D167: Serendipity

Hub doesn't understand why I like watching telly sometimes.

I can see his point: Ads are ridiculously annoying, inane and loud. But then, we have a mute button, and other channels to entertain us in the gaps.

Sometimes I can flick on the telly and find a show for what ails me, such as an Antiques Roadshow, or a celebrity I like on a talk show, or even an idiot of recent politics at whom I can rant and work out a few demons.  

Hub gets frustrated that we have so many good shows to watch on the computer - dozens, in fact - yet I'll watch a telly rerun of Friends instead of a Supernatural, Black Books, The West Wing*, or even Buffy.  

What's worse, sometimes I'll want to watch the movie that's on.  Insult to injury, not only may I have seen it before, but we'll already have it to watch ad free!  (If I haven't seen it before, Hub wishes I would get the movie and then watch it ad free, but what if it's not as good as I thought...?)

Poor guy. I'm all "I like that this movie is on now! And I don't have to start it or do anything!" And what good fortune, that amongst all the rubbish and Lethal Weapons, here is a movie I like, or even have affection for! Nope, it's a sign! I shall watch this and enjoy the Magic-Faraway-Tree-ness of the discovery.  Joy!

Serendipity adds a certain I don't know what to things. And that's how it happened with this recipe, which arrived with our fruit and veggies from Aussie Farmers Direct, just as I'd looked at the pumpkin in the freezer and wondered what I would do with it...

I made a double batch, with just under what I needed for the pumpkin, and I had Jap, not butternut. Anyhoo, the first batch are a bit solid in the middle, so shall stay home, but the second batch I left in for a few minutes longer so hopefully they'll be liked at our family gathering today.

I don't really like veggie-things-as-sweet-meals, which include pumpkin or sweet potato pie, but these are reeeeeeally nice!  They're a little bit dense, possibly over-mixed due to a big batch?  Not sure, but I'd do them again.

And! I know my numbers have jumped a bit: I've some backtracking to do. :)

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* I don't think I could watch a random West Wing episode.  I think I'd need to watch it from start to end all over again, for the third time!

D159-161: Slow goings

I know linen stitch is slow to work because of the weaving between rows, but for some reason I'm extra slow these days.  Maybe it's that Bub has been coming down with a cold, so by the time she's settled and things are done there's not much time left for knitting.  Anyway...

Here's how my experiment looks now:

Now, fingers crossed while I weigh this and hope what remains on the ball is at least as heavy, so that I can make two booties...

Nnnnope. What I've knitted is 18g, and what remains is 9g.  Booo!  

So, do I go buy more wool? (I was trying to use up these left-overs!) Or do I run with just doing a single bootie as a prototype? Ugh.

D158: And now for the cream...

So, for future reference, this only needed 50g of chocolate, not 60g, and even with a half batch of coffee cream I had some left over.  I cut about 3mm off the end of the homemade piping bag.

When I did the outline during Bub's nap I couldn't bare to chuck the remaining chocolate so decided to have them spell out "TA", as in "Ta for all your help!"  twenty times. :D

Granted, some of them look a bit special but, in my defence, I was in a hurry and I don't actually have any experience in writing with a piping bag, come to think of it...

Regardless, this plate was not going to be returned empty!

D157: Chocolate Coffee Cream Fancy Stars

I was looking for a biscuit recipe and found this one, which would use two neglected things: these awesome star bikkie cutters my sister-in-law gave me ages ago, and my beloved coffee syrup.  

Usually, a few teaspoons of the coffee syrup would go nicely in a cold glass of milk mid-afternoon. However, while Bub is still no good with dairy this yummy stuff has been sitting, waiting, in the pantry.

The topping for these is yet to be done.  Shall look forward to seeing how the coffee cream icing turns out too, in case I can find another place for it in the future.

D156: Fathers' Day Fare

With a last minute message about a Fathers' Day arvo tea at my folks' I still managed to bake an Apple Cinnamon Teacake!

Bub slept on the way home (made complete liars out of us on that front, bless her socks) and I managed to get some more of my linen stitch idea worked out.