Enough already!

View from the house; we've hit a thaw..apparently!


Sun setting


G'bye sun; we only knew you for a brief moment...but you warmed our toes and noses..we'll miss you.

Please help me. I'm so cold. My nose is permanently pink. The tips of my ears can no longer be felt can you ever feel your ears though?. At a party at Sam's on Saturday night, the temperature was so much on our minds, we even discussed the weather; good for sledging, bad for walking, whether it was stalagmites or stalactites....really, we shouldn't be discussing such things, especially not on a Saturday night! We should be merrily drinking and singing Bohemian Rhapsody at the top of our voices ok, the first person to mention Boxing day gets hurt. Apparently, you remember stalactites as coming downwards because "tights come down". "Yeah" I mumbled "maybe in Fife....". All those over the age of 41 seemed to know this; all us under had no idea what they were on about.

Despite the brief weather talk, it was a lovely Saturday night and the house was toasty...very, very important when accepting invitations these days. We had lovely chilli, guacamole, sour cream, cheese, tortillas, wraps, antipasti, couscous, olives, dips and much, much more. Delicious. Sam even came up with two lovely wee birthday cakes Happy birthday Ann and Ian....*thrrrp* with fireworks on top...yup, actual burn-your-eyebrows-blind-you-for-life fireworks...but we Glaswegians like to live on the edge I know you're not Glaswegian Sam but you have to accept an honorary status after at least 10 years.

The spread; that empty space was filled with glorious couscous!


Ian and Ann's surprise cakes! The now no longer have eyebrows.

During the holiday period, the cold doesn't seem to be as much of a nuisance because the kids are here, we're all playing and snuggling up to watch old movies which is great fun...I forgot how funny My Fair Lady with Audrey Hepburn was:

Mrs. Eynsford-Hill: I do hope we wont have any unseasonable cold spells, they bring on so much influenza. And the whole of our family is susceptible to it.
Eliza Doolittle: My Aunt died of influenza, or so they said. But its my belief they done the old woman in.
Mrs. Higgins: Done her in?
Eliza Doolittle: Yes, lord love you. Why should she die of influenza, when she come through diphtheria right enough the year before. Fairly blue with it she was. They all thought she was dead. But my father, he kept ladling gin down her throat. Then she come to so sudden she bit the bowl right off the spoon.
Mrs. Eynsford-Hill: Dear Me!
Eliza Doolittle: Now what call would a woman with that strength in her have to die of influenza? And what become of her new straw hat that should have come to me?
[pause]
Eliza Doolittle: Somebody pinched it. And what I say is: them 'as pinched it, done her in.
Lord Boxington: Done her in? Done her in did you say?
Lady Boxington: Whatever does it mean?
Mrs. Higgins: Its the new slang meaning someone has killed her.
Mrs. Eynsford-Hill: Surely you don't think someone killed her?
Eliza Doolittle: Do I not? Them she lived with would have killed her for a hatpin, let alone a hat.
Mrs. Eynsford-Hill: But it can't have been right for your father to be pouring spirits down her throat like that, it could have killed her.
Eliza Doolittle: Not her, gin was mother's milk to her. Besides he poured so much down his own throat, he knew the good of it.
Lord Boxington: Do you mean he drank?
Eliza Doolittle: Drank? My word something chronic.
[responding to freddy's laughter]
Eliza Doolittle: Here! What are you sniggering at?
Freddy Eynsford-Hill: The new small talk, you do it so awfully well.
Eliza Doolittle: Well if I was doing it proper, what was you sniggering at? Have I said anything I oughtn't?
Mrs. Higgins: No my dear.
Eliza Doolittle: Well thats a mercy anyhow...

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....but after the holidays have past, there is that week. That first week the kids are back to school, I'm barely organised and it's too damn cold anyway! But then we move on to this week. I always like this one as motivation goes up and the blues come down; it's week 3 of the new year already and the cold, despite it being a big blue pain in the pants, is not going to limit me anymore. The heating is on full blast, the thermals have been sent over by helicopter, courtesy of Marks and Sparks and I'm going out. Yes! Out I tell you. If you don't hear from me for a few days, send a mountain rescue team up The Whangie. Tell them to bring gin. Lots of it.

The long weekend

It has been an extraordinary weekend. Not because anything extraordinary happened but because of how I felt about it. I shall elaborate. Noooo, I hear you cry, we don't need to know, you nutter. Leave us alone! Well tough, it's my blog and I'm tellin' ya, right?

On Thursday evening, Anne and Karen came over. On Friday, I had some visitors for coffee; I was to go out that evening but couldn't go although I'd got organised, just incase. Too boring a story, I'm sleeping even think zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

On Saturday, I had lots of children over in the afternoon, kids were also coming and going to their friends and therefore, being picked up and dropped off by parents and that evening, I had my friends Ricky and Irene round for dinner they tasted like chicken. On Sunday, Kelly was once again picked up, gallivanting round Glasgow with her chums whilst I got organised for a soiree with Ann (without an e) and Val coming over for drinks, canapes and chat.

This seems like a lot, I know it does, it does to me too, reading it. But...and this is the extraordinary thing...it didn't to me at the time. I was totally fine. I looked forward to each and every one of the plans I'd made, didn't get even an iota of stressed about it and I had a great time.

The tidying and cleaning, I did as normal and didn't worry about the fact that my bathroom is in drastic need of a rehaul or that the hall table always has a pile of various items, ranging from clean washing about to be ironed to legwarmers...sorry, one legwarmer on it and a monster type creature growling at me from a box. Or that the conservatory is freezing and is that a cobweb up there?

I let Fraser pick the music...Norah Jones on Thursday and Sunday, The Eagles on Saturday ok son, next time, maybe I'll ask Lucy....lit some candles, put out the canapes, chilled the wine and sat back to enjoy the conversation. Isn't that something? It's like a veil has been lifted, a maturity, like growing...it happens so slowly you never notice it and all of a sudden, you go to sleep and wake up a good three inches taller.

A chilled out, friend-filled wonderful weekend.
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Fraser was off sick today; I knew he was sick when he creeped into my bed and spent the entire night kicking me in the face, sniffing like an addict and sitting bolt upright with fever, talking to some imaginary foe. "Shush" I said "mummy's here, I've killed him and he's dead...mummies rule". "Mummies rule" he murmured as he fell into yet another fitful kickboxing session.

He awoke to find me staring at the ceiling, wondering if I'd ever get a full night's sleep ever again. I was unusually chipper, considering and sent Kelly and Lucy off with Lyn and cuddled the lad up on the couch. After a morning of rest, we played an escape game on the computer who owns the fish? You'll either get that or you won't, don't ask me to explain, I wouldn't know where to start...ok ask, if you must but only if you then go find out who owns the fish; it's a pre-requisite of asking, read a book and watched a film called The Secondhand Lion which we both loved.

Lyn dropped the kids off and stayed for coffee so we caught up on what she got up to on the Friday night.....gutted to have missed it....whilst the kids munched French Toast or eggy bread, depending on where you come from.
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It's recipe time! This is a simple recipe for toasted almonds which everyone always seems to absolutely love. It's a no brainer and is a good snack for munching with a cold beer or glass of wine.
Toasted spicy almonds
A packet of blanched almonds
A good pinch of dried chillies (bird's eye is the best but any will do)
A good few pinches of sea salt
A teaspoon of olive oil

Place in a hot pan all of the above. Shake every 30 seconds or so until the almonds start to toast. Keep shaking until the almonds are properly coated and a mix of white and brown; don't let them burn. Sprinkle over some more sea salt and place in a dish. Sprinkle over yet more sea salt and leave to cool.

Not being one to eschew a food simply because of nutritional value, I do prefer that foods have a certain amount of goodness. We are what we eat to a certain extent so tasty food can be good for you too, right? Right?? So, ignoring all that salt for a moment......

Almonds are high in fat so can they be good for your health? You betcha. Almonds are high in monounsaturated fats, the same type of health-promoting fats as are found in olive oil, which have been associated with reduced risk of heart disease. They also contain large amounts of vitamin E and a lot of magnesium, around a quarter of your daily allowance plus potassium. All those are good for the heart and help keep it healthy. A true story.

Enough of me waxing lyrical about potential health benefits, I'll need to go eat some chocolate and lie down.

Sunshine and Sandals.

I've not been shopping this week yet as there seems to be plenty of food left over from the weekend's celebrations. I can't seem to sit still even though it's been so busy; my energy levels are fluctuating between very high and crash and burn so I'm thinking a slow and steady pace all week will keep me going.

Yesterday, I took most of the remaining basil I had left and made a pesto by blending together garlic, Parmesan, salt and olive oil. I didn't have pine nuts, yet again because I can't seem to find them anywhere! It's like they've suddenly become extinct or as rare as...well, a rare thing; the labels are there in the shops, taunting me: 'pine nuts', 'organic pine nuts', 'not quite organic but still ok pine nuts'. Yet the shelves are empty. Has there been a national shortage, a crisis I'm unaware off? Is it something to do with the disappearing bees? Who knows? Any thoughts? So, yes, back to the point, my pesto had no nuts but still tasted delicious.

I also had a good pile of tomatoes left so yesterday I slow roasted them as I did for the brunch, with basil, Parmesan, salt, olive oil and balsamic vinegar and placed them in the fridge, once cooked (after eating some straight from the oven and burning my tongue...greedy wench).

When I was hungry later on, I boiled up some fusilli and added a spoonful of the pesto, a handful of the tomatoes and a wee amount of olives to the cooked pasta.....talk about a taste sensation! It is so true that the simplest dishes are just the best...it was wonderful.

After such a great meal, Kelly, Lucy and I walked to the park whilst Fraser was at his last 'Beavers' meet. It took us around 40 minutes and Kelly took her bike; she is becoming really confident and was very safe which was good to see. After a play around the park, we wandered down to MacDonalds for ice cream...the extra ten minute walk in the sun was lovely and I only had a spoonful of the white stuff.

Today, as usual, I had a mad dash out the door to get to yoga in time and was buoyed along by the sunshine and sandals; there is something wonderful about having your feet out in the sun, not something we get to experience too often in Scotland! Yoga was wonderful and really instructive; I learnt a lot about my breathing and bandhas and felt great, if in dire need of coffee and lots of it. Afterwards, I walked down to meet Ann for our usual activity which instead of leading us all the way to Milngavie, a town a few miles away, led us instead to the Burnbrae for a plate of their wonderful antipasti and an afternoon of chat.

I shall come up with some inventive pasta for the return of the clan from swimming and give it some name which sounds Italian and like I've been cooking it for years...as long as it tastes good and is said with authority, they should believe but there are too many dishes with 'a la Helen' these days.....

Sun and Simple Pleasures

What a wonderful weekend. The sun continues to shine, the kids continue to glow and, despite a small slump yesterday morning when I realised I had tasks ahead of me before I could enjoy any of the sunshine (and on my own too as husband took another Saturday off to go Aikido-ing. No, it's no mistake, last week was treasure hunting, this week is Aikido-ing-I did say it was ok, but we say these things sometimes when we don't really mean them) it has been grand. I worked through the slump with the help of the kids as they did their best effort at tidying a bedroom, i.e. they sat on the floor and looked puzzled. But still, they did a little and with my help, we made a dent, big enough for a sleepover to happen.

The rest of the day was spent in a hazy blur as we wandered the long way through the haze to the park. We stopped of at Ann's to pick up her laddie and she forced me...yes, FORCED me...to have two gin and tonics. I left half of the 2nd one as I had responsibilities ahead of me and Ann pours a mean drink.

The kids parked it up for a good hour and then we went home for sausage and mash. I'll not insult anyone with how to cook such a dish but my mash does contain a good pinch of salt, a splash of full fat milk if I have any, sometimes even cream and a stick of butter! Sometimes, there is no point without the proper, fatty ingredients. A little of what you fancy does you good. I of course did not partake and instead had a nice cold salad.

Today was spent gathering lots and lots of children, boys at that, dropping them in the swimming pool and then feeding them burgers and ice cream. Everyone needs afternoons like that. On the way home, we saw the Air Cadets and stopped off for a wee shot in their plane. They happily obliged.

As if all that wasn't enough, Auntie Susan appeared and took the twins away for a birthday treat and Kelly and I made our way slowly towards the park, her on her bike, me in my mules that haven't seen the light of day for nigh a year. The walk took an hour. So, of course, my poor feet died. Goodbye, dear feet, you did me well.

For dinner, we had sugar-spiced salmon and rice. The rice was a last minute decision and it went well together. It was a subtle, pleasant summer dish and the hot but sweet mustard sauce....the easiest I've ever made...added a nice tang. I did not take a photograph as I salivated my way to the dinner table. I had a salad at lunch and ate at 6.30pm, really rather late for me.

Sugar Spiced Salmon with Chinese Hot Mustard
(This recipe is from Nigella Lawson's 'How to Eat'...as if I didn't know how to do THAT.)

A fillet of salmon per person.
Combine the following ingredients in a little bowl:
Quarter teaspoon per fillet of ground ginger, cinnamon, cumin, cayenne, sugar and salt, Colman's Mustard Powder.

Heat the griddle or frying pan (I added a tiny bit of sesame oil and rubbed it round with kitchen towel, but do what you prefer). Coat the salmon in the spices, both sides by pouring the spices onto a plate and pressing the salmon into it. Cook for 2-3 minutes each side...you'll see it turning opaque. I always put it in a very hot oven for another few minutes after this as I do not want to eat this type of salmon with raw bits in the middle.

The Hot Mustard is prepared simply by adding 1.5 teaspoons mustard powder and sugar then add a teaspoon of warm water from the tap. Stir thoroughly and Bobby's your Uncle, you have yourself a sauce, my friend.