Keeping My Finger On The Pulse

 

I try and keep up to date, but I admit that I am rather behind with this news item - did you know that the United Nations* has declared this "The International Year of Pulses"?? No, me neither- but thanks to blogfriend Gill [that British Woman] in Canada, I feel fully informed about this one.

“Much work needs to be done to end hunger and provide food security and nutrition for all. One concrete, promising opportunity lies with pulses. Let us join forces to raise awareness of the benefits of pulses,” said the Secretary-General of the UN, Ban Ki-Moon. “Despite strong evidence of the health and nutritional benefits of pulses, their consumption of pulses remains low in many developing and developed countries. The International Year can help overcome this lack of knowledge,”

Further, he also said that pulses impact the environment positively due to their nitrogen-fixing properties, which increase soil fertility. The UN chief also called for collaborative commitment and concrete action by all relevant actors within the UN system, farmers’ organizations, civil society and the private sector, to make the International Year of Pulses 2016 a success.

I love beans, and lentils, and chickpeas - so I shall make every effort to participate in this one!

I suspect that Gill knew about it because Canada is one of the world's top pulse producers [who knew that?] and so they are making a big deal of it over there.

What is your favourite pulse recipe?

What have you BEAN cooking recently?

*It seems they originally declared this back in 2013. Not very loudly [imho]

Not Lost In Translation

I so rarely seem to watch any TV in ‘Real Time’ anymore- everything is recorded to be watched later. Currently I am following three different series which are all European and subtitled. I am no linguist, and can manage a bit of French – but I do need to read what is on the screen [so cannot sew at the same time, which is a bit frustrating for a multi-tasker like me] Channel 4 is focussing on Euro drama this spring – moving south from the Scandiwegian woolly jumpered police towards the chic French and brusque Germans. BBC4 stays in sunny southern Italy.  At least BBC1 returns to Dougie Henshall in Shetland tonight [fortunately no subtitles needed for that]

Deutschland 83 – Channel 4 - is a very clever German espionage drama, set 33 years ago in the Reagan/Stasi era. Martin Rauch is an East German army officer, recruited to work as a spy in West Germany. He clearly didn’t have to learn a new language to move from East to West, but he does have to learn the tiny differences in vocabulary that had developed over the four decades since the war. 

While West Germans shopped at Supermarkts, East Germans went to the Kaufhalle. He’s not a very good spy, and his efforts seem very naïve and ill-considered at times, yet you somehow want him to succeed against the West [which is us!] The sense of period is evoked brilliantly [I remember the early 80s quite clearly] and use of contemporary news footage and background music adds to that. There was a clip from Reaga’s ‘Evil Empire’ speech, where he quotes CSLewis, who wrote that the greatest evil is ordered "by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice". I am avoiding all spoilers, I don’t know how this one will work out, but I am enjoying it!

Spin [les hommes de l’ombre] – again from Channel 4 – is a French political thriller. It’s a sort of ‘House of Cards’ meets ‘Borgen’. One of the main actors is Grégory Fitoussi, who I thought was brilliant in ‘Spiral’ last year. Bob found it tedious, and gave up early on. So I am catching up in the evenings when he is upstairs working in his study. It has seemed slow and you do need to concentrate but I think the plot is beginning to come together. 

Young Montelbano on BBC4 – this is a different kettle of fish completely. A lot of fish, in fact – this detective series is set in sunny Sicily and as well as policing, Salvo, the hero, really enjoys his food. It is a prequel to the original stories of Andrea Camilleri, and has been skilfully cast. You can really believe the characters are the younger selves of those we got to know in the programmes about the older Montelbano. 

The mannerisms, and language traits are all there. It’s like an Italian Midsomer, but with a much lower body count, and much higher calorie count.

Do you watch any of these Euro-dramas? Or do you think it is too hard to concentrate on the subtitles? And can anyone explain why Bob insists we have the sound at 'normal' volume, even though we have no idea what we are hearing?

Sweet Talking

Here are just a few random tips I've picked up in recent weeks about sweet things used in cooking. I know everyone is supposed to be cutting back and we need to watch the hidden sugar in our drinks, but if you are baking cakes and desserts, you do need to use a little!

• Golden Syrup & Black Treacle - if you need to measure a spoonful of this, then oil the spoon with a little vegetable oil first and the syrup will slip off much more easily
• Crystallised Honey - many people advise heating the jar of honey in a pan of boiling water, or zapping it in the microwave. This will render the honey runny again - but it is likely to re-crystallise on cooling. You will get better results if you use the microwave on defrost setting, and give it 20 second blasts until it goes liquid. I did this a few weeks ago and my honey remains golden and liquid.
• Soft Brown Sugar - this often goes into hard clumps. Some books recommend keeping a slice of apple in the jar. Personally I have never been happy with that one. But I have had success with a couple of large marshmallows working well to keep the sugar soft.

Finally a World War 2 recipe which I have yet to try, but seems such fun I thought I would share it. Parsley Honey

Ingredients:

5 oz. parsley (stalks and all) roughly chopped

1½ pints of water

1 lb. sugar

½ tsp. lemon juice

Directions:

Using a large saucepan, add washed parsley to the pan then add 1½ pints of water.

Simmer the liquid until it has reduced to a pint of liquid [around 30 minutes] . Now strain that liquid into a jug then return just the strained juice back to the pan. Add 1 lb. of sugar and stir until thoroughly dissolved. Add ½tsp lemon juice

Bring to the boil, then simmer until the liquid looks like the consistency of honey.

Remove from heat, allow to cool, then pour into hot, sterilised jars.

Pooh always liked a little something at eleven o'clock in the morning, and he was very glad to see Rabbit getting out the plates and mugs; and when Rabbit said, "Honey or condensed milk with your bread?" he was so excited that he said, "Both," and then, so as not to seem greedy, he added, "But don't bother about the bread, please."

Ottoman Empire

Five years ago I posted about my little ottoman. I have had it in since my student days in Oxford. It was £5 in the North Hinksey Bedding Shop Autumn Sale. I had to carry it all the way back to college, with the help of a friend, because they would not deliver anything costing less than £20! I used it as extra seating, book storage, and a coffee table. It was covered in 1970's pink and orange printed plastic.
Then when I got married, I covered it in brown fabric to match our brown and orange lounge [it was still the 1970's] Briefly it did duty as a toybox, with the lid covered in a red alphabet print [long since removed and turned into a sewing machine cover] It got rather faded and dirty.
When we moved to Kirby Muxloe, green dralon curtains made matching covers for the ottoman, and the bedroom stool. In 2011, I turned it into a shoe storage unit by putting two of those hanging shoe bags inside. At the time I mentioned I need to recover it.

This week I stripped it back to its original plastic, using a staple remover and a pair of pliers. here are the three different covers.

I'd found some striped ticking for £1.50 in a bin outside a curtain shop in Salisbury before Christmas. And then I unpicked a large piece of blue denim which had originally  been a Shepherd's Costume in the Nativity Box in the loft. The Black and Decker Powershot was fished out again, and voila, a chic new shoe store! [that is not a stain, just a damp patch where I was over zealous with the steam iron - it has dried out now]

This should do me a few more years I think - not bad for £1.50

Feeling Under Pressure

I thought I had a bargain when I picked up a replacement Pressure Cooker gasket for just 50p at a charity sale back in Leicester. But when we tried to fit it recently, we discovered I'd got one for a stainless steel PC and mine is aluminium [nb this picture is misleading - they are both the same diameter, just different thicknesses]

Oops! I got the correct one in the wonderful Thorns in Norwich after Christmas [brilliant shop - serving the public since 1835] and offered the other on a Facebook group I belong to. When I posted it off to my friend yesterday, I included my favourite PC ideas for her. I thought it was worth sharing them here.

 I use a Prestige HiDome PC, which I got for my birthday in 1974 when I was a student.That makes it nearly 42years old, and it has had just from 3 new rubber gaskets, it is still going strong. 


I've been throwing this pudding recipe together since 1981, when my friend Val lent me her copy of a "Sainsbury's Pressure Cooker Cookbook". The great thing about it is that you can start preparing it just before you begin boiling the potatoes & cooking the other parts of the main course- and 25 minutes or so later, you have a pud that tastes like it was simmering away for ages! It works equally well with fresh milk, reconstituted dried milk powder, evap & water, or a carton of UHT. After a couple of early disasters, I discovered it was essential to cover the surface of the liquid with a circle of greaseproof or silicon paper. [The pre-cut 'cake-tin liners' which Lakeland sell in packs of 100 are ideal for this – or you may find some cheaper in a £shop] If you do not do this, the pud may bubble up and seep alarmingly through the bottom of the weights!

PRESSURE COOKER CREAMY RICE PUD

knob of butter

2 pints milk

6oz pudding rice

2oz sugar

generous grating of fresh nutmeg

Melt the butter in the base of the pan. Add all the other ingredients, stir well. Bring to the boil. Turn heat right down. Cover surface with paper. Put lid on pan with all weights. The cooker should be hissing GENTLY! Leave to hiss away for about 12minutes, then turn off the heat. Leave pan alone till you are ready to serve pud. Carefully remove weights then lid [pressure will have gone down by now] Serve into warmed bowls with dollop of jam [optional] and gasps of delight from assembled company [obligatory].

As well as quick one-pot casseroles, I also use my PC for

·         Making chicken stock using the carcase from the Sunday lunch
·         Cooking dried beans and pulses ready to use in casseroles etc. Cheaper than buying canned
·         I use the pan – without the lid, for making Marmalade [a can of Mamade, sugar, water and the zest and juice of a lemon makes 6 jars of “St Clement’s Marmalade]
·         Also without the lid, I prepare banoffee pie filling in bulk – You can simmer THREE cans of condensed milk at a time and they will all turn to dulche-de-leche type sauce. And they will keep forever in the pantry – brilliant standby when you need emergency desserts. Put a face-flannel or folded tea-towel in the bottom of the pan, to stop the annoying rattling, and make sure the pan does not boil dry.

Do you use a pressure cooker?

Do you have a favourite recipe?

Do you use your PC in different ways?

Sew Much More...

The cost of dress patterns being what it is, I do like to feel they are well used. I purchased this Lisette 'Market ' pattern a couple of years ago

My first three projects were a brown skirt [repurposed from a CS pinafore dress] a yellow top and a pink/lilac tunic [both retro fabric lengths which my neighbour gave me when clearing her stash] Then I made a blue print dress [a sarong length which Kezzie sent me] 
The top and dress had short sleeves, the tunic had elbow length sleeves. They all saw plenty of use when I visited Salzburg in June 2014 for my WWDP European Conference

And now I have made another dress from the pattern. This time it has elbow length sleeves, and I have added two patch pockets just above the hem. It looks better on me than it does on the hanger, but Bob wasn't around to take a photo!

My blue and gold felt and denim brooch [a gift from a kind blogfriend some time ago] looks beautiful pinned to the shoulder. I used this 100% cotton fabric, bought from Fabricland in Bournemouth [1½ metres @ £3.95 a metre] It is called "Let's Wash Teddy"!

£6 for a new dress isn't bad. I was originally planning to wear it over Christmas- but in the end it didn't get sewn up till Friday night and I wore it for Saturday's Grand Opening instead [with deep purple opaque tights] I love the fact that there is no zip, so it is very quick to sew up, and easy to wriggle into. 

Ebenezer!

I blame Charles Dickens - if you mention Ebenezer, people tend to automatically think of Scrooge. In fact the original meaning of this Hebrew word is 'stone of help' It is used in 1 Samuel 7; 12, in the sense of 'God has helped us get this far'

It is the name of a lovely old Welsh hymn tune - we sung it in Norfolk last week, and Neil the Pastor reminded us of the meaning of the word.
I thought about it again this weekend - we had the Grand Opening our our newly extended/refurbished building yesterday. Look at the chapel as it used to be when we arrived last January

And here it is now - bright and light and much larger

We are so blessed to have such lovely new premises and look forward to using them in coming months to reach out into our community. 
And we can echo Samuel's words - we acknowledge that we could never have got this far without God's help.
Then Samuel set up a stone between Mizpah and Shen, and said "The Lord has helped us all the way - and he named the stone Ebenezer"

January Joys

First there was the £10 voucher from Lidl - compensation for issues with a Christmas turkey! Thank you, Customer Service Department.

Then there was a pack of 28 vouchers for 'breakfast plus a drink' from Leon [I won one of their Advent Calendar prizes on Twitter]- which will be very useful when I am up in London, and I can share them with the family too. Thank you Henry Dimbleby and co.

Finally there was the totally unexpected, quite substantial cheque from HMRC, and information that I paid too much tax in the year ending April 2015. Enough money for me to go and get my glasses replaced. Thank you Inland Revenue.

God is truly amazing - and much more reliable at meeting my needs than Lottery tickets. Did you realise that recent changes in the system means that you are twice as likely to be canonised by the Pope as you are to win the National Lottery Jackpot?

Gratuitous picture of Saint Angela - who dedicated her life to the education of women.

Pretty In Pink

I am certainly getting my money's worth from this knitting book

I completed this fish jumper [design J], then knitted a striped cardi [design H]  using wool Liz had given me. I finished that on Boxing Day but have yet to sew it up. Since January 1st, I have made a hat [design J], and bootees [design G]  These are for a newborn little girl, so I was able to do something pink for once! Now I am working on the cabled sweater- design L, the last pattern in the book. It is the most complicated- I am doing it in a larger size [on the grounds that my grandchild will probably have grown quite a bit before it gets finished!]

The hat was an easy double-moss pattern - and the bootees had a regular moss stitch cuff. I changed that to a double moss so that they made a set. The wool is Rico Baby So Soft [from John Lewis Sale - 35% reduction] and was very pleasant to knit up.

Post Christmas Declutter

I am being firmer this year than ever before. Christmas is a time for love, and happy memories - but not pointless sentimentality. If I do not like it, cannot remember why I have it, and it has cracked/torn/frayed or is shedding needles, fur, or glitter, then it goes! [to recycling, rubbish or the Charity Shop]

1. Lights - We have ditched a large box of old lights - nothing special about them, and they were not LED, so not as cheap to run. Wilko had a great selection of inexpensive ones - and we needed some battery powered ones for the staircase as there is not a convenient socket in this house. Minimal outlay, good result.
   
2. Cards - ruthlessly recycled. Just a few kept for a craft workshop I am doing soon, and a few others to make next year's cards [I didn't use all this years, so will not need many come December 2016]
3. Gifts - none of my gifts this year are 'unwanted' - many have been delicious edible, or 'requested' [my watch, my perfume, a particular book] or useful tokens. But I have shamelessly re-used fancy gift bags over the Christmas season as I have delivered things to family and friends in the past few weeks. And the arrival of a lovely new Cath Kidston Mug is a good reason to get rid of one of my older, less loved mugs to a charity shop. 
   
4. Decorations - As the decorations come down, they are being pruned. To be truthful, they were also pruned 'on the way up' four weeks ago. For about 8 years I have hung a home-made funky-foam snowman on the tree which was a gift from a former pupil - but I cannot remember who it was, and it is looking very tatty now, that is going. And I need to make space for my newest Nativity - a delightful Matryoshka set from Liz [the largest piece has 3 faces - all different magi]
   
    
5. Baking supplies - there are one or two pots of 'sprinkles' which are almost used up, they can definitely go. I discovered that I had far more Christmas petit four cases than I realised [I got some very cheaply in an IKEA sale in 2013, and I shall never need them all] I was able to give a bagful to a friend who makes wonderful chocolate truffles. I ought to go through my Christmas cookie cutters as well, I suspect there are some duplicates which need a new home.
   
6. Candles - or to be more accurate - tealight holders. I put them all along the mantelpiece and there seemed to be dozens.  Bob rightly said there were too many, so I put some back in the box. Some are frankly not that attractive - metal ones have tarnished, plastic ones with chips ... the Dickensian Cottage [which I thought ugly] went straight to a CS earlier in the month - I hope someone else loves it. I am only keeping the lovely ones. 

Having a different house to decorate has helped - some things never made it out of the box this year, and I shall have to seriously consider if I do want to keep them for the future. I threw away our ancient door wreath before we moved - but did not buy a new one. Instead, in the porch, we hung our old Swedish light wreath vertically and clipped just one red silk poinsettia to it. [for years that wreath hung horizontally like a chandelier in our conservatory, with red and silver baubles hanging down] It looked great in its new incarnation. Bob likes the minimalism. 

Have you acquired any new decorations this year? have you got rid of any old ones?

Do you hang on to ones which have special memories?

Not Such A Venerable Bead

Microbeads are tiny particles of plastic- ingredients in facial scrubs, toothpastes and thousands of other 'personal care products' sold round the world.  Hardly visible to the naked eye, they flow down the bathroom sink, straight into the sewage system. They are so tiny that waste-water plants cannot filter them out- so they end up in the oceans. Sea creatures eat or absorb these microbeads - they get into the marine food chain - and therefore, as we are at the top of the food chain, it is likely that people too are absorbing plastic microbeads. They are not degradable - and impossible to remove from the environment.

The US Congress has just banned them and there is currently a petition calling on the UK Government to follow suit. This website lists all the products containing these little monsters and you can check out those available in the UK. There are plenty of natural alternatives

I am not a great purchaser of cosmetics [although I do use whitening toothpaste sometimes] but since I became aware of these tiny invaders I have been more careful whose products I buy. It seems illogical that companies can claim their products are 'not tested on animals' when they are then feeding them to the fishes!

I have signed the petition, and had a good rant - now it is up to you!!

I Will Say Zis Only Once!

On Saturday, we went down to Mundford, and using my book of Norfolk Walks, we had a lovely stroll round Lynford Arboretum. The rain held off, and the ground was OK underfoot. We parked in the main Carpark, just past the Lynford House Hotel. The walk skirts the hotel, and the arboretum is on part of the old estate. Back in the mists of time, the woolly rhinoceros, brown bear and reindeer are believed to have been here.
Then the house was built 150 years ago for Stephens Lyne-Stephens [a millionaitre who had made his money importing Portuguese glass] He had a chapel built in the grounds [from Norfolk flint] for his Roman Catholic wife, ballerina Yolande Duvernay. It was designed by the great Victorian architect Augustus Pugin.
In the twentieth century, under subsequent owners, guests included members of the Kennedy family and Ernest Hemingway. One [Protestant] owner planted tall trees to screen the chapel from view, as he did not like it!
Then more recently, Perry and Croft used the area for filming two popular TV series - Dad's Army, and 'Allo, 'Allo

I did feel as we walked among the tall trees that a Gruffalo might appear at any moment. We found the chapel - it is well screened, we were within yards of it before we saw it.

We had a pleasant conversation with the lady who lives next door in the former priest's house. She said the chapel is Grade 2 listed, and now under the care of the Norfolk Historic Churches Trust - but sadly is rarely open for viewing inside. It is properly called "The Chapel of Our Lady of Consolation" That little chap is carved at the bottom of the buttress beside the door [next to Bob's left foot!]
Back to the car, and we drove down to the Lynford Stag. Forestry Commission workers discovered the life size metal stag when the area was being planted and cleared a few years ago. It belonged to Sir Richard Sutton, former owner of the Hall and Master of the Hunt - it is a 'target stag' and you can still see scars of his shooting practice. Nowadays there is a proper car park and picnic area, and children can play on the giant wood play sculpture nearby.

Finally we drove into Thetford for a sandwich. I somehow feel this town does not make enough of its history - Thomas Paine, political activist, Charles Burrell, Victorian industrialist and engineer, and Captain Mainwaring and his Home Guard, Thetford Grammar School [dating back a thousand years]... They are currently rebuilding at the back of the town centre. Poor old Captain M is sitting on his bench with his back to the river - staring at a building site!

The rain was getting heavier - and we went back to Cornerstones, then had a lovely meal over with Adrian and Marion in the evening. The final event of our 'family Christmas'

Parmesan, Poison And Picadilly

Lots of reading here over the past week - and it is holiday time so neither of us feels in the least bit guilty about indulging in hours of happy page turning. Here are three of the novels I have borrowed from the library

Delicious! by Ruth Reichl. I saw this mentioned on someone's blog - [my greatest apologies, I cannot find the original recommendation - but thank you so much] This is a tale of love, war and cake - set in contemporary New York, at the HQ of a Food Magazine - but with links back to both the Second World War, and the Underground Railroad/Anti-Slavery Movement. Lots of plotlines, but I think [with some simplifications] it might make a good film. Wonderful food descriptions, enough to make you want to go and get a sandwich whilst reading [but a gourmet one - crayfish tails and crisp lettuce with Marie Rose Sauce on granary bread - not  a slathering of Nutella on white sliced...] . If you enjoy Joanne Harris' Chocolat  I think you may like this too.****

Another Man's Poison by Ann Cleeves. I have watched Vera [with Brenda Blethyn] and Shetland [with Dougie Henshall] on TV and really enjoyed reading the Shetland series of books. This one is not about a 'professional' copper- but a husband and wife team. Rather more like Christie's 'Tommy and Tuppence' - but older! The cover picture is confusing- didn't spot a lighthouse anywhere in the book. It is the 5th in the series - I shall check out the others, as they may become more interesting once I get into them. It was OK - but I have to admit, I prefer Jimmy Perez on his wild Scottish Islands to this motherly retired social worker and her dapper husband. ***

Murder In Picadilly is another of those reissued 1930s Crime Classics. However this is no exquisitely written Wimsey-cal piece by Ms Sayers. I found it incredibly hard going. At page 42, I declared "I don't really care who died or whodunnit, I have other things to read!" I thought the prose turgid, and the storyline confusing. Dorothy Parker is supposed to have said of another novel "This is not a book to be tossed aside lightly, it should be thrown with great force" I don't feel that strongly - and furthermore, I do not throw library books, or any other books for that matter [especially if reading them on a Kindle] but this one didn't do it for me at all, sorry ** [it gets 2 stars simply because I rather like the cover designs in this series, nothing to do with content]

My Prayers For You in 2016

I love this ancient Irish blessing

I also love the fact that just a few miles from our home in Dorset is this little lane with a fabulous name...

May this be a road down which you travel in 2016 - wherever you live!

Resolved!

Many say New Year Resolutions are a waste of time - but here are some New Year questions to consider

• What should I start?
• What should I stop?
• What should I do more of?
• What should I do less of?
• What should I continue?
• What should I be grateful for?

[thanks to my friend Dianne for this one - I shall ponder on this and maybe give my answers next week!]

Thank you all for your friendship through 2015 - may God bless you richly in the days ahead!