/3 all-purpose flour
(confectioner’s sugar to dust)

1. Preheat the over to 350 degrees F. Line an 8-inch diameter 1/1/2 deep cake pan with wax paper. Grease the paper with butter and dust with flour.

2. In a bowl, beat the butter until creamy (use a mixer or spoon). Bring water to a boil in the bottom of a double boiler then remove from the heat and put the chocolate in the top broiler and place on the bottom broiler to melt. Stir the chocolate until it all melts. Remove the top broiler and let chocolate return to room temperature. Stir in the butter to the chocolate and set aside. Beat the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl. And the chocolate mixture to this bowl and fold to combine. In a large bowl beat the egg whites until still peaks form, but do not beat so much that the egg whites look dry. Using a spatula, gently fold the whites in the chocolate mixture in three additions. Sift the flour and gently fold the flour into the mixture until well combined. (you may use an electric mixer at this point to really combine all the ingredients).

3. Spoon into the pan and bake for 25-30 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before turning the cake out of the pan and peeling off the wax paper. Serve warm with a dusting of sifted confectioner’s sugar.