Like a lot of people we all know, COVID-19 has changed how we live and what we can do. It has altered ambitions and expectations and, for some, allowed the opportunity to pursue a passion.
In late March 2020
my workplace transitioned to home-based work for all but a skeleton
crew, and all contact with staff has been by telepresence ever since.
Then, in May, I was diagnosed with cancer, and was put on the fast-track
to surgery; and then chemotherapy began in July, which I am still
undergoing. So, while the workplace is transitioning back from
home-based work, I'm not, at least not for a while yet.
We
have a marvellous extended support Village, who have been delivering
meals, offering rides to appointments, and generally just being there
for whatever we need. I know these things don't necessitate payback, now
or even ever, but it is one of the hardest things in an adult's life to
admit that domestic help is welcome, if not needed. And I've always
been a person who prefers an exchange of gestures, regardless of any
asymetry in that exchange. So I got to thinking about what I could make,
relatively easily and frequently, to exchange for various supportive
actions.
Now, chocolate caramel slice has been my favourite go-to morning/afternoon tea treat for many, many years, and it suddenly occurred to me that this could be a thing that I could learn to make at home, what with all this time on my hands; and that I could put the slices to work as an exchange gesture, because nobody really needs that much sweet slice in their life to themselves. But the pursuit of the perfect chocolate caramel slice quickly turned into a somewhat quixotic exploration of classic Australian dessert slices, with suggestions coming from the family and others. It turns out I have a little bit of a flair for trying to produce the best possible exemplar of each; and then our Village members suggested that perhaps the recipes be collected so that all could share in the glory of my discoveries.
So here it is: The Slice-o-lation Files.
Here you'll find not just the successes, but also some of the stumbles
along the way. If there's one thing I've learned, living in a family and
a community populated by more than the average number of science
communicators, it's that you can glean a lot of valuable data from a
less than successful experiment. That's why the recipes used while
fine-tuning each dish are also included here. If you're ever tempted to
try a thing to take a short-cut, or improvise, just see whether I've
done it before and how it went. Check any of the recipes labelled "Along The Way". All the definitive recipes are labelled "Final recipe".
So, go forth and make slice, and may
we all hope for that day to come, sooner than later, when you don't have
to worry about the physical spacing in the social setting where you serve it.
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