Afternoon Tea

My lovely BFF, Y,  took me for afternoon tea yesterday.  We went to Fortnum & Mason at the Royal Exchange.

Amazing building, the architecture of the grade 1 building is stunning.  It was a good tea, and fab company. 

It all went by in a flash.  The train journey there and back gave us plenty of opportunity for uninterrupted chat and catch up.

image from tagvenue.com

We were fortunate to be seated in a corner booth, so it was one of the 4 most comfortable tables. 

It was a proper china teapot, china plates, and decent leaf tea - and a good selection to choose from.    Often, it's a cheap teapot, or a spuddly teapot, or cheap tea, any of which really spoils the experience (for me, anyway). 

The highlight of the meal was a pâtisserie item which was shaped like a tiny, bright green, apple.  We speculated that it would be marzipan,  but it was actually a mousse cake, with tiny apple pieces in stewed apple in the centre.  It was divine.

I'm suffering today from an overload of sugar (my sugar tank has been overloaded for some time), but it was worth it.

 

 

Cranky Pants

I'm not sure why, but I've got my cranky pants on.    I don't feel particularly great, I can't really identify what's wrong.  I feel like I have indigestion, and my back (as always) feels like someone has their knee in my upper quartile.

With the cascade of changes caused by me revamping my sewing space in the Guest bedroom, it was now time to move Roberto from the hall to the kitchen.  It's not possible to just tell him his base has moved, he has to do a whole new mapping run (I checked with Irobot first).  Andf a whole new mapping run means that everything needs to be off the floor.

It took forever to get ready, and then forever and a day for him to do his mappping run.  And when the mapping run was done, I then had to set him off to actually vacuum before I could put anything back.

I'm not sure what time I started this exercise, but it feels like it was days ago.

He's finished the Living Room now, and he's part way through the kitchen.  I'm trying to put the Living Room back in order (but I've lost the will!).

I just need to give myself a kick up the backside. And maybe take something for the indigestion.

Wild Girls

The Girls are getting a bit wild. ("Wild?, I was absolutely livid!")   It's been a tough few years,I need to spend time getting them tame again.

3 of them - Violet, Elizabeth and Bott - have never been particularly tame.  They were allotment girls, and right from the when they were hatched, Had Views about being picked up.  We always try and respect the girls wishes so, once they were at the allotment, we handled them only when necessary.

2 of them, Fay and Fleur, were about 10 weeks old when I got them. They came from a breeder who didn't handle them at all.   Fleur, a big heavy Cuckoo Marans, doesn't like being picked up.;  Fay, hates it and shrieks like mad.   They are  rising 8 years old now, and Fay is mellowing a bit.   Sometimes, sometimes, she lets me pick her up.  Then she remembers that she hates it, and shrieks.

Poppy, who is now rising 11,  is one of my favourite girls.  She used to tolerate being picked up,  but now she won't have it at all. 

Even Astrid, My Rising 4 year old leghorn, has stopped being tame.  She used to be very happy to be picked up, cuddled, stroked.    She's the one I'd have to start with, if I was going to try and retame them.

I need good weather. 

And I need no Flockdown.

Clever Boy!

My husband is amazing.

He has built me a new projector stand, with easy use screws to make tweaks to the projected image. I can adjust left front, right front, back, and I can adjust the height of the projector too.

My projector had been mounted on a small electric table, stored underneath our kitchen table.  It was a fab find, and a fab idea.... but not always great in practice.  Last time I tried to use my projector, the settings were way off. I later learned that an upgrade to Adobe had caused this.

It had been very difficult to readjust, and I'd ended up wedging stuff between the back of the printer and the stand because there was a wobble which was magnified upon projection.

I'd seen on the projector group that the hubby of one of the US ladies had built her a stand (and her projector was the same as mine).   I asked DH if he could build me one, and he did  - with the improvements of the easier adjustability.

I've just been calibrating it. Firstly, to make sure that everything is square (the projection doesn't flare out),  and then - and only then - adjusting to make sure it is projecting the correct size.  The projectors for sewing FB group i'm in provided a fab template to project, which made thus relatively straightforward. Fiddly, but not difficult.

Finally, when I thought I had it right, I found one of my printed PDFs, projected its PDF version, and matched the two up.  Success!

I'm particularly pleased because it means I also have a bit more freedom now.  I can move the projector on to our breakfast bar, and projected onto a cutting mat over there.   This is great if I have a long piece of fabric to work with as I can access 3 sides easily.   It'll work over there for things like tops,  but not for trousers or maxi skirts.

I haven't put it away yet.  I know he'll get a kick out of seeing it out and being used :-)

He's a clever lad.

That's torn it

I've started to  feel a lot of sym/empathy for people who get taken in by health claiming scans.

I've got an ongoing issue, which it's proving difficult to get a diagnosis for.    When it's really bad, I find i'm willing to consider the  most ridiculous things to try and help - even when I know that they can't possibly work.   Luckily, I usually manage to stop myself.

A while ago, I started to wonder if my mattress is contributing to my problem. 

It's a firm, memory foam type mattress.  We went for a mattress upgrade when we ordered our adjustable bed,  but I don't know who the mattress manufacturer is.   It wasn't cheap.

Anway,  it was a straw worth clutching,  so I did some research,  spent a lot of time in two bed shops (one of whom gave me shockingly incorrect information) and I ended up ordering a new mattress. 

It transpired that we are a little restricted in choice because we have an adjustable bed.  We had sepnt  couple of hours in a local posh bed shop, with me trying various mattresses.  I'd narrowed it down to 3 Hypnos mattresses, and we asked the salesman for some advice.   He told me (correctly) that Hypnos mattresses aren't suitable for adjustable beds.  He also told me ( incorrectly, I later discovered) that it isn't possible to have a pocket sprung mattress on an adjustable bed, they used to sell adjustable beds, and he suggested Tempur and Mammoth mattresses instead.

I knew I didn't want Tempur,   and I wasn't sure about Mammoth.  It was OK, but a lot of money for "OK". ,  I wanted to do some more research - the info on the advertising aroubnd that particular bed was all headlines and no detail, so I left and did some research online when I got home.

The mattress he recommended sounded good, but I found the website was all fur coat and no knickers. No real solid information.   I was also interested that they didn't offer any sort of money-back-if-you-aren't-happy.  All the others that I looked at (Nectar, Caspar, Emma, can't remember the other one) offered some form of satisfaction guarantee, although the devil was in the detail with them, and not all satisfaction guarantees are created equal.

Eventually I decided to buy a Nectar mattress, partly because of its 365 day no quibble returns policy.   If I hated it, I could return it and get my money back (not just a store credit) I asked Nectar which of their to mattress types would be suitable for an adjustable bed, and they suggested any of their non hybrids. 

I really wanted to try it out before buying.    I'd tried a Tempur mattress in a shop once before, and knew as soon as I lay down that it wasn't for me.    I was concerned that these "bed in a box" mattresses would be like that.

I found another bed shop in a fairly local town had several Nectar variants in their showroom, so I went along to try them, with the intention of just ordering online when I'd reassured myself that it would probably be OK

The chap in the shop was really helpful.  He was surprised that the other shop had told me that pocket sprung mattresses weren't suitable for adjustable beds.  He explained that some companies produced pocket sprung mattresses specifically for adjustable beds, he explained how the springs were arranged differently, and showed me an adjustable bed in his showroom that had a pocket sprung mattress.

I was a bit fed up at this point.  I thought I'd made a decision, and now my decision was made on false information.   But I just couldn't face going through a round of trying mattresses again, especially as trying these mattresses (apart from the one he had) wasn't really possible,   In the end, I decided I'd go ahead and order the Nectar, on the basis that I could return it if it didn't work out. 

The chap had been so helpful that I couldn't bring myself to just leave and order online.   I bought it through him instead.   I regretted it a bit when he said it would be 2 weeks (because of the bank holiday), when online it was a 3-4 day delivery (so, say, a week with the bank holiday).

He phoned at the 2 weeks point and told me it had arrived and would be delivered on Wednesday.

The delivery was great. Two man service, lovely chaps.

We had the box in our spare room. Unpacked it, unwrapped it, and put it on top of the spare bed to de-gas and to come back into shape.   The leaflet said it could be slept on in 3–5 hours, and it would take about 48 hours to fully decompress.

We left it alone until this morning.   It looked much better decompressed, and I decided to put it on the bed this morning, ready for bed this evening.

It was quite heavy, despite just being a 3ft single, so it took both of us to move it.  I lifted my end by the handle.....and the cover ripped at the bottom. 

I've learned over the last 18 months of being unwell that 'not saying anything because it doesn't really matter' sometimes comes back to bite me on the bum.    I could just imagine me deciding to return this mattress, and then having a problem because the cover is torn.

So I wrote a polite email to the shop to let them know.  I explained that I wasn't writing to complain,   I just wanted them to pass the information back to Nectar.   At least I'll have a record then, that this happened the first day.

I do have some hand sewing needles somewhere, but I'm not sure where.  I remember seeing them when I was reorganising the sewing area, and I remember lobbing them somewhere because I never use them. 

Hopefully I can find them, and effect a repair to stop the split getting worse.  Shame I can't use an iron because I have a lot of ironable interfacing that would effect a neat repair.

Never mind. 

I hope the mattress helps. 

 

One spoonful is never enough

I added this to my Iceland online shop the other day.  I've never seen a 1kg tin of it before.

After I’d unpacked the shopping, I looked at the enormous tin and tried to work out what to do.   I added some dessicated coconut to my upcoming  grocery order, so I could make coconut castles.  I remembered making them with my mum, using a metal egg cup as a mould, and dividing the mixtue in 2 so we could colour one half pink. 

 I put the unopened tin in the larder, to wait for the dessicated coconut to arrive in a few days time. Unopened is safe.

And then, a couple of days ago, madness overtook me.  I opened the tin, and took out a heaped teaspoon full.  It was very runny, as it always is before its refrigerated.   I put the spoon in the dishwasher, and got a clean one out, and had another spoonful.    I searched for a suitable lid.

I found a rubber lid that fitted the tin,  Another clean spoon, another spoonful, Ii managed to get the lid on and got the tin into the fridge befire I'd finished . I hid it at the back.

Yesterday, I got it out to have just a spoonful.  I managed to get the lid back on after 2 spoons (a clean spoon each time, of course.  No double dipping in my house.).  This time the gooey gunk was a little thicker, the refrigeration was setting it.

Today, I had a banana instead.  And then I had two spoons. It's thick enough now that it's possible to scoop quite a large amount on to one spoon. Lid on, while I was eating the second spoonful, back in the fridge.

I can't believe I ean still eat it like this, at my age.   It's so sweet and, frankly, sickly.    I know it is.   I don't have a particularly sweet tooth anymore,  and it's far too sweet really.   

 I think the lure of it is that it takes me back to my childhood.  To the blue and white tins of Fussells.  

As a child, and having a diet with an abundance of sweets, I could eat huge amounts of it without being sick.   Back then, I'd have it on bread as well,  a condensed milk sandwich was heaven.   Less was more, because too much and the condensed milk would start to leak through the bread.  Sometimes, more was more - and then I would get a sugar headache.

I can't be trusted around a tin of the stuff, which is why I don't buy it.   I can't imagine why I thought a 1kg tin would be a good idea. It's not like I'm naive enough to think that I would ration myself to one spoonful every few days. Or even a spoonful a day. 

 I know exactly what I'm like. 

The dessicate coconut arrives soon, and I'll aim to make something.  I'd like to make it on the day that Miss Teen comes so I can send some of the coconut things back with her,   

I will be strong.   

I will try.

Otherwise I'll make myself sick!

 

 

 

Tea-riffic

Oh my goodness!  I've found a fruit tea that I absolutely love.

I like it even more than I like the Rosehip & Hibiscus from Milford.   I didn't think I'd ever say that.

It's a very sweet fruit tea, called Hibiscus Bora Bora, from The TeaMakers of London.   It smells luscious and juicy. My senses were on alert as soon as I opened the pouch.

It looks really appetising.

I made a large mugful, using a bit more than the recommended amount (they recommend 4g for 200ml,  I used about 8g for about 300ml).

It made a very dark, purpley red, brew and smelt lovely. 

Usually I find that fruit teas smell good, but taste insipid, even if I put in much more than the recommended amount.  The only exception I've found - up to now -  is Milford teas,  specifically their Rosehip & Hibiscus. 

This one was just bursting with flavour. It was also sweet, which I don't normally like (I don't take sugar, and I don't drink fizzy pop).

It was so delicious, I had a second cup. I wish I'd saved the bits from the first cup to try a second brew.

Delicious!  I'll be ordering some soon.

I've put the other trial pack to one side to give to my DSIL to try.

 

Bergamot

I love the smell of bergamot, very citrussy and uplifting.   I don't particularly like Earl Grey Tea though, I found the bergamot a bit flowery in that,

I bought a couple of bergamot fruits to try.  I guess I thought they'd be sweet , in the way that oranges are sweet,  and that they would taste the way they smell.

I finally got around to trying one of them today. Super juicy, but so very sour.  Like a cross between a lemon, a lime,  and a grapefruit.  The flesh was very delicate, like a lime (not a grapefruit)  The flavour was OK, but too sour for me to eat as it was. 

I've put it to one side to pop into some sparkling water later, for (hopefully) a refreshing drink

 

First time in a looooooooong time

I made a thing with my embroidery machine!

 

It's our youngest DGD's birthday shortly, she'll be 15.     Now that my sewing space is organised, I thought I would try and make her a card.

 

She loves playing football, so I thought I'd try and find something relevant.     I found a design for a book cushion which had something suitable, on the Memories in Thread website. I'd gone to look for a football ginger that I know Sue has done,  but I saw this design and chose it instead. 

 

I amended the design a little. It originally referred to books as well as football, so I tool that text out and removed the book that the girl was holding.  I  added DGD's name, strategically placed to hide the gap left by my removing the book.   Finally, I simplified the colours so the text was just 2 colours instead of 3,  and I added a border. I had to tweak it one last time so that it would fit easily in my largest Durkee EZFrame.  I did all of this over the last couple of evenings, so that all I had to do today was stitch it out.

 

For the stitch out   I used Filmoplast for the stabiliser, and stitched onto felt.    Felt shouldn't really need any additional stabiliser,  but I really wanted to make sure this worked first time.

It was quite a long stitch out (86 minutes plus threading up and changing part way through) but it was relatively pain free.  I did have some thread breaks,  mainly caused by the "sticky" from the Filmoplast stabiliser getting on to the needles.  I had slowed the max speed down to minimise this.

It's all cut out now and stuck to an A3 card, folded. I had to stick a second card inside, to help support the weight. 

I hope she likes/appreciates it.

Tea-dious

Our new, lower,  TV cabinet finally arrived  - more than 3 months late.   We excavated the old one, and DH spent a couple of hours reconnecting all the bits and pieces and recabling.

Hopefully it will help with the arthritis in my neck   Hopefully it will cause fewer problems with the arthritis in my neck, but I do wonder about the law of unintended consequences.

We cleared the old cabinet out, and most  of the stuff will fit in the new cabinet.   However,  the baby scales we use for the cats no longer fit underneath. And the cats' enormous ball track, which spends used to spend large periods of time standing on its side beside the TV unit, no longer fits.   We have to find new homes for these pieces. 

Whilst clearing up, I extended my whirlwind cleaning session to some areas of the kitchen. One of the areas was the tea shelf, which I'd cleared out a while ago but had got itself into some disarray again.

I've been drinking a lot of cold brew tea lately.  I like TeaPigs' Blackcurrant and Raspberry and their Lychee and Rose.   When I got the stuff off the shelf, I looked through the various trial sachets that I'd received each time I'd placed an order.   Some of them sounded OK, others less so. 

I've not had much success with flavoured teas, or fruit teas/infusions, I find they usually sound great but taste of little.   I was tempted to put these samplesin the bin.    But then I thought about the Milford Rosehip  & Hibiscus, which I had been forced into trying because I didn't want to be rude, and ended up loving;    and the  Teapigs cold brew which I had tried in desperation because I was looking for a full flavoured cold drink with no sugar, and found it drinkable.... and I realised that I'd be silly to not at least try  the samples.

So, I'm going to work my way through them over the next couple of weeks!

I was going to have one just now, but I saw that I'd gone to the trouble of putting yet another other variety of tea bags into a small vacuum pot.    I got one out, and gave it, and the tub, a tentative sniff. It smelt unappetising (but that's quite normal for me).  It was in one of the posh nets, so I must have bought it.

 I'd helpfully cut out the back of the packet and and put in the pot along with the bags.  It was a Tea Huggers tea, which contains Lemon Verbena, Chinese Oolong tea, aniseed, juniper berries and chilli.   I couldn't imagine why I'd thought that was a good idea as I don't much like aniseed, I imagine that I must have bought it for its restorative features.   I'd actually decanted a pack into a vacuum pot, so I must have meant to keep them. 

I popped the kettle on. 

While I was waiting for the kettle, I read that it could also be use in cold water (leave overnight in fridge), so I did that as well.

I then rearranged the shelf, and sat down to drink the tea.  

Hmm.

It reminds me of chamomile tea (which I'd love to love but don't), but without the camomile and with a definite aniseedy flavour.      I didn't find it horrible, and I could definitely taste the flavours. It's probably a good tea, for those who like Oolong, juniper, aniseed. 

For me, it's not the sort of flavour where I'd find myself thinking " Ooh, I could murder a cup of that",  but I could imagine drinking it because it's good for me.   I imagine that's why it was promoted into a vacuum pot.

I'll see what it tastes like as a cold brew tomorrow, before I finally decide its fate. If it's delicious in cold brew I'll keep it.  If it's not, I'll pass it on to my SIL, who likes a wide range of herbal teas.

I did a quick search, and it's now sold by TeaHuggers as "Body Boost", and  I was interested to see that it had won a "Great Taste" award. 

UPDATE:

Being in sparkling water in the fridge had an interesting effect on it.  The aniseed flavour became more dominant, but in a pleasantly muted way which overall made the drink more palatable for me.

 I could no longer taste lemon verbena, juniper or chilli. There was a background "grassiness", which is the flavour that reminded me of chamomile tea (even though there is no chamomile in this, perhaps it's the Oolong?).

I could easily drink this cold,  but I'm not sure I'd choose it over and above some of the other cold brew teas that I have on the shelf.

Drawing

You may remember the new drawers I had made for my sewing machine bits and pieces.   You may remember that I had kitted out the drawers which hold the Coverstitch and Overlocker attachments.

Today I finished doing the shallow drawer which holds the feet for my sewing machine!

I'm happy with it, despite it being a bit rough and ready. I might do the foamboard again at some point, as I could refine the sizing somewhat, and make the cutting neater.    It'll do.   [I'm a bit surprised at myself as normal me (pre whatever this is), would never settle for "It'll do", I'd already have done the improved version by now!

I've got some additional bits for the sewing machine, plus some feet which are far too big for the shallow drawer,  so I need to kit that out next.

I strongly suspect that, part of me at least, is doing this as a procrastination technique.

 

 

Dressing Down

Took the tree down today.

It didn't take long as of course the lights stay on it.    DH took it apart and squashed it into its bag.  I was a bit surprised it fitted, but I guess the branches were squished up and will need floofing again next year. 

I only had a couple of other items up - a mantle across the curtain pole,  a hanging decoration in the kitchen, and the cards = so that was also rapid.

There were a few "needles" from the tree, which Roberto is busy vacuuming up, but no real mess to speak of.    

I'm still undecided about fake vs real, and I'm not sure what my decision will be for next this year.

Miss Teen's mum had bought us a lovely poinsettia, which she's done for a few years now.  

The red fronds are glowing in the low sun, it's really pretty.

I thought I'd be seeing her tonight, but it turns out I've got my days mixed up.  I was convinced it was Tuesday and that everyone is now back at work,  (It's Monday, and its a Bank Holiday in lieu of New Years Day)