Grannymar

• How you feel: Content
• To Your Left: Speckled Hen*
• On Your Mind: Tasks that need to be completed
  
• Last Meal Included: Muesli In Orange Juice, side plate of dried Fruit and nuts, a mountain of pills and a kettle full of boiled water.
• You Sometimes Find It Hard To: Get Started
• The Weather: Depressing for most of this year.
• Something You Have a Collection of: Toyboys.
• A Smell That Cheers You Up: Bacon Grilling.
• A Smell That Can Ruin Your Mood: Slurry.
• The Current State of Your Hair: Healthy.
• The Largest Item on Your Desk/Workspace Right Now (Besides Computer): Camera
• Skill with Chopsticks: None.
• Something You’re Craving: Chocolate.
• How Many Times You’ve Been Hospitalized This Year: Thankfully none.
• A Favourite Place to Go For Quiet Time: Home.
• You’ve Always Secretly Thought You’d Be Good at: Building a kit car.
• Something That Freaks You Out A Little: Very loud noises.
• Something You’ve Eaten Too Much Of Lately: Chocolate.
• You Have Never: Flown A Plane.
• Never Want To: Lose My Marbles.
  

Meet Speckled hen:

‘Viagra’ is now available in powder form for your tea.

It doesn’t enhance your sexual performance but it does stop your biscuit going soft..

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!

Now that is the first line of a poem by John Keats. It always comes to mind at this time of the year as I wipe the mist from the inside of my bedroom window in the mornings. Over the next few weeks I hopefully will enjoy the early mist lying over the river in the valley. On some occasions it streaks like a ribbon across the landscape allowing me the view of the fields and buildings below and the hills and skyline above.

The month of September is in my books, the month of order and routine. Schools are open once more; sporting activities, evening classes, clubs and a myriad of organisations unfold their new programme of events. The roads become clogged with the chaos of the morning traffic rushing to beat the clock. I notice that friends become available once more after the long break of summer, for social events and meals.

This September I plan to be busy I am going camping! Not just once but twice. Now I know I asked for a tent but hopefully I won’t need it. You see the Camping that I am talking about has nothing to do with green fields, well I hope not, it is more about comfort, drinking coffee and making new friends. There will of course be the opportunity to learn new skills from experts who willing share and part with information and it all takes place indoors.

First off I am booked to go to CreativeCamp in Belfast on Saturday 6th of September at Blick Shared Studios.

CreativeCamp will be a un-conference event focussing on any medium that creative folk drool over. Topics covered include design, photography, web and mobile. The format is just like a BarCamp, so you can sign up to speak on a topic that you fancy.

Congratulations must go to Mairin & Andy for all the hard work in preparation for the day.

My second outing later in the month will be to PodCamp Ireland in Kilkenny on Saturday 27^th September.

It will be a return visit for me both to Kilkenny and to PodCamp. To date there are 80 people registered for PodCamp so the talks, discussion panels and the people attending should make for a very interesting day. I am so looking forward to rekindling old friendships and making new friends. The only cost to you the attendee at either event is in time - the time to come to the event - time to listen and time to join in and add your voice to the mix of the day.

I guarantee that it is impossible to attend an event such as these and not go away without learning something new!

See you there!

Today as a forerunner of PodCamp Ireland in KilKenny I was honoured to be included in this weeks Podcast and you can listen to it here

Why I don’t add photos to my Food Mondays.

http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/2008/08/betcha-cant-eat.html

And how about this for an idea…

Recipe in Rime

There is no way I could compete.

Over the years I have received many a gift. There were pens, gloves, scarves, and of course books. More recently perhaps due to my age the gifts have become smelly. There are candles, lotions and potions, perfumes and pickles, all accepted gracefully and used or passed on to someone in greater need.

I have always preferred the gift that was thoughtfully selected to cater for my interests and hobbies, rather than the latest fashionable ‘must have’ at exorbitant cost.

This wooden spoon was carried from York, England at the end of Elly’s first school trip and week away without her parents. She was all of nine years old. The harvest mouse and my name in poker work on the bowl of the spoon have long been worn to a shadow. The spoon has served me well over the years mixing cakes, stirring jam or many a large pot of soup. Each time I take the spoon in my hand I think of that little girl who excitedly handed me the gift as she recalled the fact she nearly missed the bus back to the hotel while queuing to have my name engraved on the spoon.

There were the twin machine sewing needles to give a double row of stitching that she brought back from London the following year and the measuring tape bought the first time she went shopping in Dublin without me.

These are items I have used many a time and often. Little did she or I think that that the measuring tape bought in Dublin all those years ago would be used in the measuring and making of her wedding outfit many years later!

At the weekend I received another gift, it was rather different and something we would all find hard to refuse.

It was a Money Tree! The gift came from Steph.

A money tree would be very useful these days with all the talk of recession. My mind began to wander… If it was real money what would I buy?

My needs are simple. Since the tree came from Steph I would buy a celebration gift for her and her hubby on this special day. Tonight I will raise a glass to you both and to another 30 years together.

I would give Elly & George a gift. Fill the Oil tank. Pay my bills for the year. Carry out running repairs on the bungalow. Pay someone to do the garden, perhaps update the car.

Now if you had a money tree how would you spend your windfall?

Tea Brack

Preheat oven to170°C

¾ pint cold Tea

7 ozs Brown Sugar

12 ozs sultanas

2ozs nuts

10 ozs Plain Flour

1 tsp Mixed Spice

1 Egg

2 Tablespoons whiskey (optional)

Steep the fruit, nuts and sugar in the tea overnight. Sieve the flour add the mixed spice. Beat the egg. Stir the flour, egg and whiskey into the fruit and mix well. Pour into a 7 inch greased tin. Bake in a preheated oven for 1¾ hour’s approx. Test if a clean skewer comes out clean then the Brack is cooked. Cool in tin on wire rack.

Keep for 2-3 days before cutting.

This Tyrone Crystal paper weight sat in the same corner year by year. Recently on one of our rare sunny days I took it outside to play with.

Once I had a shot I came indoor and played some more

I have a long way to go to win prizes!!

Who said “A tree”?

I did know that much. But what type of tree is it? There are a whole row of them planted along the front of the IKEA store in Belfast. I never saw anything like them before.

At first glance you would think it was planted upside down with the roots skyward.

Perhaps the top is sprouting in Baino’s garden

Earlier in the week I had a book in my hand and it brought back memories.

Memories of the many Usborne titles.

The memories it invoked were like this:

And this:

The item this week was a little different. It was bright, colourful and very useful. In fact I wouldn’t mind having a copy myself. It was The Usborne Cookbook for Children.

• A bumper cookbook with 70 recipes taken from “The Usborne Children’s Cookbook” and “The Children’s Book of Baking”.
• Contains both sweet and savoury recipes, including chicken stir-fry, salmon fishcakes, pizzas, ice-cream, mint choc chip muffins and a classic chocolate cake.
• Each recipe is explained in simple step-by-step instructions and clear illustrations.
• A super spiral-bound edition of two excellent recipe books for budding cooks.

It would make a wonderful gift for a fledgling cook out there of any age. The recipes were modern simple and inviting.

A mechanic was removing a cylinder-head from the motor of a Harley motorcycle when he spotted a well-known cardiologist in his shop……..

The cardiologist was there waiting for the service manager to come take a look at his bike when the mechanic shouted across the garage, ‘Hey Doc, want to take a look at this?’
The cardiologist, a bit surprised, walked over to where the mechanic was working on the motorcycle.

The mechanic straightened up, wiped his hands on a rag and asked, ‘So Doc, look at this engine. I open its heart, take the valves out, repair any damage, and then put them back in, and when I finish, it works just like new. So how come I make $39,675 a year and you get the really big bucks ($1,695,759) when you and I are doing basically the same work?’

The cardiologist paused, smiled and leaned over, then whispered to the mechanic….

‘Try doing it with the engine running.’