The pain of not moving

One of the reasons I don’t post very often (well, ain’t this post a lil’ funny then?) is that, quite honestly, sitting at the computer for hours is a largely uneventful and painful experience for me. I don’t have anything particularly wrong with me, but as a result of various incidents I find it painful to sit down for long periods of time.

You know that way you sit in bed and read a book? I have to have my bed in the corner and sit quite upright if I want to do that for anything longer than a couple of minutes. The bottom of my spine really doesn’t like prolonged pressure and it makes it difficult to do things people find relaxing, like have a bath or sit and read. I suppose it’s a good thing, because it means I don’t sit around all day (something I have tried rather unsuccessfully to do today, in fact) and I get more done. Walking around aimlessly is awfully boring. It’s good for thinking, but I prefer longer walks for that sort of thing.

Even now, as I type, it’s very uncomfortable. My neck doesn’t like it, my back doesn’t like it and my legs take about half an hour to recover every time I do this. Exams are a nightmare and I find that I break my concentration by moving around in the seat a lot. But there you go, no matter! I was, more than anything, wondering if anybody else feels like that. I find it very annoying; I have to go to a physiotherapist for the duration of exam season because the studying leaves me unable to sleep.

The main problem is either having had whiplash a while ago that was never fully resolved, or the ridiculously unbalanced amount of muscle I have on my back. The right side has about three times as much muscle as the left, due to my being lazy with sports training and not practising elements (of any sport that requires feet) both ways around. It sucks. I tell you (more like warn), don’t do it. It results in annoying cramps and rucksacks are never comfortable.

But enough! How were the cookies? I hope a couple of you tried to make them. I’d make them more often myself if it weren’t for the fact that I eat them all one after the other.

I always forget to mention, if anyone has questions about me, you can always send them here (as in, comment below). I’ll set up an email address for correspondence in the future.

Happy reading, folks!

Victoria Jane 

Très Apologétique (COOKIE RECIPE)

Hello, everybody! (Hi, Dr. Nick...)

Many, many apologies for not having been in touch earlier! I hope you're all well. I have news! And then, of course, I'll give you that recipe that I've been holding on to for so long (I bet you've all forgotten about it by now).

So, results day for A2 students was back on August 16th (last Thursday to the less formal readers out there, hey hey) and of course we were all pretty nervous. But, by some intervention (known by normal people as "revision" and "good fortune" I managed to get good enough results to get into university, and so did my boyfriend, and most of our friends (the ones who applied anyway). So it was a great day! I got an A* and two Bs, and the other half managed an astounding A*AAB combination. I'm very proud of both of us.

So, off to uni, to study Law LLB, and I've decided to take a qualifying Law degree, which means I'll be able to become a barrister or solicitor afterwards. I look forward to it. My lovely other half is off to study Computer Science, possibly filling his dreams of being a mole for the rest of his life (I imagine he'll do well at uni, I really do).

Right! On to the recipe! Now, this makes some lovely ginger cookies (or you can leave the ginger out and substitute other things, like cinnamon at Christmas) and I'll tell you all the tricks I've come up with to help make the process as successful as possible. Here we go!

Ingredients:

• 125g unsalted butter (I use Stork in a tub, it's fantastic)
• 100g dark muscovado sugar
• 4 tbsp golden syrup (Tate and Lyle!!)
• 325g self raising flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tsp ground ginger

Utensils:
Glass mixing bowl
Dessert spoon
Saucepan (medium-large, non-stick)
Oven, Hob
Scales
Teaspoon
Greaseproof paper
Baking sheet x 2
Fork

Method:

1) Put your saucepan on the scales. Put in the butter and sugar, and the golden syrup. It's better to use four dessert spoons of golden syrup; the cookies are still going to be quite moist, don't worry. Then, put this on the hob and let it all melt together on a medium-high heat (I use around a 7 out of 9). You can stir if you like, but if you leave it on there it'll bubble and stir itself as a result. Just don't let it boil over!! Turn the oven to 180 Celsius (350-355 Fahrenheit).

2) Take your flour, powdered ginger and the bicarbonate of soda and (after weighing the flour) mix them all in a bowl, using a fork. Once they are thoroughly mixed and the butter/sugar/syrup mix has bubbled for a minute or so, pour that hot liquid (BE VERY CAREFUL OR IT WILL BURN YOU) into the dry ingredients, and stir it all together. It can get quite tough, and it will most certainly begin to rise.

3) Cover your metal baking sheets in the greaseproof paper and spoon spheres of cookie mix (around two-three teaspoons' size each) onto them at intervals of around five-eight cm.

4) Pop them in the oven, and wait about four to five minutes. After five minutes-ish, they'll cool to a soft but firm consistency and they're great with cold milk.

TIPS

Do NOT store them touching each other! Because of the syrup, they'll all stick together and form into one giant cookie-lump. (May not be a bad thing)
You can add chocolate chips to the mix! White chocolate chips are great.
They can be reheated in the oven (two or three mins at 160 Celsius) or the microwave (not more than 10 seconds or they burn).

Have fun and be careful! I've found them quite addictive, but they're really, really lovely so I'm not mad at myself.

Happy reading, folks!

Victoria Jane