Candlebra Café Recipe Book
Food has always been important in the QCC. Newcomers are always welcomed with food and drink.
It was sparclear who first gave a café shape to our community by providing us everyday with a mouth watering virtual lunch menu to suit the mood. Backstagebear baked virtual cakes for all occasions (in times of conflict, her Not-Cross-Buns had the power to defuse potentially explosive situations) and I think it was MonkeyJammas who gave us the proper spelling of CAKE in bold and italics. One day a typo gave us the name, the Candlebra Café was born.
Since then we have exchanged recipes and have moved on to real rather than just virtual delicacies.
It was sparclear who first gave a café shape to our community by providing us everyday with a mouth watering virtual lunch menu to suit the mood. Backstagebear baked virtual cakes for all occasions (in times of conflict, her Not-Cross-Buns had the power to defuse potentially explosive situations) and I think it was MonkeyJammas who gave us the proper spelling of CAKE in bold and italics. One day a typo gave us the name, the Candlebra Café was born.
Since then we have exchanged recipes and have moved on to real rather than just virtual delicacies.
Here is ElizabethDavid's world famous ensaimada, which those lucky enough to attend gatherings in Edinburgh and Lewes had a chance to try for real. (You can also see the master at work, in the Second Edinburgh Gathering Video, HERE)
The following pages offer some of the recipes that QCCers have shared. Bon appétit!
The following pages offer some of the recipes that QCCers have shared. Bon appétit!
Recipes
by FerenjiNan
Recipe books are grand, they are,
Especially with glossy photos.
Ah, lemon liqueur, served
On a Tuscan terrace, with aged stone,
olive trees of destiny
and rustic pottery?
My aesthetic inner self yearns.
Better still,
The dear traditional food,
Passed on
And on
From Granny
And Bubbie
Or best friend
Or the Candlebra Café clientele.
But best of all,
The recipes given
With love and respect.
With connectedness
To the miracle of food.
Prepared with joy,
If you’ve ever known hunger.
Cooked with care
Because your guests deserve it.
Baked to a perfection
Born out of awareness.
Awareness
of starvation in the world,
the precious heirloom plants going extinct
babies with kwashiorkor
‘food security’, oh what a vile
Euphemism,
Used as a weapon of war.
Compassion is the finest spice.
Sharing, a herb best plucked from your own garden.
Composting, your children’s legacy.
Frugality, the tartness needed for zing.
And lavishness,
When celebrations burst forth in splendor in your life.
My recipe can only
Be a handful of this,
Added
with the memory of a special smile.
A pinch of that, because that dear one
Always did.
Tears, if they’re in season.
Laughter, when it’s ripe.
A fine glass of wine
And a fond pinch on the bum
As you cook
It will come out perfectly!