Shortbread Disasters

I decided to make some shortbread as it had run out – a disaster in my household when family and friends visit! Making shortbread is a skill I inherited from my mother – in fact she used to win prizes for hers! It’s actually very easy to make (otherwise I wouldn’t do it!) – you just need a good mixer.

Now by a mixer, I mean a stand-alone appliance so you can just leave it to mix by itself. I now know a German ‘mixer’ is generally a blender for making smoothies, so a bit of a false friend. My Mum used to have a Kenwood – in fact I think my Dad still uses it! Mine wasn’t so fancy but I was still devastated when it came to a crashing halt in the middle of the mixing process and refused to move. As I needed the shortbread for a meeting where I had promised to make my famous shortbread, I had to knead it by hand (good homophone there!) … not a good day …

Anyway it got me thinking about the treasures you can’t live without in your kitchen? I definitely need my microwave and I love my slo-cooker. Here’s a nice list:

Kitchen appliances generally run on electricity and kitchen utensils are the other bits and pieces you need in your kitchen. Another false friend is a ‘Pfanne’ which is a frying pan in English. A ‘Topf’ is a saucepan …

So who will continue my family shortbread tradition. Hopefully my son Marc! I have to make sure I take some with me when I visit him … and recently found a note from him in the letter box, “Keep making good shortbread!”!

Appreciation goes a long way …