Santa Claus Parade in Holstein

On Saturday we drove to Holstein for their annual Santa Claus Parade. We heard about this at the Holstein Farmers Market in the summer, and thought it sounded very interesting. It's another non-food post creeping in, but hey! I do sometimes think about other things besides food.


Not that I planned to miss out on eating. We arrived around noon; I was uneasily aware that there isn't any restaurant in Holstein, but I hoped that with a planned start-time of 1:00 p.m. some food would be available. In fact, we could have gotten soup and sandwiches at the Optimist Club, a sausage (onna bun) by the variety store or, our choice, a bowl of chile with bread, cake and tea or coffee and a spot at a communal table in their basement, all for$5 at the Holstein Presbyterian Church. The cake was from a mix, but the chile was lovely, and what a deal.


Thus fortified, we headed out to the main street to wait.


The Holstein Santa Claus Parade is notable for being unmechanized. All the parade participants are either on foot, on horseback or in an animal-drawn wagon. Well, so it was advertised. In fact, there was exactly one motorized vehicle, which set the pace and started off the parade.

Next came a somewhat ad-hoc looking but tuneful little pipe band.


And then the parade proper began.


There were quite a number of people on horseback.


There were a lot of horse-drawn wagons.


With horses of considerably varying sizes.



One person brought his sheep.

One wagon had people singing carols, and another had a fiddle player in the back.


There were quite a few very light vehicles being pulled by miniature horses.


I think these are mules?


I was a bit surprised that there wasn't a lot of effort at costumes made by the participants. Lots of Christmassy hats, on both people and animals, but not many costumes. Also, while people decorated their wagons with tinsel etc, none of them were floats as such.

The result was a very different feel from any Santa Claus parade I've been to before. It was obviously much more of a community event, where the point was not to come and watch but to bring your animal friends and parade.

There were even a few small vehicles being pulled by dogs. One dog opted to be a passenger, and a very good passenger he was, too; staying calmly seated in his sled all the way along the parade route.

And finally, Santa Claus went by, thus ending the parade. I understand Santa returned to the park to consult with his constituency later on.

We got onto the road and followed the parade up the street to the place where we had parked. It took us a while to get back on the open road, what with all the traffic, but we were all very satisfied that it was a day well-spent.

Cocoa Sponge Cake

Oops.

As you can tell by the photo, my cake didn't quite turn out. Sponge cakes are tricky. Most cakes, muffins, etc, are really quite easy to make and you don't even need to be all that scientific about measuring. That is not the case with sponge cakes.

I'm pretty sure I know what went wrong with my cake. I could not find any organic white (unbleached) soft (pastry) flour so I used soft whole wheat flour. I did not adjust the quantity, and the amount of bran in it displaced a certain amount of the required starch; and thus, my batter was just a tad too thin.

There are other pitfalls with sponge cakes. They don't contain any fat beyond the egg yolks, and are easily overbaked in which case they will be dry. Of course, if they are underbaked, they will also fall in the middle, and be soggy. It helps to have experience in cake-baking and to be able to easily recognize when a cake is baked before you start making sponge cakes.

The good news is my cake is still perfectly usable for my purposes. I made it because I needed a source of cake-crumbs for rumballs. I'll be posting the recipe for rumballs in a day or two. Not-entirely-successful sponge cake can also be used in trifle. Cocoa sponge cake with either custard or chocolate pudding, canned sour cherries, some kirsch and plenty of whipped cream makes a delectable "Black Forest" trifle.

8 servings
1 hour - 20 minutes prep time


1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon cocoa

1 1/2 cups soft unbleached wheat flour
1/2 cup cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 extra-large eggs
1/2 cup cold water
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Trace the bottom of a 9" springform pan onto a piece of parchment paper and cut it out. Grease the springform pan with some of the butter. Line the bottom of the pan with the parchment paper, and grease it with the remaining butter. Sift the tablespoon of cocoa into the pan and shake it to coat the bottom and sides evenly with the cocoa. Tap out any excess cocoa. Set the prepared pan aside.

Sift the flour with the cocoa and baking powder, and set it aside.

Separate the eggs into two mixing bowls. Beat the egg yolks with an electric mixer for 2 or 3 minutes, until very light and lemon coloured. Beat in the water, sugar and vanilla. Beat well for about 5 minutes.

Wash and dry the beaters for the mixer. You must do this.

Beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until stiff.

Fold the flour gently with a spatula into the egg yolk mixture. Then carefully fold in the whites. Do not over-mix. There should be no large lumps of visible egg white, but white streaks are okay. Gently spoon and scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Most recipes suggest running a knife through the batter to make sure there are no large bubbles trapped in it, but I think it is better not to mess with it.

Bake the cake at 375°F. for 30 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out with just a few crumbs on it. Loosen the sides of the pan and cool the cake on a rack.




Last year at this time I made Sweet Potatoes with a Spicy Ginger-Garlic Sauce.

Instant Biscuits

These are not the world's best biscuits - for that you require butter, and another 5 or 10 minutes - but they are pretty damn good and no work at all. And they will always be better than purchased biscuits for the simple reason that biscuits have a half-life of about 30 minutes: the further away they are from a hot oven, the less interesting they become. Consequently, I have never had a purchased biscuit that wasn't kind of stale and flat-tasting. Eat 'em while they're hot! But I don't really have to tell you that...

The buttermilk is important, by the way. If you don't have any, some plain yogurt mixed into milk to the right consistency and let to sit for an hour or so will do. Otherwise, go out and buy some buttermilk. Buttermilk has lots of uses and keeps very well.

8 to 10 biscuits
16 minutes - 5 minutes prep time

If you have a fairly broad 4 cup measuring cup, you can mix them right in the measuring cup.


2 cups soft flour, unbleached or whole wheat
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 cup sunflower seed or other neutral vegetable oil
PLUS 1 tablespoon oil
buttermilk added to the oil to make 1 cup
(i.e. 3/4 cup minus 1 tablespoon)

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Lightly oil a baking sheet.

Measure the flour, spooning it gently into the measuring cup. As I said above, if you can put it in a nice wide 4 cup measure, you don't need to dirty another bowl. Add the salt and baking powder and stir gently.

Measure the oil into another measuring cup, and add the buttermilk to bring it all up to the 1 cup mark.

Whisk together the oil and buttermilk then pour them into the flour. Stir briefly but until all the flour is mixed into the dough.

Scoop out large spoonfuls of the dough, and form by hand into a round, flat biscuit shape and put it on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Bake the biscuits for 8 to 12 minutes, until puffed and just lightly browned at the edges. They won't get much colour. Serve at once.




Last year at this time I made Scalloped Potatoes and Barley & Salsa Pilaf.

Butternut Squash, Carrot & Potato Soup

Brrr! It's soup season here; you can expect to see a lot of soups over the next month or two. This one is fairly light; it would do well as a starter to a multi-course meal, or as an accompaniment to a sandwich.

8 servings
1 hour 30 minutes - 30 minutes prep time


1/2 medium butternut squash
2 large carrots
salt & pepper
1/4 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon rosemary
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon savory
4 cups chicken stock
4 small potatoes

Cut the squash in half, and reserve half for some other use. Remove the seeds and rub the cut surface with a little oil. Roast the squash at 350°F for about 1 hour, until tender.

Meanwhile, peel and slice the carrots. Cook them with 2 cups of water until quite tender.

Peel and purée the squash with the carrots and the herbs, adding the carrot cooking water slowly to ensure a smooth purée. Put the purée into a large soup pot with the chicken stock.

Scrub the potatoes well, and peel them if you like. Cut them into small dice and add them to the soup. Simmer the soup for 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender.

Maple Eggnog

Eggnog is very easy to make, even this recipe which unlike most recipes for eggnog calls for cooking the eggs. Some people worry about consuming raw eggs; this solves the problem. The only catch is that it needs to be made the day before, or a little longer - it will keep for 3 or 4 days in the fridge. But who wants to be messing with eggnog at the last minute anyway?

8 - 10 servings
15 minutes prep time - 24 hours chill time


4 cups milk
3 extra-large eggs
pinch salt
2/3 cup dark maple syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
freshly grated nutmeg
rum or sherry to taste

Whisk together the milk, eggs, salt and maple syrup, in a bowl that can go into the microwave, or else in a bowl that can be used as the top of a double boiler.

Cook the eggnog for 2 minutes on high in the microwave, then stir well. Repeat until the eggnog is slightly thickened - 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled.

OR cook the eggnog over a pot of gently boiling water, whisking constantly, until thickened. Let cool. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled.

To serve, shake or stir the eggnog well. Mix in the vanilla. Add rum or sherry to taste, stir well, and top with a good dusting of freshly grated nutmeg.

Cocoa Snaps

The official Christmas baking marathon has now started. As I did last year, I made Gingersnaps to take to my First Day (Sunday) school class to decorate as an activity instead of a lesson since this was also the day of our annual Christmas pot-luck. This year I also made Cocoa Snaps. Just like the name suggests, these are a lot like the Gingersnaps, only cocoa flavoured. Duh.

Also like the gingersnaps, these are a great cookie for cutting out and decorating. But if you would rather not, they can be rolled up into a cylinder in waxed paper, chilled and cut into slices. This is a lot faster than cutting with cookie cutters.

If you are rolling them out to be cut, I have decided that both these and the gingersnaps should be kneaded for a minute or two before you start, as they cut so much better after being handled.


2 1/2 cups soft whole wheat flour
2/3 cup sifted cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup mild vegetable oil
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup water

Sift the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

Warm the honey, and mix the honey, oil and water. I usually put them all together in one measuring cup, then heat them in the microwave until the honey will dissolve easily into the water, about one minute.

Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. The dough should be fairly stiff, and not sticky. If it is too soft and sticky, add a little more flour. Feel free to turn the dough out and knead it to incorporate the last of the flour. This dough is better once it has been worked for a while.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a couple of cookie trays with parchment paper.

Roll out the dough to about 1/4" thick, and cut with cookie cutters. Place the cookies on the prepared cookie trays. Bake for 10 to 14 minutes until lightly browned and set. They will harden up more as they cool.

Whole Wheat Noodles with Stir-Fried Vegetables

Another one of my quick and easy pasta dishes for when I don't want to cook, and quick and easy hello to a Presto Pasta Night. Haven't had one of those in a while.

2 servings
20 minutes - 20 minutes prep time


250 grams (1/2 pound) whole wheat noodles or spaghetti
1 medium-small onion
2 stalks of celery
1 medium carrot
12 to 16 button mushrooms
2 cups finely chopped savoy cabbage
2 cups bean sprouts
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 to 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons water

Put a pot of salted water on to boil. Cook the pasta until al dente, according to directions.

Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables. Peel and cut the onion into slivers. Slice the celery thinly, and peel and cut the carrot into slivers. Clean and slice the mushrooms, and chop the cabbage. Rinse the bean sprouts.

About 6 minutes before the pasta is done, add the carrots to the boiling water with the pasta. Heat the oil in a large skillet and add the onion and celery. Sauté for two or three minutes, then add the mushrooms. Continue sautéing for another minute. Add the cabbage, and immediately add all the liquid ingredients. Continue cooking and stirring for another 2 or 3 minutes, until the cabbage is tender and the liquid mostly absorbed or evaporated.

Add the bean sprouts to the pan and mix them in. Drain the pasta, then toss it with the vegetable mixture.

Essence

"a quarter pound of butter
a quarter pound of sugar
three tablespoons of golden treacle
one teaspoon of almond extract
and half a pound of oats

I call it my mother's recipe, though she may have copied it from somewhere; she was always copying down a recipe. But this one was not cut from a magazine, or copied from a newspaper, as she did, by rubbing wax paper over newsprint to collect the words and then rubbing the wax paper on a page of the scrapbook, transferring all those little black newsprint letters. This recipe was in her handwriting: "Melt butter, sugar and treacle, and add essence. Take off the fire, add oats. Mix well, pour into a greased baking dish, and bake in an oven with a moderate fire for half an hour. Let cool. Cut into squares."

"Add essence." By this she meant "add almond extract," but when she made oatcakes she did add essence, her own essence. When I made oatcakes, they didn't taste anything like my mother's, though I followed my mother's recipe to the letter. They tasted good enough, but they tasted of my essence, not my mother's. There are no two cooks that can make the same dish; you'll find that essence in one and not the other. Or the essence in each is just different. I don't know. But you'll know the essence of a good cook when you find it in a dish. You'll just know. It was there in my mother's cooking. My father knew it. He'd eat the oatcakes my mother made, but not the oatcakes I made."

From "The Cure for Death by Lightning" by Gail Anderson-Dargatz.

Barley & Cheese

Right; like macaroni and cheese, only with barley. Serve smaller portions because it is denser than the macaroni would be. My sweetie said, "Pretty good, for barley!" which is about as good as it gets with him and barley, sigh. I thought it was loverly myself.

4 to 6 servings
2 1/2 hours - 1/2 hour prep time


1 cup barley
3 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt

3 or 4 stalks of celery
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon savory
2 teaspoons sweet Hungarian paprika
OR smoked sweet paprika
2 cups milk
250 grams (1/2 pound) old cheddar cheese, cubed or grated

Cook the barley in your rice cooker with the water and salt, or on the stove until the barley is tender and the water absorbed.

Wash and chop the celery. Sauté it in a pot with the butter, until soft. Sprinkle over the flour, savory and paparika. Stir well and cook for a minute or two, then stir in the milk. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until thickened. Add the cheese, and stir until it is melted.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread the barley in an 8" x 10" shallow casserole. When the sauce is ready, pour it over the barley and mix it in. Spread the mixture out evenly, and bake the casserole for one hour, until brown and bubbly on top.




Last year at this time I made Red Cabbage Braised with Beets.

Cabbage, Apple & Walnut Salad

Like my new bowl? My sweetie had a birthday last week, so we went down and celebrated by having Dim Sum with his family in Toronto. And since we were not that far from the Pacific Mall (and therefore Utsuwa-No-Yakata) and since I needed some little something to help me get over the shock of finding myself living with a fifty year old, I got a present.

Anyway, what's in it is a simple salad of cabbage, apples and walnuts. I sometimes forget that I should still eat salads in the winter, and go too long without something raw and crunchy. This has lots of lovely crunch.

4 servings
20 minutes prep time


4 cups finely chopped savoy cabbage
2 medium apples
1/2 to 2/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup mayonnaise (light is fine)
1/2 cup buttermilk or yogurt
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
salt & pepper to taste

Chop the cabbage. Wash the apples, but don't peel them. Core them and chop them and mix them with the cabbage. Add the nuts.

Put the mayonnaise, buttermilk, vinegar, salt and pepper into the bowl with the salad. Mix well, until the mayonnoise and buttermilk are blended and evenly distributed throughout the salad.

Kitchen Sink Soup

This is not the world's most beautiful soup, in fact I will admit it is downright sludgy looking. Nevertheless it is something I make repeatedly throughout the winter, as it is so good, so wholesome and so filling. It's pretty inexpensive to make, too. Like most soups made with dried peas or lentils, it is better after it has sat for a while and been reheated once or twice. Good thing; this recipe makes lots. If you get tired of it before it's gone, put it in plastic yogurt type tubs and freeze it for later. It's tough, it will take it.

12 servings
2 days - about 1/2 hour prep time


1 cup dry green split peas
1 cup dry yellow split peas
1 cup green or brown lentils
8 cups of water
3 or 4 bay leaves
2 medium leeks
3 stalks of celery
1 large carrot
2 cups finely chopped cabbage
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 cups crushed tomatoes
2 teaspoons salt

Rinse and pick over the peas and lentils, and put them in a large pot with the water and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer them until tender, stirring regularly; about an hour to an hour and a half.

Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables. Wash the leeks, cut off any dark green leaves and the roots and discard them. Chop the remaining light green and white parts, and rinse them well. Wash and chop the celery and the cabbage. Peel and dice the carrot.

When the legumes are tender, heat one tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet. Sauté the leeks and celery until soft but not browned, and add them to the soup pot. Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in the skillet, and sauté the carrot and cabbage. Once they go into the skillet add about half a cup of water, and cook, stirring constantly, until the water has evaporated and the cabbage is soft but not browned. Add these to the soup, along with the crushed tomatoes. Season with the salt. Continue simmering the soup for at least an hour, until the vegetables are tender.

Like a lot of pea and bean soup recipes, this is really much better the next day, and keeps well.





Last year at this time I made Braised Celery, Leek and Carrots, which, not so oddly, are also all present in this soup.

Pumpkin Squares

I made these with the idea that they were going to be brownies, but they really just weren't. They were very good, though. Because I thought they were going to be brownies, I used more sugar than I would normally put into cake. Feel free to cut it back. I would think 2/3 cup would be quite sufficient. And since we're talking cake, I have to say I keep having visions of cream cheese icing with these.

I used the pumpkin I froze a week or two back, and I did cook it down in a skillet until nearly reduced in half. This gives a richer, more intense flavour to the pumpkin. It also makes it more similar in consistency to canned pumpkin. Still, just as a note: when the batter is finished it is rather disconcertingly thin. It baked up beautifully though, and the squares were very moist but sturdy. They kept very well but I noted they were inclined to darken, especially where they had been in contact with the metal baking pan. It might be better to bake them in a glass pan.

16 squares
45 minutes - 15 minutes prep time


3/4 cup whole wheat or spelt flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup Sucanat or dark brown sugar
2 extra large eggs
1 cup cooked puréed pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9" x 9" pan.

Mix all the dry ingredients together.

Cream the butter and beat in the Sucanat or brown sugar. Beat in the eggs. Beat in the pumpkin and the vanilla.

Mix the flour into the pumpkin mixture until well blended.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the top is firm and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.