I have none

What are your favorite brands and why?

Things cost too much so I try and be selective in what I buy. I go to a few different shops and try and buy what’s cheapest, but of a reasonable quality. I don’t want to buy a tin of beans only to find out half of its weight is tomato sauce.

It turns out a lot of own brands can be as good or better than the more well known ones. So they can be cost effective to buy. I also buy food close to it’s sell buy date, it means there are savings to be made there too. I live close to shops so I can pop out and top up with things relatively easily.

As to other things, anyone who knows me knows I’m not into fashion or expensive objects. If I have money it gets spent on bills or repairs or art supplies.

I hate adverts, I never buy things I see on TV or online. It doesn’t tempt me to see expensive perfume or clothing. I’m not a brand buyer, I can’t be bothered with merchandise like handbags or shoes.

So that’s your answer… None.

Air fryer info

A friend sent me this conversion chart yesterday after I told her my oven had stopped working. I’m used to gas cookers and had no idea how the air fryer and oven compare.

It looks like air fryers use less power so perhaps this will save me money, I’m using my microwave more because I’m struggling with my Parkinsons disease, but I like things like jacket potato’s crispy brown on the outside. I also put it on in the winter to warm up the kitchen.

But I’ve bit the bullet and bought an air fryer. Wish me luck!

Scones

Photo by my friend Lin, she met up with me yesterday and we popped over to the Brampton museum and art gallery to collect some of my paintings and have a drink and a scone each. It didn’t help that as I cut mine in half my hand shook and I dropped the bottom half on the ground.

Bother! We shared the other scone and had another quarter each.

But what comes first on a scone? Cream or jam? I always go jam first, then cream on top (preferably clotted cream, but whipped cream also works). It just spreads easier. In this case we also didn’t have butter, but to be honest I don’t think you need it. The scones were moist and didn’t have too much of a flavour of baking powder. 10 out of 10. Tasty.

Stare

Cats stare, they hardly blink, a slow closure of their eyes sometimes, or eyes tight shut, but you know they have half an eye checking out whats going on.

Ears pricked, listening for the rustle of a packet of food, the rip as you open it. They know the sound of a tin opening and releasing the smell of food.

Nose twitches, whiskers flex, mouth ready. Time for tea. And they move quickly when they tune into the signals you send them.

Healthy tea?

Tonight’s tea. I decided to have a mushroom omelette (closed cup mushrooms fried in a little oil, then a spot of milk and two eggs). Cooked until the omelette was firm.

The salad was salad leaves with grated carrot and red pepper, a few sliced cherry tomatoes, a sliced radish, a few slices of cucumber, a few sliced garlic stuffed olives, half an avocado, and finally a bit of light mayonnaise.

Miso Japanese restaurant

What is your favorite restaurant?

Miso is a Japanese Restaurant in Stoke-on-Trent. It is my favourite place to get Asian food. I enjoy their Miso soup, sushi, bento boxes and sesame ice cream.

The restaurant is on London Road in the town of  Stoke upon Trent and there is limited parking but there are three hours of parking at the local superstore. The restaurant is upstairs at the moment as I think the downstairs area is due to be refurbished.

The food is tasty and plentiful, it’s about mid range for cost. The plum wine or sake costs a bit more but you can have cheaper drinks.

It’s interesting that Miso was mentioned in one of Richard Osman Thursday Murder Club books. It must be good to get such recognition.

Breakfast

What are your morning rituals? What does the first hour of your day look like?

The excitement of porridge

The joy of tablets

A cool shower

If I can afford it

Trying to get dressed

Without getting tangled

Feed the cats

Work out what I can do today

It all takes time.

Wobbly arms and leg

Don’t help my balance

Feel like I’m moaning again

Let’s just go back

To bed…..

Crumpets with…

I used to just eat crumpets with butter or margarine. Then I tried melted cheese, tonight I tried a bit of pasta sauce with mozzarella on top.

Crumpets have little holes in them, like a sponge, but the sides and base are solid so they can hold melted butter when you toast them. But I have half a jar of pasta sauce that needs using up. A tablespoon of the tomatoey sauce spooned onto the crumpets sank down into the holes. Then the cheese sprinkled on top. The toasted crumpets got microwaved for about 90 seconds.

Result, tasty crumpets with stringy cheese falling off it!

Treat

Ice-cream Sundae at the Quarter restaurant at the Spode Site, Stoke on Trent today. I have to say this was a huge amount of ice cream. I felt really naughty, but I’d had some good news so I treated myself to it.

I’d called in at my studio to collect paintings that sold during my Retrospective exhibition. I’d met up with a friend and we decided to go for tea. It was lovely to see her and to chat for a couple of hours. It had been a few months since we last got together and it was good just to have a laugh for a change. Things have been difficult but I  just had a glimmer of hope today.