Silent Sunday...

The Gallery: Education

The Gallery this week over at Sticky Fingers is Education.

To be honest I didn't have to do a lot of digging for all those embarassing school photos everyone seems to have hidden away. As I don't appear to have any! Not one, anywhere. How did that happen? Maybe my Mum has them? I should check with her. Or maybe I destroyed them all in a fit of Teenage vanity or something? Now that would not surprise me, I was a very stroppy Teen!

Me, aged five or six...

So, I know, I'm sorry, I have used this photo before, but as it's the ONLY school type one I seem to own it's the one you're getting, okay?

The Gallery: Trees & Teens...

When Tara set this weeks Gallery prompt as Trees I wasn't sure I was even going to join in.

But last night, I looked through my photos. Thinking, I'm sure I have trees somewhere? 

Guess what? I do. 

On looking I found a folder of photos I took at Ian's Dad's surprise BBQ last summer, in celebration of his 80th birthday. 

Ian arranged all the food and the hire of a huge BBQ. His Mum, secretly, contacted old work collegues and friends. All the family had dishes to take with them. His Dad had been 'sent' out all morning, working with friends clearing some local woods, to make sure it stayed a surprise. 

The whole afternoon was a wonderful, family gathering. 

As you can see from the photos, my 19 and 20 year old sons and 15 year old step-son, enjoyed sharing 2 pieces of rope and a plank of wood tied to a high branch on an extremely tall tree...

Such a simple pleasure, but it kept them entertained for hours. Seriously. 

Until they decided they may have had a little too much scrumpy to continue swinging (the 19 and 20 yo's, not the 15!) so they retired to the more sedate garden benches/chairs to continue their scrumpy consumption and left the swing to our 2 younger nieces.

 See, no matter what age, the 'pull' of a swing on a tree is irresistable...
(unless combined with scrumpy)

The Gallery: Togetherness a Generation apart...

It's Wednesday, it's photos.....it's The Gallery!!
This week Tara at Sticky Fingers has given us what I think is an easy, peasy one. 

Togetherness.


These two photos are taken a generation apart.
The first is of me with my younger sister, I was about 7. There are six years between us and although this photo was taken 41 years ago, I can still remember the feeling of excitement I had about there being this little person that I could play with, any time, who somehow 'belonged' to me. Someone I could be there for, look out for and share with.

Sisters...

The second photo is of my now 23 year old and 20 year old sons, aged 6 and 3. 
In 'their' tunnel. They loved this tunnel. They ate their lunch in this tunnel. They built intricate lego constructions together in there.  They even watched TV together in there, with just their little faces poking out. 

It was their little 'Together' place...

Brothers...

Also, while looking at these photos, I realised the resemblance between myself and my eldest son is quite uncanny. Don't you think?

Hairy Bikers 'Mums know Best' DVD review

I was asked if I would review the Hairy Bikers 'Mums know best' DVD, which is released today, 14th February (Oh yes, Happy Valentines Day!). This is to coincide with the second series...YAY! Whoop Whoop...

Now, I'll admit, this was never going to be a great hardship for me. For one, I love cooking and love watching cookery programmes, Jamie, Gordon, Nigella, all of them. Secondly I happen to really enjoy watching these two in action and thirdly I'm a Mum, so this was about me, yes? Cause I always know best...just ask my kids (Ahem..cough...okay, maybe not then)

If you've never seen Simon King and David Myers AKA The Hairy Bikers in their BBC2 series (er...just where have you been??) then you've missed a real treat. These two are on a mission to save great British recipes; the sort maybe your Granny or Mum cooked for you when you were growing up, the foods and recipes that have been handed down from generation to generation and stood the test of time.

One of the classic comedy moments on the DVD is watching them cook 'Pan Haggerty' a lovely savoury one pan supper of sliced potatoes, bacon, carrot and onion topped with cheese with a side of pretzels, outside. "It's like a Gordie fondue". With the wonderfully ironic line 'It's a dry dough' for the pretzels, whilst it's raining stair rods and they're cooking under HUGE golfing umbrellas!

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Mum, Harjinda shows how to make a basic Masala Sauce which can be used for almost any curry and she makes it in extra large quantities (I now have a real urge to go buy industrial sized cookware!) to freeze and use whenever needed. She has also filmed herself making the sauce and kept it on video for her daughters and daughters-in-law, pass it on. 
This is a recipe I had actually already started using after seeing it on the series when it was aired. You can then just add any extra spices as necessary and it really speeds up the whole process of cooking an authentic Indian dish. A woman after my own heart...

They also have enormous fun, in a race against the clock, testing various cooking implements, old and new, to see which ones really are the best. With some interesting results...

The DVD is a wonderful way of preserving some of those traditional dishes, loved by us all, and presented by Si and Dave in a fun, friendly 'Go on, get your hands in there' way. My Teen D who coincidently is currently studying Catering (wonder where she got that from then?) and I thoroughly enjoyed it....yum yum... 

*Disclaimer: I received no payment for this review*

Silent Sunday...Hearts of Love

The Gallery - 24 Hours

This week the prompt from Tara at Sticky Fingers is '24 Hours'

Unfortunately you're probably going to find my 24 hours mind numbingly boring. All I seem to do at the moment is paperwork and clearing stuff (we seem to have accumulated a lot of stuff over ten years) on top of the usual shopping, cleaning and cooking.

But Tara wants twenty four hours so that's what she shall get. But don't complain when your head hits the desk as you yawn and fall asleep.

Wow! Only half full, so where's the rest of it then??

A now empty space under the loft stairs...Ready for a cupboard to be built.

Which is where I found all of this...3 flat screen monitors THREE?

....and everything you can see here too! How the hell did that all fit under there??

Er..How come this stuff is on TOP of the Dishwasher?

Finally, some clean clothes

An almost empty spare bedroom.

...and soon to be Office

Now for my tea and biscuits!

Are you still awake? Hello? Well, I did warn you.
Pop over and see all the other entries in this weeks Gallery, trust me, they're bound to be far more interesting than mine.