5 OS Pleasures in your Day Today part 2

villagelife

Mine for the last couple of days

1. A couple of NSD in a row

2. The sun - I keep expecting the weather to change so I am loving the continual sun.

3. Leaving work on time(ish) for 2 days in a row.

4. Cakes at work. Also taking in my own lunch - soo much nicer and cheaper.

5. Having fresh flowers in the house.

6. DS1 going to watch toy story 3 with his mates and hearing about it and how they raised the average age in the cinema! They have all just taken A levels but it was their era!!

Caterina

Hi all

Following Ampersand's request for positive things to dedicate to Julia and Italian Tony and your requests for the pasta recipes, I think it would be appropriate to dedicate the following recipes to them. The dough recipe is the same, but the cut of the pasta and the dressing are different:

Italian Tony's zucchini and zucchini flowers gnocchi

Make homemade pasta dough: You can buy the special Italian pasta flour for this, which is a type of flour made with hard wheat, or just use extra-fine plain flour. We used around 700 g (1 1/2 lb) for 8 people.

Make a mound with the flour on a wooden board (or table) and a hole in the middle. In the hole break 1 large egg. Start mixing in the egg and flour and as it starts amalgamating add water, a little at a time, until you have a mass of soft but not wet dough. Keep mixing and kneading the dough until it feels quite elastic. If you pinch a small bit and squash it between thumb and finger it should stretch easily. (up to now the recipes are the same, from here they diversify).

Roll the dough into a large sausage shape and start cutting slices off it, then roll these slices into long thin sausage shapes, no more than one cm diameter (less than 1/2 inch). Cut the thin sausage shape in morsel pieces, also no more than 1 cm long. Strech each of these small pieces of dough with your thumb into a shell- like shape (you got to see it done to fully understand it - the idea is to thin out the inside and give it a rounded, thinner shape - hope you get the idea!).

Sprinkle some flour on a clean cloth and spread on it all the rolled out pasta pieces (the name is Gnocchi - but do not confuse with potato gnocchi which is something quite different!) to dry.

While the pasta dries a bit, chop an onion and a few courgettes (zucchini) and a few zucchini flowers - these you can only get if you grow your own zucchini or if you have a friend with an allotment! If you don't, zucchini alone will be ok. Put a lot of oil, and I am talking a lot, like a CUPFUL of olive oil in a pan to heat, then sautee` onion and zucchini until soft. Salt and pepper to taste.

Cook pasta in very abundant boiling salted water, it is ready when it comes to the surface, but make sure you keep tasting it as you do not want it too hard or too soft - "al dente" is the ideal but do it to your preferred consistency.

Drain pasta, cover with zucchini, mix thoroughly and serve at once. You can dust with grated parmesan if you like but we loved the flavour of the fresh zucchini alone so we did not put any.

Julia's pasta e ceci

This requires you to have some cooked chick peas in advance - you can also use tinned chick peas if you want.

Make dough as above.

When ready, instead of rolling into sausage shape, cut in quarters and cover 3 of the 4 quarters with a clean cloth.

Take one of the quarter and place it on the board, where you will have sprkinled fresh flour to prevent sticking. With a rolling pin stretch very very thin, as thin as possible without breaking.

Sprinkle flour on the stretched pasta and fold into itself so it is loosely rolled. Cut strips out of the roll making sure you do not press the roll too hard (again, you need to see it done, hope I am explaining it clearly enough). Open the strips you cut into noodle ribbon (tagliatelle) and place them side by side on a clean floured cloth to dry. Do this until you have finished the pasta dough. Let the ribbons dry on the cloth while you prepare the chick peas.

Sautee` a few cloves of garlic (quantity according to your taste, we use loads but some people only like one or two just for the flavour) in a cupful of olive oil, salt to taste.

Bring water to boil in a very large pan and add a shot of oil in the water to prevent the ribbons to stick to each other. Add the ribbons when the water is boiling hard. Cook until they come to the surface. My friend said that the tradition is that when the pasta appears on the surface you say a prayer, then the pasta is ready (but she did not remember the prayer - I suppose a brief blessing would be enough!). Drain the pasta and mix with the chick peas. Serve at once. Some people like to add freshly ground pepper to this dish.

Buon appetito and best wishes with all my heart for Tony and Julia!

Here are my pleasures:

1 - The lovely time spent with my friends eating, chatting and making merry

2 - Having the house back to myself (much as I was sorry to see them go and would have been happy for them to stay longer, I am now enjoying a little "down time" just eating a piece of toast in 5 minutes for lunch instead of having a 3 hour cookery performance at every meal!). Loved having them here, no doubt, but I also love the contrast of a little quiet!

3 - The rain, at last! Watering my beautiful vegetables here in the garden and in the allotment

4 - Looking forward to plant some leek seeds in a pot after reading an email from fellow allotment-holders asking for leek seedlings. We need some, too (DS inadvertently killed our growing ones when he did some clearing work, bless him) so here I go planting some more for the community.

5 - Looking forward to a quiet weekend with DH, pottering in the allotment and doing nothing "serious".

Love to all xxx

Wee_Jo

Hello everyone! :hello:

I didn't get to post yesterday as I was giving a talk at an event yesterday afternoon/evening and didn't get home until late. But I did think about my OS pleasures for yesterday and they were:

1. Cycling into work yesterday
2. Having hubby's homemade lasagne for lunch (and more today - yum )
3. Enjoying homemade florentines for my tea break
4. Being told I did a great job on my talk - yay!
5. Receving an email from my lovely Mummy

I will post today's pleasures later on...I already have one - smelling the rain Rain today in London for the first time in AGES, thank goodness maybe it will break this awful icky mugginess! The smell of the rain really reminded me of home!

Hope everyone is having a good day!

Jo

Wee_Jo

Vedder2008 wrote: »

Taking my 6 year old grandson for a walk along the canal today, talking about anything and everything. We stopped to feed the ducks and stroked a couple of dogs, then we went and stood on the train bridge and watched trains go under our feet waving at the drivers as they went by.
Then down to where this horse is running free in a field who always comes when you shout here boy, gave him a polo mint, and then gathered some wild flowers for his mummy when she came to pick him up tonight before he returns to France on Friday.
Some lovely memories to keep for the following months!:kisses:

What a lovely day, Vedder

zarazara

Caterina wrote: »

Hi all

Following Ampersand's request for positive things to dedicate to Julia and Italian Tony and your requests for the pasta recipes, I think it would be appropriate to dedicate the following recipes to them. The dough recipe is the same, but the cut of the pasta and the dressing are different:

Italian Tony's zucchini and zucchini flowers gnocchi

Make homemade pasta dough: You can buy the special Italian pasta flour for this, which is a type of flour made with hard wheat, or just use extra-fine plain flour. We used around 700 g (1 1/2 lb) for 8 people.

Make a mound with the flour on a wooden board (or table) and a hole in the middle. In the hole break 1 large egg. Start mixing in the egg and flour and as it starts amalgamating add water, a little at a time, until you have a mass of soft but not wet dough. Keep mixing and kneading the dough until it feels quite elastic. If you pinch a small bit and squash it between thumb and finger it should stretch easily. (up to now the recipes are the same, from here they diversify).

Roll the dough into a large sausage shape and start cutting slices off it, then roll these slices into long thin sausage shapes, no more than one cm diameter (less than 1/2 inch). Cut the thin sausage shape in morsel pieces, also no more than 1 cm long. Strech each of these small pieces of dough with your thumb into a shell- like shape (you got to see it done to fully understand it - the idea is to thin out the inside and give it a rounded, thinner shape - hope you get the idea!).

Sprinkle some flour on a clean cloth and spread on it all the rolled out pasta pieces (the name is Gnocchi - but do not confuse with potato gnocchi which is something quite different!) to dry.

While the pasta dries a bit, chop an onion and a few courgettes (zucchini) and a few zucchini flowers - these you can only get if you grow your own zucchini or if you have a friend with an allotment! If you don't, zucchini alone will be ok. Put a lot of oil, and I am talking a lot, like a CUPFUL of olive oil in a pan to heat, then sautee` onion and zucchini until soft. Salt and pepper to taste.

Cook pasta in very abundant boiling salted water, it is ready when it comes to the surface, but make sure you keep tasting it as you do not want it too hard or too soft - "al dente" is the ideal but do it to your preferred consistency.

Drain pasta, cover with zucchini, mix thoroughly and serve at once. You can dust with grated parmesan if you like but we loved the flavour of the fresh zucchini alone so we did not put any.

Julia's pasta e ceci

This requires you to have some cooked chick peas in advance - you can also use tinned chick peas if you want.

Make dough as above.

When ready, instead of rolling into sausage shape, cut in quarters and cover 3 of the 4 quarters with a clean cloth.

Take one of the quarter and place it on the board, where you will have sprkinled fresh flour to prevent sticking. With a rolling pin stretch very very thin, as thin as possible without breaking.

Sprinkle flour on the stretched pasta and fold into itself so it is loosely rolled. Cut strips out of the roll making sure you do not press the roll too hard (again, you need to see it done, hope I am explaining it clearly enough). Open the strips you cut into noodle ribbon (tagliatelle) and place them side by side on a clean floured cloth to dry. Do this until you have finished the pasta dough. Let the ribbons dry on the cloth while you prepare the chick peas.

Sautee` a few cloves of garlic (quantity according to your taste, we use loads but some people only like one or two just for the flavour) in a cupful of olive oil, salt to taste.

Bring water to boil in a very large pan and add a shot of oil in the water to prevent the ribbons to stick to each other. Add the ribbons when the water is boiling hard. Cook until they come to the surface. My friend said that the tradition is that when the pasta appears on the surface you say a prayer, then the pasta is ready (but she did not remember the prayer - I suppose a brief blessing would be enough!). Drain the pasta and mix with the chick peas. Serve at once. Some people like to add freshly ground pepper to this dish.

Buon appetito and best wishes with all my heart for Tony and Julia!

Here are my pleasures:

1 - The lovely time spent with my friends eating, chatting and making merry

2 - Having the house back to myself (much as I was sorry to see them go and would have been happy for them to stay longer, I am now enjoying a little "down time" just eating a piece of toast in 5 minutes for lunch instead of having a 3 hour cookery performance at every meal!). Loved having them here, no doubt, but I also love the contrast of a little quiet!

3 - The rain, at last! Watering my beautiful vegetables here in the garden and in the allotment

4 - Looking forward to plant some leek seeds in a pot after reading an email from fellow allotment-holders asking for leek seedlings. We need some, too (DS inadvertently killed our growing ones when he did some clearing work, bless him) so here I go planting some more for the community.

5 - Looking forward to a quiet weekend with DH, pottering in the allotment and doing nothing "serious".

Love to all xxx

THANKYOU SO MUCH FOR THIS RECIPE :T:j

zarazara

MY FIVE
1. Recipes above!
2. baking bread and a choco;ate cake today
3. Weather seems to be bucking up a bit
4. The veg plot is most abundant
5. Knowing I have friends.

Ladyhawk

Evening all,

Sparrer - have you decided when you are going to India? I am very jealous!
Jo - what was your talk on?

1) Woohoo!! NSD for the second day in a row!! In fact I "made" some money by taking back a whole load of clothes that I had bought in the Next sale.:A

2) Doughnut samples in the office... I had 3!!

3) Boss asking me to review a highly confidential strategy document... it is nice to be trusted occassionally! Though there wasn't anything in it that I hadn't seen before...:cool:

4) The brochure that I am writing is coming together. I have all the words written now and have added some pictures so it is nearly there. I'll send it to the designers next week to get it professionally designed - but I am sooooo pleased with the process that I have made today :j

5) The rain stopped as I got home so I can go and pick a bowl of strawberries and blueberries from the garden for dinner... YUM!

Nighty night

L

Patchwork_Quilt

1) Cleaned and tidied the house this morning.
2) Had a coffee with a friend and they are coming to us for a simple supper next Friday.
3) Started my yearly cupboard clear out this afternoon, in the kitchen. The tops of the cupboards are now grime free and I have thrown a few things in the direction of the charity shop.
4) Having been convinced I'd lost it, I found an old necklace at the back of my jewellery box. I am enjoying wearing it now, along with an ancient Laura Ashley little black dress that I always turn to when I can't think what to wear. I think I appreciate revisiting my clothes more when it's not possible to have anything new.
5) Just about to go out with DH for a cheap eat. I am squeezing my eyes shut and crossing my fingers that he has some good news about work. It seems likely but he's keeping me in suspense.

Ampersand, I wasn't quite sure what you wanted me to do but I have prayed. I believe that God does care very much about each of us and that there will be a day when everything is made right.

Frith

5 for today.

1) Got off to a bad start. Took my ancient car in for a service and borrowed the garage's car. It got half way to school (this all at 8.30am) and ran out of petrol! Luckily dad had a petrol can for the chainsaw etc so drove to top the car up. Boys and I had to abandon the car and start walking to school but another mother passed us and picked us up! (A dad passed us first and just gave us a cheerful wave, as though we always walk miles in the rain...) Good that 2 people helped us and mum phoned the school to say the boys would be late.

2) Went to the JobCentre for my review thingy and all went well there. It is all different now I get carer's allowance. Its actually quite confusing but they are always helpful and polite.

3) Had the end of term picnic on the school field.

4) Had 2 pieces of good news. A friend of mine found a lump and had to have a mammogram, biopsy etc and got the all clear today! Then my sister phoned. She has been having back problems for YEARS, very similar to my sciatica. I told her that my physio found it was a sacro iliac joint problem and "clicked it" back but she has been to a physio and done the Alexander Technique and Pilates and nothing has helped. Anyway, she saw a biomechanic (?) man today and he did almost exactly the same thing as my physio - at last! She says she already has more movement on that side and no pain, only a slightly bruised feeling. :-)

5) Got my car back. It doesn't seem to be running any better despite its service and the chap found it needs a new alternator belt, 2 brake cylinders and a back wheel bearing. It will just have to wait for those! (It is 18).

6) Played with sons and 1 of the next door neighbours boys after tea on the village hall car park. Sort of catch/piggy in the middle.

7) Last day of term tomorrow and I am meeting a friend in Worcester in the morning. Making the most of my last day of freedom!

sparrer

Like you villagelife we've still had no rain - heard some thunder and seen some very dark clouds but again they just skirt us and move on
Thank you for the recipes Caterina, I've added them to my 'to make' file . The rain would be very welcome but I only have a wee garden so I'm not as desperate as all you growers and allotment holders at the moment but I love the smell after a long dry spell.
Congrats on the praise for your talk Jo, it's always good to be appreciated. Where is home? I'm guessing in the countryside
I like your No 5 zara, it's easy to forget friends when we count our assets - they really are the best ones
You're so good Ladyhawk, taking back the clothes...I wouldn't have the strength . On the other hand if you keep eating donuts like that you'll be going back for a bigger size! We're going to India in February, I've been given a cheque for my birthday this weekend so that's a good start to my saving for the fare etc.
Well done on finding your necklace Patchwork, what a good feeling that must have been :T
What a start to the day ACEY but pleased it improved for you. An end of term picnic sounds much so nicer than the modern trend for limo's, balls etc., all ridiculously expensive :mad:

My 5

1. The contractor came and mended the front door, I'm very lucky that I don't have to pay for maintenance and repairs
2. Got the lawn mowed and spent the morning pottering and tidying up outside
3. Long chat with a friend I hadn't heard from for a few weeks as she travels a lot. Told me all her tales of her latest jaunt to HK and KL
4. nsd
5. A brief chat with DF in Beijing, he was a little bit unhappy with everything today so we cut it short but at least I know I have the right direct line number.

Night night, sleepy tight
S x


.