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Notre Dame, Paris

What a sad week in April 2019 to see Notre Dame ablaze with fire.  It is hard to imagine what happened to start the devastation, for it to go un-noticed for long enough to be completely out of control. And ironic that during a period of restoration, the state of repair has grown a thousand times bigger.

It is interesting to think where is the tipping point between restoring a building like this or letting it stand as a monumental ruin like the Colosseum in Rome Continue reading “Notre Dame, Paris”

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Time to be Cheap and Chutney

Making chutney is one of those things considered the domain of elderly women, who make it for the church fete and sold to raised much needed funds. The recipients put it at the back of, or in the door of the fridge and there it lingers.

Hot Tomato Chutney
A good second use of glass jars too!

But chutney making is fun and a great way to use allotment overstocks, or giveaway bargains in the reduce to clear counters at the supermarket.

You can almost guarantee that every chutney you make will be different – vegetables, fruit, sugars, vinegars, spices all add to the mix of a successful chutney and some you find will work better than other. This article by Hugh Roadkill Whittingstall, is really quite good –

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/oct/25/pickle-recipes

Basically stick to 2kg of vegetables and fruit, to 250g sugar and 400ml vinegar.

If I use less fruit I use more sugar…………. Continue reading “Time to be Cheap and Chutney”

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Items for Sale

The online sites like Gumtree, Preloved and eBay are great for rummaging around in, from the comfort of your sofa.  Please use the links below which will take you to see the items that I currently have for sale.  And then bookmark them in your browser and come back again!

I often post items for sale as soon as I have them, and call them work in progress.  I can describe what the piece will look like when finished, and then will add more photos as the work progresses. I don’t claim to have any great skills and it’s just a hobby not a business.

Preloved

A great site for local purchases where sellers can be contacted by email or telephone to make an offer and arrange collection. Loves cash and is free to the seller.  Don’t overlook this site. I like that you can search by location and you might just find something you never knew you wanted!

Gumtree

Continue reading “Items for Sale”

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Before and After

I have been getting into a bit of low level furniture refurbishment.  I wouldn’t call it restoration as I think that is a different skill set and requires time, space and tools that I do not have.  But I enjoy taking something that looks like it has seen better days and making it look good or even better than it originally did and giving it a second life.

Pictures showing the transition from before to after is a great record of what can be achieved easily and reminds me of those adverts for losing weight with an aging and slumped beer gut before, to a six pack sex machine after!

Before – tired and tarnished
After – Beauty shines through
After years of service
Ready for a second chance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tired and redundant
Ready to be loved again

 

 

 

 

 

Seen better days and a bit dull
Fresh and awake again
An old classic
And now something a little different

 

 

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Emmaus Finds in France

Back from Holiday

Thought it was time I caught up a bit as I have not posted for some weeks since going away on holiday. A couple of weeks in France and doing the closest thing I have to a hobby, wandering around antique centres, led to me to tell you more about Emmaus.

We love going to France and doing the things we love to do, one of which is traipsing around Emmaus centres. These are full of house clearance and donated items and sold to support the Emmaus charity, an organisation that supports homeless people with shelter, rehabilitation from addiction, support with mental health issues, and provides work in the centres as well.

Bargain Hunt

Full with everything from cooking utensils to colossal antique French wardrobes, it’s great to look out for something unusual, something vintage, something French no less.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmaus_(charity)

So here are a few of our recent finds from Emmaus centres in Fougeres, Laval and Rennes.
Continue reading “Emmaus Finds in France”

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Chicken Kebab with Rice and Vermicelli Pilaf

I popped into my only local Asian food store yesterday as I was passing to stock up on a couple of items that I had run out of. Ready made mixes such as Tandoori Masala, and whole spices like Coriander Seeds in 100g bags at great value prices. And so much more interesting than the supermarket, I feel that I would love Chicken Kebab for dinner!

Find out more about TRS products here: https://www.trs.co.uk/

Chicken Kebab with Rice and Vermicelli Pilaf
Chicken Kebab with Rice and Vermicelli Pilaf

A chicken breast cut into six pieces and threaded onto a metal skewer for each kebab. I prefer to go through each piece of meat twice  (like a stitch) to create a tighter kebab. Make accompanying vegetable kebabs with mushroom, onions, red pepper, tomatoes – keep things sizable or they will shrivel to nothing when cooking.

Continue reading “Chicken Kebab with Rice and Vermicelli Pilaf”

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Fish and Scallops from Modigliani

I am not completely sure I will ever use this fish serving set.  It is quite clearly incomplete with only three actual plates and then I wondered whether I would ever cook with fish (that swim in the sea) and scallops (that, well, just float around in shells).

Fish Supper for Three

But I couldn’t help being drawn to this set as its looks quite unusual, none of the fish are smiling, and each piece in good condition other than a hairline crack in the lid of the fish sauce boat.  And if ever placed on a dinner table is bound to create a talking point for several minutes – their difference, bargains, Flog It!, antique shops, Italy and so on.

They are from Modigliani via Condotti Roma and Continue reading “Fish and Scallops from Modigliani”

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Fibre Broadband, fast but not that fast

I have recently upgraded to Fibre broadband. Tempted to go one better I agreed on Fibre Plus. My previous speeds measured 7 Mbps. Sounds terrible I know and the thought of something ten times as fast was very appealing.

Not so long ago I didn’t have many things connected to the internet. Mainly a laptop and or a desktop, but not constantly of course. Now with several smart phones, Continue reading “Fibre Broadband, fast but not that fast”

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Blackbird

I didn’t want to neglect my Antiques category and thought I should pop a small post in to get started.

Just to show what you can pick up, this little beauty cost a staggering 75p from my favorite charity shop. It is not unusual to see these for sale for ten times this amount and quite often more. Continue reading “Blackbird”

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