The Cat's Table and Milk Toffee

I am sorry I have been so MIA from bookcooker the last few weeks.  August has been quite a month so far.  I have really been put through the ringer at work and that, combined with weekends away have made it difficult for me to get my act together and post!  I have a real backlog of books, after The Cat's Table I will be hoping to turn out posts on J. Courtney Sullivan's Maine (Lobster!), Chris Bohjalian's The Sandcastle Girls (with an Armenian Feast!), Deborah Harkness' Shadow of Night (current buns) and Jesymn Ward's Salvage the Bones (haven't decided yet).  Without further adieu, here is some Sri Lankan Milk Toffee which was inspired by Michael Ondaatje's playful and soulful The Cat's Table.  While this candy does not appear in the book at all, the main character of the book, Michael (nicknamed Mynah), is a young Sri Lankan boy who is sent half way around the world on a big ship on his own, from his Aunt and Uncle's house in Sri Lanka to his long absent mother in London.  On the ship he meets two other boys his own age who are traveling alone, Cassius and Ramadhin.  The three quickly form a mischievous threesome who spend their days and nights running around the ship and getting into trouble.  The three first meet at "The Cat's Table" the opposite of the luxurious ship's Captain's Table, which is filled with important and wealthy guests.  The Cat's Table is filled with the nobodies, including three unaccompanied children.  While food does not take a big part of the book (despite the fact that many scenes take place at the dinner table), this traditional Sri Lankan sweet is something I could picture the three boys nibbling on as they explored the ship, spying on people and learning about life.   More about the engaging adventures of Mynah, Cassius and Ramadhin after the jump.

The Cat's Table a moving and unique coming of age tale set on a luxury liner cruise ship that is traveling from Sri Lanka to England.  I was expecting something very serious from the writer who brought us The English Patient, but while The Cat's Table has its share of melancholy darkness, it is also filled with real playfulness and joy.  The book is told from the perspective of Mynah, a young Sri Lankan boy who lived with his Aunt and Uncle in Colombo but at age 11 is being sent to London to live with his mother, who he has not seen in many years.  Mynah is being sent on the journey alone, with a friend of family also on board meant to provide some form of supervision, though she does not relish the responsibility.  At Mynah's first meal on ship he is seated at the so called "Cat's Table" where the least important people on board sit.  He will sit at this table with these people for every meal during his journey.  Also at the Cat's Table are two other Sri Lankan boys, roughly his same age - Cassius, a rebel, and Ramadhin, a gentle soul.  These three boys spend every day of their journey together, roaming the ship and inevitably getting in trouble.   The Cat's Table's other members are a quirky group of adults who give the boys various life lessons throughout the trip.  There is the botanist who teaches Mynah about rare (and poisonous) plant species, a ship dismantler, a single woman who keeps pigeons in her room and often throws her romance novels overboard in frustration. Also on the ship is Mynah's 17 year old cousin Emily, who he has a innocent crush on that leads him to always be aware and curious of where she is and what she is doing.  Emily, through her romance with a performer on the ship becomes involved in a scandal involving the most mysterious of the ship's passengers, a prisoner who is only brought out on deck at night in heavy shackles. While the book is mainly a recollection of Mynah's childhood sea journey, Mynah sometimes discusses the present and what has happened to Cassius, Ramadhin and Emily.  While the portions of the book that take place in the past are filled with whimsy and the happiness of youth, when Mynah talks about the present it is dark and sad.   Through the hindsight of an adult he is able to interpret and process his experiences on the ship and he understands that the journey was his passage into adulthood, where he left his childhood innocence behind.  Like The English Patient, I think this book would make a great movie, I hope that is in the works.    I really loved this book and highly recommend it.

Sri Lankan Milk Toffeeu
Although the Cat's Table revolves around a dinner table on the ship, food does not play a big part of the book.   I decided to make a traditional Sri Lankan dish that I could imagine the boys eating.  I found this recipe for Milk Toffee on this great blog,  Love and Other Spices.  Milk Toffee is a aromatic candy made by cooking down condensed milk.  This stuff is hella sweet, but good in small pieces.

Ingredients
1 and 1/4 cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons water
1 can condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cardamon pods, crushed, seeds removed and crushed with back of knife
1/2 cup chopped roasted cashews

Directions:

1. Grease well a square baking pan or a small loaf pan (this will determine the thickness of your candy).
2. Combine the sugar and water in a small heavy sauce pan, heat over low, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.
3. Add the condensed milk and turn heat up to medium.  Cook, stirring constantly, for 15 minutes.  Please note, if you leave this milk unattended it will boil over before you know it.  
4. Add the cardamon and vanilla.
5. Keep cooking and stirring until the color of the milk becomes like light caramel and the mixture thickens significantly, another 15 minutes for me.
6. Add the nuts and stir to combine.
7. Pour into the buttered dish.  Let set then cut with a greased knife into small pieces.
8. Store in an airtight container for 3 - 5 days.