(as defined by my seven year-old son, so you know it’s good!) This is a delicious, rich dark chocolate butter-cream frosting recipe, with hints of orange. Perfect for icing an 9×13 cake or 8″ or 9″ round layer cake. Rich and chocolatey. No eggs in the mixture, but firm enough to spread. Substitute vanilla essence… Continue reading Best Chocolate Buttercream Icing EVER
Category: Me
All You Need Is Rov(ing)
I can be a bit reserved. I can see someone who looks really interesting and unless I’ve got a good excuse (like when I worked for newspapers, or in bars and shops) I tend not to wander up, introduce myself and ask all the questions I want to ask. Last week, however, my love of… Continue reading All You Need Is Rov(ing)
The Cost of Gas
Last year a helicopter carrying workers to their rigs crashed into the North Sea. My brother-in-law takes a helicopter out to work on his rig, every so often. He wasn’t on this one. 20 years ago, before my sister was married, there was a terrible fire on one of the rigs in the North Sea.… Continue reading The Cost of Gas
Health Care Reform for US – Why We Must Have It
I’m taking on one of the many, many myths about what will happen in the US if we have health care reform. Just one, but I think it’s one of the two or three most powerful and it says:
“If we change the system we’ll end up having to pay more.”
I’m Losing It!
My friend Susan and I are running our own private diet club, which involves picking the weight-loss method that works best for each of us and checking in every week with a weigh-in, analysis of the past week and plans for the next week. We’ve just completed week 3 and it’s proving very helpful. Her… Continue reading I’m Losing It!
Time Enough At Last
I’ve been sending Gregor to Lunch Bunch a lot recently a, because he likes it and b, because the difference between picking him up at 11.15 (stop what I’m doing at 10.45, probably get dressed, and make sure I’m ready to leave just after 11) is hugely different from picking him up at 1. Every… Continue reading Time Enough At Last
Shut It!
[audio:http://www.julieduffy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/shutit2.mp3|titles=Shut It!] I’ve been reading Gretchen Rubin‘s Happiness Project book 1 and I guess some of it is sinking in. Particularly the part about only being able to change yourself and your actions/reactions, even if it’s other things/people who are annoying you. This morning I thought about some household chore and it brought up other… Continue reading Shut It!
‘Sno Always Like This
[audio:http://www.julieduffy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Snolikethis.mp3|titles=Sno Always Like This!] Since I moved to the States I’ve had to deal with people always telling me that I must be so used to the cold and snow, being from Scotland and all. Then I have to gently tell them that it’s not really like Dickens’s A Christmas Carol in Britain these days,… Continue reading ‘Sno Always Like This
Kindergarten Aspirations 2010-2020
[audio:http://www.julieduffy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/kindergarten2010.mp3|titles=Kindergarten Aspirations 2010-2020] Visited the school yesterday and, while hanging around, found myself reading the exhibits on the wall outside the Kindergarten classroom. Embracing the idea of history and change occasioned by the dawning of a new decade (which it’s not. But don’t get me started on the whole “there was no Year 0” thing.… Continue reading Kindergarten Aspirations 2010-2020
Global Silliness
So, my friend Carol went to Thailand and Cambodia for Christmas and New Year (as you do). We’ve been keeping in touch by email, but this morning she caught me on GoogleTalk and we’re chatting in real time. She sent me a link to the guest house she is typing from, so that I could… Continue reading Global Silliness