I just looked out of the window as a squirrel came flying past! I just saw the fluffy tail as it jumped from the fence onto one of the hanging basket brackets, then up onto the kitchen roof.
Why is it visiting us? WALNUTS! We have a walnut tree that we planted 25 years ago and it GREW. It must be 60 to 80 feet high. For years now we know when autumn is getting here when the squirrels arrive. Then they go on the a rampage and bury the walnuts. So sooner or later we have baby walnut saplings springing up all over the place. I don’t begrudge the squirrels, we have said we want a wildlife garden, and it is.
A layer of jelly, a layer of blancmange or custard and a layer of whipped cream.
I make up a sachet of sugar free jelly with three quarters of a pint of boiling water and a quarter of a pint of port or sherry. I add that to large bowl and add chopped strawberries or raspberries or blueberries to make the jelly stronger when it sets (I don’t use trifle sponges as they are full of sugar) once cooled I put it in the fridge to set.
When the jelly is set I mix up a pint of blancmange with boiling milk (you can use custard) this comes in a variety of flavours. I use a sweetner instead of sugar in the mixture, one that doesn’t have an aftertaste. Once the liquid has been boiled and thickened I put the saucepan in a larger one filled with cold water. The blancmange cools enough so that it doesn’t melt the jelly when you add it to the top.
Once the middle layer is set I take a large tub of double cream and whisk it till it is stiff and makes peaks. This is spooned onto the trifle.
You can add decorations such as sprinkles (hundreds and thousands) or glacé cherries, grated chocolate or chopped strawberries etc.
I make it as sugar free as I can, but it is high in fat. You could use skimmed milk for the middle layer.
This is a Christmas or Easter treat in our house. And sometimes I make it for birthdays instead of cake.
When I was little we used to sit in the back yard and shell the peas dad had grown.
The garden was on the other side of a path that ran behind the houses. The yards were covered in slate blue coloured bricks. I would sit with my mom and siblings, she would hand out peas in the pod. I remember you pressed along one side of the peapod, the seam of it split and a row of beautiful peas sat along the other edge, then you hooked them out with your thumb. Sweet green peas falling into the bowl. Many peas didn’t go into the bowl, but into my mouth instead. It was a pleasure to eat them. They never tasted sweeter and fresher.
Other things that went on in the yard? I remember it snowing in February. Mom collected fresh snow off the yard wall. She used the water to make her pancake mix for Shrove Tuesday. I think she thought they tasted better than using “corporation pop” ( tap water). Probably because of chorine in the tap water?
Just turn the oven down to 5 and set it for another hour?
Muttering in the kitchen….
OK done it..
Beep beep beep…
Why is the alarm beeping? It shouldnt happen for an hour?
Well I set it. Let me come and look..
You always tell me what to do. But you need to listen.
The cooker has two alarms, so I presumed he had set the top oven alarm. I also could see 1:08 on it but this seemed to be indicating the time?
I reset that to 22:00 and set the alarm (I thought) foe an hour. But what confused me was the time had a bell on it. An alarm. I tried changing the time, it would only go up to 23:59?
What? Set everything to zero, I did that and the cooker switched itself off! There is a timer that Starts and Finishes while you are away from the cooker… I’m learning!
Eventually I got it sorted
I know why he struggled. We both need more practice at setting timers. I hope the food cooks OK
Just managed to cook! A simple recipe, two carrots chopped, half an aubergine chopped up, half a courgette (zucchini). I set a pan of basmati rice boiling while I put a couple of chicken breasts in another pan and fried them. Then I added the vegetables, added a large flat mushroom, added salt, oregano, and garlic granules. When the chicken was part cooked I cut it up into small chunks. I had some cooked mussels out of the fridge that had defrosted overnight, I added them to the food.
Then I deseeded a single chilli and added that, I spooned cooked rice into the pan and added half a tin of peeled plum tomatoes. In all everything cooked on a low heat for about half am hour.
Did I mention? I stood up to do it, put my crutches to one side. I felt a bit unbalanced, but I’ve got to try and do things. And the meal was lovely. Hubby carried the plates into the living room for me.
What is the most important thing to carry with you all the time?
Not this!
Yet again I have to be equivocal about this question. I mean I’m not deliberately being ambiguous, but there could be many answers depending on the person, their age, sex, health and the place they are at.
1. Fresh water /food
If you are alone and outside away from people, for instance on a walk it’s a good idea to take supplies. I imagine I won’t be far from transport, but what happens if you get lost?
2. Spare clothes/groundsheet
If you are out and about and lost you might not be able to find shelter if the weather deteriorates or it gets dark. You might have to stay put, so having extra clothes and something to make into a shelter could save you from exposure. We went camping one Easter and I had to wear two pairs of trousers and three jumpers because of the cold!
3. A map
Learn to read maps, if your phone goes flat and you can’t charge it how do you find your location?
4. Medication?
Even if you don’t expect to be out all day and night it’s better to be prepared. The older you are the more likely you are to need medicine. Don’t ignore it, and if necessary take out travel insurance.
5. Car keys?
Yes if I take the car with me, and house keys.
6. Medical alert.
If you take some medications then you need to take warning notifications with you. Similarly if you are allergic to food colourings, bee and wasp stings, or antibiotics it’s worth letting people know!
One thing that worries me is my hubby not washing his hands when he cooks. Even if the food is not raw I think he should clean his hands. I always do.
I can see possible cross contamination happening, but he, who trained as a scientist, doesn’t seem to believe in soap and water. That’s fine if I’m doing the cooking. He can keep his germs to himself. But not if he’s cooking for both of us.
Example, he put something in the bin, then picked up a plate, I thought NO. So asked him to wash his hands, he says I’m nagging! Now he’s gone off in a huff. He wants to cook, but I don’t want an upset tummy. It’s all about him being brought upon a farm I think. He doesn’t suffer from stomach problems. How do I get him to listen?
What’s the most money you’ve ever spent on a meal? Was it worth it?
We went out for a lovely meal at a Japanese Restaurant called Miso in Stoke on Trent. There were three of us so we agreed to share the cost between us as it was a family outing. It’s actually mentioned in a Novel by a Richard Osman, one of his Thursday Murder club series.
We had sushi for starters, with Miso soup, then each of us had a different Bento box, including Duck with teriyaki sauce, and mackeral with black pepper sauce, salad, rice, and guyozo.
Finally we has pistachio ice cream with sesami seeds.
Drinks included iced tea, sake, and cold japanese lager. I think the cost crept up because we kept ordering sake and I also had a glass of peach wine. Very tasty.
We love the place, but they were being refurbished recently, I know it’s reopened but we haven’t had the chance to go back and I will have to be more careful about what I spend!
Why list 30 things? What if none of them make me happy. I’ve just chosen mainly food because it’s easy to list. Not much effort needed, and it’s not disclosing much about me. I might like things on the list, it doesn’t mean I eat them all the time!
Mallaband-Brown 