Selling the Family Home

How many of you have gone through this experience ? Was it really difficult that last day when you had to lock the front door for the last time and walk away from the house you grew up in ? Maybe you didn't do it and got someone else to do it because it was just too painful to bear. My cousins who lived next door did it 2 years ago and since that fateful day they walked away , they've never returned. they find it difficult to even visit us now for Christmas or Chinese New Year. They have not even driven past since leaving the place. The old house is gone and in its place are two rows of terrace houses. We used to have lovely garden parties and barbecues there. My family home next door is one of 3 remaining old houses along that road. My brother , his family and my 88 year old mother live there. We're thinking of putting up the property for sale and now come face to face with the "trauma" of letting go of a piece of our lives. I used to laugh at how my cousins could not or would not even drive past their house once it was sold. I now understand why. I don;t think I'd be able to drive past too and not see the old house standing there. I have so many memories growing up there. Many of our neighbours have left; their houses long gone and replaced by tiny little terraced houses. I;'m not even sure I could be the one to close and lock the door for the very last time. I know it won;t be my mother because I think I'll spare her that experience.

Sunday Lunch at Gentle Road

Mum eating the Sunday lunch she cooked.

Cheese and Sugar Cookies

Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 cup butter

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

colored sugar

Beat cream cheese, butter, sugar and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add flour; mix well. Refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Roll dough to 1/4-inch thickness on lightly floured surface. Cut into shapes; sprinkle with colored sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350ºF for 12 to 15 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.

Weak in the Knees

OK so for those of us who have reached the BIG 50.......we're starting to see the gradual deterioration of our limbs. While on my regular morning walk 2 weeks ago I felt a sharp pain in my right knee. It went as suddenly as it came and I was startled by it. During the day I felt it a couple more times and gradually the area around my right knee cap seemed swollen and sore. I thought nothing of it and took an asprin and went to bed. I woke up several times that night when I felt several "pulls" on nerves around my knee. That tends to wake you from the deepest sleep. I went to consult with a doctor the next day and without an x-ray or a scan he was unable to diagnose it properly so I paid the $130 for the consultation and a anti-inflammatory medication. He told me to come back in a week if the pain did not go away. After 2 days I called the doctor to make an appointment for a CT scan. the scan showed I had a deterioration of the cartilage which was enough to make me feel some pain and discomfort but it was not serious enough that I would need an operation. All the doctor gave me was a $300 injection which he said would help "lubricate" the joints and I was sent on my way. So, $1200 later, I am none the worse or better. The discomfort is still there; it comes and goes and I guess until such time when my bones start to grind on each other resulting in excruciating pain , I will have to live with this and just rely on painkillers and anti-inflammatory medication. Oh yes, I could go back for those "lubricating" injections at $300 a pop but I think I'll pass on those for the time being!
So.......for now I will switch to swimming instead of walking. I hear swimming as an exercise is less "traumatic" on the knees.
Don't grow old!

Easy to make Biscuits

2 cups plain flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 cup milk
1 stick of butter
Salt & Pepper to taste

Mix the cup of milk with the flour and baking powder. Shred the stick of butter into the flour mixture; add a pinch of salt and mix it to form a dough. Roll it out to about one and a half inch thickness and cut into wedges. or any shape you like. sprinkle a little more salt and some pepper on each wedge.
Place on baking pan and bake in oven at 450 degrees F for 10 minutes.

Recipe for Lemon Souffle for 2 persons

Ingredients
2 Eggs
Sugar
Butter
1 lemon
Sherry or Grand Marnier

How to make it
Separate yolks from the white. Beat egg whites till stiff. Squeeze juice from the lemon and grate some lemon zest ( Use only the yellow part of the lemon rind). Add lemon juice , zest , a dash of sherry or grand marnier and a table spoon of sugar to the egg yolks and mix in. Fold in the beaten egg whites with the egg yolk mixture. Butter the inside of 2 individual souffle moulds and coat the insides with sugar. Pour the egg mixture into the moulds and bake at 200 degree C for 10 minutes........Serve immediately & ENJOY!

How to make Homemade Ice Cream

Ingredients
1 tablespoon Sugar
1/2 cup Milk or half & half
1/4 teaspoon Vanilla
6 tablespoons Rock salt
1 pint-size Ziploc plastic bag
1 gallon-size Ziploc plastic bag
Ice cubes
How To Make It
Fill the large bag half full of ice, and add the rock salt. Seal the bag. Put milk, vanilla, and sugar into the small bag, and seal it. Place the small bag inside the large one and seal again carefully. Shake until mixture is ice cream, about 5 minutes. Wipe off top of small bag, then open carefully and enjoy!