Saturday 9 October 2010

Athens

Thinking laterally about interpretations of "Berried Treasure" made me think of the bottom drawer of my freezer, and the fact that it has far too many packs of cranberries in it, given that they'll be appearing in the shops again soon. So I made these:
Cranberry Spice Squares
1 cup cranberries
1 tsp each soda, cinnamon, cloves, ground nutmeg
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup milk
2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1 egg

Chop the cranberries coarsely. Sift the flour with the salt, soda and spices.
Cream butter and sugar together till light and fluffy, then add the egg. Add the flour in three parts alternately with the milk. Stir in the cranberries.
Bake in a greased 8" square pan at 350F / 170C for about an hour. Cool in the pan for ten minutes before turning out.
There's an optional frosting which I have tried but don't usually bother with - 3 oz cream cheese beaten till light, then beat in 2 tblsp cranberry sauce, then 3 1/2 cups icing/confectioners sugar.
This recipe comes from Boston Tea Parties - Recipes from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
A much loved and well used book. Back in the days when C started his job in a fine-art supplies company there were three members of staff and the boss, and I used to make a batch of cookies for them every week. By the time I joined the company there were six members of staff including a couple who were not too disciplined and the cookies didn't always last even a day, so at some stage I gave up making them, but by then I had worked my way through a considerable amount of recipes from Boston Tea Parties.


I'm starting my brief tour of Athens with a picture from our last day. We met relatives of C's sister-in-law and had a lovely time with them. They met us at the bus station and we went to where B works before they brought us back to their apartment. From up on the roof there was a great view across to the Acropolis!


I think we were lucky in that both times we were in Athens it was actually cloudy and overcast much of the time and consequently not too hot. It was such a mixture of old ruins in amongst all the buildings. The Parthenon itself is undergoing extensive restoration.

Parthenon








Temple of Athene Nike (I think)

2 comments:

Susan said...

oh, your cranberry recipe makes me want to go digging in my freezer, Sabrina! Sort of like the buried antiquities you found in Greece. Our coastal bogs are all aglow with red as harvesting is in full swing.

I will look forward to your Greece pictures. My parents lived N of Athens in the '80's and I spent much time with them and sailing the isles. Happy happy memories.

Lorraine said...

I'm always up for a new cranberry recipe. THis sounds yum and I'll definitely be trying it. If we weren't going on the lighthouse challenge next weekend we'd be going to a cranberry festival.

What a contradiction to see the ruins and the scaffolding. That has got to be a tremendous job.