Saturday, August 1, 2020

Holiday Activities - Fixing Water Butt and Fence gate

Finally after around seven months into the eventful 2020, I finally decided to take two weeks off. I had previously planned to replace my garden fence and to install a water butt. Now finally it is time to do these two jobs.

B & Q has good varieties of Garden Gates. I bought 6ft x 3ft gate worth £80,which is a reasonable and sturdy gate. Also I bought T-hinges and re-used the latches. It was easy to fix ( with the help of Rony), but had to go back again to the shop to buy better wood screws.


Also successfully installed water butt. The Water butt kit had hose connector, washer, nut, flexible hose and rain diverter. I had to cut the drainpipe to fix the rain diverter. The hose connector needs to be fixed on to the top of the water butt. Mark a line on  the drainpipe level with the hose connector and cutout 2.5 cm from the pipe ( draw another line 2.5 cm above the first line to help with this) so that the water wont overflow from the water butt. 


The hope for the next rain :-). I thoroughly enojoyed doing this bit of work and I learned a lot from this.


Soft Crust - Bread

                                                               Soft Crust - Bread 

This is one of the best things I learned during the lock down. Lets get to the fool proof recipe to make a soft and tasty loaf. The secret ingredients milk and butter give it a soft crumb, while golden syrup makes it less crumbly and easier to slice.  

Ingredients                                                                                          
                                                                                                       To finish
1. about 325 ml milk                                                                         small knob of unsalted butter
2. 25g unsalted butter
3. 500g Strong Bread Flour plus extra for dusting
4. 1 teaspoon golden syrup
5. 7g salt
6. 7g dried yeast

1. Pour the milk into a sauce pan, add the butter and golden syrup, and heat gently to melt the butter.
    Give it a stir; then take the pan off the heat and let it cool until the liquid feels just warm when you      dip in your little finger.

2. Put the flour and salt into a mixing bowl and mix well with your hands or dough hook attachment.      Mix in the dried yeast then make a well in the centre.

3. Pour the luke warm milk mixture into the well and mix everything together with your hand or the        dough hook on the slowest speed to make a soft dough. Leave the soft dough in the bowl,                  uncovered,for 5 minutes so that the flour can fully hydrate, which will make it easier to work.

4. Lightly flour the worktop ad your fingers, then tip out the dough and knead it really well for 10          minutes, or for 5 miutes in a mixer with dough hook on the slowest speed. The dough should feel        slightly firmer, silky-smooth, very elastic and pliable. Put the dough back in the bowl, then cover        the bowl tightly with clingfilm. Leave to rise for about 1 hour at normal room temperature until it        is doubled in size. Grease the inside of the tin with butter.

5.Punch down the risen dough with your knuckles to deflate it, then tip it out onto the lightly floured     worktop. Knead it a couple of times to even it out. Then dust your fingers with flour and firmly         press it our to a 26x30cm rectangle of an even thickness. Roll up the dough fairly tightly from on       short end ( like swiss roll ).

6. When it is rolled up, pinch the seam firmly. Put the bread seam-side down, tuck the ends under          the roll and push the loaf into the tin.

7. Gently press your hand down flat on top of the dough to push it right into the corners of the tin          and flatten it on the surface. This will give the baked loaf a neat, fairly brick-like shape. Slip the tin      into a larger plastic bag ( or cover with cling film). leave the dough to prove and rise at normal            temperature for about 1 hour until double in size.

8. Towards the end of the proving time, preheat the oven to 220 deg. cel. Take the tin out of the bag      and bake fir for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 180 deg cel and bake for 20            minutes until the loaf is a good golden brown. To test if the bread is done turn it out and tap it on        the base with your knuckles - if it sounds hollow it is ready, but if there's a dull 'thud', put it back        in the tin and pop it in the oven for another 5 minutes, then test it again.

9. Turn out the cooked loaf onto a wire rack, then quickly rub a knob of unsalted butter over the top.
    Leave the bread to cool until completely cold before storing. Eat within 5 days - after that it is best      toasted.   

Good Luck 😃

Sunday, July 26, 2020

Pilgrims Cycle Trail - Bike Ride 1

                                                             Pilgrim's Way - Bike Ride

Sunday morning, mostly cloudy, chances of rain pretty low! What more to ask for a ride through the North Down way. You will see the best of what Kent has to offer on this most beautiful of bike rides.




The ride started at our house in Gillingham around 9:00 am. We had a vague memory of our previous ride through this route along with Delphi Bike Riders. We made up route we pedalled along hoping that the ride will jog our memory to find the right, safe route back home :-). Though Pilgrims Cycle train is designed for more experienced cyclists, it can be completed in segments. If you fancy tackling a easier segment, it can be an ideal day out for families too.

The segment we tried is Detling to Hollingbourne.Following the know cycle trail ( Gillingham -> Lidsing -> Boxley -> Pilgrims way -> Detling ), we reached Detling at Jade's crossing. We cycled along exciting mix of bridleways, byways and winding lanes as well as good selection of good pubs like The Dirty Habbit ( 13th century county house). Then came the real test "The Holingbourne Hill". To our surprise we were able to pedal up to enjoy our well earned treat of Apple and Orange ( :-( trying hard to reduce weight).

We lost bit of our way back, but were able to get back on track. Met lots of fellow cyclists exchanging greetings. We followed Borden, Sittingbourne, Upchurch, Rainham. It was an enjoyable ride, which took us through steep climbs and descents, less tumultuous landscapes and quite lanes. What an amazing way to explore Kent!!

 

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

25-March-2020

Welcome to the second day of lockdown. Started the day attending online Holy mass. Today, 25th of March we celebrate Solemnity of annunciation, which comemorates the visit of archangel Gabriel, during which he informed her that she would be the mother of Jesus Christ, the son of God.

Today I came across  Irish saint Eunan - whose faith transcends petty divisions. He has intervened to liberate war captives adn to claim teh safety during war for womn, childten and clerics

Day by day number of casualities are rising all over the world. Italy and Spain are really struggling where the death toll has surpassed China. U.K goverment has decided to go ahead with the measures taken - Stat at Home, Save NHS and Save life,

1. Go out only to buy essentials
2. Go out alone or with family members to excersise once a day
3. Work from home wherever possible

I managed to buy a bag of keral rice and chapathi flour from Kerala stores, Gillingham and felt releaved as most of the supermarkets are stripped empty. Didnt manage to get milk and egg. There were long queues at Tesco.

On positive note, for the first time Emmanuel and myself listened to David Walliams' Audio book " Grubby Gertrude", which was amazging. Emmanuel got hooked to it that he listened to "MineCraft - Diamond Sword" straight after than :-).

Hoping that things would get better in the coming days, signing off!!

Tuesday, March 24, 2020


Day 1 of complete lock down - 24- 03- 2020
----------------------------------

God knows for how many days!! But we are prepared to follow the rules set out by Prime minister Borris Johnson, to Save lifes and Save NHS

May be it is a time to wind down and reflect and come out of this with new arrows in your quiver.

These are things I am trying to follow.

1. Wake up by 6
2. Attend online Holy Mass
2. Work from Home
3. Home schooling
   I really appreciate St.Benedicts school for their extra effort. All the work is well prepared and      delivered to the kids using ClassDojo, Rising Star ( reading materials), SPAG ( English Grammar), Matheletics and Timestable Rockstar. All we need to do is convince Emmanuel and make him do it :-)
4. Excercise
5. Prepare Dinner
6. Home Prayer
7. Reading Books / ISO 26262

Emmanuel and Evangeline did Little Voices over Google Hangouts. It was a very pleasant experience.

Hope things would get much better and people would follow the rules set by government and hope to come on the other side of things soon,

Thanking God for keeping us all safe and really appreatiate the work done by nurses and doctors in these unprecedented times.



Tuesday, December 12, 2017



Welcome Holy Spirit

Welcome Holy Spirit
We are in Your presence
Fill us with Your power
Live inside of me
 
You’re the Living Water
Never drying Fountain
Comforter and Counselor
Take complete control
 
Fill us with Your power
Live inside of me

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

It's School time!!

September 6th!! School time, not for me but for my dearest son :-).

White shirts - yes, Grey trousers - yes, Back shoes -  yes, Grey socks - yes, Tie, Jumper.. yes :-)

All the dress washed and pressed. All set for the day.

Anna and myself were very excited, not sure about Emmanuel though. We both took a day off to witness Emmanuel's very very special day of his life. We were eagerly waiting for his first session at school from 130pm to 3pm.

We managed to feed him and dressed him up and reached school on time. He got the blessing from his grand parents, uncle and aunt.

We could see, of course, lots  of nervous parents, grand parents.

The headteacher and his class teacher lined all and took them to the class room. Emmanuel was very clingy but went along with them. I am really grateful to you God to allow me to witness this.

Then 1 and half hour of nervous wiating. All done, he was all good!!

Me : How was your school?
Emmanuel : Great!!

phew!! Really rewarding to hear that from him!!

Wish him all the best and Thank you God for giving him and for this special day.