…well, almost. I’d forgotten to buy sugar and milk, but found some sugar at home; and the powdered milk had gone bad so I subbed powdered buttermilk (at 1/3 cup of this ingredient it’s not that critical a sub)—
The consistency is that of one large somewhat soupy cookie. I forgot to say sift the flour, and did, and that may have made a diff between soupy and stiff. It wouldn’t spread to the edges of the cake pan, cold, but once baking it rose nicely as a roughly 2″ sheet cake.
Icing went well, except the milk, as aforesaid, and the fact I thought I might crack my old measuring cup, which has seen a lot of knocks, by pouring boiling sugar into it, so I went the other way and poured powdered sugar into the boiling brown sugar—wrong. I then spent a while beating heck out of it getting lumps out and may have caused a mild grittiness to the icing (crystallization due to delay in pouring and setting, also the beating)—
I’ve forgotten what fun cooking is, however, especially on a recipe I haven’t done for fifty-five years. And I never have done the icing part. Adventures, adventures. I love watching the chef-reality-shows, because they teach so much technique…but because I’m always on a diet I almost never get to actually use what I learn.
Anyway, we’re going to have cake. Lots of cake. With brown sugar icing.
And we’re of the opening-Christmas-in-the-morning bent. I think I might thaw some real bacon. Or maybe stir up some pancakes. When we bust a diet we do it with complete sincerity!
We’ll be back to the diet bit for at least a week!
A merry christmas to you and everyone who hangs out here as well.
Merry Christmas all! I hope the cake taste good.
Very Merry Christmas to you and Jane, Efanor and Ysabel, and to all who participate here!
The cake tastes very good! Could’ve gone thinner with the icing—I remember now: you pour it on as a liquid, and I got it a little thick. But yum!
Ho Ho Ho from Christmas past to all from Schmooze and Bounder
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12814623@N03/5289229538/
What time will you be serving the bacon?
Hmm, did I buy bacon?
My grandmother’s cat is a bit odd. It’s raining and cold, in the 40’s, but he’s gone out, unless he’s hiding. You wouldn’t catch ME out in the freezing rain for long. But he patrols the neighborhood and visits others (the scamp). Hoping he’ll be back in soon. he’s no fool, so I won’t worry overmuch, but, ah well, alien as feline be.
Hey there, I am so new to this site, so I apologise if this comment is totally in the wrong category. I was hoping to write an email to you directly as I am a brand new fan of your work, but this was the only place I could find were I could actually say something.
To be very to the point, I LOVE YOUR WORK!!! I just started reading Cuckoo’s Egg yesterday and finished it all in one day and already I can’t wait till the library opens up again so that I can go and get some more books. Your writing is fantastic and I haven’t read many in that style. Its very unique and engaging and had me riveted to the pages from start to finish!
The only thing that dimmed my happiness was when I found out that Cuckoo’s Egg was a stand alone story. When I finished reading it still left me with the feel that there should be at least a second book to finish it up, because I am just dying to know what happens next to Thorn! I was so worried about him throughout the entire story and hoping that he would find some more humans. To be left hanging and wondering at the end was heartbreaking. I must say that I have really grown attached to him over the course of this book. *shuffles feet* I know that you probably hear this all the time, but is there any chance that a second book could be made to continue the story? Pleassssee! I know that you are very busy with other books, but I just couldn’t help but ask. If you ever have the time and the desire that is.
Its just that its such a unique story! I’ve read so many stories from the human perspective where the aliens were always so high-tech and all that, so to read something from the point of view of the aliens was absolutely fascinating! I would just die of happiness if you were to write a second Cuckoo’s Egg book to continue the story of Thorn.
I know you’re busy so I don’t know if you will ever get this, but in case you do, as a fan to the author, allow me to beg humbly for another book! 😀
Hi snakesNladders,
I LOVE Cuckoo’s Egg also — it’s one of my very favorites. Also don’t miss Serpent’s Reach — it’s another stand-alone. Don’t miss it!
If you haven’t been to Closed Circle yet you’ll want to check it out. No need to wait for the library to reopen: download an eBook onto your computer & read away!
http://www.closed-circle.net/
awesome! I’ll do that! Thanks so much!
Excellent, I loved “Cuckoo’s Egg” too! Do I hear CAN’T?
Naw. I also really loved the book this ‘blog is named for: “Wave Without a Shore,” and I hope more people will read that as well. If they can find it…
Happy Christmas everyone, or Solstice or OMG the list! The List!!! I’m a Solsticier meself…
Also, three Cheers for BACON! Since I cannot have cake…
@Snakes
Since you liked Cuckoo’s egg, follow OSG’s advice then read the Morgaine trilogy, the Chanur series, the Hammerfall duo and then the Foreigner series. Those are the anthropological and linguistic alien series. My favorites, by the way. Then if you still have a craving for Cherryh’s writing, shift over to the A/U universe and read about human exploration of space and some of the directions culture goes there. Interesting books. I have scarcely read a cherryh work that didn’t like or want to spend my free time in.
I recommend the “Faded Sun” trilogy as well. Even though it is part of the A/U universe, it’s all about the Mri. To me, the most anthropoid of CJ’s ET’s, the Atevi and Mri seem more alien than the ones that aren’t even humanoid. Their appearance and actions are superficially Human; but making that assumption has triggered interspecies warfare because their instincts and motives behind those everyday behaviors are anything but human.
It is analogous to the perceived differences between a draft animal, a steam locomotive, and a diesel-electric. Even though they all provide transportation, one wouldn’t even think of the animal as being remotely related to the locomotives. On the other hand, the engineer of a steam or diesel-electric locomotive who arrogantly assumed that he was automatically qualified to operate the other engine, could easily cause a completely ruin the locomotive, catastrophically in the case of the steam locomotive. Form follows function, but the bits under the hood can be all over the map.
For the altitude at which I live (and bake) I should have added more applesauce. The taste was great but the cake texture was too crumbly. Still and all, an excellent cake, and one I will make again. Relatives sent high praise. Thanks.
Oh, great! I’m glad they enjoyed it. I’ll bet more applesauce would have done it. Proper batter consistency—note it down, is very much like extremely gooey cookie dough: there’s so much of nuts and raisins and such in it, compared to most cakes, it doesn’t pour like a cake. In some ways it resembles the way fruit cake pours—and I’ll bet you could add fruits like figs and dates without harming the taste at all! —or reducing the calories! I have no way of knowing how old the recipe actually is, but cakes with nuts and raisins outweighing the flour involved come from Italy, from Germany, from England, and who knows, may have figured in Charlemagne’s court. At very least, it could date from Colonial times.