Obituary
–Artur Międzyrzecki
He knew how to barter
But he could not sell himselfHe knew how to have his say
But he listened with just one earHe could go to great lengths
But he couldn’t get backHis love was larger than life
But his life was very small.
Estranged
–Edwin Morgan
It’s Finnish – I have no frame of reference at all to know whether the translation is accurate or reflective of the writer’s intent. Nice imagery anyway.
Untitled
–Eeva-Liisa Manner
Here the day always fades,
always there is the sheen of snow
even in summer. The earth’s heart doesn’t melt.
And the unknown lake watches like an eye of iron.Original
Aina täällä päivä hiipuu, aina on lumen kajoa,
kesälläkin. Maan sydän ei sula.
Ja tiedoton järvi katsoo kuin raudan silmä.
On choices, priorities, fairness.
For J… run for your life.
Work, Sometimes
–Mary Oliver
I was sad all day, and why not. There I was, books piled
on both sides of the table, paper stacked up, words
falling off my tongue.The robins had been a long time singing, and now it
was beginning to rain.What are we sure of? Happiness isn’t a town on a map,
or an early arrival, or a job well done, but good work
ongoing. Which is not likely to be the trifling around
with a poem.Then it began raining hard, and the flowers in the yard
were full of lively fragrance.You have had days like this, no doubt. And wasn’t it
wonderful, finally, to leave the room? Ah, what a
moment!As for myself, I swung the door open. And there was
the wordless, singing world. And I ran for my life.
I wondered if using dark brown sugar would change caramel-making. Well, the making is the same. The results were slightly different but positive.
Here’s how to go about it:
Brown sugar caramels
1½ cups heavy cream
¼ cup unsalted butter
Pinch of salt
1 cup dark brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup light corn syrup or golden syrup
¼ cup water
1½ teaspoons vanilla
Sea salt to top, if desired
Lightly oil or spray an 8×8-inch square pan and line with parchment paper (the baking spray helps keep the parchment in place). Set aside.
Heat the cream, butter and salt in a small saucepan and heat together over medium-low heat until cream steams and butter is melted. (Or do the same in a microwave-safe bowl in the microwave on high in 30-second intervals until cream is hot and steamy and the butter is melted, stirring or swirling gently between microwave intervals.) Set aside.
In a large heavy-bottomed pot add the sugars, syrup and water. Whisk until thick and grainy. Clip your candy thermometer to the side of the pot, making sure the tip is submerged but not touching the bottom of the pot.
Turn the heat to medium. Without stirring, heat to 260 degrees F. Remove from heat, then slowly whisk in the cream mixture. Mixture will boil up so do this carefully.
Return to heat and, again without stirring, heat to 250 degrees. Turn off heat, quickly but gently whisk in the vanilla, and carefully pour into the prepared pan. Do not scrape the bottom of the pot, as this will have burned sugar that you do not want in your caramels.
Top caramels lightly with coarse sea salt, if desired. Allow to cool completely, at least 2-3 hours or, preferably, overnight. Cut into squares or rectangles and wrap each piece in waxed paper.
Caramels are not at all difficult to make. Candy-making in general is an exercise in patience. Most of the time, it’s a matter of mixing up very basic ingredients but then just standing there staring at a pile of sugar go through all kinds of chemical reactions to become something else and then something else again. But to achieve the desired results, the temperature is all the matters. So you have to just stare at the candy thermometer. And stare. And stare … and stare some more.
Here we go… I doubled this recipe.
Caramel
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter
1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy cream or heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons water
1/4 cup (60 ml) light corn syrup (I used golden syrup)
1 cup (200 grams) sugar
Chocolate (if you make chocolate-covered caramels)
1 pound high-quality chocolate, milk, dark, or white
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon course or flaked sea salt (to sprinkle on the caramel and/or chocolate if you decide to make salted caramels)
Lightly oil a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan then measure and cut a piece of parchment paper that will fit inside the pan and come up the sides. Lightly oil the parchment paper and place into the pan. Set the pan aside.
Cut butter into 8 pieces then combine with heavy cream in a small saucepan (if melting on the stove) or microwave-safe bowl (if melting in the microwave). On stove, heat on medium-low until cream is steaming and butter is melted. In the microwave heat for 1 to 2 minutes until hot and butter has melted. Set aside.
In another small saucepan combine the water and syrup. Then, add the sugar. Gently stir the sugar into the water and corn syrup, just moistening the sugar.
Heat over medium until the sugar has come to a boil. Then, cover with a lid for 1 minute. This adds steam/moisture to the pan, so any sugar that may have stuck to the sides of the pan melts and falls back into the boiling sugar.
Remove lid and attach a candy thermometer to the side of the saucepan. Then, cook sugar for 5 to 10 minutes, until the sugar reaches a temperature of 320 degrees F. At this temperature, the sugar will take on a light amber color.
As soon as the temperature reaches 320 degrees F, remove from heat and carefully pour the butter and cream mixture without scraping the bottom of the pan. The sugar will bubble violently as you add the butter and cream – so do this carefully and slowly to prevent the mixture from bubbling over the sides of the saucepan.
Return to heat (medium) and continue cooking for another 5 to 10 minutes, until the caramel reaches a temperature of 240 degrees F/soft ball stage. This creates a very soft caramel. When I made this I cooked to firm ball stage (245-250F) but it was still quite soft.
The moment the caramel reaches your desired temperature, pour into the prepared loaf pan. Cool 20 to 30 minutes then, if salting, scatter the salt over the caramel. Then, let the caramel cool for at least 3 1/2 hours.
After cooling, unmold the caramel. If the caramel is too soft to work with, place into the refrigerator 30 to 45 minutes to firm up. Use a large sharp knife to cut into desired shape. I made small rectangles. You can then wrap these caramels in wax paper if you are not coating them in chocolate.
For chocolate coating, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Melt chocolate and butter in microwave or on stovetop until smooth and shiny.
Use two forks to dip each caramel into the melted chocolate then place onto parchment paper. If desired, sprinkle a little salt on top of each caramel and allow chocolate to set.
Poem with a Cucumber in It
–Robert Hass
Sometimes from this hillside just after sunset
The rim of the sky takes on a tinge
Of the palest green, like the flesh of a cucumber
When you peel it carefully.∗
In Crete once, in the summer,
When it was still hot at midnight,
We sat in a taverna by the water
Watching the squid boats rocking in the moonlight,
Drinking retsina and eating salads
Of cool, chopped cucumber and yogurt and a little dill.∗
A hint of salt, something like starch, something
Like an attar of grasses or green leaves
On the tongue is the tongue
And the cucumber
Evolving toward each other.∗
Since cucumber is a word,
Cumber must have been a word,
Lost to us now, and even then,
For a person feeling encumbered,
It must have felt orderly and right-minded
To stand at a sink and slice a cucumber.∗
If you think I am going to make
A sexual joke in this poem, you are mistaken.∗
In the old torment of the earth
When the fires were cooling and disposing themselves
Into granite and limestone and serpentine and shale,
It is possible to imagine that, under yellowish chemical clouds,
The molten froth, having burned long enough,
Was already dreaming of release,
And that the dream, dimly
But with increasing distinctness, took the form
Of water, and that it was then, still more dimly, that it imagined
The dark green skin and opal green flesh of cucumbers.
A Dream of Burial
–James WrightNothing was left of me
But my right foot
And my left shoulder.
They lay white as the skein of a spider floating
In a field of snow toward a dark building
Tilted and strained by wind.
Inside the dream, I dreamed on.A parade of old women
Sang softly above me,
Faint mosquitoes near still water.So I waited, in my corridor.
I listened for the sea
To call me.
I knew that, somewhere outside, the horse
Stood saddled, browsing in grass,
Waiting for me.
I don’t think this was terribly successful. I found a recipe online somewhere (I can’t remember where) that claimed you could actually form this dough, once assembled, into a cohesive ball and then could flatten it with a glass to make individual cookies.
No. Fail. Maybe less flour, more butter? Using the recipe below, however, I salvaged it by just pressing the dough into round pans like I do with any other normal shortbread recipe. It was crumbly, and I was skeptical as to whether it would hold together and allow me to cut it into slices. But it did… and even though I have no idea how it tastes or even if the slices will hold up until I get them to their intended recipients, it at least worked well enough for now. I suspect these could be experimented with to achieve a better consistency.
White chocolate cherry shortbread
1/2 cup candied cocktail cherries, chopped finely
2 1/2 cups flour (maybe 2 cups would be better?)
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup cold butter, cut into pieces
1 to 2 cups white chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (or almond, if you prefer)
Preheat oven to 325F/160C. Use two round cake pans to bake in.
Mix flour, sugar, butter and mix until fine crumbs form. Mix in the extract.
Add your cherries and chocolate. Divide dough into the two pans and press it firmly into the pan evenly. Bake for about 15-18 minutes.
There is Still No Name for You
–Milan Dekleva
For anything more will we be able to die.
Close by heaven’s abyss kneels the last grace.
The stone embraces nakedness, again tries to take it.
Peace is complete to the depth, you can hear the night fall.You have grown out of the superstition that life goes through everything.
We have looked you through and through and have not recognized you.
With your beauty you entered our marrow, seizing us all.
For you there is still no name: we would fear it all too much.From their decaying material the patched homes run with tears.
We are theirs, pressing ever closer in brightness.
Our breath becomes harsh and divinely thin.
We’d dwell heroically in ignorance, like in a school exercise.
