Tomorrow is my last day at the cancer centre. On Wednesday night, I start my surgical rotation in a new hospital, where I will know precisely two people – the other house officers who’ve been working with me for the past four months – neither of whom start on nights. I am incredibly scared. I am also a little bit sad to be leaving this hospital. It is disorganised, bureaucratic to the hilt, and full of sadness, but I have learnt a few things, seen much more, and made some friendships – and unlike my colleagues, who I might work with again, or meet in the pub, when I walk out of the door tomorrow evening I will almost certainly never see my patients again.
There isn’t much that banishes the winter blues like the smell of baking gingerbread. So I made some.
This recipe – dark because it contains cocoa powder – is Dan Lepard’s from his new book Short & Sweet, via Saturday’s Guardian, and sadly it didn’t live up to my high hopes. It smelled lovely, but didn’t taste very exciting (and, to be fair, although I timed them really carefully the biscuits are also a little bit burnt), so I’ll have to buy a cake tomorrow to say my goodbyes with. And then look for a better gingerbread recipe.
Do you have one?
I don’t think this recipe is true gingerbread, this recipe is for gingersnaps – but they’re about the best cookies I’ve ever made. http://smittenkitchen.com/2011/11/gingersnaps/
Oh dear. I’m sorry that Dan Lepard disappointed at such a crucial time. I made some ginger -flavoured cupcakes the other day from Short and Sweet, with squash and masses of ginger, and they were fine, I think. If you like ginger that is.
You are probably working as I am writing this. I’m hoping it is nowhere near as frightening as you feared.
I usually stay away from making gingerbread because the german recipes contain an ingredient I can’t stand – salts of hartshorn. But there’s a Nigella Lawson recipe for Sticky Gingerbread (from Nigella’s Christmas) I love. Easy to make and tastes fantastic.