Carol's Place
A Little Bit Of Everything
A Weekly Round Up
No particular topic today. I Think my brain has been on a “go slow” just lately.
Four weeks now without smoking. I’m already feeling so much better. Less out of breath. Let’s see what happens in the next four weeks.
Our cockatiel pair have finally produced an egg. Not sure if there will be anymore. This one (if fertile) should hatch in three weeks time. Puts a new slant on having a bird for Easter.
Soon to be parents
We are having our female Staffie (Penny), spayed on Tuesday, so no babies there. It will be fun trying to keep her from bounding around after the op…not.
Penny, watching me on the laptop.
Accrington was on TV again, This time on BBC’s News Night programme.
It was about the changes in welfare benefits. The programme featured a local charity, which deserves a post of its own in the future…but not necessarily for good reasons.
Tagged with: Accrington, BBC, Cockatiels, Newsnight, Non smoking, Staffordshire Bull Terrier
Posted in Dogs, Health, Local, Photography, TV
Posted in Dogs, Health, Local, Photography, TV
March Already!!
2013…Please slow down!!.
Oh my word, it doesn’t seem that long since I was writing a post about the New Year.
I remember being told as a youngster that time seems to go faster as you get older, though I took no notice at the time. Then of course I started repeating the same to my kids.
This year though, seems to be passing uber-fast. It’s only six months now until I turn 60. Argh!
Being 60 doesn’t even have advantages any more. Like a bus pass or winter heating allowance. No more cut price services automatically at 60.
Will I still be considered an O.A.P. though in the eyes of many? Most probably.
Time Flies
Potty
Flipping heck, has the recession hit Mayfair too? This photo taken of Victoria Beckham on a shopping trip made me laugh.
Loving how the terracotta pot (outside Balenciaga) is totally broken and held together with gaffer tape. Surely it would be easy enough to re-pot the poor tree?
Good advert for the product though, I must say!
Why would any professional photographer take that shot, which totally detracts from the supposed subject?
Potty
(Non) Smoking Update
cigarette (Photo credit: Fried Dough)
Forgot to post last week about progress with the electronic cigarette.
At the present moment in time, it has been exactly 3 weeks since we last smoked a real cigarette.
The good thing is, we are not using the E-cig that much either. Some people use them to smoke as they would a normal cigarette, taking several drags on the ciggy. We have been just having a couple of drags on it and putting it down.
It’s great just having it there so that we can have a quick one if needed, but we seem to be going for several hours sometimes without a “smoke”. So we’re losing the ” habit” part of smoking too.
So all in all, looking good. I really don’t ever want to pick up a “proper” cigarette again!
Broth
Ham Broth
Someone asked about a recipe for the broth I was making.
There isn’t really one as such. I just cook the ham shank first and then add the veggies. I purchase a bag of ready chopped broth mix, consisting of leek, carrot, swede, turnip, dark cabbage and a sprig of thyme.
I also add pearl barley, lentils, chick peas and split peas (the amounts depend on how you want your broth to be) and simmer. I also add a stock cube. The meat is taken from the bone and cut into small pieces. I tend to cook it mostly the night before, as with a lot of dishes it seems to taste better when it is heated for the second time. There is a scientific reason for that but can’t remember what it is! The dumplings are just flour and suet mixed with water and seasoning added. I use vegetable suet these days.
Good old-fashioned cheap food.
Talking of old-fashioned, the scales below are exactly the same as the ones I use for weighing ingredients. I believe they date back to at least the late 1940s. They still weigh spot on..though only in pounds and ounces of course.
Scales
Hot Ice
Hot Ice
The picture looks hazy, but it’s actually steam coming off the ice on one of the lodges. Hot sun on cold ice. The sun stayed out all day, but the ice didn’t completely clear.
It was a bit nippy up here in Lancashire, but the sun was lovely and warm through the windows, so we’ve not had the heating on today.
It’s still chilly enough to make a nice warming winter dish. Broth and dumplings, using a ham shank and plenty of barley. That’s for tea tomorrow.
Talking of broth, I used to go to the market and ask for a “broth posy”. The veg would be bundled together with a sprig of thyme and you cut them as you wanted them. Now it is all ready chopped broth “mix”, or buy all the bits separately. I haven’t seen a posy for quite a few years now. Why does everything have to be instant and uniform?
It’s a very cheap meal, in fact the two of us will get three meals out of the amount I make, (will be freezing some). And at least I do know that the meat is actually ham..not horse.
Tagged with: Broth, Broth posy, Dumplings, Ham, Ice, Lancashire, sun
Posted in Food, Local, Nature, Photography
Posted in Food, Local, Nature, Photography
Ciggy Free.
It’s early days yet, but my daughter and myself haven’t had a cigarette for over a week.
We invested in an electronic cigarette, but so far we haven’t really used it a great deal. We thought we were going to get cravings and have to use it on a fairly regular basis. Like lighting up with the tobacco. (We rolled our own). I really do hope we can keep it up, but at the moment it is looking promising. I suppose that proves that a large part of it was habit rather than addiction.
Apart from the health incentives, it is going to save us quite a bit of cash, although we did roll our own, due to the savings on ready-made cigarettes.
Will update each Friday with news of whether we are still managing to keep it up.
Below is a picture of one similar to the one we are using.
E-Cig
