Winter is coming…

It's turned cold. Last week we had our first chilly day, and the boiler celebrated by breaking down. We hadn't even tried to put the heating on - just turned on the hot tap and suddenly…

Anyway, the boiler man came the next day and got it going again, but we found a tiny leak from the radiator in my bedroom, which could be causing the pressure in the system to drop. We need a new valve- goodness only knows how long that will take to come, and in the meantime there is a chance the boiler might break down again at any time. The heating did work last night. Fingers crossed for today. 

I was randomly looking through craft blogs and came across several devoted to Sasha dolls. I bought one of these for a couple of quid at a church fete way back in the eighties, and it has been languishing about gathering dust pretty much since then. I now realise these things are worth a fortune! Several hundred pounds if in good condition, even without the original clothing!  I cleaned my one up, and combed her hair (fun)- and she is in very good condition, still has original stringing for her joints, unfaded paint on her features and can stand unaided. I made a new set of clothes and she now stands on the shelf in my bedroom. I won't let her gather dust again!

The big news is that Pea has settled in well at school. He looks so grown up in his uniform, and I feel so old…

Bread pudding

After the barbecue on Saturday, we were left with two whole baguettes, which went stale. I used half of one to make giant croutons to go with dinner last night (half-inch slices spread thinly with garlic butter and baked for about 10 minutes); but what to do with the rest of the bread? I didn't feel comfortable with the idea of throwing out so much food. 

I'm going to make bread pudding, which I love, but haven't actually made for about 30 years. Everyone who makes it seems to have a different recipe, but I found one that looked do-able with my available ingredients (this is a "leftovers" dish after all). I needed a recipe with no milk, because I only have enough for tomorrow morning's tea. 

So, to begin…

Step 1: break up bread into the kitchen scales pan. I need 8oz for the recipe, but it looks as if I have about twice that. I will make a double size pudding. This bread is REALLY hard and stale. I can only break it into big pieces. Hope it breaks down in the liquid. There isn't quite a pound of bread, but I have a sliced white loaf in the fridge- a couple of slices of that make up the weight. 

Step 2: check that the eggs are ok. There are two boxes in the fridge. One box went out of date 6 weeks ago (was buried at the back of the fridge), but the other has 2 eggs in it and hasn't reached its use-by date yet. Put them in a pan of water anyway, just to be sure. They sink, so they are ok to use. 

Step 3: soak the bread in water for 30 minutes to soften it

Step 4: get out the dry ingredients - suet, mixed dried fruit, sugar, mixed spice. I don't have mixed fruit or mixed spice, but I do have sultanas and allspice, which should be fine. 

Step 5: put on shoes, brush hair and head out to shop for sugar. I would have substituted granulated for the soft brown specified, but I don't have enough of any sugar. This is annoying, as I didn't want to shop specially for this recipe. Anyway, buy sugar (corner shop has no soft brown, but I buy demarara, which will have to do). 

Step 6: squeeze out as much water as possible from the bread. This is a HORRIBLE job. It's so slimy, ugh. Beat the lumps out of the softened bread with a wooden spoon. 

Step 7: add the rest of the ingredients and mix well

Step 8: pour into a dish and bake for an hour at gas mark 4. (I used my roasting dish, lined with foil to stop it sticking to the dish). It looks pretty horrible at this stage. 

Step 9: test after an hour. Put back in oven for another 15 minutes- still a bit wet in the middle. 

Step10: test after 15 minutes. Put back in oven for another half an hour at mark 3 ( this isn't in the recipe, but I am using my judgement here). 

Step 11: take out of oven and sprinkle top with sugar. It looks ok. I don't have a cooling rack, so I'll have to let it cool in the tin. 

Can't resist trying a slice, even though it's still really hot. 

Delicious. Not the same as when my Nan used to make it, and different from shop-bought. Seems a bit lighter, and the allspice is quite different from mixed spice. 

I hope it is as good when it cools down. 

The recipe I sort-of used is here:

http://www.messybeast.com/dragonqueen/real-breadpudding.htm

Soundwaves

Today is full of noises. 

Hammering and crashing from the building site across the street( which woke me up).

The washing machine sounding like it's about to take off. The spinning terrifies me - will I ever get used to it?

The constant drip, drip, drip of the tap in the kitchen. 

Children kick, kick, kicking a ball against the garden wall. WHY AREN'T THEY AT SCHOOL?

The fridge humming loudly. 

Next door's dog barking. 

The letter box. Local newspaper; pizza leaflets; junk mail. Ooh, an actual letter with a hand-written address!

Oh. It's my P45 from the university. I've really left my job…

It's September!

Time to catch up with this blog again. Lots has happened, so it's hard to know where to begin. 

Mum's Alzheimer's has progressed to a point where she needs constant supervision, so my brothers and I made the big decision to find residential care for her. Fortunately dad had made ample provision for her and we were able to find a good care home. Since moving in , her physical health has improved, and we know she is well looked after. I visit every week, and she has settled well. Alzheimer's is a horrible disease, but for now, the memory loss is the only real symptom. She still recognises me, and we can still have a chat, but sometimes the conversations take a strange turn, as mum's memories of other people get mixed up with her own memories. Sadly, she does not remember any of her great-grandchildren, as her short-term memory capability had already been lost before she met any of them. 

I have been keeping a project365 blog this year- here are the summer highlights. 

In June, I went to the scoop open-air theatre twice- once for a play that got seriously rained off, once for opera;  joined ( and left) a tai chi class - sadly, my knees won't take it now; went to the cinema once and out to dinner twice, and attended one art exhibition. 

In July, I had to give back the iPad I had on loan from work, so I invested in a new iPad mini to replace it, and I love it. Mum moved into Abbotsleigh Mews. The weather got hot and I dug out my old fans; then visited the Fan Museum open day and bought another one. I joined a twitter-based maths book club and luckily already had a copy of the first book. Cliff had a birthday barbecue-luckily on one of the cooler days. It was really hot this month - I stayed at home mostly and tried to keep cool. 

In August, I retired from the university. 

We got the garden tidied and bought a new umbrella and barbecue. I also replanted the herb pots, which seem to be doing ok. We've had two barbecues this month- one for Ed's birthday and one to celebrate my retirement. I bought a couple of things for the house- a new side-table and a magnetic spice rack. Had the annual trip to IKEA so Bex could choose a desk and a brilliant chair. We found and uploaded all our old Venice photos, and broke two shredders while getting rid of old correspondence (finally resorting to making papier mâché). 

The house is tidy!

I also started keeping a food blog - (Bex says this is a "hipster" thing to do). 

I actually ate all these things ( but not always for my main meal). There were four big "en-famille" meals-two were barbecues, one was a birthday buffet. I "ate out" three times- twice at Nandos and once in the IKEA restaurant. Looking at this, there isn't really a lot of what I would call "junk food". 

Today would have been my first day back at work after the summer. I'm embarking on a new phase of my life …