Tolkíenism Saturday

The Wisdom of Sam

#TolkienismSaturday

“Where there's life there's hope, and need of vittles.” -Sam Gamgee

Again, it is Sam, who saves the day with this simple wisdom. Where there life, there’s hope. And sometimes we’re just hungry. Sometimes the forces of darkness have run so amok you’re feeling a bit down. And maybe, for just a moment, you need to stop and eat a little before we get going again. Things are not as done as they yet seem, you just need a break. We all do. I wonder how much of Sam’s wisdom was learned working in a garden. Working there alone during long cold days, reminding himself, and his charges, through the winter and short cold days of Spring, that life would come again, soon. And even if the clouds hovered and the wind was cold making your hands raw, well, things will turn out right. Just give it a moment. And that, until then, sometimes we just need a little food, perhaps a friend or some quiet. And also… some hope for better days, new friends, adventures, travel, discovery, the defeat of winter in all its forms, and to go There, and then come Back again.

“A little beer would suit me better, if it is all the same to you, my good sir,” said Balin with the white beard. “But I don’t mind some cake – seed-cake, if you have any.”

“Lots!” Bilbo found himself answering, to his surprise; and he found himself scuttling off, too, to the cellar to fill a pint beer-mug, and then to a pantry to fetch two beautiful round seed-cakes which he had baked that afternoon for his after-supper morsel.”

So perhaps, until the darkness lifts… as Sam would say… vittles.

Hobbit Seed Cake

2 egg whites

5 egg yolks

250g of butter

¼ tsp of rose water

one shot of brandy

¼ of a lemon rind

1 ¾ cups of all purpose flour

¾ cup of white sugar

3 tbsp of caraway seeds

¼ cup of candied peel

instructions

Take 2 egg whites and 5 egg yolks and beat them together in a mixer.

Mix in 250g of butter, ¼ tsp of rose water, and one shot of brandy.

Grate in ¼ of a lemon rind and sift in 1 ¾ cups of all purpose flour, and ¾ cup of white sugar.

Set your mixer on medium speed for 5-10 minutes until the mixture is fluffy and white.

Stir in 3 tbsp of caraway seeds and ¼ cup of candied peel.

Butter a round pan, scoop mixture into a 7″ round cake pan and bake in ‘a quick oven’ (pre-heated oven, ~200C/400F).

When a wooden skewer is pushed into the middle and comes out clean, the cake is done (45 minutes to 1 hour)