Yet Another Long Weekend!

David and I had another three day, long weekend.

Friday was filled with chores like shopping and going to the dentist. We had Rentokil out first thing in the morning and found that we have woodworm in the new house! The bathroom will have to have new floorboards! I am not best chuffed! At this rate we will never move in!!

Saturday we went to my favourite garden centre, Lady Green and spent £25 on flowers! I got lots of herbs for the new garden. Amongst the flowers I captured a small tortoiseshell butterfly.

Saturday afternoon, David and I spent 5/6 hours building the garden wall. My wrist aches with mixing sand and cement. I even caught the sun on my chest and shoulders and I was not even in the sun!! The only consolation was that a nice Saffron curry was awaiting the end of the day and we saw a Comma butterfly, though it flew away before I could take a picture! This summer really has been the best for butterflies!

Sunday was a bit of a wash out! With thunder and torrential downpours, so the garden will have to wait for another sunny day (that's if we have another?)

The bird feeders have been busy this weekend, with not only Pigeons and Starlings visiting but at one stage there were 15 Goldfinches, five were babies and four, yes four House Sparrows, three male and one female!

Sample Chapters of Novel on Authonomy

Friends, please find link below for a website where I have put a few sample chapters of my romance novel for you to peruse. I really need to know your feedback whether I continue or not.

Do please let me know.

http://authonomy.com/books/54444/after-plato/

Christine x

Things DO Happen for a Reason!

It took a good few weeks for me to mull with the idea about sending my CV to the agency Randstad with regards to an Access to Work booking with the Royal Liverpool Hospital.  I decided 'why not!' I was not working at the time and the prospect of going on job seekers allowance was not preferable. That was in June! I have been working there now for three days a week, with the odd fourth since then. Today I learned that my 'boss' at the hospital has had her hours for myself extended to 30, meaning working four days a week permanent!

From working less than ten hours a week to now working 30 is amazing! What a brilliant stroke of luck! I am pinching myself at the knowledge that after all this time at working at the university I now have a more permanent, almost full time job! Finally! A reason to break open a bottle of white tonight then. :)

Last Friday was my day off! So I planned to go with David and my Mum to the Festival Gardens. My Dad worked there when it first opened in 1984! It only opened for a couple of months in the 80's, but today it has been reclaimed and given back to the city, something I think is a lovely gesture.

I had kept two badges that my Dad had given me when I was seven years old from his time at the festival and I thought it was nice for me to take them back to the gardens. I really loved walking the grounds of the new park. It was like walking down memory lane with seeing the old Chinese pagodas. My favourite part was the Moon Wall, we all had fun goofing around that!

Mmmm Man of Steel and Mexican Cooking..

Friday was another of my days off work. This week I have worked a full four days at the hospital! The 'heat wave' has continued to bless us with high temperatures, in the mid 20 degrees (although it was a bit too humid by far!)

After the success of last weeks BBQ (these BBQs are costing me a fortune!) another family BBQ is planned for tomorrow!

For last weeks BBQ I had vegetarian Mediterranean sausages swilled down with sparkling rose wine. This week I have got Quorn peppered steaks and to serve with salad and Pearl potatoes, swilled down with Merlot wine :p

Today was also David's day off work and after going to see Man of Steel at the Showcase cinema, (just to listen to Hans Zimmer's soundtrack!) David did some work on the house and I cooked a Mexican stew (which I saw on the Good Food website!) and substituted the chicken for Quorn chicken, added kidney beans and served with tortillas. Yummy!

My Weekend Starts...Here!

Phew! What a week! I worked a full three and a half days! Believe me, my body has not been used to doing that for a good many months!

I worked my three days at the Royal Liverpool Hospital, meeting many company representatives and people who work in the admin side of Supplies and Nursing in the NHS and on Wednesday I 'chief' invigilated my first 'big' room exam! I usually specialise in 'extra time' exams for students with disabilities but this morning from 10am to 1pm I ran and conducted a medical exam for 20 students! To say I was amazed at myself that I could stand, talk and direct more than 20 people is an understatement. I really did not think I had it in me to stand before people and talk aloud! I am more stronger, more confident than I give myself credit for. I am surprising myself more and more as this year progresses. I always thought myself as shy but maybe I am now, finally coming out of my shell to fulfill my potential???

But today is Thursday and I have Friday and the weekend off! The UK is supposed to see some sunshine and summer like weather again, so I am hoping to spend tomorrow sunbathing before cheering on Andy Murray in his Wimbledon semi-final! On Saturday I hope the sun continues to bask down upon us and my family can enjoy a BBQ. Well that is what I have planned anyway!  :)

Below you will find two videos I have uploaded to my YouTube channel recently. One is of baby Goldfinches I videoed on Tuesday evening around 7pm. They were making a right racket and the rest of the 'charm' were all eagerly gobbling the sunflower seeds on offer in my garden.

The second video is of my Bengalese (Society)  Finches, Chocolate (female) and Romeo (male). This is the first video I have made of Romeo since Caramel passed. (I still miss her.) I think Chocolate is cursing my name as since getting Romeo, he has not left her alone! It is pleasant of a morning to sit listening to him singing. Now, Thursday evening as the sun sets, it is nice to see them finally bonded and sitting on their rope swing together.

Hope you all enjoy the weekend wherever you are! :D

Jump, jump!

Sunday was my nephew Nathan's 4th birthday party. My brother Stephen had organised a bouncy castle for the event and it ended up being a garden party!

Below is the video I made of us all having fun on the bouncy castle! Much fun was had by all! :D

Cake, Competitions and 'Jack' Sparrow!

My day off work was a bit of a washout! It rained more or less all day, though it brought with it much action on the wild bird feeders!

There were many Goldfinch charms visiting and bringing their babies along. I also saw a baby Blue Tit and its rather dishevelled parent but I couldn't get good enough footage of the new guy! I did manage to get some footage of 'Jack' Sparrow, he looks great! I've attached the video I made of the birds today. Hope you like?

Baby Goldfinches and Jack Sparrow!  

In the post today my new exercise bike was delivered along with my prize from Arriva, who all week on Facebook had been holding a competition for a free weekly bus ticket. I was Wednesday's winner and I am 'made up' as I don't have to pay for a ticket this week!!

Me and my voucher for free bus travel!

As planned I made my Strawberry Mousse Cake with Morello Cherry Drizzle today. It has three different types of cream in it!! Very fattening!

The recipe!

For the biscuit base

·         200g digestive biscuits

·         100g butter, melted

For the mousse cake

·         4 sheets of leaf gelatine or I used one 10g of vegetarian powder (to 6 sheets)

·         142ml carton single cream

·         500g carton fromage frais. I couldn't get fromage frais so had to use mascarpone

·         140g golden caster sugar

·         finely grated zest 1 small orange

·         4 tbsp orange juice

·         400g strawberries

·         284ml carton double cream

For the sauce

·         250g Morello cherries

·         3 tbsp orange juice

·         2 tbsp golden caster sugar

To decorate

·         mixture of strawberries (some halved), cherries.

·         icing sugar, for dusting

Method

• Put the biscuits in a plastic food bag and crush using a rolling pin. Melt the butter in a medium pan, then stir in the biscuits. Tip this mixture into a loose-bottomed 24cm round cake tin, about 5cm deep and press down evenly. Chill.

• Make the mousse: submerge the gelatine leaves in a large bowl of cold water and leave to soak for 5 minutes. Heat the single cream in a small pan until it just comes to the boil. Take off the heat. Lift the gelatine leaves out of the water and give them a good squeeze to get rid of the water. Stir into the hot cream one by one – they will dissolve immediately. Leave to cool slightly. I warmed up the single cream and then added a 10g sachet of vegetarian gel.

• Beat together the fromage frais, sugar, orange zest and juice with a whisk or wooden spoon. Stir in the cooled cream and gelatin mixture and the cut strawberries. Crush just a few of the strawberries against the sides of the bowl and stir again to ripple through, leaving most whole.

• Whip the double cream lightly to soft peaks, then fold it into the strawberry mixture. Pour into the cake tin and leave to chill for at least 3 hours, or overnight, until set.

• To make the sauce, blitz all the ingredients in a food processor or blender. Chill until ready to serve. (The sauce and the mousse can be made up to a day ahead).

• To serve, run a knife between the mousse and the tin, lift it out of the tin and take it off its base. Put on a serving plate and pile a mixture of fruits on top to decorate. Dust with icing sugar and serve with the sauce.

The Result:

An utter disaster! David, mum and myself all had a portion. The cream mousse didn't seem to have set very much. It didn't taste of anything really and then when putting the cake back into the fridge. It slipped off the plate and I tried to catch it with my hand.

Oh no!!!