Remove the bird and vacuum the floor

We first went to Ulster in the summer my daughter was one year old, in fact she had her first birthday there. Maybe that was why she ended up going to the University of Ulster! We spent the summers there while our children were young and had so many happy times. At one point there was a possibility that we might move across the Irish Sea and live there but various things made that impossible.

One of the many things which struck us from our first visits was the food, especially the baked goods, and as I used to enjoy baking for the family I bought several cookery books of Ulster recipes, including “The Best Home Cookin’ Ulster Style – and more handy hints.”

Here’s a selection of the handy hints (some of them are rather dated now, but you never know they might come in useful:

When your cassette player chews a tape, simply cut out the damaged part and join the free ends with a tiny piece of sticky tape. You will only have lost a small part of the music rather than discarding the tape.
Moisten bread with milk before frying it. This will make it crispier and it will absorb less fat.
Coil your garden hose in a figure of eight. You will be able to pull it out without coils or kinks.
Cold teabags or tea itself used as a poultice can ease sunburn, or add teabags to a warm bath.
A quick and easy way to clean the floor of a birdcage is to remove the bird and vacuum the floor of the cage.
If you suffer from acne you can make a simple face-mask. Mix rolled oats with lemon juice and leave overnight. In the morning add a teaspoon of beaten egg and some honey to form a thick paste. Thin out with cucumber juice if necessary. Apply to your face and leave for twenty minutes. Gently sponge off.

Here’s a simple recipe, which I might try tomorrow:

Dutch cookies

6 oz marg.
4 oz caster sugar
8 oz plain flour
1 teaspoon almond essence
flaked almonds

cream marg and sugar
add flour and almond essence
spread into a swiss roll tin
spread with flaked almonds and
bake at gas mark 4, 350°F, 180°C for 45 mins

It doesn’t say whether the mixture should be scored to make the biscuits when it’s cooked, or whether it could be cut into circles with a cookie cutter.