C is for Collection

I took a photo of one of these display shelves for the current SCS challenge which was to take the same picture with and without flash. But it had been in the back of my mind all week that they would have been a good subject for the C challenge, so today I took photos of all three of them. They are all atrociously dusty - I do the tops every week, but no way am I taking each and every thimble out. With so many, and going back so many years, at this stage I don't even remember who some of them came from, which is a pity. Most of the enamelled ones came from Portobello Market and little shops around Covent Garden, from when I worked in the UK. The Chester one was when I met DH in Liverpool at his sister's after we got engaged. We bought his wedding ring in Chester. I am guessing that my Dad probably got the Science Museum one as he used to take a school trip over to London every year. There are two tailor's thimbles, those are the ones with no top - they are also called sewing rings. I find them quite easy to use, but in fact my regular sewing thimble doesn't live here at all, but on the mantelpiece in the sitting-room.
It's hard to choose a favourite - I like the Brambley Hedge ones, and the little hand-painted Christmas robin, and the cedar waxwing.
I think I'll have to try for better photos another day - the one I originally took for the photo challenge was when we had bright sunshine flooding in, whereas today has been wet, wild and extremely windy all day.

Some time back I gave a recipe for what my sister calls Jammy Chops. Last weekend, while looking through one of Ronald Johnson's books I found a similar idea for pork chops, and tried it out. It was very nice -we don't eat a lot of pork, but I'll remember it to try again.

Pork Chops with a Currant Glaze - from Ronald Johnson's Simple Fare

4 large loin pork chops, seasoned with salt and pepper
3 tblsp oil
1/4 cup chicken stock (2 fluid ounces)
1/4 cup redcurrant jelly
1 1/2 tblsp Dijon mustard
2 tbslp red wine vinegar

Heat the oil in a frying pan of suitable size to take all the chops. Fry them over medium heat till golden brown on each side. Pour out almost all the fat (leave about 1 tblsp), add the chicken stock, cover and cook over a low heat for half an hour. Add more stock if necessary, and I turned mine over half way through. Warm the redcurrant jelly and mustard, stir to mix and add to the pan after the half hour. Cook for another 15 minutes, turning once. Remove and keep warm while you add the vinegar to the sauce in the pan and boil rapidly to reduce to a thick sauce.