Just like the old country

It was probably no coincidence that a high proportion of the 14 tough nuts who turned up on Sunday had grown up in places like the UK, Northern Europe and Melbourne.  They didn't really notice the piercing cold and the water falling out of the sky.  "Raining?  Oh, yes, I suppose it is a bit...."  A beautiful rainbow rewarded us for the soaking.

Banger caused some concern when he decided to rely on his GPS unit to help him get home, and so ended up hopelessly lost.  He did the run one and a half times while a search party scoured the area....

For those who have a couple of hours to spare and would like to try making some koeksisters, here is the recipe Haughty used:

Ingredients – dough:
2 cups cake flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 large egg
4 tablespoons butter
½ cup of water
oil for frying

Ingredients – syrup:
1 kg sugar
1 ½ cinnamon sticks
½ tsp ground ginger
1 ½ cups of water
juice of one lemon

Method – dough:
1. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together.
2. Rub in the butter and mix until pliable.
3. Mix this with the egg and water (adding the water a little at a time).
4. Work the dough well. If the dough appears to be lumpy and sticky, continue to work the dough until it will ball up.
5. Let the dough rest at room temperature for about three hours (under an inverted mixing bowl).

Method – syrup:
Prepare the syrup a day before (it needs to be very cold).
1. Dissolve sugar in the water.
2. Add the spices and lemon juice to this and boil together. Leave the syrup to cool in the fridge overnight.

To prepare the koeksisters:
1. Roll out the dough (thickness 5mm).
2. Cut the dough into strips of 6cm long, 2cm wide.
3. Cut each of these strips into three strips (not all the way through, leave the strips connected at the top).
4. Plait each strip, then pinch together at the end of the strip.
5. Deep fry until golden brown.
6. Remove and drain quickly – then dip the hot koeksisters in the cold syrup (stored in the fridge up to now). The secret is to keep the syrup cold and the koeksisters hot.  It's best to keep the syrup bowl in another container filled with iced water.

Next week - a Tanabata (Star festival) run - Japanese tucker, and a chance to wish upon a star!

Next run details
When: Sunday 7th July, 4 pm
Where: In Your Dreams and Where's the Beef's West End mansion
Hares: Where's the Beef and In Your Dreams

(If you need directions to this run, please email us.)

On, on!