OUR GIVING THANKS SUPPER..

Yes, you did read that right, for we had a wonderful meal yesterday and whilst we were eating it, we gave thanks to a few people and many things that have happened in this last year.. and other things such as living in a dry home, with food to eat and clean water to drink.. simple basic things which millions of people all over the world do not have. 

But back to our meal, we didn't have old Turkey-Lurkey, oh no, we had Mr. Duck and to be precise, we had breast of Duck. 

The fat had been heavily scored and rubbed with a few herbs and a little salt and the breats had sat out of the fridge for at least an hour to come up to room temperature, they were cooked on a very hot metal griddle with no oil or butter.

They were cooked, fat side down, for four minutes, then the heat was turned down and they were turned over to cook for further two minutes, for neither of us likes over cooked meat and to over cook quack-quack would truly be a sin.

This delicious meat was served with a compote of our own cherries, a puree of a baby orange squash, an old fat carrot and a sweet potato and in another pan there was a large head of broccoli.

Having scoffed the lot, we sent text messages to a couple of much beloved friends to wish them a happy Thanksgiving and had an early night.

Grateful.. yes, we are very grateful for a lot of things besides the fore mentioned and hope that you too, Dear Readers, have things to be grateful for as well.

GeeGee Parrot.

November 28th, 2014.

Brrrrr.. winter is a'coming.. but so is lovely YumYum.. red cabbage.. stews..

Baked apples with cinnamon, apple strudel, spaetzle, Ingrid's dumplings with star anise, mashed potatoes with garlic, slow cooked stews with herbs and spices, risotto with freekeh instead of rice, need I go on? You've got the drift by now!

Yes folks, up here in the northern hemisphere, winter is approaching at an ever increasing speed. Today brought in the first band of heavy rain, we are due for a week of it.. ugh.. there will no gardening done this week.

But, in fact, this suits her as there are books to take to her wonderful 'Pensioner's Club' together with wool that she has uncovered, as well as several pieces of unfinished knitting, weird no?

It was lurking in the walk-in cupboard, carefully wrapped up with lavender bags, goodness knows how long it has been there or where it came from!

There is far too much for her ever to use, it can all go, so that other people can love and use it.

The boiler man is fitting a carbon monoxide alarm this morning, she has a doctor's appointment later in the afternoon, is lunching with a friend at her club on Wednesday, working on Thursday and has another dental appointment on Friday.  

No time to devote to the plots, it takes an hour to get there she cannot just go for just half an hour, besides, what can you do in a garden in thirty minutes in cold, driving rain?

Not-a-lot..

She has dug the slow cooker out from its' summer storage and has pulled out a few of her most favourite recipes books, I saw an old one of Hazels, her most beloved aunt, on the chest in the hall. A Hungarian cook book.. seriously delicious food.

She has to check our supply of herbs and spices.. as well as for extra cinnamon, cloves and turmeric. These three spices, along with garlic and ginger, are major bug and cold killers. 

I can 'see' it now, a pot of red cabbage, braised with a bit of pork fat and apples.. yes.. I know I am a parrot but I love food of all kinds, yours as well as mine!

Whoops. Time to let the boiler man in and put the rubbish out. So I whistle to you "Farewell, adieu, auf wiedersein, goodbye" until later.

GeeGee Parrot.
November 11th, 2014.

EMPTY BOTTLES, LATE FROSTS & WICKED WINDS.

Good afternoon Dear Readers. 

Tonight's post has a curious title, does it not and I know you will be thinking "I wonder what this is all about?" Let's go back to the begining, which is always the best place to start a tale.

Way back in the mists of time she and her family lived on a farm on the edge of the Romney Marsh escarpement. 

The farm was a mixture of arable, fruit, hops and stock. Barley and wheat were grown as well as fruit, hops for beer making and cattle and sheep.

Hop and fruit picking in the summer were the way that she earned money to pay for hay, shoes and straw for Bluey (pony) and Victoria (goat).

Maureen, the farm manager's wife, made the very BEST Scrumpy out of apples that were a little bit wonky looking and Constance made Kirsch, the farm had two enormous cherry orchards, one of sweet varieties, the other of sour varieties.

Therefore, it was pretty much a done deal that as soon as her cherry trees started to produce fruit she would make her own Kirsch.

I know most people don't look back and think about weather, you have no need to unless you have been directly affected by it. Like those unfortunate people in Somerset who are still battling for compensation. 

Another tale is needed for the dreadful story of gross mismanagement by the West Country River Authorities.

But those of you who live in Europe and the Near and Middle East may remember in May we had heavy frosts and strong winds with heavy rains.

Apricot and cherry blossom comes later than apple or pear blossom, in England most apricots are grown against walls and usually they have some sort of protection that can be rolled down to protect the fruit.

But not so in Iran and Turkey where they are a major crop, they are grown in orchards like she grows her cherry and other stone fruits.

After a lovely spring, she and the thousands of stone fruit growers were desolated to lose 99% of their crops due to these extraordinary weather conditions.

Now if you are reading this, and are awake, the title will be obvious! For there were no cherries to pick to make her beloved Kirsch and there were no Iranian apricots to buy in the shops.

They are total different to any other variety of apricot. They are pale skinned and look anaemic but the taste is like eating a lump of the very best brown sugar!

And standing on a cupboard shelf are a row of shiny, but sadly, empty bottles, waiting for next year's crop of apricots and cherries.

So our message to those of you who are fortunate to have been given a bottle of her home made liqueurs, I say "You better take very small sips because there isn't anymore".

Now I am off to pole and she is off to the Post Office.. zoom-zoom and flapflap.. away we go.

GeeGee Parrot.
November 10th, 2014.

Sunny sky and it is chilly-billy out there but luckily our boiler is working.. touch wood!

Have you had your electric or gas boiler and stove checked yet? The last thing you want, as we head towards winter, is for either of them to go wonky.

Our gas service was done this morning, she had, luckily, remembered last night that the engineer was due very early today so she cleared everything out of the cupboard so that he had room to do whatever boiler repairs and tests were necessary.

Done and dusted, he now has to come back and fit a Carbon Monoxide detector but the boiler and the stove both got a clean certificate.

It is a beautiful day here in London. Very bright with a clear sky, the three Calamondin trees are covered in fruit and blossom, some of the fruit are turning orange which made the engineer laugh and ask "do they stay outside all year long, they are amazing".

She explained that yes, they do stay outside all year but that she stops watering them in October and when the temperature drops to zero, she wraps the pots in a sheet of coir and tucks scrunched up newspaper around the stems. 

Now she has to go in search of potting compost, there are lots of Paperwhite Grandiflora, Jonquil and Pheasant Eye Narcissi bulbs to be potted up.

A package has to be taken to MailBox, they are such a great help, it saves having to wait in for a courier to collect or deliver packages, plus it keeps things out of the upstairs neighbour's hands.

Boots, gloves, scarf and cotton tights are all on parade today, it may be bright and sunny but it is chilly-billy, it was minus four last night in South Newington, Oxfordshire, minus four equals very chilly-billy in our minds considering it is not yet officially winter!

So have YOU had your appliances serviced and installed a Carbon Monoxide detector? If not, do so as soon as possible and check your smoke alarm whilst you are at it as well.

PipPip.. we have things to do and places to go.

GeeGee Parrot.
November 6th, 2014.

The hideous truth was revealed..

Hello Dear Readers.

Our day started strangely as she left the house without breaking her fast. She had to have extensive tests done this morning and the doctor had asked her to fast from midnight.

I had to chew a few bird seeds to tell stomach that throat was still working, not the same as delicious eggs I can assure you, she had water.

When she came back, she opened Chilly Larder, aka fridge, sighed and said "well GeeGee, there is just a smidgen left but that's it, there is nothing more until the weekend".

The hideous truth of no more curd for tomorrow's fast breaking meal is grim news and we will have to eat something different tomorrow morning.

For once you have eaten buttered eggs done this way, you don't want them without it. Buttered eggs in our house means two eggs and a good dollop of fresh white goaty curd.. scrummydumptious and slurp are two excellent words with which to describe this dish.

Memo.. buy more goaty curd when you next see Ellie's Dairy at a Farmer's Market.

She's off to the Library to change lots of books. The new book, his second novel, by Chris Pavone is excellent! What a twist in the tale.. write another soon please Mr. Pavone.

She has recently found several new, to her, authors, that she is enjoying. Christobel Kent writes great thrillers, as do both Alex Gray and Elizabeth George.

So she is going out and I will peruse the day by sitting on pole.. it is not so warm.. so put an extra layer on, she has socks and boots on so you know winter is here!

GeeGee Parrot.
November 5th, 2014.

Bissell give brilliant Customer Service..

Good morning to you all Dear Readers.

You all know how something funny (haha) or nice puts a smile on your face and how much nicer it is to have a smile on your face than a scowl.

Well, this tale is about things that happened that have put two smiles on her face and made her aware that we should recommend them to you.

First up.. Bissell. They make electronic machines to keep your carpets and floor clean. 

She had had a Dyson for many years and recently the motor died. Now, we know that everyone loves these machines but she doesn't anymore.

Why?

Well, you cannot get through to their Customer Service by telephone because and we quote, "we are experiencing a high level of calls at the moment" which was the very annoying recorded message she got for far too many days and "we will respond to you within 48 hours" was the response to an email.. perhaps the owners of this company should invest a little bit more money in their employees.

She then remembered that our much treasured Bissell Carpet cleaner has a mini vacuum on the front and so she ran that over the hall carpet. Oh my goodness me.. for there was, suddenly, a much brighter carpet!

She told a friend who said "I will drop my Bissell vacuum off with you this afternoon, you are in for a big shock".. the big shock was that the Bissell left her carpets in an amazing state of dust free glory!

So what had the old Dyson being doing? The answer.. making a huge huff and puff and a lot of noise but very little else, just picking up the stuff 
on the surface but not doing a proper job.

She went on line to find Bissell, she called their Customer Service, she spoke to a woman and said she was very impressed and how much was the PowerForce 300? 

"Under £50, it is on sale" said the woman.

"What! Well, yes please, I will have one of these thank you very much" she gave the woman her details and her different delivery address, mad upstairs neighbour is NOT getting his hands on this baby, that's for sure.

It arrived by courier.. oh, the joy of a machine that does a great job! And what pleasure it gave her to write a congratulatory email to their head office telling them that they employ excellent staff and make brilliant machines.

Big smile on her face and a clean carpet.. how happy making is that?

Naughty BlogSpot behaving very badly, so the next post will be about the other great place for wonderful Customer Service.. the Apple Store in Covent Garden..

FlapFlap folks, I am off to my favourite perch, aka pole and she is off to work at the shop but like General MacArtur said "I'll be back".

GeeGeeParrot.
November 4th, 2014.