"I feel a strong persuasion, this morning, that I shall soon be abroad"

I have booked my tickets for travelling to the UK!! I leave in less than a month and will be there until the end of January. I am half apprehension, half excitement, I hope all goes well as a lot rides on the trips success. I had been putting off booking the tickets and thinking about the trip for weeks, but now I have bitten the bullet, I hope it will be alright. I will miss Christmas and my birthday as well as an Opera and two plays. Though I will spend it with my Nana, I am particularly sad about Christmas, as I have really gotten into it the cooking side of things, and will miss baking and cooking all the Christmas food. On the upside, my cousin has offered to take me to the Lake District for four days which is very exciting! I will have to take appropriate reading material. Now if only I had previously met, been proposed to and rejected a wealthy member of the gentry so that I could fall in love with them and subsequently marry them, the trip would be even more exciting!

In baking news, I made Mars bar chocolate Crackles yesterday and the lightest scones I have ever tasted today. The crackles were from the woman's weekly cupcake book and the scones from Domestic Goddess. I followed Nigella's suggestion and ate them with cream and treacle and was overwhelmed by how good that tasted!!

HH

Occasionally forming into a little knot of the navy

Things are a moving along very slowly here. I did get a good bit of work done last friday and made a relatively exciting discovery. My Captain, who I have written about before, knew Jane Austen's brothers and went to the Naval Academy with Charles. It was there all along in Brian Southam's Jane Austen and the Navy, and I just looked it up by chance when adding a bit about Jane Austen to my chapter. I found this very exciting, and though no one else really did, it didn't matter. It is little things like this that keeps me going at times.


I have however been baking my heart out, particularly on Sunday when we had high(ish) tea for a friends birthday. I made Potato Cakes with Smoked Salmon (from Nigella Express), Caramelized Onion and Feta Tarts, Mini-Lamington Fairy Cakes (Women's Weekly cupcake book) and Mini-strawberry shortcakes (Domestic Goddess). All worked really well, I would like to try the strawberry shortcakes at their full size and the Potato Cakes with Smoked Salmon were great, Nigella used instant mash in the cakes so they were nice and light and delicious.

HH

the obstinacy which could resist such arguments as these

Production levels here are still remarkably low much to my disgust, though I seem to be able to fit in everything else, other than my thesis! Not the way it should be and I will seek to address that soon.

I had a meeting with my associate supervisor, now main supervisor, and he put me on the spot by asking me straight out, what my argument was! However I managed to rally and told him something about how family was an important, guiding force that was competing with patriotism and the nation. He was quite pleased with that, and pronounced it to be an argument, and more importantly not mad!! He is quite young, though already slightly jaded with the system which leads him to have interesting insights into the whole research progress. He said new ideas or arguments are either wrong, potentially right and will shake things up, or completely mad. Mine, thankfully he feels falls in the middle category. Excellent, I am one up on the week!

In other unrelated news, I went to the Swans match last night which was rubbish! Poor effort from the red and the white I must say.

Also I am watching North and South today, so in honour of that and Mr Thornton's long association with Lint Intense Orange Chocolate (now Orange Intense) I made some 'Intense Orange' Chocolate Shortbread for the occasion.

HH

the credit of inspiring such reflections

Things are at a bit of a standstill here. With my supervisor gone, I have lost a lot of motivation but I hope this has changed after a weekend in Tasmania for a masterclass. Though so far, not yet. Perhaps change comes slowly. Another funding knock back has put a spanner in the works little, and while I didn't let my self hope for this one as I did the last one it is still a kick in the teeth. Perhaps the funding universe is trying to tell me something? I hope not.

I feel best when cooking, which doesn't help the thesis or my hopes to 'obviously lose 20 pounds'. Inspired by foodycats Blackberry Jelly I made Nigella's Slut-red Raspberries in Chardonnay Jellythe other weekend, which was amazing, delicious. I am now thinking how I can make a pimms and lemonade jelly as I think that would be amazing.

"she must have betrayed her emotion in some unpardonable excess"

I haven't had a chance to blog on here for almost a month, which is really very slack of me. I have been busy with the PhD however, a lot of sitting and starring at the computer, but also a lot of work, which is a nice change for me. I got my chapter to my supervisor on time, and she was very pleased with it. My Captain's letters proved to be amazingly rich, (and lovely!) and now I am filling in the gaps, and developing and expanding. I do however think I love this Captain. His letters are so wonderfully flirtatious and he has a very strong character and presence. He was so loyal to his family and his poor wife and really did battle with his sense of duty to the nation and his desire to be with his family. Perhaps I should write a book, or a adapt his story into a mini series or movie. I am sure the BBC would take it on. For casting, I am not sure. The Captain is a red head, so the actor would need be able to pull that off. I have been throwing the idea around with some friends, and we thought Paul Bettany (in light of Master and Commander) or Rupert Penry Jones (in light of Persuasion). I think Damian Lewis might be able to do it too, but he still freaks me out a little from his portrayal of Soames in the Forsyth Saga. These of course are all future considerations, which are mere pipe dreams, but I can really imagine it as a mini series, a good bonnet drama with a strong nautical theme, a little URST, and a bit of swashbuckling action.


However I must not get too caught up with these historical figures as sentiment will only cloud my judgement as to what is interesting and worth writing about and what makes me well up with tears because I am the world's biggest softie!

MP sent the following comic to me. It is from http://beatonna.livejournal.com/ and I thought it was only appropriate to share it here, and now, when I am trying to distance emotions from history.

HH

Lemon Meringue Cake - Recipie

As promised the Lemon Meringue Cake from Nigella's Feast.

125g very soft unsalted butter
4 eggs, separated
300g plus 1 teaspoon caster sugar
100g plain flour
25g cornflour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
zest of 1 lemon
4 teaspoons lemon Juice
2 teaspoons milk
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
150 ml double or whipping cream
150g good quality lemon curd.

Preheat the oven to 200'c or 180 fan forced. Line & butter two 21 cm sandwich tins.
Mix the egg yolks, 100g of the sugar, the butter, flour, cornflour, baking powder, bicarb, and lemon zest in a processor. Add the lemon juice and milk and process again.
Divide the mixture between the prepared tins. You will think you don't even have enough to cover the bottom of the tins, but don't panic. Spread calmly with a rubber spatula until smooth.
Whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar until peaks form and then slowly whisk in 200g of sugar. Divide the whisked whites between the two sponge-filled tins. Spread one flat with a spatula and make peaks in the other. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon sugar over the peaks. Put tins in the over for 20-25 minutes.
With a cake tester, pierce the cake that has the flat meringue, no sponge should be on the tester. (Meringue will fall back once you take it from the oven). Remove both tins and leave cake to cool completely in them on a wire rack.
Unmould the flat-topped one onto a cake stand or plate, meringue side down. Whip cream until thick. Spread sponge side with lemon curd then cream. Top with second cake,the peaked meringue uppermost.

HH

" though perfectly convinced of the fact, it is yet almost incredible to myself"

I have had a reasonably good week with research and reading for my chapter. I feel I am starting to understand the Captain whom I am writing on, and have a sense of his family and the world around him. I read some great material, which to me is perfect, completely summing up what I have been thinking and trying to articulate. In one letter to his wife lamenting his time away from home and his desire to do something honourable so he can discharge his duty and return to his wife he writes; "But do not be alarmed, my dearest L___; ambition will not overcome my love". This tiny phrase almost had me jumping up and down. It is what I have been trying to articulate to my supervisor and myself for months, and here it is, written and waiting. I know I have to take this with a grain of salt, and that he was writing in a style to comfort his wife, but it is perfect all the same! So good in fact, I am worried it is too good to be true.

I realise that I am slowly turning into a kooky historian who gets overly excited about the smallest things. I am currently building up my supply of quirky earrings and clothes so that when the transformation is complete, I will be ready. I do apologise for my rambling.

To make up for it, I made a cake. Although FatCouriers services have been employed, their record for delivery stands against them. I made a Lemon Meringue Cake today, lemon curd and all. I almost lost the top when I was carrying it to the table as I hadn't pushed it down enough and the curd was a bit slippery. Disaster was thankfully averted.

HH