A for Aubergines Altinkum and Anatolia.

Trubes Aubergines Altinkum and Anatolia

I just love Aubergines, cooked in any shape or form.

My first taste of the delectable 'Egg Plant' was during our first holiday in Turkey many years ago. This was the start of a great love affair with one of my  favourite countries in Eastern Europe/Asia Minor.

Pictured below is my version of  Imam Byildi, a dish of baked Aubergines, stuffed with minced lamb,  garlic,  tomatoes, onions, basil and a splodge of red wine, seasoned to taste with a soft cheese on top to finish. If you haven't tried this before there are lots of recipes on-line  for your perusal. Some of the recipes are meatless but adding meat makes it more filling.

 My take on Imam Byildi, all ready to pop under the grill to melt the cheese.

On reflection, I put extra cheese on this after I'd taken the picture, but it is personal preference, I use feta cheese or mozzarella.

Folklore.

 

One folk story behind this dish was that, when the Imam's wife prepared it for him,  he became so ecstatic that he fainted!

Imam Byildi literally translates as 'the imam fainted'.... My husband didn't faint when he tried my recipe, however he did say it was very good and had a second helping !

 Another story that was widely believed, that, a local Imam married the daughter of a wealthy olive oil merchant and part of the wedding dowry was twelve jars of olive oil.

 Each day thereon, the dutiful wife made his favourite dish for him.

 On the thirteenth day the twelve jars of olive oil had gone, on learning this he was so distressed that he fainted.

 

ALTINKUM in Turkey, Asia Minor

This was our first experience of Turkey and what a beautiful country it is, stunning beaches and verdant pastureland, with goats in abundance  from the  highly bred 

Angora Goat.

It's coat is woven into the most expensive Cashmere fabric   

 

Then there are the ubiquitous Mountain Goats which can be encountered in

Abundance all over the rocky terrain surrounding the villages and towns of Anatolia in the  South West region of Turkey

Every corner you turn, these chaps can be seen peering down, whilst perching on the precarious rock faces  lining the road sides through the Anatolia region

 

All out of 'A's now so, time to say Adieu, Au revoir and Auf wiedersehen to all out there.

Hurrah! My first letter 'A'.

 

My sincere accolades to the adorable Denise Nesbitt for working so hard in devising abcw and the astute Roger for being such an amazing administrator.

  

Z for Zazu and Zane

Zazu  is a zany character from the wonderful production  of The Lion King by Disney Presentations.
There is an animated film version and a stage production, last Saturday we had a lovely family afternoon in the Liverpool Empire Theatre.

We had really good seating in the lower circle, I had to go in my wheelchair which was great as there are special little bays to accommodate wheelchairs, with specially designated seating, so Ian and I were seated amidst part of our  family, daughter  Ingrid and husband Mike with their children and our grandchildren, Olivia Grace and Christian  Zane.

Christian has the second name of  Zane after his paternal great grandfather Chris Zane Christianson who lost his life in WW2, aged 22, serving as a flight sergeant in The Royal Canadian Air Force

 His family are Ranchers in Edmonton , Alberta Canada.

 

 

Back to the character of ZAZU  in the  wonderful Lion King  production.........

 

 

This how he appeared in the animated version.

 

 

This is Zazu  in the  production  we saw at the theatre.

 

 

 Zazu is a Red Billed Hornbill and is the 'Major Domo' in Lion King's household.

For the uninitiated, his job was to keep the Lion King amused and give a  'morning report' of goings on in the Kingdom.

One of his 'morning reports' went thus,

 

'Well!  the BUZZ from the bees is that the leopards are in a bit of a spot

All the baboons are going ape over this

Of course the giraffes are acting like they're above all of this.

The tick birds are pecking on the elephants.

I told the  elephants to forget it but they can't.

The cheetahs are hard up but I always say that cheetahs  never prosper.....

 

and so Zazu went on dropping his funny little 'anecdotes' all around the stage.

He certainly got a rousing reception from the audience.

from the stage show, stunning dancing and singing 

 

 

If you haven't had the opportunity to see the stage show of The Lion King I  suggest you go along and see it...

It's Zestful and Zany,

and just Zips along 

That's all for now, I have reached my ZENITH !

Just off for a Zzzzzzzzz.

My thanks to the ZANY Denise for devising abcw and the Zestful Roger for  being the 'Admin man'.

 Z for Zazu and Zane

Yogi and Yogi

There are two Yogis'  that came to mind whilst I was pondering a subject to write about that included the letter Y  for  abcWednesday.

The first is The Maharishi YOGI,  a highly regarded seer who developed the art of Transcendental  Meditation.
 He came to the fore in the 'sixties',  influencing many artistes including, The Beatles and The Beach Boys.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in India.

 

With the Beatles.

This was quite a turning point in the career of one of The Beatles, George Harrison. He was already quite an accomplished  musician and highly influenced by The Maharishi's mystic teaching, went on to learn the Sitar and wrote some of his best works ever (in my opinion), including,

 My Sweet Lord

Something (in the way she moves)

then there was the mystical and moving,

Within you without you.

Here Comes The Sun 

My Sweet Lord.

Who can forget Eric Clapton's version of George's stirring,

'While my Guitar Gently Weeps'

'Eric's son Connor tragically died after a fall from a window in a high storey building in New York about 29 years ago. I think he was 4 at the time .

He wrote 'Tears from Heaven' in memoriam to Connor and somewhere in my memory box he sang this along with 'While My Guitar Gently weeps' at one of his concerts.

 I was gently weeping too on hearing this most evocative recording!

As an ardent Beatles fan I can never thank enough,

 The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi 

 for having such a profound effect upon The Beatles and particularly, my favourite Beatle George, who wrote his best music ever....

.I truly believe The Maharishi Yogi, cast a wonderful spell on George, stirring his creative mystical talents, thus allowing him to write such lovely music.

 RIP George.

The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi left his physical body in 2008 at Vlodrop in the Netherlands.

 He died in a sitting position which is considered to be very sacred..

RIP  Maharishi M Yogi guru to The Beatles and many more faithful followers.

 

 

On a lighter note who can forget the incorrigible YOGI BEAR ?

 

Yogi's main purpose in life was to filch as many picnic hampers that he's able from unsuspecting campers in the mythical Jellystone Park, where he lived alongside his sidekick......  Boo Boo  the baby bear. 

 

 

Yogi and his little chum Boo Boo. 

 

 

However,  Park Ranger Smith did all he could to stop the naughty bears from upsetting the campers by stealing their picnic hampers.

 

 

 

 

 

Whenever Yogi managed to scamper off with his contraband Park Ranger Smith would usually be in hot pursuit!

 

 

 

Yogi also had a sweet little girlfriend called Cindy bear who disapproved of Yogi's antics! 

 

Yogi wasn't the brightest bear in the woods but he truly believed he was 'Smarter than the average bear'....Hey there Boo Boo.....

 

'Hello Mr Ranger Sir' just one of YOUR average bear days!

That's all folks ! 

My sincere thanks to the Yummy  Denise Nesbitt for devising abcw and also to the never yielding youthful Roger for being such a tenacious administrator.   

Yogi and Yogi

X stands for........

I really did have to go that eXtra mile to create this post,

I know there are a lot of words beginning with the letter X, as a Scrabble aficionado there is a glossary of X words stored in my jumbled mind!
 However, I just couldn't think of one word that I could write something interesting about. Then inspiration struck!
 I remembered the wonderful Windmill that was just around the corner from where we stayed in Anglesey on our recent holiday.

 

Here is my X 

This is Llynnon Mill displaying it's magnificent sails in the form of the letter  X...

Hurrah I've done it ! 

 

Whilst pondering about the letter X  I  recalled the amusing tales of Don QuiXote   the delusional Spanish gentleman who believed he was a Knight and had to go on adventures to achieve recognition for his great deeds
. On one of his adventures he saddled up his trusty old steed Rocinante  and rode off with the jolly  labourer Sancho and his dusty old donkey Dapple.
During the adventure they encountered several windmills, Don QuiXote, believing the windmills to be giants, waving their arms in the air, set about to destroy them. 

Here they are on their adventure

Oh dear not all thing s go to plan ! Or should I say that not all things are plain SAILing...(if you pardon my pun.)

 

Here are the giants that he failed to defeat.

 

The delightful yarns of Don Quixote were written by Miguel de Cervantes.

Many thanks to the excellent devisor Denise  of AbcW xxxxxx 

and the exploring mind Roger who is the adminstrator of the site... xxxxxx 

http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.ca/

W stands for Wales.

The babbling brook running through the garden and woodland, complete with a bridge and a little Waterfall!

 

Cymru am byth ....  Wales forever ! 

We have just returned from a wonderful holiday in Wales. I adore this country, it is virtually on our doorstep and takes about two hours from our home in Liverpool to reach one of our favourite haunts, the delightful Isle of Anglesey.
This time we stayed in a beautiful old lodge house which is situated at the gate of Llynon Hall in the pretty little village of Llanddeusant. 

Wonderful aspect of the rear of The Lodge

Wonderful !

 

 

 

This is the front of the Lodge. It is built as a split level, in fact, there are really three levels, from the entrance hall, go up four steps into the beautiful bedroom complete with a balcony overlooking the verdant country side.

Then, going down eight steps brings you to the comfortable sitting room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was our holiday home for one week and what fun we had, we dined on delicious local fare including fresh fish , delivered to our door every morning if we wanted!

The large spotted flat fish in the centre is a Turbot which we enjoyed for supper one evening, absolutely delicious.... simply roasted whole in melted butter, white wine, wild garlic and parsley. Served with Anglesey new potatoes and asparagus wrapped in prosciutto..WHAT a feast.
We also enjoyed the most succulent WELSH shoulder of lamb, cooked in the Greek style of Kleftika..... baked in foil with herbs, onions, garlic, carrots and Cyprus potatoes.....
Another Wonderful Welsh Feast.....
My thanks to the  witty Denise for devising abcWednesday and the wondrous Roger for his administrative wiles!  

U stands for UP

When I was a child I was often asked 'What are you UP to Miss Moss?

 Not that my name was Miss Moss it was a pet name my grandpa called me, when I was UP to mischief! On one particular occasion I was tying my Grandma's pinafore ties to a door handle whilst she was gossiping to her next door neighbour, keeping her UPDATED with the latest activities of another neighbour, referred to as 'that Trollop', who's husband was away at sea in the Merchant Navy.

 Apparently she'd been UP to no good with the Insurance Man from The Prudential  who collected the  premiums on a weekly basis, as they did in those days, sic 1950

 There was no such thing as direct debits then.

 It seemed that 'The Man from the Pru', had been collecting more than the  premiums from said 'Trollop', who  according to Grandma, was 'no better than she ought to be'!

 'What's a trollop Grandma, and what does 'UP' to no good mean,' I enquired innocently? .......Go UPSTAIRS and wash your hands, ready for tea', retorted Grandma. It always seemed that when I asked a question about matters that didn't concern me, I was sent UPSTAIRS to wash my hands........ I must have had the cleanest hands in the road !

 UPWARDS AND ONWARDS!

I have, at last, started using my new Panasonic Lumix TZ40 Camera and have UPLOADED, some
pictures of our grandchildren UP to mischief and generally having fun.  

   

Olivia Molly and Freddie

playing on the garden swing. Freddie UP to mischief teasing the girls! 

 

Christian the youngest looking UPWARD at the camera, he was UP late and rather tired.

 

UPLOADS
 
Picture of the parents togged UP and ready for a night on the town.

Kirsten and Dean at our house.

 

Ingrid and Kirsten round at Ingrid's home ready to go UPTOWN and party. .

 

Mike and Ingrid, Kirsten and Dean

all togged UP and ready  for a knees UP !

 

 

Time's UP folks!

U stands for UP

My thanks to the UBIQUITOUS Mrs Nesbitt for devising the ILLUSTRIOUS AbcW and the UNIQUE Roger for his UNSWERVING administrative skills!

 

T stands for my Theatre of Dreams.

The coastline along North West Scotland.

It is my mission in life now to travel around the British Isles.

 We've had several holidays in Scotland and have thoroughly

enjoyed the  wonderful Scottish hospitality.

 

The pictures below are taken in The Trossachs National Park

and the stunningly beautiful Loch Lomond.

 

 

On this particular trip we travelled further north to a lovely hotel called

 The Bridge of Orchy.

which is at the southern tip of Glencoe.

 

 

 

 

 It was a wickedly cold evening so we were glad to settle

in for our overnight stay.

 We were welcomed with a tot of Whisky and buttery

 shortbread biscuits.

 

This is Loch Lomond,

 we drove along the edge of it to reach Glencoe

 

When supper was ready a Scottish Piper, in full regalia, piped the

guests into the beautiful oak panelled dining room.

 

 

 

Dinner was tantalisingly  tasty,

 as was the handsome Scots Piper pictured above ! 

Starting with Loch Fyne Scallops on a bed of delicious Haggis.

 

The Main course was......

A huge rib of succulent Beef, carved at the table.

We had roasted Tatties and roasted white Turnips.

Yorkshire Pudding,

  an assortment of tasty seasonal vegetables and

my favourite part of any hearty roast dinner is the gravy...

one of the finest gravy I have ever tasted!

 

No room for pudding, just a Drambuie liqueur

and petit fours then we tootled off to bed.

 

A peat fire welcomed us,  burning in the old stone fire place.

I soon snoozed off  to sleep,

 watching the pretty little purple and red flames dancing

around the fire place.

Next morning, there was a freezing  Hoare Frost

 encrusting the huge Scots Pine Trees,

standing rigid in the freezing terrain outside.

 

 A  hearty breakfast awaited us, porridge and kippers for me

 and bacon, sausage, black pudding and eggs.

for himself .

Suitably repleted,  we bade our farewells to the most hospitable staff

and moved on to our next destination, Strontian, which is a tiny hamlet

on the edge of Loch Sunart.

 

  Loch Sunart is on The Ardnamurchan Peninsula.

.

This is a copy of a painting which depicts a rutting Stag, baying for his ladies to follow him to the glen.

 We had a similar view from our bedroom to this part of the loch. 

 

 Our hotel was The Kilcamb Lodge,

 The room was just perfect, about 50 yards from the edge of the loch,

we could hear the water lapping gently over the sandy shore.

  

 

Below is the stunning beach, just over the peninsula from the hotel,

it is breathtakingly beautiful.

 We managed to sit in the sunshine for a couple of hours

just taking in the beauteous sight before us.

 

 

Here lies part of my Theatre of dreams.

I must tell you all that all the above pics are not taken by me but I have been to each place..

on my holiday... particularly the above beach .. Di..xxx

 

Many thanks to the terrifically talented Denise Nesbitt for devising  'abcWednesday'

 and the thoughtful Roger for being such a tenacious administrator. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The Trossachs and Loch Lomond

The Sea and the Seaside.

Oh! I do like to be beside the seaside
I do like to be beside the sea!
I do like to stroll along the prom prom  prom:
Where the brass bands  play
'Tiddly-om pom pom.


This little ditty is a popular  old music hall song which was written in 1930.
It  reminds me of my childhood, holidays spent on the Isle of Anglesey
North Wales.
There would be a local brass band playing on the promenade, always starting with the ' Seaside' ditty,  along with other popular music of the day. 

The parents would sit snoozing in deck chairs whilst my brother and I entertained ourselves by building sandcastles, we created moats around them and dashed back and forth,
filling our buckets with the in coming sea.

Big brother devised a plan by building a channel to divert the sea into the moat. however he didn't take into account the speed of the tide, which was great because the moat was soon full, but not so great because dear Mama, who was wearing her prized white kid sandals, was soon to be swamped and surrounded by the merciless tide, thus soaking her favourite footwear,

To say, she was not amused was an understatement !
The white kid sandals did not appear again during the holiday!

 Dear father saved the day and took her to a local shoe store and treated her to another pair of white  sandals, although the were not  made of kid skin ...
.Good old Pa sure saved the day. 

We are about to set off again for another holiday on the island , it's about a  2hour drive from our home, which suits us just fine now
.
There are so many gorgeous beaches around and lots of seafood eateries.
 We usually take a picnic to the beach, (as pictured above).

 Often we buy  Dressed Crab  from a local fisherman's wife, she has a Shack down by the beach, where she lovingly prepares his daily catch.


 Sometimes we splash out and buy a Large Dressed Lobster for our picnic,
 I prepare a large bowl of crunchy salad and coleslaw, along with a freshly baked Welsh loaf, from the nearby working Mill,
 (I shall write more about the Mill when we return from our holiday)! 
   
 I am not able to swim anymore, but, I sure can SPLASH !

 Fortunately the  Sea is shallow, so Dearest will hold my arms so that I can exercise my failing legs and feel the benefit of the Sea water, which is considered to be of great benefit to people with Rheumatic disorders.

I love the Seaside.......Simple sandy salty........ SUPERB!

                                          
The delicious Dressed Crab........ SENSATIONAL...

 
My thanks to  the Scintillating Denise for devising ABCW and the Socratic Roger for being such a Sound Administrator..... 

http://abc-wednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.co/

R stands for my fascination for Rivers.

Whilst we were on holiday in Northumberland in the borderlands between England and Scotland we encountered this majestic sight of the River Tweed, ambling it's way around the borderlands of Scotland and England.
We were on our way into Coldstream  the home town of the famous  Coldstream  Guards.
 These are the soldiers, when not on active duty, serve in the Household Cavalry protecting our Monarch at the various Palaces, whenever The Queen is in residence.
Apart from their magnificent battle history , they are also renown for  wearing the famous ceremonial Bearskin as their headwear as well as their splendid scarlet jackets.
I am such a Royalist, my heart really swells with pride whenever I see them on parade.
As we were strolling along the riverside, there were rather a lot of ripples in the water,
 Then, suddenly, the most fluorescent  display of salmon leaping appeared, it was as if they were forming little Rainbows, as they weaved their way up stream, to their spawning ground,
We watched in fascination as the a fisherman cast his line to hook a salmon.
, Apparently, it is quite easy to catch them at this part of the River because they become quite tired after such a long swim from the sea.
We were so enraptured by this resplendent display that we stood in awe, just revering  the moment.  
A lady, walking her dog, stopped to watch and said she had be walking her dog daily for ten years, yet had never witnessed the sight of Salmon leaping in that part of the River
.
As we walked over, one of the many River Tweed  bridges, from the English side into  Coldstream
 on the Scottish side, it was noticable that the dialect changed considerably, from a lovely 'Geordie lilt into a light Scottish refrain.

Perhaps my  fascination for Rivers stems from the fact that I have spent a lifetime living on either side of The River Mersey.
 It must be an inherent thing, my great grandfather was as Sea Captain in the Merchant Navy,
 my maternal grandfather was a Coppersmith and worked on some of the finest ships ever built on Merseyside........
There lies another tale which would take too long to write but I will when the  right 
letter of the alphabet appears on ABCWednesday, 

My sincere thanks to the rapturous Denise for devising ABCW and to the radiant Rodger for being such a realistic  Adminstrator .  

Q is for Quill

Let me introduce you to Chico our beautiful Cockatiel, he will be seventeen next month and has kept us suitably entertained over the years.
You may be wondering where the letter Q  enters my little anecdote, then,  I shall tell!

Chico has a lovely tufty feathery adornment on the top of his head, which was christened,  Chico's  Quill by  Ingrid, our daughter.
Ian was away on a golfing trip, his first since he retired, so he knew nothing about the new arrival.
I may have mentioned, there was a lovely 'chicky' cockatiel in the local pet shop that needed a new home but too this day he swears I hadn't mentioned it.
Moving forward...... Bird in situ... He stood bolt upright on his perch not making a sound, staring at us, this went on for two days,. by this time I was rather concerned so I telephoned the pet shop owner, Steve, who reassured me that he was probably just settling in and not to worry.
'Hi girls', I'm home called the errant golfer, slinging his muddy golf bags in the porch.
 With that, Chico let out the most piercing shriek, enough, almost, to pierce one's ear drums!
'Good God', what was that, said husband?
'This' is Chico, I said, we rescued him from the pet shop, he was very lonely as all the other birds have been re-homed', 'I hope that racket is not going to be a daily occurrence', said himself, I couldn't stand that',
Chico quickly settled in.

 Soon we were able to let him out of his cage to fly around the Orangery at the rear of the house, he was very much at home in there because it is nearly always very warm and sunny and overlooks the garden.
Chico developed a deep bond with Ian and whenever he arrives home from wherever, Chico will let out his shriek and go crazy around his cage by flapping his wings until Ian pays him some  attention by tickling his tummy and tweaking his Quill.
 A grand performance often follows, consisting of Chico bashing his hanging bell with his Quill and doing wolf whistles after Ian.
He ends the quirky performance by hanging upside down on one leg and flapping his wings vigorously,  You can imagine the amount of feathers he sheds after this carry on, enough to fill a Quilt!
He spends a lot more time sleeping, as he's quite an 'old boy' now.... Ha, that applies to husband too,
 Often, when all is quiet in the Orangery, husband and bird can be found snoozing harmoniously in the lovely relaxing environment, this is known as having a quick nap,
 I must mention that Chico will be safely perched in his enormous cage and Ian in his favourite armchair. At this time, well, you all know where I shall be,,, yes you've got it... tapping away at my
keyboard, complete with snoozing Chloe cat on my lap,
At around four pm, all awakens for the quintessentially  British ritual, afternoon tea
.
 I enjoy Yorkshire Tea and some cake, the Yorkshire tea is most thirst quenching.

There!  Quest accomplished... I have run out of  Q's......

My thanks to the  Queen of ABCWednesdayhttp://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.co/, Denise Nesbitt for devising such a quirky quest, and
to Roger who is, without question, a most qualified administrator.



    
 
  

P stands for Paella

O is for Out and about

I live in a leafy suburb of Liverpool England  UK.
We are lucky to live in such an  outstanding  area of learning excellence.
 There are several faith schools which always achieve good results  through the national curriculum and also some private schools which are now grant maintained.
 Thanks to Government funding, this gives all children an equal chance to go to a school that will suit their needs.
We also have the Hope University Campus,( part of Liverpool University). just around the corner from our home.
This a lovely place to just to walk through with our grandchildren on the way to school.
One of our favourite places to go is Calderstones Park , it is in open parkland with a beautiful  secret walled garden.
 There is a large lake with swans and ducks paddling around, eagerly awaiting  little chubby 'kiddy hands.' proffering chunks of bread and cake.
 Also there is a café, serving delicious home made cakes, hot and cold drinks and an assortment of ice creams and ice lollies.
Across the road from our home is Childwall Woods, also a lovely place to walk after a hearty Sunday lunch.
 We can walk across the woods to our local church, Childwall Priory Parish Church, it is dated back to the fourteenth century when it was a Priory for an order of monks.
 Eventually it was extended and remains as the wonderful building it is now.
Just across the road is the  Old World Pub  called The Abbey, good place to meet the Parish priest for a pre dinner pint!

The local school two of our grandchildren attend is called Bishop Eton and is affiliated to the the Bishop Eton Monastery next door. This is a Roman Catholic faith School and the children have a fine education, as I can see, when I do homework and reading  with Olivia aged 8 and Christian age 5, Grandpa takes them to school 4 days out of the week and they  sometimes come home here for tea, which is always a riotous occasion as they let off steam after all the lessons and oral exercises in which they participate.
We have lived here for 27 years and although we really should downsize it would be such an awesome operation,  I don't think we could orchestrate it without heartache........
So, Perhaps we are destined stay here ! 

My thanks to the outstandingly   clever Denise Nesbitt for devising ABC Wednesday and the observant Roger  for his objective administration.