alexist

Zoe's teeth were even worse than expected--he had to take out quite a few. (Like mother, like cat?)

Final damage: £533.13.

*sobs*

decided to make the macadamia tart, despite the poll results--I decided I wanted more crunch.

The problem with doing pastry in our kitchen is that there's not really anywhere to roll it out. They sell ready-rolled pastry in the supermarket, but it's made with vegetable shortening and (urgh!) lard. Luckily, I have found Dorset Pastry, which is all butter (though not available in supermarkets). I used their puff pastry and it was very good. Not quite as good as my own ;) but I wouldn't be ashamed to use it, certainly not in any dish that wasn't pure puff pastry.

So I decided to try their sweet shortcrust. It came in a rather square box, not a long skinny one, so I checked to see if it was ready-rolled. It said it was. Great.

Later that afternoon I go to make the tart. I take the pastry out of the box aaaand... 2 blocks. Fuck. If I knew I was going to have to roll it myself I would've just made my own. Short crust is easy to make; you just rub in the fat then add the liquid. You're not trying to keep it flaky.

The result was one of my worse flan cases: I didn't have time to let the dough sit before rolling so it shrunk (not too badly, luckily), and I had to do quite a bit of patching at the edges.

And, DOH!!!! I just realized I forgot the vanilla in the filling!! Will stir some into the crème fraîche for the topping. :) (filling is toasted macadamias, egg yolks, a bit of cream, golden caster sugar, honey, and lemon zest. Plus the vanilla...)

My position is somewhat LibDem on some issues: I'm with them on civil liberties, for example.

However, I do not:
- support a local income tax rather than council tax: People are holding wealth in property and using it. They should be taxed on it. I don't believe the current council tax system is ideal (I'd remove the banding and cap) and I could see a combination system, but I don't support removing property taxation altogether.

- support free care for the elderly. Means-test it, and do it well (in the US there's a cottage industry in shielding assets so the elderly can claim Medicaid for care). Long-term care is expensive and the elderly population is growing. I don't see why young workers should be taxed to pay for the wealthy while they then pass their wealth on. Hardly redistributive.

I cannot stand Labour on immigration. They're letting the Tories dictate the terms of the debate, instead of standing up and being proud of immigrants. My great-grandparents immigrated to America, and I immigrated to the UK. I'm proud of my roots and what my family's achieved and I welcome immigrants. Do I want people coming to scrounge on the dole? Of course I don't. But that's not why 99% of immigrants come. They come to work, either to do work we won't or to plug gaps. Without foreign nurses, the NHS would be up shit's creek, from what I can tell.

I also don't like their PPP/PFI policies and belief that the private sector HAS to be involved in everything. The private sector can do things well, but being dogmatic about private sector involvement is just as damaging as the old socialist insistence on public ownership. The key should be outcomes--what produces the most equitable result. But no, we're still fighting the old ideological wars, no matter what Blair says about the Third Way.

(No, I'm not a VERY committed Labourite. I'm just unconvinced by the LibDems. And I like to buck trends. :) )

She was a bit freaked out at first but has calmed down a bit.

We've got to turn her food into mush because she can't chew. :-( Poor baby.

She also has a partly-shaved leg (where they put the needle in) and trimmed nails. I also got them to tidy her up a bit, particularly under the tail (it gets nasty because she's so big and long haired, and she will not let me clean her up).

Follow-up visit on Tuesday--luckily they don't close early, we can take her in at 18:45 which gives Neil time to get home and get the cat. It's too difficult to take her without a car.