Tinkerblue

Maple Pecan Scones

After the disastrous brownies last week, I needed to prove to myself that I can still bake. I can't cook. So I need to be able to bake.

I've had this recipe floating round the kitchen for awhile now, and I had all the ingredients on hand. I'm also trying to use up all the baking ingredients because once the house sells, I'm not storing food items.

The recipe I used was from The Pioneer Woman via The Food Network.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/maple-pecan-scones-recipe/index.html

These are good. The icing recipe calls for a pound of icing sugar. A pound. That's a lot of sugar. I used half of that and it was more than enough. I also didn't use the coffee, mainly cause there isn't any in the house. I don't drink it.

I am apparently not very good at cutting 8 equal wedges. But I'm not too fussed about it. Next time I'd probably cut the dough into more than 8 wedges, these are huge. Maybe 12 would be better.

I had one for breakfast yesterday. Mmm. The rest I'm giving to friends. I cannot possibly eat all 8 scones. Well, I could. But I am not going to. I hope they like them.

Brownie Disaster

I'm on a use what's in my cupboards kick.

I'm not sure why I have a box of Splenda or a bag of gluten free potato flour. But I do. I think they are possibly left from when I was on a wheat and gluten free diet.

Anyway I found them yesterday, both are still within their use by date. I figured I try them out. I still have several wheat/gluten free recipes in my file, so I dug out a brownie recipe. It's a recipe I've made and eaten before.

Maybe my taste has changed. Or may be these were always awful but I didn't know any better.

Oh my God, they are horrid. They are very dense, very dry, very bad. Urgh. Never again. I threw the recipe out, then I threw the brownies in the rubbish too. Then I had a glass of wine to get rid of the after taste.

Blech, not one of my better efforts.

Our House is Officially for Sale

http://homesite.obeo.com/viewer/default.aspx?tourid=720704&locale=en-US

 

 

Typically Taurean

I don't really follow astrology or anything like that, but it is fun to see just how true my star sign characteristics are.

I am a Taurus.  Taurus - The Bull.  Taureans typically:

• Dislike change
• Creative
• Practical
• Reliable
• Stubborn
• Clever
• Arrogant
• Hate to be rushed or hassled
• Loyal
• Hard to beat in an argument

See where it says stubborn? Loyal? Hates to be rushed? Practical? Arrogant?  Dislikes Change? Yep, all me. You've heard the saying, "stubborn as a bull"? It's not wrong.

Taurus is an Earth sign. Apparently Earth is the most stable, consistent and rigid of all signs. Once we make up our minds, we cannot be moved without huge efforts. Sound familiar?

Practical, patient, reasonable, and persistent are Earth signs. If you want to make sure a project gets done and gets done "right" call, on an earth person. Earth people are not much one for the limelight. If it can be done, an earth sign will do it without the need for recognition.

 I was born in 1970, which makes me Year of the Dog. People born in the Year of the Dog tend to be:

• Honest
• Friendly and Playful
• Extremely protective of loved one
• Very private, you think you know a lot about them, but really you don’t
• Perceive things in black and white.  No in-betweens.
• Good judges of character
• Loyal
• Intelligent
• Trustworthy
• Stubborn

 See stubborn and loyal are mentioned again? 

 

My name - Rachael Jane

• Rachael means Ewe or Gentle as a Lamb or One with Purity (take your pick)
• It's a Hebrew name
• Rachael was a popular female first name from the 1960’s to the 1980’s (along with Allison, Jennifer, Karen, Melissa and Michelle)
• The more common spelling is Rachel. Try finding all the kids stuff with the Rachael spelling on it.  Almost impossible. 
• Some of the ways friends and even family have spelt my name - Rachel, Rachelle, Raechel, Raychel, Raquel, Rachyl, Raychl, Rachal, Rachele, Rachale and so on.

• Jane means God's Gracious Gift
• It's also a Hebrew name
• Jane is often used as a middle name or as the second element of double barreled names such as Sarah-Jane, Mary-Jane.

I'm not sure that anyone has ever described me as gentle as lamb or one with purity or as God's gracious gift!

Yes, I Still Celebrate My Birthday

This time next week I'll be another year older. Much has changed since my last birthday. Some good, some not so good.

The last 7 months were unexpected and a little difficult. Although my life is now moving in an unplanned direction, I am happy. I've learnt to live on my own again, to make decisions for me, that I have some really awesome friends, my family are always there for me, and that I will survive!

My birthday next Thursday doesn't just mean I'm a year older, it represents the beginning of my new life. It's the beginning of a new year, a new job, a new place to live, a new adventure. Who knows where it will lead or where I'll be when my birthday rolls around next May. I do know I'm going to enjoy the next year whatever it brings.

Yes, I still celebrate my birthday. I don't care how old I'm getting or that I'm in my forties. I know most of my friends and family don't care about their birthday and would rather just forget about it completely. Not me. I like getting birthday phone calls, texts, Facebook posts, letters etc. I like going out for lunch or dinner or having someone make me lunch or dinner. I love birthday hugs.

Usually I have a wish list a mile long. Not this year. We're in the process of packing up the house, and I'll probably be putting stuff into storage for a while until i decide what I want to be when I grow up. I don't need stuff.

This is my birthday wish list for this year:
To keep in touch with friends on a much more regular basis - Skype calls, emails, letters, coffee, texts, movies, hugs. Lots of hugs. No more once a year calls. The last few months have taught me how much I value my friends.

Last year Dave and I went to a Mexican restaurant for my birthday dinner, we celebrated with margaritas and deep fried ice cream. Then Rhonda and I went to Whistler for the weekend and had drinks with Alex and Sam.

Not sure what I'll do this year. My original plan was to invite 1/2 a dozen friends over for dinner.

But I'm going to be out of town. I'll be on the Sunshine Coast (here in BC, not in Queensland). The friend I will be with for the day isn't even aware that it's my birthday.

Don't be sad, I'm not. I plan on talking to lots of friends that day, even though I can't be with them in person.

I'm not yet sure what if anything I'll do for my birthday, however I can tell you I am going to enjoy it.

Maybe a nice glass of Tassie wine that I've been hoarding?

A Bottle of Wine + 4Hours = A Clean Garage

It's taken me 5 days to clean this house. I started at the top and worked my way down.

I decluttered as I went. Which basically means I moved everything into the garage. Dave came by yesterday and took a truck load of rubbish away. Even then I still couldn't see the floor.

Last night I opened a bottle of Merlot, courtesy of Gail and got to work. The wine made the 4 hours of sorting and cleaning fly by.

The result? I put out 3 boxes of recycling this morning. I wonder if they'll take it all? There's another two big bags of garbage.

I have enough crap for another garage sale. That or I'm just going to get Big Brothers to come by and collect it all. Oh and I found some stuff that I forgot we even owned.

Woohoo now there's room to put my car back in the garage. Except it's pouring and it was 1:00am when I finished and I couldn't be bothered moving it.

The garage has never been so clean.

Our House Is For Sale

Wanna buy it?

http://www.kenambrosehomes.ca/pitt-meadows-townhouses.html/details-24407419

Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

Jo sent me the book, Caleb's Crossing for my birthday last year. She even sent me an autographed copy.

Jo has what can only be described as an odd taste in reading materials. Witches, Prostitutes, long dead Queens and so on. She likes anything set over 200 years ago, even better if it's 400 or more years ago.

This was at least my fourth attempt to read Caleb's Crossing. I just couldn't get into it. I've read the first chapter multiple times over because I couldn't remember the characters and I was already lost by the time I turned the page to chapter two.

I have read other books by Geraldine Brooks. People of the Book which I loved, and March, which was good. But Caleb's Crossing? Didn't think I was ever going to finish it. It was in my bag of books to be given away.

Over the Easter weekend I thought I'd give it one last try. I almost gave up on it again. By Saturday I had read no further than page 48. I was totally lost. Couldn't follow the story at all. Sunday I re-read chapters one and two. Today I finished it.

It took about 100 pages and some choice words about Jo. But then suddenly I was invested in the story. I wanted to see how it ended. So I took myself to the coffee shop and read over lunch. Then sat by the riverside for three hours reading in the sun.

I'm glad I finished it. It was worth sticking with. Don't know that I'll read it a second time. I'll probably just pass it on. Or maybe I will keep it. Read it again later in the year.

So what'a Caleb's Crossing about? It's the fictionalized account of the first Native American to graduate from Harvard in 1665.

You can read a full review here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/books/review/book-review-calebs-crossing-by-geraldine-brooks.html?pagewanted=all

Flying with Amelia

Judi and Bruce gave me the book, Flying with Amelia by Anne DeGrace for Christmas. It's been sitting on my bedside table ever since. I've been saving it. For what? No idea.

I had to go downtown yesterday, I took it to read on the train. Between the train ride into town, an hour in a coffee shop, the train ride home and a comfy spot on my couch last night, I started and finished it in one day.

I've never read anything by Anne DeGrace before. She is from Nelson, BC - so nearish to where Judi and Bruce live. She writes beautifully. She had me disappearing into the story on page one.

The story starts in 1847, following the McGrath family and their bunk neighbours, the Murphy family as they sail from Ireland to Newfoundland. Each chapter jumps a decade or more, the Province and the characters change but they are all linked. Some of the links are really obvious like grandchildren of the family in the first chapter. Other times the links are way more subtle.

My only complaint? Each chapter finished too soon. I wasn't done with the characters and their story. I wanted to read more. Normally I hate this style of storytelling, but not this time.

I'll read Flying with Amelia again in a little bit. It'll also make a great gift for a few other people I know.

Thanks Judi!

http://www.annedegrace.ca/portfolio/flying-with-amelia/

Twilight Photography Class

Back last year I purchased two Groupons for a twilight photography class at Granville Island. The idea was that DQ and I would take the class together.  Maybe go for dinner and a drink afterwards. Well we know how that turned out. I debated not going at all.  But I needed to get out of the house.  So I went.

 

I haven't done a lot of night photography. Well I have, but with my little point and shoot that does everything automatically for me. This was really the first time I had used the DSLR and the tripod.

 

 The class was through Amanda Kerr Photography, Amanda was our instructor for the evening. Amanda was very patient with my lack of manual photography skills.

 

With only 6 people in the class there was a lot of one on one attention and hopefully what I learnt will sink in.  I have information about aperture, ISO and shutter speed swirling in my head.  

 

 

Increase or decrease the shutter speed, made much more sense when it was phrased as turn the dial left or right! I know, I'm so technical.

 

 

And once I didn't have to worry about adjusting the ISO and just left it was 100 I was good. Night photography for dummies. Works for me.

 

It was a lot of fun.  I'm glad I talked myself into going on my own.  

 

 

I took a lot of photos last night. Some good, some not so good.  It's a work in progress.

 

I'd consider doing another class with Amanda.  I know I could probably work it out by reading the manual and using Google and You Tube.  But sometimes it's just worth it to take a class, and get the practical instruction.