Be a parsnip

 We've been without a cooker for the last week as it was giving me electric shocks (the landlord is sourcing a new one) and so without trying to spend a fortune on take aways, I had to work out how to cook with a microwave and a Tefal Actifry. Now the actifry is actually Afon's as my dad gave it to them to take back to university and I've never used an airfryer before so it has been a learning curve This is the one that Dad gave Afon, it has since been discontintued and unlike the newer airfryers can only cook on one temperature (180C) but after some web searching we found out you can actually cook quite a lot of things in it. The link we've used for quite a few things has been Hint Of Helen which means that the kids have not actually had any chips in it. I even spatchcocked a chicken last week and did that in the air fryer. So if you ever need inspiration about what to cook in a air fryer then here are my top picks and also fails: 1) Roast potatoes - delicious take hal...

  For some reason when I wrote that all I could hear in my head was a theme song from I think Tikkabilla!! Anyway this isnt a blogpost about me hearing random things This is just a short post to let you know that this blog has a TikTok page - I try and put random images etc on there so if you want to follow along I might do more. I'm not allowed to do any of the dances because that would be embarassing but random stuff is fine!  I may add favourite tiktok recipes onto the page but am unsure how this is done so bear with Ffi

The house I rent has a lot of land and once upon a time I'm sure that this would have been ideal for kids playing on it - and you know if I had lots of money a hot tub, luscious rolling lawns etc I mean something like this looks ideal (but you know a) I dont have loads of money and b) I dont really need a hot tub in the garden as my neighbours are a bit old and nosy! But I can't garden, it doesnt bring me joy. Its a task I hate and although I've strimmed and mowed the lawn I dont like it. But grass grows, as do trees and as an ex planted some to make a hedge my garden had turned into a nightmare. So, last week, I bit the bullet and added a post to Facebook asking for gardeners or gardening services. Now, it seems that gardening services are very expensive but luckily for me a friend reached out to say that he did this work for other people and was happy to help out. As he is not a company, it works out cheaper for me and it also helps him as he doesn't work.  The first ...

As you know yesterday was a day for car racing. We had fun time at the Rallycross and I think it was what I expected (its not Silverstone or any F1 type thing) Pembrey circuit is based on and old airfield which apparently most of them are. It was a relatively cheap day out but we had loads of fun and if you live near a racing circuit then I would definitely suggest you go along.  Today the sun is shining and whilst popping to get a chicken for dinner, Afon and I went to the street food festival happening on our local marina. I was tempted by so much food but decided to grab something I wouldn't normally get as well as some brownies. The crab was delicious, the brownies more cakey than brownie but still delicious. Hope you've all had fab Sunday.  Ffi

While recording the radio show the other day we discussed our harbours ( show will be out in September) . The places we head to during difficult times. Having been through a major one myself I said that my close  friends and family were my harbour but after posting something on a group on Facebook I need to tell you about my other supporters.  I dont use Facebook that often anymore but for this one main and subsequently subgroups of people. The group are literally LEGENDS in every sense of the world and come about as we are all fans of a certain podcast.  The groups I think were very active during lockdown and I joined them later that year but since then I've been involved in online music quizze and they are as supportive as anything and we have literally sub groups for everything  from Memes for when your feeling down and shite to Pets (with a chat based on a pic a day) , books, music ( with shared spotify music playlists) and many more.  I've had s...

I'd started this yesterday and then somehow blogger lost it. Oh well start again then. So part 3 is being written in a post holiday daze , a want and a wish not to be back in Wales but still on holiday. I hadn't written a third part so I thought instead I'd share with you my thoughts on the places we visited, alongside some photos and a parsnip ... nope carrot rating. Penzance Our cottage was situated right in the town cente and an easy walk to both the independent and high street shops of the town. Penzance is the most westerly town in Cornwall and we had swapped one west coast on the blustery Irish sea to another on the English Channel. The weather was not always ideal but even with misty days the mist seemed to disappear by afternoon  and walking along the only promenade in Cornwall of an evening was lovely. We spent one morning meandering round its streets treating ourselves to some fantastic cakes and pasties. Carrot rating 5 🥕   St Michael's mount Thi...

Hi all. I did some fiddling with my blog earlier and have managed to turn off comments. Bear with as I fix this...might be a Monday job now ...

As mentioned in yesterday's post   I'm going to keep the original post and add in bits. Who knows how much I actually wrote though... Today after the mammoth journey we  went for a Sunday lunch in Hayle via train Hayle is a seaside village with three beaches but not the reason we went.  No we went becuase Js best mate (let's call him Mr S) lives in Hayle. J and Mr S have known each other since nursery school and it was lovely to see them interact. We had a lovely Sunday Lunch at the Cornish Arms (7 sides! but no pics)  the kids and I then went for a walk through Hayle to find a swimsuit as one of the kids hadn't bought the right kind with them. We left J and his friend to reminisce (drink beer)and went to find a beach. We didn't get to the beaches although we did find a troll under a bridge which made me laugh as I'd always tell the kids to look out for one during walks. After Hayle and a Chinese in Penzance , Carys and I went for a walk and saw some...

As I mentioned previously not enough signal in Cornwall to do anything and although I've rewritten some of this, I'm always up for keeping most of it as is. Anything in italic will be brand new and probably written in a post holiday bluey haze.. Im writing this lying in bed in our cottage in Penzance.  You could hear the seagulls earlier but they seemed to have stopped now.  We left Wales yesterday with the heavens opening and all it did for most of the journey through Wales was rain. It seemed like we went over the bridge and it slowed down but I guess that's what happens when Storm Antoni lands in August. Going from West Wales to the Wild west of Cornwall takes forever so we took a stop half way ( nope I know its not halfway but did I mention the rain ) in Plymouth , J's home town.  It was very windy and walking through the Barbican to the marina side was gusty and those of us with hair saw not much. We stopped for our lunch at a Plymouth legend cafe Capta...

Well the post is about cars so what else would you call it. I dont drive.  I did try. I never passed but I tried. Anyway this post isn't about that. This post is about me going to watch professionals driving cars. As much as I'd love to say I'm going to see a F1 race, I'm not but I am going to see the British Rallycross on Saturday as I saw the tickets and on a whim got me and J them. Will try and report back on the day. Signal dependant.  Ffi

I had all good intentions of blogging whilst on holiday but Cornwall is a land of not much signal.  I will post some best bits over the coming days and my suggestions on places you should go etc but for now I leave you with this... Yes that is my leg and a bloody horse fly bite. This is what happens when you traipse around a field looking at The Merry Maidena. I mean I think I should get a tshirt. Oh and the pharmacist now told me to draw a line around it and if the hydrocortisone doesn't make it go down then its doctors for me tomorrow.  Ffs..  Ffi

  I'm off on my holidays tomorrow and as always have saved some books to read. The three/ four (one on the kindle) that I am bringing are: Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa This book I must read - we're reviewing it for the Aberystwyth Book Club (on the radio) and I have actually started reading it and so far its a fab little story. The Royal Secret by Andrew Taylor  I had this bought for me on my birthday and havent started it yet - its a historical crime thriller so sounds right up my alley  A Snowball in Hell by Christopher Brookmyre  I got this at a charity shop for 50p as I love this author. Boyfriend also doesnt have this one so I guess he could read it when I'm not. The Wrexham Killings by Simon McCleave This is on my kindle and I absolutely love this series - again I've started it but I know I will devour it. What kind of book do you like to read? I will feedback on the above after next week    

  I'm all for hiding my head in the sand and do it a lot. I mean its not healthy and not adult like at all so I'm slowly putting small steps in place to get better and not ignoring things. First step in not hiding is facing your fears.  My current fear is the dentist.  I am getting anxious thinking about it. But my teeth are awful. Years of smoking and not brushing my teeth have taken their toll. So today I took a step and I found the best dentist in the area and I've now completed their registration form.    I'm trying to work out how I feel about this - currently I feel like I could vomit if anyone dared look in my mouth. I'm not feeling fearless at all and if it wasnt for my boyfriends words several months ago I would probably still be hiding away from it all. I should have done something then but fear paralysed me and I didnt. The funny thing is that growing up, my career choice was to be a dentist. I never feared them and did a work experience out our local...