I don’t actually keep foil on my own oven floor, by the way. All spills carbonise in the heat of the Aga and, before I had one, I used to clean my oven. However, if cooking something potentially messy on the rack, it’s a good idea. I do line the grill-pan with foil if I’m cooking something that’ll burn on though.*
A peplum* – it’s an extra decorative strip of material in the same fabric as the dress, which may be shaped or frilled, from the waist. It becomes fashionable every few years for no particular reason. This is no sort of description at all, so I put the dress on and have taken a few pictures to demonstrate, but it’s overcast today and they don’t show up too well. And yes, I did chuck the hanger on the floor and it’s visible in the background.
I’m plodding on with paperwork to give to my accountant today. Very tedious. Most of it was straightforward but there’s one account which I started halfway through the tax year and saved into monthly and I can’t be bothered to work out the interest, even if I’m capable of it. It’s negligible anyway, of course, at current rates. I’ll just send the info and let him work it out because he will do it on a calculator and I’ve never mastered calculators.**
I seem to have a wish to simplify at present and wear no jewellery at all now. Since I was given my first wristwatch – I don’t know at what age, 10 or 11 I suppose, I have never been entirely bare of accessories, but now it’s rare that I wear anything. I put on rings and a watch for the wedding last Saturday and sometimes have on a necklace but normally, nothing. I wear little makeup, simple clothes. I seem to have felt that life is too complicated for too long and yet I absolutely fight boredom, routine or having too little to do, so maybe this is a way of compensation. A pretty silly one really, but it’s harmless, after all.
I’m going to be away quite a lot this autumn and when I’m home, there will be a lot to catch up on. Blogging may be irregular for a while (or it may not, who knows?) but I’ll be about, one way or another.
*Picked up from yesterday’s comments.
**Huzzah! Found the correct info. We’re talking about tax on less than £20, such are the interest rates at present (and the amount of money I’m presently saving).
Thanks for the peplum pix and clarification.
If I am baking something that might spill over in the oven, I put a jelly roll pan on the rack below .
But… then you have to wash it up! Although it saves burnt-on oven gubbins, much better than that. We call them Swiss Roll tins, btw, though I think jelly roll pan is rather jolly.
I know that thing called “peplum” (but have no German translation for it; what I find a bit unnerving, because I liked Kostümkunde; naturally I am hopeless with a needle), but have no clue what “jelly roll” or “Swiss roll” means – except for Jelly Roll Morton, of course.
You make a fatless sponge cake mixture – that is, whisk flour, eggs and sugar – put it in a rectangular baking tin about 25mm x 15mm. Bake it, then turn it out onto a piece of sugared paper. Spread jam over it, roll it up and eat when cooled, cut into slices. You roll it from a short end. It’s very good. Jelly is American for jam, though we do use the word for jam that’s had all the pips sieved out. Usually, jelly is a set fruit juice and gelatine dessert that Americans call jello.
I understand. Jam is Marmelade in German. Including all fruits, especially the red ones – as I understand the English “marmalade” is (mostly) yellow (oranges etc – and thus a bit bitter. My mother loved it, I can not stand it.) When you sieve out all pips etc. you make a “Gelee”, but not from “Gelatine” (what leads us to the animal kingdom) but Pektin, what is found in fruits. All the same word “Gelèe” or “Jello” et al. describing a certain state of things, “Sulz” or “Sülze” in German.
The dough is easy enough – the sugared paper is cool!
Exactly, Mago, we understand each other.
Marmalade is specifically made from bitter Seville oranges, which are inedible raw and only in season for a few weeks in January and February. I love it too, especially the peel, which is the least sweet part.
CARAMBA!
“James Keiller & Sons LTD, Dundee, Orange Marmalade”. Still sits on my desk.
I could not touch it. I remember that you wrote about oranges and their preparations before – and that I did not quite get it and always felt that it would be terribly bitter to taste the result.
By the way – the costume is very “streng”, is it also so “hochgeschlossen” – “high necked” the dictionary says – on the back? Its absolutely cool calm connected, bullet proof and all – professional: I just wonder about the back.
I am sorry, this may be considered too – too – but I think it’s not, I do not believe that you get me wrong: You wear it with a short jacket, a Spencer or something? TA – I feel like being kicked out any second now.
And don’t mention the shoes … 🙂
It is bitter, but also sweet. I like the combination.
That is exactly the impression I wanted to give. I planned to wear something formal and business-like the first day and bright pink the second day, to alter everyone’s perception. In fact, the dress is not so severe but you can’t see the white spots in the picture. It has a rounded neckline front and back, higher at the back. I was wearing high heeled sandals. I haven’t found the perfect jacket to wear with it yet, I need to carry on looking.
“but there’s one account which I started halfway through the tax year and saved into monthly and I can’t be bothered to work out the interest, “
Can’t you get your banks to automatically send you tax certificates in April every year for the preceding (tax) year?
You don’t actually pay tax on interest until it is received, even if it accruing invisibly all the time. If it’s paid annually (eg on account opening date, or on a set date), then you only pay interest after it’s received, so there should never be any need to do a calculator sum on a part-year.
And, isn’t your interest taxed at source? If so, you shouldn’t need to declare it at all, surely – unless you pay higher or highest rate tax (which I seem to remember you’ve mentioned before that you don’t)? *utterly confused*
I shouldn’t worry about it, darling, if I don’t need to pay anything the accountant will tell me so, that’s what I pay him for. I only have it there for the purpose of having enough ready money to pay my tax and accountant’s bills, but I didn’t actually need it last time so it’s built up a bit. We’re still talking about a minute amount of interest – I said less than £20 but it’s actually less than £15.