cornmeal cake with blueberry jam.

 

A new year. I started this one off snuggled in bed with my new kitten watching some show on Netflix. It was a typical night for me. Nothing remarkable happened, no one kissed me at midnight or shoved champagne at me to celebrate. I am alone in this small town. But now I have a furry little friend to hang out with. 

While in San Francisco with my dad the day before Christmas Eve, we went to see the Christmas Carol. Rather than having to drive home after the play got out, we decided to stay the night since we both had the day off the next day. So the next morning, after breakfast, we walked by the trolly to maybe take a ride. Neither of us having done this tourist must have for years, we were going to go for a ride about town but once we got their, the line up was so long. So instead we walked up towards Union Square, and I suddenly remembered that Macy's partners with the SPCA on holiday and has kittens and puppies in their windows. After admiring their cuteness, awing at the little ones asleep and laughing at the ones playing with each other, a little kitten caught my eye. She was sitting up near the top of one of the displays, just staring at the crowd, watching everyone. I thought she looked like a lion. Now I have wanted to get a kitten for a while but just haven't. So I looked at my dad and go 'Can I adopt one of the kittens?' He just looked at me and said 'Your an adult, why are you asking me?' It didn't occur to me. I still feel like a kid sometime so it was just instinct for me to ask his permission. So we went inside Macy's and right next to the MAC counter was the SPCA booth. After a filling out a questionnaire, talking to the woman and having her watch us as we played with 'Yahtzee' she was ours. Now her name was Yahtzee. We asked her why, well the little kitten didn't really have a name but they don't want to put any of them in the window with out name, so she became Yahtzee. This couldn't be her name, she wasn't a Yahtzee. Plus Yahtzee seemed like a name for a mischievous little boy cat. Not this girl. But then I couldn't think of a name that fit her. So we just called her 'Christmas Kitty' and it just kinda stuck so now her name is Christmas. She is my beloved. Snuggly at night, always looking for a string to play with and currently chasing around a roll of washi tape that fell on the floor. She has already infiltrated my instagram account and will undoubtedly end up in some of my photos on here.







I made a cornmeal cake and dotted it with some blueberry jam before baking. It was good, light and simple. It was my intention to have the jam more swirled in the batter but it all just fell to the bottom. I think added it in after baking for a little bit will achieve this. The recipe is written out to hopefully reflect his change:

Cornmeal Cake with Blueberry Jam 
adapted from a Bon Appetit recipe

1/2 cup + 2 tbsp (78g) AP flour
1/2 cup (85g) yellow cornmeal
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup (50ml) oil
6 tbsp (90ml) buttermilk
2 tbsp (30ml) honey
1/2 jar of Bon Maman blueberry jam

Oven 350. Butter and flour a 8inch round cake pan or skillet.
Whisk together sugar, vanilla and oil until combined. Add in eggs, buttermilk and honey. Stir in flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt until just combined. 
Pour into pan. Bake for 15 minutes then remove from oven. Using a spoon, drop dots of the blueberry jam all over. Place back in the oven and bake for an attentional 25-30 minutes until center of cake is set. Let cool for 15 minutes, the remove from pan. Let cool completely before serving.