Thursday Thirteen #28

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen random things about me.

1. Yesterday afternoon I dug over a bit of the garden. I would have mowed the lawn but I was teaching at 4 and didn't want to have to get grass off my shoes and hoover the house again so postponed it.

2. Last night I was about to mow the lawn until a friend invited me out to a pub with a garden. So I postponed the lawn-mowing again.

3. My boyfriend isn't well and is having pretty disturbed sleep. I am keeping him company in his misery and have also had bad sleep since Monday.

4. We have been having funky dreams as a result of broken sleep. He dreamed he was the only patient in a 1000-bed hospital. He is ill so this makes SOME sense.

5. I dreamt about these cabin eco-homes that I am sure I saw on a blog once. I couldn't get onto the platform without hiking my skirt higher than my pants in front of a stranger.

6. My cat has also been playing a part in the sleep-deprivation with nighttime foot licking and chasing antics.

7. He's OK - he's still snoozing now. He will probably still be snoozing when I get home from work later on.

8. Tonight I plan to mow the lawn. Ha ha!

9. My throat is sore and I still have a cough. After 5 weeks now.

10. Because the docs say that it's just a virus I have been eating a lot of fruit and drinking water in an attempt to make ME healthier.

11. I LOVE clementines.

12. I do not love nectarines. I'll eat them if I'm hungry though.

13. I get an organic veg box delivered once a fortnight. It costs £14. I am thinking about swapping to a fruit and veg box but am worried that we will end up composting too much.


Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Thursday Thirteen #28

Thirteen times I have actually arrived at work on THURSDAYS.

1. 9.01

2. 9.04

3. 9.10

5. 9.16

6. 9.20

7. 9.03

8. 9.28

9. 9.17

10. 9.02

11. 9.13

12. 9.05

13. And the target time I have failed to achieve on a weekly basis? 9am!

You never know - maybe today's the day?

Thursday Thirteen #22

Thirteen things we did at Brownies on Tuesday to prepare for Talk Like A Pirate day.

(in the order of the evening)

1. Practised Pirate Speak (with this to continue all night)

2. Made Eye Patches

3. Made a Jolly Roger flag each (red paper, black skull and crossbones)

4. Stuck the flags around the hall to make our 'pirate ship' really scary.

5. Asked them to sit quietly (ha ha ha... as if they've EVER managed that. And when they're all excited about getting to pretend to be pirates and make stuff then there really was NO chance) to get instructions for the TREASURE HUNT.

6. Started the treasure hunt. Instructions had been to tick off each picture as they found it and to sit on the floor as soon as they had found them all. I had stuck a picture under a table so knew that they would have a bit of trouble and I should be able to tell if they were cheating. Unfortunately they didn't TICK the pictures off on their sheet, but ripped the pictures off the wall as they found them. So as soon as one person found a picture, the hunt was made impossible for any of the others. I stopped the treasure hunt.

7. I explained that I had to stop the quiz because they hadn't listened to me as they had been shouting out. I explained that nobody could win - so there would be no treasure.

8. We played chinese whispers with Pirate phrases to try to calm them down a bit.

9. It seemed to work. So we gave Port/Starboard a go. This is a great game.

10. We sat down and learnt the song off the US Pirate day website.

11. We stood up to sing another song about pirates that some of them knew already and is great as it has actions including jumping, swaying, rubbing your tum and miming rum drinking... mmm... rum. It goes: When I was 1, my life begun, the day I went to sea, I jumped aboard a pirate ship and the captain said to me, we're going this way that way forwards and backwards over the Irish Sea, a bottle of Rum to fill my tum and that's the life for me! and so on up to 10.

12. They sat back down and I gave them some pieces of eight (chocolate coins) and a gold-wrapped sweet each.

13. Parents collected them. Phew!

Thursday Thirteen #21

Thirteen first places I visited when I got my broadband back!!!

1. hotmail
2. facebook
3. akelamalu
4. blue country magic
5. burekaboy
6. coco
7. gattina
8. island life
9. maryam
10. queenie
11. bond
12. Turnbaby
13. Annelisa

After e-mail checking I pretty much went through my blogroll from the top (and it's alphabetically sorted) visiting all the blogs I have had trouble with since I lost broadband. These are mainly ones with video, music, photos or radio content that I haven't been able to see.

This is not the whole list of places I visited by any means.

Thursday Thirteen #20/21

Thirteen films we own but I have never watched (on dvd/vid.. may have seen them at cinema)

1. 
   
   Star Wars old episodes (dvd.. have seen them on video yrs ago)


2. 
   
   The Ninth Gate


3. 
   
   The Office


4. 
   
   Transformers cartoons


5. 
   
   Flash Gordon


6. 
   
   Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy


7. 
   
   Fight Club


8. 
   
   Blow


9. 
   
   Sweet Charity all the way through.... like the songs but the film's a bit boring.


10. 
    
    Zulu


11. 
    
    Carol Vordeman's 28 Day Detox all the way through.... I'd be kidding myself.


12. 
    
    Cherry Falls


13. 
    
    Johnny English

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun!

Thursday Thirteen #20

Thursday Thirteen: Thirteen things I would like to do more of/know more about.

1. Knitting - I have had a go. When I was at school I made a scarf. That's the most I've ever managed.




2. Sewing - I do this a bit - rarely. I used to do a lot more, make clothes etc. I have used the excuse of not having time for years, but I could probably find the time.




3. Theatre Music - I studied this a bit at music college. It still fascinates me & I want to know more.




4. Early Music - I do this for work - and pleasure. I have only really read up about Italian and English early trumpet playing. I am sure that there is an awful lot left to investigate, and soak up.




5. Cookery




6. Finance and Account keeping. I am RUBBISH and make my self-employed tax return season a nightmare for myself. I know almost nothing about this topic.




7. Plants - The science of plants is my boyfriend's speciality. It's something that really interests him, and I find that over the years it has been rubbing off on me. I used to politely pretend to be interested when he was showing me the 24 different types of grass that are growing in our lawn, and to tell me the minute differences between them. Now I am genuinely interested... for longer than I used to be.




8. Gardening - I have a beautiful garden. I love it and wish that I looked after it better. Unfortunately we have so much rain, and I work so often at the weekend, that I do not get the inclination to garden as often as I should.




9. Drawing/Painting... I'd like to be artistic.



10. History.



11. Geography. I didn't know Turkey neighboured Greece... We were looking at restaurants to go to next Wednesday (pay day!) and I read a Turkish menu that I thought was quite Greek-sounding. When I commented to my boyfriend he looked at me like I was a moron. I definitely need to brush up on my Geography.



12. Sense of Direction. I'm not sure you can learn this. So I'll just wish I had a better one.



13. Self-discipline. I should still be practising really.

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things.

Thursday Thirteen # 20

Thirteen things I LOVED about Peace Globe Day

1 The Blogosphere (in the most part) was SO happy overall yesterday.

2 Not just happy - thoughtful too.

3 This meant my morning started off well!

4 School was fine - my pupils all played pretty well.

5 I had good reports back that my little 7yr old boy pupil (at the all girls school)
played really well in the junior school concert on Tuesday.

6 The weather was STUNNING on the way home from school, making the drive beautiful.

7 I picked my boyfriend up from work, and when I arrived he was actually pretty much
ready to go! That NEVER happens. I'm glad too, as on Peace Day I wouldn't have been able to rant at him.

8 We decided on the way home to have a bbq.

9 My fella went a-shopping and came home with a burger challenge: Could I make burgers to rival Morrisons' 'Best' range burgers.

10 My burgers won the challenge! (wise boyfriend overall yesterday...)

11 The cat played in the garden near us the whole time we were outside. It was nice.

12 When I got in I listened to Blogtalk radio - Dr Blogstein's Happy Hour and loved it.

13 Bed-time was not TOO late, and I have woken up feeling good!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Thursday Thirteen #17

Thursday Thirteen - Thirteen random things because it's a Thursday but I really want to post general musings.

1. I am at home in Buckinghamshire with my Mum and Dad this weekend.

2. They are at work today so I can sit and blog all morning and practise trumpet all afternoon.

3. Last night when I got home it was after 10pm. Mum had salad etc ready for me which was very much appreciated!

4. Today is Ma's birthday. We celebrated her birthday at midnight with some wine... prior to this we had been drinking wine too... She got a pretty good haul of gifts but is working til 9pm tonight. I was hoping for birthday inspiration but I really can't think of anything nice to do when she'll be tired & she's on a diet so doesn't want nice dinner. I'll keep thinking.

5. I was goaded into playing Vivaldi double tpt concerto (1 part only) around midnight yesterday along with a Maurice Andre CD... The things you do after a drink! Ok: The things I do after a drink!

6. I'm listening to some really bad music. My brother has left his computer here and he has an amazing array of shocking tunes. At the moment it's 'Could it be Magic'.

7. Whilst listening to bad music I am looking out of the window at the birds nest in the ivy right outside. There are blackbirds nesting in it and it's very exciting seeing them coming in and out.

8. Mum is on a diet on which you can eat as much as you want as long as it's really tasteless boring food... which means there is nothing nice to eat in the house. I know it'll do me good, but it's still slightly disappointing as if she were on a normal calorie counting diet at least there might still be some nice food in small quantities.

9. Quite a lot of this music is bad enough to make me stop typing to skip track. It's now 'Don't give up on us baby'.

10. OH MY GOD! He has his media player set on random selection... and the next track to come up is a sort of techno-remix of 'I'VE GOT A BRAND NEW COMBINE HARVESTER!!!' This is taking the piss.

11. I think the healthy food situation is making me more hungry than I would have been if I hadn't looked to see what was here... It's quite early and breakfast cereal is good normally.

12. The plan for this weekend is to try to take a bit of a break, as I've been stressed out lately. I love playing but sometimes it's hard to weigh up how much work you take on against how much money you will make from it against how good it will be for you to do it against how much you do or don't want to do it.

13. So - if you have any fun games for me to play that are non-music-related please let me know! Actually I think I have some questions to write for that interview meme... perhaps I should get onto that now.

Get the Thursday Thirteen Code here

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Thursday Thirteen # 14

Thirteen fittest UK TV celebs... 1. Myleene Klass 2. Rufus Sewell 3. Charlotte Church 4. Richard Armitage 5. Emilia Fox 6. James McAvoy 7. Denise Van Outen 8. Tom Chambers 9. Holly Willoughby 10. John Simm 11. Billie Piper 12. Rob James Collier 13. Patsy Kensit So I go for dark hair...... and since this was a joint effort this week it seems my boyfriend goes for boobs....? !

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Thursday Thirteen #14

To keep to a green-fingered theme:


Thirteen of our (me and the fella... as a botanist he's invited to participate) favourite plants...


1 laburnum


2 eucalyptus


3 daffodil


4 bluebell


5 forsythia


6 camellia


7 hellebores


8 aquilegia (columbine)


9 primrose


10 ajuga (bugle)


11 clematis


12 fritillaria


13 convolvulus




Pls see wikepedia for more info on all the above

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants


Thursday Thirteen Participants

1. Marcia 2. Susan Helene Gottfried

3. Miss Positive 4. Barb

5. CountryDew

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Powered by... Mister Linky's Magical Widgets.

Thursday Thirteen #13

My top Thirteen nights out in Glagsow 1. Brel. This is a pub on Ashton Lane. It's a famous spot to visit on your trip to Glasgow, as it's a cobbled street lined with small shops and bars. There is also a little cinema and a couple of curry shops. Brel is a Belgian bar which serves great food (muscles being my favourite) but also sells interesting beers and has live music fairly often. There is an outside area (a hill slope) that you can sit on in summer... providing you are willing to scan carefully for broken glass and fag ends. This is my favourite pub in the city. 2. Auctioneers. Another pub - this time in the city centre. It's a bit of an old man style dive of a pub but they sell bottles of wine for a fiver.... so I'm happy! 3. Cinema - UGC (now Cineworld) at the top of Hope Street. This is really tall and has glass lifts so you can see all across the city if you go up to the top. I have a pass so can see films for free (or more accurately for a monthly fee!). 4.Bluu - Late night bar in the Merchant City. This place opens late but isn't really clubby... I love it. Have to be feeling flush though for a night here. 5. Rugby - Hughenden, Glasgow West End. I can walk here from home. I LOVE watching the rugby here as you are right up close to the action and can almost touch the players (I wish!). 6. King Tut's Wah Wah Hut - City Centre. This is a pub and venue for up and coming bands. It's great. I haven't been for a while but will certainly be there again soon! 7. West Brewing Company - a microbrewery with a great beer garden set on Glasgow Green. Perfect for winding down on a Saturday afternoon in the summer. 8. The Wee Curry Shop - This is a TINY (seriously about 5 tables) shop in the city centre. It serves amazing curry in the most cramped of environments. It's brilliant value for money. 9. The Sisters - Restaurant near us out West. It's a small friendly restaurant but serves really posh nosh. It's best saved for a special occasion. 10. Bon Accord - pub again. City centre. Does lots of ales - more a top night of my boyfriend's really but I like it too. 11. Carling Academy - gig venue. Shockingly it mainly promotes and sells Carling lager. 12. Lock 27. This is a little pub by the canal up the road from our house. It's lovely in summer. 13. While I've been writing this I've come up with hundreds of pubs or cafes that I've had a great night out in but that aren't actually that nice really.... So I've come to the conclusion that I'm lucky to have good friends who can make a night out great, no matter where we go.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants


Thursday Thirteen Participants

1. Darla 2. Caylynn 3. Uisce 4. Raggedy

5. Mary (mert) 6. Sanni 7. Penny 8. turnbaby

9. Kathy

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Powered by... Mister Linky's Magical Widgets.

Thursday Thirteen #12

Posting this early as I don't want to get up tomorrow - First day off since January 8th.

Thirteen Places I've lost my phone keys coat or instruments. 1. I left my purse in a public toilets in Wisconsin. It was handed in to the bookshop next door by somebody nice! 2. Purse - Outside the nearest corner shop. I got home to find it missing, drove back, looked for it when a lady came up to ask it I'd lost my purse. She returned it. I opened it and found that I had actually dropped it getting into the car, then reversed over it. All of my credit cards were left with coin impressions.... They don't work with dents in. 3. Purse - Trader Joes pub in Glasgow. I asked my boyfriend to go back for it while I waited in a chip shop with a friend. He got back to find the pub closed (which wasn't surprising as we had left when they chucked us out)... so walked off. On his way back a drunk girl asked him for a cigarette. He doesn't smoke so said 'no'. She slapped him in the face. He then said 'Do you wanna slap me again?!'. Obviously she did - as she accepted the invitation. I was RAGING and all set to storm after her but her friends were already dragging her back to apologise. 4. Last February we went to New York. I lost(/had stolen) my phone in a pub there whilst watching Wales beat Scotland in the Six Nations on a Sunday morning. This time I was not lucky and they ran up £60 in call charges before I could stop it. 5. Coat - When I got back to Scotland straight after the trip I left my coat in Dundee.... 6. So now my phone is in New York and my coat is in Dundee. I had a gig in Aberdeen.... where I left my keys. Phone in New York, coat in Dundee, keys in Aberdeen, TC in Glasgow. Ideal. 7. Some months back I took a walk along Broughty Ferry beach. It's absolutely stunning and I had a great time drawing pictures in the sand. On the drive home my boyfriend's phone went. It was my mum who had received a call from a lady who had picked my phone up on the beach. She posted it to Glasgow and didn't leave any return address or phone number for me to be able to thank her properly! 8. Trumpet! - I left my trumpet in Argos in Manchester before my audition for the music college there. 9. After a cornetto gig I stopped for a Chinese. The next day I found I was missing an intrument.... Sure enough it was in the Chinese restaurant. 10. At the moment (freezing cold weather) I have no coat.... It's currently in Carlisle where I left it at a friend's parents house. 11. On a previous occasion I left my phone in a pub where I knew the barman. He took the phone and put it behind the bar. At midnight a man went up to the barmaid and asked if anyone had handed in a phone, describing my phone. She handed it straight over. Blatant stealing by the man. Coppers didn't want to know. 12. A few months ago a lady came and knocked on my door with an old purse in her hand. I hadn't seen this purse for months so was most surprised to see her with it! It turned out she had moved into a house nearby and had found this purse chucked over the wall of her garden when she cleared it out. Needless to say there was no money in it... but I don't think there ever had been. I think the purse probably dropped out of the car one night and I didn't notice - so someone must have come across it in the street, nicked the cards and coins and discarded the rest. 13. HA HA HA! - I can't think of a thirteenth for me but I have a funny one from Christmas this year that I can borrow from my brother: He left his credit card in Game (computer game shop) in Milton Keynes. He phoned and found that they had put it in the safe overnight but that he could collect it whenever. He asked Mum for a lift back to the shop. She made him take the shop staff chocolates to say thank you! He said that the bloke he handed them to looked at him like he was nuts. I LAUGHED A LOT!!!!!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Thursday Thirteen #11

Thirteen excuses I've heard this month..... (I'm teaching brass a lot at the moment) 1. I've forgotten my instrument 2. My teacher wouldn't let me out for my lesson 3. I've forgotten my instrument 4. I forgot I had a lesson 5. I've forgotten my instrument 6. I've been to the orthodontist 7. I've forgotten my instrument 8. My mum lost her job today (and this means you can't have a lesson??) 9. I've forgotten my instrument 10. I forgot my music (this one doesn't work as I have plenty of spare music) 11. I've forgotten my instrument 12. I didn't think we had lessons this week (randomly mid term!) 13. I've forgotten my instrument Have you spotted the most frequently used...?!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Thursday Thirteen #10

SCROLL DOWN FOR THURSDAY THIRTEEN PLEASE

Today it is snowing again! And I'm very excited because I love the snow even though it will make my journey to work very difficult and a bit dangerous.


The flash on my camera meant I could only get pictures of snow falling this morning (dark still outside) so I've taken the flash off for this third picture. Please do not think that we have some strange sunrise.... we don't have sunrise yet at all!




Yesterday my route to work was a little windy.... not exactly direct. But I travelled through some beautiful mountains all topped with snow. I tried to get a picture for you but my camera batteries were nearly dead. I hope you get some idea from this.

TopChamp's Thursday Thirteen - things I couldn't live without (IN NO ORDER!) 1. Trumpet 2. Friends & Family. I wouldn't cope well without people to talk to. I don't shut up much during the day and on days when I spend a lot of time travelling I get home and launch into a stream of waffly nonsense until my need to chatter is spent. I obviously like my friends so would hate to be without them! 3. Internet. I'd also miss all of my blog friends - Over the last few weeks I've been a slack blogger and there's just SO much you've been up to to catch up on that I'm not sure when I'll have time! Given that I've taken teaching on Saturdays for the next two weeks so have no days off until 03 Feb. 4. Curl cream defining stuff or hair straighteners.... Has to go one way or the other. 5. Glasses or contact lenses 6. Music - listening to as well as playing 7. Computer. I'm actually angling for a laptop but my boyfriend isn't convinced yet. As I'd be buying it on credit and he earns more than me generally I think he has a say in this. 8. Mobile phone. Need this for work mainly but I'm terrible when I forget it - and find it irritating when I can't contact people because they've forgotten theirs! 9. Spaghetti Bolognaise. I probably could live without this if there were other foods available. But I love it and would miss it. 10. AA routefinder. Very often I have to go to play at a gig somewhere I am unfamiliar with. AA routefinder is a website that gives you pretty clear directions to ANYWHERE in the UK. I think it also covers other parts of Europe. 11. Books. I've read that google is trying to get every book written put onto the internet. If this were the case I think I could live without books if there was internet and I had a laptop because I'd find plenty to read on the web. But what if there was no connection? I'd still need a book then... 12. Shower. Can you imagine living without a shower?! I don't think it would be nice. For anyone. 13. Piano Get the Thursday Thirteen code here! The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Thursday Thirteen #9

TopChamp's Top Thirteen Recipes (I forgot to mention earlier that I hardly ever weigh anything out and most of my recipes are made from whatever I have in the house at the time.....) 1) Spaghetti Bolognaise (sort of) minced beef or pork tinned tomatoes stock cube herbs of choice (can't choose what you don't have...) onion garlic rinsed & drained flageolet beans Cook off all the dry ingredients, whack in the stock cube and tinned tomatoes. Possibly add some more wet things depending on whether I have drunk all the wine in the house already or not... Serve with spaghetti. 2) Potato Bake- goes nicely with gammon Potatoes and white sauce - with any additions you fancy eg. garlic, ham, cheese, herbs. I used to work in a tearoom whose white sauce recipe goes along the lines of: Put 1pt milk in a saucepan on a lowish heat. Have a whisk handy then add 1 heaped tablespoon of flour & whisk it in. Bring to the boil. Boil ferociously for 1 minute then turn down and simmer for 3 minutes. Don't add anything to the sauce prior to boiling. After you've boiled it for a minute you can add salt, pepper etc. Thinly slice potatoes and layer in a greased baking dish. Pour over the white sauce. Bake for an hour & a half. Some people top this with cheese but I prefer it without. I have possibly been conditioned by living with a cheesophobe for the last 4ish years. 3) Thai Green Curry Chicken/beef and/or vegetables of choice Thai Green Curry paste Coconut Milk (half fat is fine) Dark muscavado sugar (not loads - level tablespoon maybe) Fish sauce & juice of 1 lime. I just follow the instructions on the back of the tin of coconut milk - it's GREAT! Don't have one in the cupboard or I'd copy it out for you. 4) Generic Indianesque Curry Meat (any) Fresh chopped garlic Fresh chopped ginger Ground cumin seeds turmeric Chili - ideally fresh but if not cayene pepper or chilli powder garam marsala (don't know how to spell it - too lazy to go look) tinned tomatoes OR stock & half fat creme fraiche I fry off the spices & chilli (not garam marsala) in a little oil then fry off the meat & any vegetables. I then add the tomatoes or stock and cook it off for as long as I have (which usually isn't long enough). I add the garam marsala near the end & if I'm doing a creamy one I add the creme fraiche right at the end. 5) Lemon Sole This is in here as it's one of my fella's favourites & I'm pretty keen. Mix flour with pepper and a little salt. Flour the fish with this mixture & fry for a few minutes each side. 6) Cornish Pasties Recipe link 7) Sunday Roast 8) Fish Pie Recipe link - this has cheese on top though which I still don't like. 9) Pancakes (boyfriend's favourite) 4oz plain flour pinch of salt 2 eggs 200ml milk & 75ml water 2oz butter Whisk it all up with a food mixer then ladle into hot frying pan and play the fun 'who can toss the best (no smut please!)' game! 10) Pineapple Upsidedown Cake I use a basic sponge recipe but with a tiny bit less butter and I add in some of the juice from a can of pineapple rings, then just lay the pineapple out, pour over the sponge & bake. 11) Gingerbread. This one's a favourite coz I had never made it before Christmas and was very excited to find how EASY it was. Recipe link 12) Marble Cake Check out Burekaboy's blog this week (see sidebar). My boyfriend and I last made this for my birthday together. It was great fun. 13) Apple & Blackberry Crumble Use cooking apples & blackberries. Cook them on the hob with a little sugar if they're too tart (which they might be if you've picked them early) til the mixture is soft but not mush. Cheat and buy ready made topping from the shops... top and bake in the oven for 20 mins or so til it's brown.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Thursday Thirteen #8

TopChamp's Top Thirteen Books (list changes constantly which is one reason I've been avoiding this topic) 1) Diary of Samuel Pepys (one day I will finish it) 2) Terry Jones' Medieval Lives 3) Round Ireland With A Fridge (Tony Hawks) 4) Flanimals (Ricky Gervais) 5) The Missing (Andrew O'Hagan) 6) The Golden Door (Kerry Jamieson) 7) Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure 8) Rhapsody (Elizabeth Haydon) 9) The Righteous Men (Sam Bourne) 10) The Shoes of Salvation (Edward Monkton) 11) Far From the Madding Crowd (Thomas Hardy) 12) The Snow Spider (Jenny Nimmo) 13) Animal Farm (George Orwell)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Thursday Thirteen #7

Thirteen things I've found in my Mum's kitchen today. Not a lot of thought into this one - sorry but priorities elsewhere x

1. Tito - their tabby cat 2. Chicken breasts 3. Smoked salmon (yum) 4. Salad 5. WINE (and lots of it!) 6. Swedish Meatballs 7. Pork pie (partial) 8. Ham which looks ready for cooking (and made me excited at the thought) 9. Baileys (more booze) 10. A pig that grunts when you open the fridge. I've only been home a couple of hours - it didn't take me long to find the pig.... 11. TV 12. Stereo thing (wee one) 13. Sherry (you may notice there are a few different types of alcohol here. It's by no means the whole list!!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Thursday Thirteen #6

Thirteen things I'm looking forward to this Christmas in Scotland.

1. Sleeping in my own bed 2. Watching whatever I like on TV 3. Not having to play trivia games with my family, as I hate them (the games - not the family!). 4. Having the option to stay in my PJ's all day long should I want to. 5. Seeing my boyfriend actually ON Christmas day. 6. Being able to keep an eye on Fat Cat & make sure she's ok. 7. The real possibility of snow. 8. Going for a walk. The scenery for walking is so much more spectacular up here. We're really really close to some beautiful hills and lochs. 9. Watching my boyfriend cook his first Christmas dinner. 10. Restraining myself as far as possible from interfering with the cooking processes. What usually happens is I watch and think 'why are you doing it like that, when it's much easier to..' by which time I've dived in and done it myself. (Cheating here- not sure this is a positive) 11. Having some time in the flat to relax with NOTHING to do. 12. Drinking as much booze as I like guilt-free. 13. Being allowed to open presents WHATEVER TIME WE LIKE! (from 0.01am on the 25th)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Thursday Thirteen #5

Thirteen things I'll miss this Christmas as we're staying up North this year (in no order before anyone gets offended!!):

My wee sister dressing up as the Christmas fairy to give out the presents. OK, so she hasn't actually dressed up for years but I loved it when she did. Bucks Fizz at breakfast!! Santa bringing my stocking in the night, although last year he was a bit frightening as he'd included a CD called 'bedroom baroque' which had baroque music and massage oils packaged together with a promise to.. um.... well - make you a happier girl! Somehow wrong from the fat man in red. Mum's bread sauce & ham. Obviously Mum & Dad themselves. My folks putting up a dead Christmas tree worthy of Phoebe's tree saving episode in friends. Last year's was particularly noteworthy. My sister colluding with me to persuade Dad to open as much wine in one day as humanly possible. My brother & his games & DVDs. He's a veritable library! Playing trumpet/piano with my family as a group (realise this is geeky & sad). Usually from the books Mum buys us as presents. The Mitre, my old local. (pub) My schoolfriends who are usually around for a pint or two over the holidays. The assortment of festive food! I don't even want to cook xmas dinner for us this year. My boyfriend's generous offer was that we could have sandwiches. Not "I'll make us sandwiches..." so I assume I'd be making them myself. Board Games. Actually - maybe not as they're usually really dull and I am a bad loser.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Thursday Thirteen #4

Last week I was in too much of a hurry to think about my TT enough. So this week to make up for it I'm drafting this on Sunday...

This is a list of 13 things I actually already knew about carrots. And it probably just tells you that I am interested in weird stuff. I was at work a while back and thought 'what shall I do this lunchtime? Go for a stroll, buy a sandwich? No - I'll look up the history of the carrot'.

Thirteen Things about Carrots actually... but it is written by Badjokesandovenchips... 1) Carrots didn't start out orange - naturally white/purply red (might as well start with my favourite fact!) 2) They were bred orange when the Dutch who were world renowned as leaders in horticulture in the 18th Century - much as they are now - wanted to develop a nationally coloured vegetable. And they did just what you might guess - they used a red carrot and a yellow variety to breed an orange one! 3) In Britain a year or two ago they tried bringing back the original purple/red carrots. However it seems this was not a success. I never actually saw the purple ones in the shops or I would have bought some. 4) Carrots may be pictured in an ancient Egyptian painting (which you can see if you click on number 13's link) - but it might be a parsnip so don't get too excited. 5) Carrots are closely related to parsnips/parsley and HEMLOCK - which you don't want to be eating. 6) Maryam might be keen to know that it was Morrocan and Arabian travellers who brought a variety of coloured carrot seeds to Europe. So without them the Dutch could never have nationalised the veg. 7) I have grown carrots in my garden this year - they came up lovely but I was a little impatient and dug them up early. 8) Carrots don't help you see in the dark. This one was thought up by the Government here during the war as a ploy to make kids eat more veg. 9) Carrots through history have been used medicinally for a variety of things. eg. the leaves were used to put on cancerous tumours though I'm not sure this would have done much. 10) Carrots were thought (can't remember but think this was in Teheran) to be an aphrodisiac and to increase a man's sperm count. 11) 3rd US President Thomas Jefferson grew carrots and was a keen botanist. 12) There are 35 calories in a medium carrot. 13) When I told my friends on an evening out that I'd been reading about the history of the carrot they laughed.. and laughed. When I tried to pass on the facts & information - they laughed some more. This is the link to an online museum which tells you anything you could need to know about carrots and their history.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants