Very Good Friday

[Shelley123]

Well at least i hope it is for you all. Happy Easter.
Nice and sunny here but still cold.
Been to a tiny local car boot this morning, another excuse to walk the Pup
Only bought some tennis balls, again for the Pup.
Tom made as if to follow but decided to wait in the street for us. He was sat waiting on the pavement patiently waiting and walked to greet us on our return.
Must try to get some nice pics of the feline guys, i feel it's all about Malaika at the moment.

[angieh]

Morning Shelley! Happy Good Friday everyone.

Overcast and cold here today. Not even a day for the greenhouse but I have some urgent transcription, so time and a half for me!

OH is vacuuming, a load of washing is in the machine. Kizzy has been cuddled and Pip tickled. I stood on his tail this morning by accident of course and he didn't even squeak, poor lambkin.

Hope everyone will have a good weekend. Easter is a week earlier than last year - I know because Easter Sunday last year was very special - we went to Birmingham to pick Kizzy up from her foster placement. But the anniversary will actually be 12 April which is when I will post a celebratory thread.

Take care all, keep warm and please give special Good Friday cuddles to all your pusscat chums from me!

[EmmaG]

Morning all. Not up to much today, just prepared some lamb (half price from Sainsburys) for a Tagine we are going to have later, should do three meals for me and the OH so it wasn't bad for £8 for the whole leg of lamb. The meat cost £1.33 for each meal I thought was quite good, going to have it with some cous cous.

Weather here is very overcast and quite cold, going to do a bit of housework and then relax for the afternoon.

Have a good day everybody and Happy Easter!!

[Mags]

A very Happy Easter to everyone!

Gloomy, wet day here - not at all Springlike

Enjoy your Hot Cross Buns today!

[angieh]

Your lamb sounds wonderful Emma - could you post the recipe???

[EmmaG]

Angie,

Very simple really I just boned the lamb joint (large leg of lamb)- removed excess fat and sinew. Cut the meat into large cubes.

Add 1 onion that has been cut into large chunks
a few fresh plumb tomatoes halved
Add stock (I use the OXO liquid stock)
some Worcestershire sauce
Add spices - I used - allspice, paprika, smoked paprika, Cayenne pepper, a bit of chili powder. Add water to cover.

Cover with lid

Cook at 200 degrees for about 2 hours and then turn down to about 150-180 for another 2 hours. Check on the fluid level every couple of hours but try not to add any fluid in the last couple of hours as you it needs to be a bit drier but still have some stock, it should be quite thick.

If you want to make it even more interesting you can add some halved dried apricots.

I also add half a carton of Sainsburys Taste the Difference Moroccan chicken soup (I try not to add any chicken pieces) as this soup has apricots and lentils in it.

It is very easy to do and I do not measure the quantities - just sort of bung everything in. It always comes out very good. You could also add some tinned chopped tomatoes if you wanted it more tomato flavoured.

Makes enough to feed 6 people. Serve with cous cous - I usually get the Sainsburys Moroccan cous cous.

[yola]

Hello! Have done some gardening at home - just as I was planning to go to the allotment the heavens opened so went to waitrose instead. Roast beef is in the oven and OH is finalising sanding off 200 years' worth of muck off Sebi's bedroom window and will start priming/painting soon. Good job as the poor lad's got a slab of MDF for a window at the mo.

I popped Balie into the litter tray and his did his jobs nicely - maybe I just have to help him like that. For the last 2 days he's left me a mess on the plastic by the litter tray.

Fifi's back to the vet next week as her paw isn't healing as well as I would like.

Other bad news is that our neighbour (lovely man who's only just turned 60) has oesophagal and liver cancer and isn't expected to live for too much longer So sad, as he's such a nice bloke. Bloody cigarettes

[dandysmom]

Hi, all. We're continuing to have lovely weather, 15 C (51 F) now and will make 23 C this afternoon! Everything is green, budding or flowering; must take a pic of the gorgeous cherry tree across the street... it's the same variety as the famous cherry trees at the Tidal Basin. Which for once came to peak bloom in time for the Cherry Blossom Festival. I think I need to replant 2 of the tomatoes and 1 basil as they're not up; all the rest are. To the market, did a bit of garden work, that's all the news.

Thanks for the recipe, Emma, sounds good! Hope it's a good day for all and that the weather will be lovely for the Easter weekend.

[Shelley123]

Yola, sorry to hear about your neighbour, poor man.
Eileen i don't think we are going to have good Easter in the UK, although according to the Nursery where i work there is no such thing as bad weather, only different. Don't know who they think they are trying to kid

[dandysmom]

Shelley, I hope the forecasters are wrong; I've noticed that bad ones are usually correct, however; good ones less so! And the next day they just dismiss the fact that it wasn't nice, saying the front moved faster, or low didn't approach as expected, yadda yadda yadda!