Munching while mammon burns

I tend to blame rather a lot of capitalists and those politicians who prop up the worst of the chaotic gambling club that is international finance, for the present catastrophes in banking. In their extreme greed they care so little for ordinary people. But I especially vent my ire on those who are set fair to destroy Scottish banking heritage and threaten the production of Scottish bank notes. And those who abjectly fail to value or protect that heritage.

Having found some pics of money, I remembered this one, which is a Clydesdale tenner showing Mary Slessor. The first woman shown on the front of a Scottish bank note. Slessor, born 1848 in Aberdeen is commemorated for her work as a missionary in Nigeria helping abandoned children. The map on the reverse is where she worked.

Enough words will be spilt over this that I need not add more today. Therefore, I will munch while mammon burns. Ghastly mixed metaphor notwithstanding, one has to do something to take one’s mind off the hideous political and financial situation in the allegedly ‘real world’. Instead, I will divert attention to the everyday that is my real world, that of pottering in the kitchen creating new ways to feed myself.

Plums for pudding
Some more experimental cooking over the last few days. I had some very sour plums so rather than screw up my face and eat raw, I cooked them.

Plums, halved
Butter – not too much
White wine – a good splosh
Honey – few teaspoons
Vanilla extract – very little
Tablet crumbs

I softened the halved plums in butter, before placing them in an ovenproof dish. I added the wine, honey and vanilla extract to the hot pan to mix with the butter, then poured it all over the plums before sprinkling them with tablet crumbs. Into the oven for a while till it all got suitably gooey. I served these with single cream.

Chilli chocolate buns
Ever willing to try new things to eat, I bought some chocolate with chilli added. It was dreadful. I didn’t want to chuck it, so I made some chocolate chip buns with it.

Plain flour
Baking powder
Two eggs
Caster sugar
Carotino oil which is a mix of red palm and canola oil
Crushed up chilli chocolate

Mix together and bake till done. They are fine, but the chilliness still comes through, so there won’t be a repeat of this experiment. The Carotino oil is a new one (to me) I bought last week. It is bright orange and tastes a bit different to other veg oils. I’ve used it as salad oil and in ordinary cooking, but because of its colour I won’t be frying an egg in it. The orange also seems to have stained the Tupperware measuring jug I used in the above recipe.

This is the link to the carotino oil website. It only has a few disappointing recipes, on the other hand it goes into more details about omegas 3 and 6 and lycopene and Q-enzyme 10, all of which as a vegetarian can be difficult to include in my diet. And, easily seduced as I am by packaging, it looks nice in my oil collection.

http://www.carotino.eu/uk/