My Friday morning baking yesterday took the form of chocolate cupcakes. I wonder how many home bakers like me are reliant on soft-wheat cake and pastry flour for the best outcome when they bake cakes? I remember when we lived abroad for a while discovering that the flour available was just not to be compared with Canadian hard wheat (all-purpose) flour for baking yeast-raised breads, and nor was soft-wheat flour even available.

 

I sifted the cake flour yesterday, but don't always bother to, and see little difference in the outcome. I used my sifter yesterday only because cocoa was included with the flour. And the resulting cupcakes were, as anticipated, lighter-than-air in texture. I'm finding it difficult of late to source giant cupcake paper forms, but even using inadequate, smaller ones -- considered 'large' -- the final baked cupcake is fine, since they're formed by the large-cup baking form I use.

 

 

Food of any kind, but of course in particular whole foods, is vital to our existence. Like any other animal, without the fuel our body needs to operate and be healthy, we would be unable to function and would in fact perish. Yet I wonder how many of us think about food hygiene and its importance in keeping us healthy? I read just recently that in the US a motion was made in Congress to stop the importation of garlic grown in China from entering the US.

 

Chinese-sourced garlic is everywhere. Because it's far less expensive than garlic grown elsewhere, so it's fair to assess that it's a 'dumped' crop. I've never bought garlic from China, it's a fungible product, and I either get garlic grown in Canada (prohibitively expensive in comparison) or imported from Spain (moderately priced) to ensure the product I'm using is beyond suspicion. China used to use human waste as fertilizer, and China has been notorious for tampering with food, so better safe... 

 

There are often health warnings associated with food that go out to the public, and I wonder often how many pay heed. At the present time there's an outbreak in North America of food poisoning from two brands of cantaloupe. This is one fruit that really needs to be carefully cleaned before cutting. In fact, good kitchen hygiene has always informed consumers that melons, particularly cantaloupe with its corrugated skin, should be carefully washed before use. I actually use a dish detergent to wash melons to ensure there are no lingering health threats.

Farm labourers in places like Mexico, Puerto Rico and elsewhere are not always provided with latrines and instructed to wash their hands before handling the produce they harvest. Germs, viruses and all manner of pathogens can be present on crops and once infected they can be contagious and dangerous. Severe salmonella poisoning in the US and Canada has led to 8 and 5 deaths respectively, with hundreds of people being infected.

 

Yesterday we decamped quite late in the afternoon for our daily circuit in the forest. So late that it was past dusk and by the time we reached the ravine, night had entered. Thanks to the generous coverage of an emerging snowpack we had no problems seeing our way through the trails. No one has yet spotted the presence of coyotes this winter, so we're more relaxed about that, though we won't allow Jackie and Jillie to stray too far from us in their eagerness to get along through the trails, when it isn't fully light out.

 

Today we left earlier than usual for our trip through the ravine. Because, even though we've had a succession of -9C days, today the temperature warmed up to 0C, and there was a forecast of the possibility of showers this afternoon. This level of cold and rain make for a very uncomfortable collaboration by nature, one we'd prefer to avoid, hence our early venture.

Even at that moderating temperature on a heavily overcast day with a light wind prevailing, it feels damp and just as cold as the lower temperatures. But because it wasn't quite as cold it meant that Jackie and Jillie had no need of their rubber boots,which gave them a little more freedom to romp about without any impediments beyond their winter coats. 

The forest does look beautiful, heavily laden with snow from our previous several days of snow. I'd not be happy about rain melting any of it. Today, we heard the presence of ravens and watched as several flew high over the forest canopy, coming to rest on the peak of several tall pines. We don't often see and hear ravens here, but occasionally they leave the boreal forests and come to visit, at this time of year.