I win when I lose
I have had the ABBA song "Waterloo" stuck in my head for a few days now, since I finished reading "Victory of Eagles" by Naomi Novik, which is set during the Napoleonic era. The novel made me wonder about European history for that time, such as did Napoleon ever invade England? Where was he defeated before his exile? Where is Waterloo, anyway?!
I wouldn't call myself an ABBA fan, considering I don't own any of their music, and I don't even know many of their songs, but I do like the ones I know. So here is the song for your enjoyment! It is such a boppy song, and I love the outfits they are wearing. Did the band define the era and the fashion, or were they defined by the era and fashion?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj_9CiNkkn4
As we all do nowadays, I tried doing a Google search to find the location of the Waterloo which was the location of Napoleon's surrender. And found many more than I expected! There are several Waterloos in the UK, a few in Australia, as well as several in other places. I knew it wouldn't be one in Australia, but it took a while before I found out it was in what is now Belgium (then the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, I think - according to Wikipedia).
This whole experience made me wonder about how we learn outside of school. Most of my knowledge of that era is from literature and film! Jane Austen's books are set during that time, as is the Count of Monte Cristo, as is the Hornblower mini series. Most of my geographical knowledge comes from studying history and languages!
Going back to having this song stuck in my head, though, the line which I have partially used as the title for this post was running through my head on repeat this afternoon. I had decided to make a cheesecake for a friend's birthday (which is today), and was using a recipe from a magazine connected to a cooking show I enjoy, Ready, Steady, Cook! It sounded simple (which should have been the first warning sign) and looked amazing in the picture!
I had everything I needed, and I even had assistance from one housemate who was keen to try crushing the biscuits for the base. My problems only really began after the base was in the fridge to chill.
First problem: the electric beater I had borrowed decided not to work, which meant I used a different beater with only one attachment to whip the cream. Which meant it took much longer than I anticipated. Which meant that the melted chocolate solidified, and the gelatine set.
Second problem: I decided to 'see how it would go' anyway. How it went was disastrous! Lumpy gelatine does not look good!
Third problem: should I quit, after all this work, or try to do something to salvage it? It tasted great, even if it looked terrible! So we decided to keep going. With the help of my housemate, we strained the entire mixture to remove the gelatine lumps. Now it looked great, although a smaller amount than it should have been.
Final problem: having removed most of the gelatine, would the cheesecake (a no-bake recipe) set? Or would it collapse the instant I removed the springform tin? I wished I had thought to call my sister, who has made several cheesecakes, before starting!
So, instead of a three-layer cheesecake, we ended up making a two-layer cheesecake, but thankfully there was no problem in adding the second layer (unlike that experience I had with the first jelly cake mentioned in a previous blog post http://acuppateawithme.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/heat-wave.html ).
In the meantime, I prepared to cook dinner for my housemates and the lovely birthday girl, also from the new magazine, also a recipe I have not done before. And everything went fantastically, although it took longer to prepare and cook than I had hoped! Chicken fricassee - it looked and tasted amazing, thanks in part to my other housemate who kindly agreed to cook the rice for me.
We thought about having seconds, but we all knew what was prepared for dessert: a whice chocolate and raspberry cheesecake!
After all that worry about it falling apart when removed from the tin, this is what we saw:
Win!!!!
And the finished product:
After losing all those battles, we had managed to win the war! Take that, gelatine!
It is definitely a war I would be willing to wage again!
I wouldn't call myself an ABBA fan, considering I don't own any of their music, and I don't even know many of their songs, but I do like the ones I know. So here is the song for your enjoyment! It is such a boppy song, and I love the outfits they are wearing. Did the band define the era and the fashion, or were they defined by the era and fashion?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj_9CiNkkn4
As we all do nowadays, I tried doing a Google search to find the location of the Waterloo which was the location of Napoleon's surrender. And found many more than I expected! There are several Waterloos in the UK, a few in Australia, as well as several in other places. I knew it wouldn't be one in Australia, but it took a while before I found out it was in what is now Belgium (then the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, I think - according to Wikipedia).
This whole experience made me wonder about how we learn outside of school. Most of my knowledge of that era is from literature and film! Jane Austen's books are set during that time, as is the Count of Monte Cristo, as is the Hornblower mini series. Most of my geographical knowledge comes from studying history and languages!
Going back to having this song stuck in my head, though, the line which I have partially used as the title for this post was running through my head on repeat this afternoon. I had decided to make a cheesecake for a friend's birthday (which is today), and was using a recipe from a magazine connected to a cooking show I enjoy, Ready, Steady, Cook! It sounded simple (which should have been the first warning sign) and looked amazing in the picture!
I had everything I needed, and I even had assistance from one housemate who was keen to try crushing the biscuits for the base. My problems only really began after the base was in the fridge to chill.
First problem: the electric beater I had borrowed decided not to work, which meant I used a different beater with only one attachment to whip the cream. Which meant it took much longer than I anticipated. Which meant that the melted chocolate solidified, and the gelatine set.
Second problem: I decided to 'see how it would go' anyway. How it went was disastrous! Lumpy gelatine does not look good!
Third problem: should I quit, after all this work, or try to do something to salvage it? It tasted great, even if it looked terrible! So we decided to keep going. With the help of my housemate, we strained the entire mixture to remove the gelatine lumps. Now it looked great, although a smaller amount than it should have been.
Final problem: having removed most of the gelatine, would the cheesecake (a no-bake recipe) set? Or would it collapse the instant I removed the springform tin? I wished I had thought to call my sister, who has made several cheesecakes, before starting!
So, instead of a three-layer cheesecake, we ended up making a two-layer cheesecake, but thankfully there was no problem in adding the second layer (unlike that experience I had with the first jelly cake mentioned in a previous blog post http://acuppateawithme.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/heat-wave.html ).
In the meantime, I prepared to cook dinner for my housemates and the lovely birthday girl, also from the new magazine, also a recipe I have not done before. And everything went fantastically, although it took longer to prepare and cook than I had hoped! Chicken fricassee - it looked and tasted amazing, thanks in part to my other housemate who kindly agreed to cook the rice for me.
After all that worry about it falling apart when removed from the tin, this is what we saw:
And the finished product:
After losing all those battles, we had managed to win the war! Take that, gelatine!
It is definitely a war I would be willing to wage again!
Comments
Post a Comment