Achieving Culinary Success

This was last year's culinary disaster on Shrove Tuesday, much to my disappointment.

But today I was blessed with the best results I have EVER had in making pancakes, probably due to having used the correct type of flour, and not having hurried and tried to make them whilst people were eating.

I made a batch of them, sprinkling each one with sugar, folding it into eighths, and placing it in a warming oven. Then when they were all made, I served them up with whipped cream, and lime juice - not because I wanted to be trendy, but because by the time I got to the supermarket, they had sold out of lemons - nice to think everyone in town is preparing for the Lenten fast by having pancakes and lemons....

Well, the proof of the pancake is in the eating...and we managed to get through the lot of them, with one left to fight over! I did spare a thought for all those poor mums of large families, but I'm sure most of them have worked out the "prepare it in advance method" for keeping sane on Shrove Tuesday!

Happy Fasting to one and all.

Is the Excitement Waning?

I'm feeling hungry, and it's bedtime. Usually we indulge in a few snacks, a nice glass of wine, a DVD, before bedtime. But so far, I've managed to not buy anything that could take us off our Lenten course. Hubby has broken up for half term today, and we'd normally have a coffee and a bun or two to celebrate. Whilst our son was at his tennis lesson, we narrowly avoided the temptations of the coffee shop by bumping into another "tennis mum" who's very down to earth, and is training to be a social worker - you can imagine what we had to talk about (see previous post) and that took up all our time. She's not religious, but does agree that there is a lot of rubbish being taught on her course. She wants to do things differently, but has to toe the party line until she gets her degree. We wish her every blessing in her endeavours to fight the system. As she said, she'll probably end up getting the sack. This afternoon, I went shopping for the few items we need prior to going away to Bristol, where we'll be staying with my parents for a few days, and I'll be able to boost the family income by doing a spot of picture conservation with someone I know who runs a studio (and calls me in to help her out with my super quick retouching skills!). I only needed milk, & fruit, but ended up wandering through the bakery section. I realised as I strode determinedly past all those cakes, biscuits, and sweets, just how little nutritional value any of it had, and how little so many people in our society appreciate what they have. I thought of the photo of a little African boy I had seen on an excellent blog I'd come across earler, Ecce Mater Tua and could not feel sorry for myself having to give up something that wouldn't even do me any good. I have placed the photo on the side, under the Lamb of God. I just feel how paltry my efforts are. How little I deserve. I thank God for all He has done for me and my family. I pray that I can do something for one of these little ones, as well as pray for them.

Lent Begins

Lent starts tomorrow, and I am looking forward to the Great Fast this year. I don't know why, but I'm really glad it starts so early. Usually I dislike Lent because it always shows me up for the failure I am. But this year I feel almost excited about it! (I'm sure that this won't last long, when I sniff the coffee packet that has to be consigned to the fridge for the next 40 days).

The Station of the Cross above is one that I have been restoring for a local Catholic Church, which was recently renovated, and does look very beautiful, so the Stations now need to be done too. I've just been patching up 5 of them which were damaged whilst being taken down. (So much unneccessary damage is caused to pictures through bad handling!). I tested this one to see if they would benefit from cleaning, and quite clearly they will look much brighter. So the Parish Priest may commission me to do the rest. It is very time-consuming work, so I'll have to do them one at a time, in between my housewifely, and homeschooling duties.

This picture shows a detail, during cleaning, where it can be seen how much dirt has been removed from the Magdalen's cloak.

Now, I may be good at restoring pictures, but to my endless shame there is one thing I can not restore:-

Yes, these are close-up details of my attempt at pancakes!!! I hate "pancake day", it fills me with angst. I can cook cakes, scones, biscuits (ie cookies, to my overseas readership - if you're reading, Alexa!), and a few savoury dishes well, but I NEVER succeed with pancakes. What did I do so wrong this year? I used self raising flour (at least, I think that's what went wrong). My lovely son was very forgiving, and didn't mind that I gave up and chucked them all in the compost. Still, the replacement pudding was eaten so fast that there was no time to take a photo - shop-made meringues, with cream and tinned pears. (Well, it all needed eating up!).

Bye Bye......