She led the way across the hall to the room on the opposite side; a large, well-appointed, and spotlessly neat kitchen.
Ellen could not help exclaiming at its pleasantness.
 "Why, yes--I think it is. I have been in many a parlour that I do not like as well.....Margery, if you will put the kettle on and see to the fire, I'll make some of my cakes for tea."
Alice now rolled up her sleeves above the elbows, and tying a large white apron before her, set about gathering the different things she wanted for her work, to Ellen's great amusement.
A white moulding-board was placed upon a table as white; and round it soon grouped the pail of flour, the plate of nice yellow butter, the bowl of cream, the sieve, tray, and sundry etceteras. And then, first sifting some flour into the tray, Alice began to throw in the other things one after another, and toss the whole about with a carelessness that looked as if it would all go wrong, but with a confidence that seemed to say all was going right. Ellen gazed in comical wonderment.
  "Did you think cakes were made without hands?" said Alice, laughing at her look. "You saw me wash mine before I began."
"Oh, I'm not thinking of that," said Ellen; "I am not afraid of your hands."
  "Did you never see your mother do this?" said Alice, who was now turning and rolling the dough upon the board in a way that seemed to Ellen curious beyond expression.
"No, never," she said. "Mamma never kept house, and I never saw anybody do it."
  "Then your aunt does not let you into the mysteries of bread and butter making?"
"Butter making! Oh," said Ellen with a sigh, "I have enough of that."
     Alice now applied a smooth wooden roller to the cake, with such quickness and skill that the lump forthwith lay spread upon the board in a thin even layer, and she next cut it into little round cakes with the edge of a tumbler.
Half the board was covered with the nice little white things, which Ellen declared looked good enough to eat already, and she had quite forgotten all possible causes of vexation, past, present, or future, when suddenly a large grey cat jumped upon the table, and, coolly walking upon the moulding-board, planted his paw directly in the middle of one of his mistress's cakes.
  "Take him off--oh, Ellen!" cried Alice, "take him off. I can't touch him." But Ellen was a little afraid.
Alice then gently tried to shove puss off with her elbow; but he seemed to think that was very good fun, purred, whisked his great tail over Alice's bare arm, and rubbed his head against it, having evidently no notion that he was not just where he ought to be. Alice and Ellen were too much amused to try any violent method of relief, but Margery, happily coming in, seized puss in both hands and set him on the floor.
"Just look at the print of his paw in that cake," said Ellen.
   "He has set his mark on it, certainly. I think it is his now, by the right of possession, and if not the right of discovery."
"I think he discovered the cakes too," said Ellen, laughing.
  "Why, yes. He shall have that one baked for his supper."
"Does he like cakes?"
  "Indeed he does. He is very particular and delicate about his eating, is Captain Parry."
"Captain Parry!" said Ellen; "is that his name?"
  "Yes," said Alice, laughing; "I don't wonder you look astonished, Ellen. I have had that cat five years, and when he was first given me, my brother Jack, who was younger than he is now, and he had been reading Captain Parry's Voyages, gave him that name, and would have him called so. Oh, Jack!" said Alice, half laughing and half crying.
Ellen wondered why; but she went to wash her hands, and when her face was again turned to Ellen, it was unruffled as ever.
  "Margery, my cakes are ready," said she, "and Ellen and I are ready too."
 "Very well, Miss Alice; the kettle is just going to boil; you shall have tea in a trice. I'll do some eggs for you."
  "Something--anything," said Alice; "I feel one cannot live without eating. Come, Ellen, you and I will go and set the tea-table."
     Ellen was very happy arranging the cups and saucers and other things that Alice handed her from the cupboard; and when, a few minutes after, the tea and the cakes came in, and she and Alice were cosily seated, poor Ellen hardly knew herself in such a pleasant state of things.

                                                                          -From "The Wide, Wide World" by Elizabeth Wetherell

Our Mutual Friend

I just finished this 4 hour movie last night, and I have to say that it is now one of my favorites!! I would recommend this movie to anyone who loves Charles Dickens, or even Jane Austen! :D

Warning: This is not the end clip, but if you don't want to know how it is going to end don't watch past 7:48 min. :)

'For not once since he set out had he had an opportunity of doing anything for anybody....and not to be able to help was to Gibbie like being dead.'
                                                      --Sir Gibbie by George Mac Donald

'Scattered wits take a long time picking up; and often before I had got them well together, they would be dispersed in all directions by one stray thought...'  ;)
                                                                 --Great Expectations

Mmmmm.....doughnuts!

Yesterday, I had the thought to try to make some doughnuts. I have been wanting to try my hand at it for the longest time.
I found this recipe in a cook-book that I found, called: The New England Cookbook by Eleanor Early.  Her book is written in the coolest way: she tells how the dishes were made, and then tells you how to make them today. She has many funny story's about when she was younger and learning how to cook, and the recipes that she gives are very authentic.

Now with this recipe, I have found that when she tells you to sift the flour, she means SIFT THE FLOUR!! In some other recipes that I have made, when it said to sift the flour, it meant to fluff it up and get all the lumps out; but not in this recipe. I realized that this recipe was probably passed down from generation to generation, and when it was written, they did not go to the grocery store and pick up a bag of flour. Some of you will probably be wondering, What on earth is she talking about? And I will explain. I always use flour that I grind myself, which means that the bran is still in it. Now when this recipe was written, they probably had the same kind of flour, home ground with all the bran. The flour you buy at the store, might have some of the bran in it (depending on what kind you buy), but it will NOT have as much as if you ground it yourself. So my point is: you need to make sure that you get at least most of the bran out of the flour before you make these doughnuts.

                                            ~Wonders or Doughnuts~
  3/4 cup butter (12 tbs. Melted)                           1/4 tsp. nutmeg
  3/4 cup sugar                                                      6 eggs, beaten
  1/2 tsp. salt                                                         1 tsp. baking soda
  1 tsp. lemon juice                                                2 tbs. boiling water
       (or vanilla extract)                                          5 cups flour (approximately)

1.  Mix butter together with the sugar, salt, lemon juice, nutmeg and eggs. Dissolve baking soda in boiling water. Add to egg mixture.
2.  Add sifter flour until dough is stiff enough to handle. Amount of flour will depend upon liquid content of eggs-- 4 to 5 cups is usually about right. Mix well. Chill in refrigerator at least 30 min.
3. Flour board well (with some more sifted flour). Pat out a little dough at a time to 1/4-inch thickness. Keep remainder in refrigerator. (It is easier to work with chilled dough) For Wonders, cut with floured knife into pieces about 2 by3 inches. Score with jagger wheel, lengthwise and crosswise. (this is where I had some trouble. I gad no idea what a jagger wheel was; so I just made the strips like she said, and scored them with a knife, criss-crossing to make little squares, but not going all the way through. When you fry them like this, you have to make sure to put them in, scored side up, and wait until the top puffs up before flipping them.)
For doughnuts, cut with a floured doughnut cuter. (I used the rim of a glass) NOTE: you can also twist two strips of dough together to make the cute little twists that you see in the picture above.
4. Fry 3 or 4 at a time in oil (I used peanut oil) heated to 360 to 370F.  Cook for 2 to 3 min., or until lightly brown. Dry them on paper-towels and then roll them in cinnamon and sugar. (make sure to roll them in the sugar mixture while still hot or it won't stick well.)  And enjoy! :)

P.S.
 This is not a regular doughnut. It is more like a cake doughnut. I will try to put a regular doughnut recipe on here sometime, if I ever get around to making some! :}

".....for he that does good, having the unlimited power to do evil, deserves praise not only for the good which he performs, but for the evil which he forbears...."
                                                                            ~~Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott (page: 521)

"Disinherited Knight," said Prince John,"since by that tittle only you will consent to be know to us, we a second time award you the honors of this tournament, and announce to you your right to claim and receive from the hands of the Queen of Love and Beauty(Rowena)the chaplet of honor which your valor has justly deserved."
The knight bowed low and gracefully, but returned no answer........Rowena, descending from her station with a graceful and dignified step, was about to place the chaplet which she held in her hand upon the helmet of the champion, when the marshals exclaimed with one voice, "It must not be thus; his head must be bare."
......When the helmet was removed, the well-formed yet sun-burned features of a young man of twenty-five were seen, amid a profusion of short fair hair. His countenance was as pale as death, and marked in one or two places with streaks of blood.
       Rowena had no sooner beheld him than she uttered a faint shriek; but at once summoning up the energy of her disposition, and compelling herself, as it were, to proceed, while her frame yet trembled with the violence of sudden emotion, she placed upon the drooping head of the victor the splendid chaplet which was the destined reward of the day, and pronounced in a clear and distinct tone these words: "I bestow on thee this chaplet, Sir Knight, as the meed of valor assigned to this day's victor."  ......The knight stooped his head and kissed the hand of the lovely Sovereign by whom his valor had been rewarded; and then, sinking yet further forward, lay prostrate at her feet.
    Cedric, who had been struck mute by the sudden appearance of his banished son, now rushed forward.........But this had already been accomplished by the marshals of the field, who guessing the cause of Ivanhoe's swoon, had hastened to undo his armor, and found that the head of a lance had penetrated his breastplate and inflicted a wound in his side.

                                                    ~~Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott (pages: 209 and 210)

"May I steal your wife?"

" Learning, like eating, must go on every day.Today's lesson won't always get you through tomorrow."
                                                 -The Baron's Apprentiship