Pastry and suchlike delecacies.

Now, there are those of us , male or female, who are just gifted pastry chefs. And then there are the rest of us. There are those of us who can turn our hand to any kind of cuisine, and create master pieces that look so wonderful, it is a crime to devour them. I, for instance, can not make a sponge cake to save my life. I can do the process up to the point of adding the flour, then it all goes horribly awry. They always turn out like paving bricks. I remember my late mother telling me as a young girl, how she was making all the sponge cakes for one of her sisters' weddings. As we lived on a farm there was no shortage of eggs. Well, not when she started baking that is. She said the first one or two were lovely, then they started to resemble my efforts in later life. Mum was getting progressivly more frustrated, and worried, and shorter of eggs, and had not made her quota. When the next one came out flat, she 'chucked a hissy fit,' and the cake, at the wall! She had no more trouble after that.
Today we made our fortnightly trip south to do the shopping.After I had finished the grocery shop, I walked across town to the post office and, then had a look at an upright freezer. I have been thinking about buying one for some time, as hubby does not like the fact that the ones we have are a. old. b. draw too much power.
When I returned to the shopping plaza, it's too small to be called a mall, I went to the cafe and ordered a cappuccino and a caramel tart. I had had very little breakfast, and was feeling a bit woozy.
The cappuccino was, as always,very good. The tart however, left a lot to be desired.
It had pastry that was as hard as the hobs of hell. It was very difficult to cut with the little dessert fork I had been given.Other than that, it was very tasty.
It reminded me of the times in cooking class in high school. I hated having to make pastry. I am a dab hand a short crust pastry, but flaky or puff pastry, forget it folks! Paving slabs again.
It seemed apparent that the cook had rolled and rerolled the pastry too many times. This will always make it hard and dry, because too much flour has been introduced in to the mixture. Luckily, there is no call for me to make sponges any more. Packet sponges turn out well though. He, he.