Having spent a large part of this week desperately attempting to get on with the house work I took and executive decision this morning to let the house work go hang! In the first place I overslept this morning and it was nine before I awoke to the customary sound of hammering on the front door and for once I just could not be asked to canter down the stairs to collect whatever it was! I made coffee for Pa and I and as I drank it there was more hammering on the door. The delivery man man said in an accusing tone “So, you are in then, I came earlier and got no reply, next doors out will you take this parcel for them!”
I bit back a rude reply, took the parcel and signed for it. It is bad enough to be disturbed by the delivery of ones own parcels, to be bounced out of bed for someone else’s sucks!
Here's another thing, where do these people get off hammering on the door of a house where all the curtains are drawn for a package that is not even for that address. They have a bloody cheek in my humble opinion! The parcel was a large one and a blessed nuisance it was sitting in the middle of the living room all morning.
After a breakfast of poached eggs on toast Pa went in to the village and I set about the days baking, beginning with a large batch of cookies the tins being empty.
CHOCOLATE ORANGE AND HAZELNUT COOKIES
8 oz butter
5oz caster sugar
1 egg yolk
grated rind of and orange
10 0z plain flour
pinch of salt
3 0z plain chocolate bashed in to chunks
3 oz fresh hazel nuts chopped and toasted
one and a half table spoons of caster sugar
one and a half teaspoons of cinnamon
Chop the hazel nuts and toast In a hot frying pan set oven to 375oC and bash the chocolate in to pieces.
Put the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl with the grated orange rind and beat well. Add the egg yolks and beat again until fluffy.
Sift in the flour and salt, add the chocolate and nuts and mix thoroughly.
Roll in to ball he size of a walnut , roll in the cinnamon sugar and place on a greased baking sheet then flatten a little with the fingers.
Bake for twelve – fifteen minutes. Leave to cool on the baking sheet for five minutes then transfer to wire racks to cool.
These cookies have a Christmas flavour and when you are cooking then the kitchen small amazing.
My son is still I Derbyshire and is still inside a cloud, I believe he had forgotten just how thick those hill fogs can be. It is perfectly possible to get lost on a road you know well, it happened to me several times and on one memorable occasion my father was lost all night wandering around the same ten acre field unable even to find the hedge . He is however having a great time visiting the many caves in the area, it is full of wonders. Just a couple of years ago a new cavern was discovered which is said to be the biggest in Europe, even now they do not know the full extent of its depth and length.
While I had the oven hot I started the twice baked soufflés which will make our meal this evening together with a sorrel and rocket salad and avocado with orange and
walnut dressing. Very simple and very tasty.
I have a new cookie recipe to try next week , this is part of my run yo to Christmas baking contest where the most popular cookies win the honour of being made for my sons Christmas Party at work and to fill our own tins and those of our friends. I confess to being a little nervous about the next batch so I shall not tell you what they are until they are done, fingers crossed!
Twiggy has spent the entire day in her new hiding place, Pa and I have now given up trying to find her, she is enjoying teasing us but the laugh will be on her when my son returns as I think it certain that her hide out is somewhere in his room.
Things got rather hectic this evening and so we decided to give the soufflé its second baking tomorrow and ordered a Chinese take away instead. I have decided to try an experiment. Most of the time I am happy to entertain visitors but now and again they can be bloody inconvenient. Working on the premise that estate agents tell you to bake bread and make fresh coffee when showing prospective buyers around your house aim trailing a way of discouraging unwelcome guests by releasing a nasty pong made from garlic fermented in water for a few days. The smell is diabolical and I hope it will do the trick, I known it sounds drastic but I am desperate for a couple of quiet days to crack on with some serious house work, I would not really do it of course...............or would I?
Of course I run the risk of becoming known as the woman with the smelly house but needs must when the devil drives and all that.
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