'Wot RoTT' exchange

[Rita C.]

Great photos Rosemary - compliments to Isabeau. We had our summer here today - that's it now until next year :lol: DH is in Transylvania where he just drove through a blizzard.

[Roseanne M.]

Love, love the garden photos!
And sunbathing in March is just too delicious!
Isn't this world glorious??!!

[Roseanne M.]

Thanks for all the good wishes and kind words. Clara is home now.

Love the picture of ?your garden?, Rosemary. (BTW, I could give you breakfast too, Rosemary, but I don't do the hummus thing. Just scones - that's as british as I get :lol: )


I just wonder if it's this warm all over now, what is the summer going to be like? Glad we have air conditioning. It's ahrder to stay indoors to qult when the weather is warmer or hot. I'm about half done quilting my HST quilt by hand. Mind you, I haven't work on it everyday.

You gals -- enjoy every minute of your slumber/blumper party and quilt shows.

[Roseanne M.]

Thanks for all the good wishes and kind words. Clara is home now.

Love the picture of ?your garden?, Rosemary. (BTW, I could give you breakfast too, Rosemary, but I don't do the hummus thing. Just scones - that's as british as I get :lol: )

Yes that is part of our front garden.
By the way I don't know anyone that has hummus for breakfast, personally I usually mainline coffee, and toast at the weekends. But if it is a special occasion DH cooks up a full English fry-up of sausage, bacon, fried eggs, black pudding, mushrooms, tomatoes and a slice of fried bread (except at christmas time he will substitute the bread for a slice of fried christmas pudding). As an american friend said when presented with fried bread (& the rest) 'It is a whole new concept in grease consumption!'
Drop scones/Scotch pancakes are also nice for an occasional treat.

[Dawn S.]

Wow! I was off of the computer for most of the weekend, and had page upon page to catch up on!

First off, I would like to say congrtulations to Terrie! You are going to have fun! Little girls are so special. And, all of the little quilts you make her are MUCH more fun!

Rosemary, the spring pictures are beautiful! All of our snow is gone here, but I have not ventured beyond our house to see if any flowers have bloomed, anywhere. Nothing is even UP right here! So, I think we are a long ways from flowers! A little more snow is probably more likely!

Dawn
In beautiful Northwest Montana

[Dawn S.]

Karen, I am sorry to hear that Cathy is having a tough time at the moment and I hope that she gets to her sewing machine and computer very soon. Brrrrr! Hate to think of being without either.

But there was supposed to be a forfeit of a Limerick and seeing as she may not know about it I have composed one for her - besides it is a great displacement exercise when one is not doing so well at the old FMQ :roll:

There once was a quilter called Cathy
Who's sister got all the sym-pathy
By breaking a bone
But now Cathy alone
Has not sent in her spools
Oh what apathy! :mrgreen:

That is too funny! I will be sure to tell her about it.

[Dawn S.]

Wow! I've got a lot of catch up reading to do. It's been a busy group. Congrats Terrie on your new granddaughter. She's going to love being covered in your quilts.

While we're waiting on the spool/reel exchange, here's a fun spool design coming out by Whimsicals called, "Spooling Around".
http://whimsicals.typepad.com/whimsi...g-around-.html
I hope the link works. If it doesn't just google, Sppoling Around by Whimsicals and look for her typepad page, Feb 2012. Also, Scroll down to look at Terri's sneak peak of what's in her new book. The bird sitting on the spool is sweet!

It's a beautiful day in Virginia! 68 and sunny. Love the look of spring!

[Dawn S.]

Wow! I've got a lot of catch up reading to do. It's been a busy group. Congrats Terrie on your new granddaughter. She's going to love being covered in your quilts.

While we're waiting on the spool/reel exchange, here's a fun spool design coming out by Whimsicals called, "Spooling Around".
http://whimsicals.typepad.com/whimsi...g-around-.html
I hope the link works. If it doesn't just google, Sppoling Around by Whimsicals and look for her typepad page, Feb 2012. Also, Scroll down to look at Terri's sneak peak of what's in her new book. The bird sitting on the spool is sweet!

It's a beautiful day in Virginia! 68 and sunny. Love the look of spring!

The link worked fine for me and I love her variations on the spools!

Carry on down the page and there is a fun hst quilt as well!

[Dawn S.]

Thanks for the link - really neat! It still amazes me how many different patterns can be done with those delightful HSTs!

[Brenda H.]

Thanks for all the good wishes and kind words. Clara is home now.

Love the picture of ?your garden?, Rosemary. (BTW, I could give you breakfast too, Rosemary, but I don't do the hummus thing. Just scones - that's as british as I get :lol: )

Yes that is part of our front garden.
By the way I don't know anyone that has hummus for breakfast, personally I usually mainline coffee, and toast at the weekends. But if it is a special occasion DH cooks up a full English fry-up of sausage, bacon, fried eggs, black pudding, mushrooms, tomatoes and a slice of fried bread (except at christmas time he will substitute the bread for a slice of fried christmas pudding). As an american friend said when presented with fried bread (& the rest) 'It is a whole new concept in grease consumption!'
Drop scones/Scotch pancakes are also nice for an occasional treat.

WHAT IS BLACK PUDDING?
It sounds awful, but my visualizing is seeing chocolate?
Bren

[Brenda H.]

I really meant to say haggis... - I don't do haggis! Maybe not blackpudding either!?

[Lorna B.]

Sometimes it is better to try things before you actually know what it is. This is from BBC website on Food.

"Black pudding is a blend of onions, pork fat, oatmeal, flavourings - and blood (usually from a pig). As long as animals have been slaughtered to provide food, blood sausages like black pudding have been in existence."

Sounds awful but is really quite good. I first had it in the Azores. It had an almost sweet flavor due to spices -- nutmeg?, allspice? not sure what was used. I think I have had it here in the UK also and have enjoyed it. A cookbook I have from the Azores tells how to make it from slaughtering the animal, then putting something in the blood to prevent coagulation. I think it was an alcohol, but can't recall right now.

I am quite adventurous and eat most anything. Though on a previous visit to the UK about 15 years ago I tried kidney pie. I wasn't impressed with that as it tasted like an outhouse smells. I've been told since then that it must not have been prepared correctly as it shouldn't have that taste.

On a less adventurous note, I am looking for a traditional Irish dessert for a pot luck this Friday night. Any ideas?

Lorna

[Rita C.]

Black pudding is like a thick black sausage. (Blutwurst?) It is made using the blood of an animal and fillers such as breadcrumbs or rice in some countries, and seasoning and herbs. We also have white pudding here in Ireland which is similar. I don't eat either but my kids love both! If you ever have a traditional Irish breakfast it will include black and white pudding along with eggs, rashers (bacon) tomato and fried bread or potato bread, and sometimes mushrooms as well. And that's your calories sorted for the next week. :mrgreen:

[Rita C.]

Lorna, at this time of year the rhubarb is beginning to appear so a good Irish desert would be a Rhubarb Fool. The way we do it is you chop the rhubarb (a bunch that you could buy in the supermarket might have about 6-8 stems) into inch-long pieces, and simmer until soft with about 2 tablespoons of water. Add sugar to sweeten it to your liking. When the rhubarb has completely cooled whip up about 1/2 pt cream (double cream in the UK) until it is almost stiff. Fold the rhubarb into the cream and either decant into a large bowl or into individual bowls and chill until ready to serve. We are also very fond of rhubarb crumble, apple, rhubarb or gooseberry tart (our tarts are flatter than the American version), trifle. We are also fond of our tea bracks. If you would like a recipe for that I can give it to you but it's not so much a dessert as a thing we have with a cup of tea. Hope that helps.

[Rita C.]

Lorna, at this time of year the rhubarb is beginning to appear so a good Irish desert would be a Rhubarb Fool. The way we do it is you chop the rhubarb (a bunch that you could buy in the supermarket might have about 6-8 stems) into inch-long pieces, and simmer until soft with about 2 tablespoons of water. Add sugar to sweeten it to your liking. When the rhubarb has completely cooled whip up about 1/2 pt cream (double cream in the UK) until it is almost stiff. Fold the rhubarb into the cream and either decant into a large bowl or into individual bowls and chill until ready to serve. We are also very fond of rhubarb crumble, apple, rhubarb or gooseberry tart (our tarts are flatter than the American version), trifle. We are also fond of our tea bracks. If you would like a recipe for that I can give it to you but it's not so much a dessert as a thing we have with a cup of tea. Hope that helps.

And a rhubarb pie should be 12" long by 1" wide 8) :lol: if only you could get the pie dish the right shape for it :wink:

By the way, with rhubarb, it is very sharp and can need more sugar than sometimes you think, look for the smaller stems they tend to be sweeter