Call me ruthless, but that's two strikes

So I have been investigating the various recipes I have, which cover that span from the Taipei oyster omelette to the Thai mussel pancake.

Today's experiment was ... given added interest ... by the recipe requiring me to mix two tablespoons of rice flour with 250 mls water, to make a thick batter.

Um. That was never going to happen. I did follow along dutifully, but two tbs in 250 mls makes a light ricewater. Which leaves me standing there, wondering whether she actually meant a really thin batter, or did she just have her measurements wrong...?

I was already ill-disposed towards this book, mind, because it has no index.

Please to consider that for a moment. It is a cookery book, with many recipes; it has no other function. With no index, it is actually not possible to find any particular recipe, or to look up various recipes for a particular ingredient, or...

(No, it doesn't have a contents page either. And it's not organised in any thematic way, that I can tell. It's just ... a book full of recipes. Snarl.)

In other news, I wish I'd been translated into French. Generically, of course I do: but specifically, right now, I wish I could point at even a single volume of me in French. There's a residency I could apply for, a couple of months housed and fed and sponsored, in France, to write. I'd like that. But they do want to see some work in French. Alas... (Any other European writers on my f-list, if you've been Francofortunate and have a month or two spare in 2012, do get in touch...)

Infirm of purpose, as well as all the rest

I was cold in the house here, and fed up alongside the chilly. So I thought a good brisk walk would help, in all manner of ways. So I put my winter boots on, and wrapped up good and warm in my warmest duvet jacket, and set boldly forth - at least as far as getting both feet outside the front door, though I never quite let go of the handle.

It is blisteringly cold out there, building towards a gale, and also raining with it.

I don't often let the weather prevent my leaving the house, but today I remembered I was sick and could be generous to myself. So I gave the weather best, and came back indoors. And divested myself of all that clobber, a little reluctantly; and ran around the house turning up the heating and so forth; and have come dutifully back to the computer, in vague hopes of getting some work done.

In other news, this catch-up TV on demand is a good thing.