Wednesday, 9. July 2008, 21:12:49
Wow, what a dusty blog! I had to wipe the cobwebs just to see the edit page...
So after reading "The Hobbit" (I know, I know, it's a kid's book!) and seeing the chapter about Bilbo entertaining guests with homely and delicious food, I have been on the unending... Well, the on-and-off quest of making scones as delicious as the ones that featured in Tolkien's masterpiece. These are the fruits of such labour... well, the scones of such labour anyway:
The stuff on top is brown sugar, and they've all been double glazed with eggs. The original recipe uses buttermilk, which is a cream-like substance and very good at bonding flour. My alternative was milk. If you've ever used either, the difference is quite remarkable! Another 50 grams of flour ended up in the mix, just to get the dough to form correctly.
As for the taste? Well, a little more sugar will go nicely next time - while great with real strawberry conserve and some butter, these scones should be nice on their own too, and for that, sugar is essential!
Of course, one was eaten almost straight out of the oven, so they'll possibly taste a little sweeter when they've cooled down; but who can resist the temptation of a warm scone?
Saturday, 22. March 2008, 13:28:13
It's Easter! Normally I'm not bothered at all about the event, but this year I got some eggs in the mail. They are scrumptious Green & Black's praline eggs, and will probably last me at least until next Easter! There's a whole 25 or so, which at the rate of two a month, they won't be gone any time soon.
It's also finally snowing, which means I can let go of winter, and start to embrace the spring, should it ever arrive. I'm hopeful that by may we'll be seeing proper sunshine, and we can stop carrying gloves and scarfs around with us, just in case. The downside though, is that my umbrella gets put back in the cupboard, ready for next year too.
Here's a photo of those yummy lovely eggs:
Sunday, 24. February 2008, 10:45:52
I made pies! They were chicken and mushroom ones, and they didn't turn out too badly actually. They came out of a book called PIE. Quite appropriate name for a pie book if you ask me!
Before Cooking (the lattice was actually really easy!) - The middle one is a fake pie, just the leftover filling and pastry on top:
After cooking (mmm):
Mmmm, PIE! (Mac keyboard not included in recipe):
Saturday, 26. January 2008, 13:12:55
Monday, 7. January 2008, 21:05:33
I haven't made a post on here since christmas, so what better way to start doing so again than to ring in the new year with all you friendly opera people!
Last year has seen so many changes for me, an amazing holiday to New Zealand, which was after a long period of working very hard for the money, moving into a new house for the first time in 27 years, finally being able to afford more reliable car that doesn't have to break down each month for some reason or other, and last but not least, meeting someone absolutely wonderful, with a gorgeous smile, intelligence and wit to match, and the ability to make me calmer, better and happy with even the smallest gesture.
I hope this new year will bring us all many more moments like the ones I've been lucky to experience before, and that you all have a wonderful 2008 as well!
Happy new year everyone!
Monday, 24. December 2007, 18:41:08
Hey everyone - merry Christmas and a happy new year! I don't have anything christmassy to put up here, so the message is all I can do.
Wednesday, 19. December 2007, 22:16:13
Ice cream flavoured lip balm, that's what! Have you ever used lip balm to think "oh, this is really rubbish lip balm, I wish it came in chocolate flavour"? No? Well that doesn't matter, because you're quite clearly broken. For the rest of us who want more from our lip lubricant, our mouth moisteners, the delectable ben and jerry's have invented lip balms in the flavour of ice cream!
The flavours are: Choc Chip Cookie Dough, Choc Fudge Brownie and Peanut Butter Cup. I think these are the best things since Lypsyl started doing strawberry, and will be getting some at my earliest convenience!
If you're after some, you can get it online at the
Ben and Jerry's online store.
Also, if you're thinking the pictures on the right represent full ice-cream sized containers, they're not - they are about two centimetres high, as you would expect from something containing lip balms
Tuesday, 18. December 2007, 14:37:01
Friday, 14. December 2007, 21:49:09
Now to the untrained eye, this is a hole. To an archaeologist, it's still a hole. Although in their profession, holes mean stories, and where there are stories, there is history. This is the very first hole I dug as a budding archaeologist on a training dig with Wessex Archaeology, based in Wiltshire. If you've ever watched time team, you've probably seen wessex staff. The most famous one being Phil Harding, well known for his feather'ed hat and wiltshire accent. (God ah!).
This post hole is about 45 centimetres deep, and about 30 wide. It also contains one of the most perfect packing flints we found on the site in Cranborne Chase. It is suspected to be a support hole for a small post as part of a collection forming a round house or raised platform. The site is iron/bronze age, and it looked to be a fairly small, enclosed banjo. The full report is still being made (although wessex promise to send it to me eventually!), so nothing is for sure yet.
The best part of my week-long training course was trampling about in dirt (or rather, chalk), and being taught how to knap flint by Mr Harding himself
Wednesday, 12. December 2007, 08:20:08
Showing posts 1 -
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) with just my square format photos for you all to see 
WIDGETIZE