I forgot to tell you this..

That on November 18th we celebrated our tenth anniversary of being woman and parrot.. yes folks, we've been together ten years.

What did we do? Nothing special, no fancy celebrations took place, we spent the day together. We ate delicious things and remembered the long, very scary drive down from Shropshire. The weather was very similar, with wild wind and lashing rain.

Now we are in the month of December and the Christian festival of Christmas is a'coming, that old Goose is getting fat and on the day after Boxing Day, she and I will celebrate another anniversary.

Do you have a clue or do you know what it is? Go on.. be brave.. hazard a guess.. shake and rattle a brain!

It was called 'The Christmas Holidays'.. there is a huge clue.. our first post was written on Tuesday, December 27th, 2011.

Yes, Dear Readers, this year on December 27th we will have been causing you to choke with suppressed laughter at: Fandango dancing, to read about our strange habits, adventures that she and I have had, to know about chilly white-larder aka fridge and Wicker-Wheelie aka her trolley on wheels for three years!

Some of you are still reading my Blog, which we think is extremely sweet and we hope that we continue to amuse and inform you with the special and favourite things in our lives.

Such as very charming ribbons from The Little Printed Ribbon Company on the Isle of Man, all those scrummydumptious manner of Goaty products from Ellie's Dairy, that wonderful, completely chemical free soap from Richard and Elaine Hamner at The Green Mountain Soap Company, fabulous yumyum meat from her lubby-jubbly butchers Dickensons' in the North End Road, delicious Polish products from Bartek in Central Parade on Streatham High Street and last but certainly least the brilliant Herbalists called Baldwins, on Walworth Road, near to Elephant & Castle, London.

Of course, if you've been clever over the past three years, you will have already taken note of these wonderful suppliers and all the others that I have written about over the past three years.

Three years.. of having my own place to write just what I wish.. no editor has been employed in our house! Oh, it has been such fun and I hope you have enjoyed reading my posts as much as I have had writing them.. so onwards mes amis.

But now it is the dreaded time aka my bed time.. flapflap.. Dear Readers.. flapflap.. I'm off!

GeeGee Parrot.
December 14th, 2014.

HERE ARE THREE NICE THINGS THINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED & ONE CURIOUS ONE!

Good day to you all and, although it is damp and slightly chilly-billy here in deepest Knightsbridge, it IS a good day because our house is warmer!

No, it is not wishful thinking on our behalf, it is.. yippee.. because the person who maintains the flat, which is behind and above us, has switched the heating on. The owner is very seldom here but our home is getting toasty warm and so she must be due any day!

I know that my poor Blog has been neglected terribly this autumn.. sigh.. but things have been a bit 'strange' to say the least around here and really not worth writing about but she recounted two very pleasant things to me whilst we had supper last night.

Whilst she was out and about yesterday morning, those Manx Kippers arrived at MailBoxEtc and one of the extremely nice and efficient men saw from the label what the package contained, put it into the fridge and left her a message on her mobile!

How kind was that!

The next nice thing happened she was going to collect them, she saw a friend who she has not seen for almost three years! Gill travels a lot for work but there she was, looking chic AND pretty (as always) with lots of news to tell and "yes, I am here for Christmas, come and have supper next week".

They say 'No good deed goes unpunished' .. well, actually we don't hold to that saying and having arrived home, she went into YumYum HQ, took a big much treasured ladle, it deserves its' own post, gave the contents of a very large pot a quick stir and, having poured in boiling water to sterilize them, filled three jars with fruit compote.

She put two of the jars with a small packet of Italian biscuits into a bag, the other into her basket and left the house. "Wow, what is it, they're hot" said one of the MailBox men as she handed over the small bag with the two jars. She laughed and said "Have it for tea, it's to say thank you for taking such good care of my post".

Then she ran to catch the 74 bus to the market. It was now raining hard and very cold but she knew lovely Karen would still be there, working hard as she does six days a week in all weather, she got off the bus and turned into the market. She went up on the street side of the stall and put the still very hot jar into her hand.

"Oh, I know what this is, how wonderful, thank you, it will be perfect for my tea" said her lovely, hard working friend.

Hugs and laughs and then crossing the road, she went into her favourite Middle Eastern supermarket, UR Market, to get lots of 'little' things. No, I can't tell you what they were because they've been packed into a box and sent to Peel on the Isle of Man.

The reason I can't tell you what they were is because they, and two small bottles full of mysterious things, are a gift to LazyBoyBruce. And why should he be so lucky, I hear you saying to yourselves?

Well, it is a very long time since she ate a Manx Kipper, a present of which his father sent to his sister for Christmas all those years ago. Yes, this is the third nice thing.. a pair of Smoked Manx Kippers broke our fast!

Bruce's father was Constance's brother, Constance was her mother, Bruce is her cousin. Yes, Bobs' her Uncle!

You've read about the two nice things which happened yesterday, the third which was eating the fore mentioned Kippers and now I will explain the curious portion of this post. The weather goes in cycles, doesn't it? Which means that what we eat does too, you don't want to eat winter food in the summer and vice versa, do you?

Now, it is a little earlier this year, like a week or so, but apparently, her brain switches in December to thoughts of Terrine of Pork with Whisky flavoured Hazelnuts and Raisins soaked in Brandy, for a couple of Dear Readers have pointed out to us that we wrote a similar post about them last December!

Well.. she is obviously trying to tell you something, isn't she! Like find a big jar, get the raisins, Don Pedro's Brandy and all the other good stuff together and 'put up' these delicious treats yourselves, you WON'T regret it in a couple of years to come, that's for sure!

Of course, I eat fish. What do you think Pirates' Parrots, who sailed the high seas on galleons, ate whilst plundering the Spanish Main? Limes!

GeeGee Parrot.
December 5th, 2014.
Postscript.. The old expression 'Put up' refers to bottling or canning.

DRUNKEN RAISINS & BOOZY NUTS..

Yohoho.. oh, some very serious cooking has been going on in the YumYum HQ. Because it's very chilly-billy outside (and a little bit inside as we don't have the heating on yet) proper food is being planned and cooked.

She realised at about half four of the afternoon clock that we had no more apples.. dire straits! So she shot out of the house to catch a bus to the market before it packed up, it was pitch dark when she got there and most of the stalls had gone but Karen was still there and was delighted to see her as the Herbal Tincture that she gave to Karen last Wednesday has done the trick!

Yippee.. poor love, she was suffering mightily with 'night sweats' and all that they entail, lack of sleep  being the main offender and had complained about them to my mum. Who said "can't have that" and went to get her much loved friend a bottle of Tincture of Sage.

So there she was looking very perky and rested and dishing out bowls of veg and fruit at two for a quid! What a good thing she had old Wheelie Wicker with her! For mushrooms, grapes, pears, courgettes, those juicy dark plums, fat pears and apples, russets and cox, all went into the basket!

Along with 60p's worth of Spanish sausage from the butcher!

Quickquick.. back on to the bus and rushrush to Mr.Mail Box to collect the Manx Kippers from The Isle of Man before they close at 6.00pm.

Zoomzoom.. through their door. What's this! Nothing for us, what do you mean nothing! Cousin LazyBoyBruce said the company said they would be here today.. sigh.. eggs again to break our fast.

So home she came and plopplop down the stairs came Wheelie Wicker.. supper was just scrummy, Freekeh with beans that had been soaking, courgette, broccoli, mushrooms and the Chorizo sausage.

And into a very big pan went all the fruit.. PLUS.. hahaha.. the cherries that made the kirsh which is now sitting in pretty bottles in the store cupboard, a handful of dried strips of orange peel, two tablespoons of barberries, two persimmons, you might know them as kaki or sharon fruit, a good squirt of pommegranate syrup, a few chunks of crystallised ginge and some very secret ingredient!

The oldest jar of these is very sacred.. for they are the last of the originals..

She spent the Christmas of 1973 with her parents in Spain and Constance gave her three very large jars of Raisins in Brandy. You can do this yourselves. Constance used Fundador Brandy, it is strong and goes wonderfully with the raisins, the trick is that you must leave them for at least two years in a dark cupboard to soak and, of course, the longer you leave them, the better they will be.

1973 to 2014.. yes Dear Readers, forty one years, you can just about begin to imagine how amazing they are!

This was left to simmer on a very low heat for two hours whilst we watched the beginning of the Professional Masterchef finals. Tonight it was the turn of Richard and Jamie who had done a days' stint working at The Connaught. They then came back and had an hour and three quarters to produce two dishes.

Richards' dishes were good but there were a couple of things which let him down but Jamie's.. well.. his two dishes showed off a wonderful talent and the word outstanding would not do this young chef justice!

But Boozy Nuts.. why do they come into the title of today's tale?

Ah well.. a long time ago, she used to cook a great deal and one of her 'signature' dishes was a terrine of two cuts of pork with hazelnuts.. but they were not ordinary hazelnuts. Oh no.. For they had soaked in whisky and thyme for at least two years.

Just a couple were used in the terrine, they were cut into two so, in fact, there were only four pieces. It was all that was needed, any more and the flavour of the whisky would be too strong.

And today, whilst she was buying her chorizo sausage, she asked her lubbly-jubbly butcher to keep her some of those two pork cuts for her tomorrow.

You see, she was sorting out the boiler room store cupboard yesterday and there they were. Sitting quietly on a small shelf with two tins of black grape seed.. two jars of hazelnuts in whisky with thyme and she smiled and said "Yes, GeeGee, it is time to start cooking again"

So all we need now is for Joe in Ottawa to get that lazy cat to move off the pile of papers so that he can send her his Sicilian biscotti recipe.. HINT HINT Joe.. how many years is it now?

They would go really well with a compote of autumnal fruits, wouldn't they?

Chirp.. it is my bed time.. she's vacuumed the bed, everything is ready for the morning, she has an appointment at 11.00am and so it is "Good night to you all Dear Readers".

GeeGee Parrot.
December 3rd, 2014.

IT WAS £25.00 VERY WELL SPENT (SHE SAVED £75.00) AND IT WAS NOT ON FOOD!

Yes, she's been spending money! Now this is actually something that happens quite rarely as F is one of her initials.. frugal by nature, if not by name!

Get on with it GeeGee (I can hear you) what did she spend that £25.00 on? Well, she gave herself a gift of a year's Digital Subscription to The Daily Telegraph. The price is usually £100.00 per year but they had a four day sale and she snapped it up this afternoon!

We have just read last Saturday's and Sunday's editions.. but haven't got to deal with all that paper! What a treat. The other papers that she reads are available free online but the Telegraph limit their readers, as do the NY Times, to only so many articles before cutting off the supply, as it were.

With cold winter weather fast approaching it will be such a nice treat to curl up in the evening to read this at our leisure, she finds lots to read at her beloved Library, another good place to read papers and magazines.

Oh, she is SO grateful to both her parents who instilled in her the love of the written word.

Now, what else is here apart from the iPad? Yum.. a jar of mixed nuts, cashews and walnuts and two juicy apples. It is a good thing she has a little DustBuster as I chomp nuts on the top blanket which then has to be vacuumed before we go to sleep.. otherwise Mr and Mrs. Mouse would probably be leaping up there during the night and you can just imagine what she would have to say about that!

It was St.Andrew's Day yesterday, You would probably only be aware of this if you are a Scot or are of Scottish descent. He was the younger brother of Peter and it is said that he died on an X shaped cross, hence the Blue Saltire (The Scottish Flag).

Anyway, that's your lot for today, the first of December.. stay warm folks and eat sensible rib warming yumyum.. Me.. I'm awaiting a package from LazyBoyBruce, he has sent us some Manx Kippers, they will be here on Wednesday.. oh.. roll on Thursday mornings breaking of the night's fast!

GeeGee Parrot.
December 1st, 2014.

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.