Watermelon, Oat Cakes, Edamame Rissoles, Kitchen Tip

Watermelon Cake
This gives a whole new meaning to the word Fruitcake!!!.  We got this Forks Over Knives recipe the other day via email.  It's one of the few FOK recipes that has everything right -- no missing ingredients/times/temps, properly seasoned (none in this case), etc.  Sally needed something to take to work as a "thank you" to some co-workers, and thought this would be a Good Thing for me to make.

Watermelon
Fresh Nectarines, Mango, Plums, Blueberries, whatever you like
Skewers

Cut 3 rounds of watermelon 1" to 1-1/2" thick, and trim the rind away.  It's nicer if the three disks are slightly different sizes.  Select the largest disk for the base.

Cut the other fruits (except the blueberries) into 1/2" thick wedges.  I used firm mango slices, some pluots, and of course blueberries from our local food co-op.

Stand 4-5 skewers, points up, in the base, and arrange fruit all around the edge and into the center.  Run 2-3 blueberries down each skewer.    Add the second layer of melon and repeat with the other fruits.  Add the last layer of melon, top with fruit, and trim the skewers off at the last berries.  Chill for at least 2 hours.  Want to be decadent?  Add spray or real whipped cream, slice and serve.


Staffordshire Oatcakes Revisited
Our English friend Joan sent me, quite awhile ago, a recipe for Staffordshire Oat Cakes (see Oat Cakes May 22, 2017).  Well, when we went to England and I finally got to meet Joan and Mick, she served us handmade Oatcakes that were more like crepes then the thick planks I've been making.  
After the batter rises overnight in the fridge, she thins it down with water the next morning.  Also, hers had more texture -- she uses "pin oats" (which are nearly impossible to find in the US) rather than the Oat Flour I've been using -- so there were flakes of oat in the batter, not a homogenous slurry.

So anyway, here's my take on Oat-crepes served, this time "English Sweet"  -- a dusting of confectioner's sugar and a squeeze of lemon.  Next time I'll use Quick Oats rather than Oat Flour, so I should have even better texture...

Edamame-Rice Rissoles
Got this recipe from the local newspaper courtesy of America's Test Kitchen.  Usually ATK recipes are really well spiced and herbed, but IMHO they missed the mark in this case.

Don't get me wrong -- these are really good.  But they will be Outstanding if you add about a tablespoon of a spice blend to the recipe.  You can take these to any flavor profile you want -- Asian, Cajun, Malaysian, Indonesian, Caribbean, Mediterranean, etc.  I stayed with Asian, and next time will add more ginger, sriracha and Hoisin sauce to the mix.

1 cup Short Grain Rice -- brown if you can find it, but I used white
1 cup Fresh Baby Spinach, packed
1 cup Edamame, shelled, thawed, and patted dry
2 sheets Nori seaweed, crumbled
1 Tbsp Toasted Sesame Oil 
1 3" thumb Fresh Ginger, chopped
2 Tbsp Vegetable oil for frying

for Sriracha Mayonnaise1/2 cup Mayo
2-3 Tbsp Sriracha hot sauce

Cook the rice to package instructions.  Fluff it with a fork when done.   Combine the mayo and hot sauce for the Sriracha Mayonnaise.  Chill.

In the food processor, pulse everything else until everything is finely ground but not a paste.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.  Chill for about 30 minutes.

Divide the mixture into 4 and form into tight patties about 3/4" thick.  

Fry in the oil about 8 minutes per side until lightly browned and slightly crispy outside.  Plate with side items as desired.

Removing Price Stickers
Doncha just hate it when you buy something and it has those darn hard to remove price stickers???  Scrape the stickers off and you're left with the ugly gummy residue that takes forever to go away.  

Sally bought these plastic wine goblets the other day, got frustrated, and we spent some quality time researching ways to get the gunk off.

Just fingernail scraping gave us the middle goblet.  The goblet on the left was treated with a swabbing of oil.  The one of the right was, as you can see, rubbed with mayonnaise.

In the end, a combination of oil and then mayonnaise, together with scraping with an old credit card gave us these:

Mayo definitely gave us better results, but oil first seemed the best solution.