(And oh! I’m back from JAPANG!)

(And oh! I’m late again… but it’s still the 27th somewhere in the world. Right?)

In case you haven’t noticed, there’s been some stuff happening around onebitemore-land.

A whirlwind holiday that snuck up on me so quickly that I found myself sitting on a very cold bench in Osaka sans-gloves in 4 degree weather for one. A new position at work for another. And oh! (there I go with my “And oh!”s again) the introduction of the Very Tall Boy.

And it was with the above three in my mind (some more forefront than others… see above note re gloves) that I set about doing this month’s daring bakers challenge.

the creamy mixture

It was a bit of a big deal. Four elements (count em!) were to be made and then thrown together to make a tiramisu to end all tiramisus. And all in the space of less than a week.

“I can’t! I can’t!” said I, to the VTB over pizza one evening.

“You can! You can!” said the VTB in reply, eyes and ears pricked up at the potential loss of tiramisu eating excuses.

“But what? And how?!” said I, thoughts of documents and teleconferences and packing and accomodation looming before me.

“You’ll think of something. You always do. We can make the biscuits first anyway.” he responded.

And so we did.

Measure, whisk, fold. Pipe, dust, dust again. Bake ever so cautiously in case nothing puffs up and then, “Oh! These are yummy!”

And we did our best not to eat the lot before the tiramisu was made.

But how? I’d given up coffee six years ago and barely touched it since. And there were experiments to do – I’ve been infusing cream with tea all over the shop recently, and wondered if infused cream would make a decent mascarpone.

And then, looking up at a concerned looking VTB (who was apparently wondering what on earth was going on inside this crazy little noggin of mine), it hit me.

Something quintisentially British as a nod to the Very Tall (mostly)-Brit that keeps me chugging along on this little blogger-ing adventure. Something comforting. And soothing. And a little bit fancy too.

Devonshire tea(rimisu).

dipping the savioradi (alien fingers mine, picture by the VTB)

I infused the cream with English Breakfast Tea and cooled it before making it into lovely, thick, gloopy mascarpone and luscious creme patissiere.

I brewed more tea until it was strong and dark and added it to my zabaglione along with some sweet port.

I ground up a strawberry tisane and made a concentrate with a splash of cream to dip the lady fingers in (because what is a Devonshire tea without scones slathered in cream and strawberry jam?) and layered them with my creamy mix and sprinkles of more tisane to balance the tea-like creaminess.

And when I presented it to the VTB, on the night before my big-trip-with-the-Bean, he sat in a pile of contented bliss. And oh, all was so right with the world.

ps) 1x very GIANT congratulations to the new Mrs Noods (aka chocolatesuze), whose wedding yesterday was all things fun & candy. Love!

pps) 1x heartfelt cuddles to those lovely people who brought me support and comfort following a case of the grumples. I’ve loved posting my completed challenges on the DB forums so far, and being an active part of that not-so-little community, and will keep doing so for the time being. xx