In which the young man runs away to find himself...

Miriam McGruder

45 Long Farm Lane

Smalltown
East West Countryshire

 

  

My dear Miriam,

       In my last letter I was a confused fool. I may still be a fool but I like to think that I am no longer confused. My feelings for you, while they are as strong as reinforced steel, have changed. I miss you, but as one might miss the sun after a month of night. You represent home to me. You are comfort and you are complacency. I know now that I must run out into the world if I am to find my destiny. I know I must not be afraid to abandon comfort in order to know my true self.

I have discovered something about myself that is considered a scandal in polite society. So I have decided to follow the sun and take myself off someplace that I will not bring shame upon you and our families.

I want to thank you for your unwavering loyalty. I think you already knew in your heart that I was not as committed as you. I hope you can find it within yourself to forgive me and my fickle ways.   

I found in myself a strength I did not know I had the day that I decided to follow my heart. Captain Richmond caught me in a lie when I told him that I was not staring. He seemed disgusted by my attention. My dear Miriam, the stars fell from my eyes and I could finally see him for the man he was.  A big, vulgar brute of a man. A very beautiful brute, but a brute nonetheless.

I made up my mind in that instant. I was not cut out for life in the army. I snuck out under the cover of night. I crept past the sentries; I dared not breathe until I had made it to the road to Margumtown.

It was not until I had been walking for two straight days that I stopped hiding from every person that passed by. I am ashamed to say that I stole clothes, drying in the sun, from the yard of a quaint little farmstead. I did not look like a soldier. I looked like a scruffy man in need of a good meal. I foraged in the woods for berries, Miriam, I have never done that. I have never looked at the world as I have these last few days. It is like I have been born anew and the last vestiges of my old life are falling away and I have gained a greater appreciation for the land around me. Oh Miriam, if you could only see through my eyes, the wonders. I watched a kingfisher hunt for its lunch. I saw the sun rise above the horizon like it was the first time.  

As I wander across this new landscape I am struck anew by its beauty. The people are friendly to an unkempt young man wandering on to their lands, asking for work.

Maybe, one day, I will be at peace enough to settle down and become one of those helpful farmers.

My dear, I know that I must seem a right bedlamite, extolling the virtues of a place that you have never seen and will most likely never visit. I just hope you not bear me any ill will if I write to you again.

 

Forever yours in friendship,

Teddy

 

In which a young man has confusion...

Miriam McGruder

45 Long Farm Lane

Smalltown
East West Countryshire

 

 

 

 

My dear Miriam,

How my heart yearns for you. I fall asleep with your name on my lips and I wake with your face in my dreams. I read your letters so often it is a wonder the ink hasn’t faded away to nothing.

My days in basecamp are filled with boredom and terror. We are ever in a state of readiness. I don’t think I have truly clean since leaving home.  I remember the scent of the farm. I remember the scent of the cow pats mixing with the scent of the grass as the cows grazed. Sometimes, when I closed my eyes, I can almost smell home again but, then I open them, and I am back.

From time to time I wonder if it is you that I yearn so fervently for or if it is to be as far away from this dreadful conflict as possible. I know that sounds callous, my love, but I think you are the embodiment of my desire to return to a place of peace.

Ah, my dear heart, my mind is as confused as my heart these days. I find myself staring, almost entranced, at my captain. He strides throughout the camp with a confidence that one does not often see. His strong and assertive voice makes me believe that there might be an end to the grim conflict. He rallies the men with an enthusiasm that I have only seem on the football ground during peacetime. Unlike the rest of us, his uniform fits him and seems to never bear the scars and marks of a long and laborious day. He looks crisp and freshly pressed as if he just strode off the parade ground.

I wish I had his confidence, my dear Miriam, he will not accept anything less than success. I fear that he might leap over the barbed wire and go into battle single handed. I would worry more if I did not think he would succeed.

Dear Miriam, my heart and mind are so confused. I know that here is, where I should to be, where I have been ordered to be, but I feel as if my destiny lies far away.  

I hope that one day I can be as strong and as self-possessed as Captain Richmond.

 

Yours in hope

Teddy

 

Letter From The Front...

17^th January 1917

 

My dearest Mildred,

I know it has been an age since I last wrote you. Hesitance has stayed my hand. I feared your rejection should I write to you again.  I know we did not part on kind words and I wish to take back all the evil that spilled from my mouth that day.

I did not mean it when I said that I wanted you to die of gangrenous and septic wounds. I was deeply hurt when I found you kissing my brother. You know that his wife is very poorly and he is a weak man, prone to indiscretions. He is easily swayed by the soft words of young ladies. I know in my heart that your actions were not malicious, but please do not use him to boost your self-worth and to make me jealous.

My father also wrote to me to say that you have become distressingly independent since I have been away. He says that the people that you have been associating with are not the most desirable of sort. Apparently some of them might be communists. Now, I am not one to say who you can cannot consort with but, I think it might be a bit much to consort with the type of people who would have us lay down our guns and surrender to the Bosch. These people would have us stripped of all our rights and be slaves in our own homes. I know they are your friends, but please be careful about who you are seen with. The MP’s are not discriminating in who they arrest for unsavoury activities.

I am sorry; I did not mean to write to you and to preach at you the whole while. I worry that, without me there, trouble will come knocking at your door and take you away from me. Life is hard, here in the trenches, and you are the shining light that calls me home. You are my beacon. You guide me away from despair and show me that there is hope waiting for me.

Thoughts of you keep me sane, my dearest Mildred. Wait for me, my sweet one, for I will be home soon.

Yrs. in loving tenderness

Teddy

CAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!!!

It was asked of me to make a Malteaser Cake for our work Christmas party.

The cake they wanted me to make was basically a chocolate cake covered in Nutella, covered in crushed Malteasers, a chocolate Bavarian on top, more crushed and whole Malteasers, and then melted chocolate drizzled over the deliciously messy concoction.

I might have changed the recipe a bit.

And by "a bit" I might mean "almost completely".

I made a Chocolate Fudge Cake from:

Add A Pinch

It goes something like this:

THE BEST CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPE {EVER}

PRINT

PREP TIME

15 mins

COOK TIME

30 mins

TOTAL TIME

45 mins

Chocolate Cake with decadent chocolate frosting that will quickly become your favourite!

Author: Robyn Stone | Add a Pinch

Cuisine: Dessert

Serves: 12

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups all-purpose flour  (Plain Flour For the Aussies)
• 2 cups sugar
• ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1½ teaspoons baking soda (Bi-Carb Soda)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon espresso powder
• 1 cup milk
• ½ cup vegetable or canola oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water
• 
  
• INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350º F. Prepare two 9-inch cake pans by spraying with baking spray or buttering and lightly flouring. 
2. For the cake:
3. Add flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and espresso powder to a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk through to combine or, using your paddle attachment, stir through flour mixture until combined well.
4. Add milk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla to flour mixture and mix together on medium speed until well combined. Reduce speed and carefully add boiling water to the cake batter. Beat on high speed for about 1 minute to add air to the batter.
5. Distribute cake batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean.
6. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes, remove from the pan and cool completely.

NOTES

The cake batter will be very thin after adding the boiling water. This is correct and results in the most delicious and moist chocolate cake I've ever tasted! 

......................................................................

I put my oven to about 160º-180º C

I added more cocoa than the recipe asked for. I like cocoa. The more, the better. All the cocoa!!

I might have also missed the instructions that said TWO cake pans. I made oneBBIG one. I put the batter into a 23cm deep pan. It was going to be only one layer to the cake, but you'd think I'd actually READ. Nope.
I did need to keep the cake in the oven longer than the 30 minute cook time, probably about 45/50 minutes in total.

It made an awesome, moist and super yummy chocolate cake. Mmmmm moist. Such a squishy word.

MmmmmmMMoist!

Okay, moving on.
While I did add the layer of Nutella, I didn't put in the layer of crushed Malteasers or the Bavarian on top.
I made a vanilla cake to sit on top of the epic chocolate cake and Nutella layer.

I got the vanilla cake recipe from:

All Recipes Australia

And this one goes a little like this:

Ingredients 

1 cup white sugar

125g butter

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla essence

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup milk

• Directions
• Preparation:20min  › Cook:30min  › Ready in:50min

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease and flour a 23cm x 23cm cake pan or line a muffin pan with paper liners.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla essence.
3. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Finally stir in the milk until mixture is smooth. Pour or spoon into the prepared pan.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes. For cupcakes, bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cake is done when it springs back to the touch.

......................................................................

I might have actually read and followed the instructions for this one. Most of them anyway.

I did use caster sugar, mostly. I ran out and had to use raw sugar for the final 1/3 of a cup.

I used Vanilla Extract instead of Essence. And I might have not really measured it out. I tasted and added extra as needed.

The vanilla cake batter was super dense and oh so heavy compared to the Chocolate Cake, but still made a fabulously moist cake when it came out of the oven.

Part of me just wanted to eat them then and there. But I have self control.
Did my nose just grow?
Shut up! I totally have self control!

Okay, time has passed, both the cakes have cooled and I have trimmed the top of the fabulous chocolate cake.

Next, I cracked open the Nutella. I resisted the temptation and didn't eat it. I had been snacking on the chocolate cake trimmings so I was able to be strong.
I lathered the chocolate cake with the Nutella and placed the vanilla cake on top.
Mmmm Top Deck Cake.

Then came the icing.
I didn't really follow any recipe and I realised rather late that I didn't actually have icing sugar in the house. I managed to find some icing mixture, so I used that.

I am not sure of the exact difference between Icing Sugar and Icing Mixture, so I just pretended it was icing sugar.

I poured an indeterminate amount into the mixing bowl and added some room temperature butter to it. After mixing it in, I added a little milk. And then I added a heap of cocoa powder.

ALL THE COCOA!!!

Sorry, I'm calm now.

After several tastings, all totally necessary I assure you, I blobbed the icing onto the cake-tower.

Well, It wasn't totally a tower. Maybe If I had added another layer It would have been more tower-like.

Oooh, definitely something to think about for next time.

With twenty-twenty hindsight, I realise that I probably should have been taking photos.
Dang it!

Okay, we are nearing the end of the cake-journey!

I thought I would save some time with the crushing of the Malteasers and out them in my magic bullet (No, it isn't some sort of sexy toy, you dirty minded person). It might have almost vaporised them. They were very close to Malteaser Powder.

I covered the cake in whole Malteasers and sprinkled the powdered Malteasers over it.

Lastly, we have the cherry on the top. Not the literal cherry, I didn't have any of those.
I melted some Cadbury dark chocolate melts and drizzled it over the cake/monstrosity/thing. More Malteaser powder and whole Malteasers later, the cake is finished!

The finished product was insanely dense and rich and moist ... Mmmmmmoist ... and no one was able to actually finish a piece in one sitting.

The verdict:

Chocolate coma

Would recommend you make it when you want to impress people with an insanely rich and delicious slab of Mmmmmoistness.

Letter from the Other

My dearest Polly,
It has been a hard time, here in Korea. You can’t tell the enemy from your allies. We lost Kimbo and Burkhart last week. They stumbled into a minefield.

Thoughts of you keep me going in the dark times. The Colonel especially enjoyed the stockings you sent. I am sure you meant to send them to me, but had accidentally addressed them to him. It didn’t feel right to insist he give them to me. He asked that you send a size bigger as they didn’t quite fit.

The cookies you sent to Lieutenant Markham were also much appreciated. He shared them with the other officers in the Mess Hall. Us enlisted men were hoping there would be enough for us too. Maybe you can send a few extras so that we can taste your lovely cooking as well.

I know you told me last time that the car was making some odd noises. Don’t take it to Mikey in the High street. He’ll scam you. Take it the Steve in Raymondville. Tell him that you know me and he’ll give you a good deal.

I know you are a strong and independent woman, but I need to know that there is still a place for me in your life and heart. Some of the men have taken local “girlfriends” and I want to assure you that you never have to worry about me, straying. I tried to speak to the chaplain about this very problem, but his secretary said he was very busy attending to his local flock. I’ll try again tomorrow.

We had a visit from a general, yesterday. It was General Stoneman. He sends his regards and hopes that you got the present he sent. That was very thoughtful of him. I didn’t know he took such interest in the home lives of his enlisted men. He seems a good, strong leader. And he is confident that we’ll be going home by Christmas. We can only hope the enemy agree to such a timeline. They haven’t been very agreeable thus far.

I had a letter from Mother recently. She says that you are not letting my absence get you down. She has seen you out at many clubs and restaurants these several months. I am glad you are keeping your spirits up. The last thing you need to do is make yourself sick with worry. Keep your mind off the dangers that I face every day. Dance with the men in the clubs. Laugh and be merry. I will love you and I will see you when I get home. And I know in my deepest heart that you will love me and care for me, no matter the condition that I return to you in. If I return to you missing limbs, I know you will stay by my side. If I return to you a gibbering wreck, you will care for me. If I come home and cannot work for the rest of my life, I know that you will take up the reins to provide for me and all the children I know you want.

 

My dearest Polly, I will write again soon.

My eternal love and devotion

Eustace

  

P.S. Enclosed is the half my pay that you said needed for living expenses. I hope it is enough for you to purchase the items you need.