Author: Allegra

Born when atmospheric carbon was 316 PPM. Settled on MST country since 1997. Parent, grandparent.

Jericho & other natters

Saw Plough at Jericho. I really wish Keith could have been there, they were totally in the O Brother Where Art Thou groove and very very musical and fun, and lively and young and respectful to the audience… and don’t forget banjo and fiddle and guitar and standup bass…..

Katie K took me. Her car is only plated for another week or so; we are making best advantage of this. Consuming burgers and sitting on the beautiful deck at the Sailing Club while sucking back Raven on tap. Singing and playing and having half a dozen people come up to me afterwards and exclaim over my tunes (I played Words Fail (also known as the Telecom song) and Bruise (also known as Green and Purple and Black and Blue)). The rest of the open stage was uniformly excellent, as always.

Tom and Peggy also came out to see Patrick Metzger who in addition to being the bassist for Lesismore is the guitarist/bassist for Plough; Katie and I talked to them briefly; Katie knows them from way back from Beacon when her kids were in Religious Education there.

I’m bagged, suddenly… it is bedtime.

Once again the time has come for me to post my biscotti recipe

Because I feel like it.

 

Biscotti  Don’t forget to double the recipe
 

MIX IN ANY ORDER
3 large eggs
pinch salt
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup melted butter
1 cup pretoasted any combination of coarsely chopped hazelnuts/almonds
1 tsp cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cardamom (Optional — but optimal)
3 drops of almond flavouring (Optional, and don’t overdo it)
 

Add, until no flour shows:
 

2 ½ cups all purpose flour (you may add a little more if dough is too sticky)
1 tablespoon baking powder (I use less).
 

Cover carefully with at least a couple of layers of cling-style wrap and refrigerate for NO MORE THAN A DAY
Cook in two stages  – Preheat the oven to 350
 

Form dough into two logs (or four if you have doubled the recipe).  Roll the dough between your hands until the logs are between 1½ and 2 inches in diameter and about 14 inches long.  Place on greased heavy duty aluminum foil (properly spaced you can get two logs onto a cookie sheet) and squish down with your hands until they are less than  3/4s of an inch high.
 

Cook for about 25 minutes, but watch it like a hawk for the last 5 minutes so it doesn’t burn.  You want everything cooked right through but not so cooked that you have trouble cutting the logs up because they crumble.  If it still looks bubbly on top it isn’t done.  While still warm, slice logs using serrated knife in ½ inch thicknesses.  If the dough is gooey wipe off the knife with every cut.  Return to the oven at 350 until golden brown, about another 15 minutes.  For extra crispiness turn the oven off and let them sit for another 10, or even overnight with the oven off.
 

A double batch makes about 60 biscotti, depending on how thin you slice them.
 

Grrrr

It seems like every time I come back with the CAN car I have to deal with a never ending parade of people who can’t read the sign (Dear Blithering Eejit, don’t stop, park, unload or stick any kind of vehicle here!)  So I sit in the car and curse until people move, and then move the car, or park it down below, since I have access to the visitor parking.  I bailed on church (mostly because I was too angry to sit through another minute, and unfortunately “If you can’t say something nice, keep cakehole in down and locked position” applies in  this case).  And I made biscotti for afters too… Grr.  But then I had all this time with the car and Paul called and we went through what appears to be the last draft of the separation agreement although I am NOT Alicia (that was a funny typo!).  I got to see Keith, briefly.  I learned what happened to my recipe book, copied or took what I needed, and had a good visit with Paul after we got the paperwork squared away.  I’ve been thinking a lot over the last week about “what went wrong” so a lot of our conversation consisted of him listening to me say what I thought I’d screwed up; because, you know, he’s a really great guy and he deserves as much as anyone else to be happy, and there was no way, considering how perma-cheesed I was for the last year, that he could have been happy living with me.  He was very kindly about the whole conversation and we got in a good walk and I finally have decent rice, I can’t believe how much I missed having proper Indian basmati, which I am to the point of thinking is the only rice.
Grr.  Grr.  Then my mood lifts abruptly when I find out that Katie K is going to take me to either Dosza Garden or Simba’s – two of my fave eating places….  So this afternoon I have one last crack at various projects before work commences, and then food, and then hopefully home early, to bed early, and with any luck my migraine will be gone.  It’s not a big one, but it’s dreadful not to be enjoying sunshine…. it’s really another glorious day.

It’s a beautiful day

It is so gorgeous outside that I feel like I’m having an Out of Weather experience.  This summer sucked, but today is nice.

Anyway – I’m dealing with my internet addiction (wot? Allegra has an inertnests addiccion?) by writing – away from the computer – and practicing mando.  So if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to start a biscotti batch (about time, eh folks?) and then cheese off my neighbours and practice on my balcony.  Okay, just inside the balcony door.
I get to do the Thanksgiving service at church.  That’s less than a month away so more than enough time to get it together.
I still can’t believe how happy I am.   The goofy pic is me and Tam…photo-88.jpg