I had a mad urge to make something from my childhood. Mum liked to serve up weekly exotic dishes, a change from roast lamb and three veg, although her exotic dishes usually involved a can of something dressed up with a teaspoon of Vencatachellum curry powder and a … [Read more...] about White Christmas
Clean your taps
Hooray for the versatile lemon. Not only does it smell delicious, but thanks to its acidic properties, it’s also effective at tackling pesky messes all around your kitchen. You can use an actual lemon half, just the juice, or a mix of lemon and warm water to achieve … [Read more...] about Clean your taps
Boxty
My Mum used to feed us up with these potato cakes to complement the smoked cod on Fridays. Truthfully, I find it hard to even look at smoked cod these days, but the Boxty bring back happy memories. Boxty pancakes, or bacstaí, is a traditional potato dish cooked on St … [Read more...] about Boxty
My Speed Wheels
The time has come! My boots are made for walking but my legs are giving up so I now own a zippy little mobility scooter, a game-changer for me. Firstly, I love the reactions I get from people when I ride it around. Some are surprised to see me cruising around at … [Read more...] about My Speed Wheels
The Laundry Blues
Before we had modern laundry detergents with optical brighteners, there was a mysterious little blue bag which was stirred around in the final rinse water on washday. This was laundry bluing or blue. A factory-produced block was the "modern" (mid-19th century onwards), … [Read more...] about The Laundry Blues
Burns Night Supper
For more than two hundred years, people have been getting together in January in memory of Robert Burns, the Bard of Ayrshire and Scotland's favourite son. These get-togethers are in the form of a dinner, or supper, around the time of Burn's birthday on 25 January. … [Read more...] about Burns Night Supper