Raising the bar!

By popular request, or at least Stephanie's request, here is the blog post for today.

As I'm sure most know today, is Rememberance Day, and the weather fits; cold, grey, rainy and bleak. I don't typically wear a poppy, but that's not to say I don't remember. I keep my poppy on the inside of my car visor all year round. Less known here in Canada is that yesterday, November 10, was the Marine Corps 231st Birthday. Semper Fi and thanks, Lythrum and Mawavi. Thanks to both Hammer and Nail's parents. Thanks to Britgal's Dad and brother. Thanks to everybody else I can't say thanks to.

Today was the usual vegging, but I'm starting to work through the Better Homes and Gardens dessert section. The first up is lemon bars, which I think I pulled off quite well. The picture on the right isn't mine, but it gives you an idea of what they look like.

The crust is very much like a shortbread, and the filling like what you would find in a lemon meringue pie. I did make a few changes though. First, I used 1% milk in the filling, instead of the half and half cream. Also, I added about half a teaspoon of fresh ginger to the filling on the theory that lemon + ginger = good! Lastly, I've started using unbleached flour since it has no additives or bleaching agents. They may not survive the night, which would be unfortunate.

I've a date tomorrow with a nice young lady, who looks rather cute in her photos. We're going to meet up in the Byward Market by the Beavertails shed, and then go from there. Coffee, tea, bubble tea, whiskey and random anarchy. I'm looking forward to this, if only for a chance to get to learn more about downtown.

Which brings me to my last point. If anybody wants to teach me how to navigate downtown Ottawa, I'd be willing to pay in baking for lessons. I'm generally ok with directions, but for some reason Ottawa completely screws me up.