Spinach and Feta Pie

My mum asked me what I wanted for my 'birthday dinner' while I was home and I asked for an old favourite - Spinach and Feta Pie. I have the recipe out of my Canadian Living: The Vegetarian Collection cookbook which is honestly the best cookbook I've ever bought - I've never been disappointed by any recipe I've tried out of it. If you are ever in the market for a vegetarian cookbook, I really recommend it (my mum liked mine so much she bought herself a copy as well).

I found this version of the recipe on the Canadian Living website, as my copy of the cookbook is currently in a box in the basement of a house in Kimberley, BC, Canada, but it should be the same.

Spinach and Feta Pie

The key to this rustic vegetarian pie filled with classic Greek flavours is the pastry: it's made with extra-virgin olive oil. You can make the pie up to five days ahead and serve it warm or at room temperature (its also quite good cold).

Ingredients

1-3/4 cups (425 mL) all-purpose flour
1 tsp (5 mL) salt
1 tsp (5 mL) baking powder
1/3 cup (75 mL) extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup (75 mL) milk
1 egg

Filling:
2 tbsp (30 mL) extra-virgin olive oil
1 sweet onion, chopped
5 green onions, chopped
3 bags (eah 10 oz/284 g) fresh spinach, trimmed
1-1/2 cups (375 mL) crumbled feta cheese
3/4 cup (175 mL) shredded mozzarella cheese
2 eggs
1/2 cup (125 mL) chopped mint
1/2 cup (125 mL) chopped dill
1/2 cup (125 mL) chopped parsley
1-1/2 tsp (7 mL) salt
1-1/2 tsp (7 mL) pepper
1 pinch ground cloves

Preparation

In large bowl, whisk together flour, salt and baking powder. In separate bowl, whisk together oil, milk and egg; pour over dry ingredients. Using wooden spoon, stir to form fairly smooth dough. Turn out onto lightly floured surface; knead until smooth, about 2 minutes. Press into disc; wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. (Make-ahead: Refrigerate for up to 5 days.)

Filling: Meanwhile, in skillet, heat 1 tbsp (15 mL) of the oil over medium heat; cook sweet and green onions, stirring, until softened, about 2 minutes. Transfer to large bowl.

In batches, place spinach in large pot with just the water clinging to leaves; cover and cook over medium-high heat, stirring once, until wilted, about 3 minutes. Transfer to sieve; press to remove moisture. Add to onions along with feta and mozzarella cheeses, eggs, mint, dill, parsley, salt, pepper and cloves; mix well.

On lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 16-inch (40 cm) circle. Loosely roll around rolling pin; unroll onto 9-inch (23 cm) cast-iron skillet or baking dish, letting dough hang over edge. Mound filling in centre; lift pastry up over filling, letting pastry fall naturally into folds and leaving 5-inch (12 cm) opening in centre. (Make-ahead: Cover and refrigerate for up to 4 hours.)

Bake in bottom third of 375°F (190°C) oven until pastry is golden and filling is steaming, about 45 minutes. (Make-ahead: Let cool for 30 minutes. Refrigerate until cold. Cover and refrigerate for up to 1 day. Reheat in 375°F/190°C oven for 30 minutes.)

Transfer to cutting board or serving plate if desired. Let stand for 10 minutes. Cut into wedges.

Delicious! Also, I love the way you can see the steam rising off the pie in these pictures - yummy!

Pancake Party

So Fat Tuesday or Pancake day is apparently a pretty big thing here. I honestly had no idea what was going on when Eve invited me to a pancake party, I just heard pancakes and was THERE. Because I didn't want to share the kitchen with other people (I'm not very good at that) I made my pancakes before going over to Laura's. I really wanted to make Æbleskiver but my pan is currently in Canada and I am too poor to buy one here. However, I was telling Eve about this and she asked me if I thought a cake pop maker would work. I thought it might, and so did Connie, and it turned out that Eve actually owned one, so I borrowed it and... 

AREN'T THEY CUTE?! It worked really well, they were smaller than Æbleskiver usually are, but still tasty! I also made some normal yoghurt pancakes, and then headed over to Laura's.

However, everyone else was apparently much less prepared than me, and as I arrived they were all leaving, heading out to the store to buy flour and other ingredients, but the Sainsbury's by Laura's was actually out of flour (like, pancake tuesday is a really big thing over here for something I was totally unaware of). So there was a bit of challenge in finding ingredients, but we managed, and headed back to Laura's for Æbleskiver, yoghurt pancakes, crepes, and Swedish pancakes (it was a very diverse group of pancakes). The Æbleskiver were, of course, a hit, because they are awesome, and Melissa and I promoted the joys of real maple syrup to everyone else.

After pancakes, Ali brought out his edition of Cards Against Humanity that he had gotten for his birthday. I had to leave before the game ended as I had to get up at seven the next day, but Alix apparently won.

Burns Night

Saturday was Logan's birthday, but it was also the birthday of famous Scottish poet Robert Burns. Burns died in 1796, and the first Burns Night supper was held in 1802. It was held on January 29 because the first Burns Club got his date of birth wrong (x).

Burns is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language, although much of his writing is also in English and a light Scots dialect, accessible to an audience beyond Scotland. He also wrote in standard English, and in these writings his political or civil commentary is often at its bluntest.

He is regarded as a pioneer of the Romantic movement, and after his death he became a great source of inspiration to the founders of both liberalism and socialism, and a cultural icon in Scotland and among the Scottish Diaspora around the world. Celebration of his life and work became almost a national charismatic cult during the 19th and 20th centuries, and his influence has long been strong on Scottish literature. In 2009 he was chosen as the greatest Scot by the Scottish public in a vote run by Scottish television channel STV.

As well as making original compositions, Burns also collected folk songs from across Scotland, often revising or adapting them. His poem (and song) "Auld Lang Syne" is often sung at Hogmanay (the last day of the year), and "Scots Wha Hae" served for a long time as an unofficial national anthem of the country. Other poems and songs of Burns that remain well known across the world today include "A Red, Red Rose"; "A Man's a Man for A' That"; "To a Louse"; "To a Mouse"; "The Battle of Sherramuir"; "Tam o' Shanter"; and "Ae Fond Kiss" (x).

A Burns supper is a supper held in Burns' honour - Burns suppers are most common in Scotland and Northern Ireland however there has been a surge in Burns' Night celebrations in the UK events industry seeing the evening being celebrated outside their traditional confines of Burns Clubs, Scottish Societies, expatriate Scots, or aficionados of Burns' poetry (x).

While there was talking of us MSc students attending a Burns' night céilidh (a traditional Gaelic social gathering, which usually involves playing Gaelic folk music and dancing) we aren't exactly A+ at organization, and Friday we were still trying to organize something, while also discovering that a majority of the Burns Night céilidhs were sold out (x). I thus decided to have a very informal Burns Night potluck at my flat Saturday night. There were about 12 people in attendance, and a *lot* of good food (I am still eating the leftovers) and an entire huge trash bag of bottles were also left in my possession to haul down four flights of stairs and down the street (as I told David, the next time I have a party, the rule is going to be you drink out of a can or you don't drink at all). Eve "made" haggis, and I learned that the traditional way of preparing haggis in many Scottish households is to boil it. Which was slightly disillusioning. But Ali read "Address to a Haggis" by Burns, in Scots, so it was still all very Scottish.

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o the puddin'-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye worthy o' a grace
As lang's my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o need,
While thro your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An cut you up wi ready slight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like onie ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin, rich!

Then, horn for horn, they stretch an strive:
Deil tak the hindmost, on they drive,
Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve
Are bent like drums;
The auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
'Bethankit' hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout,
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad mak her spew
Wi perfect scunner,
Looks down wi sneering, scornfu view
On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
As feckless as a wither'd rash,
His spindle shank a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit;
Thro bloody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread,
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He'll make it whissle;
An legs an arms, an heads will sned,
Like taps o thrissle.

Ye Pow'rs, wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies:
But, if ye wish her gratefu prayer,
Gie her a Haggis (x)

I neglected to take any pictures, but it was a great night spent with friends, laughing a *lot* and eating some delicious food.

Real Life (Update)

So last Thursday marked the end of a lovely, if unproductive, two weeks of watching a lot of movies, reading a lot of books, and hanging out with friends (some highlights include the day I did not see a single other human being, the day Melissa and Alix and I had a movie night - watching The Cabin in the Woods, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Bon Cop, Bad, Cop - going to the National Museum of Scotland with Eve, Becky, Melissa, and Alix before going back to Melissa's place for pancakes, where Leanne joined us...

Becky's penguin was enjoying the catapult game

And Alix was giving me sass

... and Melissa, Alix and I getting Starbucks, going shopping, and then having a girls night, complete with wine, facemasks, and painting our nails).

Alix and I split a pair of cool earrings from H&M (my necklace is also from H&M)

Nails! (and wine!)

Face masks ;P

I also had to scrape out the freezer, which was starting to resemble more a glacier than a freezer. David walked into the kitchen when I was scraping ice out onto a towel with a spoon and he just looked at me and asked if I really missed Canada that much.

*just like home*

Thursday was just a quick meeting in which we learned which live publishing projects we would be working on this year. We were divided into two groups, one of which will be coming in all day Tuesday and one of which will be coming in all day Wednesday (my group). I volunteered to be co-Project Manager of my group, so, along with Camille, I will be in charge of managing all of the departments and signing off on any major decisions. While I am kind of nervous, I am also rather excited.

The projects which we are doing were chosen out of all the publishing projects that were proposed (mine was a reprint of The Turn of the Screw, which was not chosen) the board of Merchiston Publishing chose four to go ahead with, though not all four will necessarily end up being published, depending of course on budget and time. Both the groups and the books for each group were assigned, and then we decided on roles. First we choice the project manager, two for each group. Then people choose which department they wanted to be in (they could be in multiple departments but had to also pick their primary department that would take their priority). Camille and I also had to join depts so I joined production (which will include design and digital). The departments were: editorial, production, marketing, finance, and rights. Then people volunteered to be department heads, and we ended up having to vote on the dept heads for editorial and prod.

View of the courtyard (finally no scaffolding in way of the view)

Friday we received our grades for two of our final three assessments from last term (passed both, whoo!). We then attended a rather mind-numbing orientations for both our dissertation and placement modules. I am quite excited for both modules, though our dissertations don't actually start until next trimester, I tentatively am thinking of writing on censorship in YA literature through parents, schools, and publishers (this will need to be better thought out, obviously, and I need to pick a country to focus on).

Friday night I ended up making gingersnaps at like midnight, which was fine, because I also FaceTimed with Logan, Connie, and Brad for three hours. It was Logan's birthday Saturday (happy 21st bro!) so Connie and Brad had gone down for the weekend - Logan and Dad had been skiing that day, so I chatted with them while dinner was cooking, all the way through to dessert (and my final batch of cookies).

Yup. He's an adult.

Gingersnaps (this recipe comes to me from Connie, who got it from Brenda).

3/4 c. of butter
2 c. sugar

Cream together

2 well beaten eggs
1/2 c. molasses
2 tsp. vinegar

Stir in

3 3/4 c. all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
2-3 tsp. ginger (I go for the full three but I'm a big fan of spicy gingersnaps)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cloves

Sift and add

Mix ingredients until blended. Form dough into 3/4" balls. Roll in sugar. Bake on a greased cookie sheet (or on parchment paper) about 12 min.

In the UK, they don't typical measure using cups, tsp, tbsp, etc. Instead, they measure everything by weight. While there is a scale that came with my kitchen, I wasn't really thrilled with the idea of converting all my cookie recipes into weight, so I went and bought myself a set of cups and tsp/tbsp measuring spoons. However, when I opened the butter, instead of markers indicating a cup, there were ticks for 50g. *sigh* So I guessed. They also call baking soda bicarbonate of soda and you can't get it at a lot of the smaller grocery stories, which, considering that those are mainly were I shop, caused me to think that you just couldn't get baking soda in the UK. I still complain about it a lot.

Saturday I was supposed to go to the Writers Museum with Kate, but it was raining, so we decided to postpone. I had a lot of people over for Burns Night that night - more on that on my next post.

Yesterday was my first official day of classes, which involved a class for Publishing in Practice (the module in which we are publishing the real live books) which was mostly talking about finances, followed by the Placement module tutorial, in which we just answered any questions we had left about our placements. So Monday I have PIP from 2-3 every fortnight, and then Placement and Dissertation modules from 3-5, on a rotating schedule (so next week on Monday, we will not have PIP, but will then have the Dissertation tutorial). Tuesday I do not have classes, then Wednesday we are in from 9-5, with a board meeting at 10, working on our publishing project. Thursday I have my optional module, Interactive Media, from 10-1. And no classes Friday. So a pretty awesome chill schedule. I have decided not to try for a part time job this semester however, both because it is better to have a more flexible schedule for the placement, and also because I am a Project Manager which will involve more time and responsibility.

So for our placement module, our placement is about ten days, though it can be more or less, and involves self-assessment, making learning goals, and an assessment by our supervisor wherever we go for placement, which we get to choose off a list on the MSc Pub page if you want to check it out. I'm not quite sure what we will be covering for the class on the placement, nor the one for the dissertation, and I haven't had my Interactive Media class yet, so I will keep you updated on all of that!

My hair is getting longer and longer! Also £1 necklace FTW

Merry Ho Ho Holiday

So first off, a brief tour of Sam and Tom's pub!

Sketchy narrow stairs leading up to the flat.

Christmas day Megan and I helped Tom clean up and set up the pub a bit while we were waiting for the very, very good breakfast Carol had made to finish up. After that Megan, Carol and I began cooking christmas dinner and Sam, Tom, and Richard headed down to open the pub (which was open 11-3).

We took a break at one point to have a mulled wine/hot cider break :)

Megan was having way too much fun and was way too amused by how much that cabbage looked like brains.

See? Too much fun.

Sweet po-ta-toe.

For the meat-eaters, Tom prepared a cooked goose.

Megan and I chopped and peeled ALL the things. Megan also picked through a bag of pink, off-white, and white mini marshmallows (because apparently they don't just do bags of plain white marshmallows in this country) to get enough white marshmallows to top the yams.

Apple pie <3

The cat was harassing us.

Carol made some awesome buns from scratch (though they had some difficulty rising, since the flat was absolutely freezing).

Cutie :) (points for anyone who spots the apron and guesses who made it!)

Can you guess what traditional family dish Megan made for Christmas dinner?

CAT

Boooooooons.

You guessed right! Granny/Christine's jello salad! (also, I'm sure Tom and Richard were a bit confused about the fact that I kept referring to Megan and I's grandmother as Christine, while Megan refers to her as Granny).

Lookit all that food...

Carol was having some challenges with the gas stove.... while I, sitting in front of it, was just hoping I wasn't going to light on fire.

BUNS SELFIE.

BUNS SELFIE.

We also broke out the wine around this point.

Holla. It was also around this point that I had a brief facetime with the fam jam back in Canada, to the great amazement of my Grandmother.

Megan and Tom.

And finally, before dinner, we did stockings and presents!

It was all very colour coordinated, save Tom's lovely Christmas fairy princess wrapping paper.

Totally awesome socks from Carol.

My major contribution to the party... just couldn't resist how awesome it was (no, its not a giant lindor... its a ball filled with normal sized lindor... I'm not sure which would actually be better).

Megan was the only one to receive a safety crown from the crackers. No pointy edges for her!

After dinner, I had another lovely facetime with the Jones clan, resulting in our official family Christmas picture for 2013.

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas! I know I had an awesome Christmas day surrounded by awesome people :)