It's Saturday today. I've got all afternoon booked up with lessons (my job is to teach languages) and this means that I've got to plan our supper with all the shopping done in the morning. I was up for some time when the door bell went at 10:30. Before I went downstairs I asked my son if he online-ordered something under my name again. He said, "Not yet."
I run downstairs and opened the front door. Two ladies from Jehovah's Witnesses were there with some leaflet thrust out to me. I can be (meaning 'I'm able to be', not 'I am sometimes') rude if someone is. In this case I just slammed the door on them. As I came back upstairs to my flat, they immediately tried the doorbell for downstairs flat. I turned around with a full intention of giving them a mouthful. My son came running out of his room and restrained me from behind, gagging me. There was nothing I could do as he is much bigger than me... (He's used to this sort of situation.)
I don't have a problem with religion. I'm sure there's a space for religion and religious people in this world. However, it's when those people try to talk to me about their belief that I start taking it as an offence, particularly when that happens in my house where I live.
About a month ago a new possible client came to see me for an assessment. She had hijab headscarf. To me this is an insult to men and women. This is not only a religious expression but a political expression. I was happy to have a lesson with her, but I've asked her politely to take off her headscarf in my house. She asked me why. I explained that this is my house and it's a place for people to learn, not to make some sort of statement. She said she was happy to take it off as long as there's no men around. Well, I live with my son and half of my clients are boys. Lessons with her didn't happen.
C'est la vie.
I'll get on with the recipe for this delicious tart.
Ingredients (for 24cm tart tin):
(for the pastry)
140g plain flour
70g cold and hard butter
(for the filling)
3-4 cox apples, peeled and thinly sliced
120g ground almond
120g soft butter
100g sugar
1 tablespoon of plain flour
2 eggs
(for the glaze)
2 tablespoon apricot jam
Preheat the oven to 190C.
Make the pastry as explained here (without the cheese). Roll out the dough to fit inside the tin. I do this by putting the dough between two large sheets of cling film. Take the top cling film, lift up the pastry by sliding your hand underneath the bottom cling film, and carefully lay the pastry in the tin. Leave the other sheet of cling film on the top. Gently push the pastry to fit in the tin and keep it in the fridge while you get on with the filling.
Mix the butter and sugar in a big bowl until fluffy and pale white. Put the almond powder into the bowl and mix. Add the eggs one by one while mixing. I use hand mixer up to this stage. Then add the flour and mix everything with a metal spoon.
Take the pastry out of the fridge, remove the cling film, and trim the edges. Smooth out the almond mixture on top of the pastry. Arrange the apple slices decoratively and bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes.
Melt the apricot jam (hopefully with no bits in it) in a small pan. Once the tart cools down a bit brush this jam to make it nice and glossy.
