poppy

Big Welcome Slim Gosh PP, my parents didn't have a TV until after I left home (even then it was pretty unusual) but we always had a fridge.

Welcome Nox

Now do I put vanilla in that again or not? Do you have gravy with it? Have a lovely time Muggles.

Will we get to see some photos later of the garden at your new place? I loved the ones of your woodland garden, the bears, the deer and the flowers at your old house.

Big Welcome emmalou

I think they would be fine with buttermilk, I quite often add water to the milk because it seems to make things lighter. I don't think it really matters if you use metric or imperial, just make a mixture that will pour (but not TOO thin.) They are not as thick as your pancakes (no slur on pancakes intelligence ) You could have these with maple syrup if you liked, but they are nice with just butter (simply delicious with any kind of berry jam and whipped cream.)

Muggle's Good Old-fashioned American Pancakes The cornmeal gives these a really nice flavour. My mixture was much too thick (probably because I was using metric rather than imperial measures) so I thinned it down quite a bit. I'm going to make them again when I buy some maple syrup. They are quite similar to our pikelet recipe. Have you tried these? Pikelets 1 egg 1/4 c sugar 3/4 c milk (approx) 1 cup flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt 1 oz butter Beat egg and sugar until thick and add with milk to sifted dry ingredients. Add melted butter. Mix until smooth, cook in spoonfuls on hot greased girdle or frying pan. When cooked, stack in folded tea-towel (this keeps them from going dry and tough) Serve with jam and whipped cream.

You're most welcome Let me know if you like it.

This recipe needs no further mixing after the initial beating. Simple Home Made Icecream Beat 4 egg whites until stiff Beat 4 egg yolks. Add 6 tlbs sugar and flavouring of your choice and beat again until thick and creamy Beat 300ml (1/2 pint) cream until thick Fold three mixtures together and freeze in a container with a lid on. Ready in approx 4 hours. (this is really nice, I used to make it heaps)

Just because I turned cornmeal pudding into a dessert, and made tasteless, gluey PACKET gravy .......

Muggle, bought me some cornmeal yesterday, so I'm going to give your pancakes a crack over the weekend. Forgot the maple syrup and don't have buttermilk but I think ordinary milk will be much the same, don't you ?

Thank you Kylie. That's kind of you to say. I was pretty impressed with Sydney when we were over. The harbour was pristine clear and all round a very nice city. I would have loved to have taken a trip to the Blue Mountains.

Yes, but would you be up to taking on Miss Piggy? Big Welcome Gelfling

You should see this local rose nursery we have. They have rose gardens spread over several acres, mostly the old-fashioned variety and you can just wander around for hours. The smell is almost overwhelming. The majority of my roses came from there, everytime I go I can't resist buying another one or two or ........

If you go back to Pg 4, Post 40, you'll find some there. (Muggle I can't remember how to compress photos once I've scanned and saved them. I've tried putting them through Image Resizer, but I think they are just too big for it to handle. These are not digital photos.)

I don't very often eat these, but my favourites would be honey roasted peanuts, roasted cashew nuts and dried apricots. Once I start eating them I can't stop (angerball, just noticed you and Muggles are reading the same book - you'll have to compare notes)

I've just read the excerpts 'Frayed Tapestry' and 'Falling'. They are GREAT Immi, they certainly leave you wanting more. Where do I find Gaps?

I use cast iron, but either should be fine. Probably makes about 8.

OK Muggles, I accept that's what you THINK pancakes are, and very nice they sound too. And I promise to try your recipe as soon as I can get some cornmeal. Now you've gotta promise to try a REAL pancake recipe. REAL Pancakes 4 ozs flour pinch salt 1 tsp baking powder 2 eggs approx 1/2 pint milk Sift flour and salt. Add eggs and milk, beat well, gently stir in baking powder. Make the mix pretty thin, like runny cream. Pour into jug. Heat a heavy frying pan and melt some butter in it. Pour in enough mixture that will coat the whole bottom thinly, when you tilt it all round. Flip over when cooked and cook the other side. Sprinkle with sugar, lemon juice and a knob of butter. Roll up and devour (I'll even let you have them with maple syrup, but you've gotta try the lemon juice and sugar first.) Watch for indigestion

Well done Megan. We don't put milk in gravy, I'll have to try that. I'm OK at making gravy from scratch, but this was a packet of Biscuit Gravy Mix that my American sister-in-law had given me. I was asking Muggle what you could do with it, but OH has told me in no uncertain terms what I can do with it, so it now resides in the rubbish bin

Woooo .....that was a lucky save, just remember you're pretty out-numbered here

Since when was boiling some water, mixing up this white powdery stuff with cold water and adding it to the boiling water, cooking??????

Darn Muggle, if I'd known earlier I could have sent you some Old-fashioned biscuit gravy mix to go with those grits

Well the biscuits came out fine, I added some chopped onion, cheese, bacon and herbs, but the gravy ........is it really supposed to resemble white tasteless glue? I fed the rest to my chickens and even they just took a quick peck, squawked and went off to wipe their beaks. I think I'll stick to home-made gravy

I've just finished this book and really enjoyed it, I couldn't stop reading. Wouldn't recommend it for people who are sensitive to animal cruelty, and the violence is pretty graphic at times. Imagine this is pretty true-to-life to what circus life would have been in the 1930's in the USA, not an easy time, but a fascinating insight. I wonder if you didn't know the author was a female, you would have thought this was written by a male? I found her style very gritty, maybe it was because it was narrated by Jacob. Thank you for the recommendation Janet, a thoroughly good read