A Busy October

Anyone who knows me knows I never go on holiday without a few 'incidents' as this year was no exception. 
Holiday destination Miami..... 
So we set off the day before to stay overnight at an airport hotel (I just can't chance being late for anything) Mum the girls and I where going and my dad drove us to the hotel. 
Booked in just fine then had lunch before dad went back home. It was a Sunday so not very busy we ordered our food and waited...and waited. Amy's pizza turned up,  while later Sophie's pasta and my food turned up.The food was very bland and lacked any sort of seasoning. After a while dad's pizza arrived. Then eventuality mum's turned up minus her potatoes??? She shared Amy and dad's chips. When in the end the potatoes did turn up they were not cooked!!!! I complained naturally and did not pay for the drinks but still think the meal should have been free and it was so poor!
Anyway that was that and the next day we set off for Miami. Strangely the flight went by without incident. Wheelchairs awaited us on arrival at Miami airport and we whizzed through customs and collected our bags. Soon we were on our way to the hotel.
We were staying at a hotel we had not been to before in South Beach called The Palms, first impression was very good

At reception we booked in, I asked if the roll away bed was in the room? I was informed that the room had two double beds and was not big enough for a roll away? Mum and Sophie are OK sleeping in a double bed and neither fidget that much but Amy and I? Well we both rotate in our sleep and Amy has sleep apnea and is better sleeping alone. I was cross and I had requested the bed through Virgin and no one had said it was not possible! I was told all they could offer was a two bedroom suite which would cost me another $3000 for two weeks!!!!!!

After travelling all day we were all tired so I said I would take the room and Amy would have to sleep on the floor, I then requested some extra bedding to enable us to make up a bed for her. We was speaking with a young women and a male receptionist was listening to our conversation. He suggested that we tried another hotel?!?!?! I can tell you I was NOT amused!

It was after this that things changed..... I said again I would take the room offered and backhandedly said I hope it did not have a view of a wall? Now in this I'm adamant I did not fly all the way to America just so I could look at a bloody WALL! Plus, I had visited the virgin office TWICE just to make sure this information was sent through to the hotel. I lost it!BIG BIG BIG lost it! I even frighted ME! 

The guy on the desk called the manager, I calmed down a little and apologised as this mess up was not the girls fault. The manager arrived and it was explained what had happened. She offed us a suite at no extra charge. I excepted and we went up to our room.

The suite was wonderful with bedrooms and bathrooms on either side and views looking out to sea or along Ocean Drive with a view of Loews hotel on the other. 

Was planning to walk along Ocean Drive and shop on Lincoln Rd but Miami had decided to keep it's HOT and VERY humid summer weather, even a walk to Walgreens  (two blocks) was to far!

So we stayed around to pool most of the time, we did in the end manage Lincoln but never did get down Ocean Drive.

Any outings we did do we went by taxi!

Added interest as there was a fire in a store just around the corner

 Lunch in Lincoln Rd

    Another day we managed to get to Bayside Market but again the heat got to us and Amy became unwell so it was back to the air-con of the hotel and the swimming pool.

We could not visit Miami and not go to Tony Romas (not telling you what I said to make the girls giggle but it was naughty)

Another old favourite place to shop is Adventura Mall but it's gone all posh so we wont be going there again.

Easter Sunday

Mum and dad came round again and this time it was my turn to cook dinner. We spent the day in the garden as the weather was beautiful. Dinner was traditional Lamb...with a twist.

Lamb with a Red Wine Sauce

This is a recipe I have had for many, many years. In the original recipe it was made using Lamb Noisettes, but I use a leg of lamb for five. If using a leg then cook on low for about four hours 

Make holes in the lamb with a sharp knife and push in slices of garlic and small sprigs of Rosemary. Drizzle with a little oil and cover. Place in a hot oven and turn down low after about five minutes. About half hour before serving remove cover and turn up oven. 
If your making the potato recipe below you need the oven at 220C (gas 7)  anyway.
For the sauce
Rosemary
6tbsp red wine
6tbsp lamb stock
1tbsp redcurrant jelly
2tsp tomato puree
Add the above to a saucepan and stir until jelly has melted then leave to simmer for about five minutes.
Now I like to thicken my sauce by adding a little cornflour.

I serve this with a Potato bake
1 1/2 lb potatoes scrubbed and thinly sliced, put in boiling water and boil for five minutes.
Drain and rinse with cold water. 
Spread out in a low sided dish and pour over 1/2 pint of single cream
Dice up 1/2 oz butter and dot on potatoes. 
Add seasoning and bake for 20 minutes.

We have this with asparagus and peas.

My final recipe is for fairy/cup cakes

When making cakes the easy way (apart from a cake mixer which is a must for me) you need to work out the ingredient amounts. 
So for each egg (large) you want 2 oz of the other basic ingredients.
For this occasion I'm using 
5 eggs
10oz caster sugar
10oz self raising flour
10oz margarine

I also added a few drops of Almond Extract (always try to get extract and not essence as essence is not the real thing)

Mix sugar, margarine and Almond extract until the colour has changed to a light cream colour
then add flour and egg as follows
one egg (I always crack my eggs into a cup just in case on is off) 2oz flour then mix
Repeat until you have used up your eggs and flour.

Easter 2019

The weather this week has been amazing! Well, if you like very hot (hotter than Miami!!) I was planing a lad-back weekend food, family, cats and some doll time. 
Food was wonderful
Friday mum made Cornish Pasties to eat in the garden.
Now apart from the obvious they are from Cornwall, a few interesting (I hope) facts.
You can only call a Cornish pasty 'Cornish' if it comes from Cornwall. So OK, ours do not as such come from Cornwall BUT my mum was evacuated in the second world war to stay in Cornwall. She was lucky and the family she lived with were wonderful Auntie Doris and Uncle Cyril lived in a big house in St Agnes and had no children. They took in my mum and her older sister Joan. As a child I have many fond memories of staying with mum at Auntie and Uncle's home in the summer. Auntie Doris made award winning pasties and she passed on the recipe to my mum.
The pasty was a traditional dinner for tin miners. The pasty would be savoury one end and sweet the other with a pastry strip through it to stop the two from mixing. These days they are one or the other and not mixed. As the food was encased in pastry it would stay warm for many hours. Great for a picnic. 
You should never eat a pasty from a plate with a knife and fork, they are designed to be eaten from a paper bag. A grease proof bag is best as the pasty, if made properly will be running with juices.
To start with the pastry has to be right a mix of flaky shortcrust.
Then for the inside beef skirt diced and any fat removed
Potato, Swede and Onion either small diced or grated. 
Salt and pepper and a knob of butter (to help with making it beautifully moist)
Now for the secret ingredient, this I have never found in another pasty.... Parsley!  

Next up home made scones...by me. Again a traditional Cornish food. I found this recipe years ago in a magazine and it's pretty much fool proof!
These are buttermilk scones with NO fruit, why do you need fruit when you have jam?
This recipe makes 12 scones
1lb self-raising flour
2 heaped teaspoons baking powder
3oz butter, cubed
3oz caster sugar
2 large beaten eggs
1 carton buttermilk

Now these are English measurements you will need to google what you don't understand.
Preheat oven 220C/200C fan/gas 7.
Line a baking sheet with baking parchment.  

• Measure he flour, baking powder and butter into a bowl. Rub with your fingertips until the mixture looks breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar. 
• Mix the eggs and buttermilk together in a jug and pour all but 1 tablespoon into the flour bowl and lightly mix together until combined-it should be a fairly moist dough.
• Lightly sprinkle the worktop with flour and gently knead the dough until smooth and soft. Roll to about 1 inch thick. Use a 2 1/2 in round fluted scone cutter and stamp out 12 scones.
• Arrange the scones on a baking sheet and brush the tops with the reserved egg and milk mix.
• Bake in the preheated oven for about 12-15 minutes until risen and lightly golden.

These can be frozen when cooked and if you don't eat on the day a quick whirl in the microwave will make them as soft as fresh baked.

Now for the filling.... Well any jam will do but Strawberry is the most popular (although my favourite in Raspberry).
In Cornwall you put the jam on first but in Devon it's the other way around. NO BUTTER!
The cream is clotted... Cornish clotted cream is amazing. OK, I know you can't buy real cream in America, but I do understand you can get a cream thing from UK stores or Amazon.

Brighton misshapes PART TWO

Just Noticed I did not post part two of our Brighton misshapes
We stayed in our room and the leek was fixed. The hotel did want us to avid the 'wet' airier so gave us the room next door as well.
Saturday was DIVERSITY DAY and in the afternoon we made our way by taxi to the Race Course  where the tent had been put up for the Diversity and Moscow State Circus show was to be. Or NOT!
On arrival we were informed that the show had been cancelled. The wind had stopped them from putting up the tent and the rain had been so bad the tent pegs would not hold! To say we were disappointed is an understatement. I had purchased met and greet tickets and on one was sure what would happen, to greet or not to greet that was the question?
About thirty of us waited in the race course bar as negotiations went on. The people waiting included people who flew in from Spain and some very disabled people from Yorkshire. 
After a while we were told that a refund had been issued for our tickets and that the Meet and Greet could not happen as we had been given a full refund?
Having been told Ashley was in the building I asked if maybe he could just pop in and say hello?
After a while Danielle (Ashley's mum)  and a couple of the other mum's came in to say how sorry they were. I have over the years met most of the mum's so I knew who they were. Everyone was upset and my Amy was in tears too. I told her to go give the mum's a hug as they looked so upset, naturally she did as did Sophie. This broke the ice, the mum's were so worried that people would be upset and cross with the boys (like they could do anything about it). I again had a word this time with Danielle asking if maybe Ashley could come in for a quick hi and bye. She said she would see what she could do and a few minutes later he came in 

Yes, he came and all was again well with the world (for my girls anyway) Then it was over and Ashley had to go. 
Outside afterwards we called a taxi to take us back into town. 
When the driver arrived she said a car near the gate had two of the Diversity guys in it. The car pulled away and went into the tented area. Our taxi driver pulled across the gate so the guys could not get away and Amy, Sophie and I went over to say hi. I think the guys were a little WTF??? But once they realised it was Sophie and Amy they were fine (although a little shocked as Amy ran behind the car just as Jordan started to reverse poor guy I think got a bit of a fright) Anyway it was Jordan and Perri and we had a quick chat before letting them go on their way.
Oh, and I did tell Amy off for running off on her own.
Back in town after a nice lunch we completed our shopping and made our way back to the hotel.
The view now the storm had passed

I did well with the doll shopping

Along with plenty of Christmas present shopping.

My Kittens