Day 48 - kindness, pangolins and pudding

Started the celebrations early today with Cafe Au Lait Day. Coffee went through a revolution a few years ago and can now be drunk in more ways than I can count.  Cafe au lait means coffee with milk,  but what does that actually mean? Do I have a long coffee drink or a shot of espresso? Is the milk hot, cold or lukewarm?  Is it frothy or not frothy? If frothy, is it all frothy or just the top? So much to think about. In times like these I was forced to ask Google.  It offered me a video of a barista making what he called the perfect cafe au lait. He made a long coffee and warmed milk to 160 degrees (not sure whether in centigrade or fahrenheit) using a steam machine.  I don't have a steamer so warmed it on the hob. I didn't have any froth but it did actually taste slightly more continental than usual. I also ordered a cafe au lait from a coffee shop in town later and the man serving me write latte on the slip. According to the man on YouTube,  latte is a shot of espresso with lots of milk rather than lots of coffee and warm milk on top. I'm glad that we've cleared that up.

Pangolin Day was today. I hadn't heard of such a thing before and it is my new favourite baby animal. The little ones cling to the mother's tail and they are adorable.  They're covered in scales and curl up like tiny dragons.

Random Acts of Kindness Day was enough to make me feel slightly fuzzy inside. I was on the receiving end of such a thing earlier in the week when I went to Stan's bike shop in Shrewsbury, I asked if they sold spare wheel nuts and the man gave me some for free. I'd looked online and they would have cost me £5 before postage. I passed on the kindness with a donation to a charity shop. Whilst in town I also "paid it forward". There is a coffee shop called Palmers where you can pay for a drink, they put the receipt on a board and then anybody can take it down and claim it. Hopefully it'll help somebody who needs it warm up. I also chucked some change into a busker's fiddle case. Lastly I offered to take my wife's place marshalling the park run in the morning so that she can catch a train. As I say, warm and fuzzy.

Cabbage Day was easy. I fried up a tenderheart cabbage with sausage and mash. It actually went down fairly well with our guests who don't normally have it. Yum.

They weren't so taken with the Indian Pudding. Neither was I. When I read that it was Indian Pudding Day I thought great, curry followed by something puddingy.  I googled it though and found out that it's actually an American  baked eggy cornmeal dish. It sounded good but didn't turn out that way. It might have been  in the cooking or maybe it was the polenta but it tasted gritty. I won't be bothering again!

I missed out on My Way Day. The idea is to just do whatever you fancy, my way or the highway. There wasn't anything which I particularly felt the new to do. Champion Crab Races Day would have required finding hermit crabs to paint and race and Who Shall I Be Day is supposedly copyrighted! They'll have to celebrate that one themselves. Tomorrow is Drink Wine Day. Just saying.