Dbee Robinson Artist - The Fat Struggling Menopausal Artist

  It’s been like a scene from ‘ The Big Bang Theory ’ in my house recently. The one where they were trying to book tickets for Comic Con. Constantly checking and pressing the keys on a computer to get what they wanted. ( Click here for a sneak peak )  I too have been constantly checking daily, almost hourly for the past month waiting for something to finally be on sale in the UK.  What is it I hear you ask…… art supplies, fabulous jewels, amazing clothes?  Nope, it’s a new kitchen appliance. My previous multi cooker had a cooking fit, not a Big Bang, it just  decided to spray Mulled wine and seedless blackberry jam all over my kitchen. (Not a Ninja I must add, but the manufacturer took it back and gave me a full refund immediately) It took 2 hours to clean up, including removing splatter from the ceiling! And thanks to the Havant Repair Cafe fixing my morphic chair I was able to reach the ceiling safely. If you want the jam recipe message me below in the commen...

Now I know many will find this sad, but I love spreadsheets. Mainly because I forget things easily and spreadsheets have formulas that work things out for me so I don't have to think too much. And so I have created my spreadsheet world. My first spreadsheet logged all our DVDs in alphabetical order and split into various genres, kids, chick flick, action, comedy etc. I often grab dvds from charity shops. By having a list on my phone that's easy to view, it stops me from buying ones I already have. It also makes it easy to choose a video to watch, depending on what mood we are into what genre to watch rather than hunt in a cupboard. Then came my Personalised Calendar with our family birthdays and pictures added. This only came about as one year I couldn't find the type of calendar I wanted, but has become the norm. I just love choosing pictures from the current year of memories for the following year. Then, as I found it so difficult to price my paintings, my Artwork spread...

My husband is well known for buying me presents that he wants. Now I must point out I have no problem with this in any way. As similarly if I do not know what to buy someone, I too buy presents I like and hope those I buy for like them too. However some of my husbands presents for me are quite hilariously brought for him, and this year I think it backfired.  This Christmas my husband brought me some binoculars. I already have some great binoculars, so I was a little surprised to be given some new ones. And my husband also has some great binoculars I brought him some time ago, but he has lost them. “The new ones are lighter” he said “and great for you to take on walks.” So I took them out Christmas Day when we went on a long walk and I loved them. They really are a lot lighter, easier to use and the magnification is superb. We both enjoyed looking at all the birds on the shoreline. Without binoculars we would have just seen ducks and waders, but through these new binoculars we could...

Are cooking shows running out of ideas? Do cooking shows really need to use armed forces recipes for technical challenges? The Great British Bakeoff technical challenge in Series 11 Episode 8 was 'Sussex Pond Pudding'. According to Pru Leith it's a suet pastry filled with butter and sugar, encasing a whole lemon. It reminded my Husband of a savoury Navy delicacy lovingly called, ' Babies Heads ' which is in fact Steak and Kidney Pudding. A tasty comfort food delight for many of our armed forces. I guess if you have a warped vivid imagination it does look a little like a babies head perhaps??   We thought it wouldn't be long before another Navy favourite would appear on a cooking show.  But we were rather surprised to see Monica Galetti on Master Chef : The Professionals - Episode 13 Series 8 - cooking the much loved Navy breakfast 'Sh!t on a raft '. And no I cannot seem to type the correct spelling of this wonder food. Monica called it Devilled Kidneys, ...

Pressure king pro 24 in 1 and Thermomix make the easiest tastiest bread ever and a super-fast pina colada microwave sponge  I wouldn't say I love cooking, but I do love eating. And anything that can make my life easier, and tastier works for me. So I have a small Microwave, a Thermomix (TM5) with a cook key, and a Pressure king pro 24 in 1 (PKP). Today I made Olive, sundried tomato, and red pepper bread with herbs and seeds, and after watching the Great British Bake Off (GBBO) cooking last night I had to make a pineapple upside-down cake. And as I had to make dinner too it was a busy day in the kitchen for me.  First I made the Hairy bikers low-calorie Sweet and Sour Chicken for lunch using my PKP by pressure for 15 mins cooking using the chicken setting. It was delicious and wasn't too sweet, and the vegetables did not disintegrate as they sometimes do when I slow cook.  Then, because of the GBBO, and I had half a can of pineapple leftover, from the sweet and sour chick...

 Best Buddies - Pressure King Pro 24 in 1 and my Thermomix TM5 I have had a Thermomix for a number of years. Starting with the robust TM31 and moving on to the larger TM5 with it's cooking chips, (no not potato chips but electrical recipes for the machine), and later upgrading with the aid of a cook key, to online recipes uploaded onto my machine for total ease of cooking. It's the most hard-working thing in my kitchen.... other than me of course.  My TM5 can weigh, cook, boil, simmer, stew, chop, mince, blend, mill, grind, knead, whisk, puree, and has automated white rice, custard and yogurt functions. You could also buy recipe chips for guided cooking which plugin to the machine for you to follow the recipe directly on-screen. And now with the use of a Cook key chip which links to the internet, I can download over 500 recipes directly into my TM5. What a team we make, especially during all this Coronavirus stuff when I am cooking all the time without even one take out. The ...

Today was a day I will remember for ever. We laughed so much I had tears rolling down my face. We started the day eating spaceship pancakes in defiance of the poor Dr Who shows recently. “We defy you Dr Who Team.” For all those missing real aliens, monsters, time travel and a decent story, here is one of my pancake space ships. (Yes my Husband David and I had sweet pancakes for breakfast, and according to someone special, we are adults so we can have what ever we want, even chocolate cereal)   Be warned BBC, it is carrying a new life form that was cloned from Steven Moffat and Matt Smith. It will be known as a ‘ Smatfat,’ It will   write great stories and act them out with exceptional aptitude. There will be no long boring scenes talking of morals or feelings, as this is not what Dr Who is all about. Time travel will be beyond our earthly thoughts and the aliens will be of such awesomeness we won’t be able to get out from behind the sofa. Spaceship pancake The day...

No title - Any ideas comment below - Mixed media It’s been a pretty gutty few months but I actually feel that I am back in control of my life and my feelings. Things had built up and like a contained pressure cooker, it exploded taking casualties. Now I must admit I wasn't the one to blow up, but I am certainly one of the casualties who almost melted into oblivion. When I was younger I would sit on Hayling Island beach and look at the waves, staring at their shapes, size and colour, (Yes, they have colours). They have a hypnotic, rhythmic almost cleansing sensation to me. The sounds of each wave crashing on the shore, cleaning the sand and my soul, it just calms me. It's what I listen to at night via an APP called CALM when I can't sleep, or my body is dog tired but cannot keep up with my racing cat alert mind which just wants to play all night. Sometimes when things go bad for us, we just want to cut our losses and run to save ourselves from further stres...