A Tea Time Experiment

This afternoon s.i.l.'s mum and dad came by for afternoon tea. Ah, eeeexcellent. An excuse to bake. You could make the argument that I should have just served the pumpkin pie but I'd already emotionally committed to a Pine nut and Rosemary Shortcake from the Jeremy and Jane Strode section of the Good Living last week. One small whinge to begin: why, in a recipe designed to be pursued by casual cooks who are attracted by the photo as they skim through the paper, do they give all the quantities in grams? Not many people I know have kitchen scales sensitive enough to measure out 125 g of caster sugar and 115 g of flour and 140 g of polenta or can be bothered. Why not just give good old cup measures? All the conversions are in Stephanie Alexander anyway but it's a pain in the neck and I can't help feeling that it indicates the recipes aren't really designed to be followed and are more of a fashion statement...grumblegrumble. It's a terrible thing to be a grumpy old woman at the age of 28. So, back to this recipe. It's a sweet cake made on polenta and olive oil and flavoured with pine nuts, dried figs and fresh rosemary. Once again I forgot to add sugar and had to pull the cake from the oven at the last minute. Strange subliminal puritanism. The end result is very dense, very rich and sweet. A moist, chewy centre with a golden crust on top and bottom and a scent that messes with your head a little - rosemary, savoury. No... definitely sweet. But - rosemary.... but...