The Funky Kitchen

Today, I went to my mom’s house and baked her a Cardamom Honey Chocolate Tart.

I was in our kitchen, by the island, standing on a chair taking pictures of my mise en place.

She wandered in, quizzical look upon her face, and asked me, Dana, what are you doing?

Taking pictures, I told her.

But why are you taking pictures?

For my blog, I explained. I told you about it before, when I started it.

Click click goes the camera.

What? she says, You did?

Mhm. I make food, take pictures and write about it, I say, as I adjust the composition of my photo.

You should show it to me sometime, she says.

So I go downstairs to the computer, pull up The Funky Kitchen, and show her the things I’ve made, my pictures, and explain that when people read it, they can leave comments or make the recipe I made.

I like your pictures, she says.

I can tell, as often happens in our relationship, she wants to be supportive but doesn’t really understand why I’m doing it.

It’s fun, I tell her, and I’m getting awesome ideas for things to make from the blogs that I read.

That’s good, she says, maybe you should bookmark it for me.

So I add it to her favorites, and head back upstairs to finish the tart I was making for her.

Sometimes mother-daughter dynamic is a unique one. At least in our case, we so often do not understand why the other does things, or the way the other chooses to get that thing done. Where I create and throw things together, she plans and puts her ducks in a row. In the same breath, though, we both worry about everything in the exact same way, speak the same way, and react to things in the same way.

I have so much respect for my mum as a human being, she is one of my heroes. And even though we do not necessarily understand each other all of the time, we go well together.

Cardamom Honey Chocolate Tart

(adapted from Chocolate-Honey Tart in Bon Appetit, April 2008)

Ingredients

1 Cup Oreo cookie crumbs

1/4 Cup butter, melted

1 Cup whipping cream

1 Tbsp honey

3 pods of cardamom worth of cardamom seeds, crushed

1 Tbsp cocoa powder

2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips

Directions

• With a fork, combine cookie crumbs and butter until crumbly and press evenly into the bottom of a tart pan. Bake shell in 350° F oven for 10 minutes. When done, allow to cool.
• In a saucepan, combine whipping cream, honey, cocoa powder and cardamom. Bring to a simmer, and stir occasionally until quite fragrant and slightly thickened (~5 minutes).
• Add the chocolate chips into the saucepan and stir until they are melted and the mixture is uniform and velvety.
• Pour the chocolate loveliness over the shell and give it a wiggle jiggle in order to distribute the cardamom chocolate filling evenly (or spin it, centripetal force helps even out the edges).
• Allow the filling to set, and then serve!

That’s all folks! The end result is rich and elegant, and all from a simple recipe. My mom (and Baba too!) quite enjoyed it. We ate the tart with strawberries, which went with it very well.

Tags: cardamom, chocolate, daughters, dessert, family, honey, love, moms, mother's day