Soledad's Journal

We survived another visit from our talkative chiropodist lady. Like in the recent two times in a row, she asked to watch her favourite series here. I escaped via doing the grocery shopping. Mum endured. Afterwards she talked to her friend (the one that had visited on Monday), who, it turned out is also watching the same series. So she updated Mum about the basic settings. A good thing that the series runs out next Monday. I wonder what the lady will watch next time...

As always after her series, we were both brain dead for the rest of the day. So brain dead that I fell asleep during "The Repair Shop" repeatedly. So I gave up and slept for roughly two hours. Now I feel that I might be able to function again.

I've actually managed to got the mediabox working again. Go me!

Granted, all I had to do was to follow the instructions on the TV screen, but it wouldn't have been the first time if I had messed things up. Everything seems to be working just fine, let's hope it stays that way. *fingers crossed*

Me-time was fairly sparse today (again), but at least I've managed to write a few lines of dialogue, made the body base for the next little angel and reinforced the covers of a notebook for Mum to use it for the household book-keeping. The front cover was autumn-themed, so I decorated the inside with little hedgehog, mushroom and acorn stickers. Mum liked it very much.

In the early afternoon we had extra choir practice because we only have 8 days left until our 20-year-anniversary concert. It went fairly well, and since we started early, I could meet quite a few (ex-)colleagues I usually don't get to see because they are always gone by 16.30 on Tuesdays when regular choir practice starts. It was really nice. :)

Spectrum Home (one of our TV channels) started showing new episodes of "The Repair Shop". With new I mean episodes that they hadn't shown before, not necessarily new new ones. We are very pleased nonetheless; next to the various versions of the GBBO and "Salvage Hunters" this is our favourite programme, at least on the Hungarian channels.

So, all in all I'm well content with the day. I'll prepare things for tomorrow's baking start before going to bed - it's about to begin, people!!!

Well, this is Grandma's idiot proof cocoa sponge cake, filled with home-made strawberry jam, with chocolate icing on top, sprinkled with white chocolate shards and freeze-dried strawberry cubes (quite a long description for such a small cake):



Mum's lady friend liked it just fine, despite the fact that she doesn't like strawberry jam, which I didn't know. It's hard to keep tab on all the things she doesn't like. *sigh* In any case, she and Mum had a nice visit (that left Mum fairly exhausted afterwards), but by leaving, she managed to fall down the very last step of the nine that lead from the lift to the house entrance. Fortunately, nothing really bad happened - we only learned about the incident when she called us, after having arrived at home. Still, Mum was a bit upset about the news.

While the lady was here, I've finished Quiet Book #1 (or rather #4 altogether, as I've done a few before) and made some more strawberry jam. Then we ate leftover soup for lunch and the other half of the small cake (I packed half of it for our visitor, as she wanted to eat it at home).

After that, I was watching some crap telly, but my friend Evie called in the midst of it for an asparagus recipe. Half an hour later we agreed that her daughter might like some of my Robin Hood DVDs, which I no longer want to keep. It is the 2006 tv series, featuring Jonas Armstrong, Clive Standen and Richard Armitage. I generally like Robin Hood-themed stuff, so I bought the series in Austria blindly but wasn't particularly impressed by it. Evie's daughter, OTOH, watched it online repeatedly and liked it a lot, plus she'll have her birthday next month. So, if she's still interested, she can have it.

My favourite version is the Robin of Sherwood series. Unfortunately, I only have it as a private copy that lacks the English subtitles. So, actually watching it requires more concentration than I'm capable of in these days.

At least in our house. Starting with the fact that on Sundays I have to get up almost an hour earlier because Mum attends to Mass via telly and needs to be made pretty in time.
( Boring domestic stuff behind the cut )
Having done all this, I've now relocated to my desktop PC for more fanfic and games before Mary Berry's Country House Secrets starts on TV Paprika. I do love that programme so much! And then, around midnight, I'm going to watch Britain's Best Home Cook. Yes, my tastes are a bit one-sided, I know. *g*

... was quiet. Also, it lacked any religious aspects, unfortunately. I might have severed ties with the Church, but at such times I find I sorely miss the festive rituals. Well, one can't have it both ways, I guess, so I talked to my Maker in private, as always in these days.

In the morning, we washed Mum's hair because she wanted to look well-groomed for the feast. Then I worked a bit on The Thing of Beauty - I hadn't originally planned, but German telly cancelled all the programmes that run around midday on ordinary days, catering to the wishes of bored children on vacation instead. Those films aren't what I'd waste my time with.

I improvised a meat-free lunch, since it is Good Friday (Mum is particular about such things). Just some tinned tuna, couscous and cooked vegetables. Alas, couscous is one of those things that grow exponentially when encountering any kind of liquid, so we'll likely still be eating it in a week from now. Too bad, as I'm not very fond of it, but this was part of the "we don't throw food out, as long as it hasn't gone bad" policy. I doubt I'll ever buy couscous again.

In the afternoon I played some solitary on my geriatric laptop - it's one of the few sites it can still access - then watched the Easter special of "Das Große Promibacken" (the German version of the GBBO, only with celebs) on Sat1. It was tedious. The things they baked were lovely, but I hate the custom of the channel that it inserts 5 od 6 really long blocks of advertising into a programme that would otherwise only last a little over an hour. Plus, two of the contestants, Marijke Amado and Ross Anthony, were annoying to the extreme, so I regretted watching it in the first place.

It's a good thing that Hungarian telly will show old re-runs of the GGBO later tonight. I need something to bleach my brain with. Even though this is one of the later seasons without Mary Berry, Sue and Mel.

Tomorrow will be the last of the Easter baking - I'll make the Spiegeleikuchen and a Guglhupf, with lots of raisins and dried fruit. After much agonizing I've chose the Guglhupf, which I've already successfully made twice, instead of the plait that would have been a brand new thing. I'm too tired for experiencing.

Behold the last batch of my Christmas Baking Frenzy:



From the left:
Nougat biscuits in 6 different shapes,
Coconut biscuits in 3 different shapes
and two versions of chocolate pretzels, with pistachios and with rock sugar, respectively.

One of the recipients came today to fetch her box, the three neighbours got theirs, too, and we sampled quite a few to our afternoon coffee. I feel a bit like a punctured balloon but very happy nonetheless.

The rest of the afternoon was spent with watching Kirstie's Homemade Christmas and the German version of the GBBO. Alas, the candidate we fired on didn't win, but one cannot have everything.

Also known on these shores as St. Nicholas' Day - the day when the Nicholas visits the houses and gives the children small presents.

Well, the Nicholas didn't come to our house today. Neither did our cleaning lady, who's fallen ill, the poor thing. Since everything was prepared for the bi-weekly cleaning ritual, I bit the bullet and did the cleaning myself... well, a seriously reduced version of it, but still.

The exterminators who were due to their quarter-yearly visit didn't come, either. Mum rang them and asked what was the case, since they'd promised (last Friday, on the phone) that they'll call if there's any change of plans. They didn't call. They didn't come, either. They said they'll come tomorrow. We'll see. Alas, this is something I can't do for them myself.

But the day wasn't completely wasted. I've finished Christmas Gift Fic#5 and got a - hopefully working - idea for #6, which will be the last one. thesmallhobbit gave me a prompt that had caused me a great deal of headache, but I think something has begun rolling now. *fingers crossed*

Today TV Paprika will show one of the Great Christmas Bake-Off programmes - I don't know which one, but I love them all, so I'll be glued in front of the screen. Yesterday they showed "A Berry Royal Christmas", which we saw for the first time and enjoyed greatly. I've got a soft spot for Prince William - perhaps because he features in some of my Torchwood stories and I feel a certain (unfounded) degree of ownership concerning him. *g*

I decided to give the other "feathers" a try and see whether they could work as angel wings, despite being a size too large. Guess what? They did. Look:



I thought the green background would bring out the colours better; I was wrong. Anyway, I have one set of "feathers" left, but those are really way too large for these angels. Perhaps I'll make a bigger one, from longer lolly sticks, just for the fun of it.

Not much else happened. Saturday is laundry day; Mum and I shared cooking duty today, and we watched old re-runs of the GBBO. Tonight we'll have another go at it, as TGBBO - Creme de la Creme is coming at 11pm. Frankly, I like the amateur version better, but for the lack of it, the professionals will do.

I got up like death warmed over because I went to bed too late last night, having sucked into a 34-chapter Charmed/Angel crossover, which I read for inspiration. I'm currently very stuck with the Charmed section of my massive "Pathways" vampire crossover universe.

In any case, I got up twenty minutes later than usual, so the daily schedule skipped already. Then, after our morning routine, Mum and I went to the Lidl supermarket do do some food shopping... mostly because she needed to get out of the house and move around a bit. Shopping is never really copious when we do it together, for the simple reason that one of my hands is occupied by supporting her, and one can just carry so much weight with one hand. But it was a nice trip, which she enjoyed, including putting on a pretty dress and generally feeling like a lady. *g*

Afterwards we discovered that one of the channels is re-running the 2016 season of TGGBO (the last one with Mary Berry, Sue and Mel), and we've managed to catch the first episode, which we happened to miss every time the show ran somewhere. It was very satisfactory, but it ate the rest of the morning.

Nonetheless, I worked a bit on the second pair of the oven mitts - or should I say on the second pairs? I had to change the design because I realized they'd be too thick for Little Theo to even bend his fingers if I made them four-layered ones. So they'll have only two layers, each, but in exchange he'll have two pairs instead of one. They can sort out with Little Emma who's going to use which pair; for cooking or for playing. I've sorted out a set of doll dishes for Emma as a Christmas gift.

I made Topfenknödel for lunch and took a nap in the afternoon because I was really, really drained. On today's further to-do list is a bit of internet surfing, a bit of solitaire and some more TGBBO on a different channel. I originally hoped that there will be Master Classes this week, since the season ended on Friday, but apparently, I was wrong. Never mind, I'm always willing to re-watch the earlier seasons, they are so much fun.

We had a lazy day. Mum watched mass on the telly in the morning; then I dug out some more hand-made Christmas felt ornaments to continue decorating the artificial blasphemy that will be our Christmas tree in the foreseeable future. At least it looks good with all the colourful little items hiding as much of its fake nature as possible.

Lunch was a simple thing. I've made turkey ragout soup with tarragon, mushrooms, carrots and green beans. It is a rich, thick soup that can almost serve as a full meal, so we only had some ready-made pasties and a salad afterwards.

In the afternoon I continued being lazy. I was lying on my belly with the geriatric laptop, playing solitaire and reading fanfic until half past 5, when the German version of the GBBO started. We watch that one religiously, too. My friend Evie called around the end of the programme, but I saw with half an eye that the person I liked most actually won. Yay!

Other than that, not much happened. We both enjoyed a relatively calm day. After a busy week (well, with the exception of Wednesday), we felt we deserved it. *g*

My Good Thing of the Day:
An e-mail from the_wild_iris, in which she informed me that she got my Christmas card. That would be 11 out of 13 - we're getting close to completing the numbers!