Another day

Good morning all well it is for some of us but poor Joy lost her mother in the early hours and of all days it would be Mothering Sunday.  To lose your mother is always traumatic but it doesn't help to have a day that will always be prominent and is meant to be a time of celebration.  Time will ease the pain but never destroy the memories of happy times.  Joy is herself a mother so I hope her family will gather around her like a warm blanket and see her through these difficult days.  I lost my mother nearly 20 years ago but I often think of her and the good times we had together and often the silly things we did.   So here is a silly memory that has come to me today:  As a rebellious teenager I said something cheeky to her while she was cooking and her response to me was "say that again and I will crack this egg on your head".  So I said it again and sure enough an egg was smashed on my head I then dared her to do it again and she didn't disap...

Good morning all it is a lovely bright sunny morning.  It has been so dry of late I even had to water my window boxes for the first time this year.  The boys seem to be getting over their colds though James had a sleepless night so I think he may be unconscious for most of the day.   Yesterday I decided to do the pork fillet in the batter mix I got from Japan it is intended for chicken but worked beautifully with the pork.  Only one fly in the ointment I had to send James up to Tak's house so she could translate the instructions on the packet which were all in Japanese.  Anyway, it was delicious and the boys were well impressed.  I accompanied it with a fairly bland rice salad with some toasted peanuts for texture.  On the menu today I have a packet of minced beef and as yet have not decided what to do with it.  There are so many possibilities; I am thinking along the lines of burgers with an endive, pear, walnut and blue cheese sal...

This is the view from my bedroom which overlooks the garden and my flat kitchen roof/bird table.  I took this photo in the early evening as it had been dull all day and then finally the sun appeared so the foreground is in shadow.  After my late start yesterday I decided on fish fingers for lunch with a mixed salad and for supper, I did some lamb steaks which had all day to defrost in a marinade of lemon juice, olive oil and garlic I served them with saute potatoes and swiss chard.   Both my men have colds and are feeling very miserable I just hope I don't catch it from them hopefully it is a virus I have already had and I am therefore immune.  There are not many advantages to getting older but that is one of them. On the menu today I have a pork fillet which I will butterfly and then dip in some fancy Japanese seasoned flour before frying and serve with some sort of rice dish.  Supper will be cauliflower cheese a much-loved favourite....

Good morning all it is another dull one today.  Denzil has a cold and I have been a bit off colour so James was on duty yesterday.  He did us an English breakfast for lunch and a vegetable gratin for supper he is actually quite a good cook.  As I had zero energy I decided to practice knitting in the Russian style which is much quicker once you get the hang of it.  It requires you holding the yarn in the other hand and is more like crochet so it doesn't feel too strange.  I once taught a friend to crochet but she was left-handed so I had to learn how to crochet left-handed before I could teach her.  Though I am not truly ambidextrous I have had to teach students who are left-handed so I have had to learn to do lots of things that way.  Many years ago I had a frozen right shoulder and had to learn to write on the swab board with my left hand as I couldn't reach it with my right.  This has one serious drawback...

Good morning all it is dull and overcast here this morning but the birds are enjoying the wild bird food I have supplied in an effort to stop them eating my "panties".  Yesterday was beautiful and I got the last of the shopping done for a few days including a rat trap as I think I have one trying to break into the house.  I have no problems with rats in the garden but I draw the line with the house.  It was so nice we also got a couple of loads of washing dry on the line which is so much nicer than having to use the tumble dryer or dangling it all over the house. For me, it is one of the joys of the summer weather that an being able to throw open the windows and get some air through the house. As I had a full complement yesterday I did our Sunday lunch which was some pork chops which I bought from Macnades.  They were what I call proper chops from proper pigs none of these skinny thin chops cut with a salami slicer.  I did some sage ...

Good morning all another bright sunny one so I think we are finally out of the winter doldrums. I got stuck into making the Cornish pasties yesterday only to discover my flour supplies were sadly depleted and I had to use a fair proportion of wholemeal bread flour which made the crust rather tougher than I would have liked but I believe you are supposed to be able to drop a pasty down a mine shaft without it breaking!!!  I managed the crimping OK it is like riding a bike once you get the hang of it you don't forget.  I would have taken some pictures but as they came out of the oven so they were demolished.  The men were circling the oven salivating from the smell of them cooking.  The dogs had no problems helping out with the excess pastry so all in all, I think I can put it down as a success. I had a bit of a disaster with some wild bird seed which I had in my bedroom and wanted to transfer it from a polythene bag to an old milk contain...

Good morning all it is a lovely sunny but chilly morning with a gentle breeze.  I notice that the birds have been making a meal of my pansies.  The spell check has just picked up the word pansies and wants to replace it with panties which would make a much more interesting story!!!!  I am sitting here chuckling away to myself. I had a lovely day with Tak at Macnades and she was very impressed with the selection of food available and our shopping was made quite interesting as we had to keep dodging a film crew.  It might have been more sensible to do the filming when the shop was closed to the public as they didn't want shoppers in the film.  These are Tak's photos which I have copied from facebook.  Tak's purchases  this is the very impressive cheese counter  The film crew doing the rice shelves  Bread still warm from the oven They now also sell dried goods in a help yourself style By the time...

Good morning all sorry to be so late but I have just got back from Macnades where just to make life difficult they were filming which made for interesting shopping.  I took Tak who despite living here for ages has never discovered this fabulous foody paradise.  Needless to say, she bought more than she intended as did I and she also bought me this lovely bunch of flowers. The dogs are all peacefully munching cows leg bones and I bought a lovely piece of skirt for making Cornish pasties. I am full to the brim with scrambled eggs and mushrooms and I have some lovely scotch eggs with black pudding for the boys for supper.  As you can see from the photo the sun is shining I will move the flowers but I wanted the best light for the photo.  Now all I have to do is put away all the food and then I think I will go and collapse on my bed for a couple of hours before I have to do supper. Have a lovely day and I hope you too are blessed with some lovely sunsh...

Good morning all just like yesterday someone has forgotten to switch on the weather, there is none, it is still, dull and dry.  However, overnight my red camelia has opened its first flower and there are plenty of buds just waiting to make a lovely display. As you will know I spend quite a lot of time at my kitchen sink but just look at what I see through the window. My window box is filled with winter-flowering pansies and bursting through are these lovely mini tulips so elegant and so perfect.  Isn't nature wonderful? I had a day of total indolence yesterday I just felt so tired after a bad night I find the older I get the less able I am to deal with sleeplessness.  For lunch we had some rib eye steaks form Riverford but I was very disappointed as they had been cut so thin they were like net curtains so I wrote a quick letter off to Riverford who immediately refunded the cost and apologised.  Now that is what I call service...

Good morning all.  It is a dull still and dry day so far and not too cold just boring.  I am up a bit earlier as I had a disturbed night probably because I am furious.  Miele rang yesterday to say not only were they not coming but would try to mend the machine on April 1st. given that it packed up on 21/1/19 I think that is terrible service.  I am very angry about it all so I have to be careful I don't run off at the mouth without my brain engaged.  However, if they think I will pay them they can think again I will suggest they sue me and see what a court makes of it the worst that can happen is that I have to pay and it will cost them a packet  You see what I mean I am livid: I hate to think what my blood pressure is doing. The garden is looking lovely at the moment with lots of things in bloom and splashes of colour everywhere. Keith the gardener came yesterday and he has had a good tidy up and even lit a bonfire to burn off some of the wood that wa...

Good morning all. It is dull and overcast this morning but mild so no complaints.  Nails are all done no nasty gaps and a lovely mushroom risotto was waiting for me when I got home.  I chose the same colour again as it goes with most things.  I don’t wear orange or yellows as they make me look ill.  My favourite colour for clothes is navy blue I also look ok in black and you can't go wrong with white.  Shiona always tells me off as she is a purple peacock when it comes to clothes and I am into plain rather than patterned. No news about the coffee machine yet and Sod’s law being operational I ran out of ground coffee yesterday and had to buy a new lot. Fortunately, when the machine arrives it can also use ground coffee as well as beans so it will not get wasted. On today’s menu, I have a couple of duck legs which I am going to quickly pressure cook then crisp up in the oven.  Probably with boiled spuds and a big green salad nothing...

Good morning all it's a bit dull and overcast this morning but at least it is dry at the moment.  My good intentions for yesterday rather fizzled out as I spent a lovely morning chatting and drinking coffee at Tak's house.  I had popped over to ask her if she would like to come with me to Macnades on Sunday for breakfast.  She runs a cattery which means she is tied to her home and phone most of the time but she tries to keep Sunday mornings free.  I did manage to get my colocasia bulb planted and watered in and Denzil brought us back some interesting toasted cheese sandwiches with pastrami and dill pickles which were interesting but nothing I would rave about.  Then Tak brought us some pieces of chicken breast coated in a commercial Japanese flour which was absolutely delicious so I have ordered a packet via Amazon.  The boys were very impressed so I hope I can do as good a job when the flour arrives. Tubby spent the morning sunbathing in his...

Good morning all, today is a day of no weather it is still and slightly overcast but I feel spring is really here with all the flowers beginning to bloom in the garden.  Yesterday I decided to plant the bulbs I had ordered and hoped I had enough potting compost but sadly I did not so it was a quick run to B&Q for some more multipurpose but by the time I got back it was time to get lunch underway so today I will finish by planting the colocasia which will have to start life indoors as it is a tropical bulb. James made us a broccoli cheese with the help of the thermomix to make the sauce so I have the debris to clear up this morning at least he did put it all in water so it shouldn't be too rotten a job.  Denzil is going to a new restaurant/shop in Rochester which specialises in cheese and he will be providing lunch so nice easy morning for me.  My Tefal non-stick frying pan is on its last legs the handle is loose and cannot be tightened any more so I am now in rec...

Good morning all yesterday was a bit of a mixed bag of weather, every time I tried to do something outside the heavens opened and in the end I just gave up and pottered indoors. The Mongolian potatoes were a resounding success but how can you fail with cheese and fried onions?  Even the dogs were impressed as they got a small portion.  Today I have some chicken thighs to do and I quite fancy a recipe that Madhur Jaffrey did with lemon and coriander which I have just looked up and I have all the necessary ingredients.  It is nice and simple and very tasty so an easy cooking day for me.  I had intended a Korean dish but that is much more work and deep frying which I hate so I will go with the first idea.   I had completely forgotten it was St Patrick's day I believe St David's day is the first of March but I have no idea when St George's day is so I have just looked it up and it is 23 April funny how all these days line up w...

Good morning all it is bright and sunny this morning which is pleasing as I have some bulbs to plant which arrived yesterday.  I had a choppy night but that seems to be par for the course these days I seem to have a period of wakefulness in the middle of the night then doze back off again and finish my night's sleep. Yesterday was a day of huge excitement for us rugby fans the end of the six nations which started off with France v Italy and as expected France managed to win that one and not totally disgrace themselves.  Then came the big one Wales v Ireland both had good teams so it looked like it would be a close thing.  Instead, the Welsh were in good voice and cheered their team to a resounding victory and the grand slam. Then the real nail biter was England v Scotland and the Calcutta Cup.  England blasted off with a try and conversion in 66 seconds and by half time it looked like the scots might just as well go home.  I don't k...

Good morning all it looks like a miserable day weather wise and if we are not careful we will run out of the alphabet for storm names.  Today I am under some time pressure as I need to get everything done so I can collapse and watch the rugby.   Yesterday was Sunday lunch and today we are off to Mexico for chilli con carne and guacamole and tortillas for supper.  I am minus a couple of necessary ingredients so a quick dash to the shops for fresh coriander and limes. James hoovered out the garage yesterday so we are making steady progress there and while I am out I will stock up on bleach so I can give it all a good clean before putting things out there for storage.  Incidentally now is the time to stock up on toilet paper, tissues etc. apparently we don't make that kind of paper and it may run short if it hits the fan with Europe.  I now have plenty of room in the garage so I will increase my stock levels just in case....

Good morning all well it is a sort of nothing day this morning a bit dull a bit windy but nothing worth mentioning. I spent a good while in the kitchen yesterday making lunch as I did sushi and rolled omelettes which take time and care to make but in the end, I think it was worth it. The rolled omelette had crispy bacon and finely diced skinned and pipped tomato and a few spring onions which I have taken to freezing.  The rolls had crab, avocado, carrot and tomato and in the little dishes, there is wasabi and homemade pickled ginger and soy sauce.  Surprisingly what you see was ample for the three of us for lunch.  I had leftover rice which is dressed with vinegar and Mirin and some carrot strips which the dogs polished off.  Actually looking at the picture I realise just how economical the meal was when you tot up the ingredients.  Today is Denzil's day off so we will be having Sunday lunch and I have a nice piece of pork to roast with sage and ...

Good morning all.  What strange weather we had yesterday there was bright sun and very fine hail which was like sand most odd.  By the time I had prepared the meals and done the kombucha and a few other odds and ends I was out of gas so the cupboard got put on hold.  I knew I was tired as I had had a disturbed night full of frustration dreams.  I was lost in a huge hotel complex and just couldn’t find my room. When I woke I was exhausted almost as if the dream was real. Today it is pouring with rain and from the forecast, we are in for a week of rain so I dashed out and took a couple of photos yesterday.  The forsythia in bloom  Winter-flowering clematis armandii  White flowering currant Ribes alba The magnolia in bloom but the sky so dark it looks like a black and white photo. I had planned to make sushi for supper last night but ran out of enthusiasm so we ended up with bacon sandwiches and Jaffa cakes.  The su...

Good morning all.  It is all good news today first the steamer worked well on the bathroom tiles and I have managed to clean those which were difficult to reach behind the towel rail.  Now even better news Meile is replacing the coffee machine at the end of next week.  I am assuming that as it is a brand new machine it will carry a two-year warranty so I will make a note of that just in case. The mushrooms with mayo and cheese were rather nice and something I will do again.  I have seen the same idea used on salmon which is smeared with mayo before grilling so I must try that next.  Dennie was very impressed with my cleaning efforts and she is only too aware of how much work is involved.  Today I need to do my kombucha which is going to be blueberry flavoured this time.  I blitzed a packet of frozen blueberries and passed them through a fine sieve which has taken overnight to finally drip through.  I think it will be a pretty lurid colo...

Good morning all it is blowing and raining here this morning. I had a relatively busy day yesterday and it was the turn of the fridge to get a birthday so that is all shiny and clean.  Having made a curry for lunch I then turned my attention to making the courgette pancakes which take a while to do by the time you have grated them and salted, rinsed and squeezed dry before you even think of making the mixture.  Anyway, they are done and are already starting to disappear.  I then cooked a meal for Denzil when he gets in from work at midnight.  He was shattered on Sunday when he came home which is hardly surprising as he had delivered 1.3 tons of shopping that day.  That is a lot of lifting and carrying so he does need feeding.  I try to leave him something which only requires a reheat in the microwave and nothing too heavy as it is so late at night. Today I am trying out a Japanese recipe which I found on youtube.  It is just mushrooms pl...

Good morning all.  It is bright and very cold this morning after a terrible day yesterday with very high winds and topped off with a hail storm in the evening.  I made a management decision to tumble dry the washing which was definitely the right thing as the wind was blowing down fences and throwing my garden chairs around.  I then sat and tidied up my cleaning clothes of which there are hundreds and I have put aside those which need to be disposed of which will happen once they have been used in the garage to clean out the cupboards. I seem to have a bit of a glut of onions so I finely sliced a pile and deep fried them until crispy to go on our curry lunch today. I used the wok as it takes much less oil and the now flavoured oil is rebottled ready to do a stirfry. I can't believe how long it took for them to get a bit of colour any way they are done now and by some miracle, I remembered to get the chicken out of the freezer ready to make the curry today. ...

Good morning all well it is a miserable day here windy and wet, proper March weather.  Yesterday was a day for forgetting things I loaded the washing machine and when Denzil came home he offered to hang it out as it was sunny and windy really good for drying but he discovered I had forgotten to press the on button.  Then after lunch, he loaded the dishwasher and when we came to unload at supper time he discovered he had forgotten to press the on button. So much for labour saving devices sadly you have to engage your brain as well. I had a lovely afternoon watching the rugby which was really good and I had the opportunity to practice singing the Welsh national anthem in Welsh which I have learned as I love the tune.  Then it was followed by England versus Italy and I can do both national anthems.  Then as England massacred Italy I got to sing "swing low sweet chariot" which brought back happy memories of singing it at Twickenham in m...

Good morning all, there is good news and bad.  I will start with the bad the coffee machine is still broken despite 3 hours of the engineer's efforts.  The new parts refused to fit so maybe a manufacturing fault anyway I am back to waiting.  If it were up to me I would replace the machine and use the broken one to train engineers but sadly I am not their manager. On the good news front, all the crud has been removed the garage which is all but empty with the exception of the rat poop so a lovely job for me but no rush on that.  I now have the steam cleaner but have not had the energy to try it out yet. It is my last hope having tried cillit bang, jiff, flash and TFR etc. Denzil had a day of 20% off in Tesco so I got dragged round once all the men had gone.  I was so tired by the time we got back that I still haven’t finished putting stuff away so that is where I will start today. We ended up having lunch at about 4pm and I was out of gas by then. Today ...

Good morning all today is a sunny one and the wind seems to have dropped a bit.  The gardeners came for the first visit of the season yesterday and so I got them to do a few jobs which had been driving me mad for ages so I am a happy bunny.     I tried the TFR on the tiles in the bathroom and while it is the best thing so far it still requires a lot of elbow grease and I have a ladder type radiator/towel rack and can't get behind it easily so I have organised a pressurised steam handheld thing which I am hoping will do the job as well as many others.  The problem is that the embossed tiles don't have a shiny glaze but are a mat finish so the dirt sticks to them really well. At the moment I am setting my timer for 1 hour for the bathroom and it is quite surprising how much you can get done in that time.  The kitchen is part spring cleaned so I am intending to do one cupboard per day.   With any luck, the man is coming to finish off th...

Good morning all it is bright and breezy this morning and I am recovering from a long day yesterday.  The garage is partially empty and is now full of black bags awaiting collection on Friday when the job will be finished.  Although I was not actually doing the clearing it was hard mental work sorting what to keep and what to throw out and the guy went away with an entire van load of stuff and by my calculations, he has another van load to go.  Anyway once it is done I can get a broom in there and clean it out a bit.  Over the years we have had it fill with leaves and we also had a rat problem at one stage so you can imagine the mess. I tried the trick with setting the timer while I clear out the flour cupboard and it worked really well as I made myself stop.  The trouble with me is once I start something I don't know when to stop and get deeply involved in the cleaning process. Then I am exhausted and it will be months before I have another go....

Good morning all it is a horrid day here wet and cold but I am a happy bunny.  Denzil and I had a good turf out in the kitchen and got rid of lots of things I am never going to use again.  It is amazing what you quietly accumulate.  I had enough bread tins to open a bakery not to mention a good assortment of cake tins and as I rarely eat cake I don't make it either so it is all just clutter.  I rationalised my saucepans and got rid of old frying pans which had lost their non-stick etc.  Then I moved on to the cupboard of rice and pulses and discovered that I had just bits and pieces so I put all the odds and ends of assorted rice into a pot and boiled it for the dogs.  I also tackled the plastic box disaster and thinned that out so things are looking much better in the kitchen.  There is still a way to go but at least a start has been made.  The man is coming this morning between 9 and 11 so he can see just what is required and hop...

Good morning all it is a beautifully sunny morning here though it is pretty cold.  Yesterday we had interesting meals as it was a case of getting rid of lots of bits and pieces from the fridge.  We had accumulated lots of cheeses so a French stick and some pickles made both lunch and supper.  I have also booked a man with a van who is prepared to empty my garage and shed of all the rubbish.  Well, it is not exactly rubbish some of the stuff is quite serviceable.  Anyway, he is coming tomorrow so today I am going to thin out some of the stuff from the kitchen so that it can go as well.  It will be a huge relief to have this job done as it has been preying on my mind for ages.  I will have to participate as there are bits and pieces I want to keep but I am afraid I might not be ruthless enough.  Some of the larger items like jam pans etc must go as I am never going to be making large amounts of preserves again.  I need to be realisti...

Good morning all what a miserable day it was yesterday it poured the whole day and blew a hooly.  Tubby sat at the patio door on high alert as he was convinced that leaves blowing along the ground were rats and needed to be dealt with, which of course is his job and taken very seriously.  There are of course rats about they say you are never more than 10 feet from a rat.  On the odd occasion he has been right he follows their track as they disappear into one of the sheds or garage but he has yet to catch one.  I don't put down poison as I am afraid the dogs might find it and eat it.  They cause me no trouble so I just leave them alone all the time they stay in the garden. I spent a good hour yesterday searching for my pie plate which seemed to have vanished. It shows how long it has been since I made a pie.  In the end, I found it in the back of a little used cupboard which only reinforced the need to sort out the mess in the kitchen....

Good morning all.  Well, it is wet and windy this morning proper March weather.  Dan went out for his morning tank emptying session then found a really good place to dry off in bed with me, not the best start to the day. I had a good day yesterday in the kitchen I made a cauliflower cheese with a packet of smoked pancetta which I fried off and put in the bottom and I let the thermomix make a large dose of bechamel all done properly with flavoured milk and yes it is worth the effort.  I was using up stuff in the fridge so various odds and ends of cheese and a good teaspoon of English mustard made for a tasty cheese sauce.  As Denzil had had breakfast we had the cauliflower for lunch and the cottage pie for supper.  I had a dying mozzarella which got chopped up and put on top of the mash which was actually rather nice.  The remaining bechamel has gone into a chicken and mushroom pie for our supper tonight.  I was quite strict with mysel...

Good morning all it is another dull chilly day but we have had such a lovely long sunny spell I can't really complain. I had a busy day yesterday I had to do a trip to both Aldi and Tesco as there are things only one of them does which is a bit of a pain as the only item I had to go to Tesco for was coffee and it was heaving with people but for the first time ever I came out with nothing but coffee.  As an impulse shopper that is a miracle.  I then drove to my friend's house and as she was out at work I hung a bag of beetroots on her front door. That felt so much better than throwing them away.  She rang me last night to thank me and is coming round for a cup of tea this afternoon which will be lovely as we haven't had a good chat for ages. For once in my life, I remembered to get stuff out of the freezer so I have some mince which has defrosted and is going to be a cottage pie.  I bought extra milk as I am also making a cauliflower cheese and I ha...

Good morning all and welcome to March.  Yesterday we got the rain the garden needed so the washing ended up in the tumble dryer. This morning is grim and dull and everything is still dripping.  I had some giant couscous which I added to two packs of fish soup from Iceland which made a very adequate lunch and for supper I made some tuna fish cakes which we had with a tomato and spring onion salad.  The fish cake recipe called for mayonnaise but sadly the jar was all but empty so as I couldn't be bothered to make some and as there were already eggs in the mix I just added some olive oil and the juice of half a lemon and no one was any the wiser. As I am still waiting for my coffee machine to be repaired I need to go and buy some coffee today as well as a few other bits and pieces.  As I have nothing out of the freezer I will look for something nice and easy for lunch and maybe super as well.  there are days when I really don't want to cook much ...