A Creative Spirit
This recipe is courtesy of Greedy Girl's Diet: Eat yourself slim with gorgeous, guilt-free food with permission of the author, Nadia Sawalha I am always keen to try new recipes especially those which are filling yet with not too many calories. My biggest problem with losing weight is that I usually only have to look... Continue Reading →
This year I plan to photograph and record what's growing in my humble vegetable garden on the 19th of each month. This will give me a better idea of what’s growing when, and how well. Hopefully, it will act as a record for next year and I can learn from my successes and failures. The... Continue Reading →
Since moving to Portugal one of my favorite meals, when we eat out, is a fish stew (Caldeirada) but the type which is cooked and served in a copper dish called a Cataplana. As you can see from my photograph the dish has two hinged clam-like shells which are clamped tightly together during cooking. Researching... Continue Reading →
Moving to a country where English is not the first language definitely has its disadvantages if you are not a natural linguist. Some people are fortunate to learn a language purely by osmosis, but not me - I have the retentive memory of a gnat. In the past I’ve spent a small fortune on Portuguese... Continue Reading →
Imagine the scenario: you've taken the children/teenagers on holiday to a beach only to discover there are no touristy beach activities such as banana rides, pedalos and beach trampolines etc to keep them amused. They survey the location in horror as they realise there's nothing but sand, shells, stones and sea. Help! The family are... Continue Reading →
Cozido à Portuguesa is a typical Portuguese stew cooked from a range of wholesome ingredients such as cabbage, pig's ear, porco rabo, blood sausage and other various "unmentionables". I'm assured it's absolutely delicious and a real gastronomic delight...err...experience. I'm not normally one to back down from a challenge (except for eating snails and oysters),but as... Continue Reading →
Every week WordPress posts a Weekly Photo Challenge and this week's theme is Lost in the Details . The instructions direct from the horse's mouth (aka WordPress) are "This challenge is about getting lost in the details". Hmmm ponderous! The theme of the challenge was rather lost on me to begin with, until I downloaded... Continue Reading →
This year I plan to photograph the plants in my humble vegetable garden on the 19th of each month. This will give me a better idea of what's growing when, and how well. Hopefully, it will act as a record for next year and I can learn from my successes and failures. The broad beans... Continue Reading →
A little bit of fun... If you were an animal what would you be? What would you look like - what would we see? Perhaps a spoilt house dog who's pampered all day. Walkies and treats "it's a dog's life" they say! But "Puddy" cats rule as they strut round the house. Owners left screaming... Continue Reading →
This recipe is courtesy of Greedy Girl's Diet: Eat yourself slim with gorgeous, guilt-free food with permission of the author, Nadia Sawalha I am always keen to try new recipes especially those which are filling and with not too many calories. My biggest problem with losing weight is that I only have to look at... Continue Reading →
Waiting to be served at our local butchers for "home-made" beef, and hopefully horse-free, burgers gave us the opportunity to study the array of "unmentionable" delicacies on sale. The dubious identity of which even made Mr. Piglet's toes curl in horror. However, our debate is quickly forgotten when I whip out my camera and start... Continue Reading →
Better late than never! I don't know whether the excitement of our imminent trip to the UK for several weeks was sapping my enthusiasm, or just the December blues due to the long dark evenings, but I really had to dig deep (pardon the pun) to motivate myself to work in the garden. I'm not... Continue Reading →
This photograph was taken from the walls of the 10th Century Moorish castle of Aljezur in the Western Algarve. The castle, set high on the hill, has panoramic views across the rolling countyside, the historic town of Aljezur and to Monchique mountain beyond. This post is inspired by the WordPress Weekly Photo challenge. This week's... Continue Reading →
The following recipe and photograph are courtesy of Colin, one of my blog followers. When he first suggested the recipe I thought using beetroot AND chocolate in a cake sounded rather bizarre. But then I thought, why not, so this weekend I'm going to give it a try. Anyone else game? If you cook the... Continue Reading →
Millions of "beef" burgers were removed from supermarket shelves across the UK because they contain horse meat. The nation is outraged and justifiably so when it's reported some burgers contain as much as 29% horse! The nation is then informed, as I discovered in the Telegraph newspaper, "Horse meat in burgers 'could be health risk'.... Continue Reading →
On the 15th of each month bloggers from all over the world take part in Garden Bloggers Bloom Day organised by May Dream Gardens. What is blooming in your garden? In the UK gardening in January like the weather, was depressing.. However, here in the Algarve I'm amazed there are so many plants, shrubs and... Continue Reading →
Firstly, I’d like to thank Deirdre of Didi's Press who tagged me in The Next Big Thing Blog Hop. The person tagged simply answers 10 questions about their next novel and then tags 3-5 other authors. I'm not sure I qualify as I'm still writing my first, yet alone "next" novel, but I thought, hell... Continue Reading →
The situation regarding the invasive Red Palm weevil will never be resolved in Portugal (in my humble opinion) due in part to the apathy and laziness of the few. No action was taken when it first arrived in our area two years ago by some property owners as infested trees on their land were left... Continue Reading →
I wanted something to serve with basic tinned tuna. Yes, I know it is better to eat fresh but I’d been out all day so this is my interpretation of a healthier “ready meal”. Ingredients 1 small cooked beetroot 1 orange Fresh chives Ground black pepper Method Peel and thinly slice orange and beetroot and... Continue Reading →
If you're a porker like myself, you may be in denial by genuinely believing as you take a cursory glance in the mirror that you're really not that fat. Like me, you probably hold your breath as you turn sideways and "suck in" your bulges. But the camera does not lie - Oh no! Caught... Continue Reading →
Piglet in Portugal 