Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Elections, Governments, Chocolate Kisses

It was fun, I really enjoyed my day at the elections and would do it again in a heartbeat. Mind you, I was very lucky because I was sitting next to the registration desk which was manned by someone who was a fun person to spend the day with (he said the same about me) so I guess that helped. There were also another couple from this apartment building doing poll clerk duty. Actually, as we left in the morning, there were two or three people also going to various poll booths to work, so Bluebird Apartments were pretty well represented. Also, the polling station where I was was the same one for the people of my building so I knew lots of the people coming in to vote. Some of them even discussed Avon orders with me (during an election??). Matt ended up at a different place. He was told a church, he ended up at a school and he said there were hundreds of voters, especially at the end of the day. He, silly bugger, stood up for every one so he is aching today, he really needs to remember he is not a youngster any more. He was even aching too much to go for his golf game today. I am tired, but not aching. I thought I would find the day way too long, but as we had a steady stream of voters all day, it made it more interesting. What was also fun was to see the pride on the faces of the young people who came in and registered to vote for the first time. I don't remember that day in my own life, it was such a looong time ago. Once it was all over, I decided not to wait for Matt to pick me up and walked back up the hill to home. I don't walk too well any more and it is a steep hill. I had to pause and sit on a wall for a few minutes, but I was actually quite impressed with myself for making it. Just as I turned into the drive, Matt did too. This morning I have to talk to the Pensions Office once again. I was promised a call back either today or tomorrow. I told them I would be unavailable all day yesterday, so, guess what, they called yesterday. I am so teed you can't imagine. What I am talking to them about has been going on for nearly a year now, if a public sector business operated as inefficiently they would be kaput in a very short space of time. It was a bit the same yesterday, people coming in with the voter cards where the husband had received his and the wife hadn't or vice versa. Others who had received nothing at all. People had tried to correct this situation but nothing had happened before the actual election. If you are interested and unaware of the results by the way, the Conservatives now have what they call a 'stronger minority'. So Stephen Harper is still our Prime Minister. I would say the Liberals need to change their leader, but that is my personal opinion of course. I know our local incumbent, who is Liberal, didn't make it this time around. I don't think she was defeated by a lot. Woodworth (C) got 16,480 and Redman (L) 16,141 so I would call that a close call. By the way, Gynie, I thoroughly enjoyed my sandwiches. However, I ended up eating chocolate and mini Hershey's Kisses provided by my neighbour at the other table. He wouldn't take no for an answer. I had never seen coloured Hershey's Kisses before, they are a bit like M & Ms or Smarties, but they have some navy blue ones which seems a very odd colour for a candy. They are chocolate in the middle so that was right up my street of course. Talking of chocolates, here is a really sinful Chocolate Cheesecake. The recipe is courtesy of my programme Living Cookbook - no I haven't made it and I am probably not likely to although I would love to try it. The picture shows a beautifully decorated cake, you could do this with the marzipan roses I talked about some weeks ago. (August 18, 2008). Belgian Chocolate And Baileys Cheesecake 100 g / 3-1/2 oz digestive biscuits (graham crackers) 50 g / 2 oz roasted and chopped hazelnuts 15 g / 1/2 oz dark brown soft sugar 60 g / 2-1/2 oz unsalted butter, melted 450 g / 1 lb Belgian chocolate 50 g / 2 oz caster sugar 350 g / 12 oz full-fat soft cheese 450 ml / 3/4 pt double cream, lightly whipped 40 ml / 1-1/2 fl oz Baileys Irish Cream liqueur 1 For the chocolate sauce: 2 g / 7 oz Belgian chocolate - 300 ml / 1/3 - 1/2 pt milk tbsp double cream g / 1 oz caster sugar g / 1 oz unsalted butter 3 Process the biscuits, hazelnuts, brown sugar and melted butter to make the biscuit base. Press onto the base of a 20.5cm (8") diameter spring-release tin. 4 Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Beat the sugar and cheese together until smooth then fold in the whipped cream. Fold this mixture into the melted chocolate then stir in the Baileys Irish Cream. Spoon into the tin and level the surface. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours until firm. 5 For the sauce, melt the chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. In a separate pan, combine 200 ml (1/2 pt) milk, the cream and sugar and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally. Whisking all the time, pour this onto the chocolate. Return the sauce to the pan and boil over a high heat for 15 seconds. If wished, add extra milk to thin the sauce. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the butter bit by bit. 6 Serve the cheesecake with the sauce or with crème fraiche and fruit. Servings: 16 (depends who is being served of course!) Have a great day.

6 comments:

  1. you're the devil with this chocolate cake and your sweets !!

    What will be changed with this Poll ?

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  2. Not a heck of a lot Gynie. They still don't have a majority government.

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  3. Glad that you enjoyed the day and had some fun company. What tickles me is how folk were discussing Avon orders with you. :D

    Shame that Matt is aching, but it is so nice that he stood up every time, we don't see that kind of courtesy as much as we used to. Manners make the man. :)

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  4. Turns out he isn't aching as much as he thought Ru, just slept a bit awkwardly in bed.

    I thought it was funny they were talking to me about Avon too.

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  5. Jo --

    You can't do this to me -- chocolate and Baileys cheesecake! I'm a sucker for cheesecake and I'm a sucker for chocolate and ... I'm a sucker for Bailyes, but the three together ...
    too much too much!

    Marilyn

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  6. Well, of course Marilyn, you don't have to make it. It does sound good though, might consider it for my next dinner party.

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