What’s On Your Workdesk this Wednesday?
Sorry I didn’t make it onto WOYWW last week. I’ve had a bad week with my ME, and was quite poorly with a cold, and I had hoped to have my slippers completed but didn’t manage it. However, in between, I’ve been quite busy and have made excellent progress!
Slippers
Good news – my slippers are now complete! I have done a full-length post of this whole project, which you can see here.
As you can see, since I last uploaded any photos, I’ve added embroidery to the ankle points, and also sewn on some little Indian brass bells that I had in my stash. The slippers make a sweet tinkling noise as I walk in them. I’ve also made a video showing their progress from start to finish.
I haven’t had a chance to do any work on the teabag project, but I’m hoping to make a start in the coming week.
Food
I haven’t done much cooking this past week or two because I haven’t felt up to it, but fortunately the freezer was well stocked so we didn’t starve!
I’ve been watching the new Jamie Oliver series on TV on vegetarian food and have tried one or two of his recipes. The latest one I did was a couple of days ago.
Recipe of the Week
Jamie Oliver’s Wonderful Veg Tagine
You can find the recipe here.
My version is slightly less colourful than his, because I used up what I had. This is one of those useful recipes for using up bits and pieces of this and that at the end of the week. I also cut my veggies up smaller, and did my usual oil-free version. It was delicious, delicately flavoured with a blend of Middle Eastern spices, including saffron, and it also had some preserved lemon in it.
If you have not come across preserved lemons, you can buy them in Oriental food stores, or easily make your own. Warning – this is lemons on steroids!!! Really intense flavour. You only need a little, and chopped finely.
Preserved Lemons
1. Choose thick skinned lemons.
2. For each lemon, use 1 tab salt, and the juice of at least one more lemon.
3. Cut the lemons into quarters from tip to stem, but not all the way through, so that the pieces are still attached at the stem end.
4. Stuff each lemon with plenty of salt.
5. Put them into a glass jar and press them down so that they are squashed together.
5. Cover the jar securely and leave for a few days to allow the juice to be released and the skins to soften a little.
6. Press them down again as much as possible, and cover them completely with extra lemon juice.
7. Leave the jar in a cool place for at least a month before use. The longer you leave them, the better the flavour.
8. Before use, rinse to get rid of the salt, and discard the pulp, using just the thick skin, chopped very finely.
Outing to Cockington
On Sunday afternoon my hubby and I went to Cockington, a village not far from where we live. It’s what he describes as “choccie box” – full of thatched cottages. We went there to the Drum Inn recently for lunch and it was excellent. My hubby had gone there not long ago with the walking group he belongs to, and they introduced him to a new walk, up through the woods past a series of small lakes, and he wanted to take me there. It was absolutely gorgeous, and the Trekinetic (my fancy new off-road wheelchair) managed everything with ease. You can read about our outing and see LOTS of photos here.
It was also quite special and a bit poignant, because it was the last time I was to go out in our car, because……
We’ve got a new car!
Katie, our dark red Renault Kangoo, was getting very elderly and getting to the stage when she was going to start costing us silly money to keep her on the road. The reason we’ve hung onto her for so long is that she suited us so well and had so many features that met our needs perfectly.
My hubby was searching online the other night, to see if he could find another one, and came across one in Dorset, in extremely good condition, having had only 2 owners and with a third of our mileage on the clock. He contacted the garage immediately and it was still available, so he went up to have a look at it and give it a test drive. It is exactly the same model, but in what he described as “baby blue” rather than my favourite dark red, but that doesn’t matter – the most important thing is that he is pleased with it and happy to go ahead and get it. We put down a deposit and they said they’d let us know when it was ready for us. They’ve offered us a very good part exchange on Katie, which is great. They phoned on Monday and so he went up yesterday for it. In the meantime, he has removed my grab handle and the wheelchair crane, ready to be fitted to the new car, and he’ll get those fitted in the next few days.
Here is the original Katie just before our farewell drive together:
And here is Katie 2! She arrived home with my hubby at tea time yesterday.
She will take a bit of getting used to, being such a different colour, but as long as my hubby is happy, that’s the main thing since he will be driving her! She is very clean and smart inside, and a lot of moving parts such as the sun visors, feel a lot firmer and less loose than on Katie – in fact, she feels like a brand new car! I think we are going to be very thrilled with her. The next thing is, can I persuade my hubby to allow me to stick butterflies on her?!!
PIP Assessment
I had my re-assessment as arranged, and I did get to see the same person as before, which was good. It turned out that only part of what she’d recorded last time had been lost, and she just needed to check through everything to make sure it was now complete, so it didn’t take too long at all. She was very apologetic. I asked exactly what had happened, and she said that when she uploaded it, it just disappeared into the ether – she said that had only ever happened once before. I asked if she hadn’t backed it up, and she said it was automatically backed up every x number of minutes, which is why only part of it had been lost. You’d think they would have better safeguards, but there you are – it wasn’t as bad as we thought.
Now I’ve got to wait another 6-8 weeks to hear the result. I’m trying not to think about it too much in the meantime.
Have a great week, everybody.
The saga of the PIP goes on – so sorry that your information got lost and you had to go through it again.
The new car – she looks lovely but I can imagine how sad you were to lose the red Katie – I get attached to cars too. Or I did when I used to drive. Maybe the family car will not be the same but as they no longer make this one I am reluctant for it to need replacing – it suits me fine.
Cooking looks good but I doubt I will be doing the lemons as it looks like a long process so I will chicken out and just use lemon juice.
The slippers are beautiful – I have commented on the post about them as I looked so forward to them being finished.
Sorry you have not been well, hope things turn the corner for you.
Hugs, Neet 7 xx
Shoshi, you can’t possibly wear those slippers and get them dirty after spending so much time working on them! They look so unique and luxurious! They belong in a display cabinet! Good that the re-assessment wasn’t as much trouble as you had expected. Katie 2 looks nice and shiny and I would prefer the blue anyway as that’s my favourite colour! I wouldn’t call it baby blue – it’s a nice mid-blue tone. One of our Volvos is 25 years old and my husband still keeps it running. He loves that car! He said if he could buy the exact same model just with new parts, he would. It was the last real Volvo, an 850, still built in Sweden. Good luck with Katie 2 – I’m sure she’ll take you on many wonderful adventures! xx
I love the finished slippers! So adorable! Wow a new car…that is so wonderful!
Glenda #18
Well, I dont know how you now when they’re finished, that alone is a skill, but the slippers are fab. Will you have the cats following you trying to catch the bells and bobbles? I do love that gentle tinkly bell noise. Do the kitties wear bells…you’ll be a veritable team of tunes as you all move around the house!
You’ve been busy! Those slippers are gorgeous. What talent you have.
Love your embroidered slippers! Sorry to hear you have M.E. I have it too and sometimes life is no fun at all.
Love the colour of your new car. My mobility scooter can’t do off road, it would be lovely to have one that could go through woods and country walks.
The slippers look absolutely amazing now they are completed and I am so pleased you have found a good replacement for the faithful Katie. I am also really really pleased that you only had to go through a little bit of the PIP assessment again and saw the same lady. i was praying for you and will keep praying for the outcome. Thank you for your visit on my blog earlier. If you wanted to listen to my talk then it was recorded! It is here, https://www.slclm.org/downloads labelled Encounter – October 2019. If you feel up to listening then I would love to hear your thoughts! Happy WOYWW. Have a lovely week. With love & God Bless, Caro x (#6)
Hope you will both be very happy with Katie2! Your finished slippers look gorgeous – I had to buy a new pair at the weekend as I suddenly noticed my old pair was falling to pieces… no chance of me making any, though! Some good news about your PIPassessment – let’s hope she didn’t lose this one. Have a good week. Helen #1
Oh those slippers are fabulous, are you actually going to wear them or just look at them and treasure them, they are amazing.
Nice new car too,
Well done,
Chris #11
Looks like you’ve had another busy week which I hope that means you’re over the cold. I so love those slippers they are just gorgeous. Happy though slightly late woyww, Angela x13x
I am glad your repeat PIP assessment wasn’t as long as you feared Shoshi. Katie 2 looks good (I must admit that I prefer a dark red myself too lol). The slippers are fabulous! I will have to check out the video. Hope you are feeling a lot better. Happy WOYWW. Sarah #2
HI Shoshi, I must say I LOVE the colour of your new car! Slippers look amazing. I hope the asessment comes through quickly for you. Have a lovely week, Hugs, Shaz #5 X
Hi Shoshi sorry you’ve not been great but you’ve excelled in several ways, the stunning slippers I can see you revelling in their tinkly sounds! Mm lemon I’ll skip too, lots of bother, the tagging looks nice but I’m aenemic at mo so would skip it as can’t eat chick peas and lovey yummy things in it, plain Jane food for me, safe for tum.
Am loving your mid blue car, I think it’s a much safer car to drive than deep red, as it’s far less visible, I think it is a lovey very different blue so won’t loose in car park!
Phew re lost info, not as big as thought now back on track pray you hear soon. I guess they’re only human and they make mistakes like us all, no one is perfect and must be hard job as well as one being interviewed.
Happy belated WOYWW.
Thanks for sharing, and God bless, Shaz in Oz.x #20
{Wonderful Words of Life – Shaz in Oz}
{Calligraphy Cards – Shaz in Oz}
Tagging is auto correct for tangini. ?