Things Done
We cleared out our Stygian porch today.In the porch was a great quantity of dust, a few spiders, a lot of chewed defunct dog toys and leads, more hats and coats than I had realised, a redundant quantity of wellington boots, and a single dusty and surprised ladybird. We also found a great pile of manuals and guarantees, some of them 15 years old or more. It's *amazing* how much paper used to accompany a new gadget! Manuals, guarantees, info sheets, labels, warnings not to set the thing on fire or use it underwater Our first DVD player came with so much paperwork that the paper alone must outweigh the current DVD player by about six times. And the paper was so wordy! And it used so much legalese! Strange how these things look so old-fashioned, when they are associated with things that I think of as 'new technology'. We have got rid of a lot of the paper, which has to be a win. Also, am now faintly amazed at the organisation of my younger self, who filed all this stuff and drew careful diagrams of how it all connected. My current self is nothing like that organised or tidy.
Also in the porch, tucked inside an ancient and disintegrating handbag jammed behind a box of dog coats - a forgotten miniature bottle of damson gin. Woohoo! I have just drunk it -- in what chainmailmaiden claims is 'The London Manner' with a ridiculously huge pile of icecubes. :-D
Also, I made ginger, cinnamon and oat cookies. I substituted a lot of things in the recipe I used, and I like the results, so this is my version:
Ingredients
100g unsalted butter, softened
120g dark brown sugar
1 large egg
100g plain flour
100g porridge oats
1 tsp ground cinnamon and a bit more for luck
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
about three desert spoons of chopped crystallised ginger
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Put the butter and sugar into a large bowl and cream together. Gradually beat in the egg.
2. Mix the flour, oats, cinnamon, bicarbonate of soda and a good pinch of salt. Fold into the butter and egg mixture until you get a sort of brown dough. Add the chopped ginger.
3. Squish dessert-spoon sized lumps of dough onto baking sheets, well spaced out.
4. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven. Leave on the baking sheets for 2 minutes before eating.
Also in the porch, tucked inside an ancient and disintegrating handbag jammed behind a box of dog coats - a forgotten miniature bottle of damson gin. Woohoo! I have just drunk it -- in what chainmailmaiden claims is 'The London Manner' with a ridiculously huge pile of icecubes. :-D
Also, I made ginger, cinnamon and oat cookies. I substituted a lot of things in the recipe I used, and I like the results, so this is my version:
Ingredients
100g unsalted butter, softened
120g dark brown sugar
1 large egg
100g plain flour
100g porridge oats
1 tsp ground cinnamon and a bit more for luck
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
about three desert spoons of chopped crystallised ginger
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Put the butter and sugar into a large bowl and cream together. Gradually beat in the egg.
2. Mix the flour, oats, cinnamon, bicarbonate of soda and a good pinch of salt. Fold into the butter and egg mixture until you get a sort of brown dough. Add the chopped ginger.
3. Squish dessert-spoon sized lumps of dough onto baking sheets, well spaced out.
4. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven. Leave on the baking sheets for 2 minutes before eating.