I cooked a chicken (but forgot to take any photos)

Good evening my lovely readers,
Well I am cream crackered! It's been a busy couple of days and (don't tell the pain management ladies) I haven't been pacing at all. I've managed quite a few things that I'm really proud of. I drove on my own for the first time in months yesterday, I went to yoga, I did a shop, I went to pain management and today I cooked a whole chicken!

Mr Lardshow's parents have come down for the weekend for the first time so I am in a house full of Lardshows and meat eaters, the cats are in heaven! So after much debate about what to cook for them we decided on a roast chicken. Up to this point I have got away with just cooking pieces of meat but today I bit the bullet (not the chicken) and had a go. After trawling through my cookery books I found a nice simple recipe from the voluptuous Nigella. Mr Lardshow was dispatched to a good butchers and bought a high quality free range chicken. Hopefully the chicken had a happy, clucky life.

The happy chuck was popped in the oven with lemon, potatoes, shallots and a whole bulb of garlic sliced in half with some olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper. Lots of mathematical doings were done to calculate how long it needed to be in the oven but in the end I opted for going and having a bath and leaving the responsibility of the chicken to Mr Lardshow. As Baldrick sort of used to say 'I had a cunning plan'!

So, by the time I got out of the bath the chicken was done and all we needed to do was put the Yorkshire puddings in, warm through the mash and steam the veggies. Dinner was done! As is now the norm, I spend all of dinnertime staring at people's plates quizzing them on whether the meat is cooked and hoping it tastes ok. Tonight though I had the added bonus of Mr Lardshow senior constantly offering me random bits of chicken to taste for myself...I declined!

Anyway dinner was a success, our bellies are full and we've collapsed onto the sofa to watch the end of the tennis.

It's nearly bedtime now, I'm really tired and I REALLY want to have the energy to go and see the Olympic Flame in Lichfield. I want to be a part of it in my 'Official Team GB' hoodie in spite of the pain. Cross those fingers! Night Night all xBx

Sun Tea for Miss Adele

I was chatting across the ocean to my lovely Canadian friend Miss Adele and she gave me the inspiration for this post. She said all you needed was a teabag, a jar and some sun. Not a problem you might think but that big, glowing ball in the sky has been rather elsuive of late...

This morning the sun came out! I was out in my garden with my Parentals and I found myself shielding my eyes from the sun, such a surprise and finally a chance to try out Miss Adele's idea.

So the idea is you take any teabag of your choce, the fruitier the better and you pop it in a jar with cold water. You then place the jar outside in the sun. As the sun's beams hit the jar they warm the water and help the tea to stew/brew/mash.

My sun tea is still brewing outside, I'm not sure how warm it's going to be as the sun has gone and all we're left with is a cloudy, muggy day. It was fun taking the photos and watching the water gently change colour. I'm really enjoying developing all my photos.

So what sun tea will you make?

Olympic Dreams

Now I'm not sure if any of you out there are aware but there's something really special happening in this the year, 2012...yes that's right I will be competing in the Olympics! Have you picked yourselves up from the floor? Good, then I shall I continue. A few years ago if you were to have typed in my home town into Wikipedia and scrolled down to the bottom, under 'notable inhabitants' you would have read my name, Olympic hopeful in the 1.2 metre breaststroke. Oh yeah baby I had dreams!

But sometimes dreams change and you have to adapt. Sadly I missed out on the trials for said breaststroke competition and on a very dark day my dearest mother sat me down and said my Olympic dreams were over. I tried not to take this to heart but it was hard, all those years of training, all those swimsuits, all that talcum powder!

Yesterday I decided to believe that maybe my Olympic dreams could be realised again. After a bit of a sad, teary morning I decided to be brave and try and find a local yoga class. Since starting my Pain Management group I really want to get stronger and get out of the house a bit more if I can. The days can be very long in my little white house all on my own with just the two mad cats for company! Anyway, I found a class! I had a lovely chat with the teacher called Jean and she was so lovely, she laughed when I said it might take me longer to get up from the  'Downward Dog' than everyone else.

The lovely Mr Lardshow stopped off on the way home and picked me up a yoga mat (That means I've definitely got to go to the class now!)

And so with much trepdation we contacted the official Olympic commitee and told them I was back in the game. I have to admit, there was pure joy in their voices when they heard the news. afterall, I am a medal prospect and yes i am talking BRONZE here! The post arrived here mid morning and there was something extrememly special all packaged up for me. I am taking this as confirmation that I have got into the official GB Yoga team. 

GO TEAM GB!!!!!!

Baby Bantams

We went back to the farm...

And inside the box of chicken delights there were some bantam eggs! Such excitement, much scrabbling to get enough pennies together to be able to buy the bantam and hen's eggs. Yup we now have enough eggs to keep us going until ooh at least next week. 

There's just something so perfect about the shape and colour of an egg that's come from a happy chicken. I just can't understand why any one would buy caged hen's eggs nowadays. 

I've never eaten bantam eggs before and I assumed that they would be just like mini eggs (not the chocolate ones!). When we cracked them open we were greeted with the sight of the brightest yellow-orange yolk I've ever seen  and when we fried it we realised the yolk was pretty much the same size as a normal egg. There was much less egg white, perfect for me!

So as you can probably tell I've been having a go at taking more photos using Mr Lardshow's camera, he says it's now my camera but I fear that if I say it's my camera he'll make me carry it and it weighs a bloomin ton! Much better to say I'm borrowing it... I've never really been that creative or arty (More of a home economics girl, me) but I'm trying to use different colours and textures to make my pictures more interesting. I'm now starting to look at everything with a camera's lense. The good thing is you can add shadow, depth and texture after you've taken a really bad photo!

Little Candles

Last night I cleared away the bits and bobs that we'd piled high and filled the table room with candles.

I love the way the light has made rays coming out of the holders, like little rays of sun in our rain filled summer.

I'm tired today. I went to pain management this morning from 9:30 til 1:00 but I didn't get home til 2:00. It was really good today but the sessions are so long and it's excruciating sitting on a chair for that long. We had 2 speakers today who had done the course before and had come along to tell us how the course had changed their lives. It's very hard, only 2 weeks in, to imagine how it'll be able to make that much of a difference but I am remaining positive.
The best thing I'm getting out of the course so far is leaving the house and getting to spend time with other people. People like me, who understand why I sit in funny positions with a hot water bottle constantly attached to me! We did exercise today (I know, deep breaths!) and apparently we'll be doing that every week! Every time the course leader said the word 'exercise' I just kept on thinking 'CAKE'. I had a lovely giggle with one of the other girls on the course and it was lovely to feel equal with others.
So no cooking tonight, friends are coming over for curry. Nom! I can feel a nap calling me to bed, I've done too much, i clearly didn't pay any attention to the lecture we had on 'pacing'. I hope you enjoy the candles. xBx

Strawberry Cupcake

I did it, I baked, I jammed, I iced, I plopped a strawberry on the top, I got Mr Lardshow's camera and I had a go at taking some fancy, arty photos, I ate the cake, I rubbed my tummy, I went to sleep. It was good it made me happy.

Throw It All In Pasta

Hello my loves,
I'm still amazed every time someone says they've read my posts. It's truly doing wonders for my spirit. Thank you for continuing to read my ramblings (I fear this post may be very rambly)
So I'm struggling with my pain today, I've just taken some extra painkillers, I don't know why it takes me so long to take extra ones when I'm feeling worse. Silly. Stubborn. Girl. Yesterday's cooking was difficult too. Pain was bad and I found doing everything really heavy and hard. At one point I tried to empty the dishwasher sitting down...it didn't go well...
Anyway to the point of this post. As I was cooking tea last night it dawned in me that I really do cook like the three amazing ladies that inspired and taught me how to cook and bake. These wonderful women were my two great aunts; Aunty Topsy and Aunty Lena and of course my Mum. We were and are 'chuck it in cooks', we look at our food, we work out what will go together, what needs using up and then we add a good pinch of hope for the best! I can still remember shelling peas and slicing runner beans at the breakfast bar with them, I can still only peel potatoes with a knife, just like they taught me to.
Since allowing a meat eater into my home and his meat onto a shelf in the fridge (I know, GASP!) I have had to start working out what goes best with the meat that he likes to eat and also what we can eat together to make my cooking days easier. So far so good, according to Mr Lardshow who is always very complimentary (He's not daft, he knows the correct things to say) but I do struggle with not being able to taste what I'm cooking for him. As he eats his dinner, I sit there waiting for him to say it tastes horrid, or that I've put lavender in it instead of rosemary...I did do that once with Cath, Jo and some new potatoes.
And so to last night's offerings, chuck it in pasta. I like my pasta nice and simple. Tomatoes, basil, cheese and wholewheat spaghetti. That's it. (There are no pics of mine being cooked sorry, I was struggling to cook at that point of the evening and couldn't cope with doing photos too) Mr Lardshow likes his pasta a bit spicier and with MEAT! So I started his off by frying some chorizo and then adding some beef meatballs, the smell of this was not pleasant to me but it sent Finn into an outstanding display of excitedness, I do wish he had a volume switch sometimes!

Next I gradually added the veg, got to get those 5-a-day's into him somehow. I love chopping up veg, sometimes the knife has to be taken off me when I get a little bit too excited while chopping up the veg scraps for the compost bin.

Once all the veg has softened I add some tomato paste, cook it out and then I add a good splosh of passata. Once this has come to a nice simmer I turn all the hob rings off and go and collapse on the sofa until Mr Lardshow comes home. I try to get everything cooked and ready early in the day when I'm feeling 'good'.

And here's the final dish, nice and simple and gone in under 10 minutes!

Is anyone still reading? I'm cream crackered today, hope I feel a bit more awake tomorrow as it's Pain management course day and I really want to get the most out of it. I'm wondering if it would be acceptable to lie on one of the beds as soon as I walk in...

Ooh just as I was about to post this the phone rang, I stupidly answered it! Another bloomin cold caller, this one is offering me a grant. Does he want me to go back to university? Sadly I can't ask him as I've put him on hold under Finn. I've just checked, he's still on the line after 3 mins 43 seconds...I wonder if I can do better than my personal best which was just over 9 minutes! OOF cold callers leave me alone!

An Egg-celent Adventure!

Good Morning to you! I say morning, it is, I know, the afternoon. My body clock has gone a bit haywire since I started taking more of my tablets. I've been awake for two hours and I'm exhausted again now. All I manage is a quick potter downstairs and then I flop back into bed. Finn looks at me each time I return, climbs on top of me and gives me that look. The look that means "Why don't you just stay in bed with me?"

Anyway to the adventure. Adventure I hear you say? Yes ADVENTURE! Let me just clarify, an adventure for me is just leaving the house, nothing fancy like climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, just putting on outdoor shoes! So last night after tea, we decided to go out for a drive to get me out of the house. We packed the car bag (full of emergency tablets, moisturiser and lipsticks), filled the hot water bottles and away we went. Mr Lardshow wanted to try and work out how to get to a pond filled with trees that he wants to photograph, we couldn't actually work out how to get there but we did end up going down a road filled with hidden farmhouses. As we were trying to find a place to turn round and head back home we noticed a box attached to the wall of one of the farmhouses. We stopped and opened the box that was covered in little chickens. Inside were little egg boxes, full of the most perfect, freshly laid, free range eggs!

It is the simple things in life that give me pleasure and you would not believe the giddiness that buying these eggs has given me. They are just beautiful. I cannot wait to eat them.

So now the big question is what to use them for? I've got my eye on the biggest one for my lunch today. Although it'll probably be afternoon tea by the time I get round to making lunch. Mr Lardshow spent the night trying to persuade me that we should have a fry up for tea tonight, I have taken to responding with 'hmmmm' when he gets these fanciful ideas in his head. 'Hmmmm' means 'Er, I think you'll find my love, the answer to that request is NO!'

I want to bake with them, I can just picture the yellow fluffy sponge that you would get from these little delights...Now if I can just stay awake enough to do it...

Perfect Pizza!

So we made pizza and oh my giddy aunt on a donkey it was good! This is about my fourth attempt at pizza and it's getting better each time! I'm not going to write up the whole recipe, unless anyone wants it to have a go themselves. I've tried several 'Pefect Pizza Recipes' but I have to say this is Jamie Oliver's recipe and it is just fool proof.

 This dough was from the freezer, I try to make more of what I need so that if I'm having a bad day I've always got a back-up plan. Once defrosted I use semolina to stretch it out. I don't even attempt to throw the dough up in the air but I do pull it around like a wet dishcloth to make it really thin. It's amazing how elastic it is. If any holes appear I just patch them up! So once the dough is nice and thin I roll it out, as you can see I fail brilliantly at getting a perfect circle, I was attempting to do Australia last night but it's more of a wonky desert island shape!

 So once you've flopped the dough onto the tray, slather (such a good word) your homemade tomato sauce onto the dough. Again this is Jamie's sauce recipe and it is delicious. It makes the house smell like a Nonna's cucina. Yum!

 Then you just pop whatever toppings on top of the sauce. My toppings are ALWAYS cheese and more cheese and that's it, apart from a fancy smattering of basil.

 Mr Lardshow likes his toppings but as the fridge was quite bare last night he just had mushrooms (food of the devil) and ham. Oh I forgot to say before you start fannying around with the dough and sauce you need to crank your oven up to its hottest setting. Mine goes up to 250 and is very, very, steams your eyeballs when you open the door hot! So pop the pizzas in the oven, get your plates, cutlery and salad ready and within minutes the pizzas are done.

 Much quicker than phoning for a pizza and I think tastier. Plus you know what you've put in the dough, sauce and on top of the pizza and in my book that makes it healthy!

Delicious and gone in ten minutes! The best bit is having a cheeky slice to take to bed with you...now what are we going to have for tea tonight?

Bad Tesco

Dear Mr Tesco,
OOF! Last Saturday there was much excitement when we discovered that you were selling bath support handles for the princely sum of £7. As a wobbly bath goer we thought we would get another handle and were chuffed at the price. So imagine my horror, despair, disappointment and utter chagrin when said handle fell off the wall in the middle of the night. Imagine even more horror when it fell off for a second time. Today I thought I'd give it another chance and reapplied it to the wall. Bath time today was all lovely and peaceful, I was happily reading my new Patrick Gale novel when BANG! The bloomin thing fell off again! Now I know we didn't pay much for the support grip but that really isn't the point. I rely on these grips to help me in and out of the bath and now I feel really wary about using them.
So rant over but woe betide Tesco on Saturday when we take the support handle back!

I thank you.

xBx

Mash. Mash. Mash.

So we had mash and it was good mash and it filled our tummies and made us feel all warm and fuzzy inside and I spilled most of it down me. This is my life, I sleep, I wake up, I think about what to cook, I cook, I eat, I spill, I wash.
Talking of washing, It has just taken me half an hour to hang the washing out. Beautiful blue skies when I started, spots of rain by the time I'd finished. Why does everything take me so long? Why won't it stop raining? I don't actually mind it not being hot I just hate having damp washing all around the house!
Right, back to the mash...I do worry that it's actually more butter than potato, but I'm pretty sure that can't be a bad thing can it? Butter's yellow so it must be good for you and after all I do have a B in Home Economics and I'm sure Mrs Hodge said butter is a five a day! Our mash has been revolutionised since we got a potato ricer. I would urge anyone who loves mash to get a ricer, they just turn potatoes into the most heavenly, buttery, pillows of love...deep sigh!
In other news I'm hoping to try and do some baking today if i can find the energy and stay awake. I haven't baked since hospital but I miss it so. I'm supposed to be increasing one of my tablets today but it's going to just send me to sleep...hmmm. If I do manage to bake I'm going to try and put a whole recipe up here. I know, exciting! Right I'm off to attempt some sit down ironing...

I have a wet shoulder

Good Morning My Fellow Bed Dwellers!
So, I don't think anyone but Mr Lardshow and I are actually reading any of this but I'm going to carry on regardless. I've managed to spend the morning faffing around making my blog look 'pretty'. I know, I know but it makes me happy and fuzzy inside. i love the patchwork quilt keeping my words all cwtched up and warm. I once tried patchwork, Mum and I bought lots of Laura Ashley material and I set to work...all those teeny tiny stitches were just too taxing though. Big, fat embroidery stitches are always going to be the way for me.

Anyway, to the wet shoulder...this morning after waking up Mr Lardshow by telling him it was 12 o'clock we braced ourselves to enter the chilly kitchen of love. We normally bump along pretty easily in the small room but this morning we bumped into each other left, right and centre. The reason for this I think was that I was trying to use the grill (I've never been a grill person) and also that I may have injured poor Mr Lardshow with my sock. The final bump resulted in lots of coffee going all over my shoulder and the floor! We did manage to make breakfast, I had my bread, tomatoes and fried yolk mixture...delicious!

So dinner tonight I think is going to be mash and yorkshire puddings and some veg for good measure. We've got the mash sorted perfectly, I could happily eat it until the cows come home. Mind, I'm not sharing it with them there cows...oooh No!

I'm feeling really positive about this blog, hopefully it will give me something to focus on, something to take my mind off the pain. At pain management the other day, I  felt really quite 'meh' I kept on looking at the ladies doing the course thinking this time 3 years ago i could have been standing up there teaching and now I'm just 'meh'. Well no more 'meh'! xBx

Testing...

Testing, testing, one, two, three! My first post and I have nothing interesting to say apart from... How the chuffing noras do you do this?  That is all, now off to bed with the lot of you! xBx