Author: David T. Macknet

Ginger-Spice Crackle Cookies

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January 11, 2013

2:29 pm

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Baking, Recipe

Ginger-Spice Crackle Cookies

These cookies are something of a combination of pfefferneuse cookies and ginger crackle cookies. They were going to be simply ginger crackles, but we didn’t have enough molasses (hence the honey in the recipe). Since the recipe was already going to be different, D. added more spices than called for, using the delicious Vietnamese Cinnamon our friends A & K gave us for Christmas (“true” cinnamon, rather than cassia – flavorful instead of just hot), and adding in some anise oil (also from A & K) just because.

These could probably have benefitted from some fresh and/or candied ginger, as well as the powdered. They are complex in flavor, and chewy (because of the honey). They’re also perhaps a tiny bit too sweet (also because of the honey). Also (note to self), “grease-proof paper” is not the same thing as “parchment paper” – if you use grease-proof paper, be sure to spray some non-stick cooking spray before putting down the cookies, as otherwise you’ll be fighting to get them to release.

One other thing to note: baking these on a cookie sheet gives them less lift and less “crackle,” plus turns the bottoms a bit too dark. If you have a silicone baking sheet, do use it. We’ve found it’s easiest to use parchment paper (so you can roll everything out all at once) and to slide that onto the baking sheet, leaving the baking sheet in the oven directly on the rack.

  • 1 1/2 Cups margarine
  • 2 Cups granulated sugar
  • 2 Tbsp flaxseed, ground
  • 2 Tbsp water
  • 1/2 Cup molasses
  • 1/2 Cup honey
  • 5 Cups flour
  • 4 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 4 tsp ground ginger
  • 4 allspice berries, ground (grind with the flaxseeds)
  • 4 tsp Vietnamese cinnamon (or 3 tsp “regular” cinnamon)
  • 4 drops anise oil
  • dash nutmeg
  • Granulated sugar for rolling
  1. Cream sugar and margarine
  2. Mix in water, flaxseed, spices, salt, molasses, and honey
  3. Mix in flour and baking powder
  4. Shape into a round and divide into 8 pieces
  5. Shape each piece into a round and divide into 8 pieces again
  6. Shape each piece into a round and roll in granulated sugar – do not flatten
  7. Bake on silicone baking sheet at 350°F / 165°C for 12-14 minutes
  8. Let cool thoroughly before eating

We didn’t do so much in the way of baking this year, still having not quite settled into the kitchen. This is an effort to truly inhabit the kitchen for something other than simply sustenance.

-D & T

Sign Wonders

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December 22, 2012

3:15 pm

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Miscellany

2012 Benicia 056 Finnieston 162
Dog Fouling Around Glasgow 213 Hayford Mills 031

Oh, the subtleties of signs. I spotted the first sign here in downtown Benicia this weekend & had to photograph it, mostly because it’s just so … well, nice. It doesn’t tell you about laws against letting your dog make a mess, it doesn’t tell you you’ll be fined or what have you. It appeals to people’s health concerns instead.

Funnily enough, I’ve had a fascination with signs, and have a handful of “dog fouling” signs taken in Scotland. Some appeal to the better nature of the pet owner, some threaten by stating the text of some applicable statute, and some merely mention that there is a statute while making a graphical appeal.

Do these work? Would someone who was otherwise unmotivated find them motivational? Do they say something different to people from different cultures?

Personally, I find the appeal to self-interest to possibly be more motivational than the rest.

I guess that signs are meant to both inform and motivate. There’s something in each of the dog fouling signs, though, that appeals to self-interest, as if there’s nothing intrinsically valuable in having a park free from dog mess.

Lafayette 16

We can contrast these, though, with a sign spotted 3 years ago, embedded into the concrete above a storm-drain. This sign lets you know that anything dumped into the storm drain leads to the sea, and makes the – subtle – appeal to be concerned about the fish in the ocean. It’s playing on a concern for nature, rather than pointing out that it’s illegal to dump things* into storm drains. I suppose that the fish might also be an appeal to one’s health concerns, provided you care about what goes into the fish you eat, but it doesn’t seem that way, really.

The motivational aspect of the “no dumping” sign is to appeal to a supposed pre-existing concern for the environment. This is similar to the second dog-fouling sign (which appeals to the dog owner to “help us clean up our city”) in that it’s concerned with the environment, although for aesthetic reasons in the fouling sign, rather than focusing on healthy salmon.

In any event, signs are interesting things (and all the more interesting when they come with odd caricatures of animal waste).

-D

* I’m certain that it’s more than just “things” that you’re not supposed to dump, but that’s not the point.

November 20, In Retrospect

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November 20, 2012

12:04 pm

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In Retrospect

Charing Cross 375
Lynedoch Crescent D 225
Finnieston 126
Sign - Never Leave Safe

Ahh, 2009. By this date we’d encountered our first Bonfire Night, and the charred circle in the grass – which was a permanent scar and was only camouflaged by the snow a while later – was the aftermath. Bonfire night can be such a fun, neighborhood night; despite frigid temps, cold, and fog, tons of people are out and about, chatting around a bonfire, watching the fireworks, catching up with the neighbors. It’s not always that PG, but we’ll just discard the memories which include herds of thugs, emptied bottles and noisome puddles the morning after…

By 2009, we had been living in the flat on Lynedoch Crescent for about 7 months, and still loved the area. We hadn’t yet had more than a dusting of snow that winter, although the darkness was certainly moving in on us by then. D. was still slaving through his schoolwork and working at Skypark, and encountering many things T. on his walk to/from work that T. wished he wouldn’t photograph (he had an “abandoned mattress” sighting thing going until T. finally convinced him to stop). A strange concept, to American minds, was the concept of delivery people leaving things safe. Apparently to “leave safe” means it’s OK to drop off a delivery next to the door or somewhere out of the way, and some people object to this (as evinced by the sign). We thought many times of putting up just such a sign, since often delivery drivers wouldn’t bother to ring the bell, and instead would just leave boxes outside of the flat…in the rain. Yes. Color us cranky.

(We’re grateful for our covered porch on this date in 2012, because the postman here does the same thing… as we don’t use the front door much, we often miss seeing his little leavings. T. periodically opens the door just to check, and this morning, found a pile of packages on the stairs. Since we have both a cow bell AND a doorbell, T. is wondering how she could have missed him heralding this latest delivery!! :sigh: People are doorbell averse, the world over, it seems. And, apparently also averse to taking just one more step to ensure that the packages are out of the wet. :grump:)

Paisley Abbey 07 Paisley Abbey 12 HDR
Paisley Abbey 14 Paisley Abbey 18 HDR
Paisley Abbey 23 Paisley Abbey 24

On this date in 2010 we were just getting ready for our first concert in Paisley Abbey. What a phenomenal space! If you have a chance to visit the Abbey grounds someday, do. We recall this concert differently; we sang the Fauré, and T. remembers mainly fretting about the treble pitches (it’s so glorious a sound, in a cathedral with an orchestra, but so easy to hear echoes and go flat). D. recalls it all as wonderful, even though the organist’s wee harmonium kept slipping from him as he pumped the bellows, so he arrived at a space several feet away from where he started by the time the concert was done (that was amusing to watch). We were also, T. recalls, late to the dress rehearsal because we got lost, and both of us were freezing and slightly soppy, on account of the wind and the icy rain (there was sand underfoot, we recall, for the ice). Ah, precious memories. ☺

The past steps into the present — we sang with our church chorus this past weekend – twenty singers vs. the ninety-eight we had at Paisley – and yet, the feeling of being part of something bigger than oneself remains. It’s comforting, that wherever we are, music is the same. In this way, we continue to piece together bits of who we were in the past with who we are now. And the wheel goes ’round again.

-D & T

November 13, In Retrospect

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November 13, 2012

6:02 pm

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In Retrospect

View from Skypark 81 VShips 6 View from Skypark 82
Schuh Boots 1 Woodlands Road 2 Woodlands Road 93 HDR
Lynedoch Crescent D 481 T's new Grandma Shoes Deep-dish Pizza 1

It’s been a very long while since we’ve done a post “In Retrospect.” Looking back through the pictures taken on November 13, we find … Glasgow.

It’s so strange, having spent 5 years there, to be back in California. It’s particularly strange because most of the photographic documentation we have from our lives comes from being forced to adapt to digital photography. When we got to Scotland, developing film was just so expensive that we didn’t take many pictures, and ended up moving to digital within about 4 months. So, our memories are largely slanted towards what we can see, rather than what we must have been doing in our lives before Scotland.

We both still miss being there, in so many ways, but it’s only made more acute by looking in on “a day” from the past and seeing pictures which don’t include any of that previous history. What were we doing, before this day in 2007? We must have done something, but those records are on paper, packed in a box somewhere, inaccessible to us at the moment (having no bookcases means that the journals are still in boxes).

We can look back at the blog history, and the email, to see that we were preparing for Thanksgivings by baking all sorts of things, but the photographic evidence is somehow more impactive than having to dig through email and blogs to find out what we were doing, back then.

-D & T

Gelatinous Mutant Coconut Candy

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November 13, 2012

9:55 am

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California

Gelatinous Mutant Coconut Candy

Well, we finally visited our local Asian market, and realized that we’d left the camera in the car! So, we were forced to buy a few oddities, because they were so … odd. Next time, though, we’ll bring the camera, because there were so many things to enjoy! Not that we enjoyed the Asian-language Christmas music (with Disney-girl and Asian-rapper-guy interspersed): we felt as if we were doing worse penance than wearing a hair-shirt, or self-flagellating, it was so horrifying.

Candy Tamarind Flavour Seeded

We’re gradually unpacking, and not enjoying the immigration of pollen which was apparently trapped when we packed: we’re sneezing like crazy! We’d like to blame this on the fact that everything was stored in Florida for many months, but we recognize that we’re most allergic to Heather / Gorse, and this seems much like that. We’re sure that packing one’s house up in Spring isn’t helpful to anyone – so, next time you feel like making a major move, don’t pack things up when the pollen is heavy.

-D & T

Links

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November 6, 2012

9:06 am

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Links

It’s been awhile between “links” posts as I’ve been trying to not flood the world with things I find interesting. Here are a few choice links, though, for your enjoyment.

If you’re in the US, and are legally permitted to do so, I hope that you’ve voted today. We’ll see what tomorrow brings, but if you didn’t vote, it’s all your fault, and I shall blame you for whatever happens.

Continue reading “Links” →

Additional Adjustments

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October 23, 2012

5:58 pm

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California

Skyway Drive 040

The minor shifts continue.

Getting up early isn’t exactly a happy adjustment, but a job is. We’re getting accustomed to D. having to leave the house no later than 7:15 to get to work by 8:00 (if he’s lucky – the traffic across 37 is atrocious) and to spend nearly an hour (if he’s lucky) on the return journey. After not driving for 5 years, the idea of spending a few hours every day having to concentrate on obstacles instead of reading a book on the train – it’s been an unexpected stress. But, we adjust.

We’re adjusting to weekend chores: mowing the back lawn, raking leaves and the interminable needles from the myriad pine trees, cleaning rain-gutters from all the woodsy detritus. Living in flats suddenly seems like a lot less work. But, for the joy of not sharing a wall with anyone, wandering around in just a t-shirt for midnight snack runs, and singing as loudly in the shower as one wants to — well. We adjust.

Wildlife is an additional adjustment. We were forcibly reminded that we had an unsecured pet door in the sliding door in the breakfast nook when we found a pear on the counter top with tiny, perfect teeth marks in it. You can bet that pet door is sealed shut now. We’re adjusting to having wild turkeys stroll through our neighborhood. Apparently they’re pests (our neighbor asked us to “take them!” when she noticed us photographing). We’re waiting for Van to snare one and dress it. D’s promised he’d do the cooking (and T. has asked him “In what house, because it won’t be this one, gross.”) You see how these adjustments go…

Skyway Drive 043

We’re also adjusting to music (No, your monitor hasn’t gone crazy – those are the keys from the piano, removed for cleaning – and man, were they filthy) – and soon, T. banging scales, as D. stealth signed her up for piano lessons, much to her delight/horror/terror/delight. Since T’s mum gave us her old upright, which we had cleaned and tuned, there is now piano music heard all over the house. It is truly loud — but maybe we just need more furniture to suck up the echo. Speaking of which….

No. Our belongings have still not arrived. We do believe that they’re in the state, they’ve finally made their way onto a truck (the truck abandoned them, last time, as it was apparently over-weight) and left Florida some time last week. We’re hopeful that we’ll see the arrival of such things as clothes, kitchen items, and books (well – they’ll stay boxed for awhile) tomorrow morning between 9 a.m. and 10, but we are no longer believers until we see. This has been RIDICULOUSLY slow going.

We’ve finally had our first real rain of the season, and here in Northern California, snow-chains are required for anyone trying to cross the Sierra Nevada. Some areas up here received nearly an inch of rain, and a cloudburst turned the end of our drive into our own personal lake. It almost felt like Scotland for a few hours!

The adjustments continue. There’s an internal balance that shifts – a grain of something familiar and happy on one side lightens the side which finds things slightly not right. Through further spending time with family and our community, going through the motions of living, celebrating tradition and holiday, and finally having our things (pots! pans! bread pans! cookbooks!) around us (God haste the day), we’ll make our way toward normalcy, or at least what passes for it in the Hobbiton.

-D & T

Bridges

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October 12, 2012

4:48 pm

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California

Vallejo 26

One of the things we love about the Bay Area is the bridges. This pair span the Carquinez Straights, between Crockett and Vallejo. We don’t often cross these bridges, but thought that we’d revisit them, as they’re quite beautiful.

Our house is gradually taking shape, with a piano delivered today. We’re still waiting for our things to arrive (as far as we can tell, they’re on a truck somewhere between Florida and California). We’re truly tired of having worn the same clothes for the past 5 months, and will enjoy having some different choices – hopefully sometime next week, our things will arrive.

D. begins a new job, Monday, as a technical writer for a biotech company in Marin County. It’s not using his skills to the fullest, but it’s a foot in the door, and they’ve some plans to use his skills further, and hopefully it’ll be a long-term position.

For the first time since we’ve been back in California, it rained! We were both quite happy with the rolls of thunder (T. thought it was someone taking out their trash cans) and the light rain. Our friends in Scotland have had rain nearly every day for the past 5 months, so we’re sure they’re nowhere near as happy at the idea of showers.

T. has begun reading for the Cybils awards, so has about 40 books to make it through this week, with possibly 100 more to arrive.

All in all, we’re settling in, looking forward to meeting with the church choir tomorrow morning, and gradually getting used to the idea of being back in California.

-D & T

Camping Out in Our Heads

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September 27, 2012

5:09 pm

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Upheaval

Good Eats 3.1

For D’s birthday this year, one of his sisters-in-law gave him a cookbook from his favorite chef, Alton Brown. Because he was taught about books by the librarians at his junior-high school, the first thing he did was to open the book in the middle and spread it wide, to crack the spine (this is necessary so that the book won’t be lopsided, and should be followed by dividing each half and spreading the book wide again, and then each quarter, etc., until the book is fully “open”).

Upon opening the book, he was confronted with … The Parsnip.

It’s an amusing memory that early in our sojourn to Scotland, we were confronted with these things, and tried to eat them like carrots.

In a word, “NO.”

Steamed and buttered? To T., they tasted like licorice with salt, and as she is not a fan of licorice, she was really not a fan of this. D. found that they removed the enamel from his teeth, but otherwise thought they were reasonable. Mind you, at that time, we had a farm box from the local organic people, and we had what seemed to be a metric ton of the things. We had no idea what to do with them, and ended up turning them into cookies (“biscuits”), because, is there anything you can’t make into a good cookie? (Answer: no. Stay tuned for the lentil cookies we’re going to be making. No, seriously. It’s an Alton Brown recipe.)

Good Eats 3.2

We made far too many parsnip biscuits, and shared them out with our reluctant neighbors (the guys who lived on our left told us that they didn’t even like sweets, the second time we knocked on their door. They thought we were SO ODD) and the balance went to the neighborhood pharmacy, where the ladies, who were on foot for a lot of the day, were very happy indeed to take them for tea. (The cookies were worth enough good karma to get our prescriptions hand-delivered and discounted, which was a bit of a shock, but a nice one). Will we be trying parsnips again this autumn? Er… maybe if we’re really, really missing Glasgow… but we’re not sure we’ll ever miss it THAT much…

Meanwhile, the gift of a woolen plaid blanket – meant to remind us of Scotland – devolved into hilarity, as we admired the little piper on the tag, and read the name. “BUCA YÜNE Scotch Battaniye,” T sounded out, frowning. “What?” TURKÇE, my dears. The blanket is from Scotland, by way of Turkey. Apparently we’re not the only ones having recently taken long, strange trips!

Despite the number of possessions filling our home – thank God for good thrift-shoppers – we’re waiting – still – for the shipment of our possessions! Clearly, the “we’re here” bits of our brain aren’t entirely online, since the other day D. thought to walk to Grassroots (the Scottish equivalent of Whole Paycheck Foods), which he was thinking was just around the corner. Just getting on with things and living is still cuing thoughts of Scotland for us, but we’re feeling a bit less crazed these days.

The FILTHY OVEN OF DOOM has been cleaned (Better Living Through Chemistry means a lifetime supply of Easy Off. UGH.), the strip of lawn – about three feet wide – still hasn’t been mown in the back, and there’s a persistent orange tabby we’re gently but firmly encouraging to dig and deposit elsewhere; the near daily routing of spiders (And T’s requests of, “Um, D.? Could you …?”) has given way to the hourly pings and sighs as the old house settles around new residents. We are looking forward to a number of baking and cooking experiences, and are eying the butternut from community member Judy’s garden with undisguised glee.

So, the process continues. We’ll be back to what passes as normal shortly.

-D & T