Deblyn

juice of 5 -6 juicy lemons 5 - 6 eggs 200g/8oz unslated butter 500g/1 1/4lb caster sugar Wash lemons, grate the rind fine, and put in a bowl with the juice. Add sugar, and butter cut up fine. Place bowl over saucepan of simmering water, and leave until sugar dissolved and butter melted, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile beat the eggs. When butter melted and sugar dissolved, strain the eggs through a fine sieve into the bowl, and cook gently, stirring frequently until thickened enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Do not allow to boil or it will curdle. When thickened, pour at once into small warmed pots, cover and leave till cool. Will kepp about 1 -2 months, but must be kept in the fridge. Good on all baked goods, also as a filling for cakes, over icecream, or stirred into homemade icecream before freezing. My granny made the best lemon curd in the world!

Lemon curd recipe posted under its own heading. Deb - you shouldn't quite be able to drink the marmalade! It doesn't matter though, as long as you eat the toast or muffins quickly before it all drips off! I have a mental image here..........!! If it's thin, it makes a nice sharp sauce, either warmed or cold, for icecream, or could be stirred into homemade icecream before freezing. marmalade cake is good too - my children like that one, and it's easy and cheap to do.

Marmite is definitely an acquired taste! People either love it or they hate it. I love it. It has a very strong taste, and is made from yeast extract, along with salt, vegetable extract, nicacin, thiamin,spice extracts, riboflavin, folic acid, celery extract, vitamin B12. It is a highly processed food, but I think it's quite good for you! The best way to eat it is on hot buttered toast. Some people eat it in a sandwich as well. i sometimes put in a dollop for a soup stock, or into a stew or similar. Hubby quite likes it, but the children aren't keen. In Australia, they call it Veggiemite, and it's the same thing. If they don't sell if over there, I could sned you a wee jar in the post for you to try! Let me know if you would like some!

I love the Dixie Chicks! I have a couple of their albums. I'm not a huge fan of country music, but I do like this. My dog is called Dixie too! Bet you all wanted to know that!

Made me homesick, made me cry, made me cross with the English (again!).

Hi Brigid - I see you now! I just wondred if there was anyone from other parts of the world except the Us and Canada. I see above that there were a couple of people from Autralia but they're not around at the moment. Maybe someone will turn up........ In the meantime I'm more than happy with the friends I've made across the pond, so don't take that the wrong way!!!!

Another use for a drawer which seems strange these days - the baby of the family often slept in the larger bottom drawer of the chest of drawers; saved on furniture, and the bed could just be pushed shut when not in use. I think some of my mother's family slept in drawers, so it's probably not as long ago as you would think.

Yes, Brigid - a drawer where you keep cutlery and teatowels, etc! Honest, that is true. My grandpa was head Gardener to the Duke of Norfolk on one of his estates in Scotland, and working long hours, he always took a "piece" to work; a "piece" is a term in Scotland for any portable piece of food that you carry with you to work etc. At school we had a "playpiece" for eating at playtime. I personally do not like porridge at all, but I think that was because my mother used to make me eat it when I was very small. The taste of it makes me physically ill, now, so I don't eat it, although I use oatmeal in baking and cooking, which I like. I would eat it if I had to though, for want of something else. It is a very nutritious and cheap food, easy to prepare and oatmeal keeps for a long time. Most Scots were brought up on the stuff. My hubby eats it with sugar, but the true Scots say it should be made with water and eaten with salt. Sounds even less appealing.........

I visited the site this morning, but discovered that the offers are only available in the US and Canada (excluding Quebec)!! Not fair, really.LOL.

It has been suspected here in the UK for some time that aspartame is suspected of being carcinogenic. My children do not drink lemonade or carbonated drinks as a rule. They do have them occasionaly, and there are now several organic ones available. They have never had the "sugar free" varieties of anything because of what is in them. I would rather they had a small amount of sugar than the chemicals. They both drink lots of water, milk and fruit juice. I am aware that fruit juice contains sugar in another form, so they get less of that. Another good thing is that neither of them have ever had to go too see the dentist - they are 11 and 8 now. I don't drink coke, etc at all, but hubby does. He is the only ones with holes in his teeth, but at least he avoids the diet ones because of the dangerous chemicals in there.

I was telling the children about this the other day. When my granny had any leftover porridge from breakfast, it was poured into a clean drawer and left to go solid. When cold and solid, it was cut into slices and my grandpa would take it to work the next day for his piece (like a Scottish packed lunch!). My husband thought I made this up, but it is true, my mother confirmed it. My granny wasted absolutely nothing at all.

Testing for a set with jams, jellies or marmalades: Place a couple of saucers in the fridge while the jam etc is boiling. When it has boiled and thickened a bit, place a teaspoonful on the cold saucer, meanwhile taking the pan off the heat incase it passes the setting point. After a minute, push the jam on the saucer with the tip of your finger; if it wrinkles, then it has reached setting point. This is a reliable method which my granny taught me, and is easy to do. The other way is using a thermometer, and boil to the jam temperature. I still test it on the saucer though, even after it has reached there on the thermometer! Hope this helps.

Wanting to never part with them is a good recommendation! I will look out for the secondhand, as in Lehman's they are $145 for the set, before shipping to England! Thanks.

Braveheart - anyone seen it?

Grown up (more than one): Reds, How to Make an American Quilt, The Milagro Beanfield War. Children's: Babe, Chicken Run, any Wallace and Gromit

Good piece of advice I was given: At the top of your "to do today" list, write EAT CHOCOLATE. That way, you'll always get at least one thing done!

Is there anyone out there in the rest of the world? Please make contact!

I left mine out of the fridge; it should be OK for that short length of time. I covered it with a tea-towel to keep the dust, etc out. Mind you my jam pans won't fit in the fridge anyway!

Don't think I've ever been aesthetically pleasing in my life! Glad you found it of help.

About twice a year my hubby gives me some oney (not a huge amount) and he drops me off in town for three or four hours, by myself. I spend the time looking round the chairty shops, window shopping in the expensive cookshop and having a grown-up cup of coffee by myself in the posh coffee shop where they provide expensive magazines for you to read. I then wander up to the garden centre for an hour before they all come back and pick me up again. I am very fortunate that I only need to do this about twice a year. I don't really get stressed, but I do find that slamming doors helps to relieve the tension; which is why I never shout at the children when they do it!

Does anyone make lemon curd? Very lemony!

A jumble sale is the same as a rummage sale, but I'd rather go to a jumble than a rummage. Bethany and I are professionals at these, and both go prepared with lots of change, lots of bags and sharpened elbows! The last one we went to a couple of weeks ago, we spent about £7 and bought ourselves a new winter wardrobe each! And a bag to put it all in! yes, a great fan of jumble sales, but it's a bit of a family tradition. You should have seen my granny go!

Hi Spitfire, here's some advice from England; don't know if it's relevant to where you are, but it may help. Russian sage is known as perovskia (latin/botanical name), and should be cut down in spring, when the new little shoots start to show through. There are really two schools of thought on cutting down perennials. The first is by people who like a tidy garden; at the first sign of autumn, they cut back all the dying and dead growth to tidy up the borders over the winter. Then there are gardeners like me............! I tend to leave perennials until the spring to cut them back, mainly for two reasons. Firstly, for the sake of wildlife - seedheads can feed the birds, and hollow stems and stalks etc can give somewhere for small insects eg ladybirds, lacewings, etc to overwinter. The second reason is that by leaving on the decaying topgrowth, this can afford some degree of protection from frost for the newly emerging shoots, which would otherwise be damaged. I would vote every time for leaving it until the spring with all perennials. Hope this helps - let me know what you think, as I'd be interested.

Spitfire - do you mean Victor Borge? I've seen Vanessa Mae, John Denver and Suzanne Vega, all here in Dorset, England. Also a comedienne called Victoria Wood who is one of my favourites. I took Bethany to see Riverdance when it came to Bournemouth, which she loved.

I'm glad you'r interested in trying out the recipe; it's from an old 1930's cookery book I picked up at a jumble sale for a few pence. It's got some really interesting recipes in. My marmalade has a soft set, and is not a stiff jelly, but isn't at all runny, so don't expect it to stand up on its own. I still have 2 1/2 pints pulp to do this afternoon when I get some more sugar. That will be enought to sell and plenty to keep us going for a few months.