Once You're Round the Bend

Something unexpected may be around the bend.
Something to encourage you, a lift, a gift, a friend . . .
Something that will strengthen you to face the road ahead . . .
Spurring you along the pathway that you tread.
Do not halt or waver. Go forward. Keep straight on.
Even if the reason for confidence has gone . . .
Just go on believing that things are on the mend.
Life may look quite different,
Once you're round the bend.
~Patience Strong

Todd and spent most of yesterday moving things around the house. We bought ourselves a new laptop the other day, and somehow that precipitated moving everything around. It's funny how that goes.

Being unable to check my e-mails or go online the whole time we were in Canada was a bit of a pain. I came back to an e-mail box stogged full of over a thousand e-mails that I then had to sort through before I could do anything else. There were important things in there that may have been a problem had I not been able to address them any sooner. We decided that having a laptop would be the answer. It just made sense. That way we can carry it with us the next time we have to go away, and always be connected to our e-mails . . . so anyways, we got a laptop, to make a long story short.



Having the laptop now, we decided (read "I" here) that we didn't need to have the old desktop in the living room anymore. It did take up a lot of space and moving it somewhere else would make the living room look a lot more spacious. Moving the desktop up to the craft room would solve that problem.

In order to make space in the craft room, we needed to bring out the drop front desk which was in there. The only place to put that was downstairs . . . (you see where I am going with this don't you . . . )

We then had to move all the furniture around in the living room in order to accommodate the desk, and in order to create an attractive living space.



It took the whole of yesterday and looks really lovely the way we've positioned everything . . . but now . . . I want to paint the fireplace surround, and get rid of that gaudy wall paper that is hanging there. I also want to take down the cream coloured curtains that are there and rehang my Burgundy Floral ones in their place . . . and I picked up a lovely large mirror to hang over the fireplace . . . so that it doesn't look so busy. That means that all the family pictures which we have hanging there will have to find a new home, but don't worry . . . I know just the place to put them!

and to think . . .

It all started with buying a laptop. (I'm so glad that I have a patient and loving husband!)



As often happens when I am doing things, I got distracted for a few minutes yesterday and started going through my old blue binder. I came across this old treasure that I had not made in a long time and so I decided to make it for our supper last night. This was the old fashioned way of making macaroni and cheese. Simple, tasty and always welcome. I'll try to put it down so that you can understand it, as the original recipe is written only as a guideline of what to do, exact amounts having been left out . . . you know how it goes, much knowledge was taken for granted back then, it was expected that a girl would know these things off by heart . . .



*Old Fashioned Escalloped Macaroni and Cheese*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

This is not like regular macaroni and cheese with a super rich thick sauce, this is old fashioned in both it's taste and it's appearance. It is good, plain and simple . . . every forkful taking you back to a simpler day and time. The leftovers are very good heated up the next day, and if anything it tastes even better! A lot of old recipes are like that!

1/2 pound of dry macaroni
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup of cream
a knob of butter the size of a walnut
8 ounces of cheddar cheese, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
(Yesterday I used a mixture of medium cheddar and red Leicester cheeses for colour)
salt and black pepper to taste
1 cup soft fresh bread crumbs
another knob of butter, melted

Bring a pot of lightly salted water to the boil and add the macaroni. Cook according to the package directions and then drain well. Rinse in cold water and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/gas mark 4. Butter a 1 litre casserole dish and set aside.

Put the cream, milk and the first knob of butter into a saucepan and bring to a simmer, heating only until the butter melts. Put the cooked macaroni into the prepared baking dish. Stir in the cheese and season to taste with salt and black pepper. Pour the milk mixture over top. You should just barely be able to see the milk through the macaroni. Mix the fresh bread crumbs with the melted butter and then sprinkle them evenly over top.

Bake in the heated oven until bubbly and browned and the cheese is meltingly gooey. Delicious!!



Over on The English Kitchen today, a delicious Beetroot Summer Salad Bowl!