Cranberry Grumble
What’s a blog without an occasional recipe? Herewith, kind of in time for the holidays, is my recipe for Cranberry Grumble. What’s a Grumble you may ask? Basically it’s a biscuit-topping over cooked fruit, similar to a cobbler, but more of a breakfast than a dessert.
Why is it called a Grumble? Well, I improvised the first time I made it. I doubted my choices. I muttered a lot under my breath. I called it a Crumble. My wife misheard me. She laughed. And the Grumble was born.
Heat oven to 350 degrees
8 – 9 inch casserole/cobbler dish
12 oz bag fresh cranberries
1 ½ – 2 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
½ cup plus 2 Tablespoons water
2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup Crisco
3 tablespoons brown sugar
½ cup rolled oats
⅔ cup milk
Cranberry Filling
- Heat cranberries, ½ cup water in pot on high heat. Bring to low heat once the water starts boiling.
- Stir in sugar
- Cook until most of the cranberries have popped and mixture has a soupy jammy texture.
- Optional – for a thicker filling, mix cornstarch and remaining water together. Turn heat up to medium and stir into mixture until it boils and starts to thicken.Cut heat. Pour cranberry mixture into casserole dish and let cool
Grumble Crust
- Combine flour, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Cut in Crisco shortening until flour is crumbly and Crisco is fully incorporated (no big lumps)
- Mix in rolled oats and brown sugar.
- Add milk and mix until it forms a soft dough
- Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead into smooth ball.
- Roll dough into circle approximately ¾ inch thick. Thickness is optional depending on your tastes, but circle should be at least 9 inches in diameter to fit your casserole dish.
- Cut dough into checkerboard pieces, approximately 2 inches square
- Arrange cut dough on top of cranberry mixture so pieces just touch (You may end up with more dough than you need. Save it and bake biscuits of of the rest).
- Place in 350 degree oven. Cook until cranberry mixture is bubbling and biscuit topping has turned light brown (20 – 30 minutes).
- Remove from oven and cool. I like to make mine at night and leave out for the next morning’s breakfast. Keep in the refrigerator if there’s any left after the first round.
Taking a Break
I haven’t posted anything the last month or so. My wife and I decided to go on a road trip and get out of town. It was our 35th anniversary, after all. We visited some of our favorite places in Colorado, Arizona and Utah. I thought I’d share a few photos. Now back to writing the next book.
Crime (and other) Reads
I’m always checking out and reading articles related to crime and/or music, anything that might serve as inspiration material for my books. Here are some of my favorite finds from this month.
- America’s Most Flamboyant Private Eye – Rolly Waters is pretty cool, but he’s got nothing on this Texas private eye with hooks for hands. I’m not making this up.
- Poisoning Daddy – Texas again. Star student poisons her dad. What really grabbed me on this one was the effect reading Shakespeare can have on a person.
- How to Hide from a Drone – Good for writers to know in case their protagonist/villain needs to escape. Probably useful for us regular folks as well. You never know.
- Beautiful Libraries – None of us get to travel much these days. I enjoyed this little tour of some of the world’s most beautiful libraries.
Magic Machine
What is this monstrosity in the photo above? Technically it’s a 24 input, 16 output Audiotronics mixing console from Ardent Studios in Memphis Tennessee. But for rock and roll geeks like me, it’s a magical machine. It was on display at the Rock and Soul Museum in Memphis when I visited a couple of years ago. A lot of great music went through this thing. So I had to take a picture of it.
Are you a Blues Fan? Albert Collins, Robert Cray and various permutations of the Vaughn Brothers plugged in and made records through this thing. Rock? How about Cheap Trick, Joe Walsh and Led Zeppelin? Country musicians Waylon Jennings, Tanya Tucker, Marty Stuart and Travis Tritt. Soul singers like Al Green, Isaac Hayes and The Staple Singers. Alt Rockers Big Star, The Replacements and The Cramps put their twangy vibes through this baby. Singer/Songwriters like John Hiatt, John Prine and (holy crap!) Bob Dylan put their voices and instruments through the thing. And great records came out on the other end. Isn’t that kind of cool?
It’s a little weird getting excited about a mixer, though, isn’t it? I’ve sat behind a few consoles in my time, but I still got a bit misty-eyed standing there and looking at this thing. It’s a big pile of metal and wires and knobs and potentiometers, a creaky analog machine for God’s sake, but the thought of all those musicians plugging into this thing one day and then you and I getting to listen to that music whenever we want now is kind of awesome.
In short, a lot of great music I’ve listened to (and still listen to) went through this board. Like I said, it’s a magic machine.
Hmm, suddenly I feel a need to hear #1 Record again. And In Color. And Toots in Memphis
Mystery Casino
If you’ve ever visited or lived in San Diego, you’ve seen the Coronado Islands, which lie about twenty miles southwest of downtown, eight miles due west of Tijuana. I mention the islands in my second Rolly Waters novel, Border Field Blues, but the islands play a bigger role in Ballast Point Breakdown, specifically the ruins of a casino that was built on South Coronado Island in the 1930s.
The casino was a joint venture between American businessman Frederick W. Hamilton and Tijuana businessman Mariano Escobedo. It was named the Coronado Islands Yacht Club and provided both liquor and gambling facilities for guests.
Prohibition was repealed soon after the casino was built, and gambling was made illegal in Mexico. The casino shut down eighteen months after it opened. It re-opened the next year as a weekend getaway hotel, with an emphasis on fishing and hiking as attractions, and remained in business until 1944.
There’s less of the building remaining than I described in the novel (artistic license!), but you can still see the foundations of the old hotel on Google Maps.
Celebrity guests are said to have included Charlie Chaplin, Errol Flynn and Al Capone. As an interesting side note L Ron Hubbard, while serving as captain of the sub-chaser USS PC-815, gave orders to shell the Coronado Islands for target practice one day in June 1943. Mexican soldiers and officials stationed on the island lodged a complaint with the US Navy and Hubbard was relieved of his command as an “officer lacking in the essential qualities of judgment, leadership and cooperation.”
