Tea and Crumpets

Seattle Washington is a wonderful place to visit. It’s definitely a home for foodies, for music lovers, and for people who either love the cultural arts and/or the great outdoors. The scenery alone is enough to make one stop and take a breath.

I’ve been lucky enough to go out to Seattle on four different occasions all because my daughter, Katie and her husband, David, are living out there. David is in the Coast Guard and is stationed there and Katie works in a nearby hospital (no not Seattle Grace) and is a speech therapist there. The weather and temperature have always been consistent -- drizzly, a little damp and cool (around 50 – 55 degrees. This time we had torrential downpours with thunderstorms. But when in Seattle, you keep going regardless of the weather. Life goes on. Now there’s a good lesson.

It was a great visit, a time to reconnect by talking, hugging, laughing, sipping wine and good eats. Sometimes I don't feel like Katie and I have much of a relationship anymore because of the circumstances and happenstances of our lives, so seeing her on her home turf, staying in her apartment is a wonderful revelation for me. It reminds me of the good job I did raising her (and her siblings). When she was away in college, we talked just about every day. Since she moved to Seattle, it's probably twice a week. So being with her, David and Sarah for four days was just great. We even stayed up until 2:30 in the morning playing The Beatles Rock Band video game (I sang). And we finished the game by completing every single song in the software!. Once you start, you don’t stop, you can’t stop -- it’s that addictive!

Our last day there we visited two cultural venues –SAM (which is the Seattle Art Museum) and the Bodies Exhibit. Both were amazingly interesting and the Bodies exhibition was a little surreal. Looking at the bodies and realizing they were once living, breathing people was a bit overwhelming. I found it strange though that there were many children at the exhibit with their parents and not a bit affected by any of the things they saw, including fetuses in different stages of development.

The last two times I’ve gone to Seattle I have gone to a great little crumpet shop, no more than two blocks from Katie and David’s apartment. Now a crumpet for those who don’t know is a kind of English muffin but with more holes. I adore them. They are served many different ways, anything from pesto to cream cheese and walnuts to ham and cheese. My personal favorite though is the classic crumpet with maple butter. My goal when I came home was to find a recipe that would be similar to those yummy, warm, buttery, mapley crumpets. Well, I made them this morning. It was a much longer process than I thought it would be – because the dough has to rise (twice). But Sarah said they were as good as Seattle’s (not as many nooks, crannies and holes though). Oh, and I made my own maple butter. We have enough for a few breakfasts! I’m so happy.

Crumpet recipe

Ingredients:

1 lb (4 cups) plain flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1 pint (2 cups) warm milk

1 heaped teaspoon dried yeast

2 tsp warm water

1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Sift the flour into a bowl and add the salt.

Heat the milk until tepid then dissolve the sugar in half of it, and sprinkle the yeast on top. (Do not make the milk too warm for you will kill the yeast.)

Leave for 10 minutes or until it froths up, then add to the centre of the flour with the rest of the warm milk and beat very well for 5 or 10 minutes.

Cover and leave to rise in a warm place (double in size)

Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the warm water and add to the risen dough, then leave, covered, to rise again. Here’s where I made a mistake I think. I should have added some water to thin out the dough to more of a batter consistency. They might have not come out so thick (still tasty though)

3-4 inch plain rings lightly greased. I used my electric griddle by the way, so I had to preheat it and greased it.

Put the rings, if using them on to the hot griddle or pan, and drop tablespoonfuls of the mixture into them or into the pan.

Let it cook until the top is set and full of holes, and the bottom a pale golden color.

Remove the rings, if using, turn the crumpets over and let them dry out for 2 minutes on the other side.

Remove the crumpets, let them cool on a rack. When serving, toast them lightly on both sides and serve with butter on the top side (with the holes). We didn’t have many holes this time, but next time I’ll do better.

Makes about 12.

Maple Butter

1/2 cup butter softened

1/4 cup maple syrup (the real stuff)

Mix with an electric mixer until the butter incorporates the maple syrup. That's it!