Saturday, October 18, 2008

Gyngerbrede





Today is wall to wall sports day. College football - three games - and then the Tampa Bay Rays play game 5 tonight. They could have been done with it in 4, but they snatched defeat out of the mouth of victory on Thursday.
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I have been amusing myself with other activities; staring at the ceiling, counting cobwebs, twirling my hair around my finger. Stuff like that. The Mister is glued to the sofa and the TV and loving every minute of the day. His chosen apparel for the day is a pair of gray knit shorts with black stripes on the side and a blue and beige floral print shirt. As a result, I've been doing everything that requires going out in public today.
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The drone of crowds cheering has addled my brain. My mind is cluttered in one syllable words and cow bells ringing. I was able to rouse myself long enough to make gingerbread. M-m-m-m. The scent fills the house and love is in the air. It seemed to be the thing to do, as a cold front came through and it's been a crisp 79 degrees all day.






We'll have it for dessert tonight with some rum raisin ice cream. It may cause The Mister to speak a few words. We'll see.
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Did you know Gingerbread has been around since the end of the 11th century! I found a medieval recipe that you might like to try if you can figure out what it says.
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"Gyngerbrede.--Take a quart of hony, & sethe it, & skeme it clene; take Safroun, pouder Pepir, & throw ther-on; take grayted Bred, & make it so chargeaunt that it wol be y-lechyd; then take pouder Canelle, & straw ther-on y-now; then make yt square, lyke as thou wolt leche yt; take when thou lechyst hyt, an caste Box leves a-bouyn, y-stykyd ther-on, on clowys. And if thou wolt haue it Red, coloure it with Saunderys y-now."
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The spelling looks quite a bit like mine before I click on spell check, so I've had no trouble figuring it out. I didn't happen to have any leves a bouyn handy so I used a recipe from one of my cookbooks.
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It smells like autumn in my house now and sounds like we have 35,000 crazed football fans for dinner. All I know is I'm not feeding them. It will be dinner for two with a sentence or two of good conversation. Plus dessert.
By the way - If you need a hug today - go over and see Devoted

20 comments:

Lavinia said...

Whoa! A whole sentence or even two? You are one demanding woman. Can't you be satisified like the rest of us with just a grunt and a belch?

MuseSwings said...

Well yea-a-a-ah - I didn't say anything about that sentence had to have a verb or a noun in it. So a burp, belch or even an audible scratch will do the trick.

Lavinia said...

Audible scratch? Do I sense a slight lowering of standards here?! Let us at least retain *some* shreds of dignity

MuseSwings said...

There worse audible things. So I'll accept scratching.

Lavinia said...

Aye wee lassie, well said, wot!

Betsy Brock said...

Same thing over here at my place! :) Football has been on the tv all day. I can take just about any sport but football...yawn! ;)

And..I got your postcard today! What a lovely poem...I'm impressed...and an award for it, too! Wasn't this swap fun? :)

Blicky Kitty said...

Ryum Raisyn rocketh. Soundes leke a yummethy combiasion with gyngerbrede.

Love, frum John Milton

My swain is watchething basballe.

I just cooked an elaborate dinner for 15 relatives and I have a hot date with Ben & Jerry's brownie batter. All are welcome. Bringe youre spoone.

MuseSwings said...

Betsy - we're in the 8th inning of the ball game now. It's been a long day. The past card exchange has been delightful!

Blycky - I shall arrive post haste with the Myster in towe and shall
hafe dynner with thee and thous guests.

Blicky Kitty said...

The Mysters can wach the game and we can hav gynger snaps and browny batter bejamin & jerrys.

Pat said...

Yummy, slurp. I love gingerbread and gingerbread men. Amusing post as always!

Re: my post today,the Pannonian sea existed during the Pliocene era, which ran from from 5.332 million to 1.806 million years before the present.

Debby said...

Hi, Blicky Kitty, I got a spoon. Scoot over. Lavinia is not shunning me any more. Cynthia made her stop, at finger point no less.

*sticks foot out and Lavinia trips*

I don't hold any sort of grudge. I cannot abide a catty woman.

Marie Reed said...

That is sooo nifty! I loved reading that recipe!

soulbrush said...

'run run as fast as you can, you can't catch me, i'm the gingerbread man'
so you and the mister will be running after each other tonight...mmmmm???

Elizabeth said...

You have a very witty take on everyday life.
Rather like
Moments from suburbia an English blog.
Today my husband is wearing a plaid robe.
Sadly, not too much baseball watching since the Yankees were pitiful this year.
Greetings from New York.

Shelley said...

Now you have me craving gingerbread - I might even make gingerbread cookies! (For fun, you might try hiding the mister's remote - that always gets a laugh on my side when I do it to my hubby...)

sandy said...

I got great visuals reading this!!!

nice post and I can smell the gingerbread...

and also bacon and eggs that my husband just cooked for our grandson. He's a good man! I'm still sitting on my bed visiting blogs.

nanatrish said...

Your gingerbread sounds absolutely yummy! Doesn't it have the best smell? At my house it is not only football, but also Nascar. When they are all going at once he keeps switching them around. Thanks for dropping by while I've been sick. I am trying to get better. I need to go to work tomorrow so I have to rest all day. Happy Sunday

steviewren said...

****I'm taking time out from the normal blog chit-chat to say.... Cynthia you are way too clever!

Case in point:

"I don't think Joe Sixpack exists except in the feebyle mynde of the sytcom wryter forsooth."

When I read your comment on Blicky Kitty's blog I had to gasp in admiration and giggle out loud!

Now back to the regularly scheduled topic....first let me run read it.

steviewren said...

I've read it now and I see more of this olde Englisc is being spaketh here. OMGosh, I didn't learn phonics in grammar school. This is too hard for me. Please give me a break before my brain explodes!

Youse peeps is too smart for me.

MuseSwings said...

Blycky - I've brought a spoon - shove over a few inches so I can get to that yce cryme - thank ye!

Bibi and all gyngerbrede lovers - it was delicious! The rum raisin ice cream did it justice. Thanks for the info on the sea - there are probably huge salt deposits under the city.

Debby - glad you and Lavinia are bestest friends again!

Thank you, Marie - it's a rather nifty recipe - though nearly unreadable.

Soulbrush - gingerbread adds some spice to life!

Thank you Elizabeth! It was so nice of you to stop by! I took a quick peek at your blog and will return to read more - wonderful photos!

Hide the remote? He'll brobably go over the brink and take to drink within about 10 minutes.

Sandy - good for you still relaxing in bed in the late hours of a lovely Sunday morning! Cheers!

Trish, our house smelled like autumn and Christmas and all the best holidays while the gingerbread was baking. It tastes as good as it smelled! Hope you are all better by tomorrow AM. Keep your feets up today!

Stevie - I'm back to regular English and my normal eclectic spelling of words. It was funny that Blick had old English on her blog and then I happened upon that old recipe. Sorry if you exploded - i did too - trying to write the stuff.