“It came away in my hand, Chief.”
How well I remember that standard Royal Navy response to anything that got broken.
You may recall smug tales of filling 5 litre bags of home-made grape juice last summer. They have worked exceptionally well but you would be amazed as to how far that amount of liquid spreads!
The sous-chef was adjusting the nozzle tap on a new bag-in-box of the dark red sticky stuff and, as he says, “It came away in my hand, Chief.”
It splashed off the worksurface, all over the floor and anything in-between. So far, it has taken four swabbings to make some in-roads on the stickiness and you’d be staggered as to how much can leak on to the top of the dishwasher. Heaven knows where else.
One of the joys of being blind is that I’m completely useless at trying to resolve such situations. My only contribution was to shuffle up and down the floor with a hot soapy cleaning cloth under my feet (2-in-1: my shoes and the floor).
But he did satisfy all the senses with an extravagant heart-shaped box of chocolates and super tactile and fragrant Valentine’s Day card. The card company was amazed to learn that very many blind people don’t use Braille.
Quickest winter salad. This is what I knock up when we want some fresh vegetables with the least fuss. Delicious with a home-made pork pie and chutney plus a little baked potato.
2 celery sticks, peeled.
1 carrot, peeled.
1 eating apple, cored.
2 or 3 Welsh or Spring onions, peeled.
1 tomato.
1 handful sultanas or raisins.
1 handful pumpkin seeds, dry roasted.
Finely chop and slice all the vegetables and mix with the dried fruit and seeds in a bowl.
Serve with a vinaigrette dressing or mayonnaise.
My Tips:
Keep a supply of roasted seeds handy: place in a pan over a hot heat until they start popping and browning. Remove from the heat and cool before storing.
Add other peeled vegetables to hand e.g. a parsnip, cucumber, even some butternut squash.