of erup­tions and interruptions

Two words: vol­canic ash.

Who knew that two words could have such a dev­as­tat­ing, dis­com­bob­u­lat­ing, dis­ori­ent­ing effect on much of the world.

No flights.

In or out of the UK, as you all know by now, and this since Wednes­day night. So my poor mother in law, who wanted noth­ing more than to be in Iowa on Thurs­day evening, is bravely stick­ing it out with us here this week­end, hop­ing to get out on Tues­day if the reports are safe and healthy.

I keep think­ing how much I would like to get to Indi­ana on Wednes­day. I do NOT want, how­ever, to be part of the sort of seis­mo­log­i­cal exper­i­ment enti­tled “How Much Vol­canic Ash Does It Take To Shut Off Transat­lantic Air­plane Engines Headed for Detroit?”

In short, we’re stuck. Can you believe it?

We’ve done:

Pic­cacilly: Hatchards (my favorite book­shop ever), plus lunch at the Woles­ley with my friend JoAnn (duck liv­ers in Madeira, hal­ibut steaks and end­less laugh­ter) and the Van Gogh show (total yawn from Avery’s and my per­spec­tive: we spent the entire time mak­ing up irrev­er­ent replace­ment titles for the very repet­i­tive paint­ings (“Peas­ant With Bot­tom in Air Tak­ing Care of Chick­ens and Pos­si­bly Dead Dog”)

High­gate Ceme­tery (fas­ci­nat­ing, ask for Josephine the Guide who is knowl­edge­able, funny and loyal to the cemetery)

Covent Gar­den (lovely spices from the Ara­bica com­pany, includ­ing some­thing called “Dukka” which was lovely on duck)

Avery’s audi­tion for a very silly-sounding sit­com like “Han­nah Montana”

Por­to­bello Mar­ket where we bought loads of presents I can­not describe here because their recip­i­ents will read about them! and lunch at E&O, pos­si­bly the best Asian fusion food in the city: seared tuna with miso aiol, crispy chilli squid, a beef dish with chopped peanuts in let­tuce… words fail me. Per­fec­tion on a plate.

The Crim­i­nal Courts in the City (a mur­der case involv­ing a young Kurd in a chicken shop who killed a man with a mop to get his cell phone)

The Lock and Canal Walk from Padding­ton Basin (a good five or six miles, be pre­pared, but in good weather it’s delightful)

Cam­den Mar­ket (hideously crowded but found the BEST presents for every­one in Indi­anapo­lis, should I ever get there, and excel­lent donuts)

.….……

We’re in a tailspin.

All I can do is cook. Can I inter­est you in:

Salmon in Teriyaki Sauce
(serves 4)

4 fil­lets of salmon
2 cloves gar­lic, minced
1-inch knob gin­ger, grated
1/2 cup dark soy sauce
1/4 cup Japan­ese mirin (or sake)
1/4 cup honey
1 tbsp sesame oil
zest and juice of 1 lime
hand­ful chives, chopped long

Line a bak­ing dish with foil (very impor­tant as the sauce is very dif­fi­cult to clean from bak­ing dish!). Place salmon fil­lets in it.

In a small saucepan, place all mari­nade ingre­di­ents except chives and sim­mer until reduced just a bit, per­haps 5 min­utes. Cool slightly, then pour over salmon fillets.

Cook either in a very hot oven (425F, 210C) for 20 min­utes (or until opaque in cen­ter) or grill on one side for about 6 min­utes, then turn and grill for another 4–5 min­utes, JUST until cooked through.

Scat­ter with chives.

**************

Had­dock with Tar­tar Sauce and Savoy Cab­bage and Curly Kale Saute
(serves 4)

2 inches high (in a wide, shal­low pan) taste­less oil like rape­seed or sun­flower oil

4 pieces had­dock loin fil­lets
2 eggs, beaten
2 tbsps cream

1 1/2 cups fresh bread­crumbs
3/4 cup corn­starch (corn­flour)
salt and pepper

3/4 cup may­on­naise
tbsp capers, chopped
6 cor­ni­chons, chopped
juice of 1 lime
pinch dried dill
pinch dried tar­ragon
black pep­per and salt to taste

CAB­BAGE:
3 tbsps but­ter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 head Savoy cab­bage, chopped
2 hand­fuls curly green kale, chopped
salt and pep­per to taste

Mix eggs with cream in a wide bowl. Mix bread­crumbs with corn­flour and salt and pep­per in a flat plate.

Mix fol­low­ing ingre­di­ents for the tar­tar sauce and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, over low heat, toss but­ter, oil, cab­bage and kale until JUST slightly limp, then sea­son and turn off heat.

To pre­pare fish, heat oil to nearly smok­ing. Mean­while, coat each fil­let of had­dock in egg mix­ture, then in breadcrumb/cornflour/seasonings mix­ture. One at a time, lower into hot oil care­fully. Cook on each side about 2–3 min­utes, until firm. Drain on paper towel.

Serve with sauce and cab­bage. Per­fectly crunchy, light and you’ll never go for fish and chips again. At least, until I learn to make chips and teach YOU.

*****************

So until the air clears, I’m stuck cook­ing for my grow­ing house­hold. Tonight, close to mid­night, Avery and I walked to school to pick up a friend back from a school trip in Italy, to stay with us until her par­ents, stranded in Amer­ica, can get back.

“Can I just tell you,” chor­tled Avery as we trun­dled along with Lille’s suit­cases through the dark neigh­bor­hood toward home, “How extremely funny it is that your trip back from POM­PEII was delayed by… a volcano.”

Trust a teenager to make it funny.