Soledad's Journal

Of course it doesn't! It's housework, after all. *sigh*

Today was wasted spent with preparations for tomorrow's cleaning frenzy. I emptied the balcony and half the kitchen, putting everything I could move out onto the corridor, scrubbed the bathtub clean, gave the new limescale remover a try (it appears I'll have to give it several more tries before any sign of improvement would show), cooked lunch... and there are still are several things I'll have to move, staple on top of each other, dust, scrub and the likes this evening and next morning. And all that on 5 hours of sleep. Well, at least I had a nice, long nap in the afternoon. That's the advantage of not having anything to watch on TV.

BUT: this is also an important day, and we mustn't forget about it!

Happy Birthday, the_wild_iris! I hope it was a pleasant one.

So, I've baked #5 and #6 on my list because those are simply cookies, formed by hand, no need to use a cookie cutter. The toffee ones are already boxed and put into the fridge (the caramel cream tends to become liquid on room temperature, and we don't want that to happen, no, Precioussss!), the other one is getting its chocolate icing and the hazelnut krokant decoration. I've made my krokant from the scratch, but frankly, that wasn't complicated: just caramelized sugar with a bit of butter and chopped hazelnuts. The thing has already hardened out, so I broke it to pieces and then pulverized (well, sort of) it with the help of a rolling pin and put it into a jar.

Baking lasted half the day, and then I took Mum for a short walk as the weather was cool but sunny. They promise really high temperatures (for March, that is) for the next couple of days, so I hope we might even get to the corner café, as by warm weather she can rest a bit on the benches along the way. We'll see.

Not much else happened. I talked to H. on the phone to tell her about the improved cleaning situation, and I worked a tiny bit on my failed-pincushion-turned-into-a-gift-box. Not enough to actually finish it, but I hope I'll be able to do so tomorrow. No writing done, either; I need to re-watch an Enterprise episode to do so first, and the Dailymotion videos are such a bad quality that one can barely see what's happening. I'll have to dig out my DVDs, as the next part will be a description of their surroundings. *sigh*

On a completely unrelated matter: has anyone heard from chocolate_frapp lately? She used to update her journal daily, and there hasn't been an entry for five weeks. I sent her a nudge but there hasn't been a reaction so far.

Edit: She's back. Apparently, it was only computer problems. I'm very relieved.

First things first: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, dear jenn_calaelen! I hope life is treating you well; hearing from you once again would be really nice.



Also, since this is October 17, it also marks the birthday of my beloved Grandpa. He'd be 128 today; alas, he's left us back in 1967 already. :(

So, to celebrate the day, Mum and I went to our little corner café for coffee and croissant and even bought a Babka for our afternoon coffee, during which we lit a candle for Grandpa. We both loved him very much; for me, he was the reason why I never missed having a father.

I did a bit of work on Card #34 in the morning (still haven't finished) and a bit of writing in the afternoon, after having made lunch and candied lemon peels for the Christmas baking. I also took a long nap and decided to postpone the second half of the crazed cleaning to Saturday as I'm still tired from the first half that was done yesterday.

So yeah. Same old, same old. But as long as things don't take a turn for the worse I'm not complaining.

Happy Birthday manue7a! I hope you had a riot of a celebration - or a nice, calm day, whichever you prefer. ;))

Happy Birthday,dear wanderingmogwai! I hope it was a great one!

... not that it would make me look much younger - that is Mum's magic trick - but at least I'll look halfways civilized on the concert on Sunday. I also went to the craft shops near the hairdresser's (the best ones in town) and spent an indecent amount of money on scrapbook paper. I already have too much of the stuff, but if there is anything I can't resist it's pretty paper.

That took all morning. Fortunately, I didn't have to cook; long live the leftovers! So, instead I took a brief nap, we watched some telly, and then I played Solitaire and read fanfic on Methuselah-the-laptop. Both are very good when one is completely brain dead. *g*

And on a totally unrelated note:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, dear disthrainsdotte! I hope you had a grand old time. :)

I've baked a fantastic chestnut cake today. With pureed chestnuts and little pieces of glacéd chestnuts in it. Yum! And my asparagus quiche turned out fantastically, too! It is also quite enormous, so I won't have to cook for at least two more days, which is always a win.

In other news, I've typed up the rest of the still-unfinished Chapter 16 of "The Book of Mazarbul" and posted it to the edhellondawards comm, despite of it being unfinished. Tolkienfic and Dwarf-fans are welcome to take a look and leave a comment. :)

The weather is still nice and warm (presumably for another way before it will turn cold again), so Mum and I went for a walk. I called a former colleague with whom I haven't talked for way too long.

Aaaand - insert drumroll - I've finally made the first step towards getting a new tablet! Yes!

Totally unrelated to all the above:

Happy Birthday, aeris444! I hope you had a grand old time!

Happy Birthday, dear panda!



I hope you had a lovely time!

Meaning the ones sallymn found the recipe for. They sounded fun, so I gave them a try. These were the result:



They don't look spectacular, do they? Unfortunately, they won't fit the category "ugly but yummy". They are rock hard and taste of cardboard. So, this was an experiment I won't repeat. Not a chance for them to get onto my Christmas baking list.

Other than that, we had laundry day, I finished two more lavender-infused little pillows, got an idea for quick and easy ornaments to make in the last moment and took Mum out for a walk.

Oh, and I made ginger syrup! I buy fresh ginger from time to time, grate it and freeze it in small portions, so I only have to take out one and throw it into the pan if I need it for various dishes. There's always so much juice left after the grating process, and it would be a shame to waste it. So I added a generous amount of sugar and honey, boiled the mixture for a while and then poured it into a small flagon. Now I have delicious (and very hot) syrup to add to tea, should I get a cold, or to various cakes. :)

Happy Birthday, thesmallhobbit! I hope you had a grand old time!

Here, have some virtual calories: