What:   Brunch
    When:   Sat, Dec. 12, 10:00 a.m. til 2:00 p.m.
    Where:  My place.  (If you don't know where that is, drop me eail.)

    I'll lay on my usual brunch spread:  scones with butter and jam,
    coffee, bacon, sausages.  All I ask my guests to bring is
    themselves, their good cheer, and their lively conversation. If
    you would like to bring other refreshments, feel free (juice is
    especially welcome). I do ask, though, that if you want to bring
    something that will require kitchen space to finish preparing,
    please check with me first.

    Children are welcome, but the house is by no means childproof

    I look forward to seeing you!  

    ---Alex

• Why? Why, when there are a variety of readily available implements for slicing cucumbers (1) to a uniform thickness and (2) much more quickly than can be done with a knife, slice them by hand? Do they imagine customers will look at the random thicknesses and go Oh, hand-work! That's class, that is?
• If so, why hand-slice them so thick? Surely one can at least take from the fact that the various popular vegetable slicers produce slices far closer to 3/16 inch than 3/4 a hint that people probably prefer thinner slices?

curious

What:   Brunch
When:   Sat, Oct. 3, 10:00 a.m. til 2:00 p.m.
Where:  My place.  (If you don't know where that is, drop me eail.)

I'll lay on my usual brunch spread:  scones with butter and jam,
coffee, bacon, sausages.  All I ask my guests to bring is
themselves, their good cheer, and their lively conversation. If
you would like to bring other refreshments, feel free (juice is
especially welcome). I do ask, though, that if you want to bring
something that will require kitchen space to finish preparing,
please check with me first.

Children are welcome, but the house is by no means childproof

I look forward to seeing you!  

---Alex

cheerful

A couple hours ago I had the biggest adrenaline rush since I found myself on the floor unable to stand and crawled across the floor to call 911 four years ago.

Nowhere near that big an adrenaline rush. But still, the biggest since.

Maybe I need more fear in my life.

Or maybe not.

( More.... )



Mood: alive

Mommy? Is that a people down there?

amused

• Two years ago, when I translated my scone recipe from English measures to metric (and switched the dry ingredients from volumes to weights), I also calculated it at three scales: small (which was double the recipe I'd originally started with), medium (triple the original), and large (4.5x). Today for the first time I actually tried the large — and once I saw all the dry ingredients (plus butter) in my KitchenAid's mixing bowl, decided that maybe it's too large: I might have been able to mix and knead it without getting dough all over the counter. But then again, I might not. (I'll probably actually try it some day — but one of those days I'm ahead of schedule, rather than one, like today, where I'm mixing the dough as the first guests arrive. As it was, I just divided the dry ingredients in half and made the dough in two batches. Since the large version of the recipe calls for 5 eggs, I ended up using an extra half-egg per half-batch, which leads to the next lesson.)
• Adding more egg just makes for fluffier scones, and has no downside I can see.
• Fewer than a dozen of my friends can devour a large batch of scones. And a jar-and-a-half of jam, and a quarter pound of butter. And three pounds of sausage.
• Next time, lay in more provisions.

pleased