Who Needs Gadgets?

I recently be-moaned the loss of my food processor because of the failure of a crucial but tiny and cheap component.  So when I had to make a base for a cheesecake for a lunch to which I have been invited on Sunday I was rather flummoxed.  I use finely chopped digestive biscuits and ginger nuts in the base.  The old way would have been to crush them in a bag with a rolling pin but I don't have a rolling pin and Wendy has no idea where hers is after the re-organisation and new kitchen at The House.  I couldn't find a suitable hitting implement until I came upon my knife steel.  Wow.  I'll never bother using a food processor again!  Quick, effective and no washing up afterwards.  Perhaps I should review my use of gadgets in other areas too.

Brain-farts

I know that my friend Steve, my nephew Richard and possibly my nephew-in-law-to-be (can you have a nephew-in-law?) will know the origin of the heading which is very apt for me today.

Playing a game (Croquet of course and for the information of those who know nothing about Croquet, in Singles each player uses two balls) the blue ball lay in front of the hoop with black a couple of feet away and red and yellow behind the hoop. Somehow I managed to have a brain-fart at that moment and in a blind flash of misguided inspiration stop-shotted blue with my black so that blue ended at the other end of the lawn out of contention. The look on my opponent's face made me think something was not altogether as it should have been. The fact that she wasn't going after the ball alerted me even further to some possible calamity. There is something quite horrible in the realisation that your own ball (blue was my ball!) which was lying in a position to run the hoop was now the full length of the lawn away.

That was not, however, to be my last brain-fart of the day. When I arrived home I had to make a cheesecake to take as a plate to Croquet. Having remembered to put more butter in the base to make it less crumbly I made the cheese mixture. As I whisked it it seemed rather stiff and un-yielding compared with usual but I put that down to the fact that I'd used a different Philadelphia Cream Cheese. After I spooned it onto the base and put it in the fridge I had the terrible realisation that I hadn't put the 8 oz of caster sugar into it. Fortunately the base had hardened sufficiently to allow the mixture to be taken off and re-made.

The rest of the evening passed without further incident.