Today, I mourn the loss of my dear friend, Lola Margarita.
I spent almost every day with her during her six and a half year life. Some days, we would just lie in bed together for hours.
I knew this day was coming, last Christmas I mused that she was on her last legs, but she persevered for another whole year. What a champ.
Still, six and a half years is pretty good for a laptop.
Oh, yeah… Lola Margarita is the ridiculous name I bestowed on my Macbook Pro back in 2009. I don’t know why I felt it needed a name. I guess I figured that I give names to my cars, and she was pretty much as expensive as all the cars I had ever purchased, sooo…
They say that one human year is the equivalent of seven years in dogs and cats. I would stretch and say that one human year is the equivalent of 12-15 in laptop years. Lola was not the oldest laptop that had ever lived, but when she finally kicked the can, I also wasn’t surprised.
One day, her screen just… stopped turning on. The rest of the machine worked fine, if I plugged it in to my TV I could still see everything chugging along as usual.
When I brought her in for a Genius appointment at the Apple store, the guy looked at me like I was nuts.
How old is this?? (yes, I realize you were still a fetus when I bought this laptop, you poncy child)
What operating system do you have on this?? (shut up, I never needed to upgrade)
You have lobster corgi as your desktop image?? (yes, it’s an old meme but I’m an OLD HAG SO SHUT IT)
At the end of the day, it was her logic board that gave out. I could have repaired it for a couple hundred bucks but, as discussed, she was getting old anyway. She just wasn’t what she used to be. Instead of repairing ye olde Lola, it makes more sense at this point to buy a new laptop.
Of course… OUCH. The prospect of buying a new Macbook… before Christmas… when 2016 is already shaping up to be a tight year anyway, financially speaking…
OUCH. (see: visual depiction of me pricing out a replacement laptop online)
So, lots of things to consider.
Do I get a desktop computer instead? (But I love working in bed sooooo muuuuuch. What about watching Netflix when I can’t sleep?)
Do I make the switch to a PC laptop? (But I had such bad experiences with PC laptops in the past, and Apple’s customer service these last 6 years has been outstanding…)
Either way, it’s shaping up to be a very expensive week. Time to start living off of beans on toast (which to be honest, sounds delicious, but is easier said than done when I also co-run a food blog).
It’s a week for comfort food. Comfort food that seems fancy but is actually cheap and delicious. Like madeleines.
These beautiful cockle-shelled French cake/cookies always impress guests. I don’t know whether it’s their pretty shape, their light, cakey texture, or the fact that you don’t see them around very much (at least where I live), but people always go nuts for them when I serve them up or bring them to parties (see also: Pecan Bourbon Madeleines with Peach Glaze and Cherry Amaretto Madeleines Dipped in Dark Chocolate).
They’re perfect around this time of year and make excellent gifts and party treats. These little cakes are lightly spiced and festively flavoured but make a refreshing addition to any holiday table littered with gingerbread (yum) and Christmas pudding (euggh).
As a kid, I used to make pomanders around Christmastime to help scent the house. It’s always been a wonderful and comforting scent and one that I took as inspiration when making this recipe: fragrant orange and warming spices. It’s mulled wine and spiced tea and gingerbread and candelight… it’s a nostalgic flavour that gives me rose-tinted memories.
In the absence of a stiff drink, it’s enough to soften the upcoming blow to my finances, even if just a little.
| Orange Spice Madeleines | Print |
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 1 cup + 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- ½ cup + 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp orange extract
- 1 large navel orange, zest
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp ground cardamom
- Melt the butter in a saucepan. If you like, you can skillfully brown the butter slightly for a nuttier flavour but take care not to over-brown it. if you're worried about burning the butter, skip the browning and just melt it. Set aside to cool slightly.
- In a medium bowl, mix one cup of the flour, sugar, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom and set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the two eggs with the vanilla, orange extract and salt until the eggs are frothy.
- And the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and, using a spatula, stir until just combined. Take care not to over-stir.
- Add the cooled melted butter and the orange zest and stir. It may take a minute for the butter to blend into the mixture but once again, take extra care not to over mix.
- Rest the batter. Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator to rest at least one hour and up to overnight.
- Prepare the madeleine pan with the extra tablespoon of butter- butter each shell-shaped mold and dust lightly with flour, tapping off any excess. Place the pans in the freezer for at least an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the batter from the refrigerator and the pan from the freezer. Fill each mold with approximately one tablespoon of the batter.
- Bake the madeleines for 10-15 minutes until the edges are browning and the middle is puffed up slightly. Using your forefinger, press lightly on the center hump- when the madeleines are finished baking, it should spring back at your touch.
- Remove the madeleines from the oven and let cool for 2 minutes. Then gently loosen the madeleines from their molds and arrange onto a cooling rack. Dust with icing sugar (optional) and serve.
Leave a Reply