Salad Days
At the age of 68, rather than writing myself off (literally), I decided I still had a lot to offer the world of employment. I was prompted to this by friends who refused to give in to age and have built successful careers after retirement – made me feel a bit ‘undynamic’, actually. But it […]
Dog story
Our poor old Milo quit this life on Boxing Day 2021, but our step-dog, Grabber, padded into the breach to help us through our sadness. Grabber belongs to Beamish, the man who rents one of our rooms. This little Cocker Spaniel is the dearest thing. Unlike Milo, who spent most of his days lying beside […]
Fat Girl Fat 3 – dieting makes you fat
After my latest research, I am depressed – or I would be if I weren’t a Buddhist and as such, an optimist. I now understand a lot more about my body. My frustration arises from the knowledge that I have, as suspected, damaged my body through continuous yoyo dieting, allegedly for good. But I still […]
A series of Unfortunate Occurrences
I have had so many misadventures in the past four weeks that I could almost write a book about them. The reasons for my disasters may be as follows (disasters is a big word when the following events are compared with falling off a cliff or drowning in a lake): 1, My dreaming, creative mind […]
Luddites and Banking
Do you ever think about how long you have known some of your friends? Whizz and I have been married for 19 years, and my friendship with the couple we visited the weekend before last, Cop and Tax, predates this by about 20 years. In other words I have known them twice as long as […]
Mum’s Chilli Con Carne
This is my recipe, for my girls. Nothing out of the ordinary. Serves 4 – 6 people – I think. I never worry about left overs, so I’m not good at portion control – and there are only 3 of us left at home. Ingredients Spray oil 1 large onion 1 green pepper Fresh chillies […]
Tripping (not the kind that takes you up, but the one that plummets you down)
Recently, through chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, I determined to change my eating karma and lose weight. This declaration of intent was partly because of a second pulmonary embolism and the subsequent need to take anti-coagulants for the rest of my life – I am now on Warfarin. For the uninitiated, Warfarin, as well as being rat […]
What I’d like to know is…
If I’m honest I’m looking for an excuse to be fat. My issue is that there is so much information in the media about what is and is not good for us, but there are many exceptions to the rules. My grandfather for example, ate all the wrong things, took no exercise, was almost spherical and […]
Lemon Flan
This must be one of the easiest and most enjoyable puds in the world. Ingredients 1/3 packet of digestive biscuits (dark chocolate ones are also good) Third of a block of butter 1 tin condensed milk Equal quantity of double cream. Use the tin to measure it out. 2 lemons Directions Put the biscuits […]
Christmas Recipes
I’ve been asked to give recipes for the food I’m cooking this Christmas. There’s a lot of cream and butter here, but it is Christmas so here goes: Caramel Panettone Pudding (Thanks to Waitrose Good Food Magazine). Serves 8 For the caramel 300g icing sugar 200ml hot water For the pudding 175g pannetone 50g unsalted […]