Day 13 - Master Baker

Today I baked. I am not good at baking. I once tried to make my little sister's 21st birthday cake.  It was an ambitious affair which involved 21 layers in the shape of a dinosaur - she is a fan.  However, after 18 eggs and only one, very large *single layer* I had to admit defeat. It was a sad day - I cried.  However, I am buoyed by recent culinary conquests so I thought I would have another crack at it.

I decided to go down the cookie route because really how hard can it be?  I mixed, I kneaded, and formed 16 balls of chocolate chip batter.  Each was squashed into a small round shape and popped into the oven for 12 minutes. All should have been well, however, I had not anticipated the balls spreading as they cooked, so what I ended up with was almost a sheet of cookie.  Ghastly school girl error. I had to divvy them into 16 square shapes and leave to cool.  Surprisingly they were warm and chewy and actually quite tasty, especially with a cool glass of milk.

Homemade Cookies & Milk

Today also marked the consumption of burgers and fries at a diner in Camden. Gerry had another rare day off, Monsieur, with these days off, you are really spoiling us, and after our drinking hijinks last night we shuffled slightly slower than normal over to Camden Market to scope out a new bag for me and new earrings for her.  It really was a traipse due to a terrible overland rail service that thwarted us initially and we had to resort to tube and bus. However, we got there in the end and immediately headed to The Diner. We ordered a couple of Modelo beers with burgers and fries. Gerry opted for a fish burger and wet fries while I stayed safe with a cheese burger.  Service was prompt and friendly and the food pretty good.  Not gourmet by any means and the fries weren't nearly as good as they could have been but it was comfort food which sated our hunger and slight hangover. Fed and beered we set off for the Lock and Stable Markets, where we managed to pick Gerry up some nice new earrings. I struck out on a new bag as nothing grabbed me as much as my current legendary Mans Bag.  It will live to see another day before replacement.

With the sun heading south we took to the bus and made our way home.  Dinner was another quick stir fry, tasty but not much to write home about.  It does make me realise though that when I'm tired and can't be bothered there are still dishes that take less time than a microwave meal.  It's a good lesson I should remember more often because its often all too easy to fall prey to the lure of takeaways or readymade meals.  Right off to bed as the eyelids are drooping.