![My sister had a Mad Hatter’s tea party last month. It was a BYO hat and teacup, saucer and plate kind of do. Lots of fun with a broad range of tea sets showing up.
Mum brought her Johnson Bros. Haddon Hall set[1] (front right), brother and his partner brought two sets of espresso cups each[2] (rear right). Mother’s friend brought one of her favourite sets, sister had hers, and Eric and I brought a brown Pyrex that I got as a hand-me-down from my sister (left and right edges).
My contribution to this tea shin-dig was an apple strudel inspired by Giuseppe Corica’s famous product.
We love GC strudels, always have and probably always will, but the increase in popularity has lead to strudels which have shrunk in size and increased in cost (though this might be due to inflation as well, truth be told). They do also appear to be taking some shortcuts with the custard, it’s quite a bit thicker than it used to be.
Every time we have it[3], there’s always a comment about how deliciously simple the apple strudel is. And it really is quite simple. But, as always, it’s all about the quality of the ingredients.
I used the puff pastry from Carême. Their puff pastry rises to an impressive height, but it did make my strudel tower a little dangerously, even if it did make it look rather epic. The apples were stewed myself with butter, sugar and spices until they were soft, but with a little bite still. And there was some slightly thickened crème anglaise with vanilla bean, and also some fresh whipped cream.
After I’d baked the puff pastry, I realised I didn’t have a container or dish that I would be able to use to transport the fully assembled strudel to my sister’s. So all the individual components were packed up and assembled there.
I’m pretty chuffed to say that it went down well, and family consensus was that it might even be better than GC’s. ^_^v
I win at strudel.
[1] She’s had this for years and years, and she only pulls them out maybe once a year so they’re starting to crack a little. She had the complete set once, but a maid broke the teapot (I think) and we’ve been hunting for a replacement ever since.
This is such an impossible set to track down specific pieces for. And it’s so much nicer than the more recent sets being made.
[2] My brother thought this would make it easier for him to double-park different teas. Typical.
[3] I’ve pretty much grown up on this particular style of strudel. So much so, that I really can’t handle the other strudels which are either sickly sweet and pop-tart-ish or weird and fruity with raisins[4] like what you find at Miss Maud[5].
[4] Not really a fan of raisins. But I do get fruit-toast phases.
[5] Speaking of weird and fruity, this one relatively new pastry shop a few years ago, not sure if they’re still around, tried to make a GC strudel knock-off. But they added sweet pineapple jam. Honestly, wth. *twitch*](http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lz32yri32C1qz86zko1_500.jpg)
My sister had a Mad Hatter’s tea party last month. It was a BYO hat and teacup, saucer and plate kind of do. Lots of fun with a broad range of tea sets showing up.
Mum brought her Johnson Bros. Haddon Hall set[1] (front right), brother and his partner brought two sets of espresso cups each[2] (rear right). Mother’s friend brought one of her favourite sets, sister had hers, and Eric and I brought a brown Pyrex that I got as a hand-me-down from my sister (left and right edges).
My contribution to this tea shin-dig was an apple strudel inspired by Giuseppe Corica’s famous product.
We love GC strudels, always have and probably always will, but the increase in popularity has lead to strudels which have shrunk in size and increased in cost (though this might be due to inflation as well, truth be told). They do also appear to be taking some shortcuts with the custard, it’s quite a bit thicker than it used to be.
Every time we have it[3], there’s always a comment about how deliciously simple the apple strudel is. And it really is quite simple. But, as always, it’s all about the quality of the ingredients.
I used the puff pastry from Carême. Their puff pastry rises to an impressive height, but it did make my strudel tower a little dangerously, even if it did make it look rather epic. The apples were stewed myself with butter, sugar and spices until they were soft, but with a little bite still. And there was some slightly thickened crème anglaise with vanilla bean, and also some fresh whipped cream.
After I’d baked the puff pastry, I realised I didn’t have a container or dish that I would be able to use to transport the fully assembled strudel to my sister’s. So all the individual components were packed up and assembled there.
I’m pretty chuffed to say that it went down well, and family consensus was that it might even be better than GC’s. ^_^v
I win at strudel.
[1] She’s had this for years and years, and she only pulls them out maybe once a year so they’re starting to crack a little. She had the complete set once, but a maid broke the teapot (I think) and we’ve been hunting for a replacement ever since.
This is such an impossible set to track down specific pieces for. And it’s so much nicer than the more recent sets being made.
[2] My brother thought this would make it easier for him to double-park different teas. Typical.
[3] I’ve pretty much grown up on this particular style of strudel. So much so, that I really can’t handle the other strudels which are either sickly sweet and pop-tart-ish or weird and fruity with raisins[4] like what you find at Miss Maud[5].
[4] Not really a fan of raisins. But I do get fruit-toast phases.
[5] Speaking of weird and fruity, this one relatively new pastry shop a few years ago, not sure if they’re still around, tried to make a GC strudel knock-off. But they added sweet pineapple jam. Honestly, wth. *twitch*
![When I tried to translate this myself, I had to look up the word ウケ [u-ke] (must be a colloquialism). For a moment, I thought my friend was calling her husband “the submissive partner in a homosexual relationship”.
Hilarious, although still possibly contextually appropriate given that he made her broccoli on rice for lunch…
More hilarious was the translation Bing tried to offer. A “Bento UTI antagonist”? I mean, sure broccoli on rice is a bit poor, but that’s quite horrible. Really, what does Bing have against broccoli? Or my friend’s husband, for that matter.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyrvy7oOhw1qz86zko1_500.jpg)
![{007} Cleaning my dad’s Parker 61.
I’m getting back into fountain pens. This is a wonderful and terrible thing.
Wonderful, because fountain pens are beautiful things. Even if your penmanship is appalling, fountain pens will at least make you feel good about writing.
Terrible, because you can get really OCD about them and it really brings out your inner magpie.
I’m presently flushing out four fountain pens. One is my Pilot which I’ve been using since uni and which was a completely unidentified Pilot until two days ago[1], and the other three I obtained today from family (the Parker 61, and two yet to be identified Sheaffer’s).
[1] Google Images wasn’t anywhere near this comprehensive when I first tried identifying this pen years ago.](http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxftliBZ291qz86zko1_500.jpg)
