Late Breaking Blog

I don't know if anyone out there actually waits for these rambunctious ramblings, but I apologise for being late with this one.

Yes, I have tried to post one per day. 
Yes, I have managed this goal so far. 
No, I cannot guarantee to post much before midnight*.

Reason One
I worked on the late shift tonight, which means not getting home until 7 o'clock.  Having arrived home I then have to get changed before making tomorrow's lunch, and - Surprise! - I don't have to also wash a mountain of dirty dishes today. 
     I do have to study the carcass of a dead bee, because a host of these characters seem to have taken up residence under our eaves, and you can't simply get rid of them due to their endangered status.  Luckily for the Connolly's these are mason bees, a polite and deferential species embodying all our Anglo-Saxon behaviours, rather than the African Killer Bee ...

Reason Two
More Bakery Boredom for those who want to know what the kill-radius is for a 106 Fused 6" Howitzer shell at 5,000 yards.  I've been baking a Carrot Cake recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook, whose recipes tend to be a bit more fiddly and involved than others, but which are very distinctive - that is, people scoff them up pronto.  I've just baked 4 sponges and will have to wait until tomorrow to frost them; total time taken was 2 hours.

Vodka!
My ice-cream made with 2 tablespoons of rum worked out splendidly - frozen but friable, in that you can scoop it without needing to use a chisel.  Rum gives the end result a flavour, whereas vodka (none present) does not.  Conrad will lay in supplies of vodka as a result!

Damn!  I haven't ironed a shirt for tomorrow - need to be quick  with the rest of this.  Vodka = Russia
Russia = the Strugatsky Brothers. 
The Strugaskys = "Roadside Picnic", "Prisoners of Power", "Hard To Be A God".

Tomorrow's theme = Russia.

* Midnight here, in balmy Britain. 


The Lesser-Striped Rumming-Bird in full flow.