Three Cats And A Gadget

Sonata:

Absolutely nothing of any interest happened this week . It rained , sometimes the sun shone . The house didn't fall down and we ate omniverously , but in moderation . I even noticed in time that my favourite mug's handle was cracked across and avoided a lapful of tea .So all I've got to show you is three cats and a gadget .

First this nifty and rather beautiful wooden bread slicer ( c. 1920s ) which I coveted the moment I saw it in a small cabinet in the corner of an old church . Once used by a small religious community in Leiden , I feel it would be a great success these days in foodie circles , given the interest in good bread .

And , because there are times when I still miss having one .... three very fine cats .

This one seemed to want to be a cheerleader

This one was carved by Johan Coenraad Altorf in 1939 as part of a wall panel for a Den Haag board room

And this one was added by Middle Daughter to a card she sent a few days ago and echoes my sentiments precisely

Oh yes , and I had a birthday .

Things To Do When It's 30C In The Shade

Sonata:
a) FIND some shade .

b) Once found , just sit perfectly still in it like this gnome and a hundred or so of his brothers

in a corner of the Ceramic Museum's back garden .

c) Failing that , cycle up the river path

hoping to create enough of a draught to cool one's middle .

d) Wander about a shady village church yard

admiring the gravestones , and marvel at the infinity and otherness of Fresian Christian names . Sipke and Sijtske , Meintje and Janke , Wopke and Hotze and the wonderfully named Allegonda .

e) Chat to a horse on the way back

"You're ra-ather beautiful , you know " I coo-ed fatuously ... and he nodded in agreement . I must take a carrot next time .

f) Drink Jasmine tea and eat nectarines .

No , Not "The Christmas Carol". This Is About Tiny Tom .

Sonata:

I'm so proud ! My backyard pots , full of wavering sun-starved tomato plants , have finally yielded a red-ish cherry tomato !!

So I may still not need a giant canning kettle like this one in Lehman's catalogue

nor can I bring armfuls of pomodori into the kitchen like Larissa Bertonasco's nonna , but I can dream

And meanwhile , I'll just go to the market tomorrow and buy a big bag of Roma tomatoes from the paprika man instead . Then I'll cook the chicken with green peppers and tomatoes from her lovely book "La Nonna La Cucina La Vita " about summers in Liguria with her Italian grandmother ... to cook : chop a small chicken in 8 pieces , brown it in olive oil , add garlic and rosemary , followed by 4 green peppers and 4 big , peeled tomatoes cut in chunks and splash with white wine . Then simmer for 30 minutes . I haven't tried it yet but it sounds , like many of the simplest recipes , certain to succeed and I'm already looking forward to mopping the sauce up with a chunk of ciabatta .

P.S. The Lehman's catalogue is full of ingenious gadgets and must-haves ... a sort of Amish version of the Lakelands Plastics catalogue . While I was looking for their Canning and Preserving section , I came across their Humane Mousetrap that could trap up to 20 mice at one time ! In what hellish circumstances could one ever need it ??

Relaxing .... And Relaxing Some More .

Sonata :

As crows fly to and fro over Smitonius' house on their way to the Olympic Stadium , I've been lolling about with a pile of library books . It's ages since I've had the time to gulp books down whole and I've forgotten how much fun it is !

So far , I've vicariously gone on the Oregon Trail in 1845 with Peggy Elliot's "A Small Part Of History " , used my paranormal powers to find dead bodies with Charlaine Harris's "Grave Sight" and solved a handful of other murders

And now I'm about to do some "Knitting" .

Don't be misled by the pretty but rather twee cover by the way , this is proving to be rather good . And while I'm following the instructions on the way to achieve perfect rice given to me by one of the mothers , "Don't overcook rice .When the rice begins to dance in water , it is the perfect time to put out fire and drain it " , I'm going to read a bit more before getting supper .

Red, White and Blue

Smitonius:

Having survived the Jubilee celebrations, when her Majesty was inescapable wherever you turned... well, her image, as the closest I got to her see her was this magnificent Jelly Beans portrait in John Lewis (Stratford):

I hasten to add, although no royalist, I could not fail to celebrate her glorious reign because the pub I went for Sunday lunch that long jubilee weekend was serving this in her honour. For Queen and Country I will eat a decent desert:

Now, of course, we await the Olympics. Given that I live, as the crow flies (well, a bus ride away), not that far from the olympic stadium some signs are inescapable: special Olympic traffic, Olympic bunting (official only, as local shop owners have been told to remove anything that does not comply), and even the torch. On Saturday, the torch relay skimmed past the bottom of my street in Hackney so I could not resist nipping out to see it. I must say, although the torch does look like a cheese grater (as is often said) and it is awfully 1980s bling gold, the guy carrying it looked very pleased. We all made suitable noises, took photographs and clapped as he jogged into the distance:

I forgot the torch was running around in town again today, so on my way to work was surprised to see one of the mascots in Highbury Fields for a special post-torch event (Wenlock or Mandeville? I can but shrug, as I haven't learnt to differentiate one from the other).

This will be the closest I get to the event, as I did not apply for tickets, but did any of you?

"Retirement" or "All Good Things Come To An End"

Sonata:
I've been admiring my leaving present cookery book since I brought it home at lunch time . All the recipes , contributed and written by the parents and beautifully decorated by the children with glittery stickers and wonderful drawings ( one , a weirdly wandering black felt-tip trail has been subtitled by the artist's Papa , "This is your spider" ) , photos and cards , are collected in a folder , covered with a tailored cotton slip cover . On the front there's a full size photo of me and one of the youngest preschoolers cheerily grinning and no , you're not going to see it ! You can see me here instead



(It really is time to buy that Pilates DVD , obviously !)
Recipes range from Oma's Pancakes to Thai Shrimp with Straw Mushrooms . There's Russian Egg salad , Fish Pie , Jugoslav Pilav , Chicken Piri-Piri , Crepe Suzette , Meatballs and Mash , Pink Risotto , four pages full of wonderful Indonesian dishes contributed by the father of twins , HOT chicken curry ( decorated with beautifully peaceful , weaving sketched swirls ) , scones , Pretty Trifle , Hearty Soup , a Vegetable Biryani for Madam Geraldine and the Thankyou-Geraldine-Bean dish . And lots more . Laughing photos of the children .... and their hands , carefully traced round ... something I'd do with all of them when they first came

I haven't got the heart to cook anything tonight . Oh , I'm going to miss them all .

We Hadn't Even SEEN Any Blood Yet

Sonata: It's nearly time for my four-monthly check-up at the diabetes clininc ... which means having a blood test a few days before . So , earlier this week at 7.45 , I joined the queue by the hospital lab . It's always fairly busy , but on Tuesday morning the line was out of the waiting room and snaked half way up the hall . All breakfast-less , we stood ... and stood ... and stood , the queue growing behind us . No one was coming out , either .

??

Eventually someone did and we began to shuffle forward . By 8.25 I could see the door to the waiting room . By 8.40 I could see inside the door to the waiting room .

Unfortunately , so could the young man in front of me . Tall , gangly and presumably as hungry as me , he paled , his knees buckled , he swayed backwards and then pitched forward , banging his head on the door post with an enormous CRACK . And fell like a stone . Two nurses bustled up with a stretcher and pushed him inside .

"Well , that's one way to jump the queue " said someone behind me .

P.S. It turned out that the wonderful machine that prints out patient-specific labels for each blood sample had broken down and we'd had to wait for everything to be set up again , but I was finally seen and free to rush to the cafeteria at 9.15 . Meanwhile the young man emerged from a side ward , bled , fed and with a huge "egg" on his forehead at 9.00 . We all clapped .