Monday Funnies…

It is Thursday when many of us are starting to flag.. nothing is more rejuvenating that a shot of something special… and The Story Reading Ape’s funnies are just what the doctor ordered…

 

Head over to enjoy the rest of the frivolity… you won’t regret it..

via Monday Funnies…

CarolCooks2…weekly roundup 3rd May-9th May 2020…Recipes and Mothers Day…

It has been  a busy week over on Carol Taylor’s blog with her regular posts on the the environment, taste of the exotic with a Thai Ant Egg Salad… apparently a delicacy…a packed Whimsical Wednesday and a celebration of Colonel Tom.. and a poignant reminder that many of us are losing those close to us. Please head over to read the post in full.. thanks Sally.

1 Reply

Good Morning and welcome it’s time for my weekly roundup of posts…Like everyone else, I am getting used to being cocooned in my home and garden with just the occasional quick trip out for essentials…Cooking has always been a passion but not like this…There are not really abnormal shortages of food here but I am not popping out every day or at will…Shopping is planned and the storecupboard and those tins/packets at the back of it are seeing the light of day…

I have also had my fair share of disasters …maybe its because I am cooking more or maybe it’s the heat and humidity and my temperamental oven although I learnt something the other day thanks to my eagle-eyed son…The temp gauge read spot on for my cake…Because my oven heat comes from the bottom like most ovens here I have to double tin anyone who is used to ovens in Asia knows exactly what I mean…

Cake in the oven and the temp gauge shot up…the only solution we came up with was that as the heat was directly under the tin that caused the heat/temp to rise…Any other thoughts on that.?.. The way forward seems to be to put my tin in the oven while it is heating thus getting a more accurate reading and then putting my cake tin in…Thoughts?

Cake making here is not for the faint-hearted…

Monday: Recycling and Climate Change…4th May 2020…and Covid-19…

A new month already nearly half a year gone…A few months of sadness and grief for many but for all of us unprecedented times and restrictions which many of us haven’t experienced in our lifetimes…All of this is having an effect on climate change, air pollution, waste, recycling…

 

Head over to read the post in full….

via CarolCooks2…weekly roundup 3rd May-9th May 2020…Recipes and Mothers Day…

Honno: “Great Women, Great Writing, Great Stories.” Today with Thorne Moore #TuesdayBookBlog

Judith Barrow begins a new series interviewing some of the talented group of authors at Honno publishing and Judith introduces us to Thorne Moore and her books. Always great to get recommendations when looking for new books to read..I hope you will head over and read the post in full. .thanks Sally.

Posted on April 13, 2020

 My greatest support has come from the group of authors published by Honno. We have a Facebook group where we can chat and ask for help, information and generally boost moral when it’s needed. And we’ve met up in real life on many occasions. About three years ago I shared interviews with some of them. Since then there have been other women writers who have become Honno authors. So this is the first of a new set of interviews and today I am with my friend, Thorne Moore.

Hi Thorne, glad you are with us today.

It’s good to be here, Judith.

Let’s start by you telling us a little about yourself, please.

I was born in Luton, but my mother came from Cardiff and I went to Aberystwyth University, so it was a bit like reclaiming my Welsh heritage when I moved to Wales in 1983 to run a restaurant with my sister. I live now in north Pembrokeshire, in an old farm cottage on the site of a mediaeval mansion, overlooking forests and valleys and very nearly in sight of the sea. I am just retiring from 40 years of making miniature furniture for collectors, and I write, garden, write, cook, write, walk… oh, and write.

When did you start writing?

 

Head over to discover more about Thorne and her books..

via Honno: “Great Women, Great Writing, Great Stories.” Today with Thorne Moore #TuesdayBookBlog

Sally’s Cafe and Bookstore Book Marketing – Online Watering Holes for Authors – Part One – Is your Blog book marketing ready? – Sally Cronin

So far in this series I have focused on Amazon Author pages, Goodreads and the book marketing potential of your covers, titles, tag lines and key words: https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/sallys-cafe-and-bookstore-book-marketing-series-2019/

In the next three posts I am going to look at the online social media platforms that are helpful in your efforts to market your books. None of them are perfect, not least of all because of the amount of personal data that is collected, but you are in business as an author and advertising is a key element of your strategy.

This week I am going to focus on blogging which in my experience over the last seven years is the one that offers the most options when it comes to book marketing, as it is combined with another crucial element… the marketing of you the author.

Blogworld is probably the most effective watering hole for writers.

There are an estimated 60 million bloggers on WordPress alone, and I recognise that it can take time to establish your own community of writers and readers. I started my own blog in 2012 but it was not until September 2013 that I really began building my brand consistently.

via Sally’s Cafe and Bookstore Book Marketing – Online Watering Holes for Authors – Part One – Is your Blog book marketing ready? – Sally Cronin

Smorgasbord Letters from America – A nieces visit, Astroworld, rafting, South Padre and a Royal Wedding.

Coming to the end of my letters from Houston to my parents back in the UK.. just a couple more to go.. My niece spends three weeks with us and we had a great time.. I also go horse riding and fishing….

Posted on July 25, 2019 by Smorgasbord – Variety is the Spice of Life.

It is August 1986 to almost 33 years to the week. My niece Emma aged 15, has been with us for three weeks, and I am writing to my parents with all the things we got up to.. well almost all of them.. I would send the photos on to them at a later date, but will share them in the post.

Dear M & D..

Thankfully all went according to plan and I met Emma along with her escort from the place at the airport and whisked her off to Parramatta Lane. Since you know the layout of the apartment you will recognise this favourite photograph spot for newcomers! Of course being fifteen, Emma was raring to go despite jet lag and the last three weeks have not stopped since.

We of course have introduced her to Walter… and David took this photo a couple of days after she arrived. We had lots of invitations to meals at people’s houses but we spent a couple of days by the pool to get used to the heat and we also of course had to go shopping for more clothes for all the social engagements!

Then Anna took Emma and I to Pappasitos for dinner, and our friendly guitarist who you will remember well Mollie for serenading you, found out Emma was your granddaughter and invited her stand up in front of the whole restaurant to sing to her. Two songs later we managed to drag her back to the table to eat her fajitas!

 

via Smorgasbord Letters from America – A nieces visit, Astroworld, rafting, South Padre and a Royal Wedding.

Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – The Cookery Column with Carol Taylor – #Halloween Party Food

Carol Cooks Halloween Food.

Welcome to this week’s edition of Carol’s cookery column well we are halfway through October and those of you who celebrate Halloween probably already have your porches and front gardens decorated…I am here to help you with the food but not just for Halloween as I have seen and heard that a few of you are already experiencing flurries of snow…and only October whereas here it is hotting up as our high season is coming…

The potato is ideal Halloween and cold weather food a simple food that can be elevated into something quite warming and special.

Before we get to the fillings we need to bake them…

How to bake…Simply select your potatoes and scrub them clean, dry them and poke a few holes here and there…I am sure many of you have witnessed the mess when potato bursts its skin in the oven…

I oil my potatoes very lightly and pop straight onto the shelves of a preheated oven… Cook on 400 F/200 C and cook for about an hour or until soft and the skin is crispy …I turn mine a couple of times to ensure they crisp evenly.

via Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – The Cookery Column with Carol Taylor – #Halloween Party Food

Guest author: Sally Cronin ~ Why I am skipping old age and looking forward to my second childhood instead

I was the guest of Sue Vincent yesterday and if you missed it, here is a snapshot with a link to the rest of the post..

It is always a pleasure to have Sally over as a guest, especially when she is writing about an issue so close to my heart:

My thanks to Sue for the invitation to write a post for her today… always lovely to be over on her spectacular and eclectic blog.

Sally aged 7 years old – looking forward and not back

Why I am skipping Old Age and embarking on my Second Childhood instead.

I have researched the delights of Old Age rigorously, in an effort to determine if I want to actually accept the title. I looked after my mother for several years in her late 80s to her mid-90s, and I would say that she was young at heart until dementia robbed her of that at age 92.

She said that she felt the same inside as she had as a young woman, despite the wrinkles and failing body. She proved to me that Attitude is the key to anti-aging not botox or other miracle wrinkle busters.

I was 60 years old when she passed away and I felt that it was my obligation to carry on the family tradition she had established, to maintain at the very least a young outlook on life. I have spent the last five years attempting to achieve this desired state.

The first stage is to determine if you are already in danger of becoming one of the Old Age Brigade!

I use a little check list to identify where I am on the scale of maturity and I call it the Old Fogies Alert Test... It is a little bit of fun but it is amazing how closely I can identify with some of these statements for myself and friends and relatives who are over a certain age.

via Guest author: Sally Cronin ~ Why I am skipping old age and looking forward to my second childhood instead

Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – The Food and Cookery Column with Carol Taylor -Homemade Sausages and Spice Mixes.

Homemade Sausages and Spice Mixes.

Welcome to this week’s cookery column those of you who know me well know that I make most or nearly everything from scratch if possible…https://blondieaka.com/2018/10/01/hot-dogs-those-two-words-should-strike-fear-into-your-heart/

On my Mondays column on my own blog I investigated  Hot Dog Sausages this week and I was shocked so instead of what I had planned, I brought this post forward… I always make my own sausages or buy them from a friend here who makes her own. She was married to a German gentleman so makes really lovely German varieties also many of the markets here make their own sausages which means the natural casings are freely available…

A quick tip on how to spot a natural casing is if the sausages on display are not all a uniform shape but all slightly different and may be wider at one end from the other.

Firstly I will give you two recipes for sausage spices which are easy to make as most people have the spices in their store cupboards and it helps with the rotation of your spices as they do lose their flavour if they sit in your cupboard for an extended period…lol…Now wasn’t that a polite way to put it???

These mixes are lovely if you are buying your meat already minced… I will also give you a recipe for making your own sausage meat from scratch.

via Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – The Food and Cookery Column with Carol Taylor -Homemade Sausages and Spice Mixes.

Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – The Food and Cookery Column – Carol Taylor Cooks with Mince

I don’t know of many households where some form of minced meat is not used at least once a week. Very versatile and Carol Taylor has some amazing recipes this week.

 

via Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – The Food and Cookery Column – Carol Taylor Cooks with Mince