How to Hang Wallpaper

Take a look at this if you need help. There are just a few things to remember if you're new to wallpapering.

1: Buy enough to cope with mistakes
2: If you go for a patterned wallpaper - check the size of the 'Repeat'. There's nothing more annoying to cut the length only to find you've cut it in the wrong place for the pattern to match. (Been there. Done that.)
3. Always read the instructions that go with your particular paper. Some papers can't cope with being left too long for the paste to soak in and may tear if mishandled.
4: Get your equipment ready before you do anything else. Sharp scissors, plenty of clean cloths,long enough pasting table, etc
5: Stand back and enjoy the finished product when it's dry.

How to Hang Wallpaper

Christmas Pudding Recipe From Morten's Kitchen

A recipe  that must be at least 20 years old. Hope you like it.
½lb currants
½lb sultanas
½lb raisins
2 oz candied peel
6 oz suet
6 oz self Raising Flour or 4 oz S.R.Flour and 2 oz ground almonds
½ teaspoon each of mixed spice and ground nutmeg
8 oz brown Sugar or 6 oz brown sugar and 1 tablespoon black treacle
8 oz bread crumbs
rind and juice of a lemon
2 large eggs or 3 medium (recipe states 2½ eggs!)- beaten
½ pint rum or try Guiness or Stout
6 tablespoons milk

Combine the fruit with the rum or stout and soak overnight. 
Put all the ingredients a in a mixing bowl and add the beaten eggs and place in the size (s) of pudding basins you need for Christmas. The recipe does not give any steaming times but, from memory, it would have been about 8 hours for a 1lb pudding then reheated on the day for 2 hours.
If you are going to use a pressure cooker check your instructions for cooking times.
To save washing up why not use foil puddings basins like the ones done by Caroline?

Bosch Indego Automatic Lawnmower

This is advance warning of an outbreak of lawn laziness! Gone will be the days of looking out and dreading getting the mower out, because you won't have to.

Bosch are introducing the Indego - and automatic lawnmower  with Intelligent LogiCut Navigation - think of it! Look out and see the lawn has been cut without a drop of sweat or effort on your part. Even stripes! Just set up the perimeter wire around the lawn and it will map out your garden and calculate the most efficicient route to mow.

Now here's a few details for those of you who want to know the nitty gritty:
Power - 32 V/3.0 Ah
Cutting width - 12 in
Charging time - 70 mins
Running time - 22 mins
Coverage per charge - 160 square metres
Memory - 8mb
Alarm - yes
Auto Charging Function
No Base Station stop/Home Functions
HMI - Human Machine Interface
Tactile Sensors, floating shell set up and designed engineered wheels
Ergonomic height of cut dial and manual stop button
2 years parts and labour guarantee

The price seems to be around £1400 at the moment. Mortens will get one as soon as they are in the country! Nothing to stop you pre-ordering though. Just email us at mortens@btconnect.com for more details.

Central Heating System Inhibitor

Does your central heating system make some strange noises? Do your radiators heat up at the top but never at the bottom? Could be your radiators are full of corrosion and scale which reduce their efficiency and the gas given off can cause knocking and rattling.
But don't give up. You could attempt the job yourself if you have a medium skill level and a good friend. To be really thorough you should remove each radiator, drain out the rubbish inside it in the garden then flush through with the hosepipe. A mucky job but think of the money you're saving. To flush a central heating system can cost £600+.
When you've done each radiator and refilled the system then put in system inhibitor in the header tank and enjoy a warmer (and quieter) winter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI3S8B7f_vY go to this link for a visual and helpful tutorial
 Mortens stock system inhibitor online and in store.

Don't Over Soak!

Many of you probably know this, but if like me you don't, you can save wear and tear on your dishes by NOT over soaking them.
Porcelain, terracotta, stoneware, ceramics - what ever your dish is made from the trick is to leave water in the dish if you need to and not leave it fully immersed. Dishes can absorb water, especially if they have any unglazed areas, so the dish will look dry when you come to use it next but there may be a chance that as soon as it is placed in the oven the absorbed water expands and you run the risk of cracking it. Have you ever discovered the glazing has crazed? This may be one of the causes.
The other is placing the dish into cold water while it's still hot. That funny faint crackling sound is the glaze breaking.
So leave to soak with water IN the cooled dish and leave it to dry propped up and you'll find it will last longer.

Marrow Chutney

This recipe has been copied from an old recipe note book belonging to my mother. As with all her recipes it seems to have evolved over the years. I will give you her changes and leave you to make your own mind up.

1. 2 firm marrows chunked , sprinkled with salt and left to stand overnight
2. 2 quarts of vinegar
3. 1lb lump sugar
4. 1oz turmeric
5. about 6 shallots
6. a few chillies to taste

Method :
Drain off liquid from the marrow. Mix  lump sugar, turmeric and shallots (though she hasn't written it, take it that they are chopped) and chillies in the vinegar ( again personally I'd leave the chillies whole) and boil for 10 minutes. Add marrow and boil for further 20 minutes and put into jars.

Again, though she hasn't written it I'd leave the chutney a while before eating. If I remember correctly it will keep for months though it was so delicious it never lasted long enough! Wonderful with Cornish Pasties straight from the oven.

1986: 4 lbs marrow, 12 small onions,2 pints vinegar, 8oz sugar,½ teaspoon chilli powder,1 level teaspoon ginger, 12 peppercorns,1oz turmeric.
1989:  1 marrow, 6 shallots, ½oz turmeric, 6 tsp curry powder, 2 pints vinegar,½lb sugar and chillies
1993: 5 lbs marrow,12 oz sugar, 6 chillies,½ teaspoon curry powder, 6 small onions, 1oz turmeric and cornflour to thicken it. Vinegar must be the same as before.
2002: 4 lbs marrow, 6 large shallots,6 birds eye chillies, teaspoon curry powder, 1oz turmeric, 2 pints vinegar, 12 peppercorns, 10oz sugar

Working from memory I think the chillies were left whole then removed before putting into jars. The marrow was always in ½"/ 2.5 cm chunks and never too soft to be unpleasant. How much was actually made in each batch I never knew but it was always in big Jam Jars or in earthenware brown jars.

All I can say is, do try it and 'make it your own'. It's a gorgeous golden colour due to the turmeric and spicy. Even marrow haters ought to try it.

What Does 'BPA Free' Mean?

BPA, or to give it it's full name Bisphenol A, is a chemical found in hard plastics and the internal coatings of food and drinks cans. BPA is used to make such things as water bottles, dental fillings, lenses for spectacles, DVDs and CDs, household electronic and sports equipment.

When food containers products such as Lock & Lock, OXO Good Grips POP Containers and Stewart Plastics state they are BPA free you can rest assured that you can use the food containers without risk.

Bisphenol A is an endocrine disruptor - a substance which interferes with
the production, secreetion, transport, action, function and elimination of natural hormones. The chemical behaves in a similar way to estrogen and other hormones in the human body.

To avoid exposure many consumer groups have advised not to eat
or drink from cans unless labelled BPA free . You should not microwave foods in plastic containers and not place plastic containers in the dishwasher or clean them with harsh detergents if you are in any way doubtful about them.

For more details on BPA there are many useful sites on the Web.

Strawberry Jam Making

Having had a go at making strawberry jam for the last 2 years I've discovered that the one vital ingredient for success is patience not just strawberries, lemon juice and sugar.

I've looked at 3 recipes and they are all different. The recipe from a 1950s book gives the ingredients as 4lb strawberries, juice of 4 lemons and 3½lb preserving sugar. The Good Housekeeping Cookbook (1972) states 3½lb strawberries, 3 tablespoons lemon juice and 3 lb sugar (no mention of it being preserving sugar). The Queen of Cooks - Delia Smith - lists 4lb slightly under-ripe strawberries, 3lb sugar and the juice of 2 large lemons. 

It may be a case of averaging out the ingredients, adding more lemon juice and sugar if required. The main thing is to not lose patience with the boiling process - the 1950s book states about 15 minutes, Delia suggests around 8. The thing to do is keep at it until the jam sets on a cold saucer!

You'll also need jars, a decent maslin (jam pan) pan and some labels. Home Made Strawberry jam will keep for ages and make a lovely present if you make your own covers.

If you have a failure don't despair. Runny strawberry jam is wonderful on top of ice cream!

2014 update. Tried again this year and discovered a trick Wait until the colour of the jam changes from bright red to a deep ruby red colour and it's ready! So much easier than constantly testing. It took a good 30 minutes+ to achieve the colour.

1970s Fabulous Fondue - Anyone seen Abigail?

Fondues are still popular so here is a fondue recipe from the Good Housekeeping CookBook 1972 edition. First you'll need a cast iron fondue of course!

1 clove of garlic

1/4 pint dry white wine and a squeeze of lemon juice

8 oz cheese cut into thin strips (half gruyere and half emmenthal)

2 level tsps cornflour

1 liqueur glass of Kirsch

a little pepper and grated nutmeg

Rub the inside of the fondue with the garlic, place over a gentle heat and warm the wine and lemon juice in it. Add the cheese and continue to heat gently, stirring well until the cheese has melted and begun to cook. Add the cornflour and seasonings, blended to a smooth cream with the Kirsch, and continue cooking for a further 2 - 3 minutes; when the mixture is of a thick creamy consistency it is ready to serve. Take to the table and place over it's burner.

Serve with cubes of crusty bread.

Can be made with strong cheddar cheese, cider instead of white wine and brandy instead of Kirsch

Kitchen Craft's Red Cast Iron Fondue Set - just add friends

For a Fondue Bourguignonne 

6 - 8oz fillet or rump steak per person cut into cubes

Oil for frying

Dips such as Horseradish, Curry, Paprika, Tomato, Mustard - in fact any dip you like. Heat the oil to around 375F and spear the cubes, cook in the hot oil then dip into the dip of choice and enjoy

1940s Wartime Recipe for Bread Pudding

This is a family favourite based on a Bread Pudding Recipe handed down and altered to taste. Delicious hot or cold - in fact it is nigh impossible to have a cup of tea and NOT have a chunk!
What you need:
Stale bread (about half a loaf's worth - we placed any left over bread in the oven as it cooled to let it dry out and last longer until we had enough)
4 oz Margerine or butter
2 oz Suet
Dried fruit to taste (it's delicious well loaded, in the war dried fruit was hard to come by)
Black treacle (the family like it nearly black in colour)
4 oz brown sugar
Nutmeg and/or mixed spice to taste
Good sized dish like this pyrex

Cook at about Mk 4 for approx 45- 60 minutes

• Break the dried bread up and cover with water to soften (we leave it overnight). When it's soaked wring out as much water as possible either by hand or push through a sieve. Get the kids to do it - but wash hands first!

• Melt the marg and suet and add to the bread and mix then add the sugar and about a tablespoon of treacle if you like your Bread Pudding dark and flavoursome.

• Add the amount of dried fruit and mixed spice you want and mix thoroughly together and place ina greased ovenproof dish. Press flat and if you wish, mark out portions. Sprinkle more sugar on the top or some grated nutmeg for extra zing.

• Place in the oven and wait patiently - it'll be worth it. Let it cool a little and become  more solid and enjoy.

Play with the recipe until it's just as you like it.

1936 - Steamed Suet Pudding is Nation's Favourite

Back in 1986 the Daily telegraph published an article on 'Everyone's Favourite Pudding' - voted for in November 1936. Steamed Suet Pudding was what the nation loved so here is the 'winning' recipe that won a whole guinea!
½lb S.R.Flour
4 oz shredded suet
5oz chopped dates
1 cupful of milk
1 egg
1 cupful golden syrup
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
       Cream suet and syrup together. Add well beaten egg. Stir in flour and milk alternately, mixing all well together but do not beat. Dissolve soda in the last of the milk and add to the mixture. Lastly add the dates.
      Turn all into a well greased pudding basin, cover with greaseproof paper and a cloth tied down. Steam for 2½ hours.

Just imagine it. How about blackberry and apple as an alternative served with lashings of proper custard. Or Jam served so hot it burns your tongue. Or figgy pudding ......... Hungry yet?

Anzac Biscuits - dated 1951

This recipe was found in an old recipe book first published in 1951.
½ lb flour           1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
½lb sugar            2 tablespoons warm water
¼lb coconut         1 tablespoon golden syrup
¼lb 'quick'outs
¼lb melted fat
¼ teaspoon salt
   Mix together all the dry ingredients. Blend the golden syrup with the warm water and mix all together thoroughly. Place on a greased baking tin in small lumps. Bake until crisp. 350° f

For those of you in metric convert the ¼lb to 113 grams and the ½lb to 227 grams. 350°f converts to Gas Mk4 180° C.
With the Jubilee here this year we'll try and find some more recipes from the period and see if they are as tasty now as they were then.
Good Luck.

DIY Safety - Think First and Stay Safe

First of our simple tips to stay safe when doing-it-yourself.

How many of you replace the plug on an appliance and never give the fuse a second thought? The fuse is there for a reason - should the worst happen and the appliance fails the fuse is the first line of defence in stopping fires. So think about it - a hair dryer that should have a 5 amp fuse at least but has a 13 amp in it keeps going past its safety cut out. Is it really worth the risk?

Here is a basic list of you need to know:

up to 230 watt = 1 amp fuse

231 - 690 watt = 3 amp

691 - 1150 watt = 5 amp

1150 watt and over = 13 amp

(1 kilowatt is 1000 watts)

Fuses are easily purchased at your local hardware store or supermarket. A pack will only cost you about 99p - that's not too much to pay for safety.

When Your Drill Slips.......

Have you ever had a problem drilling a hole in masonry, brick or stone - say putting up a shelf or hanging a gate - and the drill has slipped? The hole is suddenly a lot larger than needed and the holes HAVE to be where you started because what you're putting up has to be just there. Apart from a severe case of swearing, which will get you nowhere, there is a solution.

Try Unibond Repair Express power putty, an epoxy putty that is ideal for repairing, rebuilding, filling and sealing a vast range of materials. The cured putty can be sanded, drilled and painted  - so good no-one will ever know!

Thanks to Alan from Hardware for this Staff Tested Tip.

Mrs Robinson's Elder Flower Champagne

4 elder flowers

2 sliced lemons

1½ lbs sugar 2 tablespoons vinegar

1 gallon cold water

Put all ingredients in a large bowl and stand for 24 hours. Strain and bottle - it's as simple as that!

Start saving your plastic drinks bottles now! This is a truly tasty drink. Although we at Mortens sell glass bottles we have found that plastic pressure bottles (like lemonade, cola etc) are more successful with this recipe. Cuts the explosions down greatly.

So have a go and enjoy the results

Thanks to Mrs Robinson, one of our regulars, who gave us not only the recipe and sound advice but also a sample to test. Hic!

Sunflower Growing

No summer is complete without seeing yellow and black sunflowers in people's gardens. We are running a local competition for 12s and under - the Sunflower Olympics - to see who can grow the tallest sunflower this year.

Here are a few tips we think may be useful for successful growing:

1. Although the seed packet says sow outdoors we suggest you start the seeds off indoors on a bright window sill so that the sunflower can get well established because they are very tasty to slugs and snails!

2. When planting them out put a stake in at the same time, or a stout bamboo cane, this will avoid damage to the roots if you try and put support in later. if you're growing for height remember a 3 foot cane will be absolutely useless! How many of you lost a sunflower in full flower in a strong breeze? Make sure the support is suitable.

3. Tie the sunflower to the support with something strong but gentle, try to avoid wire. Cut up tights are ideal attached in a figure of eight.

4. Put slug deterrent down the moment you plant your sunflower. If you want to avoid chemicals try crushed egg shells in a thick ring or a plastic drinks bottle as a collar with the top cut in sharp points.

5. Feed your sunflower regularly.

Who knows you may win the tallest sunflower of the year!

Garden Tips for Pest Control on the Cheap

How many of you throw out used coffee grounds? We've heard of the tip using used coffee grounds around delicate plants prone to being nibbled by the ever present slugs - seems logical because they won't like the gritty sensation. If you've no coffee grounds then save your egg shells, dry them off in a cooling oven then crush and place these around such plants as delphiniums that seem to be a tasty morsel high on the slugs' menu. This method has been tried out and it worked! Place the egg shells thickly in a circle around where the shoots will appear - don't leave it too late!

deter it before it gets a taste for the shoots!

Don't let it get this far

Another tip is about those last dregs of tea in the pot that usually end up down the sink. Apparently save these extra strong dregs in a jug then use to douse foliage that looks as though it may be getting greenfly etc. We hope we've remember this tip correctly - it's either a pest repellent or a plant food. Try both.

Washing up liquid diluted in a spray is a good greenfly treatment - and won't do harm to birds and bees.

If anyone knows if unwanted CDs , plastic bottles half filled with water laid on the soil and beer traps work let us know and we'll pass on the good news!

Don't forget to install your waspinator soon as wasps are on the look out for new dwellings!

Enjoy your garden.

What you want to end up with!

Getting Rid of Moss

A gardener we know came up with a suggestion about killing moss on a path. He suggested sprinkling the area with soap powder! So we tried it. Yes, the moss went brown but it still meant the remains had to be removed with a scraper or a stiff bristled brush. But that is the problem with moss no matter what you use. You could try blasting it away with a pressure washer or use a product like Brintons Patio Magic and let nature do the rest. But you'll still have to use a brush afterwards!

If you have any tips on gardening that you know work and you'd like to share them just email mortens@btconnect.com and we'll publish them on our blog.

Happy gardening.

Proxxon and Patience

This beautiful caravan was created for Mortens by one of our customers using Proxxon tools. Everything - and we mean everything - has been made by hand. We can only imagine the time and patience it must have taken and thank the customer so very much for a wonderful and much admired gift for our 75th Anniversary.
This work of art took about 600 hours - incredible!

A Caravan of delights - all made by hand

Just a few more pictures of the skill and etail involved in a craft that requires a steady hand and an eye for detail!

Welcome to our new blog site

Practice makes perfect so they say, and we at Mortens of Ilkley never stop learning about new products and putting that knowledge into practice! We're an old fashioned firm believing strongly in the quality of customer service and the value of good, sound advice whether it's about a tool or a toaster.

We also have a sense of humour so the image of this bike surely sparks the memory of a certain comedy sketch....

So please bear with us while we get this blog up and running - to amuse, inform and make you look forward to the next one!