Eight years ago today...

I arrived in Britain.  It was a gray day much like it's been today.  Fortunately for me, mother nature helped me celebrate a bit with a torrent of rain and a fantastic sunset. 

Drooling...

Over the next week, we're going to post the makings of an amazing sandwich which we highly recommend.  It requires three interchangeable parts, all three dead easy to make.  The first is a recipe I collected from Linda when I visited last September.  She nonchalantly pulled it out of the fridge one night for dinner and I pretty much put my face in the bowl.  See, I'm not proud!

We have tried not to make it too often because because it's not healthy having it lure you to the fridge at all hours of the day, and it doesn't help that it's good on everything, including breakfast cereal.

I'm just kidding with the breakfast cereal.

But, these are serious confessions, because I haven't told this part to anyone, even Linda.

So, where to start... below is Linda's recipe which is absolutely divine.

Linda's Blue Cheese/Roquefort, etc Salad Dressing


1 cup sour cream (can be low fat)
1 cup mayonnaise (can be low fat)
1/4 c minced onion (I like a lot, just use a small yellow onion)
1 clove minced garlic (again, I use 3 or 4 depending on size)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
6 oz blue cheese crumbled - or whatever (again I use more)


Mix the first 6 ingredients and then fold in cheese.  Keeps about two weeks
covered in refrigerator (unless your husband eats it all)

This recipe shouldn't be messed with, really.  In the interest of health, we should just exercise, run, run, run!  Chase the cat, the wife, the dog, the fish, the husband until you're heaving for breath, then sit down and eat, guilt free!

Now, since Alastair and I are lazy but smart pigs, we've altered the recipe to read this way instead:

Edye and Alastair's blue cheese dressing


1 cup creme fraiche (can be low fat)
1/2 cup semi-skimmed milk (can be nonfat, semi or full-fat, go one, no one's looking)
1 cup mayonnaise (can be low fat)
1/4 c minced shallots
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
6 oz blue cheese, the crumblier the better.  So, we avoid camberzola, gorgonzola, and roquefort.


Mix the first seven ingredients, then fold in the crumbled cheese.  Never keeps for two weeks, never, never.... husband always eats it all.

We use creme fraiche because it's easier to find here than sour cream.  Why the milk?  Well, it makes the dressing go a little farther because we use a little less.  It also plays a role in the finished product... remember this is the first of three parts of a damn fine sandwich.

As for you with milk intolerance, it might just be worth the trouble.  Nausea, be damned!

(I can say this because I've been there... and somethings are just worth it.)

Journey in canning.

Whisky-kissed Peach Preserves: first effort on the left, second effort on the right.

In my recent canning adventures, I was left scratching my head wondering why all the peaches in my Whisky-kissed Peach Preserves were swimming to the top of all of the jars, desperately trying to crawl out and screaming for their mothers.  It tasted fine, actually it was amazingly tasty but it was all float-y.  So I went screaming for my mother, seeking the answers to life's deepest questions only to discover that she was scratching her head and seeking the same.  In search of further meaning, I sought my husband's advice and the sage wisdom of the new Joy of Cooking.

No, I did not turn to wikipedia or google.  Where's the fun in that?!?

Indeed, the Great Haggis had the answer but it wasn't the one I was prepared for... let the jam cool before canning it.  Hmm, isn't that unsanitary? Don't I want to burn all my fingertips in order to claim my blue ribbon status in canning, the medal that states I have killed no one?  But it turns out that cooling it slightly, still sets the jam, seals the jars AND it's not as scary.  So, chock one up for the Haggis.  He wins a jar of preserves.  Should I give him the jar on the left or the right?

Queueing in Cambridge

We're fortunate where we live to be surrounded by farm fields on all sides save one which is a nice little city airport.  So, our views on any day can be like the one Haggis shared below.  We also have the option of cycling into the city centre of Cambridge, which is a pleasant 30 minute-ish ride that takes us via cycle paths and pedestrian bridges into the market and university areas of the city, where all sorts of cosmopolitan opportunities abound, i.e., shopping, cinema, museums, gardens and restaurants.  We can even go farther afield into London on a nice 45-minute journey by train.  Life sounds pretty good, eh?  But, then there are those other days when life in Cambridge is reduced to huge sighs, a few expletives and mobile texts explaining why you're late to your appointment.  (I know that's irresponsible but hey, look, I'm not going anywhere... and I took a photo to prove it.) 

Amber waves of Edye

With clouds like this, what else could we do but go out and stand in a field?

It begins...

Yesterday saw the kick off of dementiaCOMPASS, a project I've been working on for about 18 months.  For a while, I thought I was never going to get there, but then I realized that its time would come and 'not now' didn't mean 'not ever'.  This has been a lesson I've been exploring for about 15 years and has been gratefully shoved down my throat since I moved to Britain.  You see, things happen slowly here.  There is little of the instant gratification I would have expected from my life back home.  In fact, I don't even expect gratification, i.e., happiness, all of the time, it surely is nice but isn't necessary from every aspect of my life.  This seems to make life a little more enjoyable, strangely even gratifying.

So, when people say to me that I should have done something else to get a better, faster, more improved result, I hear their words differently.  I don't hear 'you did that wrong' as much anymore, instead I hear that given what they know about the situation, they would have played things differently.  Fair enough.  Meanwhile, I'll consider yesterday a success knowing all that I know about the day and all that came from it.

Let's hope I can keep that perspective as dementiaCOMPASS develops and grows.  The next few months will be interesting and I'll keep you posted.  There will actually be a website link soon, but not now and that certainly doesn't mean not ever.

Waving, jumping up and down, trying to get your attention...

- Hello?  

- Hello!

- Is there anyone there? 

- Knocking.

- Banging.

- Uhm, I brought cake.

- Oh, there you are.  It was cake, right?  Well, it would have got my attention, too.

- How are you?  It's been too long.  I know, things have been busy, and well, I didn't think you were there, so I stopped coming.  You always seem so busy.

- Yes, I'm back...  I know I spruced things up a bit.  Oh, good,  you like it.  Well, that's good feedback. 

- Nope, I'm not going anywhere, at least not for the moment.  I have things to share, things to say.  Will you stay, will you come back?  It's always no nerve-wracking, wondering if you're around.

Mobile Blogging

Laptops are nice... they get the job done. But, they're not very convenient. I don't want to take it on holiday with me. I can't use it from the car (as a passenger only, of course - blogging while driving will invalidate your warranty).
So I decided take the plunge into the smartphone age and try Blogging from my phone.
First attempt was to text a registration request to go@blogger.com. Alas, message not sent... So I fell back on the backup plan of Blogging by email resulting in the message you see before you.

The world will never be the same again.