一次去威尔士，迷上了威尔士蛋糕
有一个叫埃利斯·劳埃德·琼斯（Ellis Lloyd Jones）的年轻人，他绝对不知道多少快乐他的tiktoksbring me, and especially how badly they make me crave Welsh cakes. Weirdly, for a person who grew up in the Northern Kentucky suburbs, I spent a lot of time around Welsh people, singing songs around our home's piano in an ersatz eisteddfod and selling wee Y Ddraig Goch flags at the Wales booth at the International Folk Festival alongside other members of the Welsh Society of Greater Cincinnati. So far as I understood, my family had some nominal connection back to Cymru via my great-great-great-grandfather John Davis who emigrated from there to Canada at some point, but I didn't sweat it; I dug the sweets.
好的，也许“甜食”在这里推了一点。Picau an y Maen（也称为威尔士蛋糕，威尔士矿工蛋糕，Pice Bach，Cacennau Cri和Teisennau Gradell）是厚的圆形茶蛋糕，传统上是用烘焙石或烤肉制成的，撒上干果，可能撒在干果中施法者糖，温暖或冷，黄油和果酱可选。他们不是像也是传统的巴拉·布里斯（Bara Brith）那样的富裕，潮湿的水果炸弹，也不是我全心全意地喜欢的圣诞节pwdin nadolig，这是今年第一次做出的，但他们拥有坚固而奇特的吸引力。然后尝试将幻想的巴黎 - 布雷斯特（Paris-Brest）或sfogliatella降落在地球上的岩壁上，例如我的采矿前辈，看看午餐桶中的效果如何。一两个好的威尔士蛋糕会让您兴奋。
但是话又说回来，在我一生的大部分时间里，我不确定一个“好”的威尔士蛋糕。我非常喜欢我父亲在1979年用食谱制作的版本Celtic CookbookHelen Smith-Twiddy是一位“经验丰富的烹饪老师”，在澳大利亚学习，然后在她的祖国威尔士的Aberystwyth定居之前，但没有衡量的指标。（与在Duolingo上研究威尔士300天的方式一样，我仍然不知道我是否会划过我的LLS加倍并正确地滚动RS，但是我有信心我可以为Abergavenny居民询问一张纸条我可能在城里的地方可以买一公斤韭菜。）我周围的蜜月之旅全神贯注于单轨，绵羊，绵羊街区的道路上的白色倾斜驾驶（或者是乘客）Porthmadog想想寻找任何东西 - 直到我们越过边界回到英格兰并将M1降回伦敦之前，我才注意到。cachu hwch！
I put it out of my mind for the next 14 years or so, until ye olde pandemig Coronafeirws sent me back down my mind's mines and I hurled myself into all things Cymraeg in a mad attempt to will myself anywhere but the confines of my own apartment. I studied the language shoulder to wing with Duolingo's tylluan gwyrdd mascot Dewi Lingo, practicing a mashed-up Wenglish (that'd be the English-Welsh mashup spoken in many homes of the bilingual country), lurking on Zoom events hosted by the纽约威尔士social group, watching videos of Matthew Rhys (OK, I just like looking at Matthew Rhys), and finally, finding my way to Welsh Tiktok.
这是一件可爱的事情，它名义上是由上述的埃利斯·劳埃德·琼斯（Ellis Lloyd Jones）在边界守卫的，他们在其他迷人的角色中喜欢打扮成人类大小的水仙花（威尔士国家花），并在国家 /地区的国家 /地区扮演国家 /地区的侍从威尔士·蒂克托克（Welsh Tiktok）。在那儿，他询问了在威尔士的过境点，他们是否有一只绵羊被拖走（再次，只去了一个星期，我看到了比我几十年来的蓬松的达法。而且，最重要的是，如果他们喜欢威尔士蛋糕中的葡萄干。
Up until that point, I'd honestly no idea that it was even a question. Perhaps in my naivete I have always clocked currants as raisins, and remember somewhat of a fuss finding them at the local Kroger when my dad would make a batch back in the '80s, but somehow the mention opened up a gnawing in my soul, a red dragon slavering for the flavor of a country to which I have but a gossamer tie, but has burrowed deep into my being. There is, of course, a Welsh word—hierath- 这意味着渴望回家，也许那是在我的DNA扭曲中纠结的某个地方，但我真的就像威尔士蛋糕一样。
I was about to dig out my copy of theCeltic Cookbookand attempt a batch for St. David's Day (it was March 1, but theWelsh Congregation of New York Cityis celebrating with a service and singalong on March 14 so I'm giving myself grace) when a couple of packages arrived in the mail. One bore a desktop-sized Welsh flag, and the other, two packets of cakes fromThe Welsh Baker是加利福尼亚州的夫妻二人组，他自己是“自2009年以来的美国首演威尔士蛋糕的首演供应商。”任何一个货物都没有指示发件人的东西，但是我马上给父亲发短信说diolch yn fawr，因为它只能来自他。
I have no idea when I'll get to see my dad again in person; he is hundreds of miles away in South Carolina and there's still a pandemic raging out there. But last night, as I gently opened the carton of currant-flecked Welsh cakes (with helpful text on the side explaining that "it's like a tiny raisin") and poured myself a small splash from that very bottle of Black Mountain brandy I'd been in search of so long ago, I allowed myself to dream a little. I imagined pulling up to a tollbooth on the edge of the River Dee, daffodil-headed Ellis Lloyd Jones popping out to inquire as to the whereabouts of our sheep, the purpose of our visit, and if we spoke any Welsh. "Deuthum â fy nhad i weld y golygfeydd braf a bwyta pice ar y maen," I'd say—surely more fluently in my head than out of my mouth in real life, but I'd like to think he wouldn't judge.
“Croeso,”他回答,给我一个免费的bag of cacennau cri, possibly while humming a Tom Jones tune. And if they happened to be stuffed chock full of raisins, that'd take the cake.