THE JOY OF FLOWERS

Good Morning to you,

Some of us, love to see our flowers growing in the garden.

Some of us, like to pick flowers, take them indoors and place them in a vase.

.... and some of us, as I discovered when I visited Natasha in India, 

enjoy flowers, with their stems removed, floating in a beautiful bowl, filled with water.

Each day, Natasha is visited by a flower man who brings little bags filled with flower heads.  Sometimes he delivers marigolds, sometimes he delivers jasmine flowers, sometimes he delivers roses and other times when they are in season, he will deliver small chrysanthemum flowers.

Natasha, then fills a bowl with water and gently places the flowers of the day, into the water, to float where they may. They look spectacular, oh and not only do they look spectacular, but the perfume from the jasmine flowers is wonderful.  Their sweet perfume fills the room.

The jasmine flowers, in Natasha's bowl, are mixed with small roses, which remind me of  our native dog rose.... they are tiny, but perfectly formed. I have to say, I think they are  as lovely as our hybrid roses, now that is quite a statement coming from me, as roses are my favourite flowers.... but without wild roses, we would never have our beautiful modern day roses.  

I just had to show you the decoration around the outside of Natasha's bowl, because as you know, I am a great lover of the colours, blue and white, oh and I have to tell you, this bowl is huge, it is fourteen inches in width. So imagine it placed at the centre, of a very large, round, marble table.... yes.... it looks absolutely fabulous.

Of course, the bowl does not have to be so big, as in this case. To be honest, I'm not sure if these are chrysanthemum petals, I think they are, but I'm not absolutely certain, although I feel sure you will agree there is a similarity.  Not that it matters, because the colour of these petals, are stunning. The petals are so bright and sunny that they would bring a smile to my face any day of the week.

With the flowers placed on the table, I wanted to show you this carpet, which you can see underneath the glass table.... sorry about the toes. I really would love this carpet to grace the floor of my living room.... I just love the muted colours.

I then discovered these beautiful lilies.  They were placed in this lovely marble dish and I loved the idea of the dish replicating the shape of the petals.

Now you would imagine, the stems of these lilies, had been placed into a block of oasis, but no such thing, the stems were placed into shallow water. When I was taking this photo, the perfume from the lilies was quite heady.

I think one of my favourites, has to be these bougainvillea bracts, which were placed individually onto this dish to create the image of a flower. Here you can see the marble petal dish much more clearly.... isn't it stunning. I am sorry this photograph isn't as sharp as it should be, but for some reason I only took one photograph and I really wanted you to see the beauty of this design. It must have taken someone such a long time, to lay each bract on to the dish to create this design.... as I said, it really is stunning.

The bowl you use does not have to be large and it does not have to be filled with flower heads. Using just a few flower heads and an unusual brass dish you can create a lovely effect.   

So, on returning home, I had to recreate my own lovely dish of flowers.

  

I decided to used this lovely Turkish, hand decorated glass bowl. I filled it two thirds with water and added some Alstroemeria flower heads.

..... another reminder of our fabulous trip to India.

Take care and I will catch up with you next Thursday.

This week I will be visiting,

Natasha in Oz for Sundays Down Under

HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II

Good Morning to you,

Are you wondering if I have muddled up my days and that I think today, is Thursday?

No, honestly, I am not confused.

I wanted to pop by to visit you, because today, is such a special day.

Today, our monarch, Queen Elizabeth II has reigned for 63 years and 7 months and has become, the longest reigning monarch in our history,  even longer than her great, great grandmother, Queen Victoria.

So in honour of this achievement, I thought, I would celebrate, by sharing with you some lovely early photographs of Queen Elizabeth.  Some you may have seen before and some you may not.

Queen Elizabeth at the tender age of 3 years.
Yes, I have shown you this
photograph before, but
I feel sure you can forgive me
because it is such a lovely photograph.

 Dare I say this about our monarch.... she was so cute and I love her curls.

In December 1951 , 

Queen Elizabeth broadcasting, 

what would become, her 

annual Christmas message

to the nation.

Our Queen at the age of 20 years,
wearing one of her many 
beautiful gowns.

Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh
 at the time of their betrothal
 in July 1947.

In this photograph, you can see the

 Princess Elizabeth wearing the badges of

 rank, of a Colonel, in the Grenadier Guards.

 By her side is

the Duke of Gloucester 

at the ceremony of the 

Trooping of the Colour in June 1949.

Prince Charles was one year old on

 14th November 1949 when this

 photograph was taken.

I love that Princess Anne

 had no interest in having her photograph taken, but preferred to

 investigate the flowerbeds,
which appeared to be far more interesting.

Prince Charles at the age of four. 

If you look at his face you can see he loved

 his glove puppet.

I do hope you have enjoyed these photographs as much as I did.  

In June 2013, I told you about when George and I were presented to Queen Elizabeth.  It was in 1975 and a memory we will never forget, as it was such an honour for us both.

All of these photographs were taken from The Queen Elizabeth Coronation Book published in 1953.

Take care and I will catch up with you tomorrow, as normal.

This week I will be visiting,

Lesley from Lamberts Lately

THE DELICATELY FLAVOURED INDIAN LYCHEE

Good Morning to you,

Do you recognise this little fellow?

No?

How about this?

Still not sure?

Is it on the tip of your tongue, but you can't remember the name?

Well, I think I've teased you enough. It's time for me, 
to introduce you, 
to, 

the 
very
exotic 
Indian Lychee.

Are you as surprised as I was to
 discover the
 name of this fruit?

My only experience of the lychee, was in the late 1960's, when we used to go to our local Chinese restaurant. We loved the restaurant because it was so different. We discovered dishes like Sweet and Sour Pork Balls, Chicken Chop Suey, Crispy Pancake Rolls and Chicken Chow Mein.  Prawn crackers and crispy noodles were a revelation and very shi shi for the time.... and if my memory serves me well, most of these items were not on sale at my local grocers in the early 1970's. I really don't remember noodles or bamboo shoots. I do remember packets of dried food, which included noodles, but I think those new types of food  came a little later.

The dessert selection at the Chinese restaurant was never as exciting as the main courses.... the only dessert I can remember being offered was tinned lychees, swimming in syrup with a spoonful of cream floating in the syrup.  By now, you will be well aware of my sweet tooth, so of course, I had to try the tinned lychees and I have to be perfectly honest, they were awful, so I never ate them again and I never gave them a second thought.

That is, until we visited Natasha in India.  

Natasha had been out and about with George and on their return home, George presented me with what looked like a bunch of flowers.  On closer inspection, I could see they were not flowers, so I asked what they were. That is when Natasha told me they were a fruit, and in actual fact, they were lychees, well, you could have knocked me down with a feather.

Once I got over the surprise, I was excited to see how they tasted. I was keeping my fingers crossed that they tasted nothing like the tinned lychees of so many years ago.   Natasha showed me what to do and once we peeled the outer cases to expose, 

the fruit,

I could see the lychee was the most lovely pearl colour.

Now, let's get down to business, the eating of the lychee.

Within my family

there seems to be two ways to eat a lychee.

Firstly, you peel the fruit and then pop the whole fruit into your mouth and somehow or other, move it around your mouth to remove the fruit from the stone, which is what Gaja and George did.... mmm not my style at all.

Or
secondly
you can adopt my style,
which 
safely 
keeps your teeth in tact.

Using a teaspoon, I scored the fruit from top to bottom and carefully released the fruit from the stone. Yes maybe this technique is a little fiddly, but I feel it is well worth the effort.

Once the stones were removed, we popped each piece of lychee into our mouths and they were delicious. To my surprise I loved the flavour.  It was nothing like those tinned lychees, I had tasted all those years ago, instead, the fresh lychee had the most delicate, almost floral flavour.

....as with the mangoes, because the lychees were in season during our visit to India, we really ate our fill. It was interesting, because the more I ate, the easier it became to de-stone the fruit.... I became quite the expert, although George and Gaja continued with their method and thought I was crazy to go to so much fuss and bother.

..... but that's me, I am not a finger food person. 

Do you remember me telling you, about the very first time I ate a MacDonald's, when Natasha and Danielle were little girls.... I asked for a knife and fork.... yes, I would say that just about sums me up. After all the years, the girls still find it funny, that I asked for a knife and fork to eat a beefburger.

Talking of experiences.

I have to tell you, you have no idea how hard it has been to write the word lychees.... each time I wrote the word, I wanted to add an 'e' at the end. So instead of lychees, I was writing 'lycheese'.... my brain just would not accept that there was not an 'e' on the end of the word.

With a little luck, and lots of proof reading... oh and if you are thinking I could have used spell check.... I did, but it did not recognise the word, I feel sure I have weeded out all those extra e's.

Let me know if you spot one.

So take care and I will see you next week.

This week I will be visiting,

Miz Helen's Country Cottage for Full Plate Thursday

and

Lamberts Lately for Create it Thursday

PART 2 ~ SWEET AND JUICY MANGO WITH LABNEH AND ROASTED OATS

Good Morning to you,

I was wondering, how do you record birthdays, anniversaries and appointments, which you need to remember?

Are you a paper person?

Or,

are you a computer, Ipad or Iphone person?

In the back of my mind, as it is the year 2015,  I feel the correct answer should be, that I am a computer person. I am not without skills, I do use a computer quite a lot, but not to keep track of appointments or the like.

George does, he records all his comings and goings on the ipad and loves it.  Along with checking the weather.... yes, as you can guess, we are English and checking the weather is ingrained in our psyche.

..... but, to date, I have resisted .... and do you know why.

Call me old fashioned, but I love paper calendars. 

I love visiting card shops during the month of December, (did you notice I didn't mention Christmas) to see the newest calendars .... I will look at four or five, but I always end up buying the same style..... a line a day calendar, for each month of the year, as it suits me well. 

.... and the reason is,

At the beginning of each year, I love to sit down at the kitchen table, reach for a pen and record what is going to happen in the future. I find by writing the information down, I am more likely to retain it.

I love to be able to see at a glance what is happening throughout the week. I highlight birthdays and remind myself at least two weeks in advance that a card needs to be bought.... yes I do try to be organised. 

.... and I am happy with my paper calendar, 

but,

each time Natasha and Danielle come home, they invariably encourage me to change my habit of a lifetime. They both encourage me to use my ipad and tell me, it will make life simpler. I always listen and smile, then I say 'I'll give it a go',

but,

they both know, that I know, it won't happen, as next time they come home I will still be using my paper calendar, then once again they will try to convert me.

It is a little game we play..... just a thought, I wonder, will Natasha and Danielle ever manage to win me over?

... but there are no games being played today, as today, we are going to be making the second part of our dessert.

The roasted oats to place on top of

our

Mango and Labneh dessert.

Now then, you may be asking, 'Why are there blueberries on top of the roasted oats, when last week Daphne used mangoes'.  Well, there is a reason.

Someone, who shall remain nameless, although, if you have been reading my blog for a little while, you will know, it's George, ate the last remaining mango. It meant that I was scuppered, there were no mangoes left. I did not have a replacement, and I could not buy anymore, because the mangoes in the shops would be firm to the touch and not ripe enough to eat. 

Note to self: remember to let George know when I need to keep an ingredient.

So apologies for the blueberries, but having said that, blueberries would be lovely to use in this dessert as well.

So without further ado, 'it's on with the pinnie' and the music I am listening to is,

the fabulous Blake Shelton.  Do you remember, I mentioned, that I had never heard of Blake, until he dueted with Barbra Streisand on the song 'I'd Want It To Be You'. I had mentioned this to George, and he surprised me with this wonderful album.... and I love it.

BUT, before I share some of Blake's music from the album, I discovered this YouTube clip.... you may have seen it already as it has had a lot of hits, but it is the first time for me.  Get your tissues ready, because you will need them. 

Natasha and Danielle, are you ready?

Dad signing ~ I Loved Her First

Then when you have dried your eyes and composed yourself, listen to,

I Don't Care

and fall in love with Blake's beautiful voice.

So while I gather my ingredients together, I am listening to,

What I Wouldn't Give

I have played this album so many times, that I know most of the words, to the songs.... so yes, I am singing along and I have to say, as I gather my ingredients, I am also including, very dramatic dance movements around my kitchen.  It's just as well you cannot see me, as you would be in fits of laughter.

INGREDIENTS

YOU 

WILL NEED

TO MAKE

ROASTED OAT TOPPING

4 oz large rolled oats

6 or 7 large walnuts

2 oz dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons organic Agave Syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon organic coconut oil

1/4 teaspoon of salt

Preheat the oven to 160 C

or

140 C if you have a fan assisted oven

You Will Also Need

1 medium sized baking tray

Baking parchment 

HOW TO 

MAKE

ROASTED OAT TOPPING

Place the oats

onto a baking tray

and

bake for 30 minutes.

Move the oats around every 15 minutes.

Keep an eye on them, because ovens vary 

and you might find it takes

 less time to roast the oats.

Whilst the oats are baking, cut the walnuts into

small pieces.

You will notice there is a mix of large and small

pieces of walnuts.  This is because George enjoys

a larger walnut, whilst I prefer
 a smaller piece of

walnut.

Place the walnuts into a small pan and toast until they take on a golden colour.  

It is important that you move the walnuts around the pan and

that you keep an eye on them.

I did not heed my own advice, as I answered a text from Natasha, which is always welcome,
 and I managed to burn a few walnuts.  
It is so easy to do.

As my father would say, 'Don't do as I do' Do as I say'.

When the walnuts have toasted, set  them aside for the moment.

Place the dark brown sugar into a small saucepan

along with

the Agave syrup,

the coconut oil,

the

vanilla essence,

the

salt

and finally,

the 

toasted walnuts

and

cook over a low heat

until

the brown sugar has dissolved.

Using the same baking tray as you used to toast the

oats, line it with baking parchment,
 as this will make 

it easier to remove the roasted oats
 when they have cooled.

Oops, here is my second mistake, I forgot to line the baking tray. I think I am enjoying Blake's music a little too much.

We'll move on..... Spoon the mixture onto the lined baking tray

and

using the back of a spoon, level the mixture.

Cool completely.

By which time you will have the most delicious, gooey topping.

Break into small pieces

and

 place

on top

of your sweet and juicy mango with labneh dessert.

I thought I would let you know, that you will have some roasted oats left over, but they are delicious and I usually find once I place them in a dish, they are eaten by the end of the day.

As I mentioned last week, please don't be put off by the Part 1 and Part 2 of this dessert.  It really is straight forward, but because I take step by step photographs, it makes the whole process seem a lot longer than it really is. Just remember to drain the yoghurt and roast the oats the evening before and the following day, you will be ready to complete this dessert.

As you know, I always own up to mistakes I make in the kitchen, because I am not a chef, I am someone who enjoys cooking, and I am not infallable, I am prone to making a few mistakes here and there when I lose concentration.

I'm sure you are the same, have you had the odd mishap in the kitchen?

Take care and I will see you next Thursday.

This week I will be joining,

Lesley from Lamberts Lately for Create it Thursday

and

Miz Helen's Country Cottage for Full Plate Thursday