Home Sweet Home

We finally arrived back in Ulverston Monday night, after being away since the previous Tuesday. Since we had been traveling so much, we decided to take it easy and hang out around Ulverston on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tuesday morning, Mumsy and I went to the grocery store first thing as we needed more milk for Mumsy’s tea and the ingredients for Boeuf Borgignone which Mumsy requested I make. In addition, all of our smoothies were gone. In England, they have these fantastic smoothies called “Innocent Fruit” that are pretty much just pulverized fruit. They are glorious. I personally like the Mango and Lemon Grass smoothie as it tasted just like Mango Lassi, but Mumsy and Don didn’t so they watered it down!

After a trip to the grocery store, I took Mumsy and DOn to my favorite little restaurant in Ulverston – Hot Mango Cafe. Only open for breakfast and lunch, the cafe serves food all locally grown. The owners even own the farm that produces all the bacon and other pork products on the menu. While the regular menu is quite good, I love the specials that they have. This time, I got a BBLT – Bacon, Brie, Lettuce(Rocket in this case) and Tomato Chutney– served at just the right temperature where the Brie was gooey and the ciabatta roll perfectly warm. To be honest, I have no idea what Mumsy and Don had because I was too focused on the gloriousness that was my sandwich. Hot Mango Cafe also has really great tea and desserts so Mumsy and I split a pot of tea and we all got desserts. I got Millionaire shortbread, which I had never heard of before but it was everywhere in the UK. Basically, its shortbread with a layer of caramel and a layer of chocolate. Very delicious. Joy of Baking has a pretty good recipe, which I’ve included below.

SHORTBREAD:

3/4 cup (1 1/2 stick) (170 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups (210 grams) all purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

CARAMEL FILLING:

1 - 14 ounce (396 grams) can Dulce de Leche or sweetened condensed milk

CHOCOLATE TOPPING:

6 ounces (170 grams) semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, cut into pieces

1 teaspoon unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in center of oven. Grease with butter (or use a cooking spray) a 9 x 9 inch (23 x 23 cm) pan.

FOR SHORTBREAD: In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour and salt and beat until the dough just comes together. Press onto the bottom of your greased pan and bake for about 20 minutes, or until pale golden in color. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool while you make the filling.

FOR CARAMEL FILLING: If using Dulce de Leche then simply warm the caramel in the microwave or in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. If using sweetened condensed milk, pour the milk into a heatproof bowl and place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Cover and cook, over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 60 to 90 minutes or until the milk has thickened and has turned a caramel color. Remove from heat and beat until smooth. Pour the caramel over the baked shortbread and leave to set.

Note: You can also do this step in a microwave oven. Place the sweetened condensed milk in a large microwaveable bowl and cook on medium power for about 4 minutes, stirring halfway through baking time. Reduce the powder to medium-low and continue to cook for another 8 to 12 minutes, or until the milk has thicken and has turned a light caramel color. Remove from microwave and beat until smooth.

FOR TOPPING: Melt the chocolate and butter either in the microwave oven or in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Pour the melted chocolate evenly over the caramel and leave to set. Cut the shortbread into pieces using a sharp knife.

Store the shortbread in the refrigerator to keep the chocolate nice and firm.

Yield: 16 - 2 inch (5 cm) squares

The next day, Mumsy and Don went down the Canal Path again so Don could take pictures. I decided to opt out as my knees were rebelling against all the rainy UK weather. However, I did join them for a jaunt up Hoad Hill after lunch.

Hoad Hill is a big hill right near Kevin’s flat that has a monument to Sir John Barrow, a local naval officer who traveled extensively through China a nd South Africa, and wrote many naval history books, including one about the seizure of the HMS Bounty. Normally, visitors to the top of the Hoad can climb up the monument to Sir Barrow, but currently, the monument is being restored. However, we totally lucked out and got a beautiful sunny day, so the view was quite lovely from the top of the hill.