Just some nice things and a recipe

Firstly, an invitation to tea and a chance to try my very favourite biscuit (cookie) recipe. The recipe was published in Melbourne's Herald Sun in 1992 - so I have been making them for a long time now. It doesn't seem as though I have been baking them for 15 years though! (Ouch!)

BASIC BISCUIT RECIPE.

Melt 4 ozs. butter or margarine,
Add 3/4 cup of sugar, 1 egg, 1 1/2 cups of self raising flour, 1 teaspoon vanilla.
Mix and use.

Lack of imagination is all that can limit what you can do with this recipe.
It can be rolled and used as pastry for jam tarts, raspberry slice, apple slice.
(For raspberry slice, line lamington tin with pastry, and spread with layer of raspberry jam and top with coconut, egg white and sugar mix. For apple slice, roll out as base, add stewed apple and top with another layer of pastry)
Biscuits:
Roll out and cut into shapes (stars, crescents, rounds. Place on oven tray and top with cherries, or walnuts.
For drop biscuits:
Omit some of the flour and make up with custard powder. Drop onto tray and flatten with a fork. When cooked join together with butter icing. (Yo-Yos)
Coconut and chopped glace cherries.
Choc chips and chopped macadamia or pecan nuts.
Diced glace ginger, and ginger powder, These are delicious sandwiched together with lemon butter icing.
Choc chips and sultanas.
Peanut butter and peanuts.
Cocoa powder and coconut.
All of the above are baked in a moderately hot over, for approximately 17 mins.

As I said, only your imagination can limit what you do with this basic mix.
Bake and enjoy, folks.


Here is a picture of some of my very favourtie Portmeirion pottery. We went to the little town of Portmerion some years ago, and I thought that this was where the pottery was made. It wasn't of course, but it was on sale in their shop. (All they have 'made' here is the series The Prisoner, with Patrick McGoohan. I wonder how many of you remember that series. I actually hired a couple of videos after our first visit, and enjoyed seeing the town all over again. Trouble was, it was a black and white series.)
The pottery is made at Stoke on Trent of course, and each trip to England has included a visit to the factory shop for some purchases which have been sent home and usually arrived some time after we got home. For someone who loves fine china, I really do like this ware. It is so cheerful. If you look hard, you will see that I have a matching rolling pin in the bowl, which I was lucky enough to purchase at a garage sale in Essex, or it may have been Suffolk. I didn't notice when we changed from one county to the other. When I made 'oh look' noises, my cousin did a u turn and back we went. The lady was selling quite a bit of Portmerion, including three rolling pins. She had decided that she really couldn't use them all and had a fourth one for her own use. I have never seen one in Australia, so I was quite chuffed.
The pottery also brings back happy memories of sitting in the dining room of a b & b in Yorkshire, overlooking a ruined castle which was one of Richard 111s favourite homes and eating breakfast from Portmerion pottery, my very first experience of it. And yes, I am a Riccardian. I don't believe for a moment that he murdered the prines in the tower. That was Henry v11! I continue to collect this pottery, because they are always bringing out new designs, some of which I like and buy, others which I find a tad clumsy and don't buy.

To the right is a view of the front of our property, as it is just now. I think I said in another blog that we are about to landscape this front bit. You can see where a couple of smallish trees have been removed. All those little rocks will be taken
away as part of the new work. We expect a
delivery of BIG rocks and soil in a week or so, and then the landscaper will get busy arranging them. So, in a few weeks, I should be able to show you a much improved front of property.

I was gazing out of my kitchen window the other morning, admiring the pink blossom on the prunus tree, and as I watched the petals began to drift gently down, just like pink snow, and I couldn't help thinking how transient this beautiful spring can be. Theprunus seems to hold its blossom just for long enough to admire, before suddenly being replaced with burgundy coloured leaves, which are very pretty too. I then began to sing (well, sort of) the old Nat King Cole hit 'A blossom fell...' I came over all nostalgic and decided that I really should hunt out all those old records and start playing them again. Or I might even have them transposed to CD and then I won't have to turn them over to play the other side. I was also reminded of that lovely scene in the film 'Carousel' where the blossoms were drifting off the trees and Gordon MacRae and Shirly Jones were working up to singing 'If I loved you.'
And on that nostalgic note, I am going to take myself off and see what I can do to annoy his peaceful self, who is drowsing in his chair.
And yes, Gina, I did take the photo of the kookaburra. Would you like a copy?