plum & walnut sticky buns

Staying up until 2 AM baking sticky buns is not generally advisable, unless you a) can sleep in the next morning and b) you're watching the season 6 finale of Dexter. As I was putting together these sticky buns, the season wound up in my living room and I alternated between being on the edge of my seat and on the edge of barfing. Such hideous, horrible grossness in the last few episodes. And that final scene, when your gut drops... if you watch, you know the one. Please don't spoil in comments.

It's good that I had the promise of these sticky buns to balance out all the bad things playing out on screen. Just like the buns balanced with Dexter, the sweetness of the buns were balanced with tart little bursts of flavour from the plums I added. Plums are one of my favourite fruits to add to baking - they're much like cranberries but a bit sweeter and less bitter.

So when you're settling down to watch a particularly difficult bit of TV - such as the final few episodes of Dexter season six, the end of Six Feet Under, or perhaps a Curb Your Enthusiasm marathon - bake some plum and walnut sticky buns at the same time. You'll be glad you did.

buckwheat pancakes with spiced apple plum compote

 

There are those who like to buck the status quo and do things like eat breakfast for dinner. There's nothing new or special about that - especially if you're young enough to remember your days as a 20-something in university. Or your 2 AM runs to the grosser-than-gross Fresgo Inn on Davie street in Vancouver for a breakfast so huge you can split it in half and call it a decent meal. Breakfast for dinner is a concept that is solidly entrenched in Gen X culture.

The Fresgo Inn on Davie is long gone (though apparently still operating in Whalley - who knew?) and I don't think I've had breakfast for dinner in years. However, today I double-bucked the status quo: I ate breakfast for lunch. 

Now, don't you go thinking that I slept in. No no. I got up reasonably early, ate a bagel for breakfast, went out in the cold, blustery weather to shoot an assignment, then came home and made pancakes at 2 in the afternoon. Buckwheat pancakes. With a spiced apple and plum compote.

plum tart

Guys, I'm going to help you out here. I'm going to tell you how not to pick up a woman. First of all, the metro on a weekday morning is probably a poor choice. When a woman is getting off the train, don't cut diagonally in front of her when you approach. That makes it difficult and awkward for her to escape, especially if she's walking along a wall. When she tells you that she doesn't speak French and runs away, she is, in all likelihood, giving you the message that she's not interested.  The next course of action is absolutely not to follow her down the stairs to the other metro line, follow her all the way down the platform, and to surprise her by getting on the same car as her again. This is bad. Really. It's bad. Don't do it.

Of course, you might think it's okay to stand very close to her on the train and continue to talk to her in an environment where she literally cannot escape you. This goes for elevators too. In actuality, it is not okay. These are terrible places to approach women. In any case, when she is avoiding your questions and not asking you anything in return, she is not interested.  Please, please do not ask where she is going. She won't tell you. Also... when she gets off the train at her destination, please stay on it.

A much nicer way to woo a lady is with dessert. Of course, this does not work with total strangers, but I don't like strangers, so that's A-okay with me. I was lucky enough to be wooed with homemade creme brulée. Perhaps you could try using this lovely plum tart to impress your lady friend?

fruit salad with fresh mint

 

I used to make fruit salad by cutting up any fruit that I liked. You will get tasty fruit salads that way for sure - I don't think anyone's ever had a bad fruit salad except, perhaps, those fruit salads you get at cafeterias that taste like the plastic container they came in. You know the ones. They're generally made up of a few wedges of orange, some grapefruit and a couple of red grapes soaking in a rancid pool of ammonia. Delicious!

In order to take your fruit salad from tasty to exceptional, all you need to do is put a little thought into it. Don't go nuts adding whatever fruit you want. Think simple and understated. Restrain yourself and think about what flavours compliment each other. That's what I've started doing lately and the other day I came up with the idea for this (though Adam was good enough to prepare it while I was busy making something else for our esteemed guests of the day). It was the best fruit salad in the history of fruit salad. If I do say so myself.

plum and rosemary upside-down cake

 

Happy Royal Wedding... weekend! Hurray! William and Kate are married and everyone is happy. I'm sure everybody is sick of hearing about it - except me. I spent hours watching the Royal Channel's rebroadcast of the ceremony last night. When Adam came home from work, he went on immediate alert because there I was, sitting on the couch, fixated on the screen, all red-eyed and stuffy. But no... there was no need to escalate threat levels. It was just my typical response to anything even vaguely emotional happening on tv.

So, in order to celebrate this momentous occasion (and because all I need is an excuse), I baked a cake! One made with plums, which are purple, which is the colour of royalty... right? Ok, maybe I'm stretching it.