Munchy Monday #17: Couscous and cucumber salad

This is a new recipe for us. I found the original on internet and just altered it to suit us. I can certainly say that we all liked this salad a lot.

I served this salad along with the bean salad, green apple salad with oven baked panga as the animal protein part of the meal - all very easy to prepare.

You will need:

275 g raw couscous
1 3/4 cups cold water
Small shake (or a few drops) yellow food colouring (optional)
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 tblsp. olive oil
1 level tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1 medium sized cucumber, seeded and chopped into small pieces
1 small sweet onion, chopped as for cucumber
1 heaped tsp. dried parsley
1 level tsp. dried basil

Method:

Put the water to boil in a saucepan. Add colouring, if desired, at this point. When the water boils, remove saucepan from heat and add couscous. Stir with a fork and leave to soak for two mins. Turn couscous out into a serving bowl, separating the grains with a fork. Leave to cool. Meanwhile, in another bowl, mix the remaining ingredients and leave to marinate until the couscous are cool (10 - 15 mins.) Add the cucumber mix to the couscous and stir well. Keep in fridge until needed.

Sigh!

Does my desk ALWAYS have to look like this?

Oh my, oh my (family)

My children are...well...very special.

At the weekend, whilst waiting for lunch to be served my son (23yrs.) saw a bird's head and beak on the white board. (It's actually an ice-cream magnet.) He added the rest of the bird.

Fine. No problem.

This morning I (23 x 2yrs.) remembered a haiku poem which I composed a couple of years ago. So as to not forget it again, I wrote it in a space on the whiteboard.

Fine. No problem.

I came back some minutes later to find that my daughter (23 - 3yrs.) had added her bit to the white board.

Fine? No problem? That is a matter of opinion!

I thought I would take a photo and publish the whole story so that you could see and maybe understand the psychological pressure and freakiness I have to live with! (Ignore the red snake at the bottom of the photo. It is part of another blog post, actually)

 

The original bird is in the middle, my fancy haiku on the left and... well... the rest needs no explanation.

Malapropisms

Do you know what they are? I didn't until a few minutes ago, but we use them all the time in daily speech. My teenagers are uttering these things continuously. I thought they were just plain freaky, but it seems that this is quite normal!

What is a malapropism? Well, before I explain I had better put the wash on, otherwise it won't dry!!!

Malapropisms are sentences, phrases, or more often, exclamations, which have a language twist in them that makes perfect sense to the person who said them but may be a little confusing to the listener. Here are a few of my favourites taken from a list that I saw in internet, the address of which I will disclose at a later date, as I'm not done yet!

Include me out!
This feels like a deja vu all over again.
That restaurant is so crowded, nobody goes there anymore.
The future isn't what it used to be.
A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on.
This is so well written, one can hardly comprehend it.
Predictions about the future are difficult.
You can observe a lot by watching.
When you come to a fork in the road, take it.

Although I know little about this style of speech, I imagine it is a result of one's mind working quicker than one's mouth. Also, I guess it could be a result of a person speaking impromptu under certain tension with no guidelines to help them... O.K.  I give over!

Here are some more I found once in an English magazine, in our library here:

I have made good judgements in the past, I have made good judgements in the future.

I believe that we are on an irreversible trend toward democracy and more freedom, but that could change.

I think we can agree. The past is over.

Now I will tell you a story. It's a true story that happened a few years ago, right here at our supper table and is a fine example of a malapropism.

Our 18 year old niece was staying with us at the time and the subject we were all discussing was who she could marry. Well, as we were all mentally running through the list of eligibles, somebody suggested  **********.
"Arghhh, no" exclaimed E. "I would commit suicide!" Then, how about **********?" suggested somebody else. "Arghhhhhhhh, no," screamed E., "I'd commit suicide even more!"

Well, of course we all knew what she meant, but it did sound so funny. In fact it has gone down in family history! Now, our dear niece is happily married to Mr. Everthingshehaseverwanted and they have two gorgeous little blondies who, by the way, are being homeschooled.

So, now you know what they are, think over your speech and see how many malapropisms you say daily without realizing that it has a technical name!
Send me some examples and let's have some fun!

Board games and card games - Part 1

For more than thirty years now I have been working and living with children. All sorts of children from all sorts of walks of life and all different ages. I must say that this gives lead to some very fair thoughts and conclusions about how children are living their modern lives, full of the wonders of advanced  technology. (O.K. so I am being ironic!)

Over time I have realized that so many people belittle the importance of playing games. Real games. Games which involve more than one person and do not need buttons or batteries. More than once I have heard the following or similar:

"I thought you would help my child because he/she is not doing well at school and he/she comes away from your house telling me she has been playing a memory game for I don't know how long. How come you aren't giving him/her maths problems to solve or making her practice her spelling, etc?"

My general answer goes along these lines:

"Please let me explain. Before you can run you have to know how to walk! Games are a very important part of one's development. These days the kiddos are missing out on this stage of their lives."

So, here is a list I have made up of the reasons why board games and card games are so important. The reasons are not in any particular order as I stress that each reason is as important as any other.

# They strengthen relationships within the family and give opportunities for parents to spend precious time with their children.
# It demonstrates the importance of obedience to a certain set of rules which have to be followed in a particular order.
# They build up self confidence as each player, in general, will work alone.
# Children will learn how to make their own decisions and take responsibility for the consequences of that decision.
# They encourage dedication to finish or complete something which has been started.
# They develop concentration.
# They encourage learning and the art of bettering oneself.
# Children learn how to think and act fast.
# They stimulate physical and psychological coordination.
# They increase vocabulary.
# They develop the art of communication and strengthen social skills.
# They help the little ones understand how to play fair.
# Playing games like these is a way to have good, clean fun which, in actual fact, is more important than it may first seem.
# Parents will have control over what the children are doing with their time. This is something which I consider to be very important.

Part 2 will be about games which, as a family, we have played and enjoyed and that I can recommend to you all.

Comments

Please, feel free to write comments about my posts. I have page viewers from all over the world, some places I did not even know existed!

Hello and may God bless you all.

I would be so happy to hear from you, go ahead and let me know what you think.

Munchy Monday #16: Summer fruit salad

This is so refreshing, and a good way to use up fruit which is ripening too quickly. It makes a pretty dessert, too. As for quantities, the choice is yours.

You will need:

Slices of water melon
Nectarines or peaches
Melon
Apples
Pears
Seedless red and white grapes
Orange juice
A small squirt of lemon or lime juice

Method:

Peel and chop the pear and apple. Toss the pieces in the lemon or lime juice in a serving bowl. Peel and chop the water melon, nectarine and melon into small pieces. Add to other fruit. Add the grapes and pour orange juice over all the fruit. Stir well. Keep in the fridge until required.

 

Note: I know that orange juice cannot really be considered a summer thing but it does add a special, refreshing flavour to this fruit salad.

From the archives: one spoonful

This is a photo I took not so long ago of a spoonful of chocolate powder being prepared to add to milk for breakfast.

For years and years we have had a rule in our house that only one spoonful was allowed, but as the children grew into teenagers and beyond so did the spoonful grow accordingly!

 

Having said all that, as you can see, this particular chocolate milk was not being prepared by any of the children...

This week's poem

 SEPTEMBER

The goldenrod is yellow;
The corn is turning brown;
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down.

The gentian’s bluest fringes
Are curling in the sun;
In dusky pods the milkweed
Its hidden silk has spun.

The sedges flaunt their harvest
In every meadow-nook;
And asters by the brookside
Make asters in the brook.

From dewy lanes at morning
The grapes’ sweet odors rise;
At noon the roads all flutter
With yellow butterflies.

By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer’s best of weather,
And autumn’s best of cheer.

                                                                     By Helen Hunt Jackson

Munchy Monday #15: Courgette soup

This soup is very easy to make. We eat it cold in summer and hot in winter. The quantities given for this recipe are enough to serve 8 adults.

You will need:

1 1/2 kilos of small courgettes, peeled (optional) and roughly chopped
1 leek, washed and chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1 small potato, peeled and chopped into chunks
1 1/2 litres water
Salt
Pinch ground nutmeg (optional)
Oil to fry

Method:

Gently fry the onion, leek and potato in a fairly large saucepan until soft. Be careful not to brown. Add courgette chunks and fry a couple of minutes more. Add water, salt and nutmeg and bring to boil. Simmer for 15 - 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Blend until smooth and serve with croutons.

 

Note: the original recipe calls for four processed cheese triangles, added after cooking and before blending. I do not use these for two reasons: one, because I have an intolerance to milk and by-products and two, I honestly question their nutritional benefits. You can always add a swirl of cream just before serving. At least cream is real!

Our week

This week has been yet another busy week for us and, of course, we have had a very enjoyable time. Here is a recap with photos.

I weeded the beans (again) and planted more where they haven't come up. I also had to weed other patches in the garden like where the cabbages and lettuce are.

I harvested many tomatoes, tied and sprayed the plants (and weeded).

Enjoyed having cousin E. and family over. Hadn't seen them since the wedding.

Crafts in the kitchen with the girls

The boys playing cars together

We met Annia, a new pupil who will be coming to me once a week for help with her school lessons.

Hubby took M. to spend the day in Barcelona. They visited the history museum, the port and Rambla and, of course, the Lego shop and had a special Burger King lunch with big brother who works and lives in the city.

I cleaned up the turtles. Here is a photo of Orinoco. There are four more swimming about somewhere there in their lovely clean 'pond'.

Kayla came on Thursday to stay some days. The two girls went blackberry picking and brought home two ice-cream tubs full of sweet blackberries. There are more where they came from, it seems. Let's go for it, girls!!

Lots of tidying, cleaning, laundry, cooking and laughing. This time together is valuable as too soon the summer is over, hubby starts working a lot more and the children are back to school.

Work of two afternoons

How did we celebrate my lovely newly cleaned hob top? By making blackberry and apple jam!

To complete the week, on Saturday it poured with rain for most of the day. It hasn't rained since the end of May, so we were glad for this.

The view as we drank our morning tea

How it was for the rest of the day. Wet with misty mountains

Friday Fun Fact #6: Babies have no kneecaps

Did you know that babies are born without any kneecaps? Kneecaps are formed between the second and sixth year of life.

A poem about vegetables, or a proposal?

 Do you carrot all for me?

My heart beets for you,

With your turnip nose

And your radish face.

You are a peach.

If we cantaloup,

Lettuce marry;

Weed make a swell pear!

                                                                                   Author unknown

The grape harvest / the mill at Vilardida

The grape harvest officially starts today. It is variable, each year is different and this year it is pretty late. Yesterday, during our walk, we were talking with a farmer and he explained that initially his crop was fifteen days ahead of schedule but the rains and hail at the beginning of July slowed things down a lot. He also told us that he had lost almost 30 % of his crop - rain in July means the grapes rot. It has been a very humid summer, too, which means the grapes have to be chemically sprayed more often to prevent mildew.

Black grapes

White grapes

The mill, between 700 and 800 years old

Three friends we met on the way - the farm dogs

Us having fun in the lane down to the mill

The farmer we met and spoke with was, in fact, the owner of the mill and all the land around as far as the eye could see!

Prades and the dam at Siurana

Here are a few photos which I took on our outing last Friday.

View from Riudabella

Riudabella castle (photo from Google images)

A collection of old farming tools, house in Prades

Front side of the same house

 

Just couldn't resist taking a photo of this!

The dam at Siurana

Munchy Monday #14: Banana bread

This is my version of a very well known sweet bread. It was passed on to me by a friend from Bolivia and I replace the egg with apple sauce. It uses no dairy, so is ideal for people with diet restrictions.

You will need:

1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons margarine
3 - 4 ripe bananas, mashed
2 tablespoons apple sauce
3 cups plain flour + 15 g chemical raising agent (or 3 cups S.R. flour)


Method:

Cream together margarine and sugar in a bowl. In another plate add apple sauce to mashed banana and mix. Add banana mixture to margarine cream and stir. Carefully fold in flour. Spoon resulting batter into a greased oven mould and cook in a medium oven (180º C) for about 25 - 30 mins.

To test for 'done-ness', stick a skewer or wooden toothpick into the bread and if it comes out clean the bread is done. If not, leave in oven for a few minutes more.