Sunday, 18 December 2011

Lebkuchen


These lovely cookies were mentioned in the last thread, so I searched for a relatively simple recipe to share with you. You may vary the icing, using chocolate or almond instead. This recipe yields 72 cookies.

Ingredients

Cookies
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup molasses
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/3 cup diced candied citron peel
1/3 cup chopped hazelnuts

Icing
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

Preparation

In a medium saucepan, stir together the honey and molasses. Bring the mixture to a boil, remove from heat and stir in the brown sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and lastly the egg.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and nutmeg. Add the molasses mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in the citron and hazelnuts. Cover dough and chill overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets. Using a small amount of dough at a time, roll out on a lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into small rectangles and place them 1 inch apart onto the prepared cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until no imprint remains when touched lightly.

Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Heat to between 234 and 240 degrees F (soft ball stage). Remove from heat and stir in the confectioners' sugar.

Quickly brush the icing over the cookies while they are still hot (Important!) and remove them to wire cooling racks. If icing becomes sugary while brushing cookies, re-heat slightly- adding a little water until crystals dissolve.

Store in an airtight container with a few pieces of apple peel for a few days to mellow.

Alternative glazing ideas

Chocolate glace:
200g (7 oz) powder (icing) sugar, sifted
30 g cocoa, sifted
enough hot water to make thick runny mixture to brush on

Almond glace:
200 g (7 oz) powder (icing) sugar, sifted
1 or 2 drops of almond extract
enough hot water to make a thick runny mixture to brush on

Saturday, 17 December 2011

Getting into the Christmas spirit

Tumbleweed sent me this touching Christmas story:

A couple was Christmas shopping at the mall on Christmas Eve and the mall was packed. Walking through the mall the surprised wife looked up and noticed her husband was nowhere around and she was very upset because they had a lot to do. She used her cell phone to call her husband because she was so upset, to ask him where he was. The husband in a calm voice said:

"Honey, remember the jewelry store we went into 5 years ago where you fell in love with that diamond necklace that we could not afford and I told you that I would get it for you one day?"



His wife said crying:

"Yes! I remember that jewelry store."

He said, "Well, I'm in the bar next to it."

*****

Mrsgunka sent me some seasonal cartoons:









And a video of some very fancy Christmas lights:



Thank you, Tumbleweed and Mrsgunka.

Friday, 16 December 2011

Some old news

Today we're taking a trip back to 1933, courtesy on Grasshopper. Among the items he secured at a recent auction were some large books of clippings from old newspapers. Please click on the images for a larger view.









Thank you, Grasshopper.

Thursday, 15 December 2011

A rogue amaryllis

Mrsgunka sent me photos of her amaryllis plants. Apparently one of them came up with too many petals and no reproductive organs. It looks to me that Mrsgunka got a rogue double amaryllis mixed up with her normal bulbs...



They're both gorgeous, lucky Mrsgunka!

Wednesday, 14 December 2011

A singing tree...


This piece of public art is high above Burnley on the Pennine moors in Lancashire, England. It was designed by architects Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu in 2006 and won a Royal Institute of British Architects award. The Singing Ringing Tree is a 3 metre (9ft) tall construction comprising pipes of galvanised steel which harness the energy of the wind to produce a slightly discordant and penetrating choral sound covering a range of several octaves. Some of the pipes are primarily structural and aesthetic elements, while others have been cut across their width enabling the sound. The harmonic and singing qualities of the tree were produced by tuning the pipes according to their length by adding holes to the underside of each.

Today marks the 5th anniversary of its official opening to the public, so here it is:

Tuesday, 13 December 2011

Real life animals are cuter than animated cartoons

Hunnybee sent me these charming photos of a real life Bambi with his friend Thumper. I did a bit of research about the photographer, wildlife Czech photographer Tanja Askani. There are more wonderful photos of other species on her website.





Tanja wrote on her website:

Walt Disney Studios produced the well-known children’s movie “Bambi” in 1942. It was based on the 1923 book, “Bambi, A Life in the Woods” by Felix Salten. In the book, Bambi was a European roe fawn. As part of the American book translation and the Disney movie version, Bambi turned into a North American whitetail deer.


As this picture series shows, fairytales and reality are often very closely related. There truly are animal friendships across species boundaries.

She also posted this video:



Thank you, Hunnybee, they're lovely!

Monday, 12 December 2011

Small big world

Or should I say big small world?


Mrsgunka sent me a link to this fascinating video:



This is the world's biggest train set which covers 1,150 square meters (12,380 square feet), features almost six miles of track and is still not complete.

Twin brothers Frederick and Gerrit Braun, 41, began work on the 'Miniatur Wonderland' in 2000.

The set covers six regions including America, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Germany and the Austrian Alps. The American section features giant models of the Rocky Mountains, Everglades, Grand Canyon and Mount Rushmore. The Swiss section has a mini-Matterhorn.The Scandinavian part has a 4ft long passenger ship floating in a 'fjord.'

It is expected to be finished in 2014, when the train set will cover more than 1,800 square meters (19,376 sq ft) and feature almost 13 miles of track, by which time detailed models of parts of France, Italy and the UK will have been added. 

It comprises 700 trains with more than 10,000 carriages and wagons. The longest train is 46ft long. The scenery includes 900 signals, 2,800 buildings, 4,000 cars - many with illuminated headlights... and 160,000 individually designed figures Thousands of kilograms of steel and wood was used to construct the scenery...

The 250,000 lights are rigged up to a system which mimics night and day by automatically turning them on and off.

The whole system is controlled from a massive high-tech nerve centre. In total the set has taken 500,000 hours and more than 8 million to put together, the vast majority of which has come from ticket sales. Gerrit said: "Our idea was to build a world that men, woman and children can be equally astonished and amazed in." Frederik added: "Whether gambling in Las Vegas, hiking in the Alps or paddling in Norwegian fjords - in Wunderland everything is possible"

Thank you, Mrsgunka.

Sunday, 11 December 2011

Women drivers

Our friend Tom (in Thailand) sent me this joke:


This morning on the Interstate, I looked over to my left and there was a woman in a brand new Cadillac doing 65 mph with her face up next to her rear view mirror putting on her eyeliner.

I looked away for a couple seconds... to continue shaving and when I looked back she was halfway over in my lane, still working on that makeup.

As a man, I don't scare easily... but she scared me so much I dropped my electric shaver which knocked the donut out of my other hand.

In all the confusion of trying to straighten out the car using my knees against the steering wheel, I knocked my cellphone away from my ear which fell into the coffee between my legs!

It splashed and burned Big Peter and the Twins, ruined the damn phone, soaked my trousers and disconnected an important call.

Damn women drivers!

You may remember Tom from an old open thread, when he sent me this photo of an amazing sunrise:


Thank you, Tom.

Saturday, 10 December 2011

Now you see me... now you don't!

These pictures are great!

Satanic leaf-tailed gecko

Bat-faced toad

Lichen spider

Mossy leaf-tailed gecko

Great potoo

Katydid

Peppered moth

Orchid mantis

Sandhopper

Find the snow leopard

Friday, 9 December 2011

All I Want For Christmas

Sleuth posted this video on the Wednesday thread, but as HMS Ocean will be back in Plymouth today, it seems appropriate to show it in a post. Thank you, Sleuth.



The BBC reported:

Pop star Mariah Carey has tweeted the crew of a Royal Navy warship after they made a Christmas video using one of her songs to celebrate their homecoming.

HMS Ocean's crew mimed to her 1994 hit All I Want for Christmas Is You and put it online.

After watching it, the singer tweeted: "This is the best thing I've ever seen, you guys just made my day! Happy Happy Christmas!!! x0x0 to the troops."

The ship will be back in Plymouth on Friday after a seven-month deployment.

More than 1,000 friends and family are expected to meet the ship.

HMS Ocean left Plymouth - initially for a seven-week training exercise - in April, but was then diverted to Libya to support the UN air mission during the uprising against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

Lt Kelly Cleeve, who filmed and edited the video with WO Mick Wakeham and the aviation department, said it had been a stressful time and recording the song had been "a way to boost morale and give the guys a bit of a diversion".

Lt Cleeve said the idea for the video came when the crew was told the ship would be back in Plymouth for Christmas.

She said Maria Carey's song was the most appropriate choice as "as all we wanted for Christmas was to get back in time to celebrate."

Thursday, 8 December 2011

Santa's secret is out

Our Tumbleweed is not over enthusiastic about Christmas, but has a fine sense of fun. She sent me this video:



Thank you, Tumbleweed.

Wednesday, 7 December 2011

Uh-oh

View_From_Here sent me this video, the latest in a very good series of ads.



I've been meaning to share this other video with you:



Both ads are being shown on British TV at the moment.

Tuesday, 6 December 2011

Christmas lights - The sequel

Mrsgunka sent me another creative effort regarding Christmas lights:

Monday, 5 December 2011

Christmas lights


Not everybody gets carried away with the Christmas spirit... Mrsgunka sent me this very touching letter from a contrite husband:


Hi Sweetheart,

I am sorry about getting into an argument about putting up the Christmas lights. I guess that sometimes I feel like you are pushing me too hard when you want something.

I realize that I was wrong and I am apologizing for being such a hard-headed-guy. All I want is for you to be happy and be able to enjoy the holiday season and Christmas. Nothing brightens spirits like Christmas lights!

I took the time to hang the lights for you today.

Again, I am very sorry for the way I acted yesterday.

Be home later.

Love you……
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Sunday, 4 December 2011

Pirouette

After Billy left for London last week, our cat Pirate was at a loose end, looking for his friend everywhere. When I told Billy about it, he said: "Pirate needs a brother or a sister!"

So the search for a kitten ensued. Today we picked up Pirate's new companion. Here's Pirouette, a feisty, curious and very playful little girl:






Pirate is still going through the WTF stage, but will soon enjoy her company...

[Pirouette was fast asleep on my lap as I typed this post. She's adorable!]

Saturday, 3 December 2011

Cellphone mischief

Hunnybee sent me this funny video because the guy's accent reminded her of our Austin...




Thank you, Hunnybee.

Thursday, 1 December 2011

Follow the road

Our friend HelenNPN sent me a beautiful collection of photographs of different types of road (some of them very unusual) with this song, from JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit:

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.




















Thank you, Helen.