Another Surprise Book

I received another mystery package from an online bookseller yesterday. I really had no idea what it was – I though that perhaps it was an out of print cookbook that I had ordered some time ago, but I didn’t recognize the name of the company. It turns out that the book inside the package was A Year in the Life of the Langdale Valleys. I had actually seen the book before – it was available for sale in the Three Shires Inn, the hotel Dad and I stayed in when we were in the Lake District earlier this month. I hadn’t actually looked at it, but Dad had, and he ended up buying a copy, which he gave to his mother (my grandmother) when he got back to Australia. My best guess (because there was no note accompanying the book) is that Dad ordered the book for me when he got back to Australia. The book is lovely. It’s really a coffee table book filled with photos that document the four seasons in the two Langdale Valleys: Little Langdale and Greater Langdale. The photographer, Bill Birkett, was grew up in Little Langdale, and continues to live there, and his text that accompanies the photographs gives them a very real, local context. The book is a lovely souvenir and reminder of Dad and my time in the Lake District.

Fresh Raspberry Muffins

When I got back from my trip from England, there was a mysterious package from Amazon.com waiting for me. It turns out that it was the Muffin Bible, ordered for me by Mum. She’d bought the related Soup Bible for herself, and thinking it excellent, and knowing that I really enjoy a home-baked muffin, ordered this book for me. The book is great. I suspect that it’s an Australian publication – most of the units are metric, and it uses temperatures in Celsius, indicating that it hasn’t been edited for an American release. I find myself looking through the book on a pretty regular basis, wondering what I’ll bake from it. It really is a pretty complete volume – I’m yet to think of something that one could conceivably put into a muffin and not find a recipe (or two or three!). I have just two complaints about the book: First, it’s quite thick, and it can be difficult to get it to stay open on the page you’re working from. It might be better if it were spiral-bound instead. Second, it has a less than complete index. I just lists the recipes by name (which happens to be the order that they are in the book, anyway), and doesn’t necessarily help you find recipes that use a particular ingredient that you might have on hand.

Fresh Raspberry Muffins

On Wednesday, my box had fresh raspberries in it, and I knew I had to do something with them, quickly, before they spoiled. Last night, I made Fresh Raspberry Muffins from the Muffin Bible. The recipe wasn’t really like any muffin recipe that I’d ever made before – the dough was quite stiff – and the resulting muffins were quite different from any I’d ever eaten before, but they were delicious! I suspect they’d be quite good broken open, toasted, and slathered with butter (but, then again, what isn’t good slathered with butter?), although I’m yet to try that serving option.

Medieval Help Desk

Someone showed me this movie last night, and every time I think of it, I smile.

I really love the patience of the help desk guy.

Photos from the Lake District

Now that I’m back in Boston, I’ve finally got around to downloading my photos from my time in England.

I’m really not good about taking photos – I just sort of forget to do it, but I do have quite a few from Dad and my time from the Lake District. I even worked out/remembered how to stitch together photos to make a panorama in PhotoShop.

We really had a great time in the Lake District. It helped that we were blessed with great weather, but I think we would have had a good time regardless. It was really nice just to be with each other, which mainly happened as we were walking through the countryside. When you don’t see so much of your family, the time that you do have with them becomes very important.

From our time in the Lake District, I’ll particularly remember:

• Herdwick sheep, and our associated conversations about the apparent challenges of farming them.
• The slate dry stone walls, which were used as fences throughout the area.
• The connection Dad made with the countryside, and particularly the farm land.
• Delicious strawberry and black pepper crême brulée at the Three Shires Inn.
• Our drive out of the Lake District, through Hardknott and Wrynose passes.
• The crisp, clear water flowing in the streams.

Paul Potts Sings Opera

When Mum sent me a link to this video, I thought it mustn’t be true – just a very good hoax.

That is is the real thing makes it even more wonderful: the crooked teeth, the spontaneous applause, Paul Potts’ astonishment at it ever having happened.