h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

No1 son was pleased with his birthday presents, we gave him a new graphics card, a Radeon a step up from mine, so it is pretty nifty. No2 son gave him a four track mixer for when he is playing his guitar.

We went to the County Show, it has been a lovely day and the Show was crowded, which is a good thing as it's the UK's only one day agricultural show. Some years it has come close to making a loss and I think the town would be a poorer place if the show doesn't continue.

We walked through the livestock tents. I never knew there was such a range of sizes when it comes to chicken, apart from those you see in the butchers . There were teeny little ones and huge great things that were bigger than Cassie! All the usual breeds of cattle were there, including some Nevada shorthorns. I saw my favourite breed of , the South Down which look how should and don't have those nasty goaty faces. The first tent we stopped at was the Pimms tent natch.

H can strip an engine, replace clutches, gaskets and all that guff. But the days of being able to do that without really fancy workshop equipment are numbered. However No1 son wants to get a classic car some day and rebuild it, so he will be able to call on H for help. The next house will have to have a double garage so that H can build a Caterham, kit car based onteh Lotus 7, for those who were wondering.

Egon I hope you are on the path to true romance, she sounds a lovely person.

>> What's your recipe for shortcrust?

Everything to be as cold as possible, cold butter, cold water (put it in the fridge before you use it), cold hands (run them under the tap if necessary).

Handle it as little as possible and as lightly as possible using only your finger tips, and use less water than you think you are going to need, mixed in with a knife.

Finally, let it rest in the fridge for an hour before rolling, and try to roll it in only one direction. (eg North/South rather than North/South/East/West). The ideal rolling board and rolling pins are marble and slate, for coldness again.

I think it is to do with how the gluten reacts, but I am not sure of the chemistry. The most important points are no unnnecessary heat, delicate handling, and let it rest before rolling and baking.

B

[MTG]

I have been trying to find a birthday present for my son. He's going to be 8 in 3 days. Swiss knife or darts are the best options. He wants a remote control car, too...

[k]

Nearly 180 posts in one sitting!

for Ben for the poem. Hello to Steve and who-why. Lil, hope the fires have died by now - are things improving? Has everyone been to azahar's photo gallery that she posted a link to way down in the backlog?

Wifely skills? My fiance does the fancy baking and the cleaning, I do the cooking and made my first pair of curtains the other week. My (all girls) school rebelled against making us to sewing and cooking, we did interesting things with acryllic instead. I actually wish we had done the sewing and cooking because that would at least have been useful - the skill of knowing how to make a keyring with my initials on has not yet been called upon in real life.

Just spent a pleasant weekend wandering around Budapest. It was lovely and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I am glad to be home. And glad that, with my new job starting on tuesday, I no longer have to view airports as work-related places.

*clicks ruby-slippered heels together*

I messed up the index page of fire pictures last night: forgot to attach URLs to the thumbnails and forgot to table the whole page. Apologies: it was late.

Fixed page: http://www.asterlil.com/journal/pfire.htm

It's another extremely windy day. I hope they decide not to light backfires.

I agree with what Ben says about keeping everything cold -- I have a rolling pin inside which you can put ice.

Cold and colder. I'm one of those half and half people, though. Half butter, for flavor, and half shortening because it's more forgiving. FG makes an excellent crust.

I also make it sort of crumbly, and then let it rest for a half hour in the fridge, wrapped in waxed paper. When I take it out, it holds together quite nicely, and bakes even better.

I've never been sure what shortening is. I use all butter, but some people use lard which is white and waxier than butter - is that shortening?

B

In America, shortening is Crisco, a solidified oil.

http://www.crisco.com/about/history/1911.asp

Crisco looks vegetable based; lard should be animal based, but I bet they are virtually the same thing.

This page looks useful: http://www.allem.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ukuscook.htm

(I cannot believe how girlie I am being right now...!)

B

[T]
[¤o¤]

[GDZ]

I use half butter and half veg fat as well as half self raising flour and half plain in my short crust pastry. I'm not so fussed about everything being cold, but the pastry does get rested for 30 minutes in the fridge, if I have time.

They are backburning. It looks like Mordor. More pics later.

Working my way through the cleaning and tidying.

I have managed to sort out the contents of the two drawers in the living room table and clear through most of my post, (the phantom electricity bill saga goes on and on), and I've reduced the boxes of crap on the side down to one big box which is mainly fileing.

That said, it is almost 11.00 and time for bed...



B

Still just loafing on teh Sofa, revelling in the ebb and flow of conversation.

[Hyp]

Took some time today for a grill out. Actually, A— and the girls (B— & Y—) prepared a scrumptious outdoor feast. We ate downstairs, just out the basement door, on the new concrete slab we had poured to mitigate a standing water problem. The clouds scudded overhead in an azure sky, the cool breeze tempering the warmer day. We brought a ‘garden table’ down from the deck and set it amidst the four chairs already on the new slab.

The menu included:
Steak, grilled to perfection, still pink in the center
Baked beans, with onion and bacon
String beans and baby carrots, sautéed in sesame oil
Leaf lettuce, diced red onion, kale (purple red whats-it?), and cherry slices
Watermelon (what American summer celebration would be complete without it!?)
Banana bread and Zucchini bread
Jalapeño chips, kettle crisp (though I don’t think any of us got to those—stuffed!)

I had just enough time to share this wonderful meal with my ladies before heading off to w*rk. We were thankful for this small moment together, and we enjoyed the meal, the conversation, and the mild weather.

B4iw*rkofftheextrafewpounds

Hope the fire is contained soon, Lil.