Life after thesis..

Life after thesis is going along nicely. I just finished my first post-thesis project. Not an academic one, a catalogue essay for a photographer. I will post more about that later, my part is done but it won't be all done till June. It was very pleasant to work on something very different, but still tangentially related. It was garden related and so even though it was academic it did make me realise that I have a vast(ish) knowledge of gardens now, which I certainly did not have when I started my thesis. Especially considering I didn't even start out working on garden history.

I have my research assistant work, which is quite repetitive at the moment, but in a soothing way. Also I can do it at home to my own timetable. I also have two abstracts to work up as soon as possible, and then two papers to write in April before I go away in May.

I have also been baking. These 'Biscotti di Linzer' are from a book of biscuit/biscotti recipes my friends bought me in Rome as a thank you for house sitting. I have a lot of jam to use up so I made these jammy ones. They were very delicious. It is was a very simple recipe, just  basic butter, flour, sugar biscuit dough (I will post the exact amount tomorrow as they were perfect). The roll it out, cut out the biscuits, cut out holes in the middle of the biscuit (a screw cap off a wine bottle works well). Bake. Cool. Then jam them up. I used plum jam.

Recipe as promised:

170g butter (i used unsalted)
100g granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
260gm plain flour
pinch o f salt
Icing sugar for dusting
65g jam

CReam butter and sugar till fluffy, add vanilla. Combine flour and salt in a bowl and then add to butter mix and mix till well combined. Wrap dough in cling film or cover bowl and put in fridge for 30mins.

Roll dough out on a foured surface to about 5mm thick. Cut biscuits out in equal numbers. Cut holes (as I said I used a washed screw cap from a bottle for wine for this). Re-roll scraps for more biscuits.

Place on a baking tray pined with baking paper and bake for 10-12 minutes at 180 degrees.

When they have cooled then create the sandwiched biscuits by adding half a teaspoon of jam on teh bottom and sandwiching the  biscuits with the holes on top and dust with icing sugar.

One comment I would make is that this recipe didn't make lots of biscuits, I think about 15-18 because of the doubling up. So either double the mixture or perhaps make them slightly smaller, or both.

Went to my friends' gallery opening last night. The last one at that gallery. End of an era. My campari. 

My shoes, I bought these for $6 at Target, they are bronze and I love them, but are falling apart as they are cheap and I keep riding a bike in them.

My orange dress and grey tights. So glad it is tights weather now, I get bored of having to just have flesh coloured legs.

Chinese take away. Yum.

 

Recipe book recommendations and red wine.

Dog cuddles.

A scorpion in alcohol. We didn't open this, it wasn't that kind of night.

A nice whiskey.

Today I was a  bit worse for wear after a late night (well not that late initially, but it was after I decided to stay up till after 3am drinking tea and writing tweets with lots of typos in them) so I just plonked on the couch, but in a guilt-free-no-thesis way. I had a little bike ride at lunchtime and then retreated to tea and cupcakes. The cupcake was a present from my local wine bar, which just turned 1 year old.

I stewed some pears that I had forgotten about and which had gone very soft. They are tasty though I over sugared them a tad. I think if I will need to eat them with some tart yoghurt to balance them out.

 And a photo of my breakfast the other day for no special reason except as general proof that the internets is all just people going on about what they ate.