Tuesday's Tips

... on a Wednesday ;0)

A couple of quick tips today.  Now to many of you my tips may seem obvious or something you've always done, but as I'm still settling into my role of housekeeper and Mum, I'm just sharing the little things that have helped me along my way. 

I'm a reasonably good cook, but I don't feel very confident in the kitchen, however I have no problem with baking and I love it, love it, love it.  I love baking with the kids too, they do all the hard work while I manage the 'damage control limitation', putting all the ingredients away and washing up as we go along. 

So back to the cooking, I was boiling eggs for our salad at the weekend, and one of them cracked.  My eggs were at room temperature, I don't store them in the fridge like most people seem to do, I don't know why I don't, other than they look pretty in the wicker basket I have, hmm now I've written that I'm not sure that's good enough reason not to chill them lol.  When I put the eggs in the boiling water I always dip them in and out a couple of times to get the eggs used to the heat, but alas one burst.  Then I was told to add salt to stop the egg white leaking out all over the pan and sticking to the other eggs and it worked a treat.  This is one tip I'll be using again as I always have one egg that cracks in the pan, I also boil one more egg than I need - as a just in case.  Before my salt episode I kept trying vinegar but it never worked for me.  I maybe should have paid more attention, all those years ago, in Home Economics class and I probably would have known this.

To accompany the salad, we had bread which was not as fresh as when bought, again somebody came to the rescue and sprinkled a little water over it, wrapped the bread in tin foil and put it in the oven for about 10minutes and voila lovely warm 'fresh' bread again.  Oh I do love summer salads, almost as much as winter soups.

I'd appreciate any tips you'd like to share, maybe you could do a guest spot giving some of your favourite tips and tricks you've used? 

Hope you have a happy Wednesday x

UK Handmade

Just a quicky to let you know I was very excited to read UK Handmade's blog this morning to see my 'Anyone for Tennis' Card is featured.  Sadly they don't have a link to my shop so I've done my own one here ;0)

 

Hope you had a great weekend and there's no Monday morning blues.

Marice

Folksy Friday

Only one week left of school up in the Highlands. The weather has been fantastic and it's all set to be a fun packed summer holiday. This week I've chosen 'thank you' gifts for teachers for folksy friday... Now we actually make ours, always have done, and they are all very much appreicated for the effort the kids put into making them. If you're short of time and skill then why not let the lovely folksters make something special for you.

 

Tuesday's Tips

I love seeing a load of white washing drying on the line, only problem I have is my whites are not as brilliant white as the day they were bought, more like a pale grey! Not all of them go that way, but once in a while I have been known to throw all the colours in together for quickness and my whites loose their sparkle.  My Nana would not be amused with me I bet, her wash day is a Friday, always has been, slaving over the wash tub all day.  When I bought my first home I inherited my grandparents old twin tub, and boy was that fun!  I grew to love it though, as I was very grateful I didn't have to hand wash everything.  Certainly makes me appreciate how much efficient my current washing machine is.

Shameless plug for my peg bag ;0)

And so to today's Tuesday Tip # 1

This is for an overnight soak.  Put your washing into the machine, along with a scoop of Napisan and your usual washing powder.  (I haven't used Napisan since my children were babies and had forgotten all about it.)  Start your machine on your normal cycle.  Once the machine has gone through most of the cycle, but is still full of water, and before it begins to spin, turn the machine off.  The whites will now sit in the solution overnight and in the morning you can switch the machine back on to complete the cycle.

All sounds very easy...I've yet to try it but Napisan is on my grocery list now so I'll let you know next week how I get on.  And if that fails...

Tuesday Tip # 2

If the above doesn't work for you and your underwear is still that awful grey colour then there's still hope.  Soak them in water overnight with 8 tea bags, and in the morning you should have lovely 'nude' coloured underwear.

Well worth a try I think...any one for tea?

Veggie Patch - coming on nicely ;0)

Mr World is my hero... he made a raised bed for our vegetable patch out of wood which was lying around our garden.  Actually it was stored by our shed, in the 'one day it will have a great purpose in life' pile.  I'm just glad that this particular wood did find it's calling in life, sadly there are still many bits without a purpose, every time I pass I do whisper 'don't worry your day will come' what they don't know is that they'll probably end up as kindlers...shh ;0)

Photo taken 10 days ago

Introducing....... from left to right: leeks, spring onions, carrot, beetroot and at the back lettuce.  What's great about them all is a) I like eating them all,  b) I never spent a penny on them - nor did I steal them! freebies & gifts  and c) I have a fabulous recipe for beetroot cake.  If you've never tried it before it's an experience in itself, I'll post the recipe at a later date, naturally there's chocolate involved too.

up to date photo and carrots coming on nicely

I'd love to take credit for the patch but well...em...I didn't even get my fingers dirty yet... yes - Mr World again, so much for my great plans of conquering the green fingered foliage lol.

Spring onions popping out in the middle row

 you may have to squint your eyes to see them ha ha

Most of the seedlings have been transferred now into the bed, there's still more carrots and broccoli in their pots, think we've actually ran out of space - maybe that other bits of wood will get a new lease of life soon (hint hint Mr World!!)

Lettuce ready for planting now too

Hopefully not too much love and attention from me is needed, although I did promise myself to 'make' the time to do gardening this year.  If only I could rustle up a few extra hours in the day - life would simply be perfect... actually on second thoughts, even if I could manage on less sleep that would be helpful... the kids manage it, why can't I ?!

Folksy Friday

folksy friday returns this week and the theme is "QUOTES"

It's rather difficult to read from some of the pictures, due to the size I reduced them too,
so just click on the picture as they're definitely worth a look...

Why not see what other Folksters are showcasing just click on the linky ;0)

Aah...it's good to be back

Guess the weight of the cake - which I won!!

3lb 12oz of delicious chocolate

Phew... what an exhausting few weeks I've had, now it's all my own fault though, as I'm a 'yes' person who can never say no!  We had our Community Conga last week and I'm pleased, very very pleased,  to say it was a massive success.  Just before the conga, myself and a couple of others were doing last minute duties at the community centre, checking that everything was in place for when we finished the conga.  Anyway we left with 15 minutes to spare, to get ourselves to the local primary school where we were due to start, we all chatted nervously on route, praying that some people had turned up, a few would be good - a small crowd even better as we'd invited the local press and the Provost and also to keep the sceptics quiet (you know the ones who have no faith in any community spirit!!!) 

Provost Jimmy Gray

So there we were, steps away from the school and with bated breath turned the corner... to our astonishment there was loads of people already gathered - I have to admit at this point I began to think oh oh, are we prepared for this? We had no idea how many people, if any, would turn out. 

Only photo I managed to get of the Conga

this is only a small section of the residents

Over 200 people joined our conga, and a further 150 arrived at the centre for the evenings entertainment, which was provided by the groups who use the community centre.  I was so over whelmed with the turn out that I had to fight back the tears as we conga'd along, it was even more special with the 2 Pipers, from the local Cadets, who had come along to lead the way.  The night just flashed before my eyes, and although it was brilliant, sadly I never had a moments peace to take in what a fantastic night we had planned - nothing like blowing your own trumpet eh lol.  Considering we never organised it as a fundraiser we still managed to raise over £150, which will go straight back into the community to organise further events.  On a personal note it was a huge learning curve for me, I'm not the most 'forward' of people, don't like the sound of my own voice, dislike phonecalls - my Mum is the only person who can get more than a 30 second telephone conversation out of me, hate speaking to a group of people, one or two is okay any more and I clam up, but thanks to the fabulous friends, neighbours and residents I met on the evening I managed to keep it together and put my own insecurties aside.