It's all about cardamom.....

If anyone out there is thinking that I'm obsessing about cardamom they're wrong! Wrong I tell you! There are plenty more things that I do obsess about - read on for examples - I'm just fond of cardamom, especially when it is accompanied by chocolate.

I made these at Christmas to give as presents - hence the label above. I guess they are an alternative to bittermints without all that nasty refined sugar in the middle. If you can get hold of dried rose petals, they really make them look special. Rose and cardamom are very warming for your digestion. This means that they are a good after dinner treat, to help the food digest.

They also warm your spleen, (according to Chinese medicine this is the organ of hope and creativity) it's where sugar cravings come from and really responds to being warmed; by foods, touch, movement and the sun. With a summer like this one, cold, damp and disappointing, your spleen gets a bit tired, leading to sweet cravings. Of course, I am just talking about your spleen energetically - not the organ itself. Foods that are hot, pungent and naturally sweet nourish your spleen energy and refined foods sap it. So just remember that a few of these babies can act as medicine (but the whole box would be plain gluttonous!)

Cardamom and Rose Pastilles

250g Dark Fairtrade Chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
10-15 Green Cardamom Pods
Handful Edible Dried Rose Petals
Clingfilm

Cover a few chopping boards (or pieces of card / upside down roasting trays) with clingfilm, making sure it is tightly secured underneath to give a good surface.

Break the chocolate up into small pieces, keeping 50g aside. Melt the 200g in a bowl over gently simmering water, stirring very gently, only occasionally - too much will make the chocolate grainy. Meanwhile, chop the remaining 50g into very small pieces - the smaller the better.

Bash the cardamom pods to split them and grind the black seeds in a pestle and mortar. Have the rose petals and ground cardamom ready next to the cling filmed boards for the next stage.

This stage is called tempering the chocolate and should make sure that it remains glossy and crisp when cool. It's only a rough version - the real thing involves thermometers. If you have one, there are instructions elsewhere on the web and you will get a more reliable result - but I seem to do fine with this one.

The chocolate has reached the right temperature when it feels hot to your finger - don't heat it too much or you will taint the taste of the chocolate and it may split. It just needs to be hotter than warm, if that makes sense? Take the bowl off the heat adding the chopped chocolate and stir gently every 30 seconds until it has melted. Then Put the bottom of the bowl into a sink with a bit of cold water in - but make sure the water doesn't get anywhere near the chocolate or it will seize. Stir gently every 30 seconds until the chocolate feels about blood temperature. Then put it back over the simmering water and heat again until it turns liquid. As soon as it does, take off the heat, dry the bottom of the bowl and get on with the pastilles.

Drop teaspoonfuls of chocolate onto the cling filmed surfaces and spread out quickly into a disk about 3-5mm thick. Every few disks, stop and sprinkle cardamom powder and rose petals over, while the chocolate is still liquid. You need to work quickly! If the chocolate starts to go fudgy in the bowl, heat it up until it is liquid again.

Leave the pastilles to set overnight somewhere dry and cool, before boxing them in waxed paper or an airtight tin. Keep them cool, but not in the fridge.

Converting the nation one fig at a time

You remember I said that one of Fin's friends didn't know what a fig was? Well aparently he joined Finley in creating the delicacy, 'fig sweets' and is now a convert. His mum called me up today to say he had asked her to get him a bag of them from the health food shop - she was amazed and delighted.

It's just a bag of figs for him, but for me its another step towards world domination.......

Poppyseed and Cardamom cake

One of my missions as a celiac, is to make cakes that are light, succulent and won't send you into orbit with sugar crazies. I'm going through a bit of a Persian food phase at the moment, so there's lots of cardamom, cinnamon, rosewater and saffron in the cupboard. This cake is given a lovely texture by the poppy seeds.

Poppy Seed and Cardamom Cake Suitable for Diabetics & Gluten free

To make this cake suitable for diabetics it needs to be sandwiched with cream - the icing alternative is far too sugary! For a dairy free alternative, not suitable for diabetics, follow instructions for a dairy free ‘butter cream’ filling and use extra oil in place of butter in the cake.


Cake
140g - 5oz Ground Almonds
55g - 2oz Brown Rice Flour
55g - 2oz Organic Soya Flour
110g - 4oz Fruit Sugar (Fructose)
110g - 4oz Butter
100ml - 3½floz Vegetable Oil
30g - 1oz Poppy Seeds
3 Large Eggs or 4 Medium
15 Green Cardamom Pods
100ml - 3½floz Milk any type
½ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
1 tsp Cream of Tartar
2 tsp Vinegar
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
or 2 tsp Rosewater

Filling & Topping
200ml - 7floz Double Cream – or
(85g - 3oz Dairy-free Spread &
170g - 6oz Icing Sugar &
1 tsp Vanilla Essence)
500g Fresh peaches or apricots or tinned in juice


Preheat the oven to 170c. Grease and line the bottom of two 20cm - 8” diameter sandwich tins

Put the butter in a saucepan and melt gently, take it off the heat and leave until it has cooled a little, (to make it completely dairy free use 140ml/4 ½ floz oil instead). Add the vegetable oil and then the fruit sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time until completely smooth and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl put the ground almonds, soya flour, rice flour and poppy seeds. Sift in the bicarb and cream of tartar.

Bash the cardamom pods to split them and empty the little seeds into a pestle and mortar or spice grinder. Cardamom seeds vary in strength so use your own judgement here. If the seeds inside the pods are black and oily you might need only ten, if they look brownish and shrivelled then go for twenty. I love cardamom so I always throw in a few extra! Grind to a fine powder and tip into the bowl with the rest of the dry ingredients.

Add the vinegar and vanilla or rosewater to the milk – it will curdle and that’s exactly what you want! It makes a lighter cake.

Now to combine everything. Mix the sugar/egg mixture into the dry ingredients until it is completely smooth. Then pour the vinegar/milk mixture over and fold in till it is just incorporated. Pour evenly into the prepared tins.

Put the tins in the oven and bake for 20-25 mins until springy to the touch and golden on top. When they are done leave them to cool in the tin. Remember to peel the paper off the bottom before assembly.

Whip the cream until it is floppily thick – it tends to stiffen up once everything is assembled. To make the alternative dairy free filling, simply put the spread, icing sugar and vanilla extract into a food processor and whiz till smooth or beat by hand. Sandwich the cakes together with the cream / dairy free filling.

Slice the peaches / apricots and arrange on top of the cake, drizzling over any juices. You can also grill or bake them first if they are not super ripe and slice when cold. Delicious with some Cardamom Coffee, Morrocan mint or fragrant Earl Grey tea.

This entry contains descriptions of snot - those of a delicate constitution look away now

I knew something was up at the Beach and Barnicot. I hardly ever get ill, not more than a day or so anyway - because I make sure I stop, take remedies, eat well etc etc. Last week I just kept on going, thinking, 'I can't be ill, I can't be ill'. I actually thought to myself, 'it's ok, I just need to keep going till after the wedding and then I have a window of two and a half days during which I can be properly ill. It's half way through day two now and I am on the upswing back to health, but my voice is husky and I am coughing up some amazing stuff! Luckily I am fascinated by this sort of thing - I usually have to ask other people about whatever they are coughing up - now I have my own proper illness to investigate.

There's lots of cross referencing to be done in homeopathy. Each symptom you experience has it's own listing in a little book called a repertory (it's like my bible - it even looks like one!). All the different types of anything, physical, emotional or mental you might be feeling are down there - including dreams and delusions. To me it's a great read, but Nick has banned it from the bedroom and breakfast table on grounds of marital harmony. This morning I had the perfect excuse and between bouts of coughing and spitting and examining (eeuch!) I flicked through my book. Of course I actually knew I needed a remedy made from potassium bichromate (Kali Bich) as soon as I felt the pain in the root of my nose and saw the yellow snot because after a while you just cross reference all this stuff in your head. Still like to look at the book though and hope that some day a patient will come with, 'the delusion he is made from parchment' or 'stomach as though filled with ants'. My favourite is, 'a clucking noise made by the stomach after eating' simply because I once heard Danny Baker describe how David Guest (who we love to mock) made a clucking noise when he ate - I came across it one day listed in the repertory and fell about laughing (as Nick is fond of saying while he rolls his eyes - homeopathy joke - ie, not very funny). Us nerds, we got to just keep on doing our thing, because the world doesn't understand us......

Rainy Day Rhodeo

Ah the summer holidays. Long, lazy, sunny days in the garden sipping a Mai Tai and watching one's gorgeous offspring frollic gayley (no scratch that - people will think I'm setting Finley up what with the last post on his excursions into make-up and I think it's really too early to be deciding on his sexuality); watching Finley busily getting up to all sorts of japes with his little friends.

Instead, as it's drizzling, Fin and his friend have dragged his mattress down the stairs and are now sliding down it semi clothed and whooping like some red necks at a rhodeo (sorry all red necks out there, my PC filter is not catching this stuff early enough today). Fin's friend is what you might call a picky eater - a complete darling, but challenging to feed. After running through all the food I had in the house, we settled on plain pasta and carrot sticks. Fin wanted something sweet after lunch so I directed them to the cupboard to see what they could find. 'Hey' I heard Fin exclaim with delight, 'we can have fig and nut sweets!', (you open up a dried fig and push almonds or pecans into the cavity and then squash it all back together, like a spanish fig cake - surprisingly yummy). 'What's a fig?' asked his friend, and even Finley was rendered speechless.

The Beach and Barnicot gig was fine in the end. People came out on a wednesday night to support us which was just lovely. I was definately feeling nauseas in the second half and started to forget the lines of songs - although aparently nobody noticed, meaning that I am either a superb actress and consumately professional, or they weren't really listening to the words anyway. Afterwards everybody else went off to Emma's for tea (I think that's a euphamism for whisky) and I sloped of home to bed - bizzarrely craving ice-cream again, which we happened to have in the freezer and did make me feel much better!

We are moving next week, providing we can come up with six months rent in advance as we are both self employed and the credit referencing company spat our checks right back out with 'HIPPIES' stamped all over it. We can make the rent no problem, so it feels like a real beurocratic piece of crap, but we are over a barrel here and there's nothing we can do about it. Plus the new place is still full of the landlord's chinz and wicker furniture. Boy I could rant about this for ages, but I might let it percolate until I have something a little more refined than a tirade of abuse to offer......

Today is all about girl's stuff

This image is from Angie Lewin's website; www.angielewin.co.uk

I woke up at seven this morning feeling horrible. Sicky and fluey with a definate gravel tone to my voice. Eeek! We have a gig tonight! I had to get up to complete six identical shipping invoices and air waybills for some remedies I am sending to Jamaica - no homeopaths there so I treat over the phone. I have to come up with something plausible to write on the invoice that doesn't raise suspicion. You can't state that you're sending homeopathic remedies or they get SWAT teams in to diffuse the package. So I plumped for cosmetics, six lipsticks, eight eyeshadows, some eye pencils and mascara. I was going to put nail varnish on the list, but then thought that the high acetone content might cause problems - am I overthinking this thing? I don't want to get done for fraud, but I also want the remedies to get there.

I went back to bed feeling light headed from all the intrigue and Finley came up to read me some stories - which could have been cute and relaxing, but I had to help him out on the tough words, and you can't do that with your eyes closed. Ratty (the Burmese cat we have on loan) also wanted to join in by sitting on my chest under the duvet and it started to feel like that kids book where all the animals crowd under the mushroom to get out of the rain (the magic mushroom or some similar 70's title). Fin is developing a penchant for, 'girl's things' and decided to go through my make-up bag to see if there was anything old and scary that he could adopt. I wasn' t sure if I was halucinating as each time I opened my eyes Finley's face loomed up with a new exaggerated feature. Sparkly brown lips, black eyebrows (combed), and strange lines drawn with an eye pencil about an inch above his eyelids, rendering him both surprised and evil looking at the same time. We made a little felt bag together that all this, 'girl's stuff' went into for safekeeping and Finley has been mincing around with it over his shoulder all morning. When Joy turned up to take him for a playdate with Spike, he took it with him, still wearing the full face. I hope it doesn't turn out the same as when he showed the girls his tutu at his birthday party........

So somebody sent me a text saying, 'I've got thrush, aarg!, what do I do' and half way through a convoluted explanation I thought I would write it here and everyone can hear what I advise for this troublesome and itchy condition:

Holistic Thrush Treatment

Thrush is caused by an overgrowth of candida, a yeast which thrives in moist and warm conditions. It feeds on sugar, so if you keep getting thrush, try cutting out sugar and alcohol and refined carbs.

To treat an isolated flare-up there are several home remedies that help:
* Have a warm bath and add 10 drops of either lavender, myrrh or tea tree oil that you have stirred into a cup of milk (any milk) to disperse the oil - otherwise it will irritate your bits. You can also add a couple of drops to a jug of warm water and splash your bits with this instead or fill a bowl or bidet.
* Spread live yoghurt over the inflamed area and wear a sanitary towel - do this at home, not when you are out and about or you will start to smell cheesy! Also eat lots of live yoghurt and think about taking a probiotic supplement - not yakult, too sugary.
* drink herb infusions or take tinctures made from any of the following: echinacea, ladies mantle and marigold (calendula). If taking a tincture, don't exceed the quantity stated on the bottle.
* use a condom during sex until you are completely clear and make sure your partner has no itchyness or redness either. This applies even if you use another form of contraception already.

Homeopathic remedies to consider:

KALI MUR usually available as a 'New Era' tissue salt from boots and health shops. The vaginal discharge is thick, white and doesn't smell or itch.

NAT MUR 6c or 30c, discharges are thin and watery and may be accompanied by dryness and itching. You may want to be alone, crave salty foods and feel thirsty.

SEPIA 6c or 30c, thrush often comes on before a period or when a normally energetic person gets run down, sometimes accompanied by a great desire for chocolate or cake! The discharge is usually a bit yellowish and may cause itching and you can feel irritable or PMTish.

PULSATILLA 6c or 30c, like kali mur, the discharge is thick and white or creamy, but it can be thin too. The most important indicator is that it makes your bits sore. You may fancy eating creamy foods or feel really sick after something rich. You want company and fussing.

If none of these fit you, try posting a question and I will see what I can do to help.

I'm feeling much better than I was when I woke up this morning, having taken some Phosphorus. I realised that's what I needed as soon as I started craving ice-cream - doncha just love homeopathy?

Cranial Torched My Stagefright

I used to sing folk with an accapella group in my teens when Bridport was having a folk boom in the late eighties - yes I know the rest of you were new romantics, well I guess we were just romantics. When I moved up to London, apart from the odd Irish session complete with old men weeping into their guinness after every song, I kinda let it slide. I finally moved back to Bridport last year having married my college sweetheart and had a little boy (more about that in a minute).

After years of singing lullabies and nursery rhymes, I found a little group of musicians and we formed a band - Woo Hoo! Only I didn't realise that I had developed stage fright in the meantime. Now I'm a homeopath, I should be able to sort this out right? You know what they say about physician heal thyself, I guess that applies to me, because although I was chugging back the remedies, they were only taking the edge off my panic. When you panic your mouth goes dry and your throat tightens up - you can imagine how that affects my singing!

I was booked in to see a local Cranial Osteopath because I have also been having a little neck trouble (I'm hyper-mobile which means I can still put my foot behind my head after weeks of lying on the sofa. It sounds good but actually it causes all sorts of problems). When I went for the cranial she asked me if the birth of my son had been traumatic and I told her yes; 52 hours of trying to push a 9lb 13oz bowling ball out backwards followed by the biggest spoons I have ever seen (and I do catering work) pulling Finley out when my body refused to do it anymore.

Cranial is super gentle, just lying there while the Osteopath gently holds your head or presses your back. The idea is that by changing the way the energy flows through your body, it corrects itself - it seems to complement homeopathy beautifully. During the session I had this sense that I was floating up out of my body. I had this image on the back of my eyelids of a pinkish head and spine lying there underneath me. I felt completely at peace. When the session ended I sat up and caught sight of myself in the mirror, I was grinning idiotically in that lazy eyed way stoners do. Boy was I spaced out! Jenny said she felt quite overwhelmed by what had just happened and felt that a huge amount of anxiety had come out of my body - anxiety that I must have been holding onto since the traumatic labour.

Last night we had our first gig since that session and I didn't have a moment's panic. I even forgot to take my anxiety remedies. I also noticed that my voice was clearer and my breathing better. I really, really enjoyed it for the first time in years. Looking forward to the next gig on wednesday at the Beach and Barnicot. I'll let you know how it goes, unless I think of something in the meantime.......