Thursday, July 11, 2013

No Bowling, Sandwich Toaster, Apps,

We didn’t go bowling. The alley called me to say that there was a Pin_Animation1hydro (electricity) pole fallen and only being held up by the wires; it was behind the alley and so the cops had closed everything off and there was no power in the alley anyway. So, a no go, we are going to extend the season another week.

ToastiteI was staggered to get an advertisement in my email for a thing called a Toas-Tite which is a gadget which has been in my family since 1956 and the Britain Can Make it Exhibition. Although I haven’t used it in quite a long time, I still have it together with another type I bought but which wasn’t nearly as good. It really is a marvellous little gadget and you can make the most wonderful toasted sandwiches with it.  We used to cook them over an open fire in campgrounds. I have also made them on stoves although they work best with gas fired stoves, I have made them on electric stoves too, although I once nearly started a fire. What you do is butter two pieces of bread and place them butter side out on the two halves of the gadget, then you put in a filling, a raw egg works wonderfully sprinkled with salt and pepper. You then close and lock the gadget which cuts off the crusts as you do that. You then cook it, turning regularly, and if you open it slightly and the sandwich is loose, it’s done. Deelicious. The ad was from Cooking.com and they were $30 each.

As you may remember, I bought (sorry Matt bought me) an android Appstablet for my birthday in September. I have been obtaining various apps for it, but I am staggered at the amount of games there are, do people do nothing but play games? I do play solitaire now and again, but Google Play has hundreds (well a lot anyway) of games which one can install. I have a solitaire game, a hurricane and a couple of financial apps along with a Contacts app. I cannot imagine wanting any of these hundreds of games. Hm, looking for the picture I saw a Facebook App so got that. I just bought myself a portable router which I hope is going to help me get wifi on my android when I travel.

I love meringues and cream, add a few berries and such and you end up with something quite mouthwatering. This is a recipe from BBC Food so when they say double cream, they mean the really good stuff, here we would have to use whipping cream. I can’t say I have ever seen rose water in Canada, but I am sure one can buy it somewhere.

Berry, rose water, almond and meringue tart

By Sarah Cook

Serves 12

A showstopper pud with a secret layer of chewy marzipan baked into Berry Tartthe shortcrust base- impressive but so simple

Ingredients
  • 500g pack marzipan
  • 1 x 23cm round tart case- ready-made or bake your own with bought shortcrust pastry
  • 600ml pot double cream
  • 2 tbsp icing sugar
  • 2 tsp rose water
  • 5 small meringues nests, crushed
  • 600g mixed berries (we used raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and cherries)
  • 50g toasted flaked almonds

Method

  1. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Roll out the marzipan to a circle roughly 21cm in diameter – use a plate as a template to cut around. Lay the marzipan circle in the centre of the tart case, then put in the oven and bake for 5 mins. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.
  2. Tip the double cream, icing sugar and rose water into a bowl. Whisk until the cream just holds its shape, then stir through the crushed meringue. Drop some of the berries into the bottom of the tart case. Pile over the cream mixture, then top with the remaining berries and flaked almonds. Serve straight away.
Have a great day
Jo_thumb[2]

21 comments:

  1. Hi Jo - I won't have games on my machines .. they waste far too much time - the brain is better engaged elsewhere .. well that's my view for me!

    Sorry about the bowling .. but at least there's a little of the season left ..

    That berry tart - sounds delicious and I love marzipan .. so I can imagine the whole tastes just wonderful .. cheers Hilary

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    1. I have a solitaire game on all mine (sorry patience) and Bookworm on the desktop mainly for Matt who spends ages playing it. Its a fairly good mental exercise.

      Hoping to go bowling this aft, just us two.

      If I can find rosewater, maybe I will give it a try.

      Delete
  2. I think I am addicted to playing Scrabble against the computer - who cheats. I mean, really, a seven letter word with your last seven tiles? Cheater for sure.

    But I do like it for checking weather and email on the go.

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    Replies
    1. Never tried that Denise, yes, that is a bit unlikely.

      That's really what I have my android for, when I am on vacation.

      Delete
  3. I am so behind on the smart phone technology, I have yet to buy one. But, at the sametime, I can't say I really need one...an e-reader would be more useful I think. Anyway, now you've got me curious about the Toas-Tite, I'm going to look it up.

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    1. Mine isn't a phone Elise, we have a cell phone, but rarely use it. I have Kindle, original type, for books and I like the paperwhite technology which allows one to read in brilliant sunshine. I now have the android as I figured it was easier to tote when on vacation than my laptop. I have just ordered a portable router for it too so I can find wifi hotspots.

      Delete
  4. Trust me, there are thousands of game apps.

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    1. I trust you Alex, I thought I might be exaggerating, but obviously not. Haven't downloaded any music on my tablet yet, will have to do so before we go away.

      Delete
  5. I'm addicted to Temple Run, which I admit is not a good thing for my studies.

    www.modernworld4.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Don't suppose it is. Had to look it up to see what it was. Years ago I used to be addicted to Lemmings, there's still a version around, but it only has a few levels.

      Delete
  6. I had one of those toasted sandwich makers! Sadly, lost it during my last move :(

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    1. I love them but haven't used mine in a long time. Will have to search for it.

      Delete
  7. Oh. My. Goodness. I shouldn't have read this post right before bed. I'm going to be dreaming about that tart.

    I hear ya on the games. I play solitaire, hearts and backgammon from time to time but that's about it.

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    Replies
    1. Does sound good, doesn't it?

      Just have solitaire, that's it for me.

      Delete
  8. There are more apps out there than you can shake a stick at. (Not really sure of the origins of that saying because I can shake a stick at pretty much everything except for the stick itself.) I'm on my second tablet and first smart phone. I've yet to play the first game on any of them. That's what PCs are for. LOL

    ReplyDelete
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    1. That is a daft saying isn't it? Never thought about it before.

      I have solitaire on the tablet but that's it. Have a very simple cell phone so Matt can use it, he is technologically challenged although we don't use it much anyway but I do like him to have it with him when he goes out for health reasons as much as anything.

      Delete
  9. I just hope and pray I never have use for anything other than my laptop. I don't want nor need apps. I don't know how people do it and have a real life. I remember not even owning a television, and never really wanted to - there is so much to do. I don't know maybe I'm just backwards!

    Sorry about the bowling and those sandwiches do look good!

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    1. Well I have a desktop, a laptop and now a tablet. If I could I would have a smartphone too. I just love the stuff and enjoy playing with it.

      They are good

      Delete
  10. Like Matt, I'm technically challenged and just have a very basic cell phone on 'Pay as you Go'
    If anything goes wrong with the computer I get David to sort it .... can't even work the TV properly :-)

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Yet you are on the computer all the time, Matt can't even do what you do. With the cell phone he only knows how to call home, doesn't know how to get to the phone book or anything. Doesn't want to know is a lot of the problem.

      Delete
  11. No Bowling, Sandwich Toaster, Apps,. We didn't ... isandwichtoaster.blogspot.de

    ReplyDelete