mosaic road

A Little Bit of Night Music

Click here for some fabulous puppetry and music on a little you tube clip  !!!

A Pony Called "Captain"

I have a friend who is just about to buy a pony and after seeing these photos I can understand why. I have limited equine experience, but usually have found small ponies like Shetlands are often snakey and unpredictable. Whilst the perfect size for young children to hone their early riding skills, their temperament is often not ideal. This pony Captain, though, has immeasurable patience and even tolerated being dressed up  in a costume for several hours. At one stage the headress slipped right over his eyes and still he stood there calmly until someone restored his vision. What a darling !!

What a Pain in the Neck !!

I have now been at home on sick leave for 4 weeks with the diagnosis od a prolapsed disc in my neck. Since awaking early with intolerable pain on January 16 I have seen 3 GPs, a physio, had 2 remedial massages, attended Emergency, been admitted to hospital, had a CT scan and an MRI plus seen a neurologist and a neurosurgeon. I have tried to rest and be good and have made steady but terribly slow progress. I have taken 96 Panadol Osteo in the past 2 1/2 weeks and the box is now empty, not to mention prior to that taking Endone, Oxycontin, Valium, Lyrica, 2 courses of Prednisolone , Neurofen and the odd sleeping tablet. I have had to buy a new box, another 96 Panadol Osteo and have made inroads on the contents already. I am hoping the end is in sight and will summon all my strength to return to work on Monday, doing reduced hours. Sadly I cannot forsee a return to the gym for at least a month, let alone going for a run !!

 

A Guest Blogger has Macaron Madness

After receiving a book on Macarons for Christmas, I thought it was about time to give it a go! 

I went with the basic Vanilla shell and vanilla buttercream filling and was pleasantly surprised with the result! For a macaron virgin, I was expecting nothing short of a disaster, but despite the few mistakes I made, they looked good, tasted amazing and I was given rave reviews by all members of my family, even those who have been lucky enough to sample macarons from such places as the infamous Laduree in Paris.

So trial number one was enormously successful, which can be confirmed by the lack of macarons now sitting in the kitchen... which would be zero!

Love from your guest blogger,

A (favorite child)

xx

Even More on Quinoa

Never fear, this will be the last installment on quinoa, at least for a while. A trio of posts on this subject is definitely enough. While J made a pudding with her batch , I did a savoury dish topped with pesto and  little diced pieces of organic, gluten free chicken sauage. It was a delicious and healthy meal featuring my home grown basil .

More on Quinoa

Once your quinoa is taosted and then cooked, the world is your oyster. Here is a quinoa pudding with pistacchios and cranberries. It was not made by me, but by J and looks delicious. Great photo board too, made by an app on a mobile phone. Again, not by me !!

Toasty Quinoa

Due to some food intolerances quinoa is becoming quite a frequent replacement for pasta  and couscous in our family meals. If you feel a bit iffy about quinoa and it's earthy flavour I can really recommend that you toast it first. Rinse it really well then toast it in a frypan or wide based pot for about fifteen minutes till golden. Then cook it in boiling, salted water as normal. You will notice the earthiness is way less pronounced. Both my daughters have commented very favourably on this new improved format.

Ice Cream Sundae

I adore ice cream and cannot have it in the house. I never buy it as I would consume the carton alone and unaided. I love it all soft and melty around the edges. It is so pretty and I have never tired of looking at it, adoring it, always trying hard to keep my distance and mostly failing !! I love the types that are crammed full of toffee shards and brownie chunks and cookie dough, less is never more with ice cream. Serve me an affogato and I am in paradise.  Weekend yearnings kicked in yesterday and S bought a carton of Ben & Jerry's home with her from the video store. I stacked three tall glasses with layers of ice cream, berry frozen yoghurt and chocolate ganache - yes, pure unadulterated piggery and no regrets !!

Apple Sultana Crumbly Cake

 

This made a delicious dessert and in fact there are still leftovers !!! I scaled a recipe for 16 down to serve 4 so my result was a bit flatter , much flatter in fact than the heady heights shown in the  very professional looking photo attached to the recipe. Also I had no egg to add to my dough, though that shouldn't really enter into the tallness stakes here. It may have been flattish but the taste was fabulous. I used 2 huge apples diced up and about 1/2 a small jar of mincemeat as my filling. The batter is all made in the food processor and the fruit cooked in the microwave prior to being sandwiched between 2 layers of rustic and crumbly brown sugary dough. Cooked in a jiffy in the oven too. I can thoroughly recommend this pud to all.

 

Microwave Moments

The microwave is loved by some and hated by others. I use mine everyday and would struggle to be without it. I heat my coffee up so I get to enjoy it down to the very last drop. I stew fruit in it when I buy in bulk, then freeze. I defrost dog bones,  re heat meals when children come home late and  often buy Quick Rice. I have never cooked a meal from scratch in it and don't intend to.  It is a time saving appliance that enables me also to on occasion take short cuts. Tonight was such an occasion. I microwaved a large sachet of Quick Rice and then added to it some fresh ingredients and created a Microwave Savoury Rice dish. Due to my current, total lack of strength down my left arm I cannot juggle heavy pans and lids or stir briskly so the microwave has come into its own and become the perfect sous chef.