Sunday 30 December 2012

And I Also Resolve....

..... to get Mrs D to give me ("moi aussi") a makeover also.

I be working quite hard this last two years for an old girl made of pipe-cleaners and cotton wool. Do you remember my head did fall off a while back? Mrs D had to step in quick there. Not to mention the time me finger snapped off as well. Which be worse you think? Head drop off? Leg drop off?
What a pair us Old Uns be.

The time has come to grasp the pliers, Mrs D.

Saturday 29 December 2012

In 2013 I Resolve.....

... to get that Ol' Mrs D to give The Old Man a makeover.

I mean, tis a worry when a leg drops off just when one is about to shoot a scene for the annual Christmas movie. Which is why in part it do not happen this year... Mrs D do give him a temporary fix with a "metal hip" but we both know......

And this do make the "real life" Old Man a bit queasy....

Thursday 27 December 2012

Saturday 22 December 2012

Tuesday 18 December 2012

Herman Stays Swedish

Yes indeed. Still baking with Herman the sourdough starter. This lot are Swedish Cardamom Buns from Sourdough Companion.

They's all gone now. Yum Yum.

Monday 17 December 2012

Walk in Helston

Mossy trees by the side of the footpath from Helston to Penrose Estate.

A point in time when it is not raining.
Redwings again, long-tailed tits, and a little egret settling onto the grass of a neighbouring field.

Sunday 16 December 2012

Good-Bye Sara Lund

So there it is. For those of us in the UK who watched the last episodes of "The Killing III" last night.

Blimey! I do not see that ending coming. They do always manage to surprise me, that team. And yes I do admit to being rather on the edge of my seat and chewing my nails and shouting at The Old Man not to talk so much cos I is reading the sub-titles. The Old Man huffs and says they could've wrapped it up previous episode....

I did complain a bit, I admit, at the US spin-off series of The Killing but by second season I do get the hang of it and do think it pretty good and rather grittier... and rainier.... than a lot of US cop series. And by grittier I do mean that the actors do not appear to have been botoxed and buffed to Alcatraz and back. So then they do announce that they be cancelling it! Typical I do say to myself. Now it is possible that they are un-cancelling it!  Or hang on a minute. Stop Press! May be cancelling it again? I give up....

Tuesday 11 December 2012

All Tied Up...

With apologies... AGAIN. But I be all tied up with this parcels for Christmas thing. Just gotta get my act together and get unstuck....

Thursday 6 December 2012

And On A Natural Scandinavian Note....

Redwing: Photo from Wikipedia
The Old Man and me do spot our first Scandinavian winter visitors....  in a field next to a nearby lane... a couple of redwing bouncing about looking for food. Slimmer than a thrush or blackbird... more upright.... Also one puzzled blackbird bouncing about after them .... maybe thinking to itself ... they didn't look like they came from round here.

And yes we are indeed following the final season of "The Killing" on BBC Four. I do read one snarky review that said it was right to finish the series... tired etc.... not up to "The Bridge". Honestly. How nit-picky can you get. "The Killing" still has me hooked, and whilst I enjoyed "The Bridge" I do not think it as classic... the characters a bit too off the wall.
Now who's being snarky.

Wednesday 5 December 2012

In Which Herman Travels To Scandinavia...

... indeed "Herman" my sourdough starter is now positively crisp on the subject. Ho-Ho. I do use him to bake some "crispbread" from Andrew Whitley's book "Bread Matters". The recipe is  not specifically sourdough but lists a proportion of prefermented "sponge" which enables me to have a go.
 "Bread Matters" is a weighty book of great detail. It have rather daunted one or two would-be bread makers that me and The Old Man do know. But now I have my adaptable beast of a sourdough starter, "Herman", I do boldly go... These darlings do stand up for themselves and do pack a snap. Wish I could say the same for myself.

And what precisely does Herman the Sourdough starter consist of these days?

Herman sits in a bowl in the kitchen porch. He be covered with a modest plastic showercap to keep him snug. He do get all stirred up with a spatula every day. And every four days or so he gets built up with the addition of half cup strong white wheat flour and half cup of soya milk. (This last is just a kind of hangover from the original recipe.... most sourdoughs are fed with water and flour.) Every week, the day before I bake I add more flour and soya milk (same proportions) and split the result... putting about half (usually about 250 to 300 gms) back in the Herman bowl... cover with showercap and put it back in the porch. I put the other half in a mixing bowl and bring it into the kitchen... ready for use in the bake.

I must say I am a bit surprised that I be baking like this. OK, where shall Herman and I go next?

Monday 3 December 2012

Madame Deficit Admires The Rural View

Oh my dears, as you know I am a lover of the countryside and all things rural... But even I do pause for thought when Planning Minister "Nick" Boles points out the "moral right" of people to have their own homes surrounded with garden. How hard it must be to be a modern Tory... straddling so many viewpoints. Presumably these "moral right" homes should only contain the appropriate number of bedrooms... (see previous post). Consequently, he do say, we must be prepared to start building on open land, tout suite!

Brush away those open fields and rural views. Don't you know that the built environment can be beautiful too? says Mr Boles. Oh but I do, Mr Boles... you can see an example of my own architectural inspiration in one of my previous posts here.

Brush away those green hills and fluffy sheep.. (Oh dear but I be so fond of the petit fluffy mouton things). Brush away the objections of those National Trust 'latter-day Luddites'. (Alors! Was not Daddy Boles a National Trust Chief Exec back in the 1970s?) Build, Build, Build.... but nothing "pig ugly", mind. We must have standards, but let us not stand in the way of progress. Fill the view with lovely, lovely buildings. I am particularly fond of those bijoux estates of houses with gardens... the ones that hunch up together for comfort? Where you can gaze out of the kitchen window at your own patch of lawn, raise your eyes... and stare into the eyes of your neighbour at their kitchen sink ten feet away. Such bonhomie.

And let us not stop there. We must be practical. Nuclear power stations. Lots of those. If we can get some poor mutt to pay for them. Let not the Luddites stand in the way of progress. Let's not mess around with wind turbines. No.. all the fuel generation can now take place where Mr Osborne prefers... out of sight and underground. Aah the joys of fracking.

Build... Build.... However.... I do be a little concerned at the prospect of more rain, Mr Boles. You know.... all those inconvenient floods we do have recently? It just may be that concreting over those useless green fields may contribute to the problem of drainage? Where do the rain waters go? Perhaps I speak out of turn. I just be a little old fluffy head brioche-eater. But.....

Better to build on stilts perhaps?