Home
is where the heart is, they say. Back here at home, this resonates to an extent. I was quite against the idea of being home, mostly because flying is probably one of the worst things I can think to do right now, but with an ageing close relative and the prospect of a christmas with a reunited family, bags were packed. Upped and went. From snow, to the tropics.
Food news of the week:
I feel like I need to wait out this time at home before I suggest anything at all, but I did have the Turkish breakfast at the famed Common Man Coffee Roasters, and was mighty impressed. That aside, Ishinomaki knocked the air out of my lungs; I forgot how many hidden Japanese gems there are here. The foie gras roll, uni roll and premium chirashi bowl are where it's at. My one gripe resides with the single, lonely sliver of fatty otoro. More, more! Baking-wise, I've been having fun with brown butter chocolate chip cookies, but for now, check out my lemon olive oil cake recipe down below, of which the full post is here. Ok ok last one: ignoring the pricetag, how good does this look?
Science news of the week:
Jung supporter or not, I really enjoyed this. It reminded me of Jung's brilliance, especially since I have always been intrigued by the 16 categories of personality we all like to box ourselves into after taking the Myers-Briggs test.
Insight of the week:
Singapore, where I am now, is very hot, and I realised my thinking is less acute in such weather. Anyone else agree? Further, this is no insight of my own, but Paul Graham's A Plan for Spam was an interesting insight on spam criteria. What makes spam spam, and how does one stop it?
Recipe of the week:
This has been made on a loop in the Oxford household and are perfect bite-sized pieces of golden heaven. That is all.
Lemon olive oil cake (for one 9-inch cake, serves 8-9)
Ingredients
The juice and rind of 2 lemons
3 eggs
210g (around a little more than a cup) white sugar
1 tsp fine salt
250g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
240ml (1 cup) extra virgin olive oil
3-4 tbsp granulated sugar for sprinkling
Directions
Preheat your oven to 180C (350F) and line a 9×9-inch square tin or a 9-inch circular baking pan with parchment paper. I recommend using a pan with a removeable bottom, as it makes removing the cake later a piece of cake (haha).
In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, salt, lemon juice and rind. Tip the flour and baking powder on top, and use the same whisk to first gently whisk the flour and baking powder that is sitting on top of the liquid batter briefly, then slowly incorporate everything together until you get a nice, homogenous batter. The batter should be yellow and rather liquidy, so it drops easily from your whisk. Pour the batter (and it should be easy to pour) into your prepared pan and sprinkle on the coarse granulated sugar all over the top. You may need slightly more than the quantity described in the ingredients list, according to your taste. Bake for half an hour. Check at the half hour mark with a wooden skewer inserted into the middle of the cake; if the skewer emerges with moist crumbs, then remove and let cool for 20 minutes before cutting and serving. Bake for another 10 minutes if the skewer comes out still looking quite wet. The top should have a beautiful and the sides will have darkened slightly. Once the cake is cool, you can dust the top with icing sugar and maybe even some dried lemon slices. Serve with cream or ice cream!
Until next time,
Alex
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