A Few Quick Notes 245

-Today, like yesterday, has been overcast and rainy. Fortunately, thanks to the internet, I haven't had to head out into the rain all that much. Hopefully things will clear up in the very near future, though I am not sure that that is likely.

-For some reason, at about 4:00 PM yesterday afternoon I decided that I would make a sticky toffee sponge pudding. As I had never made one of these before, nor had I even ever seen a recipe I had to do a little research before I got started.

At first I was a little thrown off when I found that several of the recipes that I found called for dates, something I am hesitant to use when cooking. Anyway, after seeing enough recipes with dates I got the sense that they were likely a key component of the recipe (I was convinced when I saw that the BBC recipe had dates).

The recipe that I settled on was quite straight forward, and required both dates a self-rising flour, two things that I neither own nor typically use when baking. This meant that I had to take a trip over to the local grocery store. Once there, and while in the British mood, I noticed that they had Marmite, which I ended up purchasing rather impulsively.

Soon after returning to the apartment I started chopping the dates. It is likely that I haven't quite figured out the optimal method yet as it took me about 20 minutes to chop a cup of dates. It seems that this took much longer than it should have.

Fortunately the second unfamiliar ingredient worked out well and didn't cause any further delays.

The final result was quite passable. Surprisingly, I think that it might even taste better today, presumably because the sauce has had an extra twenty-four hours to soak into the pudding. On the other hand, it wasn't quite like Heinz (canned) Sticky Toffee Sponge Pudding.

-Last night I started watching Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Something that I found rather funny, given the context of the story, is that Mr. Smith was appointed to Senate rather than elected. Rather ironic that the saviour of democracy is an unelected appointee.



-Yesterday I got a call from the Dal library about a request for an article that I had placed online. During the course of the phone call I ended up asking a question about a related service. While looking at the Dal Library website the employee had a very hard time finding the appropriate link, and she knew what she was looking for. Imagine what those less familiar with the site think when encounter it for the first time?

-The beans and radishes in the living room are looking quite bad. I imagine that this is likely related to both age and a reduced access to light. It is likely that in the next few days I will have to compost them.

Shockingly, the beans in my room seem to be in slightly better condition. Just as of a day or so ago I noticed that a few of them now have a few beans, which is nice. Hopefully they end up developing to full size.