Tropical Tuesday cake

I made this cake yesterday, mainly to use up some oldish cocnut I had in the larder; I didn;t use it all, so will probably have to make this again...........oh dear lol It's a really nice, moist, buttery cake for an autumnal day. You coudl easily ring the changes by what you add in, using different fruits, maybe add some nuts of some kind. Whatever you decide, it's lovely with a good cup of tea and a sit down!

6oz butter
6oz sugar
6 oz self-raising flour
3 eggs
2 oz glace ginger
2 1/2 oz dessicated cocnut
2 oz tinned pineapple, well drained and chopped small

Grease and flour a loaf tin, or line with paper - use your preferred method. Cream butter and sugar well, then add and beat in eggs one at a time. Add flour, then fold in rest of ingredients, mixing gently to combine. Turn into prepared loaf tin and bake in a hot oven for 40 - 45 minutes or so, until well risen and godlen brown. Cool on a wire rack; Enjoy with a cup of tea whilst putting your feet up.

This is what I was doing instead of housework and washing...............

Although I have done one load of washing out, another in, made a cake and two trays of flapjacks and been up to the post box. :)

Lloyd Loom luck

Behold my new-to-me linen bin! Oh what exciting things I blog about, eh? lol
A few months back, I was pipped at the post to a larger green linen bin at the tip, not a genuine Lloyd Loom one, but nice nonetheless - the woman two paces in front of me picked it up and hung on for dear life.........I thought ah well, there'll be another one. Sure enough, another one had appeared by Friday afternoon. I nearly missed it too - it was stuffed full of tennis rackets, walking sticks and all manner of things. Luckily my well-trained eye lighted upon it, I tipped everything else out (sort of neatly and calmly) and it came home with me for 50p. It's in its original colour I think, which I will probably change - not the most attractive shade of pink, is it? It is a genuine one too, witness the label inside the lid; it has a bit of a dint in the back, but otherwise not bad condition. Timing couldn't have been better either - I'm decorating the bathroom this week, and when it's done, it will go in there.
Everything comes to she who waits, and has faith in the art of timing. :)

A "return " to traditional values?

This was in my news box this morning:

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20091012/tuk-britons-eager-for-return-to-past-6323e80.html

I find it interesting to read that, in this particular report anyway, it's the youngsters who want to return to family meals, less television, etc. I know that when my two have friends round here, they are all fascinated by the way we live - no television now, lots growing in the garden, unschooling,the home brew (typical - some things never change lol), homemade packed lunches for college, the various livestock, houseful of spinning wheels, knitting wool, bags of apples all over the place, old Rayburn, unfitted kitchen, (unfitted lol)mother who doesn't drive or go out to work, no exotic holidays away, relaxed atmosphere, lots going on, lots of laughter and jokes, homemade cakes and fudge............... that's our life. Some of us have never strayed far from these traditional values, but it's very encouraging to know that they are still highly regarded, especially by the next generation; almost gives me hope! It would be nice to think some of their interest and enthusiasm would rub off on their parents/grandparents. I'm not one for telling folks how to live their lives - what to do, what to buy, what they shouldn't be spending *their* money on, how to conduct themselves - I'll leave that for the holier than thou bloggers and forum posters out there who use the internet as a form of preaching to say *you should be doing this*, you * should be doing that*, making this, *not* doing/buying that, well, *I* can do it - why can't you?

For me, it's about education, not coercion and guilt inducing rantings, and yes, I do try to lead by example, but without ramming it down peoples' throats. I'm not perfect, and I try to get my own house in order before I feel able to comment on others' choices; sometimes it's in order in some departments, some times it's not. Everyone's circumstances are different, and everyone just has to get on as best they can within the constraints imposed upon them. I sometimes think pictures on the net can be as misleading as those in the stylish glossy magazines - all set up for a photo shoot, implying that the whole house/place is permanently in a state of cleanliness, ironedness and put awayness, some sort of holy grail of perfection to be strived for. Is yours? Mine isn't.:) As usual, it's the face that is presented on the net - what goes on behind the scenes isn't shown, and is often more interesting, and always more important than a sham face shown to the world, in my view. I'm not saying it isn't lovely and inspiring to look at great close ups of flowers, baking, something hand crafted, latest reading material - I just try to stay aware that behind the nice shot is often a long way short of perfection!!

I suppose what I'm getting at is that it's a waste of time and life pretending to be something you're not; if you want traditional meals, make them happen; if you want to watch less TV, turn it off; get out the board games; grow some veg; knit some dishcloths. If you don't enjoy these things or can't fit them into your current life, then don't do them - leave these things until the time is right, or not at all. No guilt should be involved just because you buy your dishcloths instead of making them yourself;but it's better for judgements not to be made on others' choices for a whole host of reasons, and such judgements usually say more about the judger than the judged. Similarly, I find it hard to stomach the catty and snide comments from people who would like to do these things and more, but can't for any number of reasons ( which is fine by me), but seem hellbent on doing down, criticising and being downright nasty to those of us who make these choices (which is not fine by me) - envy and jealousy are great time and life wasters.

Each to their own, and we all have choice.

As for me, I'll keep on keeping on, and if I inspire some folks along the way, that's great; conversely if folks think I'm a batty old doot, then that's fine too, but there's no need for the nastiness, just let me be, as I let you be.

Coming full circle to the original theme, I'm glad that these findings have been publicised, to show that not everyone is hellbent on living what we are told is a "21st century lifestyle" - there are as many of these as there are people on the planet.

Tolerance, education and compromise, try to do as you would be done by.

I would just like to say a big thankyou, however, to whoever invented the macro lense on my digital camera, so you can't see the piles of washing when I photogrpah my jam ;) lol

Here's the sun just coming up over the Vale just a while ago:


I hope you all have a good week. :)

Retail therapy - MrsL style...............

I'm not a great one for shopping - but I'm a great one for bargains! I only buy what I love, what catches my eye and what I will use; quite often I buy to give away if I see something just right for a friend or someone else.
The picture at the top is of the fabric of a rather stunning jacket I found in the charity shop - brand new, still with all the labels/tags on and the pockets still sewn up - only 6 pounds, and MrL kindly obliged on that one! I also got a couple of books and two jigsaws for winter as well in that shop; the next one yielded a very pretty rose print cushion for Bean's room, and some more books. Stopped in at the nursery for some forcing hyacinths and onion sets :) This morning's first charity shop yielded books, rather nice fabric for quilting, a brand new teddy (for which I have plans) and some nice bags of mixed balls of wool for little projects, adding in to others, etc.
We also visited The Exchange where a friend of mine is currently exhibitng her felt work - very nice, interesting, and we had coffee there too.
The jumble sale wasn't as fruitful as I hoped, but I got a pile of tops for Bean, some jeans for EJ, two more jigsaws, and won a big punnet of pears and apples in the raffle - grown by my friend R up the road.
All the stuff is useful or beautiful - think William Morris:

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful”

This is my criteria for buying things, has been for as long as I can remember, even before I became familiar with the redoubtable Mr Morris, of whom I am a big fan for lots of reasons.
It apparently seems to some that I buy a lot of stuff, far too much it has been suggested; maybe I do in some peoples' eyes, but being a craftsperson, bibliophile, gardener, cook.......... if I have room to store it (fairly) sensibly, then I will buy and stash it away for future projects, known or yet to be dreamt up. As for books - what price knowledge? Can't have too many if you read and love them. I don't buy for the sake of buying, and don't consider myself materialistic. So, I thumb my nose to the nay-sayers, the shopping bag watchers and the trolley police and am happy in the knowledge that I am, indeed, ready for most eventualites (especially if it needs something knitted).............

Jumble sale

I love jumbles sales, but you probably thought I would! We are lucky here in the village to average 4 or 5 a year for various causes, so I get a fairly regular fix lol. There is one tomorrow in the village hall, so I shall be trundling along with my wheelie basket to see what treasures I can unearth. I do find that sometimes I'm too polite, and don't do the pulling and tugging, the elbowing out of the way, or sneaking in from the side tricks..............
This time I'm on the lookout for fabric - for patchwork, quilting and re-making into other things. Tomorrow morning's mission is to amass a goodly pile of change in readiness.
I shall report back about my haul, and what I intend to make/do with it. I may just come back with a pile of books instead, though; or even as well.

Local, lovely and line caught!

Thursday is fish day; I am lucky enough to have a local fishmonger who has a round in the nearby villages, and Thursday lunchtime is when he gets to me. He's one of the sons of my butcher. His fish is so fresh, beautifully presented; he is very knowledgeable about his stock, and is willing to tell you everything about the bit of fish you fancy. I buy only local fish from him(although he does stock things like tuna and prawns, etc), and always ask the provenance. He knows me now, though, and points out the best he has; his new label will be "Local, lovely and line caught", for fish that meet those criteria. The sea bream in the pic is what I chose today; line caught by a couple of lads in the town next to me, just off Weymouth, last night, couldn't be fresher.
For me, fresh fish this way is good value; although the bottom line, ie the money you hand over, may seem quite high, what price a man's life to get fresh local food on my table? I am happy to pay the going price to support such a local business - ethical, sustainable, honest, and would rather have this sort of fish less often where I can make an informed choice as to what I buy to feed my family. So, well done Gary and Scott, I'll be buying more of your fish. It's not often you can actually name the people who grow/catch/rear your food, these days is it?