Continuing my quest to use up the remaining vegetables leftover from the visit, today I made the weirdest sounding, ever so tasty cookies: Lemon Zucchini Cornmeal Cookies.
I thought about doubling the recipe, but I was not sure how it would taste and I did not have a plan for the lemons that would be left over after zesting. I wish, very much so, that I had doubled the recipe. It was bloody fantastic!!
These are my first no-egg cookies and I was quite worried how they would cook. However, it is a Martha Stewart recipe and I am confident Martha would not steer a baker wrong. The making of them is a bit weird, too ... nothing like I expected.
Grating the zucchini was a rather sodden affair. Loosely piled afterwards, my zucchini made a very, very, very rounded cup. I used it all and was not mistaken in doing so. The one mistake I made was with the vanilla. The original recipe called for 1/2 teaspoon and I assumed 1 teaspoon. I am fine with the way the mistake turned out. Tasty!
The first instruction is to beat the confectioners' sugar and butter. I thought that it would cream. It did not. It was a very dry crumb mixture, with larger clumps of butter no matter how long I beat it. Adding the flour and cornmeal made it more of a crumb mixture. And when I added the zucchini, it looked more like a lumpy crumb mixture. I started to panic and read and re-read the recipe to see what I had done wrong as I was continuing to beat the ingredients. I thought about calling Emily, but I have avoided contact with folk because I am so distressed and wish to keep my upsettedness from bothering others' holidays. Then, magically, the heavy crumb mixture began to transform to batter and then eventually to the thick dough that was described in the original recipe. Boy, was I ever relieved!!
The cookies are rather tasty, with several flavors going on as you eat them. The blue cornmeal adds a bit of a nutty flavor and the course salt explodes in contrast with the sweetness of the sugar. There is lemon and vanilla. There are crunchy edges and a soft inside. Whilst the Brown Sugar Oatmeal Cookie is my most favorite cookie ever, this is a close second in a totally satisfying experience!
I have two zucchini left. I plan to make a zucchini Parmesan loaf, perhaps even later today. Right now, the dishwasher is running and I am resting on the couch with Amos, who is pouting over my not sharing the beaters. [Yes, I have shared beaters with him in the past.]
I've mentioned before, I think, that my most favorite series is The Chronicles of Elantra by Michelle Sagara. The latest one came out, so I am in the process of re-reading them from beginning to end. They are one of the few books that I own both in hard cover and Kindle, though I have bought the last few in Kindle only.
I just love the main character Kaylin. I love her struggles with shame and her past, her fear and her flawed character. I like the way magic is presented and the mixed race society of Elantra, with humans, dragons, leotines, arians, Barrari (like elves, I think), thalani, and the People (another humanoid). And I like the role words play in the storyline. [Kaylin reminds me a little of Bekka from Tamara Pierce's Bloodhound series.]
What I like about the books, despite having re-read them many times over now (forgetting and a poor memory makes re-reading like reading for the first time), is the way I discover new bits. Last night was just one such time:
"Words were like cages. She'd been trapped by words before—her own, both the ones she'd said in fury or fear and the ones she couldn't force out. She'd been hemmed in by the words of others: their orders, their rules, their commands. They created a maze through which it was almost impossible to navigate on the bad days."
I actually did not really understand the last book in the series and so am looking forward to the new one furthering the plot line. The one I am reading now, Cast in Peril, was the first book that felt like it was not a complete story ... it is continued in Cast in Sorrow and, to my mind, Cast in Flame, the one I did not quite understand.
Kaylin's body, when she was a pre-teen, was covered in ancient words that bad folk intended to use for evil. She instinctively started using their power for good, to heal others, and set her on a journey that continues, now, in her early twenties. She works as a Hawk, an enforcer of the law, and volunteers with the orphans and midwifes, healing them and keeping them safe. She has had no real home since she was five and has quite a bit of baggage. She is, in reality, the most powerful magician in Elantra, though she does not live or work as a magician. Mostly, she finds herself in trouble as she is pressed into service during disastrous situations, fighting the Shadows (evil).
I really like that quote:
"Words were like cages. She'd been trapped by words before—her own, both the ones she'd said in fury or fear and the ones she couldn't force out. She'd been hemmed in by the words of others: their orders, their rules, their commands. They created a maze through which it was almost impossible to navigate on the bad days."
The exploration of words and language is one that twists and turns, rather than takes a straight journey throughout the series. Sometimes, it is about forgiveness and sometimes it is about shame. Sometimes it is about creation and sometimes about healing. Often, when she is encountering challenges, her understanding, or lack thereof, of words comes up, as it did here.
Sometimes, she speaks the ancient language, as her role of Chosen, without understanding what she is saying or what is being created. I like that she doesn't know what she is doing, but is willing, even in her fear, to attempt to help the person or the situation.
Like in a lot of fantasy books, some of the races have true names and knowing someone's true name means you can, if you are strong enough, control or even harm him. But it is more than just true names or even true words. Words are powerful and performative and creative in and of themselves, not relying on someone's belief or even understanding of them. I am doing a really poor job of communicating here, but suffice it to say that I like the books primarily both because of Kaylin and her struggles and the role of words.
"Words were like cages. She'd been trapped by words before—her own, both the ones she'd said in fury or fear and the ones she couldn't force out. She'd been hemmed in by the words of others: their orders, their rules, their commands. They created a maze through which it was almost impossible to navigate on the bad days."
When I read that passage last night, I thought about the cages I have been in because of the words I have heard. Cages inside other cages, so that one escape leaves you still trapped. I have read this book four times before and had never noticed that passage. I think I noticed because of what I am going through just now and the words that have felled me of late.
I understand Kaylin, even though I am not an officer of the law or magician or someone continually battling evil. Well, maybe I am the latter, after a fashion. I understand her and thus feel an affinity for her, one laced with both sympathy and empathy. I savor walking beside her in her journey and look forward to seeing how she slogs through her fears and shame. I understand them. I understand her confusion. And I understand the things she longs for even though she cannot have them.
"Words were like cages. She'd been trapped by words before—her own, both the ones she'd said in fury or fear and the ones she couldn't force out. She'd been hemmed in by the words of others: their orders, their rules, their commands. They created a maze through which it was almost impossible to navigate on the bad days."
She's always looking for the key to escape from those cages, from her past, her fear and shame.
I want to find it, too.
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