Vintage Coconut on this Friday

Food on Friday: Coconut

 ON

This week we have a fabulous theme – Coconut – in all its forms, fresh, dried, milk, cream, water, flour….. 

To add your dishes, just put the name of the dish together with your blog name/name into the first Mr Linky box you will find below.  Then paste the url for your post about it into the second box.

I'll be pinning the dishes to this Pinboard which will make it easy for you to check them out at a glance.  The 134 links from the earlier collection from March last year are also on that board.

Let's all go coconutty!

A wise woman...

Need Some Inspiration? Try Salmon!

Salmon Salad with Boiled Dressing

Food on Friday:  Salmon was great fishy fun.  I have chosen a few salmon dishes to inspire you today.  There were so many other great dishes.  If you would like to check them out at a glance,  just head on over to this Pinboard

Thanks to One Perfect Bite for this lovely Salmon Salad with Boiled Dressing.

Jo and Sue, your Salmon and Cream Cheese Puff Pastry felt like such a retro delight to me.

Baked Southwestern Style Salmon Cakes by Bizzy Bakes – fab!

This Miso Salmon Brown Rice Bowl by Milk and Honey looks delightful, and healthy too!

Another delightful dish by Genie of Bunny Eats Design – Tuscan Hot Smoked Salmon and Sundried Tomato Pizza

Salmon and Spinach Puff-Pastry Parcels by Madhouse Family Reviews.

 

Coho Salmon with Dill Caper Sauce by Will Cook For Friends

Nostalgia Alert! Les Bicyclettes de Belsize

I learned this song at school many years ago – the French version – and it really stuck with me to the point that some nights if I'm not sleeping well I'll sing it to myself (not aloud, naturellement)

Tourne, retourne dans mes pensées, le regret d'un amour
C'était à Londres un matin de mai à Belsize un beau jour, un beau jour

Les bicyclettes de Belsize nous ont porté tous deux

et nous roulions amoureux main dans la main
Seul le ciel tendre et bleu

se mirait dans nos yeux, nos yeux d'enfants heureux
Souvent je rêve encore aux bicyclettes de Belsize

There was an English version done by the fantastically named Englebert Humperdinck.  The lyrics are not a close translation of the French.

Turning and turning
The world goes on
We can't change it, my friend
Let us go riding now through the days
Together to the end
To the end

Les bicyclettes de Belsize
Carry us side by side
And hand in hand we will ride
Over Belsize
Turn your magical eyes
Round and around
Looking at all we've found
Carry us through the skies
Les bicyclettes de Belsize

Click here to hear it in French

Click here to hear the English version

Rejection Proof by Jia Jiang

This book is a worthwhile read.  The author set up a blog to follow his journey of seeking out rejection opportunities and learning to deal with them.  As a result the author had his 15 minutes of fame which is great but maybe affected the book a little.

I think you'll be entertained by this shortish book.  An example of something he did during this project is knock on a stranger's door and ask to have a photo taken with the stranger in the back yard of the stranger's house.

I will definitely think about this book the next time I consider passing up on an opportunity because I am afraid I'll fail or be rejected.  Definitely a book that budding authors should read.

Thanks to Debbie of Different Time, Different Place Book Reviews for the recommendation.

Could you be tempted by a cinnamon roll?

Spice of the Month: Cinnamon and cassia

Cinnamon is the inner bark of a type of laurel tree and cassia is the outer bark. They are similar in aroma and flavour - cinnamon is sweeter and milder – you have to be a bit more careful about how much cassia you use in a dish – it is not quite as forgiving as cinnamon.

Both cinnamon and cassia are mentioned in Exodus - 30:22:

Moreover, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take also for yourself the finest of spices: of flowing myrrh five hundred shekels, and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, two hundred and fifty, and of fragrant cane two hundred and fifty, and of cassia five hundred, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and of olive oil a hin. You shall make of these a holy anointing oil, a perfume mixture, the work of a perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil.

In olden times cinnamon was said to have been treasured by King Solomon.  Cinnamon has been used medicinally for lots of things including – treating nausea, fever, digestive problems, preventing tooth decay and has been even said to help diabetics control insulin.

Cassia is mainly used in savoury dishes while cinnamon is used in sweet dishes or delicate savoury ones.

Cinnamon is used to flavour creams, custards, cakes and biscuits and goes well with apples and pears. Of course cinnamon can be sprinkled on chocolate.

Cassia is an ingredient of Chinese 5 spice powder.

Pennsylvania Dutch sprinkle cinnamon sugar onto ripe tomatoes.  I need to try that!

Greeks use cinnamon in beef stews.

Cinnamon goes well with many vegetables including carrots, sweet potatoes and eggplant

Used in baking it is hard to overdo the cinnamon – try using more than the recipe says

As with many spices try to buy it in small quantities

Try using it in an orange and carrot salad.  Use a bit of cinnamon in a milkshake

My recipes with cinnamon – Roast Pork Belly with Orange & Cloves, Butter Chicken, Mustard Chive Sauce, Slow Cooker Beef Curry, Pork Fillet in Jerk Seasoning, Mini Ham

My recipes with cassia – Yellow curry of pork with vegetables, Sweet & Sour Pork

BIBLIOGRAPHY - with thanks to Auckland Libraries

Cook's Encyclopaedia of Spices by Sallie Morris & Lesley Mackley

Discovering Vegetables, Herbs & Spices by Susanna Lyle

Spice Market by Jane Lawson

Spicery by Ian & Elizabeth Hemphill

Spices & Natural Flavourings by Jennifer Mulherin

Spices by Sophie Grigson

Spices Condiments and Seasonings by Kenneth T Farrell

Spices, Salt and Aromatics in the English Kitchen by Elizabeth David

The Cook's Companion by Stephanie Alexander