Come on, you are talking about Conrad here, the most scrupulously correct anal retentive speller in the North-West of the Ice-Rink of Eden, if not the whole country.
I have, of course, read "Great Expectations" because I discovered several years ago and much to my surprise, that I enjoyed Dickens' novels. I was rather put out by Fiz's illustration of Joe, the blacksmith, since he looked distinctly thin and weedy, which is not how one imagines a blacksmith of the nineteenth century -
- but I digress.*
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| Don't mention the wedding ... |
This will make more sense if I prod Art into motion. Art?
This is a recipe on the back of that remaindered packet of Polish 'Kasza' I bought a good few weeks ago, which items are known here in the Ice-Rink as 'barley groats'.
You can see where this is going, can't you? Conrad is determined to get his 57 penceworth of value from that packet, so he looked at the list and wondered "Could I make this?" for it is obviously a recipe.
That's the 'Expectation' part explained.
The "could I?" bit is less definitive. I have translated the ingredients on the left, which was straightforward enough. For the most part - "Dag", and "szkl." defied translation, though I suspect the latter is a measure of volume. Nor could I find a meaning for "dus" though the context suggests a method of boiling or steaming.
All is not lost - tomorrow I can resort to my compatriots Ania and Damian, who both hail from Poland. So - my expectations are - er - groat.
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| A great big Hmmm! here for questionable studio poster creation. Charles Dickens is NOT about half-naked ladies! |
Conrad has seemingly got his Cake-baking Mojo back, which is of little interest to the world at large, but of consuming interest to those he works alongside, since they benefit from the (metaphorical) fruits of his labours, or such of same that manages to get past Wonder Wifey. Thus tonight we have the Cardamom and Caraway Seed Loaf, taken from the Hummingbird Bakery recipe book. Art?
As I have said before, the Hummingbird Bakery recipes are usually rather more fiddly and elaborate than other varieties, but they compensate with a very nice end product. It's a shame you can't smell this one; I also confess that I added the caraway seeds in since they are not part of the recipe. They rather resisted being ground up, so hopefully they won't make the finished cake too gritty.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch - Art?
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| A low-down dirty shame |
Where Have I -
Conrad was futzing around in the kitchen this evening, waiting for the loaf to finish baking, in addition to washing up all the things he'd dirtied, when his i-pod earphone disengaged and fell to the floor.
This is not a good thing in the presence of Jenny, our Cyborg Sentry Cat, who will fall upon earphones as if they were The Enemy, and chew the ends off. Whilst picking it up I felt a pang of deja vu; where had I seen that before? Art!
Of course none of you young whippersnappers would be familiar with the source material, only us old whippersnappers, because we've seen it umpteen times even up to the present day, whilst you young whippersnappers were all off playing on your X-Station <Mister Hand intervenes to redact pages of maudlin wiffle> aerogel baseball bat. Art?
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| I make my case |
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| My case is made |
* Conrad digressing? How can this be!
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