A few more household hints and tips Part Three

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Are you conscious of killing germs at the moment?  How is your remote control looking?  A splash of hand sanitizer on a piece of kitchen towel will do wonders for your remote controls.  A cotton bud can help get to the trick.

Want your undies to smell nicer?  Take a coffee filter and fill it with a little bicarbonate of soda and some essential oils.  Lavender or orange sound good.  Tie it with an elastic band and pop it in those drawers.

Want to keep your bread fresh?  Pop a clean potato in the bread bin.

Just had a cup of ground coffee?  When the grains have cooled down use them on your hands as an exfoliator.

Got dry skin on your face?  Try a mayonnaise mask and leave it on for 20 minutes.

Feeling tired?  Whilst watching TV, roll a tennis ball under your feet.  A bit of a revival.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How are lovers coping during lockdown?

Keeping Occupied During Lockdown, Uncategorized

I was just reading about lovers making love in a supermarket car park.

None of my friends have admitted to having a secret lover in their senior years. But it set me thinking. How would you contact each other with your spouse in lockdown with you? Would you have a secret phone? Would it be hidden and switched off? Would you have a secret email address? How would you access your lovers messages with your spouse looking over your shoulder, especially a jealous partner or worse still, an abusive one you were planning to escape from prior to lockdown, with or without the support of a lover.

Meeting up in a hotel has become impossible. Meeting up in a bar or cinema is a no go. Even if you get to meet up in a mutual friends house/garden, Should you be using your mutual friend’s wine glasses and cutlery? Surely you wouldn’t dare kiss and hug your lover in case you unknowingly have the virus and his daughter has just had a baby and vice versa?

Would you risk it for a quickie in a car park or in the woods? I know I wouldn’t, but many people are young, energetic and miss a good sex life, or maybe just a bit of romance that is missing at home.

It’s a difficult time for everyone. Most especially those grieving for their loved ones lost to this terrible virus but lovers must feel a little helpless and wondering if it’s all worth the risk.
Continue reading “How are lovers coping during lockdown?” →

New Year New Ideas

Living Life

Wishing you all a great year ahead. I woke up feeling very optimistic even though we both have the fluey thing going around. Other half has had it for over a month and I succumbed just after Boxing Day. I’m the sensible one who had the flu jab so hopefully mine will be more short lived.

I plan to shake up our plans a bit as soon as I feel better. I’d like Christmas in the sun, to find somewhere new to live, to complete my decluttering and stop being a Jill of all trades.

For pork chop lovers

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Take two pork chops (or more) and place in a freezer bag containing a mixture of brown sugar, salt and water. Leave in the refrigerator overnight. When ready to cook, cut slits into the rind with scissors. Using tongs, fry the fat in a griddle pan (skillet). Then fry the chops in the oil, adding some olive oil if required.

Serve with ratatouille and mashed potatoes.

BERMUDA, My First Step on Foreign Soil in 1963

travel

I was eleven years old the day I first stepped on foreign soil. I was flying to Trinidad to join my father, with my mother and baby sister.

The 707 jet circled the island of Bermuda, where it was about to refuel. I peeped through the window and spotted far below the dark coral reefs beneath the clear blue sea, the sun-bleached sand, and the island itself.

The aircraft slowly descended and touched down with a bump on the runway at Hamilton, alongside the shore.

While the aircraft refuelled, the passengers welcomed the opportunity to stretch their legs, and the majority went in search of refreshment.

As I stepped outside the aircraft behind my mother and the baby, the heat was so intense I found it difficult to breathe. The atmosphere was very heavy.

I stood still for a moment. In the distance I could just see the horizon where the blues of sea and sky mingled, but only for a moment, for the sun was blinding my eyes. The tarmac felt hard and hot beneath my sandalled feet; it was deceiving, for it looked to the human eye like soft putty under the relentless planet’s rays.

I felt thirsty, my skin was prickly: I could even smell the heat. An indescribable odour, reminding me of a steamy bathroom.

My tongue was leathery: I longed for a drink. Before long I was inside an air-conditioned lounge, cooling down with a soft drink, and chatting incessantly with my mother while baby sister dozed.

Since then I have come to terms with tropical climates and realise a cup of hot tea is more thirst-quenching than any soft drink, but I’ll always remember my first experience of heat and humidity on the sun-kissed island of Bermuda, its swaying palms and merciless sun.

Copyright: Janice Ascott

Alioli

travel

The origins of alioli are varied. Apparently it was known to the Romans 2,000 years ago. The Spanish claim that France copied the recipe and named it mahonaise. They changed it by excluding the garlic and increasing the lemon juice.  According to one story, the Duc de Richelieu visited Mahon in Menorca in 1756 where he enjoyed the alioli and egg sauce so much, he took the recipe back to France.

Adding simple ingredients to make the everyday, a little better

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Stir some chopped chives into sour cream. Add salt and pepper, whatever are your favourites (there’s a lot of choice nowadays). Warm slowly in a pan on the hob. Pour over hot broccoli.

Carrots are a great side dish. My favourite is adding chopped thyme to butter and stirring in the carrots to cook.

Alternatively, toss hot cooked carrots in melted butter with one teaspoon of caster sugar. Warm on the hob until the sugar melts and glazes them.

Money Plant

Did you know?

Tips I got from David Domoney:-

Don’t give it too much water.

Take a leaf and put it in an egg cup of water till roots grow. Then plant it to give to a friend.

Put next to the front door and

You’ll never be poor.

Now all I need to do is buy my money plant. Mum had one and she was never really short of money.

Leg of lamb with turmeric and lemon sauce with sliced potatoes served with white rice courtesy of Claudia Roden

Daily prompt

What food would you say is your specialty?

It’s always popular with guests as it falls off the bone after steaming under tin foil in a roasting tray in the oven.

TOYGER CAT BREED

Cat Breeds

Toyger cat breed information and advice. Ever wanted a miniature tiger in your home who will shower you with love and affection? You’d better take home a Toyger!  

  

The Toyger breed is the whole package, with both handsome good looks and an affectionate personality. While they bear more than a slight resemblance to their distant ancestor, the Bengal, these cats are not as ‘in your face’ their cousins, and breeders owners alike sing the praises of their gentle natures. 

As Gill Heaton, chairman of Toyger Cat Club, explains, Toygers absolutely adore their humans: “They love you; they attach to you like a limpet and don’t let go! Once you own one, they own you, and wherever you are, they are too. They’re amazing cats.” 

The Toyger is a highly intelligent, active breed but also very much a lap cat, who wants nothing more than a cuddle — refusing to do so often ends up with him shouting at you until you give in! 

Unlike their Bengal cousins, can be very feisty and love attention, Toygers tend to cause mischief on the sly. Gill says they are always getting her other cats, especially her kittens, into trouble before walking away. She adds: “They’re adorable and so gentle and sweet; they’re very good with children and other pets. I’ve homed kittens to families with big dogs, and within hours they’re lying next to each other. Toygers have a very calming effect. 

“They are proper ‘lappers’,” says Gill. “From about six weeks old, once they get tired of playing, they’ll come and flop onto your lap.” 

Toygers love to play games with their owners and will happily play fetch for hours on end. They especially love to practise their pouncing skills on feathers. 

Most cats love a cardboard box, but Gill says Toygers particularly love having their own little cardboard forts. She laughs: “You can buy them an expensive toy and they’ll go nuts for the box!” 

Toyger cat breed look 

Toygers are instantly recognisable by their beautiful coat patterns. Their coats are dense and luxuriously soft, with a modified mackerel tabby pattern with branching and interweaving stripes. Brown mackerel tabby is currently the only recognised colour, giving these cats a black and gold striped look, much like a miniature tiger. The Toyger has a sleek, muscular body with a long, thick tail, which is carried low as well as small, rounded ears, and small to medium eyes, which are normally yellow or green. 

Toyger cat breed history and origin 

The Toyger was developed in the USA by Judy Sugden, whose mother, Jean S. Mill, is the founder of the Bengal breed. In the late 1980s, Judy was working to improve the clarity of the markings in mackerel tabbies descended from Bengals and domestic shorthairs. She noticed that her cat had two spots of tabby markings on the temple, and realised this could be the key to developing a cat with the true circular pattern, similar to that on a tiger’s head. 

A striped domestic shorthair, Scrapmetal, and a big-boned Bengal, Millwood Rumpled Spotskin, formed the cornerstone for the young Toyger breed. Judy also imported Jammu Blu, a street cat from India who had spots between his ears, rather than the regular tabby lines. The other important make-up of the Toyger was to get the laid-back personalities of domestic cats. 

In 1993, Judy’s hard work paid off, and The International Cat Association accepted the Toyger for registration. It wasn’t until June 2016, though, that the breed gained preliminary status with the GCCF. 

Toyger cat breed health and welfare 

The Toyger is generally a healthy cat and is no more predisposed to infectious diseases than any other breed. Some breeders claim that some cats show an adverse reaction to the feline leukaemia vaccine, but this has not been substantiated. 

Responsible breeders screen their cats against diseases to which Bengals can be prone, such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), pyruvate kinase deficiency (PKDef), and progressive retinal atrophy (PRA). However, anecdotal reports indicate that the incidence of all these conditions is significantly lower than in the Bengal, due to the Toyger’s outcross to domestic shorthairs. 

As they have dense, short hair, Toygers’ coats are very low maintenance, and only need to be brushed once a week. 

Want a Toyger kitten? 

Healthy kittens should be playful and inquisitive, and come to investigate when you visit. Look for kittens with bright, clear eyes, and clean ears and bottoms. Make sure their mother, and possibly father, is present. 

As there are only five registered Toyger breeders in the UK, you may need to wait a while for a kitten. You can find a list of reputable breeders on the Toyger Cat Club website at toygercatclub.co.uk 

Is the Toyger the cat breed for you? 

As they are less demanding than their Bengal ancestors, Gill says Toygers will suit most households, and are even happy to be homed with full-time workers — as long as you’re willing to put in plenty of time to play with them once you get home. 

Toygers are active cats but will live happily as indoor cats, given adequate space and mental stimulation. They enjoy going outdoors too, but secure outdoor housing or garden enclosure systems are recommended to keep your Toyger safe. They get on well with children, other cats, and cat-friendly dogs, making them ideal family pets. 

However, they do like company, so may not be happy as single cats, if left alone for long periods.