No actual dog bellies were harmed in the making of this coffeecake.

[mrissa]

So last night's adventure was making something called blueberry dog belly. It's a coffeecake/coffeebread sort of thing. I was explaining it to my mom on the phone: "You take a biscuity sort of dough and roll it out." "Uh-huh." "And you cover it with blueberries and sprinkle it with sugar and roll it into a log and seal the ends." "Uh-huh." "And then you wrap it in cheesecloth and boil it in a pot of water on the stove for half an hour." "...You what?"

So it was weird. It was definitely weird. We haven't cut into it yet. I will Let You Know. If it's no good, we'll throw it away and eat ice cream.

("Oh, that's your solution for everything!" Why, yes. Yes it is. If this novel is no good? Throw it away and eat ice cream! How can this go wrong? Answer: it can't. Particularly if "ice cream" is taken to include sorbet when needed.)

(But the novel is behaving itself admirably at the moment. Continuing to be interesting not only past the 30K mark but also past the 45K mark. I am tentatively hopeful that this novel will only suck to write for brief periods, mostly in the late afternoon, mostly when I didn't get enough protein at lunch and should really go find some almonds or a hard-boiled egg or something.)

(I am really, really not a late-afternoon person.)

Today will feature an airport run and a hospital run, but as the latter is a) planned, b) minor, and c) not related to anyone in my immediate family, it's along the lines of "item on to-do list" rather than "major life stress." And there will be more book. Like ya do.

Comments

[zalena.livejournal.com]

Yes, I also believe icecream is the solution to all of life's problems. Especially this time of year.

[songwind.livejournal.com]

Is it just me or does that description remind you of the sort of thing Captain Aubrey would like for pudding?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

You are not alone.

[songwind.livejournal.com]

And not just because of its name. :)

Is it of English provenance?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

It's better than English! It's New English!

(I don't actually believe that New England is better or worse. It just seemed like a decent slogany thing under the circumstances.)

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

I was thinking it would be a recipe Captain Aubrey would like as soon as I saw the name. Calling it "Blueberry Surprise" would set up different expectations.

[spaceoperadiva.livejournal.com]

That boiling in cheesecloth is a really old cooking method. I'm very interested to hear how it turns out since the only thing I've had that's close to this is Christmas puddings steamed in cheesecloth.

[columbina.livejournal.com]

Ye Olde Classical Steamed British Style Pudding, dontcha know. Let me know how it turned out, eh?

[columbina.livejournal.com]

Well, boiled, but the same school of thought. Also, "blueberry dog belly" is a fabulous name.

[mamapduck.livejournal.com]

When you die and go to heaven, it will be filled with ice cream and hockey.

[callunav.livejournal.com]

Bagels are boiled (and then baked), so it's not that arcane a treatment for dough. Although I do not believe bagels involve cheesecloth. It does sound intriguing.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

How many bagels have you personally made in your home, though? (And no, the bagels I've seen made did not involve cheesecloth.)

[callunav.livejournal.com]

If we were going by things I personally have made in my own home, the world of baked goods would be a very, very sad place.

My parents made them at one point, as I recall. I think it may briefly have been a popular party game for young academics in the late seventies.

[redbird]

I still need a solution for what to do when the sorbet turns out to be no good.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

....

.......

Don't do that, it breaks my brain!

[redbird]

Sorry.

But, well, throwing the sorbet out was the easy part. (I think we had tea or something, but it's Not the Same.)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Definitely Not the Same! I would be tempted to keep auxiliary sorbet for these purposes.

Oh, wait: I do keep auxiliary sorbet for these purposes.

[redbird]

I do, but this particular auxiliary sorbet was a kind adrian_turtle doesn't happen to like.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Ahh, that's unfortunate.

I have recently purchased acai berry sorbet, which I am eager to try and also to feed to some of my non-dairy-consuming loved ones.

[brithistorian.livejournal.com]

This sounds delicious! If it does indeed turn out well, could you post the recipe? I'd like to try making it.

(By the way, my grandmother said to thank you for the pepperkakkor recipe; she enjoyed knowing how the cookies were made. She did say, though, that she thought she'd pass on trying to make them herself, as it sounded like an awful lot of work.)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I don't want to link to the page where I found it, because it plays music without asking, and I think that's rude, but if you search on that string on Google, it'll turn up. I'm going to adjust the recipe if I make it again, so if I get a version I think is the right one for me, I'll post it once I've tinkered with it to my satisfaction.

Results report

[timprov.livejournal.com]

It's blueberry-y, and shortcakey, and it goes very very well with the sour cherry jam one seems to be able to get at Byerly's now.

Re: Results report

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Also with cloudberries. But I will mention this assessment in today's post in case interested parties are not following the comments.