Saturday, 29 December 2018
What`s for dinner Clarey?: Guiding us to marvellousness
What`s for dinner Clarey?: Guiding us to marvellousness: All my angels... “I am in contact with all my angels who constantly guide me to marvellousness”, those are the words of a lovely friend of...
Guiding us to marvellousness
All my angels...
“I am in contact with all my angels who constantly guide me to marvellousness”, those are the words of a lovely friend of mine who I believe is guiding me in my life, even though she died far too young when she was just 44 and in her prime. After that happened, everything changed, I changed. I decided to no longer live my life on red alert and promised myself to avoid drama and negativity in my life if at all possible.
If I had been gifted all this life I had no right to waste it worrying about what others thought of me, how dusty my house was, how battered was my car. I have been on a self improvement wave ever since. I have no ambitions other than to be kind to myself and others and be useful and grateful for every trip round the sun that I get.
I love Christmas and the angelic hosts that occupy the school nativity, the pinnacle of every Christmas tree, the stained glass varieties in church, all so beautiful and lovely. My Nanna was an angel in life , a cheeky December baby she was born in 1918 one hundred years ago, her many kindnesses in life ,inspire me everyday to laugh more, rest a little and love a lot as she did. “Cheers my luvvybums” is still our sherry soaked toast when we clink glasses. I know if there is a heaven she is there cheering me on, whilst nibbling on a heavenly slice of Battenberg cake.
I know the World seems very dark at times but I have had a trio of Light up your life moments lately... the first was back in November when I had been teaching about the First World War and my children wrote letters from the trenches and painstakingly aged them by crumpling them up and staining them with a wet teabag! I left them in the schoolyard to dry and totally forgot about them until 11.30 that night. We had been so moved researching about the Kendal lads on the war memorial who had died that I felt compelled to make my lovely husband drive me up to school on a rescue mission to save the letters from the midnight rains or slugs! When I got there we clambered over the fence and retrieved the letters, then looked up to see the most amazing stars, absolutely celestial. In that moment I understood why those boys would have gone to defend this beautiful part of the World and felt like they were smiling down at us.
The next magical ray of light came when I was tasked with taking a child to the toilet two minutes before the Nativity was about to begin. We staggered back to school through the graveyard I felt certain we would trip, then the most lovely moon appeared from behind the clouds and guided us safely back to the church, so my little charge made it to the manger on time.
Then on the last day of term I was making angels with some younger children and they wanted to know if angels were real. I told them , they were beautiful creatures sent from heaven to protect and guide us with kind deeds and words.
One little boy looked at me and asked “Are you an angel then Mrs Neal?”
I shed a tear on Christmas Day when I opened my best present which was from that little boy- a candle that was called Angel oil.
I am so thankful for all my angels constantly guiding me to marvellousness , for my friends and family who literally light up my life and this holiday that gives us all a little time to be merry and bright and the hope that next year will be a little brighter giving us all permission to shine our light into the world.
Angelic sherry log
Devilishly calorific, tastes like heaven.
Large pot of double cream
Packet of ginger nut biscuits
Sherry
Whip the cream until soft peaks are formed.
Dip the biscuits into the sherry and sandwich together with the cream until a log is formed, cover with the remaining cream so it looks like a snowy Yule log. Leave to chill for a couple of hours.
This is very rich but so easy and a delicious boozy pudding which looks and tastes marvellous!
“I am in contact with all my angels who constantly guide me to marvellousness”, those are the words of a lovely friend of mine who I believe is guiding me in my life, even though she died far too young when she was just 44 and in her prime. After that happened, everything changed, I changed. I decided to no longer live my life on red alert and promised myself to avoid drama and negativity in my life if at all possible.
If I had been gifted all this life I had no right to waste it worrying about what others thought of me, how dusty my house was, how battered was my car. I have been on a self improvement wave ever since. I have no ambitions other than to be kind to myself and others and be useful and grateful for every trip round the sun that I get.
I love Christmas and the angelic hosts that occupy the school nativity, the pinnacle of every Christmas tree, the stained glass varieties in church, all so beautiful and lovely. My Nanna was an angel in life , a cheeky December baby she was born in 1918 one hundred years ago, her many kindnesses in life ,inspire me everyday to laugh more, rest a little and love a lot as she did. “Cheers my luvvybums” is still our sherry soaked toast when we clink glasses. I know if there is a heaven she is there cheering me on, whilst nibbling on a heavenly slice of Battenberg cake.
I know the World seems very dark at times but I have had a trio of Light up your life moments lately... the first was back in November when I had been teaching about the First World War and my children wrote letters from the trenches and painstakingly aged them by crumpling them up and staining them with a wet teabag! I left them in the schoolyard to dry and totally forgot about them until 11.30 that night. We had been so moved researching about the Kendal lads on the war memorial who had died that I felt compelled to make my lovely husband drive me up to school on a rescue mission to save the letters from the midnight rains or slugs! When I got there we clambered over the fence and retrieved the letters, then looked up to see the most amazing stars, absolutely celestial. In that moment I understood why those boys would have gone to defend this beautiful part of the World and felt like they were smiling down at us.
The next magical ray of light came when I was tasked with taking a child to the toilet two minutes before the Nativity was about to begin. We staggered back to school through the graveyard I felt certain we would trip, then the most lovely moon appeared from behind the clouds and guided us safely back to the church, so my little charge made it to the manger on time.
Then on the last day of term I was making angels with some younger children and they wanted to know if angels were real. I told them , they were beautiful creatures sent from heaven to protect and guide us with kind deeds and words.
One little boy looked at me and asked “Are you an angel then Mrs Neal?”
I shed a tear on Christmas Day when I opened my best present which was from that little boy- a candle that was called Angel oil.
I am so thankful for all my angels constantly guiding me to marvellousness , for my friends and family who literally light up my life and this holiday that gives us all a little time to be merry and bright and the hope that next year will be a little brighter giving us all permission to shine our light into the world.
Angelic sherry log
Devilishly calorific, tastes like heaven.
Large pot of double cream
Packet of ginger nut biscuits
Sherry
Whip the cream until soft peaks are formed.
Dip the biscuits into the sherry and sandwich together with the cream until a log is formed, cover with the remaining cream so it looks like a snowy Yule log. Leave to chill for a couple of hours.
This is very rich but so easy and a delicious boozy pudding which looks and tastes marvellous!
Friday, 6 July 2018
What`s for dinner Clarey?: In the momentLast Friday we went t...
What`s for dinner Clarey?: In the moment
Last Friday we went t...: In the moment Last Friday we went to Manchester where we met 29 years ago as students. The Castfield bowl was a chocolate bo...
Last Friday we went t...: In the moment Last Friday we went to Manchester where we met 29 years ago as students. The Castfield bowl was a chocolate bo...
In the moment
Last Friday we went to Manchester where we met 29 years ago as students. The Castfield bowl was a chocolate box of Shed seven fans, a few hard centres , a few nuts but mostly soft and sweet! It was a magical night , the music , the soundtrack to my life in York was evocative of good times. This amazing weather we are enjoying, certainly not synonymous with all those rainy afternoons misbehaving in Manchester , added to the happiness. Everyone seemed optimistic, keen for the gig to be the best yet. It was like a home win at Bootham crescent with 8000 friends singing "chasing rainbows " in unison. On one side was a lovely young man who knew all the lyrics even though he couldn't have been alive when Shed Seven were top of the pops! He filmed most of the concert on his phone and seemed to love experiencing it second hand, excited to share his memories later and save them perhaps for a rainy day to come. On the other side was an older man who was dragging on a cigarette as though it was the elixir of life. He looked very frail and as though in the end stage of some terrible disease. When people pushed past him he simply smiled and let them stand in front of him, a lad asked if he could buy a cigarette from him, he simply gave him one without a care. He didn't film the show or take any selfies , he was in the moment. I was mesmerised by his peacefulness and drawn into enjoying the moment more intensely following his example. Be kind, enjoy yourself, live in the real moment.
Today is all we have, happy Friday everyone.
These little frittatas kept us going on our drive home.
Cauliflower frittatas ( Shed 7 love buns!)
Ingredients
2 red onions sliced
1 small cauliflower
15 eggs
1 pot double cream
2tbs curry powder
1 bunch coriander
Grated Parmesan 6tbs
Method
Fry the onions in a little olive oil or 1 tbs of butter until soft. Put a spoonful in the bottom of x12 deep muffin tray.
In another pan fry the cauliflower florets in a little oil and the curry powder until soft then distribute it into the muffin trays. Break the eggs and mix together with a large pot of double cream. Pour evenly into the muffin tray, sprinkle with chopped coriander and top each one with grated Parmesan. Cook for 20 minutes at 200 *c until they firm up and look like buns!
Last Friday we went to Manchester where we met 29 years ago as students. The Castfield bowl was a chocolate box of Shed seven fans, a few hard centres , a few nuts but mostly soft and sweet! It was a magical night , the music , the soundtrack to my life in York was evocative of good times. This amazing weather we are enjoying, certainly not synonymous with all those rainy afternoons misbehaving in Manchester , added to the happiness. Everyone seemed optimistic, keen for the gig to be the best yet. It was like a home win at Bootham crescent with 8000 friends singing "chasing rainbows " in unison. On one side was a lovely young man who knew all the lyrics even though he couldn't have been alive when Shed Seven were top of the pops! He filmed most of the concert on his phone and seemed to love experiencing it second hand, excited to share his memories later and save them perhaps for a rainy day to come. On the other side was an older man who was dragging on a cigarette as though it was the elixir of life. He looked very frail and as though in the end stage of some terrible disease. When people pushed past him he simply smiled and let them stand in front of him, a lad asked if he could buy a cigarette from him, he simply gave him one without a care. He didn't film the show or take any selfies , he was in the moment. I was mesmerised by his peacefulness and drawn into enjoying the moment more intensely following his example. Be kind, enjoy yourself, live in the real moment.
Today is all we have, happy Friday everyone.
These little frittatas kept us going on our drive home.
Cauliflower frittatas ( Shed 7 love buns!)
Ingredients
2 red onions sliced
1 small cauliflower
15 eggs
1 pot double cream
2tbs curry powder
1 bunch coriander
Grated Parmesan 6tbs
Method
Fry the onions in a little olive oil or 1 tbs of butter until soft. Put a spoonful in the bottom of x12 deep muffin tray.
In another pan fry the cauliflower florets in a little oil and the curry powder until soft then distribute it into the muffin trays. Break the eggs and mix together with a large pot of double cream. Pour evenly into the muffin tray, sprinkle with chopped coriander and top each one with grated Parmesan. Cook for 20 minutes at 200 *c until they firm up and look like buns!
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