BattyOldMaid

I read this book years ago and gave up after a few chapters, I think it was the detailed description of certain places or something that what put me off, hence why I prefered the film version instead of the book! I will root it out and reread it before commenting on it further. Batty

Ohh I love asparagus, wonder if I could bake white fish that way aswell? Only one way to find out!

I love to encourage my children to cook, the easiest way is by getting them to bake some cakes and biscuits. Today, J wanted vanilla hearts, so we set out to bake it. I knew I had it done wrong but for the life out of me I could figure it out. The dough was too grainy, as if there was too much sugar. Baked them, they melted into just one huge cookie, as they cooled, it could be snapped into pieces. It should have been 'melt in your mouth' kind of shortbread. After a cuppa, after our lunch, I went over the recipe book, lo and behold, I should have added 225g of flour. I only added 150g. As for the sugar, it should have been 125g, I put in 150g. Someone needs to go to specsavers! Any cooking mishap? Batty

sausage and mash, thanks for reminding me I need to take the sausages out of the freezer.

Bloody hell!! There have been few books that I've not been able to get past a couple of chapters. I love everything James Herbert writes, but for some bizarre reason, I cannot get past chapter 1. After several tries I just gave up. I think the person who called you a quitter obviously did not know you that well, hence why the assumptions he/she made, but all the same yeah! Batty

On,Off by Colleen McCullough, it left me feeling disturbed that if would be murderers read it they would know how to beat the system and not get caught. And it disturbed me to think of how easy it is to kill someone if you're at the right place. It took me ages for me to 'get over it'. I wouldn't read it again.

I was given this recipe by someone and it has become a favourite of my husband, and surprisingly BOTH my sons!!!! Wonders will never cease to amaze me! 4 even sized chicken breast. 2 cans thick chicken soup - bachelors (I think they used to be campbells, which I can't find anywhere now) Part cook the chicken breast on both sides, using ovenproof pan/pot or transfere the chicken into an ovenproof dish after part cooking them. Pour in two tins of chicken soup and pop in the oven to cook for further 20 minutes. Serve them on a bed of rice. I will be trying quorn fillet for myself and using mushroom soup, should be tasty aswell. It's that simple! It's that quick and yes, it's that easy!

I don't have a microwave by choice, as I remember my mother buying one when it was all in the fashion to have one, the first thing she did was to bake a cake, rubbery! And it's put me off ever since and I've not used microwave since that incident. I'm sure the oven has come a long way and has improved, but not for me thanks! I will try out this recipe on a normal oven, using smaller cake tin, should be okay - I hope and pray!

Had chicken curry yesterday, tonight it's chicken enchildas. Well for me, I'm using quorn LOL.

Excellent, I've noticed several that I've not read, so I'll order that in Amazon! Thank you so much, it's much appreciated. Batty

Jimmy Bain wrote some short stories on the Visable Ink writing group, I've since found out he has published "The Bumbles End", and the book can be obtained from Amazon.co.uk. I was privileged to have read the beginning of the book some time ago and had been looking forward to reading the whole material. I'll try and get him to come along and introduce himself and to explain his work a bit more. Batty

Eurgh, not keen on mash. I think both my mother and the school put me off with all those lumps in it. When I do make it I love it with sausages and onion gravy or in shepherds pie. When I do make mash, I make them oh so smooth and creamy, but memories linger so I don't tend to have them that all often. Same with semolina, can't have them, I gag at the thought never mind putting a spoonful in my mouth! I made creamy garlic mushroom which went down very well and really tasted nice. Very easy to make. Even the kids liked it! Batty

I love the smell of new books, I don't know whether it's the ink in it that what makes it smell so. I only collect hard backs from Dean Koontz collection, as I know I would want to read them again at some point, we are moving sometime so right now, it's soft back books I'm reading. After the move I hope to collect James Herberts books again, along with other authors like Agatha Christie. batty

That pedo egg thing to grate the hard skin off your feet. I hate it, it's horrible manky and disgusting to put on TV! Batty

I hate most adverts, they get on my nerves because they totally divert from the point they are trying to make in terms of selling their wares. I'm going to rant right now and I feel I'm entitled!! That stupid advert for Vanish, you see a woman putting dry clothes inside a washing machine, they are obviously dried again after the wash and she makes a start on ironing them to find a stain on the clothes. Hey presto a team of Vanish people come in, dip her clothes in the water containing Vanish powder and the clothes come out bright and NO STAINS ARE EVIDENT. However, when I bought the bleeding thing, there was a disclaimer on the small print, it has to be used the minute the clothes are stained, the stains are not allowed to dry out. So what is the stupid point of having adverts showing dried clothes that are used as an example if it doesn't work in 'real' life?! And why oh why are adverts for cars shown drivers on the left side of the cars, obviously a foreign car driven in foreign places, expensive and exotic ones to boot. What is wrong with using cars on the British side and filmed exclusively in the UK? I'm sure we have many 'exotic' points in the UK that can be used for the adverts, but no. The only advert that has made me laugh is the one for WKD. Hee hee, brings out the naughty side of me! Batty

I won I won I won! :lol: had a bet with my husband that mat would win it, could see he had whatever it was that makes people stand out. It was always going to be him and I won the bet! Yay!! Very exciting to watch, I must admit the newer format was far better than the old ones in the studio with Lloyd Grosman. Enjoyed every single competition. Look forward to the next one. Batty

Blue viened cheese. My mother used to buy them and I hated the taste, but now appreciate it. I've plucked up the courage to be inventive, by using it in cream sauce instead of the usual cheddar. Delicious. Batty

Garlic mushrooms in creamy sauce and fresh french bread. I think I'll add a finely sliced cabbage to mine.

Hmmm, I've had digestives with goat cheese, nutella is on the shopping list

Being a vegetarian, it's a challenge to come up with original and inspiring foods to eat, otherwise you'll get bored of the same run down meals each time. More challenging is trying to incorporate that along with meat eaters in the house yep, a husband who says he would try anything once and balks when faced with vension burger or duck stir fry! And a 6 year old who won't eat vegetables, or food that is 'old' ie bought yesterday but cooked today! sooo, back to my own kind of food, I've tried plaintain - yuk! Yams - yuk! I'd like to try nettle stir fry or nettle cakes. I've yet to find nettles that haven't been used by the local dogs as a toilet haven !! I know I could wash them, but I'd rather go to some god forsaken place where no dogs have roamed and have nettles from there! Batty

Utter tosh! Think about it, to make a potato salad, boil the potato, put it in ice water, peel the skins off, put the cooled potato back on the boil until soft. Way too much time wasted, be far quicker to peel the potatoes with the knife or peeler. Batty

A woman reporter is driving a jeep in the desert. She sees a Captain in the French Foreign Legion pulling and tugging on a camel, but the camel won't budge.The woman stops and says, "Captain! Do you need some help with the camel?" The legionarie tells her the camel won't budge but she's welcome to try. The reporter gets out of the jeep, takes two bricks from the back and POW... smashes the camel's testicles with the bricks. The camel makes a terrible noise and runs off into the desert. The captain drops his pants and says, "Great! Do me next, I've got to catch that son of a bitch!"

Lennard Pearce - Grandad - gets my vote every time, as his one liners was always delivered just spot on. I do think by bringing on the other halfs (cassandra and raquel) spoilt the overall theme. Does anyone think that at the beginning it was Rodney who was a bit thick and Del boy that was wordly wise, at the later series, it was the other way round. Rodney became someone who was clever and Del boy became thick. Maybe that's just me, but I wonder at what point of the series did they decide to change places? Batty

I'm not keen on the religious theme/aspect of it, for any religious denomination, as it tends to be dogmatic in regards of following the Bible's teachings. What I do like about the Amish is the simple live they lead, without all the usual materialistic approach and of me me me attitude that is prevalent in today's society. I know I am probably looking into this with rose tinted glasses, considering the amount of work they have to do without the modern gadgets. In my way of thinking, with modern gadgets, humans are reduced to doing nothing, with doing nothing brings on boredom and with boredom brings frustrations and with frustrations agression and so much more. Not only that but with sedentary lifestyles, many are now obese, lazy, unhealthy and such, so maybe not a bad idea to return back to the days of good honest hard labour. Just my opinion, I'm not running for government so won't be implementing this theory/ideals/ideas/crackpot suggestion to be accepted and enforced, don't hate me! Batty