Wednesday, February 27, 2008

New toys, and birds

So both Magimix and waffle iron arrived yesterday.

I immediately set to making waffles, naturally, using a recipe from Allrecipes.

Not quite what I was expecting - not at all like the Belgian waffles I've had before, but pretty good.

Definitely want to test more recipes though. Anyone have a favourite waffle recipe I can try?

And I made pizza for dinner, using the processor to make the dough and chop everything up. One pizza with spicy sausage, chicken, peppers and olives (using up stuff from the fridge), and one with just peppers and olives. Both were pretty good except I used a little too much tomato sauce on the bases - I was quite pleased in general as I haven't made pizza from scratch since I was in school, and the one I made then wasn't very impressive.

Today's lunch was a savoury waffle sandwich, which was intriguing. My waffle maker makes a round-ish waffle which you can cut into 5 heart shapes - I made one cheesy waffle and cut it in half. Then used the waffle iron to cook an egg, leaving the yolk a little soft. Inserted egg between bits of waffle, along with a slice of processed cheese, the type I refer to as "plastic cheese" - you know the stuff where each slice comes wrapped in plastic, the sort you'd use on a cheeseburger. A little black pepper. Yum!! Will definitely make that again at the weekend, maybe with bacon or sausage as well.

Took Summer out to Linacre with Emma this afternoon, quite a nice afternoon. Loads of birds about, and I got to practice my newly acquired song/call identification skills. We heard a great spotted woodpecker drumming many times, tried to track it down but didn't see it. And got good views of three little grebes calling, two of which were duetting which was cute. And two pairs of goosanders. And Summer is now knackered.

And I've been seeing long tailed tits more often in my garden, seen at least two every day for the last week or so - hopefully it's a pair and they'll stick around and nest nearby!

4 comments:

  1. Sorry, long time since I've been here.

    I _love_ long-tailed tits! I mostly notice them in the late summer. You'll be out in the garden and there'll be this peep-peep-peep-peep going on around you. Look around, and eventually you spot this ping-pong-ball-sized ball of grey fluff with a pencil sticking out of its bum, going peep-peep! And then you spot its mates (probably siblings, I guess) either in the same tree or a few close together. Wonderful!

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  2. When I got my waffle iron, the little book that came with it had a marvelous recipe that included ginger ale. Those were some awesome waffles! Unfortunately, I have no idea where that booklet is (and we've moved twice since then), but I highly recommend checking out any recipes that came with your waffle iron. Some can be absolutely terrific!

    I'm waiting for the humming birds to return...

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  3. I prefer to use good ole standby Bisquick. I've come to notice though for better waffles you need to let the batter sit for a good 7-10 minutes after mixing before you use it.

    I also do that with my pancakes. It makes them really rise quite nicely for some odd reason.

    Enjoy those new gadgets!

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  4. Rob, they are a favourite of mine too! I love how you can usually hear them before you see them. Cute birds. :)

    Sayre, the instructions with the waffle iron were actually for a sandwich toaster. Which wasn't helpful really! If it wasn't for the internet I'd have no idea what to use in my waffle mix. Guess that's what happens when you pay £15 for a waffle iron. :/
    Humming birds?? Now I'm horribly jealous.

    Hi Irishcoffeehouse, welcome! I do have a packet of Bisquick in the cupboard that my friend in Georgia sent me (along with cornbread mix and quick grits, yum) - didn't realise that you could use it for waffles. I'll have to try that.

    Never seen any mixes like that here in the UK though. Guess waffles/biscuits/cornbread/grits are too American for us brits!

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