Mail Call!

 Hullo!! We received some mail over the last few weeks, and it's time to get caught up!

First up, a postcard from The Dalles... which is from...

... Little Fox!! Who went to an ice cream shop...

Sooo... he went to an ice cream shop all by himself... hmmm... without inviting any of his stuffie pals... hmmm...

Next up, we have a beary nice looking postcard...

Kind of has an art-deco vibe...

It's from Jerry & Ben!! Their human is on a sabbeartical and has a whole year off!!! Well... to write something profound and meaningful...

They might travel in the New Year too... fingers and paws crossed that it include (maybe) a trip to the West Coast. Little Fox would approve..

Next... is an envelope from... uh-oh...

Hold that thought... I'll be right back...

YO!!! Beanies!!! MICE!!!! YOU'VE GOT... MAIL!!!!!

I can hear rumblings... and thunderings... I think they are coming...

Yes, yes we are here!!! What's this... a letter addressed to all of us???

Sherlock Sandy (that's you)... Dr. Cocoa Watson (that's me)... and Inspector Navy Lestrade (that's Navy!)... cool!

It's nice to know our mice cousins think of us...

Right... first job is to open this origami envelope that has been stickered within an inch of its life...

I've got the letter opener but... there's not even a tiny hole to put it in!

Time for the big guns... we snipped the thinnest margin away from the envelope end...

And we're in!!!

Oooh... it's our prize for solving another mystery in the Case(s?) of the Missing Bullion!

Thanks Moriarty Beanie!!! Oh... and have you seen Enola Holmes on Netflix!!!??? We love it!!!

There's not enough boats in it... but I think Lord Tewksbury, the Marquess of Basilwether might have a sailor in him somewhere!

I love Enola!!! She's the younger sister of Sherlock and has a brilliant mind in her own right!!

And I... of course... love Sherlock!!! None of us like Mycroft...

Whoops... knocked over the head by Peace... hmmm....

Alright, there's another card in here... and we think the artist is... Gauguin...

Ding ding ding!!! We have a winner!!!

Must say... we are rather proud of ourselves for knowing that... Beanie must be rubbing off on us!

Now, the clue in the latest Case of the Missing Bullion... ready...

A two tone coin to mark the centenary

Of the death of a celebrated medical luminary

The survival rates soar'd

During the Crimean War

As she improved the conditions of sanitary

Who is it?

Well... umm.. first guess is Florence Nightingale, cause... well... it's her, isn't it???

This is a picture of her in 1860. She was born in Italy in 1820 to British parents (in Florence... duh)... She was super smart and her father believed in educating his girls (smart man). She traveled extensively and eventually oversaw nursing care during the Crimean War. She reduced the fatality rate from 42% to 2% and introduced the crazy notion of washing hands in the hospital!!

And this is her coin... struck in 2010... the 100th anniversary of her death...

Chef Sandy attempts one of Gramma's recipes

 Hullo! Today we are in the kitchen attempting to bake one of Gramma's cakes. Well, really, it's one of Great-Gramma's cake!! It's a flour-less Nußkuchen (nut cake)

We have the ground hazelnuts (250 grams). We used the Moulinex julienne hand grinder... great fun and strong forearms in the humans...

Most Moulinex come with only 5 blades but we have a different blade... one just for Nußkuchen!

We also need 1 cup of sugar...

And we have the Bitter-mandel aroma (bitter-almond aroma). 

You can also use rum aroma, but we have bitter-mandel soooo... that's what we use!

Now... we have tried this cake in the past with Rose's Mom and it's been an epic failure. The first step is to beat the eggs schaumig (frothy) and add the sugar bit by bit... It's always been a flop for us. But ChatGPT suggested warming the eggs for a bit in warm water. Apparently cold eggs do not like to get frothy... Chef Ben probably knows this already...

The other kicker for us has been the hand mixer... Gramma swore that most hand mixers have goofy blades that will not beat eggs into submission (or frothiness)... But then she found a hand mixer at Canadian Tire that worked... so we kept her hand mixer after she passed...

Alright... bowl is clean and ready to go!

Wish me luck!!

Right... 4 eggs... The recipe calls for 5 but that's for the round spring-form pan version, which looks like this...  It was always a birthday cake when Mama was growing up... we will try it once we work the kinks out!

Today, we are doing Gramma's short-cut version... in a loaf pan. Rightho... eggs are waiting for us... let's get started...

Is that froth I see forming????

Oh my goodness... I think it is!!!!

ChatGPT said it would froth up and get lighter in colour!

Oh my goodness... well, it has increased in volume... so that is much better than previous attempts! We added the few drops of bitter almond flavour... and a dash of salt and...

We are calling that... good enough!

Then we fold in the ground hazelnuts...

Wow... that... actually looks excellent!

We have parchment paper lining the loaf pan... and we poured the batter in and baked at 350 for 40-45 minutes.

Um. Well. Wow...

This is actually quite good!!!

Now getting it off the parchment paper was not easy... but more nibbles for the chef to sample. All agreed it was most excellent!! Nice and light and fluffy and moist... not heavy and moist!