Monday 30 November 2015

Toad In The Hole Special

Ooh no more is it a sad day when there's no sausages to go to make toad in the hole , in fact you can you up your left overs ! And toad in the hole us very warming these dark evenings as the leaves blow by.

Ingredients


200g Wholemeal flour (usually it is plain but I had run out)
a pinch of English mustard powder
pinch of salt ( used Maldon salt)
3 eggs
300ml milk
Left over cubed beef, chicken, lamb etc
1 onion chopped to go in the gravy later.








Method

Heat your oven to 220c

Divide the oil into the individual Yorkshire tins or a  baking tin

1. Combine the sieved flour mustard and salt in a bowl then stir in the eggs. Then with a whisk , whisk until smooth.

2. Pour the mixture into either individual Yorkshire tin or  baking tin.

3. Stir in the cubed beef/ lamb chicken etc

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

4. Caramelise the chopped onion in a pan and add it to gravy when the Yorkshire pudding is ready.





If your Yorkshire suffer from soggy bottoms then you could add a little batter to the bottom of you individual tins or large baking , adding in the remaining batter for the last 15 minutes .

I think you can get wholemeal to raise more with a fair wind and the Mary Berry behind you , or Paul Hollywood I wouldn't say no to his help.

Last Night A Ramekin Saved My Life

Last night a ramekin saved my life.

You see all the times when you say....


"I'm going to IKEA "

And you actually buy those tea lights you swore you weren't going to buy , well those tea lights and the ramekins you hoarded have come in useful , then the Cosmos smiles at you.


But before that The Cosmos arranges a power cut whilst you are making a cheese sandwich , and you are at the point when you have the grater in your hands , you politely curse


"Blooming heck "


Now no one can actually vouch for the words that I said and unfortunately or fortunately Kate Burley from Sky news wasn't on scene to add gravity and ethos to the situation.



I've counted that I own 20 ramekins ...

My name is Claire and I've a Ramekin habit ....

Thursday 26 November 2015

Fixing My Depression Short Circuit

I was thinking something of which I do rather a lot .

How boring the world would be if we were all  the same.

Monday was when I realised I wasn't quite over my depression, and that's really OK I'm not sure I'll ever really be over if I'm honest . Depression isn't really something you can wall paper over , we all react and recover in our own way.

Depression is simply put like an electrical circuit you don't know if and when you might short out.

What's the fix I hear you cry ? 

Mmmm the fix could be a bar of chocolate , a friendly word a phrase of a song In fact anything ! 

" brown paper packages tied up with string " 


Who knows ?!



It could be days before I short out again , months or indeed a year or years , after a momentous melt down last year I'm wary but I don't let it rule my life. I might shut down emotionally but it's my way of recovering so I don't go back to last year, every step I take away from last year is one more plus.

It's the old old adage of a swan calm on the surface but paddling like fury underneath , just because on whatever day I looked Ok, I wasn't really.

So I'm off to find my fix to my short circuit unless someone has eaten my fix ...

Till then I leave you with happy toast .




Thursday 19 November 2015

Keep Fighting Till The Fight Is Done

Sometimes I wonder who I am?

I see myself but sometimes it doesn't feel quite real.

How brave is it to bare your soul.


So I keep fighting till the fight is done.

What the fight is varies , it could be to motivate myself to do something as simple as vacuuming the house , or it could be to take myself off to a blog event. But as I am ever the rebel I make my own rules up as I go along and I pick myself constantly out of a hole , people don't always understand how mortified I can be when I talk being shy.

The little things are what makes me brave and see me through  , a cup of tea a walk home through the village with the sun breaking through by the church.


I blog .

Earlier I was tweeting my blog friends on Twitter who are at #Bligfest15 and I tweeted :

"My blog is a star in my hand I just need to let it shine "

Say this when you feel down blog wise 

#blogfest15

You can turn this phrase to anything !

I'm embracing difficult situations more .

Do you think you can ?

Keep fighting till the fight is done .

Wednesday 18 November 2015

Wander Must




I am approaching a midlife crisis.

I think with a midlife crisis you are meant to buy a sports car or a motorcycle  or a scooter as my husband did years ago (that looked like a motorcycle ) his midlife crisis lasted a few years but he got rid of the scooter some time ago

So much so that I have a restless niggle to travel , I could quite happily roam the world with my wanderer lust spirit.


I don't drive , I haven't have much luck with that mode of transport , myself trying to learn to drive has included the car I was learning in being crashed into.

" I'm taking the car in to swap it for a new one "

You can guess what happened next can't you .....


Then on another lesson I clipped a kerb near a canal and I was made to help change the tyre , so ended my trying to learn to drive. I have other people to do it for I think of myself as

"Driving Miss Daisy "

So cycling is where I'm at and I have my Pashley it's not cheap it would buy 7 bicycles for people but a bicycle with a basket is what I desired . So I set my mind to this but I couldn't win one I really did try but to no avail, so I obtained one through my works cycle scheme , I don't earn enough to get the tax benefit from it. I am paying for it monthly through my wages and it's all mind , it has a sweetie shop bell to die for.

I can't swim so cycling is my salvation , I'd like a racer again like I did in my childhood but I'll pay for this first and then work on that idea. Today I cycled down the lane dinging my bell and I couldn't be happier , I can ding to my hearts content , whilst I am cycling all the troubles melt away and to be corny.

I count my blessings , as there as those who are less fortunate than I .

Cycling is a celebration of my being , of how far I have come and how far I will go .


I just want to have the privilege to ride my bicycle always .

Monday 16 November 2015

A Cat Doesn't Do Politics



A cat doesn't do politics , a cat doesn't care who you are as long as you're kind , they can sense things cats. Cats don't have an agenda except to do what they darn well please. Humanity doesn't have a glass ceiling it really shouldn't , we should all be one sadly we're not. 

That doesn't stop me though , I'll do what I can to grease the wheels of humanity playing my part, I wish I could do more but what I do counts.

Compassion greases the clogs of humanity , it goes beyond sentiment ~ humanity makes us tick.

There are those who miss this tick of humanity.

I've selective hearing So I'm just listening for the tick of humanity.

Friday 13 November 2015

Balancing On The Edge

What keeps me tipping form the edge ?

Friendship is what keeps me tipping from over the edge and I really couldn't do with the friendships I have to calm and steady me.

And my bicycle I love my bicycle it is my brand new shiny Pashley Sovereign Nad I love it it has given me a new lease of life, though I have yet to cycle it up the hill or down it I am a bit too nervous for that year. It is the weight of a baby elephant but I love it , you see it is the little snippets of joy that get me through the day.

It has taken me so long to relax down and even though I am still on high alert I am jolly well better than I was , still it can take me 2  to 3 hours of a morning not to feel angst.

Friendship is a need.


Thursday 12 November 2015

Blogging Old Guard

I've had this title here for a while and I had no idea what to write still if I'm completely honest , a lot has changed in the nearly 5 years I've been blogging . I gave seen many changes with many indeed making blogging their career , blogging as a career for me isn't feasible not unless it is going to give me a steady income month in month out.

Social media can consume you if you let it , I have in the past tried to be something I am not and crumbled into a pile of dust. Social media can make everything SO unattainable but at the same time within your reach.

Blog it

Blog it

Instagram it

Vlog it

Periscope it

Stumbleupon

Reddit

Facebook it

Pinterest it 


How will you know I have eaten unless I instagram it.


The old masters painted the food didn't they now.


I am writing this as today, I feel consumed and I want a break not days, weeks or months but just a bit of time that is carved out for me , where I can do as I wish and train my brain to do as it once did which was really think.

Pah and now Cinderella won't download on Sky and the cat is being a cat doing what the hell it likes ....






Tuesday 10 November 2015

Choosing A Christmas Present For The Awkward (me)

The older I have got the more awkward I have got although I probably have always been awkward with a poetic licence involved , Christmas presents I like to be useful . I know it is the jot and receiving and all that but I am very practical indeed get a pair of fluffy slippers and you have the idea.




Christmas Slippers
It's SO fluffy slippers £20



I know they are mens slipper s but I really can't be doing with bows and bloody silly pom poms on my slippers ( bah slipper humbug )





There is nothing wrong when it comes to practically when it comes to Christmas I once knew a couple who gave each other a shed for Christmas then again their cat was called Colin ( which is a good practical no nonsense name for a cat )




I think awkward really is perhaps code for practical , I am practical for instance I am in need of a good umbrella , yes this one has frills on it , but oh the Parisian elegance for when I am strolling the cafe strewn streets of Paris Derby




A Pretty Umbrella
Umbrella £22.50



A fluffy robe is a good choice for me , though whilst you are buying that for me "OOOh was that a Spa day for 2 that slipped in to the basket ? , am I taking you , no I am taking my good friend Jane "

Fluffy Robe For Christmas
Champneys men's robe £25


Tea is the absolute start middle and end to my tea , I love tea , tea tea the world revolves round tea.


"Tea will never judge you
Tea understands"

Alice In Wonderland Tea Pot
Alice Tea Pot £35



Disclosure all pictures used with permission ~ no payments have been given * IT's STUFF I want

Further disclosure I will of course review a Spa with no trouble ...... 

Friday 6 November 2015

Picking Up My Mywanwy




I will try again to pick up my posh Pashley bicycle tomorrow we had a saddle malfunction yesterday but all good things must wait  , the bicycle is called Myfanwy ooooh the adventures we will have . I tried with all my heart and soul to win a bicycle with a basket and the need for a basket wasn't spurred on by the 5p carrier bag tax I may be thrifty but I am not that tight. You will have read how much I love the poem Meaney and it is a truly beautiful poem and yes it was immortalised in a David Essex song as well.

I shall be bombarding you all with pictures of my beloved bicycle as I hither too dilly up and down the lanes where I live , capturing the beauty of the country side as I go . I shall liken myself to one of those fantastic National geographic reporting photographers that see and show the world in such a ebglightening way , the world is beautiful we just to show it and explore it more ( and not build on it as much !)


The world of Pashley is huge and their is an arhantypical romance with older bicycles , it suddenly has a steady frame and I shall be slow and steady on old Myfanwy and give a polite and regal waves as I go by to people. They do T-shirts and jackets ( I shall be fitting in the jacket though I might after the price of Myfanwy ) though it was through the cycle to work scheme other wise I couldn't have justified the price .





Beauty is my bicycle.






Sunday 1 November 2015

Let Me Be Wrapped Up In Autumn

Same place different view .



Love on the Autumn bend ushering the colour love through.


I was dreading the Autumn nights when it goes really dark a little after 5 pm but the early morning colours of Autumn and the warmth of the pictures I take make that a little more bearable. The colours of Autumn are amazing the floor is awash with layers of colour.

Summer aspects now leaves blow through , blogging the ultimate golden view.

Friday I'll be sorting out Myfawney the bicycle with a basket and a ding ding bell.

Yesterday I went back to choir , it's a toe dip back into normality but yell I've always bucked the trend when it has come to this. It's 50 something days to Christmas but I wasn't prepared to start singing Christmas carols but that we did , tad early but there you go. Wehad to sing "Mistletoe and wine "

" Can we see something cheery after please "

Silence 

Death stare

( think my cards are marked )

I'm pretty sure I'm living my life or am I waiting till something more interesting comes along and ooh yes then I'll have to blog it ( tongue firmly in cheek on that one )