We flew out of Kunming a few days ago and landed in Nanchang, the capitol of Jiangxi province. The flight took us over about 15 forest fires that I spotted from my side of the plane. The drought in Yunnan is bad, and some are predicting that we’ll run out of water in about a month if there is no rain. I think the last precipitation was in October.
The wind was crazy in Nanchang as we checked into a cheap hotel (so cheap it had hourly rates, but the sheets were clean) and walked to the train station to try and purchase return tickets. The trees looked as if they were bending nearly in half. The next morning, we took a double-decker bus to Jian, where we were treated to a Chinese-dubbed showing of Airplane. Once there, we were met by our host’s sister and uncle who took us to the family farm. Now, I’m not exactly an urbanite, but I’m a little soft for the Chinese countryside in winter. It’s a fair bit colder than it was in Kunming, and raining (go figure). I can handle the outhouse, but the lack of indoor heating is hard to cope with.
Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve, and that’s when the party starts! I have pictures, but they will have to wait until I have a way to upload them.
Oh kids, let me tell you something. You’ve never really had biscotti until you’ve picked up the crumbs from your own countertop while in the middle of making a batch. And I don’t even like biscotti on a normal day.
Inspired by a travel-tips post from the Gluten-Free blog, Book of Yum, I set out to make my own biscotti for munching on the plane to China. I’m still torn between requesting a vegetarian meal or a gluten-free meal, knowing that neither one is likely to be both. Whatever I choose, I’ll be supplementing with some of my own food.
I started with this recipe, and promptly modified it, then screwed it up. I found it odd that it didn’t call for xanthan gum, so I added a pinch anyway. I don’t think it mattered. I also added some dried cranberries and used 2 medium eggs instead of 1 large (you’ll see why this is ok in a sec). As for almonds, I bought about 3 cups since my eyes don’t measure very well (and who minds extra almonds?). I ground up 2 cups before realizing that I was only supposed to grind one. Oops. The extra egg will help bind that extra cup of dry ingredients together.
Start preheating the oven to 350 now if you have a slow oven.
My approximate measurements are as follows:
Dry Ingredients:
2 cups raw almonds, ground
1 cup raw almonds, roughly chopped or pulsed a few times in the food processor with the…
3/4 cup-ish dried cranberries
Put the above in a bowl with:
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup cornstarch
1 pinch (or slightly more) xanthan gum if ya got it
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
Set aside. Start preheating the oven to 350 if you have a fast oven.
Wet Stuff:
Start with 2 medium eggs beaten until frothy. Using 2 large is not a problem, and may be a better idea.
Add 1/2 cup sugar and beat into eggs
Add 1/4 cup honey and beat into eggs
Add 3 tablespoons of oil or melted butter and beat into eggs
Add a teaspoon of vanilla extract and beat into eggs.
The recipe I used said to stir the dry into the wet, but my dry ingredients were in a mixing bowl and my wet ingredients were in a cereal bowl. Add it however you please, just make sure you mix that stuff well with a wooden spoon. It will be a huge, unwieldy clump, and it will not be whiskable.
Lacking the 9×9 pan called for in the original recipe (and having used more ingredients than was likely to fit into one), I used an 8×12 pan lined with parchment. I’ve never used parchment before, and it’s a bit of a pain trying to keep it from sliding around in the pan while you attempt to smash the huge, unwieldy clump into said pan. Try oiling your hands, and forget about using the spatula. You’ll be glad you did.
The cut biscotti ready for its second baking.
Bake it for about 35 minutes. I took mine out at 30 and it wasn’t done, but it gets baked twice so Iwasn’t concerned. Now, once you take it out and let it cool for a few in the pan, flip it out onto a cutting board to cool the rest of the way. There will be crumbs. Eat them, then go distract yourself by writing a blog post or something, because it’s a bad
idea to cut it while warm, though it does create a few more crumbs for your nibbling pleasure.
Once cool, cut it once lengthwise, then every 1/2 to 3/4 inch crosswise. Use the sharpest knife you have – note the tofu cleaver in the picture. Lay these out on a couple of parchment-covered cookie sheets and bake again at 350, this time for about 20 minutes. Spy on them at 15 – if they’re starting to brown they’re done. I took out a few too soon, and they remained soft when they cooled. You want these puppies crunchy.
They’re good on their own. Really good. But I dipped them in chocolate anyway, because I’ve seen coffee shops do it. And I’m going to make coffee in the morning just so I can dunk one of these. All the bowls with which I could have fashioned a double boiler were in use, so I used a tiny teflon-coated saucepan on the lowest heat possible. I just melted semi-sweet chips and dunked them. I hope you don’t need more detailed instructions for that 
The only thing that could make this better is if I could know for certain that I could have access to an oven in China so I can make these again in 2010. Enjoy!
We lost the salsa today. *sigh*
Mostly, I’ve been incredibly lucky at the airport. Pre-9/11,the only thing I lost was a multi-fuel camping stove that reeked of gasoline even though it was empty. I can completely understand not allowing that on the plane, though I was annoyed at the time.
Post-9/11, it’s been a little worse, of course. This deserves a list.
- I had hair scissors confiscated in Japan during a ridiculous security check during a transfer. The TSA allows scissors with a 4″ blade, and Japan allows 4cm measured from the pivot. As measured by a Hello Kitty ruler, mine were 4.5cm. Why did I pack them in my carry-on? I wanted to trim my split ends during the flight.
- A pocketknife was taken in Madison while I was on my way to the inauguration, I think. It was a $10 special from Meijer at least 10 years prior, and I had forgotten it was in the suitcase.
- The lighter in Philly was perhaps the most ridiculous. It had made it through security in Detroit, and I didn’t even know it was in my pocket. The security guy was playing a “gotcha” game that entertained him greatly. “Are you sure? Then what’s this?!”
- I generally avoid having water bottles confiscated by dumping them out in a plant. The Rome airport had no plants, but I was carrying a Nalgene at the height of the BPA scare so I let it go.
- And the salsa. Ohhhh, the salsa. We picked it up at the fair-trade bazaar I wrote about a few weeks ago, and it was a gift. It was the one liquid we forgot to transfer to the checked bag. I wonder if they would have confiscated the ingredients individually, or if it was the chopping and jarring that rendered it “liquid”. It’s probably good that we went through security separately, because I would have thrown a mini fit.
Despite all of this, I still love flying. My dad was a pilot, and he got me addicted to the weightless feeling of liftoff. I enjoy it privately now because yes, I have already told you how much I love the feeling of the wheels leaving the ground.
What have you lost? Have you sworn off airports forever? What’s your favorite part of flying?
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