Thursday Thoughts # 56




from Finger-Lickin' Fifteen.  A Stephanie Plum novel by Janet Evanovich.

"We'd ordered one pepperoni with extra cheese and one with everything they could find in the kitchen."

" Grandma and Lula looked like Jack Sprat and his wife. Lula was all swollen up and voluptuous, busting out of her clothes, and Grandma was more of a deflated balloon. Gravity hadn't been kind to Grandma, but what Grandma lacked in collagen, she made up for with attitude and bright pink lipstick."

Today's Thoughts:
I have invented the sausage pancake!
Last Monday I looked in the fridge and saw Sunday's leftovers, roasted potato and carrot. Oh Yum! how exciting. (*~*)

But I didn't feel like cooking and these were already cooked....then I remembered I also had cooked chipolata sausages in the freezer, frozen in little baggies with two sausages per bag. 
I got one baggie out and let them thaw while I sliced the vegetables and mixed up a small serve of pancake batter. In went the vegetables, in went one thinly sliced sausage, a pinch of salt, a larger pinch of dried parsley. 
The whole mess was thoroughly mixed, poured into the frittata pan and baked until done. Which didn't take long. I reheated a little left over gravy from the Sunday steak, served it poured over the sausage pancake and ate.
It was okay. I probably wouldn't serve it to friends at a *dinner party, but as a quick easy meal it was okay.
*dinner parties are something I never ever do.
The other sausage became my sausage sandwich lunch on Tuesday.

I've read three books in the last ten or so days: 
The Witch's Ladder by Dana E Donovan;
6 Ways To Die by R Mac Wheeler;
No Time For Goodbye by Linwood Barclay.

The Witch's Ladder was a bit slow to pull me in, but once the story got rolling it was pretty good. There are seven more in this Witch series and I'm looking forward to reading them. 

6 Ways To Die was a fast paced read that I had trouble putting down and when I got to the end of the story I was disappointed there wasn't more to be read. R Mac Wheeler has a sequel, 6 Ways To Mental, which I don't yet have and is working on a third book right now. 

No Time for Goodbye was a mysterious mystery, confusing to begin with and a little puzzling when different 'voices' were telling part of the story. But all was eventually explained and the story made much more sense. This was another that I couldn't easily put down. And I have ten more by Linwood Barclay on my kindle. 

The weather here has been a bit of a shock, less than 2C on Sunday night, followed by a gorgeous sunny day that was only warm if you found a place out of the wind. We're not used to this kind of cold in these parts, not in July anyway. 
We take July to get adjusted to wintry weather and then when frosty mornings come along in August, we're ready for them.
Sort of.

 Now don't get me wrong, I like cooler weather so much more than the melting heat of our summers, but frosty air and winds fresh off the South Pole are too much. I'm ready for spring already. I'd welcome another Autumn too, if only we could skip the summer heat. 

What else did I do? I went to the library. 
They're holding a book for me, titled "Through the French Door", it's probably mostly pictures and about the French Style of decorating rooms. I had Monday free, so thought I'd go and pick it up. 

I caught the **'free' community bus that goes past my home at about 10.45am, winds around the suburbs and gets to the shopping centre near the library by 11.20am.
It leaves the shopping centre to wind its way back to my home at 12.45. Plenty of time to pick up a book, right? 

On Mondays the library doesn't even open until 1pm.  Aww rats.
I had an hour and twenty five minutes to kill. In a shopping centre with two supermarkets and six clothing shops, one newsagency, a bakery and a post office. oh boy! I had my kindle with me, but the battery was only half charged. I sat down to read and hoped it wouldn't die on me. 

Currently reading Just a Geek, by Wil Wheaton.
I'm enjoying it quite a lot. It isn't full of an over-inflated sense of entitlement and assorted drunken sprees like many other celebrity publications. I plan to look up his blog when I finish the book.

This is the second Monday I've forgotten the library timetable. Every other day it opens at 10am. From now on Wednesdays will be my library days. 

** the free community bus relies on donations to keep running, so everyone who boards drops a gold coin into the slot.
 
Here’s a childhood memory: (not mine, told to me by a neighbour when I mentioned how many broken biscuits were in the packet I had just bought): whenever we had store bought biscuits, any broken ones were put on top of the unbroken ones in the tin; if we asked to have a biscuit we were told we could only have the broken ones, so whole biscuits could be served to visitors along with their tea or coffee.
One day we asked if we could please have some biscuits and as usual mum said yes, but only the broken ones. My brother and I looked at each other, then he vigorously shook the biscuit tin. Out of mum’s hearing of course.We weren't allowed any biscuits for a long time after that.

Comments

  1. As a pancake lover, your creation sounds perfect for me. Will experiment.

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  2. The weather has been something of a shock to us after the heat in North America. The pancake sounds nice. The brother may well have made a tin full of crumbs.

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  3. I make new meals that way some good some not so good, i often have roast dinner vegs on a sandwich for lunch.
    When we were kids we had a visitors tin, we were not allowed to touch and everyday biscuits in another tin, but as a child don't you eat a lot of biscuits and fruit don't eat any where as much now.
    Merle............

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  4. You reminded of of waffles when I was a kid. My mother's solution to have "non-stick" waffles back in the '40's was to fry half a strip of bacon in the iron, then add the waffle batter. Bacon in the middle of every waffle, yum, yum.

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  5. Susan Kane; I found it a little too bland, add a good pinch of salt to the pancake mix. I only added a tiny bit, it needed more.

    Andrew; ha ha, biscuits to eat with a spoon. I remember buying biscuits already broken when my kids were young. We'd go to the market and find the stall that sold loose biscuits where all the broken ones were put into a big tub and sold more cheaply. We'd buy a couple of kilos worth each fortnight.

    Merle; in our house the cream biscuits were kept for visitors, mostly though my mum made German coffee cakes or apple strudel for visitors we were expecting. The unexpected drop-ins got the biscuits. I eat a lot less biscuits now, but much more fruit.

    Joanne; is waffle mix the same as pancake mix? Waffles aren't an Australian thing, I never heard of them until American sit-coms came to our TVs. I'm not a big fan of bacon. my two youngest can eat it with anything and often do.

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  6. My brothers were allowed to eat the cherries which fell off the cake as it was being decorated. Until the time that there were only two cherries which didn't fall off.
    R Mac Wheeler is a v fast writer. I expect the third book in the series will be out before Christmas.
    Your other books sound good too. Mind you I have a LOT of books in my unread towers at the moment.

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  7. I now have my first R. Mac Wheeler; Apocalypse. Also have Go Set A Watchman... since my sweetheart is gagging to read the latter, I'm going to have to read it first.

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  8. When I was a boy the local grocer sold broken biscuits in a paper bag. They were a variety from several tins. As a teenager on the bum me and a pal lived on them for a while until the shop woman told us in a little speech that we should be eating better. Then we found a cafe where a manic Hun gave us meals on credit, joyously and hilariously, knowing he'd never get paid.

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  9. I like the sound of Grandma.

    I've done the "leftovers pancake" before - not a favourite, but hubby calls it "gut putty" and it fills him up when there's nothing else going.
    In a pinch, and if I have eggs on hand, I make an omelette with leftovers these days.

    "if only we could skip the summer heat." Amen to that.

    Wish I could've seen the look on both of your faces just before your brother shook the biscuit tin - cheeky monkeys :)

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  10. Thanks for the Evanovich clip. Her characters of Grandma and Lulu are genius.

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  11. Hi River, I've been catching up with your blog posts...
    I love the next instalment of your story... so pleased he wasn't taking the blue pills and has a great room now...
    I love the Wednesday giggle... I totally relate and it's why I don't sunbathe at all.. hehehe
    Your pancake sounds great to me...
    Sorry you're having Library trouble....good idea to change the day xxx
    I'm sure your plants will thicken up and fill in the gaps ... xxxx
    Say hello to Angel for me...
    Hugs... Barb xxxx

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  12. .Hi River... it's me again... I forgot to click 'notify me' ..... Sorry.. Barb xxxx

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  13. I don't think I have ever had a pancake! Hard to believe..
    Your books sound interesting...

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  14. The books sound good! I just found your blog today and wanted to say that your header is beautiful, and I love the dark background. I prefer dark backgrounds, as I find them easier on the eyes. Warm greetings from Montreal, Canada. :)

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  15. Elephant's Child; cherries on a cake! Unheard of at my childhood home. My dad used to make plum cake, basic butter cake batter, spread in a slice tin, sliced plums placed on top completely covering batter, sugar sprinkled over and baked. Yummy fresh and equally yummy stale and reheated with custard poured over as dessert. Mum made apple strudel, but those were the only fruits ever used in cakes.

    Jac; I don't have Go Set a Watchman yet and I'm not in any hurry for it, but I'd like to get more of R Mac Wheelers as soon as I can.

    R.H. that's how we got broken biscuits too, a variety in a brown paper bag. Always a surprise to see what was inside. It was very nice of that shop lady to be looking out for you and equally nice for the manic Hun to feed you and your mate.

    Vicki; have you read any of the Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich? Grandma is my favourite character.
    I bake my leftovers pancakes in the oven with less flour than usually used for regular pancakes, they're more a frittata style and I've never put meat in them before.
    The biscuit shaking wasn't me and my brother, it was a memory told to me by a neighbour. I wish I could have known them then.

    Marty Damon; I have 21 of the Stephanie Plum books, plus the 'between the numbers' ones, and a series written by her with Charlotte Hughes, Full House, Full Tilt, Full Speed, Full Blast, Full Bloom and Full Scoop. They're funny and excellent reading too.

    Barbara; Thank you; I've enjoyed developing the World Power story, but I'm at a sticking point, so this week's story is different and will eventually tie in with the Jimmy Raven one.
    the plants will definitely thicken up, but it will take a while and I want it now! Now! Now! Now!

    whiteangel; never had a pancake??? you poor deprived child.....stop in on youe way home and I'll make you one. Or three. Butter and maple syrup topping? Or would you prefer lemon juice with a sprinkle of sugar?

    Linda; welcome to drifting. I prefer easy on the eyes backgrounds too. Some blogs are so full of colour and side bits it's hard to find the words. The header is me, a river drifting along through life.

    Author R. Mac Wheeler; :D :D Are your books at Amazon?

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  16. HILARIOUS cookie story! Oh wow. You know what I miss from Aus are those Tim Tams. They don't exist here. Everything has corn syrup in it or GMO grains. Telling ya.

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  17. I love the biscuit story. :)

    Your dinner....a well-put together fritter/frittata of sounds delicious. I love those types of meals. Stuff the dinner parties! :)

    I like the cooler weather too...far better than the summer heat.

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