Gravy.......

Gravy.....weird I know, but I firmly believe the ability to make gravy is genetic, a gene that has sadly not been passed to my brother, now he is an amazing cook, but the art of making gravy eludes him. Every Sunday during our family lunch he asks me to show him how to do it, and I do (the old fashioned way not the posh "jus" way - you know flour in with the meat juices, yes AND THE FAT, topped up with the vegetable water and a splash of gravy browning) but alas it doesn't sink in. The thing about Welsh people is that they like gravy, it's like a food group of its own, I remember visiting a relative in England for a Sunday lunch, they proudly put the gravy boat on the table, and my Dad poured the whole lot over his plate and said "can you top this up"...but of course, there was no more and everyone else had to eat dry lunch.

Oh and note to self......must change family tradition of Sunday Lunch, my Parents house has a tiny kitchen ( two people in it is too many), basically they live in a terraced house, the kitchen is a "lean to" with a glass roof, yesterday it must have been 110 in the shade, and this coupled with the glass roof, the oven, 4 gas rings, and the kettle boiling, meant I had my own personal sauna......think I will suggest salad for any temperature over 65 degrees.

After lunch I had to drop all the baby stuff to my Brothers (they come with a lot of stuff!) he had walked back to his house with Cara, I had driven with all the stuff and my Sister-in-Law, she made the coffee while I let Ruby out into their garden, now while I was in the garden I noticed a particularly lovely clematis, and as I have a pergola in my garden thought it would be lovely growing over it. I'm not sure if it is my Brother's plant or their neighbours that has grown over, but I couldn't stop myself pinching a couple of shoots off. So today I went to the garden centre bought a lovely pot and a huge bag of compost, and of course I had left the pinched cuttings behind......serve my right eh?

While at the garden centre I stopped for a coffee in the cafe, my table was near the corner where they put the toys for the little ones to play.......I was quietly sipping my "americano" ...that's black coffee to normal people, when I overheard this little girl playing with Barbie and Ken ......Barbie was saying to Ken " Between golf, rugby and the office you are never home and I've had enough" I nearly spat my "americano" over the table, and couldn't resist the urge to stay long enough to see which parents were hers.

Had a rotten nights sleep, mostly due to small white dog taking up most of the bed, so at 3am I gave up, came downstairs, made some tea and read a couple of chapters of my book, and what a great book it is. I love a bargain, and there is a wonderful place called Hay-on-Wye, where there are many bookshops, but one in particular, sells every book on it's shelf for £1, so it means you can pick up books just because you like the cover or the title, in this case it was the title " The Final Confession of Mabel Stark" by Robert Hough, based on a true story of a female tiger trainer at Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus, anyway it's fabulous and unputdownable (if that's a word) and I urge anyone to give it a go.

Had planned to do a lot today but all of a sudden it's 3.30pm and I have done very little, I will have to go back to work soon (currently on sick leave after a nasty stomach op) so the opportunity for doing all those "little jobs" around the house will be lost, but it's not worth starting anything now eh??????

Keep smiling
Marmite Girl xx

Ok it had to happen....

So I swore to myself never to mention Market Kitchen as I have made my thoughts known elsewhere, but I can't help it, now you all know I am a huge GFL fan and a huge JB fan, and like everyone else I gave the new show a go, well I tried twice, and just couldn't do it, it's actually painful to watch, the cameraman is left over from the Blair Witch Project, the presenters are wooden, and look this is what I learned from GFL ...... I learned beautiful goulash and eastern european dishes from the fabulous Silvena Rowe , I learned gorgeous desserts from Andrew Nutter (my cheesecake is famous), I learned what wine went with what, so I looked like I knew what I was talking about from Ollie and the nice thin lady (I'm rubbish with names) I could go on, but what I am trying to say is that I did LEARN. What do we get on MK? fish pie, cottage pie, how to chop chives etc...things the average person learned in school. Anyway what caused this rant? (you can tell it's a rant by the lack of punctuation!) well, I was watching Barefoot Contessa ....the only thing worth watching on that channel now, and then I turned off the TV while I bathed, gave supper, and put to bed my gorgeous niece, anyway when I sat back down and put the TV back on, Market Kitchen was on, they spent half the programme showing two people selling ice cream and how to set up a market stall......well forgive me but if I want to watch market stalls, I can a) go to a market or b) watch Eastenders!

OK rant over.

So what else has been going on, well I have spent the weekend looking after said niece which has been a joy, we have been to the beach, the park, we have sung songs and had a great time ( I have to stop for a sec as gorgeous niece has tipped a bowl of cheerios over her head....dry ones fortunately) Now I am quite good at entertaining children seen as I am still one myself....I am a firm believer of the saying "Growing old is inevitable...growing up is optional" but to all the people who say not to let your kids watch TV, I would like to say this .....if it wasn't for Lazytown, The Shiny Show and Balamory I wouldn't have washed my hair for three days!!! Other moments have included me asking Cara to put her babygrow in the wash basket, she put it in the toilet! then while I was washing dishes, she had hold of my mobile phone, it was pressed to her ear, while she went "yep, yep, yep, yep ok bye (I wonder who she has been listening to?) I know I'm biased but I think that's quite smart for 16 months, and then of course there has been the continuous nose wiping, bless her.

As for Ruby, well her behaviour has become a little erratic, she seems to be living upstairs at the moment and taking all her little stuffed toys up there one by one, maybe she knows she will never have puppies. when she is downstairs she seems to be constantly whining......that's one for the Vet I think.

And (yes I know I can't start a sentence with and) the fence, well that is finished my friend did a fantastic job and my garden is now open for parties.

I'm off now to make the Sunday roast for the family....that's one tradition we keep , everyone has Sunday lunch at my parents including Ruby and Cara.

Keep smiling
Marmite Girl xx

Eventually..... thanks to B & Q

Well just to update you, the cupboard....still not done, the paint.... finally managed to find the right colour in the big smoke branch, so I won't be having a "feature wall" after all.

Actually didn't do much at all yesterday, gave Ruby the attention she deserved after having her engine out, she's doing fine, not keen on the big collar thing, but I do take it off her, if I'm watching. She made it half way down the stairs this morning then decided to whine, so I could carry her down the rest of the way.

Spent the evening with my drama group buddies, I've been in Players Theatre for 21 years (wow that's scary) it's a small group and we are like a family. We have just been doing a One Act play written by one of our members, hopefully we will make the Welsh Final in June so fingers crossed! Anyway in typical Welsh Valley's style, the hall we used to rehearse in got knocked down, as did the store where we kept all our scenery and costumes, we have no theatre so we are a sort of roaming group, that is we go wherever anyone asks us. Now I admit it is sad we don't have our own theatre, but not having one has meant we have been to the most wonderful places, Florida, Monte Carlo, Alabama, South Korea, Ireland, Scotland, as well as various church halls, fields, marquees etc., we have done charity performances, competitions, festivals, even someones wedding! like I said whoever asks. Now where was I, oh yes, faced with nowhere to rehearse we have had a bit of a lull over the past two years, then one of our members found the most wonderful local pub with a room upstairs, they let us use it for rehearsal and we drink lots of their beer and eat their fantastic food. Last night we didn't rehearse just drank the beer and ate the food and told old drama tales, now they could be a blog all of their own.......

Well better go childproof the living room before my little bundle of fun arrives.

Keep Smiling
Marmite Girl xx

p.s. If ever you are in Mountain Ash, South Wales visit The Bailey's Arms, fantastic food, cold beer and a very warm welcome.

Best Laid Plans eh???

OK - I admit it I never got the cupboard of death sorted, my Brother and Sister-in-law came down with the baby seat as I am babysitting my gorgeous niece Cara this weekend, so more coffee, more chat, a couple of slices of carrot cake, and me saying "seen as you are here please can you fix my gate, the latch is broken". Gotta love my brother....the babysitting conversation goes something like this:

HIM " Can you babysit this weekend"
ME: " yes when"
HIM: "we'll drop her off Friday morning you can bring her back Sunday" then he puts the phone down muttering something about thank God we can have a lie in, and I realise I won't.

Not that I mind in the least, I love having her, she is 16 months old and an absolute doll, one smile from her is like someone giving you a million quid, although I do draw the line when he walks in looks at my calender on the kitchen wall, sees I have nothing on and pencils in when I'm looking after her without telling me.

Then I got a mail from my American Mom Emilie, and read and answered that, and by then it was already 2pm and time to call the V.E.T to see what time I could pick up Ruby (sans engine).

The vet confirmed she was fine...of course I knew that all along, and I could pick her up after 4pm.

So instead of starting on the cupboard, as by my calculations it was far more than a 2 hour job, I went off in search of cuprinol and the correct brown. I came back with Hello Magazine, and a chicken Balti from M& S (OK so I was swayed by the free balti dish enclosed) and still no flamin Harvest Brown 5 year ducksback stuff, every colour but that was in stock of course.

So 4pm had arrived , didn't want to seem ridiculous so waited until 10 past! Out comes my little white girl with a huge collar on giving me a "how could you?" look, the money I spent on the lovely babypowder smelling groom she had yesterday had been wasted as she now smells of TCP! The vet broke the news that it was £107! after I got up off the floor, I managed to enter my pin number, I lifted her into the car, and brought her home. She spent the rest of the evening in her basket (where she only usually goes if she has been naughty) staring at me and trying to get the collar off, while I was trying to feed her the special roast chicken breast........ which she managed no problem. I had the chicken balti, (and now have another dish I won't use to add to my cupboard of death) a couple of glasses of vino, watched Desperate Housewives and went to bed.

So plan for today.......still in search of harvest brown cuprinol, going to have to go into the big smoke (that's Cardiff not London) branch of the store where they all wear orange outfits, if they don't have it, then one side of my fence is going to be a different flamin colour, I think designers call it a "feature wall"

Keep smiling
Marmite Girl xx

Oh the guilt!

OK so after a couple of cuddles and me spraying her stuffed monkey with my perfume I dropped Ruby off at the V.E.T, I then cried all the way home....HOW DO THEY KNOW?......we go in the car almost every day and she is fine, today I put her in the car and she is shaking like a leaf.....now unless she read yesterday's blog she can't possibly know we were going to the Vet!!!, the Vet asked me for a number to use in an emergency which really put me at ease, but I am telling myself they do this procedure every day so don't be a drama queen! I did stop at the local shop and composed myself enough to go in and buy her a roast chicken breast as a treat. Now of course every time the phone rings I have to swallow my heart back down into my chest. Roll on three when I can call to pick her up. You have to understand that this is the dog that when I got her wasn't allowed on the sofa or upstairs, and for whom now I have had to buy a double bed so there is room for us both, this small white dog who insists on sleeping sideways still has more of the bed than me.

My friend called over as she is painting my fence for me, but I had bought the wrong darn colour, I would just like to say to Cuprinol (other brands bla bla) what is it with all these colours, it always used to be brown, that horrible ceder red colour and then later the green and blue, now we have Rustic Brown, Harvest Brown, Forest Brown anyway all I remembered was the something brown bit, and came back with the wrong one, much to my friends dismay as she was all dressed in paint splattered clothes ready to start and I'm not leaving the house to change the paint in case the Vet calls. Anyway a couple of coffees and a bit of girlie talk later she has gone and will return at the weekend when hopefully I have the right brown!.

Decided to keep myself busy now by sorting out my food cupboard (or the cupboard of death as it is known), as right now if you open it you can guarantee, either the jar of tarragon, a pot noodle from before the war, or the nutmeg grater will fall on your head. Oooo that jar of tarragon says best before July 2000........

Keep smiling
Marmite Girl xx

Ok this is how it started....

Not life...the Marmite girl thing.

Seething from the cancellation of Great Food Live, I stumbled across the wonderful website of the fabulous Jeni Barnett anyway after a couple of posts, Jeni mentioned she had a nasty bout of ulcers, I said the best thing for ulcers was Marmite swished around in your mouth (even if you don't like it, which incidentally I don't) hence I have since been affectionately labelled Marmite Girl......now I hope I don't get into trouble for using the Marmite word without permission....other black yeasty type spreads are available, maybe that will help.

Life on the other hand started in a small town in Wales in 1969, and is now in a different small town but still in Wales, just me and one gorgeous Westie called Ruby , who is currently sulking as she has been to the groomer, but doesn't realise she'll be sulking even more tomorrow as she goes to the V.E.T to have her engine out if you know what I mean.

I work in insurance to pay the bills.....but act and sing in my spare time, just waiting for that call from Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Well I'm sure no-one will read this but I kind of find putting all this down cathartic. I have a simple philosophy to enjoy life whatever it throws at you, live every day (and your credit card limit) to the max, keep yourself surrounded by family and friends that love you.

Keep Smiling
Marmite Girl xx

p.s. Thanks Jeni for inspiring me to write this twaddle!!!!