Here We Go…

Things couldn’t be more different from a year ago when I first started writing this blog.  A walk past my local mulberry bush and the familiar hedgerows and plum trees near my house  a couple of weeks ago was disappointing in some ways, although probably closer to how things should be at this time of year, as they were yet not heavy with ripe fruit as they had been the year before but full of promising green berries waiting for the summer sun.  I too am waiting for the summer sun but will have a longer wait this year as I am now in a different hemisphere and have been plunged into the depths of an Australian Winter (which, it turns out, is marginally cooler than a British Summer). 

There has not been a lot of baking in the Bread for the Boys household over recent months but rather a lot of travelling, jet-lag and frantic packing and now, feeling as if I am waking from a rather confusing dream, I find that I have (s)emigrated. The Boys, all being dual citizens have emigrated proper but I have merely (s)emigrated on account of a not-quite-ready spouse visa. So, I wait, in tourist mode and think about another adventure when I need to leave the country again in three months time. 

There have, of course, been many distressing Goodbyes over recent weeks, mostly to family and friends of the two- and four- legged variety.  And then there was my sourdough starter.  Having become slightly obsessed with watching Border Security: Australia’s Front Line I realised that taking it with me was simply not an option. 

So here I am, ready to start again, with exciting foodie adventures ahead of me!

Plane Food

We’re all very excited in the breadfortheboys household as one of my lovely sister-in-laws is coming to stay with us from Australia.  She is going to have to sleep in the cupboard under the stairs as our house is tiny.  I hope she doesn’t mind.

I’ve been trying to work out what she might want to eat when she gets off the plane.  My mother-in-law always gets it right with a cool yet comforting bowl of vichyssoise and toast.  Great when you are going from freezing cold London to lovely warm (or cold, or wet, or scorching – depending on what mood the weather is in) Melbourne!

I think simple food is best most of the time, but especially when you’ve just got off a plane, so there will be toast, lots and lots of toast.  Fruit. And macaroons.

Not the pretty, ultra-sweet and brightly coloured ones that are all the rage at the moment.  I love them but my preference is for these Chewy Almond Macaroons (Nigella Lawson, Feast).  They are chewy, marzipany and scented with rosewater and cardamon.  They can also be out of the oven and on the cooling rack within thirty minutes of me deciding to make them which is definitely an added bonus.  They will spread out a little more and become flatter than the ones in my picture (see this picture) if you use larger eggs (mine were on the small side of large).  A bit of squidginess might be lost though, which would be a shame!

Now, what to do with those leftover egg yolks.