The hockey season will soon be over for another year. I’ve enjoyed being a hockey grandma over the last few months.
An unusual and peculiar spell comes over us as we intently cheer our young players. We wouldn’t normally jump to our feet, shout and holler while sitting with others in a public place. Nor would we chatter non-stop. When “your” child comes on the ice, the volume and intensity of the cheering picks up: “come on sweetie, pass it up,” “go for it,” “watch out, there’s a guy behind you,” “don’t bunch up” and “that’s it.”
Read Also
Ag in Motion 2025 celebrates agriculture through the generations
Ag in Motion 2025 an event for families to spend quality time together
We lose ourselves in another world and it’s great.
Icebergs & belugas
Icebergs and Belugas is the fourth in a series of cookbooks from Webber’s Northern Lodges near Churchill, Man. Previous books included Black Currants and Caribou, Blueberries and Polar Bears and Cranberries and Canada Geese.
Icebergs and Belugas was three years in the making. Coming up with a title was a challenge, but authors Helen Webber and Marie Woolsey knew that one day the right name would come along. They had all kinds of suggestions from family and friends, always followed by a good chuckle.
Finally, in keeping with the majesty of arctic animals, they decided to use the beluga whale, but needed another name to go with it. All of a sudden, Woolsey said icebergs and belugas, and it just seemed to fit.
Webber, Woolsey and their families operate five lodges along the Hudson Bay coast north of Churchill. Guests come to hunt geese, moose and caribou, fish, observe wildlife and eat. After choosing the name for the book, Webber and Woolsey knew they wanted to take the photos at Seal River Heritage Lodge, where beluga whales abound. The photos remind me of the trip we took to Churchill a few years ago.
Maple pumpkinbrunch cake
The workers at our farm soon gobbled up this tasty brunch cake from Icebergs and Belugas. It may be called brunch cake, but it is wonderful any time of the day.
Maple pecan topping:
3/4 cup sugar 175 mL
1/2 cup chopped pecans 125 mL
2 teaspoons cinnamon 10 mL
1 teaspoon maple extract 5 mL
Cake:
21/4 cups flour 550 mL
1 cup packed brown 250 mL
sugar
1 tablespoon baking 15 mL
powder
1/2 teaspoon salt 2 mL
1/2 teaspoon baking soda 2 mL
1 cup buttermilk or 250 mL
sour milk
3/4 cup canned pumpkin 175 mL
or pureed, cooked, fresh pumpkin
1/2 cup vegetable oil 125 mL
3 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon maple 5 mL
extract
Combine the topping ingredients, mixing well. Set aside.
Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, beat together the sour milk, pumpkin, vegetable oil, eggs and maple extract. Add to the dry ingredients, stirring just until mixed.
Spread half of the batter in a greased nine x 13 inch (22 x 33 cm) cake pan. Sprinkle with half of the topping ingredients. Repeat the layers. Bake at 350 F (180 C) for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then serve warm. The cake may also be warmed slightly in the microwave. Serves 15 – 18.
Note: This cake freezes well.
Source: Icebergs and Belugas by Helen Webber and Marie Woolsey. Published by Blueberries & Polar Bears Publishing, Churchill, Man., 2002, $21.95. Available at bookstores.
Recipe request
Dear TEAM: My daughter in Saudi Arabia has asked me for a recipe for Chinese chews. I have gone through all my cookbooks to no avail. Even Kate Aitken deserted me. There was a time when Chinese chews were served wherever one went. – E.M., Bowen Island, B.C.
Dear E.M.: I was able to find a recipe for you.
Chinese chews
1 cup granulated sugar 250 mL
1 cup chopped dates 250 mL
1 teaspoon baking 5 mL
powder
1/4 teaspoon salt 1 mL
1/2 cup chopped walnuts 125 mL
3/4 cup all purpose flour 175 mL
2 eggs
Mix dry ingredients, everything except the eggs, in a bowl. Beat eggs until light and thickened. Pour over dry mixture and stir until well moistened. Scrape batter into greased nine by nine inch (22 x 22 cm) pan. Bake in 350 F (180 C) oven for 35 minutes. Cut into small squares and either roll in icing sugar while still warm or sift icing sugar over top before cutting.
- Tradition has it that each “chew” be rolled in icing sugar. Jean Pare suggests in her cookbook that it is just as good with the sugar sifted over top, thereby saving all that individual handling.
- Some Chinese chew recipes use brown sugar instead of the white sugar called for in this recipe. One cup (250 mL) white sugar equals one cup (250 mL) firmly packed brown sugar.
Source: Company’s Coming, 150 Delicious Squares, by Jean Pare.
I love potatoes
Dear TEAM: I would like to get the cookbook I Love Potatoes. I phoned Calgary but could not get through. Please send me the address for the book. I am also looking for a recipe for potato pancakes, the old-fashioned ones that are easy like my mother used to always make. – M.K., Glendon, Alta.
Dear M.K.: The I Love Potatoes Cookbook, published by the Potato Growers of Alberta, is no longer available. The group is recommending Company’s Coming, The Potato Book, as a good replacement. It is available in many retail locations.
If you wish to contact the Potato Growers of Alberta, you can do so at 6008-46th Ave., Taber, Alta. T1G 2B1 or 403-223-2262.
Potato pancakes
1/4 cup flour 50 mL
3 cups grated 750 mL
potatoes (medium grater)
1 small onion, finely chopped 2 eggs, lightly beaten
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup oil 50 mL
Heat a heavy frying pan; add only enough oil to lightly coat the bottom and heat until a drop of water sizzles in the pan. Reduce heat.
While pan is heating, combine ingredients. Ladle mixture onto heated pan. For each pancake, allow about 1/3 cup (75 mL).
Flatten the cooking mixture, if necessary, using the bottom of a lifter or a glass. Cook until crisp and brown on both sides.
Keep cooked pancakes in a warm place until all the batter has been used. Grease pan between batches. Serve as a vegetable or as pancakes with sour cream or apple sauce.
Yield: eight-10 pancakes.
Source: Canadian Cook Book, Nellie Lyle Pattinson, McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd. 1977.
Kiwifruit
Kiwifruit is a large berry and shouldn’t be confused with kiwis, furry birds from New Zealand, after which the fruit was named. Other names are kiwi or Chinese gooseberry.
It has thin brown fuzzy skin, emerald green flesh and a distinctive ring of small, black edible seeds. It is about the size of a chicken egg.
The plant is native to the mountain sides of China and was introduced to New Zealand in the early 1900s.
From New Zealand, it was introduced to British Columbia in the mid-1980s. B.C. is the only place in Canada where kiwifruit is commercially grown, almost exclusively on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, which has the province’s most moderate temperatures.
Temperatures below Ð18 C can kill kiwifruit plants, even when they are dormant in the winter.
Commercial kiwifruit production in B.C. began in 1987, when 18,000 kilograms were produced. Now 450,000 kg are produced each year, which is about 6,500,000 fruits.
The consumer demand for kiwifruit has increased 10 times since 1985.
Kiwifruit are grown on vines. They are dioecious, which means a vine is either male or female. Both male and female vines have to be grown. The female vines produce the fruit, but the male blossoms are needed to cross pollinate the female blossoms. It takes seven years for a kiwifruit vine to mature from seed. A mature vine can produce more than 1,000 kiwifruit a year.
Most kiwifruit is eaten fresh. It can also be used in jams and jellies. Fresh kiwifruit applied to meat works well as a meat tenderizer.
Gram for gram, kiwis have more vitamin C than an orange, more potassium than a banana and more fibre than a cup of bran flakes. They also supply some folate, vitamin E and lutein, a carotenoid that may help keep eyes healthy.
Alma Copeland is a home economist from Elrose, Sask., and one of four columnists comprising Team Resources. Send correspondence in care of this newspaper, Box 2500, Saskatoon, Sask., S7K 2C4 or contact them at team@producer.com.
