Cats to cattery: check.

Packed: check.

House cleaned: ...check.

Food eaten: check.

Taxi booked for 4:30am tomorrow: check.



Hurrah, we're almost off to the US!

I'm off shortly to the chapel choir concert for the alumni of the university.

I am slacking off today, I realize, but I'll leave you with a recipe.

It's a family recipe, goes back at least to my great-grandmother.

Molasses cookies: they're my favorite holiday cookie.

Here's the recipe-

3-3 1/2 cups of regular flour
1 cup fat (1/2 cup of butter and 1/2 cup of shortening)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 cup molasses
1/4 cup sour milk/buttermilk
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt

Set aside 1/2 cup of flour.
Mix the rest of the ingredients.
If the mixture seems really runny, add the last 1/2 cup of flour. It should be very sticky, but not runny.

Drop onto lightly greased cookie sheet by the spoonful. Leave 2 1/2 inches between spoonfuls.

Cook for 350F for 6-8 minutes. Take out while still soft, they're best if not hard.

Makes about 4 dozen, depending on size of spoonfuls.

I'm a day early. Well, it all comes out in the end since I've been late before.

drjoan arrives tomorrow morning, so I fully intend to have as many things done before she gets here as possible.

I spent a good bit of time yesterday thinking about messes in the kitchen.

This train of thought was brought on by New Kitty, aka Sean Seamus, that made a big mess in the kitchen yesterday.

I've written previously about the crazy things Caoimhe will eat.

Apparently, while I've been out at university this week, they've had a kitty conference and decided to try to out do each other on eating people food.

While Caoimhe is very brazen in her stealing of raw okra, she's not really interested in what's on my plate/in my bowl. Well, unless I happen to sit the dregs of my cereal milk down somewhere.

Sean Seamus has no such qualms about my eating dish. He moves around like a boxer waiting for an opening. He's on my lap, on the arm of the couch, on the back of the couch looking over my shoulder, anywhere that gets him closer to my food.

Yesterday morning, I sat on our couch with a bowl of grits. They were beautiful grits, if I do say so myself. I set the bowl down in my lap for a second to turn the page of the book I was perusing over breakfast.¹ When I looked back to get another bite, Sean Seamus was just getting a bite for himself.

And, he had the nerve to growl at me when I tried to take it off him.

He wolfed down that bite and started to dive in for another. I made that noise...the one you make at cats when they're being bad...and he ran for the kitchen.

That'll show him, I thought and went back to my reading.

Many are the plans of man, but cats know better. Not 5 minutes later there was a disturbance in the kitchen.

I went in to find Sean Seamus on the counter trying to gnaw into the loaf of homemade bread on the counter. When he saw me, he did the flailing paws manuever, knocking over just about everything on the counters at the time.

As I cleaned up the broken glass, bread crumbs, and dried rice littering the kitchen floor, I realized this isn't even close to the worst mess we've made in the kitchen.

Here are a few doozies:

1. Both Tom and I have at various times made smoothies forgetting to tighten the bottom of the mixing jug. When we pick up the jug to serve out the fruity goodness, the mix goes all over, though mostly in a southerly direction from the open bottom.²

2. While making a sachertorte we tried beating cocoa powder into butter that was a bit colder than we thought. There are still bits of chocolate on our wall to this day. The cats have probably licked off any butter that was left after the clean.

3. My mother put some dough in a plastic dish to rise and set it in a very low temp oven. I came along to bake a cake and preset the oven temp to 375F. Needless to say, scraping the melted plastic bowl off the oven was punishment enough. ³

4. Had a compatibility problem between my brain and my feet. Ended up all but throwing a fresh apple pie up into the air as I fell taking it out of the oven. ⁴

I don't think it's just clumsiness...though, I have that in buckets. I think kitchens just beg for messes.

Any messy kitchen stories?

---

¹ Shudder with fear, librarians...I eat over library books. I'm such a bad, bad girl. Okay, so it actually was in no danger. I like to think I'm living on the edge. *sighs*
² percible and neepheid may remember one of these occasions.
³ Admittedly, I was 11 and prone to this sort of bobbleheadedness.
⁴ golfbisquit and shineyquarter couldn't decide whether to cry with laughter or pick the apple out of my hair.

1. Us: ybunny leaves for Brazil today. After almost 6 months not going, I suppose it's due. Doesn't mean I have to be happy about it. We had a smallish celebration for his 30th birthday last night since he will undoubtedly be out of the country on the 11th of December. We'll try to get something together when he comes back. Probably won't be until after Christmas at this point.

2. Uni: I'm frustrated with my topic. I don't believe it. Not that I don't believe in it (I don't...), that doesn't matter. I don't need to have faith in it, I just need to think it works. And, I don't. So, it's making me a bit crazy to have to write about it when everything I write leads to a session of 'this is BS, this is BS, this is BS' chanted like a litany. I meet with Dr. S on the 6th of December, I waffle between fear that he's going to throw his hands up in frustration that I still haven't finished this chapter or hope that it will be okay to try to steer the direction a bit differently.

3. Church: Christmas comes soon. I'm working with the kids on a Christingle song and the Children's Ministries people are putting together a nativity play. It seems like the 15th of December is coming up unreasonably quickly. I also have to preach again that day. Fortunately, productive procrastination means that I've already written my sermon. Of course.
Also, I was ordained as an elder last Sabbath. At my age, it seems a little oxymoronic, but I'm happy to help, so fair enough.

4. Cats: Sean Seamus growls when fed. He's afraid of us stealing his food, or something. The problem is that he picks up a chunk of his wet food in his mouth and carries it to where he thinks we won't take it from him and proceeds to leave little crumbs of meat mush on the kitchen floor, the hall carpet, the mat by the kitchen sink, the bathmat, etc. It's disgusting. I was trying to mop up some of this disgustingness and he gave me a good swipe on the finger. So, now I have a plaster that makes my finger stiff, and by association, typing difficult. Sounds like crayolaab and I are in the same boat.

5. Chapel Choir: We're in the midst of lots of appointments. We have practice this Tuesday, then carols at the uni tree lighting on Thursday, a prison concert the same day, then church Sunday in the morning and evening, practice the next Tuesday, church the following Sunday, then practice on Monday for the carol service on Wednesday the 12th. Not as rushed as the undergrad choir I was in, but I was getting remunerated with a scholarship when I was an undergrad.

6. Socialising: I haven't seen the Ms as much as I do usually, and I don't see that improving over the next month. I really miss my family and ybunny leaving isn't a cakewalk. Luckily, my mum comes in 3 days, so I'll get some family. I feel like an enormous homebody, but I feel guilty going out if I haven't written tons. Luckily, clairdeluney coaxes me into outings, so I'm not as bad as I have been in times past. I should socialise more within my own department, but I feel like the odd one out most times and I had enough of that in grade school, thanks.

It's pretty sad that I can sum up everything going on it six points, but there you are. Wow, I'm pretty emo today.

I'm thankful that I have ybunny home for a while.

I'm thankful that my mum come back to Scotland in a week.

I'm thankful that I have friends to celebrate the day with.

I'm thankful for all of you.

*offs to eat yummy holiday delicacies*

The trip south with the family during the week after the wedding.

( Travelogue, with photos )

The rest of the photos from the week are here.

My darling goddaughter is two years old today. Hurrah!



In completely other news, ybunny and I traveled back and forth to Edinburgh in the last two days. Mostly to take the familia to the airport for their return flight, but also to spend a bit of time in the capitol.

We returned to Bar Roma to let drjoan experience gluten-free pasta in a restaurant for the first time in 7 years as well as a return to David Bann's, again with percible.

Today, after some shopping for a new evening shirt for ybunny to wear with his kilt, we ate a Wannaburger. A new taste treat, the Aussie burger, was sampled. I'm not sure that any Aussie would claim it...but whatever.
The burger consisted of a bean patty with a fried egg, a slice of pineapple, and beetroot. ybunny said, 'It sounds horrible, but I have to try it'.
It was actually pretty good. And I don't like pineapple on savoury things usually.



In yet other news, and this time with a bizarre twist, there are bison grazing just north of Stonehaven.
Bison, as in, buffalo. As in, the ones ones from North America.
Maybe you're not surprised, but I was.

We're going to clean tomorrow and sort out the last of (hopefully) the wedding details.

I've just had a lovely meal of shallot and potato soup with oatcakes, crowdie, and honey.

This entire week has been a fantastic time for food.

I must put in a plug for Bar Roma. I ate supper there with percible on Tuesday night. I'll come back and put a photo in when I get them off the camera.

On the way back from Edinburgh, mother and brother retrieved, we stopped just north of Montrose at Charleton Fruit Farm.
We picked 4 lbs of raspberries, 4 lbs of brambles/blackberries, and 1 lb of strawberries.

We ate the strawberries with cream that night.

The raspberries and brambles are being made into jam as I type.

We left the raspberries as they are, any embellishment would be excessive. However, we're making some of bramble jam with an infusion of Earl Grey tea.

It's fantastic.

Here's how:

Blackberry Earl Grey Tea
500 grams¹ berries
500 grams pectin sugar (if you're unable to find this, use 2 packets/2 oz pectin along with regular granulated sugar)
2.5 oz water
a heaping spoonful of Earl Grey tea

Put the tea in a tea ball in a small cup/mug. Boil the 2.5 oz of water. Pour over the tea. The cup/mug should be small enough that the water covers the tea ball. Don't add more water, find a smaller container.

Put the pectin sugar and the berries in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. While the pan heats up, mash the berries into the sugar. As the sugar melts, this will form a thinnish soup. Turn the heat up to medium high, boil. Keep the mixture just at a boil for at least 4 minutes. Longer if you want it thicker.
Pour in the tea infusion. Stir.

Allow to cool about 8 minutes.

Pour into containers.

Will stay good, if refrigerated, for 4 months.

Fan of jam? What's your favorite?

---

¹- Do ignore the fact that I'm switching between imperial and metric...should probably ignore my switching between bramble and blackberry as well.

Had a lovely day in Balmedie. Thus, FF is coming in just under the wire...


How to eat together, Coeliac Style.¹

When drjoan discovered she had Coeliac Disease about 7 years ago, it seemed like the most restrictive dietary problem possible.

No bread. No pasta. No pretzels, crackers, or cookies/biscuits. Zero. Zip. Zilch.

We ate a lot of rice. There were lots of potatoes.

For those of you who don't know what I've been going on about with the gluten free thing, Coeliac Disease is an autoimmune disease caused by the reaction of the small intestine to a gluten protein called gliadin. This causes the villi of the small intestine to become stunted as the immune response is against the body's own tissue. Basically, you lose the ability to absorb the nutrients your body needs. This isn't a complete inability to process food...but, if will make you quite sick, moreso the longer it goes untreated. Diagnosis is often missed because it seems like other digestive ailments.

Coeliacs cannot eat foods containing gluten: wheat, barley, rye, spelt, and any other variations of Triticeae.

Since 2000, we've learned that rice pasta can taste just as good as regular, gluten free breadmaking is a subtle art, and that some substitutes for gluteny snacks are truly disgusting and others are better than the original.

However, eating gluten free can be more expensive than eating in a 'regular' fashion. Therefore, there will be times when a family containing a coeliac will still eat gluten.

Here's the thing, it isn't easy being the odd one out. While not coeliac myself, I've learned how to make things easier for the coeliacs near me.

1. When eating out, don't choose a place coeliac unfriendly. For example: Chinese/Thai/Vietnamese= good choice. The cuisine is high in rice and rice products. There will be choices that will suit a wide variety of tastes and many of them are gluten free. Italian/American = usually a bad choice. Italian cuisine is based on a lot of bread and pasta. Even if there is a choice that is, or can be made gluten free, the possibility of contamination is quite high.²

2. When eating in, be highly aware of labels. There is no mark that alerts the buyer to the presence of gluten in products. The UK is better than the US about marking products with warnings, but even in the UK, not everything is clearly marked. Even things that seem innocuous may turn out to be a no-no. For example, some pre-shredded cheeses are powdered with flour to keep them from sticking overly much. Cheese= gluten free. Cheese powdered with flour = not gluten free.³

Gluten is everywhere. It's like The Shadow.

I don't really have a question for this week.
I'll leave you with the links for the US and UK Celiac/Coeliac sites.
If you have any symptoms of coeliac disease, get checked. Life with gluten can be a killer if your body is fighting it.

---

¹- This may not prove true for the Coeliac near you. However, when in doubt, this may prove handy.
²- Interestingly, in Italy proper, there are many coeliacs. It is possible to get gluten free pasta/bread at restaurants and there is special training in place to make chefs aware of what needs to be done to accommodate the gluten free.
³- On a side note, some shampoos/conditioners contain hydrolyzed wheat protein. Not that you're eating shampoo/conditioner, but it's still a problem for coeliacs.

Today the high was 12C/54F here. That's the official reading. However, I know that while I was in town earlier that it was only 9C/47F.*

It's bizarre to be this cold in June. JUNE!

Where I grew up** it's 33C/90F today.

Hot summers in flatland Carolina meant lots of potlucks. Some were just sort of 'in the area' ones, but my favorites were the church potlucks.

When you grow up in the South as a vegetarian, you don't eat a lot of the things that are considered staples of the cuisine: pork, chicken, and fish.

But, that means that you get to spend more time with mashed potatoes, fried okra, black eye'd peas, succotash, nut loaf, biscuits, iced tea and a never ending array of desserts.

Desserts are something of a religion in the South. They've taken a toll, collectively, on the waistline of Southerners in recent decades, but back in the days of all day field work or mill work they were no problem.

Because of the heat of the South, dessert was the chance to cool down after any hot items consumed during the main part of the meal. Even if you're served hot apple pie, it'll come with some cool (and hopefully homemade) vanilla ice cream.***

There are the redeemable desserts...those containing fruit. Cherry or peach cobbler, blueberry buckle, apple pie or dumplings.

Then there are the ones that are completely an indulgence.

Of course, those are the best: homemade moon pies, brownies, blondies, seven layer bars, sugar cookies...and my particular favorite, chocolate pudding pie.

When I was about 7, we attended a little church in Wilson, North Carolina, roughly 60 miles from our tremendously rural home.

A lady named Betty Lou**** made a chocolate pudding pie in a graham cracker crust with meringue on top. It would sit in the heat of the kitchen during church and the meringue would sweat and form little orange beads on the surface. I thought that was how meringue was supposed to be...and I secretly miss that when I get 'proper' meringue.

When we moved away from North Carolina to Georgia, Betty Lou gave my brother and I a whole chocolate pudding pie as a going away present.

We couldn't have been happier with diamonds.

Any nostalgic stories about food?*****

---

* Degrees Celsius were observed, degrees Fahrenheit are my own half-assed conversion.
** We actually lived further out, but this is the closest city town hamlet.
*** You've got to know that redthought makes some mean homemade ice cream.
**** Really her name. :)
***** I'm okay with being a sap on my own, though.

Just spent a very useful 90 minutes speaking with my mom about the post wedding plans.

For those new to the game, ybunny and I aren't going on honeymoon until a week after the wedding. It just doesn't make sense to rush off after people come so far to be with us.

Some are making their own post-wedding plans for touring England/Scotland, but a few close family members are getting the personal tour of Stonehaven, Arbroath, St. Andrews, and points south.

The problem is...there's no set way to go about seeing things and everyone is pretty laid back about plans.

It's a little like planning a casual invasion of Normandy...sans guns. :)

I try not to run on too much about wedding stuff, but a few updates now and again should be okay, I think. Mind you, you'll get an eyeful late Sept/early Oct, so brace up now.

Invitations for the UK/Europe went out today. It is absolutely horrible trying to decide whether or not to invite one person or another. I hope we stay friends with everyone.

That said, we're quite happy to have people come to the ceremony and/or ceilidh, we just can't afford to feed everyone at the sit-down meal.

I need to organize my thoughts a bit better to know what has yet to be done.

A few other points of...well, not interest...so just points.

1. I applied for my 'permission slip' to marry ybunny. *rolleyes* Hopefully that will be back soon.

2. I spilled curry on my new favorite shirt last night at Nawaab's. drjoan/redthought/anyone else who's minded, could you possibly pick up one of the bright blue short sleeve v-necks from Target (the own-brand ones) if you get a chance?

3. I'm over the moon with my new GP. Great doctor, great nurses, great location. Maybe the NHS works after all.

4. ybunny has left with A, his brother J, and neepheid for the Download Festival. I hope they come back intact. I'm not really worried.

5. I finished up translating the book of Ruth from Hebrew. I'd done the first chapter once before, but I figured since it's a short one I might as well do the rest before returning to Deuteronomy. Which is miles long. *sigh* I'd spent a few moments on it in Cornwall, but today I sat down with my lexicon and had some quality, non-interupted time. Huzzah.

Right. That was far too random. I'm off to the church to play the piano. (A real piano! Not a keyboard! I'm so stoked.)

The trip to Cornwall was lovely in many ways and frustrating in others. Here goes the travelogue.


Travelogue! With pictures!

( Saturday, 26 May: Train to Bristol )

( Sunday, 27 May: Train to Penzance, Paul )

( Monday, 28 May: Land's End )

( Tuesday, 29 May: Gweek Seal Sanctuary and The Lizard )

( Wednesday, 30 May: St. Michael's Mount and Truro Cathedral )

( Thursday, 31 May: Penzance and Mousehole )

( Friday, 1 June: Driving to Leeds )

( Saturday, 2 June: Driving to Aberdeen )

More photos here.


ybunny, my darling fiance, came home on Sunday. Since then we've been sorting out flat/wedding/finance/honeymoon stuff. Plus, he's been packing for the Download Festival.

A: Very carefully.

I'm going down to Cornwall with the in-laws from 26 May to 1 June. I have discovered that it is very difficult to get from Aberdeen to...well, just about anywhere. I have no problem returning, I'm riding back with the in-laws.

1. Air: Nothing is direct from Aberdeen, obviously.
All airports except Newquay will require one of the in-laws to drive over an hour to get me. 

Only two ways to fly to Newquay.  Via Manchester and via Dublin.  Both would require me to stay the night in either because the flight to Newquay is scheduled before the from Aberdeen. Even if I did that, the flights would come to £180ish.  And, I'd need to figure out how to get from church* to the airport in 15 minutes.

Option 1: No go.

2. Bus. Takes forever.  Cheapest route, but I don't fancy being on a bus for 2 days.

Option 2: Don't wanna.

3. Car. Can rent a Ford Ka for £45.  Can pick it up Sat. at 9am and return it Mon. at 9am.  (Can't return Sunday because the country of England is closed on Sunday.)  Would need one of the in-laws to go with me to Newquay in the morning on Monday to return it.

It is 686 miles from Aberdeen to Penzance.  I can do that driving.  Assuming 250/tank in the Ka, I'd use less than 4 tanks.  At £0.89/litre, that's roughly £25 every fill up, giving me a total of £145 cost to drive down.

I think it's actually more expensive than that on average to buy gas.

Option 3: An exercise in exhaustion.

4. Train. £151 standard/£181 first class to go via train from Aberdeen to Penzance.  Leaves 1pm arrives next day at noon.

Option 4: The only way to get there directly, without being exhausted.

It blows that trains are so expensive. Can't be helped, I suppose.

Is it worth it to buy a first class ticket? Or is the extra 30 quid better off in my pocket?

---

* I can't leave with the in-laws on Wednesday before because I have uni committments...and I have to play the piano for church. The other organist is in Australia, so I can't shirk my duties.

This Friday I am wicked busy with finishing my conference paper, so time is short...

I remember the first time I had coffee. I was flying back from California with my mom. It was just the two of us, at least...just the two of us sitting together.
Growing up Seventh-day Adventist, caffiene was a no-no.* Because of the busy bodies (which every church is plagued with) my mom rarely drank caffiene herself at home.

I was at the age where I wanted to seem like I was ever so grown up, so I asked if I could have some too. It was the most vile, awful, choking stuff I'd ever tasted. But, I drank the whole cup. I was a big girl.

Sure.

Luckily, subsequent encounters with coffee, years later, went rather better. However, coffee has only really ever been a treat drink for me. Living in the South, it's too hot from about April to October to contemplate hot coffee.**

What I did drink was sweet tea. Sweet tea for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And as everyone below the Mason-Dixon line knows, the best sweet tea, if you're in a hurry, comes from Bojangles.

It wasn't until I was around college age that I got into drinking hot tea. We had 'tea parties' with herbal tea on Friday nights previously but I think the total ingested was less that 5 ounces on average.

When I could be bothered, I'd take a travel mug of Earl Grey with me to the classroom when I taught Greek. Making hot tea always seemed like a bother, since America is an electric kettle free zone, for the most part.

Now, I live in Scotland...and damned if they haven't hooked me on Scottish Blend. Here, it seems, the greeting isn't 'how're you doing?' but 'Cuppa tea?'.

I take my tea and coffee the same way. For every 5 ounces of tea, add 1 ounce milk (semi-skimmed/1%) and two bits of Splenda.*** Mmm...caffienated goodness.

So, when was your first cup of coffee or tea? And, how do you take your coffee/tea?

---

*Not because of my parents though; they let us have caffiene once we were past the 'growing stage'. Yes, we snuck drinks of Coke at school and whatnot, but ostensibly, we were caffiene free until about 12 or 13.
**Yes, I grew up before the spread of Starbucks and their readily available coffee concoctions. Woe.
*** I have no problem with regular sugar, it just doesn't seem to dissolve equally and I'm not fond of the sugar sludge in the bottom of the cup.

I didn't get around to Food Friday for the last two Fridays. On the first, I was in America, frantically sorting and storing books, and the second I was mightily jetlagged and writing a sermon. Excuses, excuses.




3 West Pack Square
Asheville, NC 28801
+1 828-250-9898


I went for dinner on the Saturday night that I spent stateside to the Noodle Shop. We'd actually headed out for the new Indian restaurant in Asheville, but both redthought and I were secretly pleased that the wait for the Indian place was 45 minutes.

We went to the Noodle Shop and were seated right away. Ah, fantastic.

My family has lived near Asheville for 13 years. It's odd to think that I've called that 'home' for longer than anywhere else. When we first arrived in Asheville, it was a hippy little place with a few interesting restaurants, but nothing that really struck me as worth the half hour trip into town.

Then, one day downtown blossomed. I don't know what caused it, but there, in Pack Place, was the best Chinese restaurant I've ever had the pleasure of visiting.

My mom and I had come into town to do some shoe shopping at Tops and we decided to grab some lunch. I believe I was a junior in academy at the time, which would make it 1996 or 1997.

I ordered the Sesame Tofu and she had the Da Lu Noodle.
The Sesame Tofu is a dish to which the word ambrosia does no justice. Tofu, stirfried to have just a bit of cruch, is served in a sweet, tangy sauce over bean sprouts, served with a side of rice.
The Da Lu Noodle is a huge soup bowl of comfort with all kinds of vegetables, a little egg, and cilantro just to take your taste buds over the edge.

I've been to the Noodle Shop dozens of times and I always order the same thing.

That's not to say I haven't tried other things. The now gone Scallion Tofu was my favorite appetizer (cold bits of tofu, peanut, and onion), with the Silver Potato (barely cooked potato in rice vinegar with spicy and sweet pepper) in a close second position.

I've not been deprived of other entrees, either since no one can resist a few bites of my dish, I get samplings of the aforementioned Da Lu Noodle, Dan Dan Noodle (spicier, brown based version of the Da Lu), Sesame Noodle (cold noodles in sesame peanut sauce), Portobello Noodle (steamed portobello mushroom over fine rice noodle, now gone as well), Home Style Tofu, Stir Fried Asparagus, and Basil Eggplant.
Everything is excellent.

The whole family loves the place, but redthought and kiltmir have made it their own. They go whenever they come back from Chattanooga, and they even got engaged there (New Year's 2003).

In all that time, I've never had the courage to actually speak with the owner. I finally overcame my shyness and spoke with Jing Wang, the owner. It was a busy night, so I didn't try to take up too much time, but I learned that the restaurant serves between 100 and 300 people every night.

Those are the happiest people in Asheville, my friends.

Go! If you're ever in Asheville (a long shot for those in Aberdeen, but you never know), go. I recommend the Sesame Noodles. :)

I've been working on sorting out my books. It was a painful process to try to decide what I can live without and what I cannot live without.
(Those of you with the amount of books that could be considered a 'library' know what I mean.)

I feel almost frantic with things to do before I leave so I must end this post here.

So, how's everybody?