jane's book and golden syrup

I have had the pleasure of reading Jane Broket's book,The Gentle Art of Domesticity: Stitching, Baking, Nature, Art & the Comforts of Home the last few days and can't come up with a better description than it makes me feel comforted. Comforted that such pleasure can be derived from the simple things in life and comforted that I know she wouldn't think it's odd I photograph my dinner before I serve it to my family.

We know Jane from her superb blog, yarnstorm. This book came out last year, but it was only in the UK and now we have the new US edition—with a different cover, cooking conversions, and a few anglo-references footnoted, which is funny and enlightening. Jane's style of writing is so appealing to me. I love this book—it's not a craft book, or a cooking book, but a mixture of the two, with reading recommendations, favorite movies, art history (seriously) and thoughts about creativity and color and texture thrown in. I've been enjoying yarnstorm for a long time now, so it is all warm and familiar. I am totally biased, but I can't recommend this book enough.

So, last night in a fit of Anglophile coziness, I bought some golden syrup (easily purchased locally at New Seasons and maybe Cost Plus?) and made the golden flapjacks from her book today. The golden syrup, (not in a tin, but in a jar—at least stateside) is so tasty. I am waiting for them to cool now. It's like making a toffee with oatmeal added, so I really can't rush the cooling process. I know because I just burnt my fingers. Jane is giving away 5 copies of her lovely hardbound book on her blog, so check it out. Congrats, Jane!