Calculating

One bucket of plums (given) plus a bowl of crumble mix (500g flour/oats, 250g butter, 200g brown sugar) equals ...

12 small crumbles plus 2 bowls of plums to eat.

The kitchen smells wonderful.

xx

PS Welcome to my new follower (who also enjoys cooking and baking).

Don't ...

... keep having chocolate/ice-cream lollies for afters. It's no good for your diet.

I made some cake instead. I know - it's no good for your diet but if I cut it into small enough pieces then you've got the taste and only a few calories. And I know how much fat and sugar has gone into each cake. My simple cake recipe is 4/2/2, an egg and some milk.

eg. 4 oz flour, 2 oz butter, 2 oz sugar

or

8 oz flour, 4 oz butter, 4 oz flour - the ratio is the same.

At the front is a lemon cake tray bake so I added the juice and zest of a lemon.

The second cake in the middle used some brown and muscavado sugar, a teaspoon of mixed spice and 4 oz sultanas. At the back you can see my experiment with crackers.

I used 1 cup of wholemeal bread flour, a knob of melted butter, a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar all mixed and kneaded together for 10 minutes. Who needs the gym to get muscles in your arms? I let the dough rest in the fridge for about 20 minutes then rolled it out very, very and more very thin. It was baked in the oven at 240 degrees C for about 5 minutes. I think I read about the recipe from the Keep it Simple blog (see the side bar). Frugal Queen also had a go at making crackers.

I shall make these again and experiment more with different flours and toppings. A couple of these will suffice for afters and I know what's in them!

xx

PS Welcome to my new follower.

To-de-loo

To the tune of Close Every Door To Me

Cleaned every bog loo today,
Chased all the germs away,
Under the rim and
Around the U bend.

Don’t do this everyday
The job never goes away
Leave the bowl sparkling
Seat clean for your end!

This job is important so
I clean where we have to go
And I know that now the loos
All smell divine.

Cleaned every bog loo today
Germs and dirt gone away
Wiped, brushed and polished
Just me alone.

And I know I did find (excuse the grammar)
Complete peace of mind
With a brush, cloth and cleaner
In a world of my own.

Also known as Bog Ballad, Doos Ditty, Water Closet Witterings, Rest Room Recitations or Privy Ponderings.

xx

Jolly nice

My friend and I had a mini jolly to Poulton last week just for a walk round and a pot of tea. She took me to see the railway station.

Very pretty. What a site to send you off on your journey ...

or to greet you when you arrive home.

xx

Kitchen Window - September 2013

The sunflower bouquet was a pressie from DD - just because. The Matryoshka type thingy is a Flavour Shaker from the CS. It's got very bad reviews but it looks good. I'm watching how much energy we use again so the meter thingy is on the window sill. Look I'm hanging out the washing instead of chucking it in the tumble drier. The plant has been re-arranged because I cleaned the shelves. It had wrapped itself around the rungs on the shelf. It drapes 3 ways now and is aiming for the cooker hood.

My mugs were also a pressie a few years ago.

Thanks for the flowers, beautiful girl.

The broccoli is soaking in salty water to get rid of the biddies. I'm having steamed veg with gravy tonight - a Life After Money staple meal.

xx

PS - Only one caterpillar in the greenery today!

Piles!

I think it's time that I showed you my piles!

First of all my pile of books. Gill, I don't review books for anyone in particular. These books were given to me by friends. There's books behind the books in the pictures ...

and more piles of books elsewhere. I'm slowly wading my way through. I aim eventually to wade my way through all the books in the house and give away most of them. One of my NewYear Resolutions was to read at least one book per month.

I've got piles of wool in drawers scattered around the house.

There are more piles of wool elsewhere! Most of it is from CSs or car boots. I'm slowly crocheting and knitting my way through them.

Here is a pile of photographs. I've got photo albums to put them in but I've not got round to that job yet. Perhaps it should be at the top of my list or this pile will hang around getting in the way. I've already had the family videos put on to CD. Now do I bin the videos? Decisions, decisions. I need to get rid of these piles.

Here are piles of fabric which 'may come in handy sometime'. There are more piles elsewhere - oh dear.  How many quilts do I need? Should I start making my own dresses? I've already got piles of those for my dancing.

Here is a pile of garments that have seen better days. They are waiting in a pile to be cut into patchwork pieces with each square a reminder of who wore the garment and where.

And last here, but not my last lot of piles, are the final middles for my 2012 blanket. My pile of wool for this blanket has gone down considerably, with 2 blankets 'done' already for the 'daughters' and 1 blanket left to finish for me.

It will be quite a while before I get rid of all my piles. I'll just have to live with them for a while longer!

xx

Read quickly

This is another very easy going read - a story set in Blackpool in the 1890s - girl in tragic plight - hero eventually found - all happily ever after after a series of setbacks.

Good stuff!

xx