What made you happy today?

[Jenny]

Hi everyone, 

It’s easy to get lost in the doom and gloom, from reading news, personal worries, the Summer sun slowly leaving us … that’s why I thought it’d be great to combat this by focusing, together, on the little and unexpected sources of joy we come across. 

Something unexpected like your nephew or grandchild’s giggle, an out of the blue phone call from an old friend, a smile from a stranger, or a happy guest leaving you a compliments-filled review; these things can lift our mood and make us happy. Happiness is a beautiful feeling we are all in search of but it may be closer to us than we sometimes see. 

What made you happy today? Let’s share our little moments of joy, and inspire each other to see the positives in our days!

Jenny

[Emilie]

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@Gillian166  a écrit :

Someone else was talking about carbonara recently and I ended up making it for dinner that night. @Emilie  you might have given me the next challenge! 

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@Gillian166 If you do give it a go, I'd LOVE to hear how it goes! 😃

[Huma0]

@Gillian166 

It might have been me. I became obsessed with making the 'perfect' carbonara after stuffing my face with it in Rome. I haven't perfected it yet, because it's not always easy to find the exact ingredients (pecorino instead of parmesan, guanciale instead of pancetta etc.), but it still tastes so good!

[Robin4]

@Emilie @Gillian166 

Hey as your talking cooking go to's,  I have this divine recipe for a 'baked' Thai Red chicken curry.

Nobody expects a curry to come out of an oven but, the chicken 'french' drumsticks (lovely legs) have a crispy baked skin texture and it tastes spectacular served with Cumin Jasmine rice, Raita and Nan bread.

If you would like the recipe I will post it. 

Cheers.......Rob 

[Huma0]

@Jenny 

They do look good! Hope they tasted as good as they look. Probably smelled wonderful as well.

[Laurelle3]

@Emilie are the mandeilines made with almond meal.

They look good. They will be on my list. I haven't made them because I don't have the trays.

[Emilie]

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@Laurelle3  a écrit :

@Emilie are the mandeilines made with almond meal.

They look good. They will be on my list. I haven't made them because I don't have the trays.

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@Laurelle3 Plain old flour, no almond meal in these. It's a good idea though, I'm not sure how well they'd rise but you gave me an idea for a variation on my next ones ... I'm always up for some baking experiments💡 

[Jenny]

@Emilie They look delicious!  I love madeleines!

[Robin4]

@Jenny 

Hi Jenny and all,

Ade and I have been over to the East Coast for the last three weeks spending some time with our daughters and our lovely grandies!

On a previous visit, watching something about ice sports on TV I told my eldest granddaughter Madison, when I was in my late teens and early 20's I was mad on ice skating and became proficient enough to be in one of our local ice hockey teams!

She decided then that she wanted to follow in 'Papa's' footsteps and be an ice skater.

Un be known to me my daughter Kate enrolled Madison in lessons at their local ice rink and last Saturday told me they were taking me on a 'mystery' activity!

We arrived at the Erina ice stadium, and the penny suddenly dropped.....I was to see Madison taking after me and skating.

But it didn't end there, they organised a session ticket for me and I was able to pull on a pair of size 12 blades and skate together with my 9 year old grand daughter. 

Unfortunately this format does not support video, we did look okay though skating together!

Almost every day has a happy experience for me, but last Saturday was particularly special.

@Emilie   @Quincy  @Huma0  @Clara116  @Laurelle3 

Cheers.........Rob  

[Jenny]

Hi @Robin4 - good to see you posting here!

I LOVE this so much, it's really made me smile.

How long had it been since you last skated?

[Robin4]

@Jenny 

About 50 years Jenny!

I was never into ball sports. I was always good at balance sports!

From the time I was 14 Dad had sold the farm and bought a house by the ocean and had a speedboat so, as a teenager I was right into water skiing. I also took up roller skating, and when our first ice rink opened up I gravitated to ice blades. Then I met Ade and throughout my 20's, 30's and 40's (with friends) did a lot of water and snow skiing.

The last time I snow skied was on my 70th birthday in August 2014, the kids gave us a week in the snowfields at Crackenback/Perisher in the NSW Snowy mountains. 

Do you realise Jenny there is more snow in Australia than there is in Switzerland!!

But these balance sports are a bit like riding a bike, even though it might be a long time between drinks, it doesn't take long to get your act together.

Here I was a couple of years ago roller-boarding on son in law Chris's board on a relatively gentle slope on one of our regular visits to the East......

   

So, when it came to setting a foot on the ice with Madison, within a lap of the rink I was holding my own and didn't look a complete greenhorn! 

Cheers.........Rob

[Jenny]

WOW @Robin4 this is absolutely epic!  What an inspiration!  

I didn't actually know that about the snow in Australia.  It's just not a place I imagine it ever snowing!  One of my closest friends lives in Brisbane and she says that winter there feels like a decent summer in Scotland!

I'm now jumping on a search engine to read about Australia's alpine region.

[Robin4]

@Jenny 

There is a certain aire of camaraderie above the snow line. We are all simply skiing mates no matter what our station in life!

My favourite Australian snow field is Mt Hotham....it does have really challenging slopes.

One visit in 2006, I (with friends) stayed in the Alberg Hotel at Mt Hotham......Ade by this stage was not a skier any more thanks to her MS but, she never stopped me from still having a snow getaway with friends.

https://www.arlberghotham.com.au/

The first night there after our evening meal John (my travelling companion) and I did a prowl of the complex and we ended up in the Piano bar. There was maybe 5 people present in the piano bar at that time.

Now both John and I have played a piano all our lives and there was this big, ugly, black,  grand over in the corner of the room. It has scratches and the evidence of numerous drink spills and cigarette burns all over it.....in fact it looked like it had skied a run or two down 'Mother Johnson's Trail'!!!

Anyway, intrigued I walked over to it and lifted the lid, sat down and started to play, Cavatina, the theme from the film 'The Deer Hunter'. Despite it's appearance it was in surprisingly good tune and had a great sound and feel.

Now normally when you do that a staff member will come over and say to you...."Don't mess around with the instrument sir" and pull the lid down but, Jenny, they didn't, they just let me play. When I finished I launched into Billy Joel's  'Just the Way You Are'  then John sat down and played a song or two and I guarantee within 30 minutes there were at least 70 people in that piano bar........ and we never bought a drink all night!

Jeez.....it was one of those nights the memory of which I will take across that rainbow bridge when my time comes!

Cheers........Rob

[Emilie]

@Robin4 I'm just seeing your posts now about Madison, your skateboard adventures and your curry recipe. Love all of it, thanks for brightening the end of my day ☺️

[Robin4]

@Jenny 

As an aside to my last comment here in South Australia we don't have snow.....we are 800 Kms for the nearest snowfields but, every now and then nature will do something a little bit different.

In August 1996 we had a snow fall which gave our Adelaide Hills countryside a good coating of snow......Here is our Kate standing out in it.....

The ground was seriously white, and as we had a sloping 2 acre house block I got my 'rock hoppers' out and can proudly say I am probably the only person in my state who has actually snow skied on their own house block!!!

Cheers........Rob  

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

We had so much rain in the last couple of days, I am thrilled, and the garden is smiling like crazy