Recent content by ThankfulGirl

So we have a lovely 1920s Beeston solid fuel water boiler in our kitchen, which is swept but never used. (We've lived in our house for five years and we've used it as a heater but nothing more.) It's got a double skin where you fill it with water and then the water heats up around the body of...

The squash soup, sprinkled with feta cheese and chilli flakes. Also, "Annie Beckett's tea plates" but my grandmother's next door neighbour's tea service (c.1930s) is a subject for another day altogether. The soup was splendid but very filling!

You're right, they're not. But really, when there are people in the world going to bed hungry, who even uses food for decorative purposes?! (Doesn't stay in our house long enough to be decorative!) My soup is on the simmer, and my house now officially smells like autumn....

Having cats, a very outdoorsy son, and a husband who goes for daily walks, we tend to be fairly dirty at most times. I don't like to vacuum because with all the above it'd be like painting the Forth Bridge, so I have a stiff broom and I do it by hand. I sweep and shake my rugs every day - we...

If I can type round the big ginger cat who has also decided that autumn is a good time to be indoors, I love squash, husband is a bit this way/that way about it, and our boy actively dislikes it. (We like it roasted with sesame oil when the oven's on for the Sunday roast, too.) Those big...

Not going to "like" that post Al, that's so sad, but I hear you. They do leave pawprints on your heart.

Good morning (...in Cornwall at least) all! So I'm making the 1938 dress from Patterns of Fashion 2 in a plain raspberry cotton/linen mix. That's why I'm asking but I thought it might be a query that other ladies might find valuable. My vintage wardrobe is small, and I don't want it to look...

Two of my thugs sleeping on the worktop. The pale ginger is Aubrey, and the fat tabby is Obelix. There is, sadly, no Mathurin - he died two weeks ago. Fortunately Obelix the Tank has stepped nobly into the breach....

Oh sorry to hear that @Zombie_61. She looks beautiful. I love smoky grey cats.

It's been easy enough to make, it's just been more of a pancetta sort of thing, which is very tasty, but it's not what you'd have on your breakfast. I've tried dry-curing and it was eye-wateringly salty. On the other hand, the weather here in Cornwall has DEFINITELY dropped under 40 degrees, so...

We have a friend who rears pigs, so we get half a pig every other quarter and off we go. We've not had as much success with bacon - it's been quite salty - but also quite a lot of joy with salamis. We did make rillettes with the scraps but I wasn't comfortable keeping them in the pantry without...

Powdering your nose, although that is an expression I still use. Y's a letter and B's no better, for young children who persistently ask "why?" (MINE!!!!) See also "Eh? is for horses" as a retort to people who say "eh?" instead of "sorry?" or "excuse me?" if they don't hear you properly. I'm...

Two of my big lugs (we have four... and yes, the Tank is sitting on the toaster) in my kitchen. The sash windows and the Belfast sink are originals to the house, as is the slate flooring. We don't have kitchen units, we have open shelving, so the gingham curtains over the cupboards are my...

We have tomatoes growing, @Fifty150 - it's just they're stubbornly refusing to ripen. Wretched things! They're incredibly healthy and they have tons of green fruit (they're Tumbling Toms so we grew them to cascade down the bathroom windowsill out of the way of prying kitty-paws) but so far...

Yes it was Carebear! One mystery solved! Thank you!