Monday 29 October 2012

Puny Egg Slicers

I recently replaced a decrepit egg slicer, only to find that the replacement was too small to cope with an egg - the outer regions of the egg bulge out around the sides of the slicer so the slices are joined together at the edges.

I've taken my tape measure to several shops selling kitchen ware, without finding a larger instrument.

I wonder if those who design such gadgets ever use them.

I thought I'd published this more than a week ago, but have just found it was saved only as a 'draft'.


A 25 Hour Day

On Sunday, when we altered the clocks, I spent the extra hour in bed.

It did me good. I felt much more alert than usual and made great inroads into the sorting of accumulated papers.

If only there could be 25 hours in every day!

Slowing down the earth to lengthen the day could not be done quickly; the quantity of rotational kinetic energy liberated would be enormous, so if there were an easy way to convert it to electricity we might solve our energy problems for a while.


Sunday 28 October 2012

The Tyrany of Paper

I've grown used to emails. I can sort them, and search through them for information.

Yet I still have to deal with paper.

 There are guarantees, receipts, instruction booklets, statements of account. I need to keep many of  them, (Inland Revenue requires one to keep documents for 7 years) yet I can think of no satisfactory way of filing them. Files get filled to overflowing, and there is no easy way to search for information.

This afternoon I spent more than three hours sorting through heaps of paper to reduce the disorder.

Perhaps paper could be taxed.




Sunday 7 October 2012

Laziness Succeeds: Making Lime Marmalade

I make my own marmalade, but find the long drawn out process of slicing the peel gives me cramp in the muscles of my hands.

I recently tried a new technique.

I bought some limes, started in the usual way, cutting them into halves, adding half their weight of water and cooking gently till soft. I then let the mixture cool, bisected the half limes into quarters to make it easier to remove pips - there were none, so I must have got sterile limes.

I then applied a hand held liquidiser to the mixture of  fruit, juice and water.

I heated that mixture to boiling, added its own weight of sugar in two instalments, heated to boiling, and then put the result into heated jars.

It set perfectly and tasted just like the lime marmalade I've made in the paste, without the aching hands.