Barmy

An old Banana Longboat...Please note the queer looking spoon...

Instead of the aforementioned canned peaches for tonight's pud I've concocted something...

Seeing a couple of limp bananas in the fruit dish made me think....

Cut 2 trifle sponges in half. Spread meanly with Ginger Conserve, too much would be too much, only want a hit of heat not my tongue on fire...so sponges spread I then sliced thickly the bananas, always feel bananas need to be cut chunkily or they lose their ooompa.
Anyway that done I made half a pint of ordinary Bird's custard and whilst it simmered I dropped in 4 squares odf Cadbury's Fruit and Nut. LOL!
It melted quickly turning the custard from anorak yellow to luscious mink brown. Oh goody I thought this is fun...
By now the fruit was sulking so I gently enlivened them with a deep hot coating of Cadcus. And with a few raisins and bits o' nut floating around I left the kitchen feeling very pleased.
I often feel joyous when faffing about with bananas, (see above pic) Made yonks ago. Banana with fruit cocktail, cream and strawberry syrup. Took me back to younger days when all I ever wanted at Wimpy was this thrilling American style treat.



All this hoo ha over bananas has been brought about by Masterchef judge, Gregg Wallace... He a pudding lover like me! And.............

Am enjoying the new series but last night's programme left me glum. I so wanted Matthew to go through, but after totally messing up his Black Forest pud he was thrown out. I liked him and would have been happy seeing what he could have done in further rounds, and not because he was handsome or anything like that but because he cried.

Miss England Does Indonesian..ish

Not quite Nasi Goreng for tonight.
Pukka Goreng has prawns and stuff.
Mine is a Mary Berry recipe with tweaks.

Nasi has many fans including President Obama.
It is Indonesian and fun.
It is simply fried rice with veg and or meat. Take your pick.

Some folk plonk fried eggs on top, I plump for a two egg omelet.
Also jewelling my top is finely chopped toms. Red is a great pick-me-up not only in a fashion or lipstick sense but in a grub sense also.
Nothing quite lifts like Scarlet.
Red is a good colour for bringing out your inner pizzazzz or your inner poet. For example. One late night a gentleman friend was driving me home and as we approached a junction there were many red signals and I was taken with those lights. "Looks like someone has thrown dozens of rubies onto black cloth"
Such is fantastic red.

I digress.

Nasi Goreng can be as grand or as plain a meal as you like. I wallop the lot into a gaily patterned dish, its pattern and colours colliding marvellously with bits and bobs of green and orange veg, pale yellow egg and browned pork shoulder.

How to eat Nasi Goreng.
With a Chinese soup spoon.
Takes a while but this has many advantages. 1. You get to savour every spoonful and 2. You won't get indigestion.
To accompany... several teaspoonfuls of either redcurrant jelly or, if like me you have a sister-in-law who does preserves, some shiny Quince jelly. Either one adds a yummy sweetness which goes well with spicy ricey.




Afterwards I'll open a can of peaches.

No Where

There's no space, no place
inside my head
but a ballroom, a universe
inside my heart

...Oven Heaven

Stacked in the oven tonight is...

Chunked par boiled parsnips scattered with brown sugar,black pepper and a hush of salt are being glazed by two thumb nail sized bits of butter.
In a white rectangular dish is potato boulangere. Thickly sliced unpeeled tatties lay entwined with slivers of onion braise in milk and stock. Seasoning as above. Love this homely dish goes with anything and is good natured on account of still tasting good if neglected or forgotten about.
Pork chops. White fat surrounding pretty pink flesh. Will cook till well done, like my chops tawny.
Decided against the bread and butter pudding opting instead for the remainder of canned apricots with the last smidgens of double cream.
Apple slices are waiting in a saucepan ready to be fluffed. I love splattering apple sauce on chops. A thin gravy will pool around. Making, dare I say it, a Tuesday night dinner fit for some King or other. If royalty did ever drop by I'd be mortified. Not on account of my food but by my disregard for formality. I sometimes eat pork with a spoon.

I'd better shove off now, have the table to lay and Mother to soothe, the poor old bean had a bit of a turn an hour ago and is, as I write, prostrate with sadness over vomiting up her lunchtime oxtail soup and raspberry jelly.

Bugger.


About half seven....... BBC2......... semi final footie. Hoping for a London win with Crystal Palace.
Gertcha!

Masterchef at 9:)

Up with old girl Dawn, what a bobby dazzler she is.
Tearing along the Ashingdon road, headlamps lighting the hard road ahead and me in cherry red dressing gown.
Taking Mr H to station has its advantages. Only I can't think of them right now.
Oh yes...I get to think.

About Sally Lunns and Penny Buns, baked goodies I'm going to make.
Also eager to make a Genuine Pork Pie. Complete with jelly. At 6:30 am I was waiting for kettle to boil and as I waited I flicked through a freebie paper and saw a line drawing, a very good one actually, of a man's hands assembling a Pork Pie. Hmmm I thought studying the veins carefully I'd like to have a go at them. Kettle boiled, teapot filled I tore out the piece and stuck it on the fridge.
Other things aching to get baked/made are fish pies, Cornish Pasties and Peanut Sables.
By the way yesterday I impulse bought a large headed Cauliflower, it looked so regal I just had to have it. Will make a rich cheese sauce and pour over. I wonder if an addition of fried bacon would be too much, over egging an already great dish? I'll let the idea ferment.

(One piece of excellent news, as I type, Mother is standing at the sink doing ablutions with a white sponge and Dove bar.) Do hope she doesn't make a puddle/fall in the bath/use my scent/get the toothbrushes mixed up/come out naked.)

Being cooked today:
Pork Chops with apple sauce, potatoes, probably roasted and peas, an under valued vegetable.
For pudding, for mum, sugar free strawberry jelly, for Mr H and I bread and butter pudding.

(She's still in there...)

Ok that's enough for now. I have to get breakfast, porridge for two please. Mine sweetened with pure natural sugar, hers ruined by Canderel. (Tried it in me tea this morning and it FROTHED, YUK!

(She's out, erect and smelling clean, dear )

Good Late Night News.......

22:30.
Just been complimented. A Kiss through a veil.
Had some real Chinese food watching 'Casino' on DVD.
Ribbed mum over her insistence on carrying blasted Zimmer... urged her to use it as intended... an old lady's extra legs.
Then jigged in front of mirror.
Me not her.
Felt relaxed and light headed by 22:00 hrs. MSG overdose? Or just hours of cinematic/munchy gratification.

So despite unreturned calls, leaden upper back region, crazy whipped up silver hair, slight craters under eyes and unsolicited soppy love mail I've had a peach of a day:)

Goodnight All.

Waffling on Account of Feeling Pleased To Be Back

I'm back...and this time it's...

JUST FOR FUN!

So don't ask about mum...Won't tell anyway...What I will say however is that today the unkillable old dear ate some of my homemade Leek soup. "Mmm" she squeaked "This is velly nice" (teeth missing) And so the saga goes on...

On my front things are hanging steady, not too much to cry about except for daily mother- related back pain (lifting her has taken its toll on my vertabras and surrounding tissues.
But I mustn't complain otherwise I would lose all of my readers, who, I'm sure, have remained very loyal during my absence...

This break away wasn't due to blogging boredom but to my PC getting ill. After ages of tinkering and scratching of heads away it went to the docs and away it stayed. But now thanks to Dr.Bytes of Rayleigh I am virus free and in possession of a new Hard Drive.

Have an unbelievably big To-Do list for this week. Beginning with phone calls...Hiss and double hiss...Jaunty taxi rides to Hospitals...The making of umpteen blooming sugar free jellies, searching for a fancy frock for Friday, ( I am allowed out sometimes), chatting with District Nurses, especially like Sandra, all bubbly she is and full of non-stop diabetes related wisdom...Also be popping to local butcher for Lamb Necks.
Reminds me, mine has been giving me what for, must have been the acrobatics caused by the falling wardrobe.

Oh well I do have a few new bits and bobs to cheer me, bought several 'new' handbags lately also a few books, one all about 'England' edited by Richard Ingrams (he of Oldie magazine and Private Eye) it's crammed with warm and wonderful snippets by writers throgh the ages who had something stirring and unsentimental too say about England. Also to read is Wilkie Collins's 'The Woman In White'. Looking forward to the day when I'm relaxed enough to turn page after page of the frightener without any stoppages...
Another big buy ( £2) was an ornamental oil lamp, shade amber, metal base black decorated in a gypsy style. Naiive flowers in gaudy colours.
And for another £2 a pair of sandwich cake tins. Ideal for a 7 incher.



A new picture will soon head this blog on account of me getting a little browned orf with the Brittania Bird.
:)