Snickerdoodle doo!

Made these snickerdoodles on the weekend. I actually made some last weekend but I halved the recipe and the biscuits didn't come out quite right, they spread out too much and joined up and I got really cross (and I ran out of cinnamon, the key ingredient). I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED BY BISCUITS. I AM THE BISCUIT QUEEN.

So I made them again. With the full recipe, which makes 80 biscuits, but you can freeze the dough once it's rolled into biscuits. They turned out really well this time, so well I ate about 12 yesterday.

The recipe is from a book called 'Biscotti' produced by the American Academy in Rome. It is hands down the best biscuit book I own, it has mainly Italian biscuits, with a few American recipes (like these snickerdoodles) and even a recipe for anzacs. The Academy employs special chefs and makes lots of biscuits for the residents, unlike the British Academy where I usually stay. They are such good biscuits I am vaguely considering becoming American so I can stay there. Or maybe even ask to be a biscuit fellow rather than an art history fellow...

Anyway here is the recipe, makes 80.

350g caster sugar

340g unsalted butter

vanilla extract

2tsp ground cinnamon

2 eggs

400g flour

2tsp cream of tartar

1tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

Coating

3 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup of caster sugar

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy, then add vanilla and cinnamon and mix briefly again. Add the eggs one ata time and mix till all well combined.

Sift together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.


Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Cover bowl and cool mixture in the fridge for 30mins at least (or remove from bowl and wrap in clingfilm/greaseproof).

Remove dough and form into small balls (about 80) At this point you can freeze balls if you want and bake later.

Preheat oven to 190 celsius.

Combine sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and roll biscuit balls to coat and then place them on a tray lined with greaseproof paper. Space them out quite a bit as they will spread, 5-10cm between each depending on the size of the balls.

Bake for 10-12mins, until lightly browned.

Eat.

Less serious things

Going through my photos from Daylesford (all the ones I took so I could blog my country life but then was overcome by listlessness between the taking of the photo and the putting the memory card in my machine).

Sky blue nails! I actually didn't notice they matched the sky till I looked at the photo today.

Breakfast at Wombat Hill House, they are still yum but not quite as good as they were. The french toast and other things seemed like they had been cooked in advance?

My pesto, which was amazing and lasted forever. I ended up freezing it in the ice block tray. Planning to make some more soon.

Coffee and a  brownie at Wombat Hill, love the flower though it was kind of a tiny brownie for $4.50, though on the upside they had free wifi and I downloaded quite a lot of stuff so I guess fair is fair.

Gorgeous sunset from my friend Tammi's farm.

The salad that Roey made. Was delicious and a proven hangover cure.

General Daylesford views, I miss this, it refreshes my brain when I've been at the computer all day.

My amazing green shoes. They are slightly battered now from tramping up and down hills, and partly due to obvious cheap Zara construction. Still amazing though.

The view at Woodend station where I wait for the city train and wonder whether I could actually live in the country full time.

Routine or lack thereof

I currently feel like I'm not achieving much. Partly this is because I don't have an awful lot to do. I haven't had any paid work since early December (hopefully this will change on Thursday), no thesis anymore, my art history website has been quiet over summer and I don't have any personal research that I'm very focused on.

All of this is pretty unsatisfying (and please don't say anything about enjoying my free time cos I will slap you). I have lots of ideas of things I could be getting on with, mostly to do with my post PhD research  (articles, reading, postdoc applications, turning my other blog into something bigger and better) as well as bits of work for my volunteer positions, which aren't getting done very efficiently.

I'm not sure that this is particularly fascinating reading, but I felt the need to put it down semi-publicly in the hope it would prompt me to follow through.

Thoughts

- The internet is the great distracter, I need to limit my time on it a bit  a lot.
- I work best in the morning, I slump a bit in the afternoon and gear up again in the early evening.
- I have residual anxiety from my final thesis push that if I'm not writing I'm not being productive - this means I'm not reading or planning anything properly, which then means I'm not writing, vicious circle.
- I need to check my email less and respond more promptly when I do.
- I need to work elsewhere than my living room/study for at least a part of each day.
- I'm often not even doing the non-work things I want to do.

So (I'm thinking as I write) my planned routine that I am going to try for the next two weeks is

Get up promptly (this is pretty easy as I wake up early but sometimes I just stay there feeling sad about having no direction in life - cue tiny violins).

• Go for a run on running days
• Breakfast and read a research related book I want to read all of (too often I only dip into stuff)
• Check and respond to mails for 30 minutes and add action emails to my to do list
• Take computer and go somewhere nearby to write for 2 hours - I will probably work on a few different writing projects during the week but whatever it is for that day I have to do 2 hours.
• Work on my website for 1-2 hours depending on demand - this doesn't just have to be posting could include side projects and actually writing some reviews, which I never get done - can do this at home or stay where I have gone to write if it includes decent internet.
• Lunch
• Afternoon - this is slump time for me mentally but I should use it to work on basic admin type stuff for my volunteer positions, read a new article, read work related news/blogs, do housework, or go out and do stuff that needs to be done - also the best time to plan meetings.
• Early evening - some days this will be gym but on others I want to either read research related stuff in a focused way (i.e. 1 hour reading) or write posts for my other blog.
• Stop by 7-8pm and properly relax - read fiction, watch movies, read non work blogs and news.

Surely this is do-able, some days it will differ if I have a meeting, or Italian class or a sudden deadline, but overall it seems ok. I want to plan exactly what writing/reading I will do in more detail, maybe I could do that every Sunday evening in preparation for the week. Now I just need to find the self discipline to keep to it.

Lunch in the sun

A nice bonus of housesitting is being able to invite people over for lunch as I just don't have the space at home. Dad excitedly set up the outdoor 'table' (it's a door on two old trestles) and food was a collaborative effort, I made a burghul salad with roast almonds, avocado and cucumber (and lemon zest), my sister made gazpacho, mum bought sacks of delicious bread and cheese.

For dessert we had apple cake, which I made with some apples I picked in the garden, served with cream.

Around the garden

House sitting again in Daylesford. Feeling very moochy and not very inspired. I always imagine that alone in the country I will become a powerhouse of productivity but it never really happens that way, not that surprising really as productivity never just unfolds effortlessly like a filmic montage, it takes effort.

I spent quite a lot of time watering earlier this week as it was so hot and I find watering soothing and contemplative, I also 'accidentally watered myself a few times to cool down.

Prosecco with raspberries from the garden (I must pick some more before the birds get them all).

Pan in the evening sun.

Champagne with campari and wild strawberries with a geranium for matchiness.

I let the dragon join in on cocktail hour.

Another view of Pan.

Blackberries.

General garden view. Such a lovely garden, I feel so lucky to get to stay here now and then.

Poppies!

Artichoke flowering.