Category Archives: Personal

So, What Happened To Blog Off Post 2?

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I realized the rules called for an original recipe and the curry recipe I used isn’t mine. It belongs to the BBC.

But I’ll tell you about using the Gourmet Garden herbs to make it anyway. Just without pictures or the recipe. Okay?

So I used the chilli, garlic and ginger for this recipe.

Once again, it made no difference to the taste, but in this case did help in the prep, sort of.

I say sort of because I do hate slicing chillies, so that was a plus. However, the recipe calls for a 1cm piece of fresh ginger. Gourmet Gardens instructions on the pack say a teaspoon of their’s equals a teaspoon of ginger. Yeah. That doesn’t help.

In fact, all recipes I have ever seen that use fresh ginger, measure it by size of piece, not teaspoons or tablespoons.

So I’m obviously not going to win this competition, since I am hardly recommending the products…

Once again, Gourmet Garden have sent me various herbs to test. I have accepted no money to do these tests. All I get is an entry to their contest and the possibility of winning a trip to Oz. All views are mine.

Let’s Talk About The Right To Bear Arms, For Just A Minute

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Tonight comes the news of a horrific tragedy in Newtown Connecticut, just 20 miles north of where I grew up.

And so the gun laws will be brought up again. And they should be. And people will say “Well, we have a right to bear arms. It’s in the Constitution.”

No, it isn’t.

What is in the Constitution is:

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

A specific reason to bear arms. Not so some 20 year old asshole can walk into a kindergarten class and open fire on babies. So that the United States can defend itself against enemies. Whose enemy were those children?

I am so angry. With the shooter. With the US government. With the fucking gun lobby who will say “Hey, if the teachers had been armed, it would have ended differently!”

Yes. With  many more dead.

And don’t get me started on what the State of Michigan passed this week…

My prayers going out to all of the families and the children and the community of Newtown Connecticut.

Gourmet Garden – Blog Off – Recipe One – Veggie Lasagne

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Yes, that’s right, gentle reader. I’ve entered a contest. Not just a contest. A cooking contest.

I learned of this contest through the Mumsnet Bloggers Network. It is being sponsored by Gourmet Garden, who make a range of herbs and spices in tubes for ease of use, or something like that.

The truth is, I had never even heard of them until the contest was highlighted on Mumsnet. I never use such things as I prefer to use my herbs unadulterated and they mix them with…things. But I figured, hey, what the heck? Could win a trip to Oz!

So tonight I tried them for the first time.

Lasagne was already on the menu for the week, so I just substituted my regular garlic and basil for these:

Garlic and basil

Garlic and basil.

My recipe is a vegetarian one, usually made with either courgette (zucchini in the US) or aubergine (eggplant in the US). Tonight’s had both, as the aubergine sent in my grocery order was very small and I couldn’t get another one today in town.

Aubergine and Courgette

Aubergine and courgette, ready to go under the grill.

So, the recipe:

1 T Olive Oil
Black Pepper
3 T Lemon Juice (about 2 lemons)
3 Courgettes or 1 Aubergine, sliced
1/2 C Breadcrumbs
3 T Parmesan
1 Onion, finely chopped
2 Cloves Garlic, finely chopped (substituted 2 t Gourmet Garden Garlic)
1/2 C Tomato Purée
2 T White Wine
1 t Oregano
1 t Basil (substituted 1 t Gourmet Garden Basil)
Pinch Cayenne
4 Sheets Lasagne
6 Oz Ricotta
1 Ball Mozzarella, Sliced
2 cartons Passatta

The Ingredients

What goes in lasagne. Camera shy: Wine and Passatta

Combine olive oil, lemon juice and black pepper. Brush over courgette/aubergine and cook under broiler until done, about 5 or 6 minutes a side.

Combine bread crumbs and parmesan in a bowl and reserve.

Sauté onion and garlic until soft, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Onion and Gourmet Garden Garlic

Onion and Gourmet Garden Garlic.

Add Passatta, spices, wine and tomato purée. Simmer for about 15 minutes.

Gourmet Garden Basil

Gourmet Garden Basil

Layer the lasagne:

1/3 sauce
2 sheets lasagne
1/2 breadcrumbs mixture
Veg
Ricotta
and repeat

Top with slices of mozzarella.

Bake in 190 C oven for 45 – 60 minutes.

The finished lasagne

TA DA! Lasagne.

So, what did I think? Eh. It made no difference in the taste to use the stuff in the tubes versus doing it myself. Maybe it saved me 2 minutes with the garlic, but since I chop my onions and garlic in my mini-chopper, it doesn’t make much difference.

During the coming week I am making my curry. I’ll see if they sent me anything for that and do another post.

Gourmet Garden have sent me various herbs to test. I have accepted no money to do these tests. All I get is an entry to their contest and the possibility of winning a trip to Oz. All views are mine.

As I Buttered Toast and Poured Cereal This Morning

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and gave Adam his meds and took my own and cleaned up a bit of a mess and organized school uniform and dug through the clean laundry looking for a matching pair of socks for Simon, I remembered something my mom asked me when she was here:

‘So, do you enjoy being a hausfrau?’

Yes. That’s me. Really.

Source

I can’t say I like the term or the English translation housewife, and I’m not exactly one anyway, since I freelance, but the overall answer is yes, I do.

It’s not something I ever expected to be. Or thought I would enjoy.

I don’t like cleaning, who does? Well, I guess some people do, but I don’t. If we had a few extra quid we’d hire a cleaner.

But I like the overall satisfaction of taking care of my family. Of cooking them nice things to eat and organizing our Christmas and our lives.

I do think it needs a new name, as I am not my house’s wife, and I am also not just a ‘stay at home mom’. Not even people who do no outside work are just that.

It’s my life. And it makes me happy.

So I am Still Swamped With Work

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but I am also in London this weekend for the DRINK CAKE TOUR 2012.

You may recall last year’s edition, which was in Manchester.

There will be drink. And cake. And touring. And laughing and gabbing and secret santaing and (quite possibly) petty theft…

The Ladies of Forty Towers Are Hitting London.

And we are as excited as school girls. 🙂

Eat Less. Move More. Gain Control.

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There’s been more than one thread on Mumsnet lately about Diabetes Type II management.

As a long term owner of the condition, I’ve been chiming in a lot.

And repeating the title of this post.

Because that’s what I am currently doing. I don’t diet, per se. I eat sensibly. Everyone knows I walk 1,000,000 miles a day. And I’m, hopefully, bringing my A1C down to better levels.

And it’s not necessarily a mantra just for diabetes management. It’s the basic idea, really, behind any sensible weight loss.

Eat Less.

Move More.

Gain Control.

I might make a badge.

11 years ago Today

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Simon and I officially began our long distance relationship.

2 months after that, in December 2001, he came to San Francisco for us to meet.

2 years after that, in September 2003, I packed up my life and moved to Belfast.

1 year after that, 4th September 2004, we were married.

5 years after that, 11th June 2009, I gave birth to Adam.

Happy 11 years, my love. Here’s to hundreds more.