Pennsylvania Roast Pork With Broccoli Rabe

Pennsylvania: Roast Pork With Broccoli Rabe 

Although the cheesesteak is knocked off in every state, a hot roast pork sandwich remains Philly’s own. The place to get it is Tommy DiNic's a fourth-generation sandwich shop at the Reading Terminal Market, and you must order it with broccoli rabe and provolone. Unwrap the sandwich’s white-paper swaddling, and behold a foot-long monster glistening with grease and jus from the meat. A layer of melted sharp cheese gilds the inside of the roll, while the slight bitterness of its generous vegetable crown cuts the fat in each bite.

The Reading Terminal Market in Philly is a great place to eat.

Christy

The Great Elephant at Les Machines de l'Île in Nantes

PJ'ing and Elephants

I am such a home body and was totally in my element with all the days I had off last week.  All day Saturday I spent just what I call PJ’ing around, it’s wonderful to have the time to do that.  I don’t go to the shops much, except the thrift shop and Mr. B. does a lot of the messages, as the Scot’s would say for food shopping.  Mine is not a thrilling life, but Peace and PJ’ing is fine. 

BBC Radio is beginning to remember WWI, music of WWI re-broadcasting a programme from 1961 made by Chilton, who never knew his own father being killed during the Great War. Chilton did a radio programme all about the songs of the soldiers, many were making fun of the War, but hitting it bang on the head as to what was really happening.

In 1814 the Thames River in London froze over, during which time they had Carnivals and Circusses along with elephants on the ice, I think that was the last total freeze up on the Thames 200 years ago.

Talking about elephants look at this from Nante, The Great Elephant at Les Machines de L'Ile in Nantes 

• 12 m high, 8 m wide and 21 m long
• 48,4 tons of steel
• Wood: American Tulip
• Metal structure lubricated with 2,000 litres of hydraulic oil
• 450 HP motor
• An indoor lounge with French doors and balconies
• A terrace accessible via stairways
• 3 different routes: approximately 30 minutes
• Speed 1 to 3 km/h
• Set in motion using 60 cylinders, of which 44 are hydraulic, 6 are pneumatic and 10 are gas.

There are things I need to do around the house, sorting clothes and filing papers.  I have to pull out the files from last year and make new files for this year and get everything ready for taxes, what a to do.

There have been some spectacular sun sets, but where I live I only get to see a partial.  Where I grew up in England from the back of the house you had a clear view down the fields to the lane and then up again, one would see spectacular sunsets and thunderstorms.

The other day I was cleaning a book shelf in the Simla Room and came across some rocks and shell I picked up off the beach on the Isle of Skye, just down from Dunvegan Castle.  Round and smooth, some of black volcanic rock.  On the shelf beside these is a little ET figure Rob made in 2009, how time flies, he was just in Middle School then.

The switch broke on my lamp with magnifying glass, I thought of buying a new one since Mr. B. is having trouble undoing a nut, but after looking at prices and I can’t find one that sits in a base, like mine does, that Mr. B. now has to try again.  I said take it to Sears, where a lot of older retired very helpful gentlemen work and maybe they could help him with it.  So until that is repaired I’m at a standstill on the crochet front, sorry to say I need the light and magnification, let’s say it’s a whole lot easier.

Well that’s all dear folk.

Take care,

Christy

P.S.  Exciting news I won a giveaway yesterday at Mereknits such a creative Blog; a lovely needle felting kit, I've wanted to try my hand at this.  

Dropped 60 Degrees in 24 Hours

I very rarely post without pictures but today I will.

My goodness it has dropped 60 degrees in the last 24 hours is that not plain crazy, from 60 f to 0 f.  So just trying to keep warm, and keep the house heated means that the central heating has been on much more, even though it is turned down to 58 f, and of course we have the wood stove going.  We have steam heat and one of the radiator valves had dropped off, so steam was shooting out all over the woodwork in the downstairs hallway, condensing and forming a puddle on the floor.  The valve will no longer thread into the old cast iron radiator, so we had to close that one off altogether.  Now Mr. B will have to restain the wood work at one side of the front door.  My long walking stick was also sitting there and now has turned white in parts, but Mr. B says he will work on it for me.  He is very good with restoring wood and over the years has refinished several pieces in our house.

I leave for work every morning in the light, but of course come home every day in the dark, so I am missing the light.  When the weather is nicer I like to get out and go to the park, but in winter you don’t feel like turning out of the office, at least I don’t.   Already thinking of spring, I did see some shoots in the garden snowdrops and crocus.  I still have to finish off three more raised bed gardens; I am looking forward to planting in them this spring.

Still working on the Oilily jumper and have finished the two gussets I crocheted down the side and now I am onto crocheting a border around the sleeves and the bottom.  I’m not sure how that will turn out, but am going to give it a go, in the same red to match the gusset.  Will post pics when I am home and it is light.  This is my sit by the fire, evening project, watching Netflix on my iPad or listening to BBC Radio.  I visited my friend Cindy on Sunday and she had a neat little speaker that you prop the iPad up on and plug into the iPad for more sound, although I have found the iPad to be louder than our laptop for sound, I am thinking of getting one.  Mr. B. was able to pick up his coffee from Rwanda.  We do not have a COSTCO card so Steve and Cindy picked it up for us, 2 lbs for $9.00 and it’s a great tasting coffee.  We first tasted this at another friends’ house when we were there for New Year’s Day lunch.

The Boy is car less and will remain so.  He had an accident just before the holidays and is fortunate to be OK and all involved are OK.  He was on an unfamiliar piece of road went over a crest and the road turns suddenly, in fact concrete barriers had been put up to stop people careering off into the river.  So he hit the concrete barrier, the guy behind him hit him, they all got out of their cars, at this point the cars were not too bad until a third guy came over the top much faster and pancaked the two cars in front and at that point all cars were a right off.

Enough with the cars, looking for a good older used car is hard, you just never know what you are going to get, he’s had two good little cars and the mini turned out to be an absolute lemon, on which the poor Boy lost a lot of money, so the quest is off.  Mum can only cope with so much on the car front.  So he will be using public transport and juggling our two vehicles around for a while.  He has saved up and paid for all his cars, with a little help from us, I do not believe in giving your kids everything.  He will get insurance money and can pay off his parents and have a clean slate.  So now he is back to working on his bike.  He always has some mechanical project on.  Big debates with his dad on what wrench/spanner to order from EBay, all boy talk.  I do wonder how single parent families with boys manage without a dad, I know they rise to the occasion, but it must be so hard.

I watched the movie Guilt Trip with Barbra Streisand and in all honestly I can say, a film crew should have followed us on our trip around Florida The Boy and I in a 1970’s VW Bus because they would have got more laughs.  You would think the Boy would have filmed it, considering that’s his major.  Not one of Barbra’s better movies, Yentl being my favourite.

Well enough small talk.

Hope you are all keeping warm and dry, in the North here.

Christy

The 150 Pounds Stirling Hobbit House

The 150 Pounds Stirling Hobbit House as featured in the Daily Mail.

The £150 hobbit hole: Farmer builds a cosy cob home using materials he recycled from skips... and the tenant pays the rent in MILK

• Michael Buck used only natural materials or unwanted items to build 'cob house' at bottom of his garden
• He said he wanted to challenge the notion that paying for a house should take a lifetime
• He is now renting out the property to a worker on a neighouring farm, who pays for her lodgings in milk

This cottage cost just £150 to build, using only natural or reclaimed materials, and is now rented out for a fee of fresh milk and cream.

And with no mains electricity, gas or water, the bills don’t come to much either.

Cob house: Michael Buck built this house at the bottom of his garden for just £150 using natural or unwanted materials he found in skips

Interior: Mr Buck rescued the floorboards from a neighbour's skip and used the windscreen of an old lorry to create several of the home's windows

Inside: Although the cottage has no electricity it does have free running water from a nearby spring and walls painted with a chalk and plant resin mixture

Homely: The cottage has a kitchen and dining area, along with a bunk-style bed to maximise space below

Smallholder Michael Buck spent eight months constructing the house using the ancient technique of  cob – building with a mixture of sand, clay, straw, water and earth. He taught himself the method by reading a book, even shaping the walls without a single power tool.

 

He also made the simple wooden roof frame and thatched it himself with straw from his fields. The 300 sq ft of floor space features floorboards rescued from a skip, while an old windscreen from a lorry provided glass for the windows.

With no central heating, you might think it would be a bit chilly, but he says the cob walls and thatched roof make it incredibly well insulated – and the ceiling is stuffed with sheep’s wool from a nearby farm to help keep the heat in further.

   

Resourceful: Mr Buck, pictured outside the cob house, said he wanted to challenge the notion that paying for a house should take a lifetime

Thatched roof: Former art teacher Mr Buck taught himself how to thatch in order to create the cottage's intricate roof

Welcoming: Cob houses are built according to a method thought to date back to prehistoric times which uses only earth, clay and straw

Isolated: The cottage, situated in the Oxfordshire countryside, even has its own thatched outhouse complete with composting toilet

There is also a woodburning stove, strategically placed beneath the mezzanine level double bed to ensure residents stay ‘nice and toasty’ at night, while candles and lanterns provide light.
The water supply is free as it comes from a diverted natural spring which gurgles out of a pipe outside, while the ‘natural’ fridge is a shallow well a few yards away from the front door and hidden from view by towering cow parsley.
The WC is a composting lavatory in a separate thatched outhouse with a panoramic view of the Oxfordshire countryside, and the ‘bathroom’ is a tin tub hanging on the wall outside which can be brought in and filled as needed. 

Hard at work: Mr Buck spent two years gathering materials and contructing the house at the bottom of his garden

Site: Mr Buck intended to build the cottage for no cost at all but after 'some things went wrong' he ended up spending £150 on it

Taking shape: Mr Buck said he wanted the house to 'fit in with the landscape rather than intrude upon it'

Development: The cottage is built from locally-sourced materials which, apart from the glass, are biodegradable, Mr Buck has said

 

 

Natural materials: Mr Buck said that a house 'does not have to cost the Earth - you only need earth to build it'. The property boasts free running water from a nearby spring (right)

Retreat: The house features the names of all the people who helped in building it written on the wall, including three cows who provided the dung to help build the walls

Return to where it came from: Mr Buck says while the house could last forever with proper maintenance, it could also one day disappear back into the Earth if it was left

Tradition: English cob was traditionally made by mixing a clay-based subsoil with sand, straw and water before using oxen to trample it

Despite the somewhat Spartan arrangements, Mr Buck is renting out the unusual property. But there isn’t a hobbit in sight – and the current tenant is a worker on a neighbouring dairy farm who pays for her lodgings in milk and cream. Cooking can be done on the woodburner, but she has installed a small gas stove in the kitchenette.

Yesterday father of three Mr Buck, 59, who lives in a more conventional home nearby with wife Sheila, 57, said: ‘I wanted to show that houses don’t have to cost anything. We live in a society where we spend our lives paying our mortgages, which many people don’t enjoy.’ 

Mr Buck originally aimed to build the house for nothing, but miscalculated the amount of straw needed so had to buy more. He also had to buy nails to keep the thatch attached. Friends pitched in to help with the build and their names are written on the wall, along with the names of three cows – Marigold, Crystal and Mist – whose dung was used to make plaster. 

Mr Buck, a former art teacher, drew the plans for the house on the back of an envelope and did not need planning permission as it was classed as a summer house.

 

 

Homely: Heat is provided by a wood-burning stove - and thanks to the cob walls and thatched roof the house is surprisingly well-insulated

Achievement: Mr Buck said he wanted to challenge the idea that people had to 'spend their whole lives paying off their mortgage doing something they don't enjoy'

I just wanted to share this with my readers, because this little cob house just sparks the imagination. 

My sister's brother-in-law is a Thatcher, what a lovely trade to continue on in.

Christy

Cat, Cookies and Chai Latte

Miss Tuppence, every morning she sits on our bedroom radiator and looks out of the window, watching the squirrels and the birds by the pond.

Mr B. likes American Test Kitchen 

Certain cookies he makes all the time, as you know Chocolate Chip, I am prejudice, but his are the best.  So when he made a batch to take to a friends house on Wednesday, they tasted great, but did not look their best.  Mr. B starts analizing what was different, what went wrong?  He says type and temperature of the butter has a lot to do with it.  It seems the same happened with these raisin cookies, although having the oatmeal in them, they held together better and taste great.

A thrift shop find, hand painted from Vietri Sur Mer, southern Italy.  It seems from here you can start the Amalfi Coastal drive, one can dream.  The hand painting is very nautical I think.

This cup is very nice for a Chai Latte and raisin cookie, so I am enjoying it.

Well dear readers, hope all is well with you and yours.

Christy

Snow Day At The Farm Park

Last night was 8 degrees Fahrenheit, pretty cold.  We have the old cast iron radiators, steam heat and the central heating has been on.  The pipes have been clanking as they haven't been this hot for a while, heating the house mostly from the wood stove.

We bundled up as you can see above and took advantage of our day off work and went to the park, just such a glorious but bitter cold day.  I will share with you our walk by Stony Creek.

Fortified with hot coffee and raisin oatmeal cookies, Mr. B. had chocolate chip of course.

This is one of a favourite seats in the park by the creek.  Most of the seats are donated and are given in remembrance of a family member.  There is always a wreath here every winter season, usually on the seat, but this time on the tree behind.

The boy went sledding.  Here he is wearing a jacket that was his father's from the early eighties, he just loves it and even sprang to have the tailor put in a new zip.  It's muted shades of green, pink and orange.  He was very afraid that the tailor would put in the wrong colour zip.  In the end he went with green, pretty bright, but the right shade.  I said to Rob is will fade.  All things come around again, even a thirty year old jacket.

I'm going to listen to BBC Radio 4 and watch Tales From The Green Valley on You Tube set on a Welsh Farm circa 1600s, just so interesting.  Do more work on my Oilily Jumper, the gusset is almost finished it just needs sewing up and then I want to crochet on edging around the bottom.

Christy

P.S.  One New Year's Resolution:

Host a Garden Tea Party, I'm thinking in May, when the roses are out and the garden hasn't been dried out by the heat.

No Work Today

This is the snow storm coming through last night, but we were toasty with the fire going.  Mr. B. made raisin oatmeal cookies and chai lattes later in the evening after dinner.

I was let out of work an hour early and dashed over to the craft store to pick up the last ball of yarn that I need to finish my shawl, I was afraid if I didn't go soon they would not have the colour I need.  It should only have taken two but mine will take three, if I make another one I can see where I could possibly get it down to two maybe, but I'm not restarting this one again, it took long enough to figure the pattern out as it was.

It's lovely and sunny today, although bitterly cold.  We hope to go over to the park later in the SUV.

Now for my breakfast cup of tea and poached eggs on toast.

Hope your day is snug in the North and cool in the Southern hemisphere, where I've been reading of very high temps.

Take care,
Christy

Looking Back and Looking Forward

Looking back and looking forward.  2013 had some lovely high points and low points, that's life.  My dear mum was never one to dwell on the past too much and always looked forward.  I will take a leaf out of her book.  You cannot change the past,  remember the happy times with loved ones and move forward.

“Tomorrow I'll think of some way . . . after all, tomorrow is another day." Gone With The Wind

 

Looking Forward
by Robert Louis Stevenson

When I am grown to man's estate
I shall be very proud and great
And tell the other girls and boys
Not to meddle with my toys

Mathew Chapter 6 Verse 34 

So never be anxious about the next day, 
for the next day will have its own anxieties. 
Each day has enough of its own troubles.

Christy

Lasagna and Cajun Beer Bread

I walked in the house on Sunday and this is what greeted me dinner.  Mr B. had made lasagna and had gone routing through the pantry and come up with a mix I had bought a while ago, it's a Cajun Beer Bread, the smell wafting to my nose was wonderful, as it calls for a bottle of beer.  Mr. B. knew he would not like it as he is not into spiciness but I am.  It is very good, a spicy plus sage and thyme stuffing taste almost, sliced warm with butter delicious.

On the whole I have found that for some reason Americans do not like fruit cake, but since America is a melting pot of people I have friends from Jamaica, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Tobago and having been through out their history associated with the Brits, these friends of mine are partial to a nice piece of fruit cake.  The above was from a friend originally born in Rhodesia and then lived most of her life in South Africa, but now lives here.

Years ago I had a party inviting friends one of whom was Miggy from Jamaica and she baked a wonderful fruit cake.  Every one bought the usual American fair of which my husband is very fond anything with chocolate, not to be denigrated, but I was coveting the fruit cake, needless to say most of it was left and Miggy said it's for you, with a nice cup of tea I was a happy girl for quite a while, as fruit cake keeps well.

In Tobago they make a delicious rum fruit cake which they export, if you come across it in your travels you should try it.

We've had quite a lot of rain recently, but nothing like the UK so hope all is well with my UK friends and family.

Christy

P.S. Sorry for the after dark photos, but that's winter.