sun!

[erastes]

the beauty of the conservatory at dad’s is that you get the natural light and take advantage of days like these, cold and very bright. It would be unbearable to sit in the dark house all day.

Had good feedback about I Knew Him from a writer whose word I trust implicitly—I get crisis of faith moments (I’m sure you’ve noticed, :D ) and she said she liked it with a few reservations—which is perfectly valid and I agree with everything she said. I was playing a few games with the book, and one of them isn’t really working, so I’ll probably ditch it. It’s only the second person to have read it in the state its in at the moment, and although beta number 1 says it’s good, I doubt myself hugely. This is not a cry for reassurance so don’t, please, just to possibly put the insecurity out there, so others might realise they aren’t the only ones.

I’ve tried to make a rice pudding today – one of Dad’s favourites and something I’d rather be tortured than eat myself – and it’s not going very well. It has dried out once already, so added a heap more milk, then realised I hadn’t added nutmeg – but we’ll see what happens. Dad likes desserts, I don’t all that much – but I have been making crumbles recently for him. Mum always made him a dessert and I never do – and rice pudding was one of her masterpieces. I’m not going to measure up at ALL in that regard, I’m afraid. It should be the easiest dessert in the world. Pudding Rice, sugar, nutmeg, water, butter – bake slowly for 2 hours. Obviously too easy for me!  or not easy enough…

 

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Comments

[stevie-carroll.livejournal.com]

I almost ruined a saucepan during my first year at uni by trying to make rice pudding.

Embarrassingly I was trying to remove all the burnt-on bits when a woman I had a crush on wandered into the kitchen to make a cup of tea for one of my flatmates (the pair of them later ran away to Holland for a year then were still together long enough when they got back to do a major spring clean of my flat in return for crash space).

So, yes, rice pudding: potentially traumatic.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

LOL - this looked fabulous - but it was an hour too early - lovely browned skin and the rice wasn't cooked. I think it will be edible - it tasted nice, but was a bit dry - but dad will scoff it anyway!

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

Woot for getting some sun when it's been rainy and dark!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Been lovely up here! Hurrah!

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

Shouldn't rice pudding have milk in it? I cook my rice in milk but don't add the butter.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

yes, mentioned the milk above - the butter helps to give the nice brown crust apparently.

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

Ah, sorry! I'm just back from Wychurst where I spent the afternoon digging rocks out of the ground with my gloved hands, so I'm even less observant now than usual :)

[erastes.livejournal.com]

thankyou dear - LOL - I'm happy to say that I never have that level of crisis of confidence. It's horribly big headed to say but while I sometimes think that a section of prose is pedestrian tripe, I never think i'll ditch anything - i can't bear to ditch anything (hence the two odd sections at the end which I wrote and haven't put them anywhere yet. I think the problem with me is that "nothing much" has happened other than setting up what needs to happen in the last third of the book - and the pace needs to change quite drastically.

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

My wife uses condensed milk in rice pudding, no butter, and always starts with cooked rice... she doesn't usually bake it at all. But I imagine there are probably dozens of different recipes with that name. (You didn't mention milk in the ingredients list you posted, just that you added it later... never heard of that variation.)

It sounds like you're at Alex's Step 6 in the WIP...

“I was really enjoying it at first, but now I’m starting to think it’s a pile of crap. I think I started wrong/need to throw out what I’ve done so far and start again/need to edit these first five chapters, because I can’t bear to go on while I know the writing is so poor.”

Probably better to finish first and then decide. You haven't written crap yet.

[tiggothy.livejournal.com]

Sadly, I can't remember the best recipe I ever had for rice pudding (all I can remember is that you added 1/4 pint cream 1/2 hour before the end, and the total cooking time was 3-4 hours at the bottom of a gas oven) as I learned it by heart, never wrote it down, and then didn't make rice pudding for about 5 years, during which time I forgot it... There's an ok one in one of our recipe books, but I find I prefer it a day or two later, when it's a bit less milky. Makes a great breakfast (a bit like a variation on porridge :-)

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I added a load more milk today and baked it again, and it still was a bit dry, so the liquid is certainly a problem - I think my mother used to use cream - but like you, she didn't write down her best recipes either!! there's her chrstmas cake, gone forever!!!