Yesterday was busy (apart from arranging things on the shelves of my new little table). Today was... not busy... so here are some pages from.my last Commonplace Book instead of regaling you with the entirely uninteresting details of the day.
The next photo is something shared by a good friend. I don't know the original source.
Random recipe (I haven't tried it) and a quote from a stitching blog I rate highly
I'm slowly reading 'Meditations for Mortals' by Oliver Burkeman;
This was a card from my son from a few years ago. Inside, the cat says 'is there anything you need pushed off a table or counter top you?'
Random quotes;
I've been writing in Commonplace Books off and on for a number of years, collecting all sorts scraps, and sometimes adding my own thoughts and opinions. I find it fascinating going through the old ones as it brings back memories of what I was reading and doing at the time.
I have never understood why BisQuick is so popular in the USA. It hardly takes a moment to mix fat and flour together.
ReplyDeleteAnd boxed cake mix...
DeleteTo be fair to cake mix, it originally just had to have water added so it was very quick. Then they found that many people had digestive issues with the powdered egg in it so they removed that and you had to add eggs. Then they decided that it made a better cake if you added oil - but this is optional. I do look at modern cake mixes and wonder why people are basically paying for pre-measured flour, fat, baking powder and vanilla. However - the same could be said for ready-to-serve custard and many other things on the market. Bisquick was originally made by a restaurant cook so he could make a big batch of it at the beginning of the day and then use it in small amounts during the day to make fresh hot biscuits for each order instead of serving cold or reheated biscuits. The biscuits here are what Americans call tea biscuits and the British call scones. Imagine getting scones fresh from the oven for your tea instead of ones made hours earlier and you’ll see why his restaurant was popular. Once his secret was known someone made the mix commercially and people who were hopeless bakers could make reasonable tea biscuits at home. Cake mixes are good for camping or any other situation where having to stock, carry, measure ingredients is more problematic.
DeleteYour comment reminds me that when we were first married I never bought bread; we would have fresh scones every day! Inused to make up a massive bowl of my own scone mix; (his recipe!) Which is self-raising flour and butter or marg as we were pretty skint in the proportion of 1 pound flour to 4oz fat, rubbed into breadcrumbs. Then all I had to do was scoop out some dry mix, add 'gone-off' milk, saved for the purpose, mix and bake.
DeleteThey bake pretty well in the air fryer too, saves preheating the oven... tea time approaches... hmmm
I recently paged through some Commonplace Books I made in the past. At least 4 scrapbooks that bulged with things I had pasted in. I didn't actually know of anyone else who had made one. I'm quite thrilled to know that you have.
ReplyDeleteI don't know of if any of my friends keep commonplace books. I first came across them from a book that John Julian Norwich created called 'A Christmas Cracker'. People have kept them for centuries.
DeleteI love the second image, it's very good.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it just!
DeleteWhat a perfect cat card!
ReplyDeleteI love it!
DeleteI like the ten commandments for reducing stress.
ReplyDeleteMy commonplace book is very dull compared to yours - it's just quotations that appeal.
Another commonplace book keeper! My earlier commonplace books seemed dull so I started being 'more inclusive '. Recently I've begun to print out copies of quotations etc to stick in. I also stick in half an envelope to keep postcards and similar in so I can see picture and message.
DeleteI keep a Commonplace book, well, several of them. So interesting to page through. Mine are mostly quotes from books/blogs.
ReplyDeleteI have never understood the vast use of mixes for things like Bisquick/cakes/muffins when they are so easy to make, taste much better, and have no preservatives.
Granny Marigold, you are not alone! (See her comment above!)
DeleteThe craziest
Whoops, pressed publish too soon...
Delete...'recipe' I ever used - laziest recipe, even, was a fruit crumble made with a tin of pie filling topped with a packet of crumble mixture and served with instant just-add-boiling-wayer custard. Student cooking. It did NOT taste like home cooking!
Depends on what you are used to for home cooking! It reminds me of the sign in a bakery window “ Cake like Mum used to make - 5 pounds. Cake like Mum thinks she used to make - 10 pounds”.
DeleteJoy!
Delete