New paintings and regular art updates.
A year ago, we visited the Rabbit Hole tearoom with a friend who was visiting from Yorkshire. We had to book in advance. The food duly arrived in this cake stand with beautiful pots of tea.
Sadly, like so many other places, the Rabbit Hole is closed at the moment. Such a shame for a quaint and magical cafe in the centre of Stoke-upon-Trent, the town which the city of Stoke-on-Trent is named after.
Tonights tea- a Thai takeaway from Sawadee Thai Taste restaurant in Hill Street, Stoke. My felt pens are running dry. I hope I can get some more. X it was very tasty.
This was our #bandofsketchers prompt. Shop or Takeaway….
I would show you a photo, but I’ve eaten it!
Anyway I didn’t want to spend a long time preparing a meal, we have had simple food today.
This meal we had a mixed vegetable omelette with Stilton and coleslaw to go with it.
Ingredients and method
I fried up a whole chopped red onion. Then I added a handful of chopped olives to the pan. Then cut up three flat large mushrooms and added them. Then I added a couple of chopped celery sticks to the meal. I added a pinch of salt and pepper to the pan. While this mix was softening over a low heat I whisked up a few eggs and a bit of milk (depends on how hungry you are). I poured the eggs over the vegetables. As it cooked I moved the egg around so it didn’t burn on the pan. Eventually it was cooked through so then I took some Stilton cheese and crumbled a layer onto the omelette. Once it melted a bit I plated the food up with a spoonful of coleslaw and a hunk of chunky bread. Tasty..
It turned out very tasty and fruity. I use sugar free jelly and blancmange, but the amount of fruit I put in was very naughty.
As I whipped the cream I was a bit enthusiastic with the hand whisk and some od it went over my Christmas jumper! At least we were not going out so I can slob around in my pyjamas and dressing gown.
By the way instead of sherry I used fortified British wine that was very fruity.
Cheers everyone!
I usually make a trifle at Christmas, but I’m doing it for New Years Eve and Day this time (so it will be a two year old trifle!).
This is only the start, but it looked so pretty. I’ve put a pint of sugar free rasperry jelly (made up with half a pint if boiling water and a quarter of a pint of cold water and a quarter of a pint if sherry. (jelly is not the American version of jam, but is it called jello). I added chopped strawberries and whole blackberries to the liquid. Any slightly mouldy ones are going on the bird feeding table tomorrow, they have been washed and are back in the fridge.
Tomorrow I will add strawberry blancmange (a type of flavoured custard), as I don’t like custard which some people use. I make that up with a pint of milk and sweetener ( I avoid putting sugar in). Finally I whip double cream, (heavy cream?) about three quarters of a pint till it makes stiff peaks. I might add spare blackberries for decoration. I might take a photo tommorow when it’s finished. X
When life gives you lemons
Leave them to rot
Forget lemonade
I like it, not!
When life gives you lemons
You know its getting sour
Your feeling down
And your temper is dour.
When life gives you lemons
Have a good cry
Remember that all of us
Are born to die.
When life gives you lemons
Make something nice to eat
Pancakes with sugar and lemon
Really do taste sweet!
It was an offer I wasn’t going to refuse. I’ll go shopping said hubby. So I said just take one bag then you can’t buy too much.
Do you need a list? No I’ll be OK. Well don’t buy a roast chicken, just get some thighs. We don’t need a lot, just a few things.
I knew there was a problem when he carried in two huge bags of shopping. I’ve not got much space in the fridge.
He bought:
An amaryllis (we already have FOUR)
A loaf of bread (we already have one and two half used loaves).
Two torches and some batteries (to go with at least five he already has).
A bunch of flowers
A box of frozen haddock
Three tubs of olives,
A bag of spinach
A roast chicken
Beefburgers
Gammon steaks,
A beef joint
And fifteen eggs (to go with the eight he already bought yesterday).
When I asked why he had bought the eggs he said you can never have enough eggs!
I used up the leftover turkey tonight.
Ingredients :
An onion
Half a tin of tomatoes
Half a butternut squash
Chopped leftover turkey
Half a jar of Rogan josh curry sauce.
Method:
I just fried off a large onion, then added half a can of tomatoes. I put half a butternut squash (deseeded and peeled) in the microwave for a few minutes. Then I chopped it into chunks and added it to the pan. Finally I chopped the leftover turkey into it and poured over half a jar of rogan josh curry sauce. I then cooked everything on a low heat for twenty minutes to make sure everything was piping hot. Result. A tasty meal.
I was looking on line for the details of what traditional mince pies were made of. I found this on Wikipedia :
The early mince pie was known by several names, including “mutton pie“, “shrid pie” and “Christmas pie“. Typically its ingredients were a mixture of minced meat, suet, a range of fruits, and spices such as cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.
Now they are a sweet pie with raisins and sultanas mixed peel, some form of fat which is vegetable based and possibly some alcohol.
Real Christmas treat.
You don’t normally find apples still on trees at this time of year. But this was plucked from the back of an apple tree, that sits amongst lots of bushes, this afternoon. Never found one this late in the year before.
Speaking if late apples, hubby bought home four or five little crab apples from branches overlooking the canal on his walk last weekend. I told him not to bring more home as this will be food for small animals or birds over winter.
Mallaband-Brown