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 ; )

Poem

Where we live, at least, real autumn has not yet arrived. Yes, the leaves on the trees are slowly changing colour but the trees are still full of them and the temperatures are unusually warm for this time of the year, sometimes reaching 25º C at midday - no strong north-east winds, no rain...SIGH... It is hard to believe that we are treading on November's doorstep.

Yesterday I hauled 1 1/2 tonnes of firewood up to the woodshed with a hope that one day it might be cold enough to use it!

Here is a lovely poem to end October with. Let's get our imaginations working and pretend...

October

O hushed October morning mild,

Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;

Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild,

Should waste them all.

The crows above the forest call;

Tomorrow they may form and go.

O hushed October morning mild,

Begin the hours of this day slow.

Make the day seem to us less brief.

Hearts not averse to being beguiled,

Beguile us in the way you know.

Release one leaf at break of day;

At noon release another leaf;

One from our trees, one far away.

Retard the sun with gentle mist;

Enchant the land with amethyst.

Slow, slow!

For the grapes’ sake, if they were all,

Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,

Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—

For the grapes’ sake along the wall.

By Robert Frost

Things I like.

I think when you read a list of things that someone likes you can tell a lot about that person. Some months ago I saw a post like this on a blog and I liked the idea so much that I thought I would do the same thing on my blog.

So, here is a list of things that I like (not in any particular order):

Hot blackcurrant tea

A cozy, 'pokeable' log fire

Driving

Mountain hiking

Honesty

Reading

Baby giggles

A hard days work

Birds - esp. birds of prey

Purple and pink and anything in between

Home growing fruit and veg.

Seafood

Thunderstorms over the sea

Making meals for many

Skirts

Surprise outings

Flower gardens

Smiles

Singing

Teddy bears

Painting and decorating

Sewing and handcrafting

Othello (the board game)

Second hand shops, fairs, bazaars, etc.

Outside

Straight edges and right angles

Rain

Turtles

Kebabs

Cross country car rallies

Writing and receiving letters

Spring, summer, autumn and winter

Early mornings

Words

Jammy doughnuts

Perfume

Mammatus clouds

Ironing

Land Rover Defender

Cycling

Raspberry ripple icecream

A freshly ploughed field...

I guess you could say that I'm easy to please!

Where God is

Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.

                                                                                 Deuteronomy 4:39

Where is God? Unbelievers sometimes ask it contemptuously, while believers ask it when overwhelmed by tragedy, trial and sorrow. Where is God? Let the Bible tell you.

God is above His people:  "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler."

Psalm 91:1-4

Beneath His people: "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them."

Deuteronomy 33:27

Before His people: "And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night."

Exodus 13:21

Behind His people: "And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left"

 Isaiah 30:21

Around His people: "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them."

Psalm 34:7

With His people: "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."

Isaiah 41:10

"(...) and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

Matthew 28:20

And within His people: "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him."

John 14:23

Be assured that whatever your circumstance God is above, beneath, before, behind, around, with, and within you.

-W. Ross Rainey

Through days of toil when heart doth fail,

God will take care of you. -Civilla D. Martin

For a very long time this November 25th's Daily Reading (I have no idea from what year... 2008-2009 or so, I think) has been kept in my Bible as a reminder of the Lord's care for us and His presence in a believer's life. As an added thought, I penned down back then Acts 17:28, the first part of which says, "For in him we live, and move, and have our being." I read this small piece of paper about a week ago again, and was so very encouraged by it that I told myself I should share it.

I hope it may also be of use and encouragement to any reader that happens to be visiting!

 

(First posted on my daughter's blog in November 2013)

Dad's Dictionary...

BALDERDASH

Lovely word, this one. Unfortunately, it's not very clear where or when it originated. Most webs I looked at pointed to it being a late 16th century word used to describe a 'frothy liquid' and then, later 'an unappetizing mixture of drinks'.

My father used to use it to mean 'absolute or complete nonsense', and he was usually frustrated or angry when he used it, too. This, it seems, is the correct, modern usage of the word.

Balderdash is a board game, first published in 1984. Seems like a fun game to play, although you have to have a little imagination. Just up my street...