General Things and Chocolate Brownies

EDIT - sorry I accidentally deleted the duck recipe without noticing, it is in there now...

These are Tabitha's favourite things of the moment - her 'baby' and shoes.  She spends much of her day walking around the house, clutching onto her baby and a shoe or two:

These are two of my favourite things:

This gorgeous gift bag arrived in the post from my Godmother - Tabitha's God Grandmother - who lives in Connecticut, USA.  It is a (slightly belated) birthday present:

A fabulous book about Miffy in New York City, which is just brilliant because a) Tabitha already loves Miffy books and b) We caught up with Kathie and her husband George while we were in New York in May, so it is a great memento of our trip!

Along with the book, Kathie (a really outstanding knitter) created three little knitted 'Miffy' type dolls for Tabitha.  They are so, so cute, and the perfect size for her to carry around:

You wouldn't believe how neat they are!  Maybe one day I will learn to knit so perfectly...

During the week, I bought a new Jaffle iron.  Now, it has come to my attention that Jaffles are relatively unknown in many parts of the world, and knowing that I have readers in such fabulously far-flung places as Russia, Qatar, Belgium, Canada and the like, I will explain that they are sort of toasted sandwiches, but made in a special iron, a little like a waffle iron, which seals the edges and cuts them neatly into two triangles.  This is brilliant because you can really stuff them full, even with runny fillings such as baked beans, or cheese corn and tuna.  They are great lunches and snacks for Tabitha, particularly as they are just as delicious cold, so are nice portable sandwiches.

Because I am, to be frank, a total nerd, I did a fair bit of research before choosing an iron.  I went with the Breville 'The Original' two slice seal-and-cut.  Why?

a) Breville were the first to market with an electric sandwich maker featuring the 'slice' feature to divide it into two. This makes them the go-to brand, for me. I spent the morning reading fascinating articles about the history of the jaffle. Yes, I possibly have too much time...

b) I wanted a 2-slice. I think it would be a rare occasion when I require 4 jaffles immediately, so the convenience of the smaller device won out over a massive 4-jaffle iron (although I believe Breville makes the same iron in a 4-jaffle model).

c) This one features a place to neatly wrap the cord, and - wait for it - it can stand vertically for easy storage!

d) Reviews suggest that the non-stick coating on the Brevilles are up there with the best.

e) The plates are square. Most important for me. Many of the brands feature rectangular plates, which are just a giant pain with fancier supermarket breads such as Helga's and Abbott's.

f) It is stainless steel, so isn't quite as naff-looking as some of the daggy white ones.

So I brought the new purchase home.  Do you notice anything strange about the box?

How about now?

It seems that my Jaffle iron came with a gift-with-purchase!

The strange cat sat in the box, staring into space, for a good hour or so.  Sometimes I worry about Possum...

Tabitha likes to ride around in her Cozy Coupe with her baby doll in the back.  She gets quite anxious if her 'baby' is out of her reach for more than a moment or two - she even has to have it with her at meal times, and will 'feed' her baby with a fork or spoon, and offer it sips of water from a bottle.  It completely melts my heart...

Actually, she has two babies - After looking at beautiful, expensive German-made baby dolls, which are fairly heavy and have hard bodies, I was advised by a couple of people to, instead, buy a cheap, simple cloth-bodied baby, which young children seem to prefer - more cuddly, and lighter to hold and carry around.

So I went to Target and found a two-pack ('twins') of cloth dolls, for $14 on sale - bargain!  I have stashed one aside, in case we loose one.  Tabitha smeared jam all over her 'baby' and it looked as though it had been quite brutally stabbed.  Thankfully, they are machine washable...

With the cold weather, I was craving rich and spicy flavours this week.  Asian stir-fried greens, and marinated duck with rice seemed to fill that niche rather nicely.

To make the greens (and you can use bok choi, gai lan or anything similar), I stir-fry some julienned fresh ginger and minced garlic in some oil (not too hot, or it will burn the garlic), then add a glug of Chinese rice wine, boil it briefly, then add some sweet chili sauce, a little fish sauce, some soy, then add the greens and stir-fry over high heat until they start to wilt, then add a decent glug (maybe 1/4 cup) of high quality oyster sauce (such as my beloved Megachef - I use their fish sauce too) and a drizzle of sesame oil.

For the duck - marinate for 30 mins or an hour or so, in a mixture of soy sauce, brown sugar, orange and ginger marmalade, the juice of half an orange, a couple of cloves of crushed garlic, and possibly a little sliced ginger.  Marinate flesh-side down, keeping the skin dry, then preheat the oven to 180 degrees.  Put the marinade in a small saucepan, bring the the boil, and simmer for a bit to reduce slightly for a sauce.

Slash the skin a few times, then put the duck, skin-side down, in a cold frypan, then bring it up to low/medium heat, and cook on medium heat for a few minutes, letting the fat render out.  The skin will start to get crispy.  Turn over, flesh-side down, and sear for a minute.  The transfer to the oven and cook for around ten minutes, or until the duck is still slightly pink inside.  Remove to a warm plate.

Leave the duck breasts to rest for five minutes, then slice thinly, and pour their juices back in with the reduced marinade.  Serve the duck with its sauce, the greens with their sauce, and the rice in between.  I can never decide if i prefer the duck sauce or the sauce from the greens!

The duck meat should still be quite pink inside:

Today, we had my lovely 'Godfamily' over - that is, my Godfather, his wife Tanya (and honorary second Godmother), and their son, who is my Godson and also Tabitha's Godfather!  Confused?!  My parents and sister came too.  I made, for the occasion, my Godmother Kathie's (!!!) special family chocolate walnut cake - the one with the recipe I will not reveal.  It was delicious:

Tabitha had fun wearing her Boston Red Sox cap today - we bought it for her on our holiday in May, when we took her to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park.  It was such a wonderful day, and seeing her in the cap brings back great memories for me.  'Scuse the PJs top:

From the back - Miss Cool in her baseball cap and jeans:

Tabitha is, I am pleased to say, a most enthusiastic cleaner - she loves finding a cloth and wandering around the house, wiping surfaces.  She will even wipe down the cupboards with an Enjo cloth!  I am thrilled to have a little cleaning assistant:

Sometimes I look at her and simply cannot believe how grown up she looks.  It feels like just a few months ago that she was a tiny, helpless baby.

My sister found these Mini Mouse ears - they were mine from when I was eight years old, when mum took me to Euro Disneyland (I went with her on a work trip to the UK over my Summer holidays).  Apparently, for the whole trip, I refused to take them off, and as a result, we have many photographs of myself in historic locations (such as Versailles, Westminster Abbey, the Louvre and the like), wearing Mini Mouse ears.

This evening, I made brownies - a very simple, melt-and-mix recipe from Nigella Lawson's most recent book, Kitchen.  It is a really fantastic book - nearly as good as How to Eat - and there are literally dozens of recipes in it which I plan on cooking.  The brownies are a handy recipe for when you want to whip something easy up at the last minute - they require no fancy ingredients, the butter can be used straight from the fridge, and they keep beautifully for days.

Here is the recipe:

Everyday Brownies - slightly adapted from Kitchen by Nigella Lawson

150g unsalted butter

300g brown sugar

75g cocoa powder (preferably of very high quality, such as Valhrona)

150g plain flour

1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

A good pinch of salt

4 eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

150g of milk chocolate - either chocolate chips, or simply a chocolate bar chopped up.  NOTE next time I will use dark chocolate.

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius, and line a baking tray (roughly 30cm x 20cm, or 25cm square) with baking paper - I use one long piece which goes down two sides and along the bottom, then another strip which goes along the bottom and the other two sides.  It might seem like a bit of fiddling, but it saves effort removing them at the end, and dramatically reduces your washing-up.

Melt the butter over low heat in a medium-sized saucepan.

Add the sugar (still over low heat), stirring with a wooden spoon to blend it with the butter.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate soda and salt, and stir into the saucepan - the mixture will be quite dry.  When combined, remove from the heat.

In a bowl or jug, beat together the eggs and the vanilla.  Pour into the brownie mixture, and beat well to combine.  Stir in the chopped chocolate or chocolate chops, and scrape into the prepared baking tin.  Spread the mixture evenly with a spatula, then bake in the oven for around 20 - 25 minutes.

The brownies are done when the top looks dry and set, but you can feel the surface and can tell that the mixture is still a little wobbly underneath.  A cake tester will come out a fairly goopy.

When you take the slab out of the oven, let it cool for around ten minutes, then you should be able to carefully lift it out by the baking-paper, and rest it on a cooling rack:

Once it has cooled down a little more, carefully slice the slab into roughly 24 squares (they are of decent size).  Of course, you can certainly do this while they are still fairly hot - they would make a truly brilliant dessert dusted with icing sugar and served with ice cream - but they will be a bit more fragile:

They are spectacularly gooey and dark inside.  I used milk chocolate bits, as specified in the recipe however I think that they stand out too much, so next time I will use dark chocolate bits instead:

Although these are alarmingly rich and decadent, I could happily eat several in one sitting.  Perhaps I will...