The fires keep blazing

Lemons, earl grey, and rasberries are on my hit list

I don’t need smart appliances, I need smart foods.

I need my groceries to alert me when they’re about to go bad.

Those lemons from a month ago need to be used asap. As do the frozen rasberries from LAST SUMMER. I trust they’re still edible. And my earl grey tea from…2022? Surprisingly fragrant still, must be the tin.

Probably should’ve ate them all like yesterday, but we can only change the future, so let’s figure out how to bake them up. I don’t think I can live with myself if I wasted another bag of lemons. It just ain’t right.

I swear I’m normally organized but pantry management isn’t my forte.

EARL GREY + LEMONS

Here’s a recipe for earl grey cake loaf.

Sweetness is asian, which means not very, but just right for my taste.

Servings: 12 slices

INGREDIENTS

• ½ cup milk

• 4 Earl Grey tea bags 2 for steeping; 2 to add to batter (loose-leaf ok, see below)

• ½ cup unsalted butter melted and cooled

• 2 tbsp honey

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 2 eggs

• 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour

• ¼ tsp salt

• 1 tsp baking powder

• zest of 1 lemon

Lemon after rape

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat milk in a small saucepan until simmering. Take off heat and steep 2 of the Earl Grey tea bags (2tsp loose-leaf) in milk for 30min.

2. Preheat oven to 325°F. 9x5 loaf pan.

3. Melt honey if not liquid.

4. Crush remaining tea leaves into powder if using loose-leaf, I used mortar & pestle.

5. Using an electric mixer cream together the butter, honey and sugar in a medium bowl until semi-stiff peaks. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each.

6. Add flour, salt, and baking powder and mix until the dry ingredients are incorporated.

7. Remove the teabags from the milk, squeeze out as much liquid as possible.

8. Add infused milk, lemon zest and tea from 2 bags and mix until well incorporated.

9. Pour batter into pan, bake for 1 hour until it passes the toothpick test.

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Scrumptious and light, so yummy.

There’s a syrup you can make to drizzle on top, but I didn’t feel like it.

Wait until it cools, and then cut.

The wolverine slash in the middle is from improper parchment shape haha.

RASBERRY JAM

You can turn any fruit into jam assuming you have enough of it, sugar and a lemon to massacre. The lemon provides natural pectin, which binds everything together, giving it that jelly-like texture.

Making jam takes awhile, but you can leave it simmering in the background and check up every 10 min.

This recipe isn’t exact, but it works.

Put a nice chunk of rasberries into a pot. Didn’t measure, don’t care. That’s a saucepan for reference. Add a little water to coat the bottom of the pan.

Add juice from half a lemon.

Yes, I do love my glass squeezer.

And some sugar. To taste.

Bring to high heat, then shift to the lowest setting to prevent burning.

A moment of appreciation for my cute spoon rest.

After 10min, it should thicken like this.

Exact time varies depending on how much ingredients are there.

I just let it do its thing while I go write.

But at some point, it will thicken into jam.

Source: trust me.

Out of small jars sadly.

Et voila! Just gotta wait until cooled before storing in the fridge. It will last about a couple weeks, but you can freeze and use later too.

Just note it will get watery if you freeze so you may need to heat it up again.

I love eating this with bagels, actually speaking of bagels, I might add some to my bagel recipe. Stay tuned!

REMAINING:

• Earl grey: 69.5g

• Lemons: 7

• Rasberries: 2.5kg (yes, I bought 2 bags)

-Wang