soop's kitchen for friendly folk and precious pets.

callgirl1 and her lovely family stopped by to say their farewells. A 500 mile journey lies ahead. Weather could have made more of an effort to be cheerful when the family scattered D's ashes by his favourite rock on the Muasdale beach. callgirl's delightful young grandson (in yesterday's photo) said how much he missed Granddad but that he's resting where he wanted to be. I could have hugged that wee boy. He was speaking to me from the back seat of his parents' car. It was a pleasure to meet such a supportive family. Safe journey to them all.

kitty Your photographs are uplifting. They put a huge grin on my face. Thank you for sharing with us lot.

Dear annsixty you need never feel the need to apologise to us lot. If I could, I would welcome all of you into our home and we would celebrate in our own sweet way.

MacSporran and Rory and I are not doing anything special over Easter. Certainly no family gathering. However, a long time ago, I realised that happiness is peace of mind. It's within each of us. At that point I stopped wishing that things could be different. Every day is a blessing. If the sun decides to put in an appearance, so much the better.
A group (((hug))) for us all.

Greyduster I've three super sons, one of which has never pushed a mower or planted a bulb. He has other stuff to do. He's adventurous and all his energy is put into hiking/paragliding/cross country sporting activities. No worries.

Charleyg Rest those digits and allow your tendons to recover. Otherwise us lot will worry.

wot A spotless oven is a joy to behold.

Galen

Maw Is it any wonder that your husband feels washed out? He deserves a sincere apology.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/201704/medium-321669--20170416-092520.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/201704/medium-153863--20170416-092326.jpg

Sorry you are feeling down. Galen. Have some chocolate cake or pavlova! Try to ignore the gurning woman who was acting surprised at the wonder of DGS'S marvellous creation. And I'll try to forgive DS1 for recording it for posterity!

I have been in your kitchen with the other Gransnet pals many times in my imagination!? Soop

I love pavlova.
Thought gurning was a somerset expression?

Well I've read Tuesday 's files. Got the white wash in and loaded the dishwasher.
Found a lovely recipe for tomorrow. I'm going to cook chicken livers in Madeira sauce. Should use some of the bottles I have of Madeira. I always seem to buy one when I visit the canaries at Xmas and then never drink it.
'Have some Madeira my dear' anyone! ( good old Flanders and Swan)

Sorry for the fit of self pity earlier, but occasionally things get on top of me and this bug (better but still ongoing) hasn't helped.

It's nice to know I can always sound off in the kitchen and nobody's going to pelt me with mouldy fruit and veg!

Reminds me! Must clear out fridge before the food police, aka darling daughter come on Friday. If anything is 5 minutes out of date it's poison to anyone within a 20mile radius!

wot just for you.

Galen Isn't it daft that some people get their knickers in a twist over sell by dates that have long expired If it looks and smells wholesome, then that is what it is.

kitty Hang on a mo',I shall get my plate. That cake looks scrumptious.

We had a delicious dinner brought up by DS , makes a change from soup and sandwiches
Galen , I have DS like your DD ,
he has been known to empty my fridge !!
DD is madly into recycling and has been Known to berate her siblings in public if they dare to have their shopping in anything but the correct reusable bags !
Ann , I have to escape to the bathroom often to avoid the questions Alas it isn't as sound proof as I imagined !!

I'm away to tackle the ironing. May watch snooker at the same time. Rory and MacSporran are taking a nap.

I've never had Madeira, Galen, but I love the song! Anything by F&S, in fact.

Love the photos of your GC kitty (and the cakes!). I will try and post some of GS if I can get him to stand still for long enough. It seems odd without him being here this Easter, but no doubt he'll be having a whale of a time with his younger cousin seeing what (age appropriate) Amsterdam has to offer! We took his mum and uncle when they were younger and I seem to remember they enjoyed it, although we did drag them round the Rijksmuseum which didn't go down well until we stood in front of Rembrandt's Night Watch and then jaws dropped at the sheer scale of it!
soop my son was a bit of an Action Man - skiing, RAF mountain rescue, long distance walking, you name it - then he got married and mired in domesticity! Nice picture, though!
DH and I had a stroll down to the petrol station at the local Morrisons supermarket this morning to buy some milk. The car park had been given over to a car boot sale, and he can't resist them. "You're not to buy anything!" I told him firmly. "We don't need other people's anything!" We came away with seven dinner plates and a new radio alarm clock, all for the princely sum of three pounds. And guess who bought them ? He had a smug look on his face all the way home. We already have enough dinner plates to sink a battle ship, but they were a pattern we used to have a long time ago and I'm nothing if not sentimental! Hey ho!

Car boots are banned here, greyduster it took so long to clear out I refuse to allow anything else to come in, unless something else goes out first. Same principle with clothes, now shoes are a different thing and have different rules.

My legs are killing me today, very hilly walk yesterday with Littlest, but we have the rabble coming for a meal so they are being ignored. Tomorrow however will be another day and an honorary Sunday day of rest.

The food police are alive and well in our family, too. Two members work in food retail and have been known to evict things a day before the date - as they know I won't do it if it smells and looks OK. Grr.

Lots of meringue about here today, they all like it and of course no wheat content. In fact there is far too much meringue so I will leave some along with some berries and really thick cream. Far better than the rabble scoffing it all.

Must be off, cooking to do, take care all.

aggie there is so much plastic packaging. I so wish that someone could invent an alternative.

Greyduster If the plates are fit for purpose, and the new alarm clock works, I'd say you spent £3 very wisely.

corner I can virtually taste the meringue melting in my mouth.

Would you believe that the cloud is lifting and I've a feeling that the sun will shine tomorrow. Alas, too late for callgirl1 and her family. I'm hoping that they are nearing home. If so, they all deserve big hug. Especially callgirl's delightful grandson. He's the tops.

Logging off and about to settle down shortly with the newspapers and a G&T.

Slainte!

I absolutely agree that there is far too much plastic packaging. I know that some Councils collect various types of plastic waste, but the problem seems to be that there are so many different types.

Our Council, which was in the forefront of recycling, expects us to segregate our waste into tins, glass bottles, paper, cardboard, organic (food) and plastic bottles waste, which I do religiously, but it won't take any plastic waste except for plastic bottles so the rest goes to landfill. There must be a better way.

Happy Easter soop and all kitcheners.

Having travelled to England on Good Friday for my lovely Sis in Law's 80th birthday celebrations yesterday, I don't know why I was surprised by the masses of people travelling at the same time. . A horrible journey made up for by a lovely time at SiL's "at home" that turned into a garden party with the surprise sunshine. All of her (and my DH's) 14 nieces and nephews who could make it were there with their partners, most of the great nieces and nephews and 6 Great GN&Ns. Along with assorted neighbours and friends it made for a crowded but very enjoyable time.

Today has been the complete opposite of a very lazy day that has given me a chance to catch up with you all.

First of all, I'm so sorry about your loss of Bracken soop. It is a loss when a much loved pet dies and you had tried so hard to give her a fresh chance at life.

charleygirl I hope your hands are pain free soon and that you are keeping in touch with the kitchen while you rest. I hope your tribulations with builders will end very soon and your house restored to its pristine state. I don't know how you have managed to stay sane with them not only in the house all the time but also all over it leaving you nowhere to escape to. I couldn't have done it.

ann I feel for you, you are suffering a loss like widowhood with out the ability to take yourself out of it.

Being a very slow typer, I've forgotten most of the others I wanted to mention apart from MawB and wot who are having a tough time as well.

So I hope you've all had plenty of chocolate or whatever treat of choice today.

We all deserve it

Crossed posts with yours soop. Can't believe I forgot to mention callgirl and family's visit. A shame it couldn't have been for longer but sounds like great fun despite the sad circumstances that brought it about.

callgirl I hope the journey home goes without mishap. You and I have (I think) the same colour scheme new kitchen to look forward to.

Please can I sit quietly in the corner? I've been very bad today. Having abstained from chocs and other things for the whole of lent, I have made a complete ? of myself today. Roast dinner with loads of potatoes and Yorkshire puds, dessert full of cream, cheese and biscuits to follow and all washed down with coffee and loads of chocolates after. I feel . Serve me right. I couldn't eat another thing....mind you, that pavlova looks very delicious kitty I could perhaps manage a small slice....and that chocolate cake, a small slab portion would slide down with a !!

Happy Easter everyone ?

I hope every one has had a good day it would seem they have,
Our dinner was lovely , but then I cooked it so I wouldn't say anything else!!
The bottle of red was superb as was the G&T beforehand,
My equilibrium is restored and I am quite a happy bunny tonight,

The very nice bottle of red which I opened for lunch has been my companion throughout the afternoon and evening and was only (still?) half full by bedtime.
Spoke to all 3 DDs by phone or FaceTime which was nice , the FaceTime being during Flynn's tea, bless him, showing me each orange segment before stuffing it in his mouth. DD likes the Granny distraction to sneak more yogurt in too as he is not the world's most dedicated eater
No word from the sisters/brother in law, ah well.
Hope those of you who were feeding the five thousand have recovered by now and wish you all a pleasant day.

That was very restrained mawb. My bottle of chilled white didn't do so well

cornergran
I feel less guilty now!!

I will be back later, just come on to let dear Soop know that we arrived back here at 7.15pm last night. I think that Rena and Dawn are pretty zonked out now after all that driving in just 2 days!

Glad you arrived back safely callgirl. Hope the journey back took less time than going north. Wouldn't it be great if there was a quick way of getting there but then these beautiful places would be overrun with tourists. A memorable weekend for you all.