Jumping the gun?

The bouncing Dollar

Another nervy day with the markets looking strong. 'Did I jump the gun?' questions still rattling around in my head. And it stayed like that till the evening. Then the US market, which had made a high that was within 50 or so points of the resistance line, pulled back sharply. It ended, after some flutters, near to yesterday's close. And then I jumped the gun again. Or did I? I bought the first tranche of my planned short positions.

I went in slow. Remember those congestion areas I showed in the weekend post? Each reversal period lasted three days or so. If we count Wednesday's run up as day one, Tuesday will be day four so a fall today would not be a surprise. But that's thin evidence on which to dive in with shorts. So more nail biting in store. Should I have bought more or should I have bought less. The futures market suggests I should have been bolder. Will I gobble up some UK market shorts when the market opens? And then more US shorts in the afternoon? Knife edge decisions.

Today's chart shows the gyrations in the pound/dollar market (cable to the cognoscenti). It rose strongly all through October then fell through three quarters of November. Then a bounce back until the end of the month. And now we're on our way down again. Perhaps a spot of currency speculation is in order. Mmm/? I'll leave that for the moment.

Perhaps instead I should be more active on my precious metals positions. Profits and losses there make me queasy with their ups and downs. I think this will be the next project to tackle.

Yesterday I was inspired to make an eighteenth century dish: an onion and potato pie. It all started with the Antiques Road Show. A lady brought in a copy of Mrs.Hannah Glasse The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, first edition. It was valued at £7-8000. My wife leapt up off the sofa. She had a copy of the very same she thought. Unfortunately it was a later edition, though still very old. We have not checked but it probably is not worth very much. Still, a recipe was worth a go and I tried the pie. My wife wrote out the recipe. The book was not allowed anywhere near the kitchen, later edition or not. 

A pound of potatoes from the garden (boiled, peeled and sliced), a pound of apples (peeled and sliced). They were still hanging on the tree and now quite sweet what with the ripening November sun!? Four hard boiled eggs (shelled and sliced), two large onions sliced in rings and lightly boiled to soften them.


I buttered a casserole dish and sprinkled spices and seasoning (a mixture of mace, nutmeg salt and pepper). Then I put in the other ingredients in a series of layers, with butter and the spice mixture between each collection of layers i.e. potato, onion, egg, apple, butter and spice and then start again. I added ten tablespoons of wine (perhaps cider would have been better suited) and then baked for an hour at 180 degrees. I added a few tablespoons of vegetable stock to keep the pie moist. I rolled out some pastry (I used puff but shortcrust would also have worked) and covered the pie. I then returned it to the oven at 200 degrees for twenty minutes. It was delicious. And here's the recipe as it appears in the book:


To make an onion pye. WASH and pare ſome potatoes, and cut them in ſlices, peel ſome onions, cut them in ſlices, pare ſome apples, and ſlice them, make a good cruſt, cover your diſh, lay a quarter of a pound of butter all over, take a quarter of an ounce of mace beat fine, a nutmeg grated, a tea-ſpoonful of beaten pepper, three tea-ſpoonfuls of ſalt, mix all together, ſtrew ſome over the butter, lay a layer of potatoes, a layer of onion, a layer of apples, and a layer of eggs. and ſo on till you have filled your pye, ſtrewing a little of the ſeaſoning between each layer, and a quarter of a pound of butter in bits, and ſix ſpoonfuls of water. Cloſe your pye, and bake it an hour and a half. A pound of potatoes, a pound of onions, a pound of apples, and twelve eggs will do.

Read more at Celtnet: http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/glasse-lent-dinner-dishes-09.php
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