Handspun merino yarn project, completed.

I have now completed the first project of 2015, which is a handspun/handknitted merino yarn jacket. I blogged about it here and have made other things in between but it was really nice to make something completely from scratch.

This is the back detail, which I made in a mixture of the purple and grey yarn. I’m pleased with the way it turned out.

The collar is large, but it lies comfortably on my shoulders and will give extra warmth. I will have to wear a higher collared something or other underneath though or else I’ll get a cold neck come the Autumn onwards!

Here is the pattern I used:

and these are the yarns:

so now I can think about the next project!

Date and Banana Cake

This is a delightful cut and come again cake using healthy main ingredients, i.e. dates and banana.

Here are the ingredients:

8 ozs self raising flour

pinch of salt

4 ozs of soft margarine

4 ozs caster sugar

1 large banana

4 ozs of chopped dates

1 large egg

4 tablespoons milk

For the topping:

1/2 oz of chopped walnuts (optional)

2 level tablespoons demarara sugar

Method:

Measure out the self raising flour and put into a large bowl.

Measure the soft margarine and add it to the flour.

 

Take the stones out of the dates and chop them up.

Then measure out the sugar and add it.

Rub the flour mixture into the fat and the sugar until it looks like breadcrumbs. I usually add the sugar after the fat.

Mash the banana and add it to the mixture with the chopped dates.

 

Add an egg.

 

Add 4 tablespoons of milk and mix together all the ingredients with a fork.

Put a paper lining into a 2 lb loaf tin. No need to grease.

Smooth the top with the fork or a knife and sprinkle with the demarara sugar and/or the chopped walnuts.

 

Bake the cake for one hour at gas mark 4 or equivalent on the medium shelf of the oven.

When it is done it should look like this:

Leave to cool, then turn out onto an oblong plate.

 

We like to eat ours with a cup of tea on Sundays. The outside of the cake is crisp and the inside is soft. This cake will keep for two or three days under cling film or in a tin.

Have a wonderful Sunday; Oma

The difference between Sinterklaas and Santa Claus

My mother was Dutch so I was brought up with both Santa Claus and Sinter Klaas, although I only had one set of presents! I love this description of the two gentlemen in comparison and couldn’t resist sharing with you as we start to think about the Christmas period to come.

Dutch Community

The majority of Dutch emigrants are as fond of their traditional Sinterklaas celebrations, as their new friends and neighbours are of Christmas. However, Sinterklaas is almost entirely unknown outside of the Netherlands and many foreigners mistakenly believe that he and Santa Claus are one and the same. Yet, although both festive figures are based on the real-life Bishop of Myra, who lived in Turkey during the fourth century, their associated folklore and customs have evolved in largely different ways. This means that Sinterklaas and Santa Claus not only look dissimilar, but also that their stories are celebrated in a totally different manner.

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Vlammetjes (Dutch spring rolls)

These look and are delicious.

Dutch Community

Fancy a snack with added bite? Then rustle up vlammetjes – the deliciously spicy spring rolls that famously fire up tastes buds in the Netherlands!

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Starlight Promotions – 2

So during the 90’s I was bringing up teenagers! three boys! and the house was full of guitars and then came the amplifiers; small ones, large ones and my youngest decided to be a bass player and the most enormous amplifier entered the house. There was music in every room, morning, noon and night only not so much in the morning… These were the days before musical downloads. That was in its infancy and we had a lot of CD’s. It was hard to know whose was whose. Where’s my  ….. CD was a frequent cry.

Then there were the practises. Lots of them. Friends coming in and going out and trying out new songs. Luckily the house is detached and nobody here took up the drums. I doubt there would have been room for a drum kit although we did have an electric one.

Meanwhile I am getting gigs for all and sundry and I decided to give ‘myself’ a name and charge commission. So in effect, I became the fifth, sixth or whatever member of the band. I arranged the gigs, took the money and shared it out. I was meticulous with the book-keeping. I was fair to the bands. Entertainment agencies, Estate agencies etc. have a bit of a bad name. I wasn’t having any of that. I was quite honest about it and encouraged the musicians to join the musician’s union if they hadn’t already.

So now I had a set-up. I did most of it by phone. Then I bought a fax machine. Remember those? It was useful at the time. I used the internet and realised that I needed a website. I had no idea about websites then so I did a bit of research. A young lad called Robbie contacted me and offered to make me a website for a reasonable fee.  He was very young, about 16 as I recall. I was amazed at how much he knew. He designed a lovely website for me, mostly blue with pages for all the bands and a contact page – everything I needed at the time.

Then he gave me a playpen so I could practise updating the pages myself.  One of the most important things about a website is that it has to be updated regularly. Nobody wants to read something that appears the same as yesterday. I bought a software programme called Dreamweaver and taught myself how to use it. All exciting stuff.

Once I got the website, things really took off.  I was inundated with demo. discs and biographies from bands, duos and goodness knows what from all over the place. I loved playing the CD’s

So now I had three things going on. I was collecting information from the bands, entering it all on a database – I used Lotus 123 and putting it onto my website. I was receiving enquiries from potential customers and sending them details and prices and I was ‘mothering the bands’ because they aren’t really very good at administration, I discovered.

 

 

to be continued …

 

 

Tea-time

My pansy teapot

 

The ‘Divine Harvester’

The discovery of tea is said to go back to Shen Nung, the deity with a bull’s head and the father of agriculture, who ruled in China in about 2737 BC.  Resting at the foot of a bush and being thirsty, he is said to have asked a servant to boil him some water.  A few leaves fell from the bush into his cup.

Seduced by the sweet and restorative beverage thus produced, he is said to have ordered this plant to be cultivated throughout the land.

from ‘The Book of Tea’ by Annie Perrier-Robert

+++

Tea-time in our cottage is between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. depending on how hungry/thirsty we are, but tea drinking is an occupation that goes on all day. It starts for me at 7 a.m. when I have my first mug of tea. Then coffee at mid morning break, followed by more tea at lunch-time. Water with lunch, then coffee and another cup of tea at 2 p.m.  The next cup is made at 4 p.m and again at 6 p.m. At 9 o’clock it’s cocoa these days but sometimes tea again. Do you think that is excessive!

Just lately I have become hooked on Red Bush Tea.

This tea has a unique flavour. It’s quite strong and definitely an acquired taste, but if you like your tea strong and I do! this could be the one for you. It’s certainly worth a try. Now I have an admission to make: if it wasn’t for the fabulous books by Alexander McCall Smith about the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, I don’t suppose I would ever have tried that tea; but it is a favourite of Mma Ramotswe. Mma Ramotswe sets up a Ladies Detective Agency in Botswana and with the capable help of her secretary, Mma Makutsi, she has lots of adventures. I am hooked, totally hooked on the doings of the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency and cannot wait to read each new book. Mma Ramotswe drinks Red Bush Tea all the time so I thought I must try it. When I saw it on the shelves in Sainsburys, I picked some up. Since then I haven’t looked back and I’ve also noticed that more and more of it has been appearing on the shelves.

Mma Makutsi on the left and Mma Ramotswe waiting for the kettle to boil:

Assam is supposed to be the finest tea, but nowadays I find that lacking in flavour. No doubt my taste buds are getting old as well as the rest of me.

Do try it and let me know what you think of it.

Oma

 

Baby Sam update.

My new grandson, Sam, is three months old now and weighs 15 lbs. He’s doing just fine and is quite a little bruiser. He’s just been through the warmest summer I can remember for ages and seems to be thriving. He is such a welcome addition to the family.

Easter Treats

Yesterday was a wonderful day, here in the cottage.  On Saturday night we put the clocks forward. Yes I know what you’re thinking, but we’re always a little later here in England. The lady vicar at church was very accommodating and put the service forward an hour so it started at 10 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. I was grateful for that.  The Easter Service was wonderful, with a full church and hardly any spaces. This was achieved by combining the early morning service with the late morning service so we got to meet lots of people we didn’t usually get to see on a weekly basis.

The Easter Treats above are called ‘Crispy Crackles’. I’ll be posting the recipe soon.

How did you spend your Easter Day?  Was it joyful?

I’d like to leave you today with an invitation. Click on this link and come on an Easter Egg Hunt with my little grandson, Dylan and his Grandad.

Happy Easter! from Oma

Ramsey Plantation House

Constructed about 1797 for Francis A. Ramsey, the late-Georgian house has a central passage plan on both floors.  Ramsey’s eldest son, William B.A. Ramsey, inherited the house in 1820 on his father’s death.  In 1840, he sold it to his brother James G.A. Ramsey, who in turn gave it to his son Francis A. Ramsey as a wedding present in 1857.  In 1952 Knoxville Chapter of the Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities purchased the house from a subsequent owner and began to restore it.  The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969.

Last Saturday there was an open day and we went along to look at it. There was a Craft Fare in the grounds and the weather was lovely so we had a great time looking round the house and visiting all the stalls. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos inside the house so there are none of those to look at, but if you ever get the chance do visit it yourself.  It’s well worth the trip.

So here I am outside the house. There is a central door with a path leading up to it, but we were told that the original residents didn’t use the path much, preferring to go round the back because the area at the front of the house  is swampy. Opposite the house on the other side of the road was a large, swampy pond. At least one of the original owner’s children died from Malaria which was caused by a mosquito bite. Mosquitos breed in watery places. After the death of his dear child, the owner had the pond drained.  How sad to lose a little girl like that.

The house has a central door on the first floor, right above the main front door. This was used when furniture needed upstairs. The furniture would be hoisted up and through that door. To the right of the main house is a log cabin. You can see it in the picture. At first I thought this was going to be the kitchen, but later found out that it was the original house where the owner and his family lived whilst the main house was being built.  To build and own a house as large as this one made the owner a rich man because most people would have lived in a log cabin in those days.

The next picture shows the kitchen which was added on to the main house. Usually the kitchen was in a separate building owing to the risk of fire. If the kitchen caught fire, then it probably would not spread to the main house. That was their way of thinking back then.

This is a wooden house quilt on the wall. Isn’t it pretty?

One of the first stalls we came across was a friendly couple who were making and selling popcorn.

…and soon after a stall selling home-made ice cream. We had to try it!

Then I found this lovely old veteran from the Civil War and asked if I could have my picture taken with him. He obliged and this is the result.

Next picture shows the back of the home-made ice cream stall with all the paraphernalia needed to make the delicious ice cream.

The people at the next stall were cooking something delicious in a Dutch oven. From Wikipedia = A Dutch oven is a thick-walled (usually cast iron) cooking pot with a tight-fitting lid. Dutch ovens have been used as cooking vessels for hundreds of years. They are called casserole dishes in English speaking countries other than the USA (“casserole” means “pot” in French), and cocottes in French,

The Wenlock Jug

The Wenlock Jug.

This bronze jug was almost sold to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art for £750,000^[4] but was export-stopped in October 2005 by culture minister, David Lammy, based on a recommendation by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, run by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.

Decorated with coats of arms, including the royal arms used between 1340 and 1405, the jug bears the inscription My Lord Wenlock. It is thought the jug was made for either William Wenlock, who died in 1391 and was canon of St Paul’s Cathedral, Archdeacon of Rochester and a canon of King’s Chapel, Westminster, or his great-nephew John, the first Lord Wenlock, who was a major figure in the fifteenth century serving every king from Henry V to Edward IV. Both had strong connections with Luton.

“The two Wenlocks associated with the jug, William and his nephew John, both lived in Luton and the family name figures in the medieval guild register in our collection” Maggie Appleton, Luton museum.

It was bought by Luton Museums Service for 300 times its normal annual acquisitions budget to equal the offer of the Metropolitan,^[5] thanks to the overwhelming generosity of several key organisations and donations from many individuals. It is a rare example of a jug cast by the English bronze founder and bearing his mark. Virtually unknown until its recent sale, the jug gives scholars the important opportunity to research into Medieval metalworking skills and expertise.

On Monday 14 May 2012 it was reported [1] that the jug had been stolen following a break in at the Stockwood Discovery Centre in Luton. It’s current location is unknown.’

+++ Ah ha! but the story doesn’t end there…

The above information is from Wikipedia.org.uk. It tells about the greatest treasure in my home town, The Wenlock Jug, stolen in May this year! Today I heard that it has been recovered and I am so thrilled about that. Here is the link. Be happy with me!

Oma