curiouswombat | Picspam.

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There has been an awful lot of snow all over the UK. We had some too, but I didn't take many photos, I was too busy coping with getting to and from work, and ours wasn't much compared with other people's. I do have some pictures of where Daughter-dear lives though, under the cut, also some pictures of flowers still trying to survive the winter in our yard, and a picture of the festive flapjack that I posted the recipe for during the week.

The flapjack picture is because I realised, through comments, that in Amer- English 'flapjacks' are a sort of 'pancake' and so, in English English, would be some sort of drop scone or Scotch pancake. Whereas the recipe is for British flapjack and so something rather different...

But also, under the cut, is a bit of reminiscing. Bojojoti posted a picture of her daughter's new rescue kitten, and he reminded me of the ginger cat we had when D-d was little - so there are also some pictures of Cherry.

Firstly the pictures of Cherry. We had one cat before D-d was born, a ginger she-cat called Kara. When D-d was about three or four a half-grown ginger kitten invited himself into our house and, despite trying to find his original owner, remained unclaimed and stayed. D-d was allowed to name him, hence 'Cherry' as cherries were one of her favourite things.

There are kitten pictures of him around, but they are all on paper. But there are some pictures of him taken after I got my first digital camera in 1998. He was very much an immoveable object; if Cherry decided he was going to sit somewhere - he did.

He was happy to share space with, the much younger, Shaka:

But Bojojoti will realise, when she sees this picture, why her own picture set me off on a photo hunt -

A very young D-d, there. I think she must have been about 10, possibly 11.

Speaking of D-d - this is what it is like in York at the moment - very familiar to Hils;

Those are along her usual route to college - they decided to give them snow days and cancelled all week - except Wednesday when there was something compulsory that could not be rescheduled! She said it was a but like trying to get there in a blizzard, but at least it is less than two miles so she did eventually make it there and back - with very frozen feet.

She took these on the way.

And this one may turn up on your Christmas cards...

However, back on the rock, there are flowers still trying to bloom in the below zero temperatures, snow and ice -

Granted they're not exactly at their best - but they are still trying!

And the final picture - the festive flapjack before being split properly into separate pieces. I'm not terribly good at the artistic decorating with chocolate...

I now have tins of white chocolate and cranberry cookies, anzac biscuits (note to

dougalsservant - with sugar!), and festive flapjack piled up in the kitchen. But there will have to be a real flurry of baking at the end of the week as there is a Christmas cake stall at church on Saturday.

At church today the children lit two advent candles, one after the other as there was no church last week. Then they decorated the Sunday school tree, we 'cast' the Nativity - and there was still time for short lessons!

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Those are indeed hardy plants, everything around here has given up.

Your flapjacks look like what we would call "bar cookies", tasty looking no matter what you call them.

I am surprised that those geraniums are still in flower - it's probably been cold enough to kill them!

I would think of flapjack as a subspecies of tray-bake. Very tasty, though - and with oats, pecans, dried cranberries, you could almost call them healthy...

Yes, bars! Classic Norwegian-Lutheran church basement fare. YUM!

Some of that batch are going to the church cake sale - one reason for making them is that they keep so well.

Cherry looks like a gorgeous cat

And mmmm flapjack!

Most of our snow is gone today but we are told that the big freeze starts again tonight!

Urk!

He was a real softy - but never very healthy; he died, asleep in a patch of sun in the garden, when he was about 9, so really only young.

The flapjack is very tasty - and easy to make, too; one to do with the grandkids, maybe.

I could do without more ice, but we are expecting -3 or so tonight, at sea-level, crawling up to a balmy +3 or 4 by early tomorrow afternoon.

Your flapjack looks yummy, but you're right: nothing like what we have here. Lovely photos all. Snow is beautiful when seen like this, but I'm so happy we don't have any here yet. I'm hoping we don't get much all winter, frankly, since I'm not sure how steady I'm going to be for a while.

It is so odd how names come to mean such different things - it had never occurred to me that you used 'flapjack' for something that, to us, is clearly nothing to do with flapjack (and vice versa, of course).

As far as I can tell in Britain the word has meant a baked mixture of oats butter, sugar and honey or golden syrup for about 100 years or so.

I hope, for your sake, that winter stays this side of the pond.

Pics of snow are lovely - when it's someone else having to get around in it. :)

I'm glad you explained the flapjack. I was trying to imagine a pancake and it wasn't working for me. lol

Outside tender/annual plants have all pretty much gone to plant heaven now, but oddly enough, on the (unheated) sun porch, while most died last week, I have one geranium and two amaryllis still quite alive and seemingly unbothered by the below freezing temps. Weird.

Geraniums seem to be more hardy than we would give them credit for.

As for the flapjack - yes, the spread it in a 20x30cm baking tin and bake for 20 minutes at 180* must have been a bit confusing!

I was really confused about the flapjack too. Looks like a bar cookie or coffee cake to me, but really yummy looking whatever you call it.

I wonder why you call 'drop scones' 'flapjack'? Or why from your angle, we call 'bar cookies' 'flapjack'?

We'd doubtless be very confused if we ever visited and asked for coffee cake (http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4738/coffee-and-walnut-cake) too!

And a bar cookie to me would be a slightly odd lady who hung out in pubs and clubs!

Poor Cherry, he was lovely.

He was a softy - but very determine - the few months when he insisted that the only place to sleep was on top of the cooker were a real bugger!

Yes. I have one a bit like that.

Goodness, that is a different type of 'flapjack' to me, and no mistake! And such courageous flowers.

Awwwww, such a sweet snoozekitty. What darling pictures.

LJ is very educational - it is amazing how many words mean totally different things on opposite sides of the Atlantic, particularly when it comes to food!

The flowers are really hanging on in there - but I will have to clear out dead stuff sometime.

Cherry was a lovely cat, but never in the best of health which is probably why he died so young.

Those snow branches are stunning!

Glad to say we're nearly clear of ice now, though a few areas are lingering hardily. It'll freeze hard again tonight, and it would have been nasty if it hadn't dried up. It's amazing how quickly 'not actually below freezing' becomes 'really quite warm today' - I was out without my gloves!

Those snow branches are stunning!

Aren't they? I am going to use them for Christmas cards.

We still had quite a bit of ice this morning. It's been dry all day, but it's freezing again tonight - so quite what it will be like in the morning I'm not sure. But I know exactly what you mean about it feeling quite warm as soon as it gets into positive figures!

The snow looks lovely. It reminds me of the years I lived in Michigan. My sisters says Amsterdam was covered in snow too yesterday, and it looked lovely though a lot of flights had to be cancelled. But it rained the whole evening, and now the snow is gone and the streets are a total mess.

Cherry was a beautiful cat, and I see that a very cool one too.

The only thing I'm baking this year are ginger balls. We are not much into baking here for Christmas.

The snow is very pretty - but it does make for very cold feet. And that aftermath of snow and rain, the slushy frozen stuff, is horrible to walk and drive in.

Cherry was a really friendly cat, and much loved. This icon is the current cat, who is seen sharing the cushions with Cherry.

I do a lot of baking before Christmas - we often have a cake sale at Church before Christmas, and also I give quite a lot of cookies/biscuits and home made sweeties as gifts. I really enjoy doing it.

Shaka is a beautiful cat. He reminds me of Pelé, my beautiful black tom.

I enjoy baking too, but not in the heat of summer, and that's what we've got here now.

Pelé, my beautiful black tom.

What an excellent name - and something of a coincidence as Shaka is also named after a footballer- although a less famous one. He is named after Shaka Hislop who was the goal-keeper of Newcastle United when we got the kitten - in our family black and white cats are always named after members of the Newcastle United team.

(Newcastle is my husband's home town, and the team play in black and white.)

You have just the weather for a light and delicate sponge cake right now, as opposed to our fruit cake and oat cookie weather!

Yes, though I love fruit cakes, and I still bake very rich ones for Christmas. LOL

Gorgeous snowy pictures!

I enjoyed our snow, but I'm not sad it's gone for the moment. I suspect we'll be getting a lot this winter though!

I wonder how the same term "flapjack" came to mean such different things? I tend to associate it with slightly rural, old fashioned things. Loggers eat flapjacks for example! Big fat ones, covered in maple syrup and served with lots of ham and bacon and sausage.

I'm getting a little hungry just thinking about it!

I'm hoping the snow holds off now until Christmas.

The flapjack thing is so funny; I remember reading somewhere that lumberjacks ate flapjacks with syrup and bacon and, of course, you can see what I imagined...

LOL! It's fascinating how language changes meaning!

I've actually been thinking about it a little since I read your first post. I make biscuits (or what I'd call biscuits, not what you'd call biscuits) and pancakes using slight variations of the same basic recipe. I usually use a mix-- bisquick. Pancakes call for eggs, and more milk. Waffles add some oil. Also coffee cake, with sugar added in! And pineapple upside downcake which I just made the other day, and fruit cobbler and so on...

but I make crepes from scratch, and it's a very different recipe. Mostly just flour and eggs!

I think the main differences are often to do with raising agent, or nor. So if I was making scones (like your biscuits) I would use a lot of raising agent, and very little fat or sugar. For pancakes no raising agent of course, just a thin batter of flour, egg and milk, or flour, eggs and part milk, part fizzy water or fizzy lemonade - like a frying batter, if you want them really delicate and thin. For drop scones (your pancakes?) a thicker version of the same batter, but with a raising agent.

Cobblers use scone recipe, but a proper cake, like an upside down cake, would have more or less equal quantities (by weight, of course) of butter, sugar and flour, an egg for every 2oz flour, and a raising agent... and so on.

Cherry looks a sweet heart, but, oh goodness, it looks cold in York.

He was a sweetie - although never in the best of health.

And D-d is getting a bit fed up with snow now - she wants to wake up and find it has all disappeared. But it was very pretty.

Mmm flapjacks!!!!

I am astounded that flowers are still blooming where you are!!

The flapjacks are very tasty - I have to eat the edge bits just to be sure...

Those geraniums, and the blue ones that I've forgotten the name of, are amazingly determined!

The "flapjack" looks very tasty. It's funny how the same words can mean such different things!

Tyson was just saying that he wished we'd get some snow, so I think he's a bit jealous of D-d.

Basic flapjack is good, or we will layer it with raspberry jam in the middle before baking, add chocolate chips, fruit and nut like this batch, or whatever takes the fancy.

I think, just now, D-d would happily let Tyson have her share of the snow...

A flapjack by any other name is still no doubt delicious. Feel free to send me a piece. *g*

What lovely snow pictures!

The flapjack is really nice - and bordering on healthy... almost!

York is still deeply under snow - here we now have greyness and ice.

Cherry looked as if he was a grand master of sleeping, but most cats are! It's too bad about his health. He obviously adored your daughter. I am concerned about Bojoette's two kitties. They've had such a rough start in life. I'm hoping they can rebound and be healthy once everything is addressed and treated.

One meaning of to flap which dates from the 1300s is "to toss with a smart movement" or, in other words, "to flip". Jack is a little more problematic. The Oxford English Dictionary lists 39 different meanings for jack with hundreds of compound expressions like those you mention, Richard, but none of them seem especially relevant to the jack in flapjack. It could be their small size. One use of jack is to designate something smaller than normal, as in the "jack" used in the game of lawn bowls.

The word flapjack has been with us since around 1600 though it has been applied to a number of different foods. While it originally meant "a pancake", flapjack can also mean an apple turnover (a.k.a an "apple-jack") and, in parts of England, a cookie made with rolled oats and syrup. In the first half of the 20th century it was used to mean "compact case for face powder"; this is similar to using pancake to refer to face make-up (clearly referring to the flat pad used to apply the make-up in both cases). However, we do find this quotation from 1941 rather amusing: "Slowly opening her handbag and taking out her flapjack."

I can understand the "flap" part of flapjack, as one flips the pancake mid-cooking. Do you still call compacts "flapjacks," or did you ever?

as one flips the pancake mid-cooking

But that would only account for your sort of flapjack - ours is baked on a tray in the oven...

I am not sure about the second paragraph of your research - I can't find any mention of a flapjack having been a pancake in Britain, but a pastry - usually a tart and, by the nineteenth century, specifically an apple tart. It is hard to see how it went from meaning an apple tart to a tray bake made with rolled oats and honey or golden syrup in a short space of time! But that is what it had become in all of Britain by the 1930s if old notes and recipe books are anything to go by.

In my Australian cookbooks the same recipe as my 'flapjack' is called a meusli bar. But whatever you call it it is good food for this cold weather.

I have to say I have never come across a compact being called a flapjack! Not even in Agatha Christie.

What a darling Cherry was!The snow is pretty in York, but I still don't like snow!

He was a lovely cat - although he could be very obstinate!

The snow in York is certainly pretty - but my daughter is desperately wishing it would clear now. I've just checked out a couple of York webcams and it still looks horribly snowy.

Thanks for the pictures. We haven't had any snow in NYC yet, but we are having a cold snap with nightime temperatures a tad under freezing.

One of the fascinating things about your baking recipes are the ingredients that are not readily available in the U.S. like golden syrup, etc.

We had actual rain last night - although I think it might be freezing on the roads and pavements now.

The recipe differences are an endless source of both fascination and frustration in both directions, I think.

Even things which appear simple turn out to be less so - 'All purpose flour' and 'plain flour' - surely the same thing? Seems likely, until someone mentions that you also have 'cake' flour and we realise that 'all purpose' must be 'heavier' than plain as plain is absolutely fine for making cakes.

'Baking soda' and 'Baking powder'? Variants on names for the same thing? Then we realise that yours is just bicarbonate of soda whereas ours is a mix of that and Cream of Tartar - so slightly different properties - and so on!

And then the ingredients that don't exist in each other's countries like golden syrup and corn syrup...

Not to mention the different way we measure the ingredients. And yet we both find the other people's recipes endlessly fascinating.

That's a great picture of Kat and Cat. The flapjack looks delicious - I shall nip back and find the entry with the recipe.

The flapjack recipe was a couple of entries back - December 2nd I think.

Yes, Kat and cat were almost inseparable - as indeed her and Shaka are whenever she is home.

Cherry certainly looks a dear...I recognize that rather possessive look with his head lying on a pillow.

The flapjack/pancake question has me curious as well. I found an entry in a dictionary that said pancakes are usually thin, more like French Crepes, while flapjacks are thicker. And the word pancake is about 200 years older than flapjack.

No matter. I love learning the language differences, and tasting them, too!

Btw, I do like the snow photo--the one you said might end up on Christmas cards.

He was a real softy.

Apparently until about 100 years ago in Britain a flapjack was an apple tart! Goodness knows how the name moved from that to an oat and honey/syrup based tray-bake!

I have made some cards from those photos already - they work well.

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