It may be a bit later than planned, and it wasn’t on my to-do list but this evening, I did it.  I made Parkin! And it was GOOD! This recipe was given to me by my mum which means it probably came from my grandma.  So here it is for your pleasure.

Ingredients:

4 oz margarine (today I used unsalted butter)
8 oz plain flour
8 oz oatmeal (I used 100% wholegrain rolled oats)
4 oz golden syrup (for ease of measurement, I used 4 dessert spoons)
4 oz black treacle (again I used 4 dessert spoons)
4 oz caster sugar (I know, so sweet but so gooood!)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda (not baking powder)
pinch of salt (I left this out AND used unsalted butter and it tastes fine but you decide!)

1. Preheat oven to 150°.
2. Melt fat.  Add syrup, treacle, sugar and warm over very low heat until sugar dissolves.
3. Sieve dry ingredients into a bowl.  Make a well.  Gradually beat in the liquid from the pan along with a beaten egg.
4. Mix to a soft consistency, adding a little milk if needed. (The mixture was a bit stiff so I added some milk and I think this made all the difference.)
5. Pour into a greased flat tin so the mixture is about an inch deep.



6. Bake for about 40 minutes.



7. Partly cool in the tin and then turn out to finish cooling on a rack





8. Cut into square and enjoy!

• Sell all our crap on Ebay. We have a *lot* of stuff from cameras to TV senders to CD players to alarm clocks to DVD boxsets.
• Print some photos for a photo album I bought for Rich for our wood anniversary (ie our fifth anniversary ie in 2008)
• Finish making the Christmas decorations I started before last Christmas.  I have since bought another set from the same place so have 6 in total to make now (well, 5 3/4).
• Start making Halloween decorations.  I bought all the gubbins before Halloween this year and didn’t get chance to make anything so I better start now ready for next year.
• Finish making the sampler quilt for our bedroom.  I need to make about 20 squares and I have made 2.  I started more than 2 years ago.  At this rate, it should be finished in 2028 or thereabouts.
• Make mini-scrapbooks to save all the memorabilia that I have collected over the years.  I bought all the supplies last year.
• Make our wedding scrapbook.  For our wedding which was in 2003.
• Read all the books on my bedside table:

my on-my-bedside-table shelf:


• Watch Season 2 of 24, Planet Earth, The Underworld trilogy, the rest of season 2 of The Flight of the Conchords, and a whole host of other DVDs that we have but have not yet watched (/rewatched).

God, this list is hilarious yet depressing.

Oh lordy, another new weekly feature? I am really asking for trouble.  Anyway, I love thinking about superpowers (and superheroes for that matter) so this week’s poll is about powers.  Which of the following would you choose:

*A while back, Rich and I were discussing which superpower we would have if we could only have one. I asked if Superman’s ability to fly really fast was one power or two (ie the power of flight and the power of super speed).  I said didn’t want the power of flight if it meant I could only fly as fast as I could run.  Rich laughed for a really long time.  And then shook his head with pity.

I hesitate to announce a new weekly feature because I know Me and Me is not that great at following through on these things (anyone remember Word of the Day that quickly became Word of the Week and then disappeared forever into the mist?).  However, I do feel like those of you who follow my blog but do not read my Tumblog will miss out on the fun stuff which I used to share here before Tumlbing became a regular past time.  Now when I find a funny picture or video, I share it there, where my Tumblr buddies can ‘like’ and ‘reblog’ to their hearts’ content.  So I thought I could pick ten of my favourite finds from the past week.  Are you ready?? In not particular order, let me present:

The baby cage- from “30 Dumb Inventions”: “A nanny supervising a baby suspended in a wire cage attached to the outside of a high tenement block window. The cages were distributed to members of the Chelsea Baby Club in London who have no gardens, or qualms about putting a child in a box dangling over a busy street. Photo: Reg Speller/Getty Images. Jun 23, 1937”

Bags made from vintage books

“dollar sign hat and dollar sign hat hat” As my Tumblr buddy John Cabrera put it, 'It’s almost there for me. If it was just one more hat deep, I’d be sold.'

This awesome site takes quotations from novels and memoirs and pairs them with unconnected but fitting pictures. Massive timesuck warning!

Duck fail

Good advice from a blog dedicated to rules for an unborn son.

Jon Stewart + the Mets = instant reblog.

Anyone else read Sweet Valley High when they were tweenagers? This gem was shared by the brains behind the superb Dairi Burger blog.

Sometimes I just find an image that speaks to me. This one says 'Buy another pair of Converse. Boots, this time please.'

This is how I found out that Glee was not on this week because of the World Series. As a Mets fan once so wisely noted, Yankees suck.

Today, we have our friends Steve and Ev coming to visit.  It is the first time we have seen them since their wedding (which I didn’t get to as it was the same day as my cousin Alison’s wedding).  Rich managed to drive down to Hampshire, be a witness for them at their wedding (a lovely surprise!) and then drive all the way up to Manchester for Alison and Matt’s reception.

We are hoping to get to one of the the fireworks displays being held in the area tonight.  Warwick has one at the racecourse.  There is a display held at the rugby club in Leamington.  I hear that the Kenilworth display is really good as you get to watch the fireworks by the castle.  I am hoping to make some parkin and mulled wine to take with us.  Of course, if it rains then we will be staying in the warm!

On Wednesdsay night, we had our first Sew Make Believe workshop at our new venue.  Caroline showed us how to make super-cute sock toys, specifically zebras like Charlie above.  We didn’t quite finish on Wednesday night but we did manage to get all the basics and then I put in the finishing threads when I got home.

I call her Charlie because although she is a girl, she is quite the little tom-boy.  And just look at that nose, so cute.  If a little wonky.

I predict a lot more sock toy making in my future.

It is the 5th November and so tonight is Guy Fawkes Night or Bonfire Night in the UK.  Despite the annual cacophony that usually happens for the week surrounding the 5th November, I realised I knew very little about Guy Fawkes and the gunpowder plot.  After all, I probably learned about it in primary school but after that, it was just assumed that you knew what the day was all about.   So I know that Guy Fawkes tried to blow up parliment to kill James 1.  And I know he was caught before he did so.  But here are some  facts I learned anew thanks to the power of the internets (a.k.a. Wikipedia).

• The word “guy”, meaning “man” or “person”, is derived from his name. (I did not know that.)
• Fawkes and the other conspirators rented a cellar beneath the House of Lords after having failed in their attempt to dig a tunnel under the building. (It seems really unwise to rent out space under such an important building, just sayin’.)
• On the evening of 26 October some Lord received an anonymous letter warning him to stay away, and to “retyre youre self into yowre contee whence yow maye expect the event in safti for … they shall receyve a terrible blowe this parleament”. (Oooh bad pun, anonymous tipster and learn to spell for goodness’ sake.)
• Fawkes gave his name as John Johnson (really, Guy? And do you live in Johnville?), and was tortured over the next few days in an effort to extract from him the names of his co-conspirators.  For three or four days Fawkes said nothing, nor divulged the names of his co-conspirators.  The torture only revealed the names of those conspirators who were already dead or whose names were known to the authorities. (Vaguely Topical About A Year Ago Although Undoubtedly Still An Important Issue comment: so in 1605, torture is shown to be ineffective… hmmm… can someone explain the justification for waterboarding to me again.  Oh snap!)
• Fawkes, weakened by his torture, was the last of his co-conspirators to climb the ladder to the gallows, from which he jumped, breaking his neck in the fall and thus avoiding the quartering part of his execution. (Apparently, quartering is only fun if you are *almost* dead.  If you are actually dead, it has no appeal.)
• On 5 November 1605, the day the plot was discovered, Londoners were encouraged to celebrate the King’s escape from assassination by lighting bonfires in the city.  (This seems a little dangerous to me.  Clearly, these were the days pre-Health and Safety.)
• Many in the city left money in their wills to pay for a minister to preach a sermon which included accounts of the plot annually in their own parish. (I bet their relatives were miffed.)

And finally, for any anti-monarchists out there with high treason on their minds, please do not be encouraged by this tale.  Yes, you may well have an annual holiday of fireworks, parkin, hot chocolate, sparklers, bonfires and mulled wine created in your name, but it’s just not cool to try to blow up the Queen.

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

Dave Grohl, lead singer of Foo Fighters, along with Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) and John Paul Jones  (Led Effing Zeppelin!) have started a super group called Them Crooked Vultures.  They rock all kinds of houses.  This is New Fang:

Their album is out on 16th November.  I want it bad.

In the meantime, iTunes have a free track available for download called Mind Eraser, No Chaser.  We tried to get tickets to their one of their gigs in December but the site crashed with all the eager rock dudes and dudettes.  And after the whole Green Day Ticket Debacle of 2009, it is probably just as well.  It’s a shame I hate Ticketmaster since it severely hinders getting tickets when you decide to boycott the largest ticket supplier in the world!

TV watched:

• Being Human Season 1 Episodes 5 and 6
• Ugly Betty Season 3 Episodes 15-18
• Home and Away (mainly on FF)
• EDIT: The Daily Show. Jon Stewart needs to come to dinner.

Food eaten:

• KFC (I know, I know)
• 1 x Spooky Halloween Jaffa Mini Roll

Items bought:

• 3 pairs of children’s socks for the sock toy workshop with Sew Make Believe tomorrow.

Task contemplated:

• Load dishwasher (done!)
• Get the rest of my Sew Make Believe stuff together ready for our meetup tomorrow (will most definitely done before the meetup tomorrow)
• Finish tidying spare room / craft area (not so much done but there’s still time)

I wasn’t sure whether to bother but the lure of NaBloPoMo was too great.  I tried this in September and failed spectacularly.  November was always the original month for this event, before it went to a monthly gig.  The basic idea: post every day for a month.  I signed up yesterday and considered posting without any NaBloPoMo fanfare but then I wanted to put on the pressure!

I know a lot of people are doing NaNoWriMo which is the parent to the blogging version.  I considered this for about a second and then decided that is utter madness. At least while I have my OU course to do.  Maybe one day…