The Six Questions Tag…
Lovely Sindhuja over at The Random Book Review has tagged me to take part in the Six Questions Tag. If you haven’t met Sindhuja, pop on over – great reviews, often of Indian authors and books I wouldn’t normally hear about, plus the occasional sneak peek into her life – one of my favourite blog stops!
So… here goes…
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One beauty product you would recommend to your girlfriends
Wrinkle cream! I don’t need it myself, obviously, but I like to be helpful when I can…
(But seriously, all my friends are naturally gorgeous, especially Lady Fancifull who regularly bathes in the morning dew collected by fairies from the prettiest flowers of May…)
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Three books everyone must read
‘Tis the season to be jolly, so I’m going for…
Right Ho, Jeeves by PG Wodehouse – not just Jeeves and Bertie, but also sundered hearts and star-crossed lovers galore! Newt-fancier and orange-juice addict Gussie Finknottle getting sozzled and handing out the prizes at Market Snodsbury Grammar School for Boys. Soupy Madeleine Bassett – she who thinks the stars are God’s daisychain and that every time a fairy sheds a tear, a wee bit star is born. Poor Angela, devastated by Tuppy implying that her new hat makes her look like a Pekinese. And Tuppy pining for his own true love – Anatole’s steak-and-kidney pie…
Three Men in a Boat… to say Nothing of the Dog by Jerome K Jerome. I shall merely mention Uncle Podger and the picture-hanging, Montmorency and the kettle, the singing of the German comic song, George and the banjo-playing and the sad tale of Harris and the swan. If you’ve read it, you’ll know what I mean, and if you haven’t, well, do get on with it!
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens– everyone should be forced by law to read this every Christmas Eve to make sure they understand what Christmas is all about. And then they should be made to listen to Patrick Stewart’s reading, so they understand the meaning of joyousness! And when I rule the world, they will be…
And if you’re not jolly by the end of that little lot, I give up!
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Favourite online shopping site
Oh dear! I know we’re supposed to hate them but I couldn’t survive without Amazon! Not just for books – music, films, cat toys – all the essentials of life! I’m deeply ashamed…
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Favourite phone app
Ahem – I don’t have a phone. Well, I do – one of those ones that plugs into the wall and you use it for speaking to people on – remember them? No txt spch in my life – isn’t that gr8? But needless to say my favourite app on my tablet is the Kindle app…
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One dish you are really good at making and its recipe
See, at this point I could tell you about my world-renowned boeuf bourguignon or my secret recipe, passed down through the generations, for hand-made haggis. I could – but I’m in the unfortunate position that my BigSister reads the blog and might laugh till she choked! And then who’d cook Christmas dinner…?
So I am forced to stick with the truth, however embarrassing…
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Now pay attention, ‘cos this is quite complicated.
Take 1 box of Ricicles (which, as you may or may not remember, are twicicles as nicicles)
Pour generously into a bowl.
Add milk – but be careful – this is the tricky bit! Too little and your Ricicles will be dry – too much and you might set off a tsunami in your kitchen.
Listen to them snap, crackle and pop.
Eat, while holding well away from passing felines.
(Who actually takes a pic of a plate of Ricicles and posts it on the internet? Aren’t people weird…?)
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Five movies that I can watch over and over again
Only 5?? Well…
The Lord of the Rings trilogy – but that only counts as one, right? And I like other things about it apart from Aragorn, you know. Boromir, for example…
A Few Good Men – partly because Tom is so delicious in his dinky little white uniform, but mainly for Jack and his “You WANT me on that wall! You NEED me on that wall!” speech. ‘Cos secretly, in my heart, I do…
Twelve Angry Men – it’s a real regret that I’ve only been allowed to serve on a jury once and the rotten so-and-so changed his plea to guilty just as I was gearing up to do my Henry Fonda act. The bit I love most is when they all get up one by one and turn their backs on the man who’s doing a Donald Trump impersonation…
Rear Window – love the story, think it’s filmed gorgeously – great colour – Jimmy Stewart is fab (and kinda lovely – it’s his voice, I think), Thelma Ritter adds a lot of fun, but most of all it’s those fabulous dresses that Grace Kelly gets to wear! Oh how I wish I lived in a time when we dressed like that!
Casablanca – well, obviously! Fortunately I’m usually alone when I watch it, which makes it less embarrassing when I get up and join in with the singing of the Marseillaise – not easy, since I don’t know the words, but somehow that little detail never stands in my way…
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But ask me again tomorrow and it’ll be a different five…
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Thanks again, Sindhuja – I enjoyed this! And I tag… everybody!! Especially you!
Such great films in your selection! And your secret recipe is amaaaazing…
I try not to boast too often about my legendary cooking skills, but I think you’ll find this recipe particularly enjoyable – if you manage to master it, that is… 😉
Hurray! I passed the three book test!
Aha! I always suspected you were jolly!!
Ah, sweetie, thanks for my dewy shout-out. May is fine, but June-April are a bit problematic. The recipe looks……..well, I think the furry ones might find it appealing too, so well done for a multi-species gourmet experience.
Could you get BigSis to take a video of you watching Casablanca at the Marseiileise singing moment, and then you could upload it to this site. I could see it becoming my vary favourite movie of a movie moment
You should get the fairies to build a bottling plant…*laughs* I cannot lie – Tuppence does like to sup up the dregs in the bowl… there’s a little insight into my life I bet you wish you hadn’t had. I was going to give the recipe for my legendary Devonshire Honey Cake…
Slightly changing the subject, when I listened to the Marseillaise last night, youtube gave as my next recommendation Susan Boyle’s original audition for Britain’s Got Talent. Have you ever seen it? I’m too snobby to have watched the programme, so had never seen it, but oh! It’s a truly wonderful thing! Full of joy and wonderment! I’ve watched it 7 times now and sobbed evey single time… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPZh4AnWyk Make that 8! You need to stick it out through the cringe-making beginning and then watch all the faces…
No, we are clearly united in snobbery as the prog has never darkened (or lightened) my TV. But I will follow your link. If i dare. I’m afraid I’m in easy sob mode at the moment, so feeling a little anxious………….
Oh. Sodden. Doubt it will ever make me watch the programme ( I kind of thought it would be a programme like it was before she opened her singing mouth, and it was) but…….the what happened next. Ulp, gulp, amazing.
It almost made me like Piers Morgan for a couple of minutes! No, it won’t make me ever watch the programme either but it’s an amazing bit of TV – all the worst of human prejudice followed by all the generosity and delight. Lovely stuff!
I absolutely adore your answers, FictionFan! What a wonderful choice of films, and I do love Patrick Stewart’s rendition of A Christmas Carol. Couldn’t agree more with you there – at all. Hmm…..I may just have to join the fun here….
Oh do, Margot! I’d love to know what films you would pick – and your secret recipe… though I don’t expect your cookery skills will be able to match mine! 😉
😆 I shall have to put my mind to it…
You make a good omelette, which puts you light-years ahead of most people (says she sniffily). 🙂
Beauty product? Eh, do soap and water count?
Books Lord of the Rings, The Wind in the Willows, Sunset Song (the trilogy).
Amazon! Apart from anything else it’s a major employer round here.
What’s a phone App?
Fish pie. A very good white sauce (I like parsley), haddock, smoked haddock and salmon, prawns and quartered boiled eggs, covered with creamed potatoes, bread-crumbs and cheese. Serve with something green. This is what I serve to the hordes who descend on Christmas Eve.
Films. Silent Running, Babette’s Feast, Total Recall (the Schwartzenegger version),A Christmas Carol (the Sim version) and sorry!, any of the Harry Potters.
Yes, I do! Thank you! And my poached eggs are to die for…
Haha! Yes, that’s very similar to my own beauty regime – just as well we’re both so naturally gorgeous!
The fish pie sounds good except you should leave out the prawns. You could fill the space with extra cheese. But I’m not sure jelly would go very well with it…
I can’t believe Arnie is in your top 5! I’m gobsmacked!!
I love your answers! (And if it makes you feel better, I shop at Amazon as well)
Haha! Thanks! (Thank goodness – sometimes it seems as if everybody hates them except me… 😉 )
Wait just a minute . . . I just had my breakfast, too, and like yours it went: snap, crackle, pop. But it was Rice Krispies! What is this Ricicles?! Does it have haggis in it?!
And, oh, Lord… You’ve stolen my Aragorn, too! *faints*
*laughs* Ricicles are Rice Krispies with added sugar! It’s the law in Scotland – all food must either have added sugar, be deep-fried or come stuffed inside a sheep’s stomach lining! That’s why you don’t see many Scottish restaurants springing up overseas…
YOUR Aragorn! A duel, madam! *loads pea-shooter*
We had a deal! You get Darcy. I get Aragorn! *grabs pea-shooter from holster and twirls it western style*
*admires the western style but sneakily shoots while the twirling is going on – Scottish style* – *then hands DD a wet-wipe to clean off the peas* OK, you can have him then – but can’t I just borrow him occasionally? For when Darcy’s not around…?
*Bows* Nicely done! Oh, okay. Literary crushes can be shared on occasion. But only when Darcy is too busy being handsomely devilish. Wait! That might be too much. . . 😉
Well… you can borrow him too occasionally – when you’re off to a ball, for instance. I can’t quite see Aragorn waltzing somehow…
Great choices all, except I was a bit disappointed that there was no recipe for Haggis.
I’ve read all three books, although I haven’t listened to Sir Pat’s reading. Jimmy Stewart – I was driving home from work when I heard the news of his death. I managed to hold it together until they played a clip. You’re right about his voice, it did me in.
Trust me, haggis is bad enough even when it’s cooked by someone who can… well… cook!
His reading is great – I once saw him do his one-man show of A Christmas Carol in the theatre – one of the highlights of my life. And he acts all the different parts in the reading in just the same way. I think the reading is based on the stage show – it’s abridged. I always had a soft spot for Jimmy Stewart – apart from being lovely himself, he always seemed to play the nice guy, the one you’d actually enjoy spending time with…
Our film list is pretty much the same! Yay 🙂
So many great films it was hard to stick to only 5! I could actually pick more than 5 of Hitchcock films alone… 🙂
Well confession time, I haven’t read Three Men in a Boat, but the other two, yes! I couldn’t survive without Amazon either… but out of the whole post I’m loving the recipe – even better your comments about Scottish food and the corresponding lack of Scottish restaurants 😉
You must! You can fit it in between the first two Shardlake books…
Haha! My recipe has been so popular I’m thinking of running a little series. I was going to go for ‘Toast and Butter’ next, but I feel actually having to use the cooker might be tricky for you novices, so I’ve decided on another of my delicious speciality dishes first – I call it ‘The Cheese Sandwich’…
I agree, Cleo, Three Men in a Boat is hilarious – to say nothing of the dog. You can grab it at Project Gutenberg. I’m betting that LibriVox has an audio too.
Well done! If we keep the pressure on her, she’s bound to give in eventually… 😉
Very witty! I loved that first up was beauty products and anti-wrinkle! I’m ashamed to admit been telling staff at work about men’s anti-wrinkle I use – I know its not actually stopping wrinkles but I think I’d look even worse if I stopped using it!!! And secondly, that is my kind of recipe – though even then I’d still probably burn it!
Haha! Thank you! I’m glad I live in a time where there’s wrinkle cream! I’m sure half the wrinkles in the world are caused by people worrying about getting wrinkles – now we don’t have to… 😉 It’s a tricky dish to get just right, but once you’ve mastered it, you might be ready to try my other signature dish – I call it ‘Takeaway Pizza’…
I make that recipe too, except on this side of the world, we use Rice Bubbles. I’ll have to read Three Men in a Boat, love the choice of movies, but will skip the wrinkle cream. Too little, too late.
Rice Bubbles… hmm! I like it, but it doesn’t rhyme with twicicles as nicicles, so what would Noddy sing? Haha! It’s never too late! At least, that’s what I try to tell myself every day while slapping the stuff on…
I can watch The Lord of the Rings films over and over again too 🙂
I used to be able to watch the whole nine hours in one stretch, but these days I tend to chop it up into episodes. A little bit of Aragorn is always happiness-inducing… 😉
I am so glad you didn’t share any haggis recipes…Rice Bubbles… I havent eaten these for years and years….and in our house too the cat always managed to get a little of the milk left in the bowl at the end of breakfast. I cant say I have any favourite films – except 35 Letters but then I am biased, and favourite books – I am struggling with Best Of 2015 🙂 Beauty products are those similar to hair products that sit in my bathroom cabinet lonely and ignored mostly:) Thanks for sharing.
Haha! Haggis is bad enough when made by people who know what they’re doing! I have loads of favourite films and the list changes everyone time anyone asks me. But I don’t watch nearly as many of them as I used to – too busy reading!
I haven’t watched tv or a film for almost a year…too busy reading! (and it’s a much more enjoyable an experience)
I’m trying to balance it a bit better – I feel I’ve been reading too much recently, though I agree – books are better!
Christmas Carol is awful!! I’ll have none of that, madam.
I’m impressed with your text speech! I know any of those! *makes mental note*
12 Angry Men is rather cool, I must admit, even though there’s not much action.
Huh! You just hate everything I love, sir! I should start loving cherries…
No!!! You mustn’t start using txt spch! It’s… it’s… against the law!
It’ s brilliant – and there is so action! Just emotional action rather than physical…
Well, I only like fake cherries. Maybe you hate everything I love! But then, I don’t really love anything, so…
How do you know so much?
That doesn’t count as action! If you don’t have punches and cars flipping, no action!
Fake cherries? Don’t you like real ones then? Not true! You love playing guitar, and I love listening to you play guitar! See? I won!!! *jumps up and down a few times*
Because I’m naturally brilliant… *modest expression*
Men! Tchah!
I really enjoyed your answers (and especially that picture of Aragorn). 🙂
I had some cassette tapes (I’m dating myself) years ago of Patrick Stewart reading A Christmas Carol. 🙂
Haha! Yes, I still have some cassettes lurking about the place too… I feel quite nostalgic about them. The old ‘mixed tape’ thing was fun…
My day is complete. You made me smile. And I even chortled.
😀 That’s good! Nothing brightens a day like a good old chortle…
[…] Tommy and Tuppence, the feline overlords who are ably served by FictionFan, have tagged me for the Six Questions Tag. And honestly, I’m a bit afraid to do anything counter to their wishes. So… here […]
Eeeee..*tries to look modest and fails*.. 😀
Thank you FictionFan, for the kind words, and also for honouring the tag.. 🙂
I quite liked your recipe..wish I could make make it myself.. 😛
Ooh, I thought we’d lost you! Haha! Thanks for tagging me – I had fun doing it!
It’s a tricky one for the beginner, I know… 😉