Look at this silly goose, it's sitting in the middle of our driveway:
Our shower head needed a good clean, so I saw this suggestion online. Put some white vinegar in a sandwich bag and put it around the shower head and affix to the shower head using an elastic band. Worked a charm without having to use chemicals. I left it on for around eight hours.
For those of us in Canada bit of a shock to hear about Jack Layton's passing. Thought his final letter was very well done, you can read it here. Rest in peace Mr. Layton.
12 comments:
We call these 'biscuits' (not scones) and many north americans call them 'cookies':
CHOC CHIP AND MIXED NUT COOKIES
INGREDIENTS
¼ cup of cooking choc chips, rolled and crushed into small pieces
Mixed unsalted cooked nuts – halved macadamias, slivered almonds, pine nuts, etc
250g butter, softened
¾ cup of caster sugar
½ teaspoon of vanilla essence
2¼ cups of self raising flour (you can use a plain flower/baking soda/cream of tarter mix if desired)
Olive oil spray
Milk for glazing
METHOD
Using hands, knead the butter, flour, sugar, choc chips and vanilla essence in a bowl until combined and smooth.
Roll into smooth walnut-sized balls and place on some lightly olive oil sprayed baking paper on a tray, leaving plenty of room for the biscuit mixture to expand as it cooks.
Flatten the top of each ball with a fork, criss-crossing it until about half a centimetre thick.
Decorate as desired with slivered almonds, macadamias and pine nuts, pushing those slightly into the surface of the biscuit mix.
Brush the surface of the cookies with milk and then place the try in a pre-heated oven at 180C for 15-20 minutes.
When the top of the nuts begin to brown the cookies are cooked.
Remove tray and set aside to cool.
Repeat process until all the biscuit mix is used up.
When tray has cooled, remove the cookies to a wire rack to cool some more and then store in an airtight container.
OR:
PFEFFERNUSSE (PEPPERNUT COOKIES)
INGREDIENTS
220g firmly packed brown sugar
115g butter or margarine, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Half teaspoon Lemon Extract
Half teaspoon ground Anise (Five Spice powder makes a good substitute)
2g ground Cinnamon
3g baking powder
3g salt
1g Ground Black Pepper
a good pinch of ground Nutmeg
a good pinch of ground Cloves
220g sifted plain flour
icing sugar
METHOD
Place brown sugar and butter in bowl.
Cream until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and extracts.
Add remaining dry ingredients, except icing sugar, to sifted flour and sift again.
Gradually add to butter mixture, mixing well.
Cover and refrigerate 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 180C.
Shape teaspoonfuls of dough into ovals and place 2.5 cm apart on ungreased biscuit trays.
Bake 10 minutes.
Remove from trays and place on wire racks.
Sprinkle with icing sugar while biscuits are still warm.
When cool, store in airtight containers.
RR, Real Scones;
LEMONADE SCONES
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup of lemonade (not flat)
1 cup of cream
3 cups self-raising flour
Handful of sultanas (optional)
METHOD:
Preheat oven to very hot 220°C.
Mix flour, a few sultanas if used, cream and lemonade. Mixture will be soft
Turn onto a lightly floured board. Pat down, do not roll. Use a round cookie cutter to cut scones.
Brush tops with milk or a lightly beaten egg.
Bake for about 10 minutes, or until tops are golden
Notes:
When you turn the mixture out onto the kitchen bench, dust it again with more flour so it isn’t too sticky to cut up. This will allow you to get a lovely ‘scone’ shape.
I prefer using egg to brush pastries as this makes them more golden after cooking.
if you’ve got a family keen on sultanas, add a 1/3 cup of sultanas instead!
These scones are wicked straight out of the oven with a slathering of butter
I loved Jack Layton's last letter to Canada. It made me cry. I did not know him or even know of him before I read his letter but he must have been a great man. Obviously his passing is a great loss to Canada. Thank you for posting the link to his letter.
Kaye xoxox
Someone said that Jack Layton was 'the best prime minister Canada never had'.
Jane x
PS Why not SR flour?
Brilliant idea for the shower head, I will have to try that! Did you know that you can also clear up a minor drain blockage by dumping baking soda down the drain, then vinegar on top of it? You then wait for it to stop bubbling and rinse the drain with hot water. It may take a try or two, but it sure beats using Drano!!!
Over here sultana scones and cheese scones are the most popular. I like strawberry scones too with thick fresh cream (unsweetened of course). If you haven't already got an English recipe, I'd be happy to share it with you but I feel sure you must have one somewhere. When in North America, I find the flour very different to what we use over here so you did need to experiment, don't you!
Forgot to say, lemon juice works on my taps. We have very hard water in this area of England - good for the arteries but not so good for the taps, the kettle and the washing machine pump! I do the same as you for my taps. I enclose a piece of lemon inside a small sandwich bag and tie it round the taps at the end where the limescale is. Leave it overnight and a great improvement is the result.
Sorry, no recipe from me.
Vinegar can be used for so much stuff!
Why can't you use SR Flour? They won't rise nicely without it.
This is a super easy peasy recipe - never fails
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/6036/lemonade+scones
Make them small and bite-sized for a dainty tea accompniment.
Cheers - Joolz
I use vinegar to clean my bathtub and fixtures and I think it works just as well as the brand sold for mega-bucks and advertised on TV. Only problem is. the bathroom and I smell like pickles for a while after I clean. :)
Yes, terrible news about Jack.
I'm learning a lot! THANKS!
I was very sad to hear of Jack Layton's passing. I read the letter and thought it was a very good one. May he Rest in Peace.
These ones look yummy too!
http://tastykitchen.com/blog/2011/08/blueberry-strudel-scones/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TastyKitchenBlog+%28Tasty+Kitchen+Blog%29
Cheers - Joolz
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