Tuesday 20 March 2012

TINY TEARS' NEW CLOTHES!

Whilst rummaging through my old patterns last week in search of my little green book on how to crochet I came across some dolls clothing knitting patterns that I'd completely forgotten I had.
 2 year old Jessica just loves dolls, calling them all her babies. Her first port of call when she comes here is to head up stairs to collect Tiny Tears but she's always concerned that the poor doll has no knickers!


So I've spent a few days away from my blanket squares and finding some oddments of wool have knitted the doll a new outfit, all finished ready to surprise Jessica when she comes here on Wednesday. 
 I think she looks pretty good for nearly a 50 year old baby!
Unfortunately I didn't find my crochet book but I do have hooks ready and willing. I haven't crochetered for about 30 or so years but I'm looking forward to getting back into it, I just need a refresher on what to do!


Meanwhile the sky blanket continues to grow and grow and I'm pleased that to date I haven't missed a day. 


The garden is now beginning to spring back into life, I love these little dwarf tulips. We've already planted potatoes in containers but in the next couple of weeks we want to crack on with vegetable planting.
I've been a bit lacking on the "planning" this year!

Friday 9 March 2012

BACK TO BAKING AND MAKING!

This is coconut ice, Charlotte & Jessica's version!


Now we are back to normal in our house and we have a fully functioning kitchen I promised my grand daughters that on their next visit they could make coconut ice. 
I'd been given some neatly sliced, neatly wrapped free samples of this very sweet delicacy back in January when we'd been checking out caterers for my daughters  wedding and when the children tasted it I told them that I used to make it with my mum when I was a little girl.
Charlotte was eager to make it too so I found this Lesley Waters recipe on the BBC good food website and went in search of condensed milk at the supermarket.
When Charlotte came out of school on Wednesday we came back here donned our aprons and the three of us set to with our task of making coconut ice. For the first time, Charlotte had a go at reading the recipe herself and actually it was a good recipe to start off with as it had only three ingredients to measure and three stages in the method. Also it was good because Charlotte could mix the pink together and Jessica the white. The only slight deviation with the recipe came when Charlotte decided that she didn't want the ices one on top of the other, just side by side. But don't all great chefs use their own imagination!!
 It did look a little bumpy, somewhat uneven when it left here and my kitchen looked like a coconut bomb had hit it but the main thing was that the children had a great time making it. 






Sunday 4 March 2012

THE KITCHEN IS FINISHED!

As I said in my last post, spring isn't really here. As I watched the weather forecast last night and it mentioned the S N O W word as a possibility for Sunday evening in the southeast, I thought very rarely does winter leave us without, a sting in its tail!
I wouldn't mind but I've cleaned my boots and put them away and my summer clothes are itching to come out of my wardrobe. I've already seen people during this past week walking down our Hight Street in shorts, tee shirts and sandals. I mean really, has it been warm enough for that?

Enough about the weather, after all we can't do anything about it!
Let's move on to my kitchen.


This week the appliances have all been taken away and put into store. Therefore no cooker, no cooking, no fridge, no fresh food.

 So on Tuesday it was a novelty -  a fish and chip night.
Wednesday night it was a trip to Prezzo's and a pizza to the rescue.
 By Thursday, all I wanted to do was stagnate in front of the tv, the idea of going out yet again was not appealing. I made what I thought would be a quick dash to Tesco's for supplies to put together a salad plus a chilled bottle of white wine, I though we deserved a drink. All I wanted to do was pop in and pop out but oh not so simple. I walked aimlessly up and down the aisles but couldn't find the wine chiller cabinet. A supervisor caught my eye so I asked her to point me in the right direction. Yes, she did confirm that they did indeed sell chilled wine but she also explained that they couldn't possibly have their entire selection of white wine in a chiller.
Ok, perhaps being just helpful and informative but I wasn't expecting a chiller the size of a house!
As our lengthly conversation progressed, I was advised, amongst other things that it would only be from their Finest range. I replied, that was fine with me!
And so the conversation continued!
Have got to say though that by the time we moved on to the fact that I would have to understand that it would cost at least £10 a bottle, I was gripping my small trolley containing my dinner, experiencing great pain in my knuckles.
"That's fine, that's fine" I exclaimed, " but my question again is, where can I find it???"
"Well, by the finest meal deals" she said and as she walked away "we haven't got a chiller solely for wine anymore!"
Now, if any of you can remember that song, "There's a hole in my bucket!" well my conversation in Tesco was along those lines!
By chance the same supervisor was standing by the exit as I was finally leaving to return home. I couldn't resist I'm afraid,( I think it's something to do with my character), my mouth opened and out tumbled, "I found my chilled bottle of white wine thanks and it was only £6.99!"
After  my experience of that exhaustive trip out, I then had to come home, throw my salad onto plates and unscrew the wine. Talk about stress!!!!

Now back to the kitchen.
On Friday, after the two new cupboards were put in place and the flooring laid Michael was able to paint the ceilings and walls and put the tiles up which have been sitting in our garage since October.


We're both so, so pleased that it is finally finished after all the hassle with the people we paid to fit it in the first place. We're also really pleased with the result now that another company and ourselves have put it right. Let's hope that there's no other problems, resulting from the poor workmanship of the company who originally designed, supplied and fitted it, lurking in the background!
Fingers crossed!