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Saturday 28 July 2012

Sepia Saturday 136; Bikes;

Cricket, basketball. baseball etc;  are anathema  for me, never enjoyed games like this. In younger years, my girlfriends used to go and watch the local soccer match, but that was just to watch the boys!  I could not think of anything more boring to go and watch any games.
I like bikes, but would not watch " the tours"! My middle daughter is a great bike enthusiast; when ever possible she rides her bike.


This time I let the colour photos to do the talking, because I think with this modern gear and bikes Sepia would not suit.



Here she is, left,  on a charity ride.


I think this is in Western Australia; she cycled with a group from Brooms to Perth.
Next year is a bigger tour on the books, about 6 weeks cycling. As she is as enthusiastic about her work as about cycling her CEO gave her two extra weeks holidays...for the trip.


Her bikes are part of her car!


There are also moments like this one...



It must have been so much fun!

Penny-farthing, high wheel, high wheeler, and ordinary are all terms used to describe a type of bicycle with a large front wheel and a much smaller rear wheel that was popular after the boneshaker, until the development of the safety bicycle, in the 1880s
They were the first machines to be called "bicycles.
Although they are now most commonly known as "penny-farthings", this term was probably not used until they were nearly outdated; the first recorded print reference is 1891 in Bicycling News. It comes from the British penny and farthing coins, one much larger than the other, so that the side view resembles a penny leading a farthing. For most of their reign, they were simply known as "bicycles". In the late 1890s, the retronym "ordinary" began to be used, to distinguish them from the emerging safety bicycles and this term or Hi-wheel (and variants) is preferred by many modern enthusiasts
About 1870, James Starley, described as the father of the bicycle industry, and others began producing bicycles based on the French boneshaker but with front wheels of increasing size,[ because larger front wheels, up to 1.5 m (60 in) in diameter, enabled higher speeds on bicycles limited to direct drive. In 1878, Albert Pope began manufacturing the Columbia bicycle outside of Boston, starting their two-decade heyday in America.[
Although the trend was short-lived, the penny-farthing became a symbol of the late Victorian era. Its popularity also coincided with the birth of cycling as a sport.



Not bad for an outing!

Penny Farthing  courtesy Wikipedia.

Please go and enjoy Sepia Saturday   



Friday 27 July 2012

Friday; Bookshelf;



Dancing to the Flute by Manisha Jolie Amin

With all the energy and colour of India and its people.  A magical heartwarming story of joys and sorrows, the nature of friendship and astonishing powers of music.

From the second last page; 
As he played the sound spoke of the sun and summer, the spirit of the river....

Like it says at the beginning, an entrancing novel of life, music and dreams.

Thoroughly enjoyable to read.




Thursday 26 July 2012

Thursday; yummy;

Linzer/Home;



Yesterday I spend all morning cleaning and pruning a small section  under the Jacaranda tree; it is overgrown  with  Bromeliads and a huge native  plant.  Time to bring order to this plot. I want to replant it, with daylilies. Around lunch time it started to drizzle.  After physical work it is a good time to bake something!
I made a  Linzer Pastry,  which is made from  ground Almonds and Raspberry or other jams and nuts. The recipe in variations is available at many cooking websites,  search under

 
Linzer Torte

Linzer Torte

The "Linzer Torte" is considered the oldest known cake in the world. It was already mentioned by name as early as 1653. Yet who named or invented the cake will always remain a mystery. The oldest recipe is from a cookbook that is over 350 years old: "Book of All Kinds of Home-Made Things, Such as Sweet Dishes, Spices, Cakes and also Every Kind of Fruit and Other Good and Useful Things, 

Even at this early date, the cookbook already included four different recipes for the Linzer Torte / Linzer Pastry. This is yet more proof for how generally popular and widely known the cake was already in the Baroque period!

These old recipes mostly differ from more recent ones in that the dough was always prepared with clarified butter with a stick of butter kneaded into it. In addition, the cake was prepared as a "bowl cake", meaning that it was baked in a (silver) bowl – similar to pies today – with a fruit filling and strips of dough on top. Spices are only called for once and this in the form of a "well seasoned grid of dough". Almonds were included in every recipe.

A Recipe for "Original Linzer Torte":

150 g butter
250 g flour (700)
150 g powdered sugar
100 g roasted hazelnuts
1 egg
Spices (vanilla, lemon, cinnamon, powdered cloves)
10 g baking powder
300 g red current jam

Knead the butter and sugar together. Knead in the flour sifted together with the baking powder, add nuts, egg and spices.
Chill the dough for some time, then take it out of the refrigerator and divide it into quarters. Roll out three quarters of the dough to a thickness of about 1,5 cm (for a 22 cm baking pan), cover it with red current jam. Shape the remaining dough into strips and lay them on top of the jam as a grid and around the edge. Daub with egg, sprinkle sliced almonds around the edge.
Bake for 40-45 minutes at about 180 degrees Celsius. 
Recipe courtesy Linz Tourism.



©Photo/Text Ts

Tuesday 24 July 2012

Tuesday; Poetry;

Petunia/my garden;

A Song 

ON a summer's day as I sat by a stream,
A dainty maid came by,
And she blessed my sight like a rosy dream,
And left me there to sigh, to sigh,
And left me there to sigh, to sigh.
On another day as I sat by the stream,
This maiden paused a while,
Then I made me bold as I told my dream,
She heard it with a smile, a smile,
She heard it with a smile, a smile.
Oh, the months have fled and the autumn's red,
The maid no more goes by;
For my dream came true and the maid I wed,
And now no more I sigh, I sigh,
And now no more I sigh. 
Paul Laurence Dunbar