IMG 3816 This is ME on........life - Saturday, 30th November 2013

Hi this is ME......on onion marmalade & cauliflower cheese

Hi, This is ME talking to you.....on paperwork and food, of course!!!

Hi this is ME........on Lists and other things - Friday, 29th November, 2013.

Two friends of mine have recently had to pack for an unexpected holiday admission and it set me thinking, how I would cope in a similar situation?

Well, so far, so good, for it's not happened but, what if it should?  What should I need to take with me....well, naturally -

Nightwear plus slippers, plus my lightest wrap or dressing gown

Sponge bag -
of course, but I bet I'd forget obvious everyday things such as dental sticks and such like (at home one uses an electric toothbrush - could you take that???
cotton wool, shampoo and conditioner, small face scrub, loofah, tweezers, medicated foot creams etc.)
Of course, I think you should keep an emergency sponge bag ready all the time, just in case - weekend jaunts, hospitals, emergency over-night stay somewhere - for work perhaps, and so on!

Nice wrap or light cardigan
Books - at least three
Food nibbles - fruit, biscuits, dark chocolate, water and squash
Magazines
Telephone book
Mobile 'phone and charger
Note cards or writing paper, envelopes and stamps
Torch and batteries
Money for hospital 'phone - just in case!
Money for hospital television - for moments of extreme boredom
Air freshener
Tissues
Small travelling clock
Silk Scarf
Hair brush, hair spray, comb etc. if not already in sponge bag
Extra large towel and bath hat
Something to do - knitting or sewing (with sewing kit) or a small jigsaw
Fresh home clothes


Now what have I left off my list.....?  Anything???  I think a copy of this list in my wardrobe, sellotaped up somewhere, would be useful!!!

I'm going to make another batch of onion marmalade and Kilner it, for the store cupboard, for future busy-day lunch or supper times.  It will always go with my pesto and potted mixtures, as well as my new Black Cabbage mixture made up last weekend - it's lovely!

Well, must dash, there's cooking to do and supper to prep.  There's no time to be bored!!!

Daisy

Hi, This is ME talking to you.....on paperwork and food, of course!!!

Hi..this is Me talking to you - Wednesday, 27th November 2013.

It's been a desk-bound day for me.  Simply masses of paper to sift thru', back-filing to attend to when, frankly, I'd much rather be surging forward, blogging and vlogging and well, cooking up a storm or two!!!

I've a  few new ideas to try out, see if I can make them work out well, and add some news recipe items to my own recipe book; just love the idea of publishing an own-book, one day...wow!!!

In the meantime, I finished off my third batch of beetroot and horseradish chutney and there's just a few apples left over to turn into applesauce...must use more of the sauce in the flourless cake of Mark Hix's that I made yesterday evening!  And today, I found a Smitten Kitchen Sweet Potato cake with soft Marshmallow topping, which looks absolutely gorgeous;  I shall try for a gluten-free version of Debra's cake for our weekend treat.

For supper tonight, we ate lamb chops and lamb steaks with my potato kale cakes and two or three fresh winter vegetables, with mint sauce and gravy.  He's such a good cook, it's a real treat to tuck into one of his plates of food!

Actually, I've eaten so much, I simply don't even want to think about eating even the tiniest morsel of my delicious cake - I can't face it!!!

It's been a useful day and there's still more paperwork to be organised, filed and recorded but, at least, I've made a start and from now on, it can only get better!!!

OK - see you later!

Daisy

ps here's another photo-shot of that cake !

Me on cooking, eating and books - 26th November 2013.

I've just made that cake I was telling you of earlier, Mark Hix's "flourless orange cake recipe" seen online on the Sunday Telegraph Food Page for Sunday, 24th November, 2013.

Now, I've had to change the recipe contents a smidgen, for I'd only two eggs, and no oranges, so I used my apple sauce mix, made the other day and flavoured with lemon and, only a little ground almonds, so I made up the required amount with ground walnuts.

I'd bought walnuts, for Sainsbury's were out of almonds altogether the other day, because of a product recall for some reason, and I've not been back since then, to see if their problem has been resolved.

I put my mixture into a two pound loaf tin, as I could not find a round cake tin of the required size.

Here's a few photo-shots for you -

All together now...?

Just baked...!

Ready to bake...!

Baked and finished...!

My version of Mark Hix's flourless cake with my cream cheese icing and ground walnuts......!!!

And, what did we have for supper...eventually....well, He cooked  -  Belly Pork slices with lashings of potatoes and veggies....!

Daisy

ps  here's my new, floral patterned,plastic bag holder from Chic Unique Brogdale...

Howzat!!!

Lists for Life.........My life!!!

Lists are great for all kinds of occasions, times, events and for going places?

My last list was for going to Brogdale and here it is -

Pink Cagoule
Apricot fleece
His Wellington boots
My Hunter boot liners
Comfortable rain hat
Extra thick socks - just in case
Sat Nav - map - address details
Warm underpinnings!
Full Coffee flask
Torch and spare batteries
My 'phone charger
Anti-Bacterial Hand Gel
Shopping bag
Bottled water
Wrap, handkerchiefs, gloves (which I forgot!)

And then my gardening things....!

Pruning saw and knife
Gardening gloves and cotton work gloves
Secateurs
Notebook and pen
Pruning book - well, I thought it might prove useful for a quiet moment!

An everyday walking coat
My dark blue Gilet
An extra jumper - just in case
Plus - one other coat - another just in case - well, you simply never know, do you???

A brilliant day - highly enjoyable and very instructive.  And no photo-shot of our day but one of Brogdale's Apple Day Festival in October....!

Apples on show for Apple Day - 21st October 2013


Daisy

This is ME talking to you - an anxiety of lavatories!

Why, oh why, do lavatory paper holders jam and lock in the very instance of (their) prime movement?

You're in an anxiety to perform, having either rushed up an escalator or, to the furthest corner of your favourite Supermarket or store, wondering if the loo will be clean.  I mean, you're thinking, should you just sit or, layer the seat with clean loo paper or, sit on your hands or - are you the clever type, who's practised the art of straddling, without touching anywhere....?   It's all such a bother really but, omg, the thing needs to be aired!

And then you're struggling to unclip, unfasten, unzip, all the while loaded with parcels, umbrellas and what-not?  It's enough to make one expire.....!

The problem is always the same - you settle yourself and then the wretched contraption doesn't co-operate.  All you manage to get your hands on is a torn and raggedy piece of material and, of course, we manage - just as always!

Hey ho, it's just one of life's little difficulties we women have to cope with - don't we?

However, perhaps somebody ought to do something about those awkward lavatory paper holders...what do you think???

Daisy

About Beetroot......a quick note for future use!

Ah ha, good old Sainsbury's supply beetroot in neatly vacuumed packs - in natural juice and easy to cook...!

Neat and ready to use - Sainsbury's Beetroot

And a new list......for your handbag, one of those large, capacious brown leather ones, we've all been toting around for ages.....a new handbag-essentials list - the extra items!

And today, having

popped out to visit friends, to  borrow their long-handled pruning clippers, and on the way back, harvested more fresh kale from the garden but, omg! I'd forgotten to bring my gardening gloves, and we'd rushed off so quickly I forgot to wash my  hands, all muddied from the bricks, stones and sticks holding down the netting over the veggie patch;  and guess what, I had none of that antibacterial hand-gel to hand - bother!!!

So, back to my new handbag list, my first new essential handbag item would be, you've guessed it, the antibacterial hand-gel....

And then, and then, that most essential item - a plastic carrier bag, for that shopping you hadn't bargained on buying today.  

Of course, if you have a really large "shopper-type" handbag, you could make it one of those hessian bags, with a name emblazoned across its side.  I favour these myself, for the handles are so much kinder to the hand, than a plastic handle, don't you agree?

So, there we are, the first two items for my new Lists for Life - essential items for handbags!

And, in the kitchen, I'm making apple sauce for our pork chops for supper; two large Bramley apples, peeled, cored and diced, in a small saucepan with a little water, a squeeze of lemon juice plus a small knob of butter, gently melted down over a low heat until thoroughly collapsed.  Give the whole a good stir to amalgamate and there you have it, a lovely apple sauce to enjoy with your pork chops for supper!!!

Daisy

IMG 3656 Kale Pesto for Sunday Supper...Sunday 17th November, 2013

Margaret Bakes a Gluten-free Red Velvet Cake with beetroot...!

Hi there, I thought you would like to see  my vlog - Margaret makes a gluten-free red velvet cake with beetroot.

And here's my cake...

Gluten-free and Gorgeous - My Red Velvet Cake with beetroot!

A really light and gloriously delicious cake, my version of a cake from America's Southern States and featured in "The Joy of Baking" by Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker.

I've also recently enjoyed a girlfriend's recipe for chocolate and beetroot brownies, and they were just so good, soft and squidgy, and delicious.  And entirely gluten-free with ground almonds and no flour.  Really scrummy!

Good food - glorious eating!!!

Now, what shall I cook tomorrow?

Daisy

margarets vidio edit 3 Margaret makes...her own Gluten-free Red Velvet C...

Lists for Life.........The Detective......

Do you watch TV?  I mean, did you watch TV last night for the last Poirot?

Well I did but I'm not convinced by Poirot's performance as a dead private detective - it just wasn't convincing!

And I love watching Poirot, Miss Marple, Lewis and his sidekick and Foyle - they're all great.  Great stories, great detectives and.....talking of Greats....let's not forget Morse - as if one ever could!

Now his television death was memorable, emotional, convincing and utterly believable....and still, today, I feel the pain of his departure from our screens.  Lewis is brilliant with or without Morse...but he's not Morse; but I do like him very much.

Talking of detectives, must mention the original, for me anyway, Miss Marple, played by Joan Hickson.  Wow, she was and, still is, absolutely, my most favourite TV crime-solving TV presence.  Just one look from her candid, thoughtful persona, gave you that absolute surety of her knowledge of the human mind, that capacity for intrigue, deceit and mayhem.  Joan Hickson 's Miss Marple displayed an acute awareness, muffled up in knitting and that oh so sweet smile,  all concealing her razor-sharp intellect and deductive powers to get that criminal or criminally-inclined person.  Totally marvellous and brilliant!!!

But back to Poirot....has he really gone, never to return to our TV screens, never to listen to Miss Lemon's dulcet tones, never to reprimand Hastings for not using his mind.....has he really gone for ever???

He could walk in last night's programme ...we saw him....so why all the mystery of his ill-health, his death, his failing powers, when he told Hastings he could walk, which is why he'd sent his personal valet away?

It's all too mysterious for words.  I want Poirot back on our screens, catching the criminal, intent upon some dastardly dead....and I want his smiling assurance that all will be well, tapping his "little grey cells" with that enigmatic smile, so knowledgeable, so charismatic and believable

Daisy

Lists for Life.........My life!!!

Lists are great for all kinds of occasions, times, events and situations.  In fact, they are essential for most of us, most of the time.  Of course, making a list almost guarantees it will get lost, mislaid, forgotten, even ignored; yet still a remnant of your list will have become lodged in your brain as a faint memory, so all will not be entirely lost.  The situation is retrievable!!!

My list is for my life, right now, thus it is a very particular kind of listing, just for my situation now.  It could possibly work for others, if they are of the same frame of mind, and I rather guess, the basic ideas incorporated within its framework, would happily be applicable to others.  So let's see how my ideas pan out, once written down in an orderly manner?

Must-haves:-

mobile 'phone - ready charged to go
dog and lead - Alice likes to come with me too!
bottled water
car keys
house keys
money /cards
torch
map - just to check your car knows where it's going
wellington boots and rain hat
waterproof cover
first aid  kit
car cleaning materials
picnic - if you're on a long journey
car rug
shovel


Well, that's good for starters, but I may add, more items later on.  Let's see!


Bye for now

Daisy