Wee Beasties

What is it? Any guesses?
Alien creatures from outer space?
Something found slithering in the basement?
Something you might find out behind the barn? Ewwww....

Nope.... none of the above.
There are FIVE of them warming up in my oven right now.
Yes.... HAGGIS!

You've heard of a HAGGIS haven't you? A small furry animal with one set of legs longer than the other so that it can run on the steep slopes of the Scottish Highlands without falling over. But it can only run clockwise.

You don't believe me?

You're right. Haggis is a kind of giant Scottish sausage containing sheep's heart, liver and lungs minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, lots of pepper to drown the taste, and simmered in a casing of sheep's intestine. Sounds awful but actually is quite good. Just remember to keep your eyes shut while you're eating it.

All this in preparation of our annual Rabbie Burns Night tonight.

Vanilla Bean Pudding

Whenever I feel some kitchen creativity coming on, I look at this blog. Such yummy things to make, but often quite complicated so I immediately decide that I don't have all the ingredients, and go off and do something else until the creative urge subsides.

But today, the recipe is Vanilla Bean Pudding! What could be more simple? Yes, I know I could buy a Vanilla Pudding mix at the grocery store, and it would probably taste great, but this is home made....

.... and it tastes BETTER than the packet suff. Much better in fact.

But I admit I made these using vanilla extract, but next time.... watch out taste buds, vanilla beans are at the top of my shopping list.

My 2010 Reading List

Fellow blogger Dumdad has published his list of books that he read in 2010, so I thought I'd copy his brilliant idea!

January
Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

February
Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan

March
Little Bee by Chris Cleave (loved every word!)
The Heart Specialist by Claire Holden Rothman

April
Incendiary by Chris Cleave (great story)
The Unbearable Lightness of Scones by Alexander McCall Smith

May
The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff (weird book)
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell (brilliant!)
Enduring Love by Ian McEwan

June
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel
Dog Boy by Eva Hornung (weird but totally fascinating)

July
The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill (marvellous Canadian author)
Volkswagen Blues by Jaques Poulin
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
An Experiment in Love by Hilary Mantel
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett (hilarious!)

August
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (brilliant again!)
The Girl with Glass Feet by Ali Shaw (gave up on this book, it didn't grab me)
Attachment by Isabel Fonseca (gave up on this too, but can't remember why)
The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant

September
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Burrows
Away by Jane Urquhart (Canadian author)

October
did I really not read any books in October??? I must have forgotten to write them down.

November
The Bishop's Man by Lynden MacIntyre (Canadian author)
The Death of Donna Whalen by Michael Winter (hmmmm... strange)
I'd Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman

December
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell (I love David Mitchell's books)
Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny

And I started reading Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, but it was requested back by the Library before I got very far so I expect it will be on my 2011 book list. I'll just have to read faster.

A Fresh Start

It's rainy and foggy and damp and drippy outside my window today, but the good news is that the snow is melting fast and giving us a fresh start to the New Year! I can actually see some green grass out there.

And more good news... my rotten Christmas head cold/flu is mostly gone, my 2010 bills are all paid (which is what you're supposed to do every First of January), and I only have a few more unpacked boxes languishing in the basement waiting for my attentions.

So now it's time to think about those pesky New Year Resolutions.

Well, I don't smoke, spit, drink to excess, swear like a trooper, commit violent acts towards helpless furry animals or otherwise misbehave myself (obviously, I'm really boring), so there's not much there to promise to reform.

However, I have a feeling that 2011 will be a good year. So many changes in my life have taken place in the past few months. Some happy, some sad. Some of the good things..... I'm living in a nice new house, I'll be meeting new neighbours, making new friends. My family are all well and remain employed (thank goodness), my two little grandboys are thriving. YoungerSon and his family live within walking distance. I have good health (apart from that nasty Christmas cold) and I am so thankful. Some of the sad things.... a good friend moved away, but not so far that I can't visit, and there were funerals for people who passed away much too young. I wonder what this year holds in store?

Wherever you are in Blogland..... HAPPY NEW YEAR!

All Moved In!

It's said that moving house is one of the most stressful experiences in life, right up there with birth, marriage and death, and it's true.
The actual move went very smoothly, with the moving truck and a posse of beefy men arriving on time, the loading and unloading was a breeze with only two trips from the old house to the new.
But from the next day on, I was incommunicado!
The phone company installed the phone, but no internet.
So I had a phone for a couple of days.
But then I was accidently disconnected while they tried to connect the internet.
Which affected the security system, so every time I opened the front door, the alarm went off.
WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH for 5 minutes.
I don't think my new neighbours appreciated this very much. Especially at 6:00am when I went off to my babysitting duties.
And to top it off, the doorknob between the house and the garage broke, so I was forced to use the front door if I wanted to go outside.

I was in seclusion.

But all is repaired now.... new doorknob mechanism, phone and internet are working, but now my monitor screen has died, so I am working with a borrowed screen, which will have to be returned very soon, so I'll be a non-blogger again for a while! So if you don't see me commenting on your blogs, you know why. sigh....

Meanwhile, I'm 90% unpacked, and I'll have to start preparing for Christmas. It snowed last week so we are going to have a White Christmas for sure.

Time Out.....

I'm on the move, will be blogging from my new house in a few days, see you then!
Meanwhile, back to the packing...... now, where the heck did I leave that sticky tape.....

Remembering

In Memory of

Private JOHN TURNBULL CHANDLER

175142, 5th Coy., Canadian Machine Gun Corps who died age 20 on 03 July 1917.

Only son of John William and Agnes Chandler, of Gedney Dyke, Holbeach, Lincs.

Native of Southea, nr. Wisbech.

Remembered with honour

BULLY-GRENAY COMMUNAL CEMETERY, BRITISH EXTENSION,

BULLY-GRENAY, FRANCE

John Turnbull CHANDLER was my mother's cousin. He was born 31 August 1896 in Lincolnshire, England, and was known as Jack.

Jack left England to learn farming techniques in Canada and settled in Grimsby, Ontario. He joined the 86^th Machine Gun Battalion of the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force on 13 August 1915 at Welland, Ontario, stating that his date of birth was 1894, not 1896. At that time he was already a member of the 44^th Regiment of the Canadian Militia. His enlistment papers show him to be “apparent age 21 years 8 months”, 5’4”, fair complexion, blue eyes, brown hair, a member of the Church of England, and fit to serve with the Forces.
His life ended in France on 3 July 1917, serving with the Canadian Machine Gun Corps.

His obituary:

GEDNEY DYKE SOLDIER FALLS We regret to report the death in action of Pte. John Turnbull Chandler, son of the late Mr. John W. Chandler, schoolmaster, Parson Drove, and of Mrs. Chandler, schoolmistress, Gedney Dyke. The deceased was educated at Barbourne College, Worcester (1908) and Framlingham College (1909-1912). He learned farming and went to Canada in April 1912. He enlisted in January 1916 in Grimsby, Ontario, came over to Shorncliffe June 1916, went to France October 1916, and was killed in action July 3rd. He was only 20 years of age. He leaves a mother and six sisters to mourn his loss.

I visited his grave in France with my two sons in 2005.