02/02/2017
Can you believe it's feckin February already FFS!?
I've been having fun with my new camera, Plenty new features, much reading etc. (If in doubt RTFM)
Yes another Shefali shot ( I like her)
What's good about this is, it gets me out of the house and makes me walk around a bit again!
I did start walking round the lake every morning, but my legs started playing up, so I had to give that exercise up last year. I still managed to loose about 2 stone in weight though by just counting the calories, and also with the help of my fitness gadgets. (fitness band & scales)
Then came Christmas - Fell off the wagon - gained nearly a stone.
Yesterday I climbed back on - It's a bumpy ride !
SnuffBox
This is a Facebook group - A collaboration of Musicians that I know, and I have invited to take part in
a new version of England Dan & John Ford Coley's "Where do I go from here"
(also done by the Carpenters & others)
This has been delayed somewhat, by me having some new recording equipment which includes
Hardware, Software, and even a new Synth.
It took me a while to decide which DAW software to use due to various factors, but I think I now have all
that sorted?
I've also been doing more fiddling on my Roland SPD-SX (Drum Sampler)
It's now also a great Juke-Box for me to play my Premier along with as I do intend to guest drum
with a band one day (Bucket List)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
COOKING
Pleased to see another of my recipes printed in Take a break's MFR again!
It does make it worth all the trouble of creating the write up & doing the photo's !
This week I noticed a tub of small mushrooms were at their best by date, so I thought I'd use half for a curry last night, and the other half to make some mushroom paté !
It was more a guessipe than anything, and I used some ingredients that I had at hand, rather than the normal ones used!
And yes I'm having the saved half of the curry again tonight !
Rufus is a tit man

This song was the last played on good old BBC4 last night !
It did make me laugh, especially as I've met the tit man Loudon sings about haha!
 

This is the young Loudon Link
 

This is an older Loudon Wainwright Link (as in the picture)
 

I missed the first half of the show, but the artists I did see I enjoyed immensely!
I must confess to writing a naughty song myself, (Banjo Player)  So I can appreciate this sort of
song writing!
T-Shirts
I did say on my facebook page, that I would explain about the t-shirt posting, so here goes!
Over the last year I have just plonked most of my clothes on two chairs in my Conservatory
after they have dried on the clothes dryer rack!
On my list of things to do this year was "Tidy The Tory"
I did that, and decided to fold up all the towels, & then proceeded with many many t-shirts
I also have newer ones on hangers in my wardrobe, so I had forgotten about all the ones
on the Conservatory chairs!!!!!		 I folded up the t-shirts to make a neat pile & thought I'd better iron all this lot!
As they have been dumped on the chairs for quite a while, even just wearing them wouldn't
make them look much better, (that's what I normally do) So Ironing skills may be the order of the day
quite soon!?
I'm tidying up my Conservatory in readiness for some bird-watching (Roll On Summer)
Comedy
I've been searching for some vehicle documents for me "Black Bitch" and also came across this office circulation which I hope you find amusing. I have had to type it out here, as the photocopy is a bit crap!
STOKE-ON-TRENT EARTHQUAKE APPEAL
An Earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale hit Stoke-on-Trent last Wednesday morning. The epicentre was Chell Heath and Fegg Hayes.
Casualties were seen wandering aimlessly saying "Oh me belongeens ar brock" "worapend" and "ar conner bayleeve eet"
The earthquake decimated the area causing in excess of £17.55 worth of damage. Several priceless collections of mementos from Ibiza, Corfu, Rhyl, and Blackpool were damaged beyond repair.
Preserved areas of historic importance were destroyed and cars burned out.
Many locals were woken before their Giro's arrived. One resident, Kylie Sharon Smith, a 15 year old mother of four said "It was such a f**ckin shock, little Chardonnay-Destiny came running into
my bedroom crying;  my hands were shaking that much I could hardly skin-up."
The British Red Cross has so far managed to send 4000 crates of Sunny Delight to the area to help with the crisis.
Rescue workers are still searching through the rubble and have found numerous "Elizabeth Duke" sovereign rings, benefit books and Poundstretcher ornaments.
This appeal hopes to raise money for food and clothing parcels for those unfortunate enough to be caught up in the disaster.
Clothing is most sought after. Urgently needed are Lacoste tracksuits, white socks, Burberry caps, Beanie hats, and Rockports. Food parcels are also needed. They include McCain oven chips,
Aldi Beans, Monster Munch and Iceland pizza.
Alcohol is also in short supply, especially White Lightening, Cider, and Special Brew.
Cash donations are also needed. 22p buys a signing-on biro, £2.50 buys a Jumbo sausage dinner. £20.00 buys a fake MOT and £16.00 buys 200 Regal from the back of Tomo's lorry.
Your help is appreciated.
 
Sponsored by LIDL
Baking
Last night (Wednesday) as there was bugger all on tv I thought I would make a start on the puff pastry
required for something I have never tried before! As have never been one for using ready made pastry, unlike some slacker so called chefs I could mention! haha! I started work in my kitchen even though I knew I would get flour everywhere, including the sticky mess on my fingers if I followed the advice of Mr Hollywood!

I have quite a few books on pastry, but I'm taking notes from Paul Hollywoods "Pies & Puds"
It does have many pictures to follow! :-)
The pastry will be used for "Ham & Olive Empanadillas. A recipe in "The little Tapas book"

 		 2 hard boiled eggs
40g chopped stuffed green olives
95g ham finely chopped
30g grated cheddar cheese
3 sheets rolled puff pastry (not ready made)
1 egg yolk lightly beaten

 
 

 

 

Preheat the oven to hot 220 deg C
Lightly grease two baking trays
Combine the eggs with the olives, ham, & cheddar in a bowl
Cut the puff pastry sheets into 10cm rounds (about five rounds for each sheet)
Spoon a tbsp of the mixture into the centre of each round, fold over the pastry to enclose the filling
& crimp the edges to seal.
Place the pastries on the trays 2cm apart. Brush with egg yolk & bake for 15 minutes, or until brown & puffed.
Swap trays around after 10 minutes. Cover loosely with foil if browning too much. Serve hot.

 

ENJOY!
Sausage Rolls












Suddenly after tasting the hot Empanadillas straight out of the oven, took me back to the times
when I enjoyed hot sausage rolls! I haven't had those in years, so it was quite a treat to recall those
memories!
I only used half of the pastry I made, so I have put the saved half in the freezer for the next batch.
I also have only used half of the filling!
I made a cheese & ham toastie the other day using my electric griddle, they took me back to the Place Hanley & memories of "BOWN"  performing there! - Happy Days!
So I will use the saved filling as a toastie, the bread I use by the way is Wholemeal, so I'm not all bad!



As you may know Paul Hollywood likes his butter, and I think there was far to much used in his pastry
recipe, so next time I will cut down a tad on that!

Ok it's back to the piano to get that tune finished for the SoapBox project!
Oh and also I have to finish the write up for my next MFR offering!




 
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