Give Away Winners - Announced

These are my Birthday Blooms, the dog sat on the daffodils in the garden so she selected those for me. 

The Gerberas have little crystals pinned through their centres...I have never seen that before...

Now on with the business...

I randomly selected four winners for 'Teatime Treats' and they are:

 Apricot corner ( I only entered her once although it looks like she is following me twice)

Helen

Louise

and Kirsty xxx

If the winners could PM me their address via Ravelry I can get the prizes posted out.

The Philosophical 40th

One more day of being 39, tomorrow I will be in my Forties.  I think it's a good age to be, I can probably work it to my advantage somehow!  I have found a few thought provoking quotations that I think are rather apt. 

Life begins a Forty - written by John Lennon (for Ringo Starr)
They say life begins at forty,
Age is just a state of mind.
If all that's true,
You know, that i've been dead for thirty-nine.

And if life begins at forty,
Well, i hope it ain't the same
It's been tough enough without that stuff
I don't wanna to be born again.

Well, i tried to sweep the slate clean
With a new broom ev'ry day
If that don't work,
I'll jerk around until my next birtday

Yeah, life begins at forty,
Age is just a state of mind.
Well, if all that's true
You know that i've been dead for thirty-nine.

__________________________________

"Lived in this town all my life an' I'm goin' on forty-three years old. Know everything that's happened here since before I was born."
To Kill a Mockingbird
Sheriff Tate, Chapter 30.


 "You're not 40, you're eighteen with 22 years experience."
Anonymous ...


"Forty is the old age of youth; fifty the youth of old age." 
~Victor Hugo


"It's sad to grow old, but nice to ripen." 
 ~Brigitte Bardot


"I was wrong to grow older.  Pity.  I was so happy as a child." 
 ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Flight to Arras, 1942, translated from French by Lewis Galantière


"To be seventy years young is sometimes far more cheerful and hopeful than to be forty years old." 
 ~Oliver Wendell Holmes 

"Age is opportunity no less,
Than youth itself, though in another dress,
And as the evening twilight fades away,
The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day."
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Morituri Salutamus


"None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm." 
 ~Henry David Thoreau


"Middle age is when a narrow waist and a broad mind begin to change places." 
~Author Unknown

"I don't do alcohol anymore - I get the same effect just standing up fast." 
 ~Author Unknown

"Wisdom doesn't necessarily come with age.  Sometimes age just shows up all by itself." 
 ~Tom Wilson

"It's hard to feel middle-aged, because how can you tell how long you are going to live?"
  ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960

Glamorgan Sausages - Vegetarian recipe

These leeks were picked this evening
(Staying with the Welsh theme I decided to make Glamorgan Sausages)

Glamorgan Sausages
500g bread crumbs
250g of strong Welsh Cheddar (grated)
4/5 Medium leeks (washed and sliced)
3medium eggs
50g of Welsh butter
A bunch of sage leaves (finely chopped)
Pepper for seasoning

Gently fry the leeks in the melted butter.  Mix the breadcrumbs, cheese, and sage.  Season the mixture with pepper.  When the leeks are soft add them with the butter to the breadcrumb mixture.  Mix really well.  Add the eggs to bind the mixture to a firm 'dough'.  Shape into sausages and fry until they are Golden brown all over.  (You could also add mustard to the mixture, wholegrain is tasty in this recipe.)

There are many variations on this recipe.  They contain no meat but are very substantial and make a good main course dish.  They are very easy to make and they make an economical use of bread that is going stale and may otherwise go to waste.

Knitted Daffodils... I Wander'd lonely as a cloud

Check out Natural Suburbia blog for a tutorial for these cheerful knitted Daffodils

As a child I had to learn this poem off by heart at school, needless to say I can't remember it now!   For oft I lie on my couch in a vacant or pensive mood!  ( Some may say a little too oft!)

"Daffodils" (1804)
I WANDER'D lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the Milky Way,

They stretch'd in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

By William Wordsworth (1770-1850).

Saint David's Day - Welsh Cakes (Teatime Treat)

Happy Saint David's Day.
March 1st 2011 

Another chance to show you my Daffodil Yarn!

The first flowers in my garden this year

Welsh Cakes

Ingredients

• 225g/8oz self-raising flour, sieved
• 110g/4oz (preferably Welsh) salted butter
• 1 large egg or two medium eggs
• handful of currants
• milk, if needed
• 85g/3oz caster sugar
• extra butter, for greasing

Method

1. Rub the fat into the sieved flour to make breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, dried fruit and then the egg. Mix to combine, then form a ball of dough, using a splash of milk if needed.
2. Roll out the pastry until it is a 5mm/¼in thick and cut into rounds with a 7.5-10cm/3-4in fluted cutter.
3. You now need a bakestone or a heavy iron griddle.  (I used a good frying pan) Rub it with butter and wipe the excess away. Put it on to a direct heat and wait until it heats up, place the Welsh cakes on the griddle, turning once. They need about 2-3 minutes each side. Each side needs to be caramel brown before turning although some people I know like them almost burnt.
4. Remove from the pan and dust with caster sugar while still warm. Some people leave out the dried fruit, and split them when cool and sandwich them together with jam.

Granny 911 - Urgent Square Repair!

I have previoiusly introduced you to my 'Ugly Grannies'.  I also explained one had a terrible 'mishap'.  It was being used in the back garden by my youngest for something like this at the end of the summer....

The heavens opened and it got unceremoniously shoved in the shed and forgotten about.  It's winter warmth has been much appreciated by a family of mice in the shed.  It has been thoroughly washed and disinfected three times and has spent about five weeks in the deep freeze.  I am not sure how to go about repairing the damage, but where there is a will there is a way.  I have considered turning it into a pair of these:


I think these are really funky!

Or maybe one of these:

Slinky little numbers!



Eyecatching!

 Or maybe this,

I could do a version of this?

I have a more than ample figure, so if I went for any of the above I am afraid I would look like the back end of this...

So for now I just need to work on repairing it as it is, to restore it to it's former glory.  It was a joint project between me and my Grandmother about 25years ago, I really don't think I can throw it away.  I will photograph and show you the damage this week, then I will keep you posted as to the repair...