Rubbishy Cookery

It’s holiday season—the most wonderful time of the year! Let’s have eggnog lattés! Ingredients: I’m making a decaf eggnog latté because I’m feeling seasonal, but not so much that I want to be up all night. But you do you. Note the equipment involved: stovetop espresso maker and milk foamer (the latter was previously seen in Recipe #37, matcha latté). If you have an actual espresso maker, by all means use it! Directions: If using a stovetop espresso maker, take it apart and first add cold water to the base to the level of the bottom of the little screw on the side: Next, add the middle section with the basket for the ground espresso and fill gently with the coffee. I don’t pack it down and it seems to work better this way with this device: Screw on the top, and it’s ready to go. Next, add water to the bottom section of the stovetop milk foamer: Not too much water, about a couple of centimetres worth, you want the water to boil quickly and a lot of steam to build up in the bottom section...

  The best matcha latté I’ve ever had (and I’ve had a lot of matcha lattés!) was from Lady Baker’s tea stand at the Charlottetown Farmer’s Market made by the fabulous former tea barista, Willow. Willow kindly shared her secret ingredient with me and now I will share it with you. Sweetened condensed milk. Now hush! 🤫  Ingredients:  In honour of this shared secret ingredient and out of loyalty to Lady Baker’s Tea, I continue to buy their matcha, but you can buy matcha almost anywhere these days. Directions: Heat some fresh filtered water but not to a boil. I have a kettle that can be programmed for specific temperatures and I’m using my “green tea” setting here: Alternatively, you can just boil your water and then let it cool down a bit. You don’t want to shock the delicate matcha with boiling hot water! Next, if you happen to have a device for stovetop steam foaming milk, get ‘er going: If you don’t have this milk steamer device, there are other ways and means to foam mil...

Apparently this is similar to a coffee beverage that was trendy during the pandemic, providing comfort and joy to many folks during a dark time. I, being tremendously untrendy, was unaware of this.  I think of this recipe as the café au lait  introduced to me in 1991 in Nice, France, by my Canadian friend who was living there as a poor exchange student. She drank the caffeinated version of this daily with her baguette  and croissants . I thought she was wonderfully sophisticated and chic, and fully trusted her knowledge of all things French. Take all of this with a grain of sel , however, as my friend, although fluent in French and living La vie française, also confessed to me that she missed Tim Hortons coffee. Insert le eye roll. Ingredients: Directions: Pour some whole milk into a cup of choice. I am using a homemade pottery café au lait  cup: Microwave on high for about 2 minutes, so that the milk is steaming hot: Add a teaspoon or so of sugar and about two teasp...

  This is a great tea to have when you’re battling a flu or cold bug, or if you just can’t get rid of a tagging post-RSV cough and have to go to a classical piano performance and don’t want to be that person coughing throughout the show. Hypothetically. Ingredients: Note the fancy turmeric “golden milk” powder blend. This is not necessary and plain ground turmeric will do. I just happened to be given this product by a friend who hated it and gave the rest to me knowing that I like weird stuff like this. And I do! Directions: Get a big travel mug and personalize it so that nobody will “borrow” it and you’ll never see it again: Heat up some water in your kettle to a less-than-boiling setting, if possible, or to boiling if it’s your kettle’s only option. Just don’t burn your mouth on top of everything else! Peel a chunk of ginger: Then cut it into thin slices directly into your mug: Add less than a teaspoon of turmeric powder—a little goes a long way: And a generous spoonful of honey,...