The Most Adorable Cafe Ever

So this is pretty off topic for my blog, probably more in the vein of Gothic Lolita than steampunk, but dang, is it cute! This new trend of "bunny cafes" is just another one of the many things that makes Japan an awesome place. See for yourself:

D'aww! Aren't they adorable!

A Very Steampunk Menu

I must apologize for the long period of time since my last post; my computational engine has been rather stubborn as of late. Therefore, this new year, I resolve to stop using stupid excuses like that to slack off. More posts are coming, I swear!

On the subject of the new year's festival--food and feasting! I present to you this Victorian-inspired compilation of recipes for your next celebration, dinner party, or whenever you're feeling bored and want to cook something interesting.

Beverages--Lavender Lemonade
Appetizer--Salmagundy
Main Course--Beef Wellington
Dessert--Pudding (this link provides a choice of recipes)

Steampunk Cafe

The exterior

Not too long ago, I was wandering the city of Milwaukee in search of cool-looking old buildings, (What do you mean that's weird? Doesn't everyone do that? No?) when I discovered Alterra Coffee, and upon entering just about died from joy.

BEHOLD THE MACHINE! Erm, the sewage-pumping machine, that is.

The atmosphere of the place was incredible, all bricks and pipes and machines. Housed in an old Victorian pump house, this place oozed pure steampunk. By pump house, by the way, I'm not referring to a little shack that pumps toilet water. I mean that there's a giant machine that used to suck dirty water from the Milwaukee river and replace it with lake water. Though no longer functioning, the machine is still there for the purpose of looking awesome.
The bad news is that it's a small building in a fairly central location with good food and atmosphere--so parking and finding a seat is a nightmare. You have no idea how many times I've tried to go here only to find a line of cars battling over parking spaces.

An interior photo

A Victorian Christmas Feast

Since Christmas as we celebrate it today was more or less a Victorian invention, the modern steampunk has much historical inspiration to draw on. If you're a daring cook looking for something unusual for your feast this year, why not give some of these recipes a try? Be forewarned that I haven't tested any of these, so I can't give you any info on how easy they would be to cook properly.

As a bonus, here's a most amusing documentary on Victorian food, which includes a Christmas feast. Sorry about it being in parts, but I'm afraid that can't be helped.

Three Tasty Bread Recipes

There are few things sadder about modern life than that spongy, tasteless bread that lines the shelves of grocery stores. The steampunk solution? Bake your own, of course! A few of my favorites are this simple crusty bread, and French bread. If you're feeling ambitious, try some sourdough. 
Let us begin the great bread revolution!

Jam Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

At long last I have returned! I must apologize for my rather long and unexpected absence, so I promise to do extra posts for a little while.
In any case, continuing with my food theme for this month, I have a recipie of my own accidental creation, which actually turned out pretty well. This cake is rich and heavy and simply wonderful with a cup of tea.

Ingredients: 1 cup sugar
                     1.5 cup butter
                     1 cup flour
                     1 cup mixed jams (Currant and lingdonberry are especially good together)
                     1 package cream cheese
                     About 2 cups of powdered sugar
                     1 teaspoon vanilla extract
                      Fresh fruit for decorative purposes
                   
1. Using an electric mixer Dr. Farliegh's Patented Steam Powered Mixing Device, blend the sugar and one cup of the butter. Keeping the mixer on, add in the eggs, jam, and flour, and blend until the batter is smooth.

2. Pour the batter into a well-greased pan and bake it at 350 degrees for about half and hour.

3. To make the frosting, blend the cream cheese and remaining butter until smooth. Add in the vanilla extract, and then gradually mix in the powdered sugar.

4. When the cake is baked and mostly cooled, spread on the frosting and arrange the fruit in a nice pattern on top. A bit of whipped cream around the edges gives it a lovely finished look.

Cookbook Review: Fuel for the Boiler

With Thanksgiving coming up here in the States, I thought it would be appropriate to dedicate a fair number of this month's posts to the subject of food. The topic of steampunk food is one that I've spent many hours wandering the vast recesses of the aethernet in search of, usually with little luck. Needless to say, I was just about drooling in sheer joy when I discovered the existence of a steampunk cookbook, that is Fuel for the Boiler, compiled by Elizabeth Stockton.

To begin with, this is not going to be the most professionally organized and edited cookbook you'll ever read. Being compiled from an online forum, it contains the best and worst of the aethernet--great ideas, terrible grammar. Likewise, this is the first cookbook I've ever read which includes the phrase "stir the shit out of it."

Some of the recipes require hard-to-find ingredients (do they even sell buttermilk at the grocery store?) or imprecise measurements, which make them rather hard to prepare, while many others are both simple and delicious, and have become staple foods in my home. In fact, I ate macaroni and cheese made using a recipe from this book for breakfast this morning. Mmmmm... Nothing like a little mac and cheese with the morning tea...

Homemade Soda Recipie

While people today normally associate sodas with the mass-produced cans of mysterious God-only-knows-what that we buy in grocery stores, its history goes back much farther, to the Victorian Era drugstores and soda fountains. Rather than being purchased from large corporations, sodas of that era were mixed from soda syrup and seltzer water. In the attitude of steampunk, I'll post this surprisingly easy recipe for making your own syrup at home.

Flavoring can be achieved using either fresh sources--fruits, herbal tea, and ginger all work quite well--or by using extracts such as vanilla or orange.

1. Fill a saucepan with water. The amount of water you add will amount to about half the volume the finished syrup.

2. (Optional) If using fresh flavoring, put whatever fruit or herb you're using in the water and boil it until the water becomes thoroughly colored from the flavoring.

3. Add in sugar to make the total proportions 1/2 sugar and 1/2 water. Heat this mixture, stirring constantly, until the sugar is completely dissolved.

4. If using an extract flavoring, add a few drops of flavoring.

5. If desired, add a little bit of food coloring to the syrup.

6. Unless you intend to use all of the syrup right away, add a little cream of tartar to keep it from hardening.

7. Mix together about one part syrup to three parts seltzer water. Enjoy.

A large number of flavoring ideas can be found at this site.

Afternoon Tea Recipies

If you, like myself, are not lucky enough to have any awesome little cafes withing walking distance, you'll probably have to end up baking your own food, or *gasp* going without. To prevent your next tea from turning into a disaster, I've found this fantastic list of recipes. 

Blaa Kannan Cafe in Akureyri, Iceland

Finding the ideal spot for a cup of tea (or coffee, if you insist) and a good slice of cake is of utmost importance to every steampunk. The best place for such, at least that I've encountered, is the Blaa Kannan (Icelandic for "Blue Teapot") Cafe, located in a dramatic Edwardian-era building in Akureyri, Iceland. I've visited it several times throughout the four days I've been here.
The food is fantastic, consisting of a daily lunch buffet, as well as more traditional cafe foods like sandwiches and some very good cake, accompanied by a reasonably large selection of teas. The rustic/steampunk decor is nearly as drool-worthy as the food.

Fish and Chips Recipe

With Victorian London being the center of the Industrial Revolution, as well as the setting for a large number of novels and films, England and steampunk have always been closely connected. In honor of the Olympic games being held in London, I'll post this recipe for fish and chips. These are baked, and are therefore more healthy but less authentic, although it could easily be adapted into a fried meal.

Ingredients: Fish (Cod works best)
                  A small amount of flour
                  A couple eggs
                  Breadcrumbs
                  Red Potatoes
                  Olive oil
                  Malt Vinegar

1. To prepare the fish, dredge it in flour, and then coat it with eggs and breadcrumbs. Bake on a greased pan at 400 degrees Fahrenheit until flaky.

2. To make the chips, slice the potatoes into wedges and coat them in olive oil. Bake until browned.

3. Serve the fish and chips together, topped with a little salt and a lot of malt vinegar.