Every now and then...

Something randomly cool just happens to you.

Today, mine was sitting one row back from the front of the men's basketball final with random nice people bringing me food.  There were Pacifika drummers, dancers, singers, some very tall fit people, undernourished women wearing advertising, an enthusiastic crowd and we all had a wonderful time.  Go Saints!

Yesterday's was a concert of Celtic music influenced by rap and Spanish folk, held in a yoga studio by a frisbee player.  (As you do.)

This weekend, I also spent a lot of time huddling inside with the heater on, making and consuming baked goods, and doing yoga.  (It was the yoga that finally made me feel warm.)  My word, but it's been cold and wet this weekend.  Happy next week all!

Mmm. Hot banana cake.

A couple of days ago, I realised that I was due and past due to give my cat a worming pill.

One towel, two attempts, a strapping young lad, butter, a pill popper, and a lot of hurt feelings all around (except, I think, for the strapping young lad) later, and the job is completed. And no-one's bleeding or has lost an eye or anything!

Have heard a rumour that it's possible to find topical dewormers, much like the defleaing liquid I already use. Really really must investigate.

Banana cake was Repton's first baking excursion that doesn't involve a bread machine. It's very yummy, and I'm sure he'll be keen to do this some more. :-)

One exam down...

...which had rather a lot of De Bello Gallico in it, and a lot of stuff about Dido and Aeneas. We didn't just have to translate out of the Aenead, but the sight passage from Ovid was a pretend letter from Dido to Aeneas. It was really sad, too. But we also had the Parrot poem, which is lots of fun.

I have one more exam to study for, in which I will write about Paradise Lost for about 3 hours. Sigh.

I have madeira cake in the oven. I only bake so I can lick the dough out of the bowl, really, but the smell as it cooks is just lovely.

EDIT: Death to typos! Stab! Stab! Stab!!!

Baking

Tomorrow, the draft writing samples that I handed in last Monday get worked over by my writing workshop. It has become a group tradition to sweeten the other members with a nice afternoon tea when it's your turn to get comments, so I did some baking with intent to impress.
The chocolate cake went well - it's hard to go wrong with cake mix.
The gingernuts were more problematical. Overall, they were overcooked and not rolled out thinly enough, so are destined for the rubbish bin. The reason for that was the mixture not being sticky enough, which is probably because the golden syrup was added last, instead of creamed in with the butter and sugar. The reason for that, is because I was loth to use the only source of golden syrup in the house, and only added it as a last resort.

Me: So, you're absolutely definitely sure that this is golden syrup.
Norman: That's right, golden syrup and food colouring.
Me: And you're not secretly a vampire or anything?
Norman: No, no. Of course not.
[Some time later]
Me: Would you like to try the first biscuit?
[Checks for growth of fangs]

I had to dip into Norman's fake blood supply. It's very disturbing rolling biscuits out of red dough. Also, it stains your hands, which is even more disturbing.

Come to think of it, I used baking powder instead of baking soda, which might have been bad, also.