Yvette Paige

I’ve been trying for a couple of days to try and learn how to make a margarita. This is in preparation for a BBQ this coming Sunday.

I’ve finally got it down to a blend that I prefer. The recipe for this cocktail originally came from the internet. I reproduce it here with my own twist.

The Margarita is a simple cocktail to make so I don’t understand why I found it so hard. It only contains three basic ingredients if you don’t count the salt.

Tequila, lime juice and orange liquor.

The orange liquor can be anything you want. Triple Sec, Cointreau, Patron Citrage, Grand Marnier and on and on.

I’m going to use Triple Sec because the volume I plan to make if I use Grand Marnier it would bankrupt me.

Recipe

1. half fill a cocktail shaker with ice.
2. pour in 5 measures of tequila
3. pour in 3 measures of Triple Sec
4. pour in 2 measures of fresh lime juice
5. put the lid on and shake for thirty seconds

Get your Margarita glass and wet the edge with more lime juice. Dip the edge into a saucer of salt.

Carefully pour in the Margarita mix from the cocktail shaker being careful not to wash away the salt.

You can fill the glass with shaved ice, for a great tasting cocktail, like a proper Margarita maker.

Tip – US limes are generally Persian in origin. If you want a more sour cocktail use the Key lime from Mexico.

I plan on making loads of this. I hope you enjoy it too.

I’ve just seen a few pictures of Wedding Cupcakes and how good they can look if done properly.

They’re a major change from the traditional wedding cake but sooo much cooler to look at.

I’m not into that rich wedding cake experience anyway.

When I get hitched these are what I’m going to have.

I just love cupcakes so it’ll be a treat for me.

Has anyone else had the Wedding Cupcake experience?

I’ll try and dig out some wedding cup cake pictures to put on here.

If anyone has any of their own then please send them along. It’d be great to start a collection of these things going.

I was out having a drink last night when I jokingly told a friend that I’d love to learn to play any musical intrument.

The next thing I know both of us were deep into our favourite bands and artists and she was telling me about her playing days in a group many many years ago.

Next thing I know she said she’d just bought another guitar and would give me her old acoustic one.

She sent me a link for the new one she’s getting

The Yamaha FG700S

She said it’s good enough for gigs and for beginners too.

I think I’ll see if I get on with her old one and if I do then I may get one of the Yamaha guitars as well.

I went out for a run yesterday and felt pretty good with a slow mile warm up.

Around the three to three and a half miles I turned off the road onto a wooded track I’ve gone down many times before.

Only twenty or so paces in I went over on my ankle and hit the deck like a sack of bricks.

That knocked the wind out of me and I must have looked a right old sight if anyone had been around to see.

When I finally got my breath back I found I could just about stand and hobbled back to the road. I had about a 90 minute endurance test ahead of me I figured just to get back home.

I set off and hadn’t gone for more than two minutes when a jeep stopped and my saviour got out.

Jenny asked if I needed help, you betcha. Turns out she was a first aider and quickly strapped my ankle up with supplies she had with her.

She then gave me a lift home with a warning to get it looked at professionally.

If you’re reading this Jenny thanks so much yet again.

You don’t meet many people like her today but I for one am sure glad I did.

God bless you.

Let’s all try to be a bit more like Jenny.

Ok after blathering on about not going veggie I figured out that I may as well get on with it and stop pretending.

So out I went and bought two steaks for supper.

I cooked them plain with a little salad and some home made dressing (3 measures of good olive oil, to 1 of acidity be that lemon, orange or whatever, shake well, voila a fresh dressing).

Now the steaks themselves were delicious. But when I came to cut them with my worn out cutlery, what a disaster. We ended up more or less tearing them with the cutlery rather than cutting them.

So I’m on the lookout either for a whole new set or just some steak knives. Any suggestions?

I don’t mind paying for good quality knives and these look to fit the bill Wusthof Steak Knives the best. They seem to last forever according to the reviews.

So if any of you lot don’t come up with anything better then I’ll end up getting these.

So after my last post where I said that I was thinking of going vegetarian I’ve almost talked myself out of it.

I think that I would like to make better choices in my day to day diet and include animal welfare issues in those decisions.

Starting from today I will only be buying free range and sustainable meats and fish. This is my attempt to assuage my guilt I suppose.

But the shift from meat eater to the veggie option would be too great I fear. I know that along the way I would fall off the wagon.

The choices these days for meat free meals are vast and make yesteryears nut cutlets all the more sad. They have well and truly had their day.

But even so overall I think I’ve gone down the only route that really made any sense, for me at least. I take my hat off to those of you that have taken the plunge and committed to vegetarianism and have stuck at it.

I’ve been thinking of doing this for a while now.

There are many reasons why I should and not a lot of downside I can think of.

I found this on the web the other day and it may just convince me.

When was the last time you watched the evening news and heard a nutrition expert urging Americans to eat more meat to stave off illness?

Um, never? In fact, lots of studies have found the reverse is true: A largely plant-filled diet is the route to a longer, healthier life. “Research shows that when red meat is replaced, even in part, by vegetable protein sources, risk for coronary heart disease, diabetes and colon cancer is lower,” says Walter C. Willett, M.D., chairman of the department of nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. Not only that, but vegetarians (those who eat dairy and sometimes eggs but no meat, poultry or fish) and vegans (those who eat no animal products, not even dairy) have a lower body-mass index than those who eat meat. Considering the pluses, it’s not surprising that many of you are already on the veggie wagon: In a poll at Self.com, 45 percent of women said they either were vegetarian or vegan now or had been a vegetarian of some ilk in the past.

Keep in mind, though, that adopting a vegetarian diet is no magic pill. You certainly can find nonmeat foods that will muck up your arteries or pack on pounds—potato chips and full-fat cheese, for example. (And it’s entirely possible to be a meat lover and still be slim, heart-healthy and long-lived.) “A vegetarian diet won’t cancel out other bad habits, such as not exercising,” says Virginia Messina, R.D., of Port Townsend, Washington, coauthor of The Convenient Vegetarian (Macmillan). But if you make savvy selections, such as the ones recommended here, a better body can be in your near future. (As can a healthier planet.) Ready to bring out your inner herbivore? Dust off your salad spinner and start harvesting the benefits!

But I do love meat and love cooking with it. Is it going to reduce my choice of foods too much?

What do you guys think?

Hi and welcome to my first post.

Straight away I’d like to thank my good friend Gary for helping me setup this blog.

He’s wonderful and very technical. I wanted to post a picture but he wouldn’t let me.

So thanks Gary I really appreciate how hard it must have been educating a no hoper like me.