The Wolf Eel BaKes

My whole life, despite what this blog makes it look like, is not about baking. I am also mad for films and music. Since leaving Seattle what feels like a lifetime ago, I have not been that active about taking in live music, though. When really, really motivated, I will somehow conjure up the energy and will and propel myself into a venue. But it's rare. It was rare in Iceland but rarer still in my Norway/Sweden life. One of my resolutions in 2013 is to get out more. Living in the forest as I do it is a bit more difficult for me than for a swinging hipster just a skip or two down the street from all the music hotspots a city has to offer. But I am willing to make the effort and even to turn up to at least the smaller shows with cookies and cupcakes. *Some* traveling musician would want them, no? See, I really want a new audience. I have been testing out the same taste buds over and over again (not that they are complaining) and just feel like sprinkling the sugar far and wide. I feel a little bit inspired because I just saw that Tamaryn is playing Gothenburg and then Oslo in February - and I must, simply must, go.

As I was looking around for the good stuff, I looked for a soundtrack for the day (semi-reviving my little soundtrack du jour tradition of yesteryear) and stumbled on Jon DeRosa's gorgeous cover of The Chills's "Submarine Bells". And it is really hard to say something is positively comparable to the original because The Chills are amazing and "Submarine Bells" is nothing short of breathtaking (perhaps because I have so many memories associated it with it).

Despite being officially on vacation (celebrating American Thanksgiving with my friends) I baked a few things for my colleagues and brought the goodies to work. On offer are white chocolate macadamia cookies, M&M cookies, Raffaello-candy-stuffed cupcakes with vanilla bean and coconut Swiss meringue frosting, peanut-butter stuffed chocolate cake, shortbread and brownie bites stuffed with Snickers candy bar pieces. Some of this was experimental (like the brownie bites). I almost threw the brownie bites away because they became so sticky in the pan I thought I would not get them out intact. I have no idea how they taste but I salvaged them by putting the pan in the freezer for 30 minutes and digging around the edges with a knife. (Recipes/pics to follow.)

I am a very bad girl - I still have not switched over to winter tires, which is not only dangerous this time of year but illegal in Norway. Granted, I don't drive to Norway that much any more, but here I am today... so first order of business is to take the car to get the tires changed this morning. I came to the office first, though, because I enjoy driving in the middle of the night when there are no other cars. Unfortunately there were a lot of cars (a lot for 3:30 a.m. anyway), but I had a nice, relaxing drive in any case.

The cookies are out and ready to take in reception, second and third floors of my office - so now I am free to run away to the tire change place... and then off to the airport to pick up one of the Thanksgiving guests coming to my questionable Thanksgiving soirée (questionable in that I am a decent baker but would not place bets on my cooking, despite the fact that I cook Thanksgiving every year, and the players continue to live and come back for more...).

My baking doubts were set to rest. The messed up Nutella PB cookies went over well with those who enjoy those flavors. By far the most popular of the cookies: chocolate mint.

The funny thing about my cookie offerings is that there are some days when people are startlingly indifferent/complacent about it. They don't seem to care that there are cookies. This time, when I expected a lukewarm reception, people seemed genuinely excited. Cookies in the canteen disappeared long before lunch (that's a first) and people I never see wandered down into my pretend office (never happens), citing "rumors" of particularly amazing cookies. ?! Hmm.

Beyond that, I was hit by a strange, strong dizzy spell and sense of ill-being, so I decided it best to drive home while still daylight and before afternoon traffic hit. I tend to be the sort of person who gets a lot of things done but if they involve visiting public offices or car garages, I will put them off as long as I can. In this case, my check engine light went on in my car this morning, and I decided there is no time like now to see if I can take care of it. I left the office in this semi-dizzy state and stopped at the Subaru dealership in Follo. I want to give a big shout out to the service center staff there. They were efficient, helpful, friendly and quick. They checked out my car in under ten minutes and told me what I need to do and reassured me. It was about a million times more positive than all my Subaru dealership experiences in Sweden so far (one of the very few times I can say that I was more impressed by something in Norway than in Sweden -- bad service and total negligence on the Swedish side). I do not have massive, high expectations in terms of customer service after having lived in these places for so long -- but when I do get some decent service, I am greatly appreciative. Thanks for making my afternoon so much easier, Birger N. Haug car dealership.

Shortbread is a funny name for this cookie, but it has a logical origin. As Wikipedia explains: "Shortbread is so named because of its crumbly texture (from an old meaning of the word short). The cause of this texture is its high fat content, provided by the butter. The short or crumbly texture is a result of the fact that the fat inhibits the formation of long protein (gluten) strands. The related word "shortening" refers to any fat that may be added to produce a short (crumbly) texture.

Shortbread is different from shortcake, which can be similar to shortbread, but which can be made using vegetable fat instead of butter and always uses a chemical leavening agent such as baking powder, which gives it a different texture."

While nothing could be simpler than making shortbread, I do have to say that it can be a difficult enterprise if your country is out of butter. One of the main staples of this very basic recipe IS butter, and Norway, where I work, is facing an ongoing and acute shortage. I live just across the border from Norway, so butter is plentiful for me... and I take butter-laden goods happily across the border to share cookies with my colleagues. Incidentally, I was stopped en route to the office the other morning around 4:00 by customs officers. (I was not carrying anything that interested them.) Perhaps I should have offered them some cookies if indeed these Norwegians are so deprived of butter. Shortbread tastes a lot like... eating slices of sweetened butter that melts softly in your mouth. Only nowhere near as disgusting as eating straight butter would be.

My recipe, as I chronicled the other day when I only had the faint intention of making shortbread of two varieties. I went ahead and made mine but not my friend's recipe (that happens this weekend).

Use a shortbread/cookie mold or, as I have done, use a round cake pan.

Ingredients (I also mixed in some red and green sprinkles):

4 cups flour (approx 512g)
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar (156g)
1 teaspoon baking powder (4 g)
1/4 teaspoon salt (1.4g)
2 cups butter (452g)

Knead all ingredients together. Press into ungreased pans (or molds) and prick the top with a fork. Bake 45 minutes in oven preheated to 160C/325F

Barring some abnormally nightmarish cupcake-related event or situation, I would guess that most people see cupcakes as instruments of happiness.

Even though I don't eat them, I am no different. Cupcakes have gained their massive popularity in recent years because they are compact, cute and not too guilt inducing. And the best among them are undoubtedly delicious. I enjoy making cupcakes... they are much easier to serve than a cake (especially when you take them to an office and when they are messy with fillings and gooey frostings or custard, as with my better than sex cupcakes).

Earlier this month, helping my friend celebrate her 40th birthday, we went to a local cafe and cupcake establishment (local to the South Sound/south of Seattle area, anyway, which is where I am spending most of November), Common Ground Coffee & Cupcakes. It was a convenient location, welcoming inside and seemed fairly charming. They had a large array of coffee and bubble tea drink choices and, of course, cupcakes that seemed like they would be well-loved by cupcake connoisseurs. Generally, I would say it was a lovely establishment.

But the happiness factor that comes from hanging out with friends in a cafe or enjoying cupcakes was reduced considerably by the staff that particular afternoon. The birthday girl told me that usually when she has been there, she has been helped by some attentive and nice staff, but on this particular afternoon, we were begrudgingly helped by some dismissive, hipster types who were apparently too cool to be there, too cool to be working. I sat down and watched one staff member actively ridicule and roll her eyes at multiple customers... and I just wondered... what the hell for?

I found that it irritated me to such a degree after I left that I wrote to the cafe to complain about the rampant attitude problem. I know this makes me sound an awful lot like a grumpy old person (and maybe I am). I got a response yesterday from the owner who asked me if I could find it in myself to be "forgiving". Haha.

Yes, well, it was not as though the staff there killed my beloved cat or something. They simply were rude and just about the furthest from service-minded that a cafe worker could be. Of course I forgive; I probably will not go back since it is not as though Renton, Washington is local for me. Nevertheless, I can say that in my forgiving mood, I would recommend going there... my friends had coffee drinks that they each thought were delightful, and I watched a group of people come in together who all had cupcakes (which they ate with forks), and they seemed elated by these sweets. (I theorized that this group of people work in some kind of non-profit, church-related organization. Why? No idea. Just that I like to make up stories about random people I see out and about.)

I suppose this whole situation got to me because I come to the US expecting that everything is going to be more service-oriented than Sweden or Norway. Of course there will be exceptions. But on this particular day, the lack of service (or even a feigned desire to be there working) got to me to such a degree that I felt like I had to do something.