Christmas and how to 'spend' it..

Greetings Dear Readers.. I know.. I know that there has not been a post for two weeks but what can I do? Beaky HATES tapping on the iPad, MY toes are the wrong shape and SHE has been doing other stuff.. but here WE are.. gearing up for the Christmas holidays.

SHE was buying fresh walnuts this afternoon and a small bottle of the oil made from these delicious nuts.. the very same variety of nut that Ellie Goat gave ME a box of and which SHE stole.. Yes, SHE stole MY nuts.. and I shopped HER in a post about the dreadful deed.

Whilst standing in the shop SHE was reminded of other Christmas of years long past.. with beloved Bill in Georgetown and that wonderful time when they spent the holiday at Chateau Montebello in Quebec, with Hugo and Constance in Spain and of a Christmas in the Hill Country in Fredericksburg, Texas. That was amazing beyond belief.. where SHE experienced Texan winter weather and saw an Ice Storm.. 

Happy times indeedy..

It is a strange time of year.. and YOU know, if YOU have read MY posts, of how SHE hates the over commercialisation of this period, the hyped up 'only so many days left to do your shopping'..
spend spend.. 

With none of HER beloveds alive, SHE now chooses to spend the time quietly.. HER own church, bed, food, seeing a few friends, doing some voluntary work are enough.. perfect in fact. 

For WE made the mistake a couple of years ago of going to spend it with an old friend and her husband.

OH DEAR.. BIG mistake.. it was pretty gruesome.

Why don't people 'test sleep' their guest bedrooms and bathrooms.. to check for radiators that don't work.. a spare light bulb would have been useful.. together with a small kettle and a tea / coffee tray. 

For WHO wants a carafe of cold water in the early 
morning when the house is still fast asleep and YOU are freezing and thirsty?

When WE invite people to stay.. WE plan happy stuff to do.. not dreary stuff like being dragged by the hostess around boring shops for last minute stuff, all of which was either tatt (YOU know WE don't do 'tatt') or eye-wateringly over-priced!

Years ago Hugo gave HER a glorious hat, a proper hat made by Lock of St.James's.. SHE has had it 
for nearly forty years, it is a bit bashed and battered but now and again, SHE takes it back to Messrs Lock and they are sweet enough to put it back into shape for HER.. such a lovely shop.

To show how little thought had been given to having their friend to stay will now be demonstrated, WE want YOU to guess what they give HER as a present? 

No.. YOU won't get a Reddie for this as I am more than sure none of YOU will get the answer.. They gave HER another hat.. in exactly the same style.. They knew HER size because SHE, of course, had HER most beloved hat with HER..

SHE gave the woman friend a necklace of two strands of fresh water pearls and for the husband a charming Murano Cockerel.. a wonderful table centrepiece 

Now.. I know that some of YOU will be thinking.. how ungrateful SHE sounds as it is the 'thought' 
that counts.

But THAT, Dear Reader, is exactly MY point, there was NO thought applied to having HER to stay, no bedroom preparation, no entertainment preparation, no present preparation, just NO thought at all.

Friends say that SHE is ridiculously easy to please for they know that SHE reads, SHE gardens, SHE cooks, SHE watches films and loves music.. one of HER most treasured gifts was given to HER several years ago.. a tiny glass parrot from Prague.

Thoughts.. so before YOU go off on YOUR expedition to purchase things for YOUR friends.. have a 'little' think about what they would like, need or want.. make a list.. stick to it!

One present SHE organised and gave to a friend is remembered every year, a lovely friend went through a very grim and very grizzly divorce.. the husband kept almost everything.. ugh.. so SHE got together with a couple of other friends and they collected for their lovely friend a starter pack of pretty decorations for her OWN Christmas tree. 

One of HER most beloved friends used to give her friends a book of vouchers for fun or clever things.

How 'Yule Cool' was that and so much fun to do!

Mr.Foyle is about to step into OUR box.. pippip.. hopefully I will be back tomorrow, there is a homemade White Chocolate Cheesecake in the fridge. I will use that as a bribe to get HER to tap.

GeeGee Parrot.
December 7th, 2013.

THE FOUR PLAIT PLAITED..

It ain't easy kids.. 

So it does make HER 'smile' when SHE reads comments on-line such as "anyone can plait four strands of dough for goodness sake" and other such pearls of sarcastic wisdom.. 

SHE would name and shame this particular group of women who cast their bitchy comments on-line and into cyber space but with age comes wisdom.. and SHE chooses not to be ripped apart by these trolls who have nothing better than to drip their venom.

The four plait refers to a bread loaf, this was Monica Galetti's test on Masterchef last night for the four contestants, they were given a bowl of dough and asked to make: 2 plain Rolls, a pointy ended Baquette and a four plait Loaf.

Easy.. YOU think.. haha.. YOU are not a contestant in a show, being filmed in a tv studio with the cameras turning, with a couple of millions viewers watching your every move and ten minutes to do it in..

SHE and a friend talked about it today.. they took 
a piece of wool and cut it into four pieces and then the fun began.. 

And this was not dough! In which YOU are attempting to keep the air and not get into one hell of a messy mess.. 

They laughed themselves silly.. three plait.. no sweat but four or eight.. yes, Master Baker Paul Hollywood bakes a wonderful eight plait loaf.. 

So the next time YOU see one of these beautiful creations.. remember the deft and nimble fingers of the baker as he or she plaits over and under with the strands of dough..

Better still.. make a basic dough, put it aside to let it rise, then try it YOURSELF.. not so easy, is it?

GeeGee Parrot.
November 21st, 2013.

WINTERY WINDS & A CHILLY CHAIR..

Yes folks.. it is a two post day.. for SHE had the very brightest of bright ideas half an hour ago.. and so here I am to share it with YOU!

OUR bathroom, when the days become cold, is not the warmest of rooms and certainly, the 'seat' that is not a chair is a chilly place to 'sit' as it is right by the window!

SHE does the trick of putting two layers of bubble wrap against windows to act as double glazing and had just pinned them into position, when out of nowhere came the brightest of bright ideas..

There is a bamboo pinoleum blind that hangs in front of the bathroom window, how about lining it with a large bath towel' was the idea, it would be so easy to do, all SHE would have to do was stitch the towel to the inside of the blind.

Out of the linen cupboard came a thick bath towel, exactly the length that was required and only a little bit too wide, which would be no problem as it would be folded over. 

Opening HER grandmother's sewing chest, SHE took out the necessary thread, needle and a small pair of scissors, no, SHE no longer snips cotton with HER teeth..

A row of overstitching and hey presto.. one very smartly lined pinoleum blind!

It was hung back on its hooks.. and SHE smiled.. for instantly.. oh, what bliss.. the smallest room will no longer be the coldest room on these chilly, frosty winter nights..

GeeGee Parrot.
November 21st, 2013.

JUST LIKE MASTERCHEF.. A group of ingredients..

Do YOU know this television programme Dear Reader? It is addictive stuff to watch.. well, WE are addicted to it as it is all about food.. aka YumYum in OUR house.

Today on OUR work surface was a large chunk of lovely home grown tangerine coloured squash, a few small potatoes, an onion, a head of garlic, a ginger root, two small heads of pak choi, three oyster mushrooms, a leek, a packet of Freekeh (I love this) and another packet of rice vermicelli.

From the beginning of November until the end of March there is always a stock pot on the stove, the contents change, sometimes it will be a meat stock.. beef or chicken.. or fish or sometimes just a vegetable one with a lot of root vegetables which always includes, of course, OUR most beloved Hamburg Parsley root.

But today's stock was fish.. three very large and 
mighty fierce looking Salmon heads, together with herbs and spices, had hubbled and bubbled and made the most eddibubble of deliciousness.. 

Into a large pan went two litres of this stock, added to this were the chopped fore mentioned vegetables, a cup of Freekeh and the same of rice vermicelli.

This was allowed to boil gently until the potato and the squash were tender.. the seasoning was adjusted and I was settled onto MY favourite eating perch..

SHE scooped out a dollop of the vegetables with a small sieve and placed them onto MY board.. the smell was delicious.. but never mind about the smell.. oh, but all was well in MY life.. for there, nestling underneath a fat chunk of squash, was the
Freekeh..

If YOU don't know this most delicious of things.. it is wild, smoked wheat.. go to a Middle Eastern food market / shop and ask them for it, it can be used in many different ways.. but today, for lunch, WE had in a thick soup..

Yes.. Soupa-la-doupa was HER creation today.

GeeGee Parrot.
November 19th, 2013.

T'WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT..

Much like tonight Rear Readers.. except I am talking about nine years ago..

SHE drove with a friend to the top of Shropshire, the weather was not kind but the trip was urgent and as they got nearer to the destination, the weather turned from being 'not kind' to dire and by the time they arrived, it was pitch dark and the torrential rain was being driven hard by a lashing, merciless wind.

The people were expecting HER and sweetly there was hot chocolate waiting for them along with everything that SHE was due to collect.

The final paperwork was done, the estate car was loaded up and then, when everything was packed, the main reason for the trip was placed carefully onto the back seat.

Hugs and kisses were exchanged along with a little bag of edible goodies were given to HER for the very long trip back to London.

Oh and such a loonng trip it was too.. the storm rampaged over England and everyone was driving very slowly as the driving conditions were just appalling.. they came slowly down the M1 and then finally, there ahead, were the lights of the city .. London. 

It was with a HUGE "thank you" to HER friend when they stopped in front of HER house.. the car was unpacked.. then the most important box was taken inside..

Tonight.. there is a very scrummydumptious thing on the stove in the YumYum HQ.. for OUR ninth 
anniversary supper.. for yes.. Dear Readers.. for it was ME that SHE collected from Shropshire on that dark and stormy night!

GeeGee Parrot.
November 18th, 2013.

CHEESE & BREAD.. TWO NEW COMPANIES FOR YOU..

Hello Dear Readers.. if YOU are up to date with MY Blog, YOU will recall that last monday SHE was going to do a day in the shop where SHE does volunteer work. 

The forecast was for grim weather.. so a day working in a cosy shop sounded jurst the ticket, however, sadly the shop was neither cosy or warm.. for the customers kept leaving the door open to the driving rain and very chilly-billy wind.. ugh.. and SHE was sent home early when HER very chesty cough erupted with a vengeance. 

To take a call from a charming friend.. who said, upon hearing the cough.. "you and GeeGee are coming to stay with me for a few days and it is bed for you, so pack a small bag and I will pick you up in an hours time"..

And so that is what happened.. SHE put an away notification onto HER email contacts list and WE slipped away to a very cosy and warm home and this was where WE stayed until thursday.. bliss.. so adorabubble, kind and very sweet of OUR lovely friend..

Sometimes being sensible is what YOU have to do. WE have NOT gone to the garden, although the weather has been glorious with blue skies and warm, it is deceptive.. SHE would have worked hard, then got hot, taken off a layer or HER jacket and whoops.. been back where YOU and SHE don't want to be! 

But yesterday.. what was this? A sunny day at the Wimbledon Farmer's Market.. with no rain or wind.. how very strange indeed. Off SHE went to see Goaty mum Debbie of Ellie's Dairy.. yum. 

On the way home, SHE went to get some very scrummydumptious LapySang tea and a paper but was too late for all the Guardians had gone, a Saturday Telegraph would have to do.. but lo and behold.. what was this that SHE found in the Colour Magazine? 

Two new London based food companies for YOU.

A North London based Cheese maker is the first.. and why not? WE make VERY good Beer and Bread in this city.. so why not Cheese? 

His name is Philip Wilton and he started making cheese in 2011. wildescheese.co.uk finds him.. say WE sent YOU!

The second is a article which has touched HER deeply.. it was written by Rose Prince about her two children but especially about her young son Jack. 

The article is wonderful to read for many reasons, it is in the colour magazine of yesterday's Saturday Telegraph, the article is called 'The son also rises'.

Fast forward and after doing a stint working for Carole Bamford in her wholesale bakery, under the eye of the chief baker Eric Duchamel (Mrs 
Bamford owns the organic food company called Daylesford), Jack moved back to London to the Pocket Bakery.

In March of this year, the Pocket Bakery was invited to 'pop-up' for two weeks in Fortnum & Mason's! WOW.. 

And so I am going to quote from his mother's article and I defy YOU not to be touched by what she wrote..

'Three years on and much has changed. The bakery, set up simply to earn a little cash and smooth the troubled waters that parents and children travel together, has done much more: bringing together a neighbourhood; giving a troubled young person a purpose that had been absent before we made a single loaf; and creating 
something that has won praise at the highest level. That all this comes from bread, the stuff of life, is perhaps not surprising. We just forget, from time to time, how important the simple things can be.'

The Pocket Bakery,
Trades from the Doodle Bar near to Battersea Bridge. (South side).
Friday & Saturday - 12 - 3. 
pocketbakery.org

SHE cannot wait to visit both of these two new companies.. to get some of Philip's cheese and to eat it on Jack's bread! YumYum indeedy.

GeeGee Parrot.
November 17th, 2013.

SOMETHING UNUSUAL HAS HAPPENED..

I know YOU all think SHE and I just loll about all day.. this is not true.. for today after church SHE came home with a certain look in HER eyes.. it did not bode well for the chaos that was living the life of old Riley in OUR sitting room..

I retreated to bathroom door, it pained ME to see such ruthless behaviour!

And at four of the clock SHE stopped to write an email to a friend who wanted information about a mutual friend's whereabouts.. and saw.. eureeka!

One of those books that SHE sorted out last week-end has been sold on Amazon.. whooo.. that does make a change! Now SHE spent a lot of time checking prices on the web site, if others were selling for silly money, then SHE gave HER copy to New Horizons but some, like this book, HER copy was the only paperback one.

How about that.. money coming in instead of going out.. it will go in the post to the buyer on Tuesday, for SHE is working tomorrow.. it is forecasted to be another grim and grizzly day, so cosy shop is just the place to be.. and I will be snuggly-buggly on bedroom door. 

This is jurst a small hop from top of cupboard where MY big water and yumyum bowls are.. the radio will be on and I will spend the day quietly.

Life is calm and pleasant.. and WE have a friend coming to stay whom I have never met.. hence the tidying. I wish YOU all a happy week.

GeeGee Parrot.

November 10th, 2013.

TWICE A STRANGER.. Tales from the 20th century.

YOU know, those of YOU dear Readers who are up to date on MY Blog, that SHE reads books voraciously. HER favourite subjects are political and social History and one thing that has always interested HER are the Greeks - Turks.. what caused the start of their problems?

There are NO Reddies being offered to anyone who guesses where SHE went to find answers.. off SHE went down the Kings' Road to HER favourite place.. aka the Library. SHE took old Wicker as SHE had thoughts of jumping a bus to Streatham.. hahaha.. fat chance!

Old Wicker creaked and groaned all the way home as he was full to his brim with tombs of history.. not a paperback in sight!

One of the books, whose title is also the title of this post, has been a revelation.. spelling out, quite simply, the situations as they occurred, the wars, the injustices, the treachery, the enforced mass expulsion of thousands upon thousands of people, the ramifications of these movements on both the Grecian and the Turkish populations, the cruelty inflicted upon innocent people, of children being kidnapped, murder, rape, heart breaking stories. 

Equally, the extreme bravery and kindness from 
people who had absolutely NO connection to 
either of these countries but who knew that they 
had to go and help these poor, unfortunate people who were dying of Typhoid, Cholera and starving to death.. whilst the politicians talked about the situation and who was supposed to be doing what. 

SHE recently received an email from a lovely friend, in it was the story of how in 1945 her husband, at a very young age, was put into a pram, with a collapsible bath, a typewriter and with his 
mother and father fled their home in the town of
Marienburg, in advance of the Red Army.

Constance (pregnant) left India holding a suitcase in one hand and her first born son's hand in the 
other. She left on a troop ship with Hugo bound 
for England. Two months later after landing, Constance joined Hugo in Hamburg with two sons!

SHE was born in Malaya (as it was then), SHE left when SHE was nearly three and a half, Constance had one suitcase with the thickest clothes that she had been able to find for two children and herself.

They docked in Liverpool in December.. both times Constance and her child / children were not 
refugees.. they were just another British Army family returning 'home'.. but because Constance had no home in England.. they had absolutely nothing. 

For England had never been her home.. home was, or rather had always been, Madras.

Recently SHE has met an extremely nice woman called Kay. SHE had been told that Kay was Malaysian, so SHE was delighted to be able to greet her in Malay.. only to be met with a very confused face! Not Malaysian.. Cambodian!

They had coffee and talked.. ooooh, what a story. Of being well educated, of the Krymer Rouge and Pol Pot taking power, of losing all her family to the regime, of being smuggled out to the coast by people who had adored her father and mother, of being a boat person, of being in a refugee transit camp for over two years.. madre mia.

How do you keep your sanity and faith? Here, 
Dear Readers, is a story of such generosity of spirit, honour and courage that, although I know the story well, it makes US both very wet-eyed.

Kay, having been properly educated, spoke English and French as well as her own language, after a 'difficult' boat trip, she arrived in the camp with nothing apart from what she had on her back.

Date of leaving refugee camp for anywhere else ?Completely unknown.. what to do? Make other peoples lives better, decided this extraordinary woman.. so she badgered and badgered the authorities for a blackboard and for chalk.

And every day.. for over two years.. this simply wonderful woman taught English, French and Mathematics.. because she knew that being able to read and write these two languages and being numeric would help these people and it would give her 'something to do'.. read that again.. give her something to do....

The Greeks and Turks, the lovely friend's husband, Constance, HER and Kay have all been 'twice a stranger'.. YOU never know what people have had to do or have gone through.. 

GeeGee Parrot.
November 9th, 2013.

JUST LIKE SNAKES & LADDERS.. UP & DOWN..

Ok.. now let's see which of YOU, Dear Readers, can get this puzzle?

What goes up and down very fast like a game of Snakes & Ladders or creeps up or down very slowly?

The answer.. OUR temperature, sadly from being a very pleasant Autumn / Fall.. it has now turned into Winter.. brrrr.. SHE actually had to wear a pair of fleecy socks yesterday for snug toes was indeedy the order of the day.

SOCKS! Yes, alas and alack, I fear there will be no more bare feet in slip-on shoes for HER for several months.

Never mind.. Winter brings.. oooh, delicious yumyum to mind, baked potatoes, proper green vegetables, with chillies, hot soups made with proper stock, stews, PERSIMMONS.. these are MY favourite fruit apart from a Cox Apple or a ripe SpinyApple (pineapple to the unknowing new Dear Reader).

Yes, I know WE said WE were going to post on an email that SHE received earlier this week but SHE is tying it in up with a story about a new friend called Kay. and SHE has to confirm a detail with Kay before WE post.

So SHE is off to do whatever it is that parents do on Saturday mornings and I am going to sit on a comfy door and give MY feathers a beaking.. 

WE will be back later on today.. 

GeeGee Parrot.
November 9th, 2013.

HEY HO HEY HO.. IT'S OFF TO WORK.. SHE WENT..

SHE didn't exactly skip up the steps on HER way to work but SHE went! Slightly pasty faced but with lots of layers of clothing.. rather like the Michelin tyre man.. at least SHE was warm.

For today was a very dismal day.. cold wet.. but in a bag there was a BIG flask of hot ginger & cloves (without the garlic) which would sustain HER through the day.

And, despite the grotty weather it was a very jolly day at work.. now YOU know that there are and there always will be folk who go out and about with Mr.Grumpy and they had a real corker in the shop today.. oh, such a miserable woman who made the BIG mistake of directing her grump onto the wrong woman.

No, not onto HER.. but onto HER lovely boss. 

BIG mistake.. Boss is burying her eldest sister tomorrow so she was not in the frame of mind to pander to any nonsense.. as YOU can well imagine..

I was home alone with LBC 97.3.. until past five 
of the clock when I heard HER key.. I don't mind the odd quiet day but it is better when SHE is at home.

For YOU see, I can't work old kettle or toaster.. and a cup of hot steamy tea with a hot toasted brown crust would be just scrummydumptious on an afternoon like today.

Tomorrow's post will, in part, be an open response to an email that SHE has received from a very dear Dear Reader.. WE know her, in fact WE know her and her daughter. they are Rosamund and Lotta.

So now I am off to that magic place aka YumYum HQ. it is now soon to be seven of the clock, the sky is dark but all is well.. as WE trust it is with YOU, Dear Reader, wherever YOU may be.

GeeGee Parrot.
November 7th, 2013.