U stands for UTENSILS

I have always been an enthusiastic cook and one of the most USEFUL and often USED UTENSIL in my kitchen is my pressure cooker. If I was given the option of having either a microwave or a pressure cooker , the pressure cooker wins, hands down.

My favourite kitchen UTENSIL. The UBIQUITOUS pressure cooker. 

Over the years it has turned out some hearty and delicious meals. Some of the family favourites are Minestrone Soup with Parmesan Cheese Wafers and

  Lentil with Bacon Soup plus lots of fresh vegetables... and not forgetting   Di's famous parsley dumplings......

Minestrone soup with Parmesan Chips. 

Bacon and Lentil Soup with Di's famous Parsley Dumplings.

USING a pressure cooker cuts the cooking time considerably, from start to finish, these two wholesome and hearty soups can be from cooker to table within twenty minutes.

Honey Glazed Ham.

The honey glazed ham took 35 mins in the pressure cooker, then a further 30 mins, roasted with a honey and clove glaze, in the oven. USING the Pressure Cooker cut the cooking time almost by half.  This method keeps the gammon tender and succulent.

 Cumberland sauce goes well with it.

Honey Glazed Ham.

Cumberland sauce.

So here it is .... all this lovely food cooked in my favourite kitchen UTENSIL,

THE UBIQUITOUS  

Pressure cooker. 

My sincere thanks to  Denise, who has UNDENIABLY brought a lot of pleasure to so many of us, by devising abcw and  UNITING people from all over the world, sharing thoughts, pictures, poems and daily doings, et al !

Also, our  UNENDING  gratitude to Roger the  UNASSAILABLE  Administrator,  for doing what he does, in keeping US, UP and running with UNFAILING aplomb.

Thanks too, to the team of helpers who, week after week, assist Roger with the visits to all participants....

WORLDWIDE....WOW!

Best Wishes,

Di.

ABCW team.

S stands for Shakespeare.

William Shakespeare  1564-1616  

Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon. Warwickshire.

 He married Anne Hathaway and they had three children, Susanna and twins Hamnet and Judith.

 A successful career ensues in London between 1585-1592 .

 He was a noted writer and actor, then  part owner of a playing company. Amongst his many famous and well known plays is The Taming of the Shrew.

As well as this being played on the stage many times there have been several movies made of it.

 My all time favourite has to be the version made in 1967 starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, they were well suited to the characters they played as, probably the whole world knew about their much publisized, volatile marriage;   as were the two protagonists in the play, Katerina and Petruchio.

Petruchio.

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor acting in one of their fabulous SCENES in The Taming of the SHREW.     

I won't write any more about this play as I have featured it before so, as I'm rather fond of logical quotations I thought I'd share a few of

  WILL SHAKESPEARE'S, with you.  

'SOME are born great,
  SOME achieve  greatness
 and SOME
have greatness
 thrust upon them'.
 (Twelfth Night).

To thine own SELF be true,
And it must follow as,
the night,
the day,
thou can'st be true.

Sonnet 18.

SHALL I compare thee to a summer's day? 

Thou art more lovely and more temperate,

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May

And summer's lease hath all to short a date.

And so  as I complete my finish SLANT on the letter 'S'

I have to confess I am STRUGGLING to write at present,

SO much to cope with and feeling SO SHATTERED all

the time. I hope you all can bear with me until I get my 

Mojo back..

Thanks to the SUPERDOOPER Denise Nesbitt for devising 

ABCW and the SAGACIOUS Roger for doing what he does

 too! Also our thanks go out to the SPONTANEOUS team

 of helpers who assist Roger with the visits,

Best wishes to all.

Di. xx

R is for Random

Darling daughter Ingrid.

Ingrid's..... RAISON D`ETRE......her two beautiful children...Olivia and Christian.... she missed them so much whilst she was RECOVERING in hospital.

RELIEF!

My profound apologies to my fellow Abcw chums for being so late in posting and carrying out my visits.......
You see,our darling daughter Ingrid was RUSHED  into hospital with severe chest pains, she had all the symptoms of a heart attack, much to our shock horror!
However, I am pleased to REPORT that  after several tests over several days she was diagnosed with Pleurisy  and a Hiatus hernia... this is bad enough in itself but not a life threatening disorder.
 She REMAINED in hospital for six days and is now at home on a course of drugs and REST AND RECUPERATION

Arial view of the city facing down to the estuary
of the River which flows into the emerald green
waters of the Irish Sea.

 Today, much to our RELIEF she is almost pain free and looking forward to meeting her children from school and getting back to normal.

Random pictures of my home town Liverpool Which sits on the famous River Mersey.

Ferry 'cross the Mersey, 'cos this land's the land I love and here I'll stay

ROYALTY.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh in the State Coach going to the State Opening of Parliament,

The ROYAL Barge sailing under Tower Bridge on the River Thames on the occasion of  The Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 1915.

The ROYAL FAMILY  on the ROYAL BARGE.

That's all folks.... on the last minute my err..... R contribution!

I'm REALLY sorry to be so late but so RELIEVED and thankful that our Darling Daughter, Ingrid,  is so much better.

Again my sincere thanks to the RADIANT  Denise for devising  ABCW  and the RATIONAL ROGER our most RELIABLE administrator........ also not forgetting our REGIME OF READERS who assist with the weekly visits.

Q stands for Queens

'The Queen of Hearts' was a poem  based on the characters found on playing cards, originally, thought to be by an anonymous author. 

 The Queen of Hearts,   

 She made some tarts,

 All on a summer's day;  

 The  Knave of Hearts

 He stole those tarts,

 And took them clean away.

The King of Hearts

 Called for the tarts,

 And beat the Knave full sore;      

 The Knave of Hearts

 Brought back the tarts

 And vowed he'd steal no more.

Several Poets have laid claim that they have written this amusing little poem including Charles Lamb, but I feel this has Lewis Carroll written all over it!  In Alice's adventures in Wonderland  'The Queen of Hearts' was depicted as a foul tempered, tyrant, ruler of Wonderland . Her solution to every problem is to order a beheading

 before the day is out, she would often be seen and heard shrieking all over Wonderland....'Off with their head' ! Fortunately for many The Griffin explains, that her orders never seem to be carried out, as the King, who sits quietly in the background, rescinds them.

The Kings confidante... The Griffin.. to the right of Alice.

King and Queen...The King looks rather genial whilst the Queen looks rather fierce!

An amazing story, when I read it as a child I found it rather scary, but  after seeing the Disney movie, I understood it a lot more , it really has hidden depths, sometimes a little sinister...Off with,their heads !

My sincere thanks to the Quick witted Denise who, without Question, in devising Abcw, has brought so much pleasure to so many bloggers worldwide.

 Also I must thank Roger our Quiet and Quick- witted 'admin man' works tirelessly week in-week out, to keep us all connected!

 Lastly, but not least, our thanks to the team of people who help with the visits and generally considered the Quintessence group of enthusiastic ABCW'ers.

Best wishes.

Di.

 ABCW team.