Miscellaneous

A few notes and queries from the (v. cluttered) "Desk of Power":

Are you receiving me?
A couple of people have got in touch to say they are having trouble getting Cornflower to load properly. They may only be able to read the latest post, sometimes not even that, they can't open the comments and their computers freeze. Has anyone else had these difficulties? I realise that if you have you may not even see this post, far less be able to respond to it, but it would be helpful to know and I'll seek advice on what to do about it.



Baking
Notwithstanding this article (and with respect, the writer sounds like a stranger to their own kitchen) I shall call upon Cornflower's culinary experts to answer Alex's request for a recipe for classic baked egg custard tarts. I'm going to search my books for this, but if you have a great one (or a link to same) at your fingertips, both Alex and I will be delighted to hear about it - please leave a comment.



Books
No review proper here, but for all those who've mentioned they've read Snobs, I'd say that Past Imperfect is much better. Julian Fellowes does what he does very well indeed and apart from his brilliant dissection of social situations, his sometimes waspish, sometimes sympathetic commentary on class, changing society and mores and his pleasantly discursive style, there are some extremely moving scenes in this book. I loved it.



And more books
Just a reminder that our next Book Group book is Sue Gee's The Mysteries of Glass and we shall be talking about it on Saturday, November 8th. Do join in if you'd like to. And which book will come after that one? I'll be drawing a title from the hat soon.

Comments

[carole]

Karen, I have been having trouble with all Typepad accounts, including yours. I have to access them via another site, in this case Letters from a Hill Farm. Tried to report it to Typepad but got lost in the maze. Would be wonderful if you could sort it out if others are having the same problem too.

[Cheryl]

I'm having no trouble reading your posts, but then again, I'm a Mac user! :-) The only thing different about this post was that the photos were smaller, more like thumbnails than your usual sized pics.

[Pip]

hello. I always find that your site loads more slowly than other blogs. I have always put it down to all the lovely photos on the homepage, so don't mind the wait!

[rachel]

Yes, it hs definitely been taking alot longer to load than usual, even once it has loaded initially, all the links, and even scrolling down the page take patience!

[LINDA FROM EACH LITTLE WORLD]

I have not been having any trouble getting your posts to load. But two points:

1. The photos for the Misc. post are very small. I am assuming that is a design decision not a problem.

2. In the U.S. where I blog, Typepad just made a lot of changes and I had trouble for a couple of days getting everything to work properly. So perhaps it is Typepad and not you.

[Rhys]

Just to say no problems here. Receiving you loud and clear!

[carol]

No problems from here at all. Super fast as always, right size photos etc. My Mum makes the best egg custard tarts in my opinion. I will look out the recipe and post it here later today.

[Anne]

Ahhh... baked custard tart - a firm favourite of mine but I am ashamed to say I have never actually had a go myself in the kitchen. However, I do remember that the chef Marcus Waring was chosen to represent the pudding part of the Queen's 80th birthday dinner(I think it was that particular milestone) with his custard tart. I do not have any of his cookery books but I am sure I have seen his perfected custard tart recipe in his book 'How to Make the Perfect....'. Someone out there may have that book and possibly could check up. I remember him saying he had made hundreds of them in his quest for perfection so he should know!

[Ros]

I had that problem over the summer when I was at my parents. If I used their wireless network, I couldn't get Cornflower at all but if I used my mobile broadband it loaded fine. Now I'm on BT broadband in my own flat and it's fine.

[Nan]

No prob, Bob! :<)

[Charity]

Karen, I'm seeing your blog fine, but about a year or so ago, I went through a time where I couldn't comment on typepad blogs. It was extremely frustrating, and seemed to right itself in time.

[teresa]

Just clicked on the second picture of this post and frightened the life out of myself. The corner of the picture that emerged first on my screen looked like some grotesque fungal growth and it made me sit back on my chair. That'll teach me to be nosey. (Obviously that isn't what is on your desk but the huge size of the file when clicked on made for a good Hallowe'en like scary moment). He, he...

[Barbara MacLeod]

I find everything works OK. (I have a Mac.) However, the 4 photos here are thumbnail size.

[Karen/NYC]

Whether I'm accessing Cornflower from a Mac or PC, it's the slowest-loading site I visit regularly -- but it's well worth the wait! I agree with the previous poster who speculates the problem is with Typepad.
On another note, I LOVED "Snobs," so I'm looking forward to "Past Imperfect."

[Peter the flautist]

I find loading speed independent of web browser or OS (Windows-XP or some flavour of Linux). It is also limited (I guess) by the typepad server as the speed never seems to depend upon my downlink performance. Generally I don't have any of the problems mentioned by other correspondents, and certainly nothing has changed recently.

DP