Funny quote

Handy household tip

"Maaamaaaaaaa, the stud button has just come off my jeeeeeeans!" My fourth child would sing down the stairs at 7:10 in the morning.

"No problem, I have a spare one in my sewing box. I 'll just come upstairs and find it. You can replace it while I get the sandwiches ready for school."

Three hours and a different pair of jeans later...

With at least fifteen different pairs of jeans of all shapes, colours and sizes I couldn't possibly know from a glance what was what. Do you find yourself in the same predicament? Even if you do have time (lucky you), you still have to sort out which little bag of extra buttons/studs/sequins belongs to which jeans/jacket/dress shirt, etc. This can take up so much of your day that you start to wonder whether it's really worth all the hassle... would be quicker to go buy...just sew anything... nobody's going to look, bla bla bla...

So I have recently come up with a very obvious solution. As you take the bag off the newly purchased item, pop a little note in with the spare parts, mentioning the colour, item, size, brand or store from which the item was bought, add the name of the person to whom the item now belongs and keep it in a safe place.

The only comeback with this, of course, is that you now have to remember where that safe place is! I keep mine in my sewing box which is actually a big tool box. Something big and bulky enough not to lose easily!

You will notice that there is no name on two of the packets. That is because I am the only person likely to wear a black blouse or a dress cardigan in this establishment, especially if it's from Mango!

Have a great day : )

Cassie's blueberry tea cake

This is an absolutely delicious cake - one that we enjoyed for dessert yesterday lunchtime! Cassie is a bloggie friend and mother of nine from down under. She posted it on her blog a while ago. I have subsequently tweaked it a little to suit product availability and I've also renamed the cake in her honour.

O.K. so I could have made sure the cake was in the centre of the plate before taking the photo...

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 cup  sugar
1 lemon, juice and grated rind
125 g butter or margarine
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla essence
1/4 cup dessicated coconut
1 2/3 cups self raising flour, sifted
1 punnet fresh blueberries (or canned blueberries, well drained)

Method:
1. Mix sugar and lemon rind in a bowl.
2. Add butter, eggs, lemon juice, coconut and vanilla essence. Mix well.
3. Add flour and fold into mixture.
4. Pour batter into a greased oven dish, cake molde or similar.
5. Sprinkle blueberries over the top of the batter.
6. Bake at 170º C for 35 minutes or until wooden toothpick comes out clean.
7. Sprinkle sugar over the top of the cake and leave to cool. When cold, remove  from dish and serve with cream (optional!)

      
Notes

# I prefer to use plain or all-purpose flour and add a chemical raising agent or natural yeast.
# I use a sachet of vanilla flavoured sugar instead of the essence, which I
cannot find as a regular product as yet.

Many a true word is spoken in jest!

My daughter sent me this earlier today. We laughed so much I thought I would share it!

Another poem

Time for T.

It's 10 o'clock

So time to stop

For a deliciously cheerful

Cup of T.

Boil the water

Choose the mug

(It has to be Pooh

If the T. is for me!)

Temptation fruits

Or acai berries.

Make T. for two,

Even better for three!

S.J.

Ooh, yummo!

I was alone for lunch today so I made one of my favourite dishes! Prepared in less than 10 minutes, I enjoyed it so much I thought I would share a photo with my fellow bloggers!

If you ever come this way this is something you just have to try. Calamars a la Romana amb patates fregides - or battered squid rings with chips. Just some fruit for a dessert and Bob's yer uncle, as they say.

Have a good weekend everyone :)

To do...

This is my 'to do' for this week. I have found that writing a list like this and keeping to it to be the only way I get the extra jobs done. It's just so warm and sunny outside...

@ Dust and wipe bedroom fans
@ Cut down trees and prepare hole for pond
@ Plant veggies (lettuce, toms., beans, courgettes, onions)
@ Write to cousin J. in England
@ Write to little friend J. in Rumania
@ Give around A & D's thank you cards
@ Clean and sort kitchen dresser
@ Prepare English exam for Wednesday group
@ Wash Toryn
@ Take purple carpet to dry cleaners
@ Pick up jeans from shop in town
@ Start sewing bean bags for fun in the summer

Munchy Monday #49: No-cook chocolate squares

Very simply delicious!

You will need:
275 dark chocolate
175 butter
4 tblsp. golden syrup
175 Maria biscuits
25 g Rice Krispies
50 g walnuts, chopped
100 g red glacé cherries, chopped

Method:
Place the chocolate with the butter and syrup in a bowl over hot water. Place on a low heat and stir frequently until all ingredients have melted.
Break up the biscuits and add them to the syrup mixture together with the cereal, nuts and cherries. Stir well.
Line an 18 cm squared mold with parchment paper and fill with the chocolate mixture.
Smooth the mixture evenly and leave in fridge for at least two hours.

Munchy Monday #48: Yogurt sponge cake

This is the first 'foreign' cake I learnt to make after I was married and moved to Catalonia. The ingredients are very basic, the recipe simple and the results are guaranteed. It is also done in a jiffy, so if you have nothing for breakfast tomorrow, pop one of these in the oven whilst making supper and you have yet another problem solved. I serve this for breakfast on a Sunday morning with a fresh fruit salad or an orange juice each and squares of chocolate. Everybody eats breakfast on a Sunday morning!

Instructions:
1 plain or lemon yogurt. Empty yogurt into a mixing bowl and wash container.

Then measure and add to the yogurt, 1 container of white sugar, 1/2 container of sunflower oil and 2 eggs. Mix with a hand blender. Add 3 containers of plain flour and 1 sachet of baking powder (approx. 15 g).

Blend until smooth and pour batter into a 30 cm x 15 cm cake mold (or equivalent). Bake in a medium oven for 20 - 25 minutes. When golden in colour and cooked right through, remove from oven and lightly sprinkle with white sugar. Hide cake and leave to cool.

A variation of the original recipe - apple yogurt cake

Because this recipe is so basic it allows for many variations. Here are a few suggestions which have been tried and tested over the years:

# Just add slices of apple to the top of the cake
# Use a coconut yogurt and add a container of desiccated coconut to the recipe, before adding the flour
# Sprinkle pine nuts over the top
# Pour most of batter into cake mold, add a level tablespoon full of sifted cocoa powder to remaining batter, stir well then pour over original batter to give a marbling effect

Enjoy!

Munchy Monday 46: Coconut snowballs

These are delicious and ideal if you have a sweet tooth. It's also an interesting way to get non-carrot lovers to eat carrots, as they don't taste like carrot at all!

You will need:
Equal quantities of:
     Cold, boiled (no salt) mushed carrot
     Granulated or caster sugar
     Coconut
Extra coconut to roll balls in

Method:
Squeeze as much liquid from your carrot as you possibly can (very important.) Discard juice. Add carrot to sugar and coconut and mix well. Make small balls, about the size of an unshelled hazelnut and then roll them in the extra coconut. Keep snowballs in fridge and serve chilled.

 

NOTE: I used an American cup as a measure and made about 40 snowballs.

(Maybe I should have taken the photo using a banana for scale! It seems it's the fashion these days.)

Munchy Monday #45: Garlic and parsley fried rice

This is a yummy accompaniment to many meals. I serve it with red meat, chicken and fish but also on its own. It's just so simple to prepare...

You will need:
Any type of white rice, boiled in salted water and allowed to cool.
Fresh or dried parsley, chopped.*
Fresh or frozen garlic, chopped or crushed*
Salt
Oil to fry

Method:
Pour oil into a frying pan (enough to almost cover the bottom of the pan) and place on a medium heat. Add garlic and parsley and fry very carefully for a few seconds. Add rice and gently stir fry for 5 to 7 minutes, adding a sprinkling of salt a couple of times during this process. Leave rice in pan until needed and re-heat if necessary.

This is a tasty way to serve leftover white rice from a previous meal.

*For every 500 g of rice I use 1 clove of garlic (or equivalent if using frozen garlic) and a heaped teaspoon of parsley. Bear in mind that fresh parsley has a stronger taste and therefore you might need a little less. I always use dried parsley.

I give up...

This morning, folks, I just couldn't find my glasses anywhere. Without my glasses I can't see much anyway!

Think, Think.

I'd had a shower. No, they were not in the bathroom.

I'd got dressed. No, they weren't on my bedside table, the bed or the dresser.

I'd put a wash on in the downstairs bathroom and no, they weren't on the cistern or on the toilet seat.

I had tidied the kitchen. Couldn't see them there either.

They'd vanished.

Wait a minute... As a last resort (which should have been the first thing to do, I guess) I asked the only other person who was conscious at the time: "Martí, have you seen my glasses anywhere?"

"Well," he answered, slowly, "as a matter of fact, I think someone has stolen them."

Bear in mind, of course, that all this happened over a period of twenty minutes or so. (Grrrrrr. Frustration. Honestly, this house is a madhouse, so typical of me, etc, etc,.)

So, you want to know the rest of the story? They say a picture speaks a thousand words...

They WERE in the kitchen. I must admit they suit him. Funky ball of wool!!!


I've just had one of those unwelcome thoughts that you would prefer to push to the back of your mind and leave it there till it's so dusty you can't think it any longer...

If this house is a madhouse, I'm the second in command!

Have a nice weekend, everybody.

Munchy Monday #44: Haricot beans with xistorra (pressure cooker method)

As you might have already realized we are fans of pulses. I love beans. In fact, a friend of my family in England who knew me very well, once said that when he came to our house he almost expected to see three taps in the kitchen: one for the hot water, one for the cold and one for the baked beans!

This is a very economic dish made a little more special (and tasty) by the addition of the xistorra sausage. Mmmm, my mouth is watering already...

You will need:
100 g dried haricot beans per person
1 piece of xistorra sausage of about 10 cm, per person
1 medium sized potato between two people, peeled and chopped big (see photo)
Oil for frying
Salt
Pressure cooker

Method:
Rinse dried beans under the tap and leave them to soak in a bowl of water over night (at least 12 hours)
Gently fry xistorra sausage in your pressure cooker till slightly browned on all sides. Add potato and fry a little more. Drain beans and rinse. Add beans to potato and xistorra, cover with fresh water, stir and seal your cooker. Bring up to pressure and cook gently for 5 - 6 minutes. Turn off heat and leave beans in pan till pressure is completely reduced. Open cooker and salt. Leave until needed. Warm gently, if necessary.

Yummo!

Some people prefer not to eat the pulses because of the rather uncomfortable side effects which can occur. I was reading about this in internet not so long ago and I found a couple of very interesting facts. The first, that you should never cook pulses in salted water because it hardens the skins, therefore making them more indigestable.  Add the salt after cooking. Secondly, pulses cooked in a pressure cooker are far less likely to give problems as the skin fibre has been broken up by the high pressure as they cook.

What is a xistorra sausage? What does it look like? See here for more details.

This morning...

...my kitchen looked like this:

Want a peek at the other end?

Is that really a teddy bear wanting to play Play Dough there? LOL

 

 In exactly one hour I had it looking like this:

Dishwasher washing, pots and pans washed up, work tops clean and tidy...

 And the other end?

All shopping away, laundry folded, floor swept..

How did I do it? Well, it's simple. I just metaphorically removed the computer from the kitchen. (This is the main reason why I'm not blogging so much. I have a fixed time for computering and this way I find I have much more time around the house for other activities such as decorating, sewing, deep cleaning, baking, cycling...)

Now to fix lunch. Yoo hoo I have some space to work in ; )

Munchy Monday #43: Clear green veggie soup

This is a very delicious starter for any meal. I haven't indicated any quantities so that you can adapt it to your own needs, whether you are four to eat, or fourteen.

You will need:

Clear chicken stock, ideally, with the grease removed
Frozen green beans, cut into small pieces once slightly thawed
Fresh leek, finely sliced
Pieces of frozen broccoli, cut small
Potato, cut into small cubes
Rice or very fine noodles, a handful for every 3 or 4 people
Salt to taste

Method:

Bring stock to boil in a pan, add all other ingredients and simmer for 8 - 10 minutes.

An article especially written for today's mother

Are you a mother? Are you enjoying motherhood? Maybe you are feeling inadequate, useless, that it's all too much and that you you can't take any more?

Whatever your circumstances are, please take a few moments to read this very encouraging article, written by a homeschooling mother of fifteen, who just so happens to be a very dear bloggy friend of mine from the States.

http://largefamilymothering.com/2014/09/22/five-things-that-steal-motherly-joy-and-how-to-avoid-them/

Munchy Monday #41: Meat or fish croquettes

This is a very efficient and tasty way to finish up any leftover meat. You can use ham, turkey, codfish, tuna, salmon... I remember once making rabbit and lentil croquettes. They were delicious. I normally serve them as an accompaniment to a salad for a first course, as a second course after vegetables or lentils or at suppertime with say, a mushroom omelette, salad and tomato bread. This is a basic recipe which you can adapt according to your menu.

You will need:
All purpose flour
Sunflower oil 
Crumbled fish or finely minced meat
Water
Salt
Breadcrumbs
Oil to deep fry

Method:
In a frying pan, gently heat enough oil to cover the base of the pan. Add enough flour to make a stiff paste and toast for half a minute or so. Add your meat or fish, stir and season with a good shake of salt. Fry gently for a minute, stirring all the time. Add just enough water, little by little, to make a thick dough. Turn out onto a plate to cool. When manageable, take tablespoon sized quantities and mould into a mini frankfurter shape. Roll each croquette in breadcrumbs and deep fry small quantities in hot oil.

They should look something like this!

Note: If you are making codfish croquettes, add a little garlic and some finely chopped parsley to the mixture. If the croquettes are made with plain chicken or turkey breast, coat them with a mixture of plain bread crumbs and garlic and parsley breadcrumbs.

Quick post

Honestly speaking, from my experience, mothers with teenage boys do most definitely not have any need for a television in the home.

All you have to do is give each boy a list of household chores which they are obliged to fulfil, make yourself a cup of something, put your feet up on the sofa and watch it happen. Ahhh, this is entertainment in its richest form!

Having said all that, my boys do the work extremely well and quickly. It's just funny how they work out the logistics of it all...

Abundance...

I thought you would like to see a little a bit of what I've been busy with (and thankful for) lately.

Press play and listen to one of my favourite songs while you look at the photos:

 

Cherries - a gift from our neighbour

First courgette harvest

Apricots from our tree

A bucket of beans

Second courgette harvest + plum and salad tomatoes and aubergines

The last of the potato crop (we have the equivalent of 12 crates like these!) and more courgettes

Planting and keeping a garden is a lot of work, much of which I do on my own. After I have harvested, then all the produce has to be preserved in one way or another.* This keeps me busy, too. I planted much more this year because I had more land available and, thankfully, it has been rainy for a longer period of time and I therefore haven't needed to water as much as other years. It's a very productive  year in this respect, too.

*Post to follow shortly explaining how I preserve what the garden produces.

How are my bloggie friends doing? What are you filling your summer days with?

Dehydration

The British are right. A nice cup of tea can solve many problems. One of them being dehydration.

If it's mid-morning and you feel tired and 'head-achy' for no particular reason (I mean you haven't been up half the night with a sick toddler or folding laundry into the small hours) it is quite a possibility that you are suffering from a mild dehydration.

Mild dehydration can cause thirst, headache, irritability, weakness, dizziness and fatigue and can generally make people feel tired and lethargic.

When I was small I was discouraged to drink at mealtimes and often didn't remember in between, either, and I'm afraid that, even though now I live in a hotter, drier climate, I find it very difficult to get to the bottom of a glass of water.

Water is essential for your body to function properly. Your brain is 90% water and your body is 70% water, the majority of your blood and every cell in your body is composed of water.

Here are some good reasons why we should be drinking 6 - 8 glasses of water a day:

# Increases energy and relieves fatigue
# Promotes weight loss
# Flushes out toxins
# Eases digestive problems
# Improves skin complexion
# It is a natural cure for headaches
# Eases joint and back pains, prevents cramps and sprains
# Lowers the risk of colon cancer, bladder cancer and breast cancer
# Puts you in a good mood because your body is working well

A winter 'loikatea' by the fire

I must admit that I am not the world's best water drinker and it is something I have to work on. When the children were small every time one of them asked me for a drink of water, I would prepare it and also one for myself, thus ensuring at least five glasses a day. As they grew up and began making their own drinks they would offer to share a tea time moment with me. This was called a 'loikatea'. Now my tea-drinkers have married and left home and I am back at square one again! Even worse is the fact that I rarely actually feel thirsty.

Of course, this is even more serious a problem if you are pregnant or nursing, taking certain medications, doing strenuous outdoor work or inside in offices or shops with air conditioning or simply living through the summer months with high temperatures.

It is very important to keep drinking water based liquids. The experts recommend at least 2 litres daily. Gulp. (Pardon the pun). Also, I read recently that coffee and real tea don't count because their caffeine content counter reacts, as a diuretic. This, however, is still being investigated. 

Here is a recipe for a drink I used to prepare when my family was younger:

Just mix and keep refrigerated:

1/3 water
1/3 fruit juice (nicest with apple, orange, peach or pineapple)
1/3 7UP (or similar, like Sprite. The British call it lemonade! I always used a very economical store brand which was even cheaper than bottled water.)

Does anyone else have a similar problem? How do you solve it? I would love some new ideas...