Jammy Chicken

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Western Australian Outback Roads.

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The Australian Outback.

Iconic name.

Amazing place.

The red soil, roads carved across the flat terrain like arteries.

Road trains - 2, 3 or 4 trailer-long trucks barreling across the emptiness.

Huge mining equipment, looking like play toys in the great flat expanse.

GF Chocolate Cupcakes.

I am slowly getting the hang of gluten-free baking, after some true disasters. I'll spare you - they were ugly with a capital U. There are some big issues with gluten-free baking. It is quite frustrating that cakes, cookies and whatnot can be so dry. Those non-gluten flours just don't have the same luscious moistness of wheat, and baked goods go stale in a blink.

Nothing quite as disappointing as biting into a dry, sawdust-like lump.

I've snooped around the interwebs and found a few different approaches to dealing with this - adding fruit in some form to moisten the mixture, adding lots of eggs or fat to give it a better texture.

Eating stuff fast.

One interesting tactic is to use food-grade glycerine. I don't see this on any US websites, but I found a UK cookbook that uses it (at TJ Maxx of all places). Glycerine, by the way, comes from vegetable oil, and while you may be more used to seeing it in beauty products, it is also used in royal icing or fondant to give a good texture and smoothness.

Exactly the same reason why we put it on our face, actually.

Being a bit of an experimentalist, I decided to give it a try. I had some food-grade glycerine lying around, I think for some misguided desire to make fondant that never  came about. My recipe is based on one from the 2010 United Kingdom Gluten-Free Chef of the Year Michael McCamley ...nope, I'd never heard of him or Gluten-Free Chef of the Year before, either. I hope they gave him a spiffy crown or something.

I used a flour mix from GFG&C, because I had that mixed up already, instead of the flour mix from the book (cunningly named Gluten Free Baking, and with a very luxurious gold gleaming cover. I like me a swanky book cover.) My mix has 200 g sorgum, 200 g millet, 300 g sweet rice and 300 g potato starch, btw.

These babies were nice and chocolatey, baked up into a shapely dome, had a moist texture, and almost miraculously stayed fresh for a good 4 days.

4 days! Un-freakin-believable.

You can find food-grade glycerine at cooking supply stores or online. If they sell it in a drugstore in the vicinity of the bandages, it ain't food grade, people.

Feel free to add up to 1/2 cup of chopped nuts if that floats your boat.

Chocolate Cupcakes, gluten-free.

Makes 12.

1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon food-grade glycerine*
1 1/2 sticks butter, at room temperature
4 eggs
2/3 cup gluten-free unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/3 cups gluten-free flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners, or grease and flour the bejeasus out of it (GF baking sticks like a mofo).

Beat together the sugar, glycerine and butter in a large bowl until creamed and fluffy.

Mix the eggs in one at a time, beating well between each egg.

Sift the cocoa powder and remaining dry ingredients into the bowl, and mix gently together.

(Here's where to add the nuts if you want.)

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the muffins spring back when gently pressed. Remove the cupcakes and cool on a wire rack.

Store in a sealed container for up to 4 days.

Glutney, and November already.

Yikes. November already.

I had this whole list of things to do in October, and I got none of them done.

Nada. Zip. Zilch.

Nuffin.

That's just the way it is sometimes, and it is one of those times.

I am slowly working my way through the very alluring salt sugar smoke by Diana Henry. The British cover is here, and the American here - I like the plump and mouth-wateringly tart cherries burst open and strewn across the page of the rumtopf or bachelor's jam recipe featured on the American version best.

I got a lovely email from Ms. Henry, who aptly surmised that I like a little tipple now and again, and directed me to head straight to the booze section of her book.

She was not mistaken.

I have apricots in muscat and pear ratafia lined up for some much anticipated kitchen dabbling this weekend.

I made up a batch of chutney before I headed out to New Jersey in a race with Sandy to see who would arrive first. Hugh's affectionately named glutney recipe is a lifesaver when the garden is heaving with veg, or in this case, lots of tomatoes rescued before the first killing frost sitting on the counter threatening to turn to slime before they get even remotely ripe. Add in one butternut squash, bits and bobs of dried fruits (sultanas a.k.a. golden raisins, regular old raisins, dried currants), some cider vinegar and a gigantic pot to hold it all, and 4 hours of slow simmering later I had 5 pints of glorious tart, sharp chutney. I am keenly observing the jars as they sit and mellow on the shelf.

I am making the last tweaks on gluten-free chocolate cupcakes and almond flour carrot muffins, which will be ready to share soon. Until then, the chutney in action.

Wreath Flowers, Western Australia.

Wreath flowers are a rare and beautiful Western Australia wildflower. They grow in expanding circles, and the outermost edges of the succulent plant bloom a vivid deep pink and white, forming a perfect living wreath. Flower fanatics come from all over Australia, and all over the world, to catch a glimpse of these beauties. The plants fluorish on disturbed ground, making recently graded roadsides a prime location to spot them. It's pretty difficult to see a small, ground-hugging flower while zipping by at 60 miles an hour, but given the complete lack of traffic on the highway we certainly noticed the 5 cars parked up ahead (that was more cars than we'd seen all day). Being gawkers, and nosy, we pulled off to see what all the fuss was about, and found a forest of wreath flowers on the ground. It looked like a flock of springtime nymphs had scattered their head wear across the dusty red soil. Difficult to grow from seed or transplant, the only way you are going to see these delicate flower circles is if you too stumble onto them in the Australian outback.

Day after a hurricane lunch.

I had been planning on visiting my parents in NJ this week ever since the end of the summer, and as it turned out Sandy decided to arrive in town on the same day as my flight. American Airlines willingly - eagerly - assisted me in changing my flight plans, and I decided to leave early Sunday to beat the storm to the east coast. I snuck in to Philadelphia just as the rain started to fall that evening, passing scores of glum, sober travellers piled into airport gate sitting areas watching their flights out disappear. We were in the path, a direct hit, here in south central New Jersey, but 53.3 miles from the coast and every single foot counted. Backyard trees, 40-footers, were blowing around like an over-caffeinated cheerleader's pom-poms. I thought for sure we'd have some trees ripped out of the ground, if not splinter into toothpicks first, especially after the inches of rain dumped ahead of the wind front. 

Last night, we feared the worst and were filling pitchers with water for coming days, cooking large batches of chicken so we could still eat if - when - the power went out, expecting the food in the fridge to spoil and wondering exactly how many days we could last on cans of soup. 

Amazingly, luckily and totally unexpectedly, we have nothing more than a serious pile of wet fall leaves covering everything. We were without a doubt some of the luckiest ones affected by this natural disaster. The power is still on. The cable TV cooking shows I usually watch with my mom (talkin' about you, Ina) seem like even more of a luxury now, knowing how many millions of people were hit hard, flooded out, snowed in, without electricity, without homes.

Our grasp on the magnitude of this event is still unfolding, Sandy continues to impact the country and is likely to do so for another day or more. We think about the 10's of millions of people who are struggling through this, and send well-wishes to them all.

For lunch today, that hurricane-prep chicken, anticipated to be eaten in candlelight, and not the romantic kind, with no heat and no modern conveniences. We are indeed lucky.

Lucky Chicken Quinoa Veggie Salad for Sandy.

1 chicken breast, cooked
1 small zucchini, raw
1 carrot, raw
3-4 roasted artichokes, from a jar and packed in oil
1-2 cups cooked quinoa

Chop the chicken into small cubes or shred into pieces.

Cut the zucchini in half the long way and slice into thin half-moons. Cut the carrot the same way.

Chop the artichoke into small pieces.

Mix together in a large bowl, with generous salt and pepper and a drizzle of whatever chicken pan juice and artichoke oil you have around. 

Serves 4, and best served room temperature.

Totally gratuitous super-cute pet hedgehog picture.

Not mine.

Still super-cute, though.

Geology in the Whtisundays, Australia.

So, by now you must be wondering what I was actually doing in the Whitsunday Islands, on a boat for 5 days, yes?

I was looking at rocks.

Rocks.

Really.

Up there? Just past that beautiful white sand beach?

Those are some of the rocks we were looking at.

It's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it...

They're quite spectacular as far as rocks go.

I could bore you to tears with photos of rocks, you know.

Instead, I'll show you these.

We've had the beaches, we've had the whales, and this wraps up the Whitsundays.

Next up is WA - Western Australia.

Land of red dust and endless vistas. 

On the to-do list for ... October.

I subscribe to about a hundred blog feeds in Google reader, and I don't know about you, but stuff rolls by so fast I can hardly keep track of where it's from or where it goes. Trying to go back and find something that looked interesting is near impossible.

Since I like lists so much, I thought I'd attempt to organize by rolling all the posts that spark my interest into one compilation here on Jammy Chicken. That way, I can find it, and easily get back to it later if I have a brain fart.

Which is highly probable.

So, October's plans include the following:

Sprouted Kitchen's chcoclate date truffles with almond butter - vegan, gluten-free and paleo.

Getting my hands on the Blue Bottle Coffee book. Coffee porn at its zenith.

I already have my hands on Diana Henry's newest cookbook, Salt Sugar Smoke (US version here), and I just need a long afternoon to immerse myself in it. She's my latest food girl crush, and I want some quality time alone, just the two of us.

I like the thought of making kombucha. Maybe because it seems like a biology experiment.

I have some aubergines (eggplant to us Americans) to roast for baba ganoush and want to use homemade tahini, of which there are many versions to try.

Must must must acquire several of these for the easiest way to sauerkraut. No more bags. Dude.

Date cream. The slathering opportunities are endless.

Double chocolate courgette muffins. Gluten free. Did I mention the double chocolate?

Sails and whales, Whitsunday Islands, Australia.

The Whitsundays are a sailing paradise.

Our boat was the Anaconda III. 101 feet long. Home for 5 days.

Humpback whales migrate through the Whitsunday Islands from June to September, as they travel to warmer waters.

Sailing around the islands, and out to the Stepping Stones on the Great Barrier Reef, gave us plenty of opportunities to whale watch.

We got an amazing show.

Salt spray in the air, warm sun, cool wind.

Mysterious creatures swimming below us, curious and playful. 

Such tremendous joy that its full expression requires launch themselves into the air.

We have a lot to learn, I think.

The Western Australian government wants to put a natural gas pipeline through the world's largest humpback whale calving ground in the Kimberly.

Add your vote to say no.

The Whitsunday Islands, Australia.

The Whitsunday Islands, Australia.

The most beautiful beaches in the world.

If you made up a perfect beach in your head, it would look just like this.

Pristine, glorious, paradise.

These words come to mind as you walk along the shore of Whitehaven Beach.

Mostly, though, you just try to remember to breathe, because it is all so very, very breathtakingly beautiful.

The Whitsunday Islands, named by Captain Cook, are off the coast of Queensland in the Coral Sea, northeast Australia. They are in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef, and are one of the most popular yachting destinations in the southern hemisphere.

Fall is my favorite.

Hi there - I'm back from Australia!

Exciting stuff - jumping from summer in Iowa to winter in Australia to fall in Iowa, plus or minus 15 hours of time zone change and 5 weeks or so.

Jet lag: much worse coming back than going out, I have to say.

Melatonin is my new best friend.

I hope you enjoyed some of my travel piccies I put up while I was gone. We're almost caught up, you and I, on my best piccies, but there's still Prague and Vienna, and of course Australia, to share. I should get them out and up soon to be ready for upcoming trips - I am looking forward to Dorset in winter and Italy next summer.

Other stuff has happened besides travel.

I submitted my tenure package.

What's that, you ask?

Well, basically it means that all my work colleagues vote - anonymously - on whether I deserve to get promoted or get fired.

Hoping for the former.  

On a slightly less depressing note - I got a major haircut.

Love the shorter hair. So swishy and flippy.

See photo above. Compare to about page.

A big birthday has just passed.

One with a zero. Trying to ignore it.

Unsuccessfully.

The arrival of a pressure canner, and with it, the potential for canned tomato sauce in 10 minutes instead of 40.

Love it.

The British Guy was left her in Iowa to deal with the tomato harvest - 85 pounds while I was away.

He learned to roast tomatoes pretty fast. You must, when the only other option is being smothered in an avalanche of tomatoes.

We've gotten at least 50 more pounds since I got back.

Hence the profound love for the pressure canner.

I've canned chopped tomatoes, sauce, made my own ketchup (from HFW River Cottage, posted there on the Paupered Chef blog. I'll get my version up soon...it's all about the spices).

Also tomatilloes. I'm busy making this on an industrial scale.

And we had a frost watch yesterday night so I had a yard-wide herb chop and am madly drying basil, parsley, sage, and tarragon.

Finally, deciding to really, completely go gluten-free.

Once and for all, for everything I eat.

Honestly - it's a pain. Especially when travelling.

Airports are grim places to find food that's verifiably gluten-free.

I do tremendously miss my favorite bread and cookie foods.

Pasta.

Sigh.

GF baking is tricky.

These non-wheat flours behave badly.

I am not the master of the kitchen anymore and it makes me grumpy.

Despite all that, I feel completely good. Which makes it all totally worthwhile.

And I will eventually crack the baking thing.

I hope.

Icelandic Opera House, Reykjavik.

The Icelandic Opera House is the northernmost opera house in the world. It upholds this obligation by posing as an irreconcilably weighty and light-as-air building, a giant translucent irridescent cube on the harbor.

We went for a meal in the cafe on the main floor, beautiful fresh food - a fish stew that tasted like it had been fished out of the sea just for our order, high-octane coffee, which seems to be what keeps these Norsemen and women moving at a rapid clip all day and night, pastry snacks to lend an excuse to stay and gaze much longer than appropriate.

Just sitting at the table made us part of a work of art.

It's impossible to take a bad photo here.

Spectacular Iceland.

Iceland is the epitome of cool clean Scandinavian living, with a fiery wild edge.

A bit cliche to call them the land of contrast, but how else can you describe a country with both glaciers and active volcanoes?

European culture and rugged wildness so remote you feel like you're the first person to ever set foot there?

Trendy, hip cafes in a vibrant city that would be equally at home at a much more equatorial lattitude?

Plus, the knitwear!

I heart volcanoes and knitwear.

Rochester Cemetary, Iowa.

'The Midwest was the first place America developed for itself - and the first place it left behind. The very name describes what it is not, an uncertain geography between the nation's coasts and mountains, neither here nor there. "It's a nice place to live", I told friends, "but I wouldn't want to visit."

-Stephen Longmire, Life and Death on the Praire.

The 13.5 acres and 800 gravestones of Rochester Cemetary represent one of the most biologically diverse prairie remnants in the midwest. More than 400 species, 337 of them native plants, grow, bloom and die here on the graves of pioneers, some born before the US was an independent country. Hilltops have the oldest markers, but there are no orderly rows, no grids, no plan. Fittingly, I think, as the prairie plants are situated much the same  - where they want.

Peoplewatching in China.

White people stick out in China. There's no way around that. The taller you are, the more you stick out - or up, actually. While I am not tall, at 5 foot 6 1/2 inches I was easily a few inches above most crowds on the street.

Makes you feel just a little conspicuous.

That, and having everyone giggle as you walk by. And take your picture.

I have a little more empathy for paparazzi-chased stars.

My retaliation? Take their pictures right back.

Foods I did eat in China.

One word: dumplings.

Lots of dumplings.

And lots of beer, which is dead cheep just because it is beer, in China.

Some  unique sandwiches with bucketfuls of mayo.

But mostly dumplings. I love dumplings. I miss dumplings.

I don't miss the mayo sandwiches.

Hope deferred.

'The whole town does look like whatever hope becomes after it begins to weary a little, then weary a little more. But hope deferred is still hope.'

-Marilynne Robinson, Gilead.

 

Colorful China.

I mentioned before that I get to travel for my job - and not the usual vacation spots, either.

Iceland? Yep.

Ethiopia? Yep.

Yemen? Yep.

China, a few times.

I am always amazed at how much it is like what I expect and how much it is completely unexpected.

The crowds, the noise, the pollution, the neon, the smells, that's all there and just as you imagine.

The complete sense of isolation in the midst of the chaos, in a country where I stand out just because I look so different, and can recognize and understand nothing - no words, no signs, no photos of food - that was breathtaking.

Romance languages, Latin alphabets, there are always some glimmers of relativity there. They ground you.

When you are completely without a landmark, no reference to your life, no link between cultures you came from and are immersed in...that's when you truly experience things.

Images from Shanghai, Nanjing and Beijing.

How to pack.

I travel a lot, and over the years I've slowly and painfully gotten the hang of this packing thing.

Here's what I do.

I lay out all my clothes as outfits, one for each day up to two weeks. Any trip longer than that and I acknowledge that I will have to do laundry. 

If I have a few clothes, I wash them in the sink with shower gel or shampoo. A larger load requires using the bathtub and stomping (carefully), grape-smashing style.

I try to keep everything interchangable, in case I need to switch it up once I arrive. 

I bring layers. A multi-layered combo of t-shirt with a long-sleeved top and a thin jacket topping it all off is surprisingly warm, has a lot more wearability and takes up less space than a single heavy sweater.

I always take a photo of everything before the final loading, in case the suitcase gets lost and I need to file a claim. It helps me remember what I packed, which isn't as easy to recall as you may think.

It took a while to get this trip's packing down, since I am gone for 5 weeks and in a veriety of differnt places - in cities, on a boat, in the outback. Flexibility is pretty important.

Diane von Furstenberg gives some packing tips in the latest Allure Insider's Guide.

I was reading it on the plane. She made me laugh.

If I followed her lead, I'd have to trade my quick-dry hiking pants for a black cocktail dress. I don't think 'boot if it's chilly' means hiking boots to her.

She's with me on the layering, and on the interchangability.

We diverge again on the notion that I may be invited to a fancy party, and need jewelry to formalize my outfit ... do pearls go with gore tex?