Picspam.

[curiouswombat]

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!

Comments

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

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!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

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...

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

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!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

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.