Simple chocolate pots

I've just rung up on a bit of a whim to invite a couple of friends over for tea and to play cards, they said yes, and now I'm panicking about what to do, I don't want to go shopping, I went yesterday and we must have stuff in I can make, so have had a search through the freezer and found some smoked salmon, some mozerella and some good crusty bread, so I'll just make a plain tomato and mozerella salad with smoked salmon and warmed bread. I have a piece of beef I took out of the freezer yesterday, so it'll be a roast dinner, and then for pudding I've decided on some chocolate pots, easy and safe. I also happen to have a tub of marscapone in the fridge that I need to use up. So perfect.

Start off by melting 100g of good quality dark chocolate.

Next, add 90g sugar,and 3 eggs, with a hand held mixer, beat, still over the heat for around 5 mins. Then whisk in 50ml of your chosen alcohol (optional, of course)- I used some famous grouse liqueur, as I'd used a dark chocolate with orange oil added.

Then take off the heat, whisk for a minute or two, to help it cool then whisk in a tub of marscapone, I used low fat, but don't know why, I suppose ever little helps on the road to dieting!

Anyway, finally pot up, allow to cool, don't need to put in fridge if eating same day, but can be chilled if you like. That's it..enjoy.

Holiday booked

So, I spent last night at my sister's  and we have managed to get our holiday booked, we will be going on a cruise on Norwegian Epic in September. The itinerary is not the most exciting and it's only 6 days, but a good friend said to me the other day that I should be selfless and let my sister choose what she wanted, as she is stuck in an office 5 days a week and I have a much more enjoyable lifestyle. I have taken his advice to heart and could tell she wanted to do this, so we've gone ahead and booked. The ship, I'm sure will be wonderful, we have booked a balcony and included in the price is an all inclusive upgrade. I now have some incentive to cast some weight, 15 weeks to go.

And just to ring the changes...a yellow Iris from the garden

Olives bottled up

Another job finished off this morning, I bottled the olives this morning in a final solution of vinegar,salt and water. They taste divine, I think it probably has taken longer for them to get to this point due to me not slitting each olive as the recipes suggested, but I got there in the end. I'm just worried now that they will ferment or something in the jar, but it's not been a costly experiment if I have to throw them away, so will give it a few weeks and see. Have added a few slivers of lemon rind, not sure if this will add much, but we can see.

 Rushing to get ready now as going to my sisters today and staying overnight, we hope to get our holiday booked. So will be drinking wine and browsing the Internet tonight.

And more purple

Hmm, didn't realise just HOW purple my garden has become, went out for a Lily beetle check this morning and more gorgeous Iris in flower, including the siberians just starting to come out. Love it.

Love my garden

I got up this morning and looked out the window and it made me so happy, so I thought I'd share the view.

So much for a holiday weekend

I just don't know where this weekend has gone, it's now Sunday evening and I've got to work tomorrow to catch up on a few people I had to postpone last week, and to allow myself time off later in the week to visit my sister.

I've had a lovely weekend though and had a visit from my older brother whom I've not seen for God only knows how long, he's just the same, but with white hair and wrinkles! He brought his long standing girlfriend, Caz, with him and their most gorgeous little dog, a little terrier called socks, due to its white paws..made me realise how much I do miss Jessie.

I made 3 curries for tea on Saturday, a rather simple prawn dupiaza, a lamb rogan Josh and a Chicken Tikka Masala. I had intended to make a pudding, but rather lost the will to live in the supermarket and ended up buying a ready made cherry pie.

I'm looking forward to seeing my sister on Wednesday, and hopefully while with her, we are going to book our holiday.

Family trees

I've never been all that interested in family history, never really been sure that this is because I'm adopted and so it's not really MY history, or what, just never bothered me at all. However my younger brother, who IS my adopted parents real son, is very interested and has had several attempts to trace our family back. He recently met someone who does this as a hobby and they have linked up to do some work on our family.

Mark ( my younger brother, not the one who is coming up this weekend, who by the way is also adopted, but not a blood brother of mine either) has been asking me for a while to scan some paperwork and photos I have so he can start looking, so I finally got round to it this evening, and with the power of the Internet behind me, I can understand how it can be interesting, I've been researching all sorts of things this evening. My Dad was in the army and we know he was stationed in Ghana at some point, but we know little of both Mum, or Dad's early lives and they are no longer with us to ask.

Anyway. Here's a picture I've always loved of Dad. He's the one on the left by the way.