{"id":651,"date":"2011-01-24T08:20:00","date_gmt":"2011-01-24T08:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elitemporaryblog.wordpress.com\/2011\/01\/24\/yes-already"},"modified":"2016-01-07T18:21:20","modified_gmt":"2016-01-07T23:21:20","slug":"yes-already","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2011\/01\/yes-already\/","title":{"rendered":"Yes, already"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well. The good news is that I\u2019m making headway in my book proposal. I was working on it at a cafe on Saturday afternoon, and I could actually see<\/i> it taking shape, right there in front of me. I love that feeling. I was absolutely elated. I lost all sense of time. I was in it up to my eyebrows. And I must have looked it, too, because as I was packing up to leave, the girl sitting next to me commented politely that I must have gotten some very good work done, because I was staring at my computer so<\/i> intensely. <\/i>And I decided that from now on, I should work only in the privacy of my home, so no one else has to witness that.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the good news. The bad news is, I\u2019m tired<\/i>. Did you know that I have a neighbor who, though at home all day, waits until night to do his gardening and outdoor home improvement projects? As I type this, my poor, stressed-out dog has his nose pressed to the window, watching our neighbor stroll the length of his yard, surveying the territory with a flashlight of such size and power that it could double as a fine searchlight<\/a>. Living next to this is one of many things that can make a person tired.<\/p>\n

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I hope you people were serious when you said you were excited about the prospect of more breakfast recipes in 2011. Because I have another one for you. Yes, already. I\u2019m going to try to limit it to one a month from now on, but what can you do? I woke up the other morning, realized I had the ingredients for a batch of oatmeal popovers, and the next thing I knew, they were made.<\/p>\n

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\nAs with last week\u2019s fresh ginger muffins, this recipe – or at least the ingredients part of it – comes to us from Ms. Marion Cunningham and The Breakfast Book<\/a><\/i>. It\u2019s a very subtle riff on a classic popover, one that includes a fistful of rolled oats that you\u2019ve coarsely ground in the food processor. Her headnotes explain that she uses the oatmeal for additional texture, and I can attest that the result is really lovely: a little heartier, a scant degree more substantial, than an ordinary popover. But I would add that the oats bring some flavor too, which I like very much. It\u2019s a quiet flavor, one you only notice if you look for it, but it\u2019s there. Ordinary popovers can sometimes taste too eggy, but the oats counter that, giving the flavor some depth and grounding. It felt fiddly to haul out the food processor first thing in the morning, before I\u2019d even put on real clothes, but I was glad I did. Actually, I might grind extra oats next time, so they\u2019re ready whenever I want them.<\/p>\n

I have to admit, though, that I did make some adjustments to the method. Ms. Cunningham starts her popovers in a cold oven, but that sort of terrifies me. I have an electric oven, and the only time that I tried the cold-oven popover method, the lower heating element scorched my popovers in the process of preheating. I am not a nice person when my breakfast gets ruined. Maybe it was a fluke, but I don\u2019t use the cold-oven popover method anymore. I start my popovers in a hot oven, and I also preheat the pan before I pour in the batter, which gives them an extra boost. The method that I like best is detailed nicely in the book The New Best Recipe<\/a><\/i>, and so that\u2019s what I\u2019ve written below. Basically, you get Marion Cunningham\u2019s concept and ingredients, with The New Best Recipe<\/i>\u2019s method. I hope she\u2019ll forgive me for taking such liberties.<\/p>\n\n

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Recipe<\/div>\n

Oatmeal Popovers<\/h2>\n

Adapted from The Breakfast Book<\/a><\/i> and The New Best Recipe<\/a><\/i><\/h3> \n \n <\/header>\n\n
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