Beautiful Balloons!

Just a quick post to show you some photos from the weekend. Camping was blissfully beautiful, lovely food, lovely drink and the lovliest company. The balloons were amazing, the sheer size of them and their ability to become airborne was quite overwhelming. So here are some pics, hope you enjoy them as much as we did. xBx

Blueberry and Lime Drizzle Cake

Delicious Drizzle

Hello all,
Still feeling a bit rough here but I'm insisting on carrying on. We've just done cake club and here is the cake I made for it. It's my second attempt at a drizzle cake, my first attempt was a brick, used as a doorstop for a while! This was a much greater success though. The recipe made a huge cake that I have to say is absolutely delicious, thankfully there's loads left so Mr Lardshow will be taking some to work tomorrow. apparently some of his colleagues want to join cake club. Who am I to say no? I used some of the duck eggs we got the other day and they really have made the cake light and fluffy but not too rich.

So the cake is made up of 250g caster sugar, 4 eggs, 250g plain flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, zest of 2 limes, 200g blueberries and 225g butter all those beautiful, magical ingredients that when whizzed up together in the kitchenaid turn into gorgeous goodiness (Yes, I know it's not a word).

As the eggs came from a farm I made sure i gave them a good wash before cracking them open.

I thought they'd crack open really easily but the shells seemed really tough.The yolks were huge and such a glorious sunshine yellow.

So you cream the butter and sugar together and then gradually add these perfect eggs, if the mixture looks like it's about to curdle just add a spoonful of flour and it will come back again. You then need to add the rest of the flour and baking powder ooh and the lime zest. I managed to fill the kitchen with lime zest and covered my pyjamas in it, ooh lemony, sorry limey fresh! Make sure you keep back a spoonful of flour to gently toss the blueberries in. This helps to stop the mixture turning grey and keeps the blueberries whole and not mushy in the mixture.

Line your cake tin on the bottom and the sides and plop the mixture in and then pop the cake in th'oven as Mr Lardshow would say. It's a long cook, I struggle with not opening the door all the time to check it's cooked...

While you're waiting for it to bake, get on with the lime drizzle, for this you will need the juice of 2 limes and 100g of icing sugar. Now you should you use a thin skewer to make holes in the top of the cake, however I don't have one so I used a knitting needle...it was clean I promise!

OOH! OOH! TAKE THE CAKE OUT OF THE OVEN!!!!!! 

Sorry, I forgot that part, the cake will take about 50 minutes, you'll know it's done when a fork that you've poked in it comes out clean.

So leave the cake for 5 minutes and then spoon the drizzle into the holes that you've made and leave the cake to cool completely in the tin.

Now make the icing, more limes and icing sugar! 5 tsp of lime juice and 125g of icing sugar. Take the cake out of the tin and plate it up. Drizzle the icing generously over the cake and down the sides if you can. Sprinkle some lime zest over the top. Put the coffee pot on, slice, eat, enjoy. 

Done!

P.S This makes a cake that will last for a good few days under a big glass cloche, a tin went to work with Mr Lardshow for Simon, Marlon and the rest of his work colleagues who are literally wasting away in their office. There's also plenty left for Pain Management Group tomorrow. NOM!

Love Cat Love

I am not a mad sad cat lady I am just a lady with cats...
That's what I keep telling myself anyway...

I'm not feeling too great today, back off to the doctors later. Boo Hiss.

I've been trying to find some inspiration about what to post today, nothing exciting is coming to mind I'm afraid. Let me think...We got some fresh eggs, duck eggs! We got a new mattress (Heaven on a bed frame!) I appear to have started a cake club with my pain management friends and it's still raining here. That's it.

So because I have no exciting news I thought I'd post about the cats that fill my days with love, nibbles, snoring and nagging for food.

If you visit our little white house, within moments you will be greeted by Finn and if you are wearing black he will soon become your best friend, curled up on your lap, ready at a seconds notice to roll over and dazzle you with his whiter than white tummy. He's just this minute graced me with an extra special tummy rub...bliss.

 If you stay for longer and end up going to sleep he will climb up onto you, he's not fussed about where, normally the most uncomfortable spot for you and commence snoring. His snoring seems to have got louder and heavier since the introduction of the meat shelf into the house. Anyone else seeing a correlation there?

 Then there's Huckleberry, our little Bear. Finn gives his love freely and seems to know when you need that little bit of extra love. he's outstanding at knowing when my bad kidney needs a good pummelling. Berry however is more like the stroppy teenager of the family. She runs around like a mad thing, barging into rooms, miaowing loudly and then dashing off again...we think it's hormones!

She is the most beautiful cat I have ever met. I know I'm biased but honestly she is. She looks like she has a mask over her eyes and wears an off the shoulder black evening gown. All she needs is a tiara and she'd be all set for a night out on the tiles.

Because Berry is such a different cat to Finn when she does choose to give you love it just fills your heart with joy. You think, "She's chosen me! She wants to love me!" Over the years I've realised that it isn't that she doesn't want to be affectionate it's just that she wants to be affectionate on her terms and if that means some Berry cwtching on the bathroom floor in the middle of the night when you've woken up for a quick wee then so be it!

Finn waiting for the taps to be turned on for his morning drink. Note the grumpy 'I haven't woken up properly' look

I know that as you read this you will have been thinking 'sad cat Lady' and that's fine. I am a cat lady but I'm not a sad one. I think I definitely would be without them. I spend the majority of my days, in my house, alone apart from the telly and random phone calls from cold callers. My cats genuinely keep me going and I love them all the more for that.

Mash Lollipops

Hello all,

It's been a slow day here, I seemed to sleep through the morning. I say seemed, I did. It's taken me hours to get moving today, I seem to live my life in reverse, I wake up more as the day goes by. Much to Mr Lardshow's annoyance, especially at 11pm!

Anyway, the washing got done and it is out! I know people, out, and it still hasn't rained! Yet...

Tomorrow I'm hoping to find the energy to go back to yoga, I really enjoyed it last week and I really want to get some strength back in my weary, knackeredy body. Then, hopefully, Jill and Sandra from my pain management group are going to come over for some coffee and cake in the afternoon. Can you tell that talk form the dietitian had absolutely no impact on us whatsoever.

We're going to have this;

just out of the oven...

All iced up...I really want a slice...

Almond Tart. Don't tell Mr Lardshow though. He hates almonds. Shame isn't it. We are going to feel duty bound to eat it all up! I really hope they come, we were all talking last week about making links with others in the group and I'd love to find some people to spend time with during the long days.

Dinner tonight is mash, veg and a turkey steak for him...I didn't know you could have turkey steak but apparently so...I haven't really got the energy to make a fancy dinner, I managed to do the mash but that's about as exciting as it's going to get I'm afraid. Would you like to see the mash? here it is...

You just have to have a mash lollipop, it has to be done. How else would one know if it was perfect? Sadly one lollipop turns into seven and then there's hardly any left! 

I'm going to sign off now, there's gravy to be made and mash to be tested. One last pic for you all, this is our lovely, blissful little kitchen. 

The best present my parents ever gave me. 

Thank you xBx 

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

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?

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