True Stories - Shimelle Class

I've decided to try and improve my writing skills. I know I will probably get sucked into my work as usual, but the thoughts there and you never know when you will get a spare moment and be able to make use of all the wonderful materials Shimelle always creates as part of her classes.

Caching record making

A great day today and a special way to mark 10/10/10 – those of us that geocache are trying to set a new record with the most people caching in one day, it only needed one cache to be recorded per registered user. We haven’t cached since last November, so this was a great chance to get back out in the fresh air and see some new places.

It was a chance for hubby and me to cache on our own as our daughter was at a rehearsal. I thought I was only going to get one cache in, but the weather was magnificent, 20 deg C in the middle of October, a very warm and sunny day, we did the first cache and were once again hooked.

We tried to find a cache along a lane where we had previously found a cache, unfortunately when we got near the cache there was a pickup truck sat near the cache and their were workers near it, we decided not to try and jeopardise the location, so we decided to try that one again later.  We were amazed at the pigs that are now in-situ along the lane, last time the fields were full of maize and sunflowers.

Our first successful cache was a cache and dash, I ended up lying on my tummy hanging over the edge of a bridge to retrieve the cache, the retrieve was easy, getting it out safely without dropping it in the water was very difficult, but I got there in the end. I signed the log and hubby photographed and replaced the cache. We discovered some amazing holly trees whilst we were there.

Having got the bug back, we headed off into the New Forest and were surrounded by ponies, and then we had to dodge some muggles and get to the cache via a circuitous route, after some careful deduction, hubby spotted the resting place and we signed the log. The ponies came to investigate what we were doing, it was brilliant.

It is really hard trying to identify the next cache to go for. Eliminating the multi-caches as these would take too long, and then checking that the traditional caches weren’t going to be too far to walk due to the blisters.  Hubby was chuffed when the next cache I selected was along the old railway track, just as well he was doing the cache with me as I couldn’t have reached it as it was about 1.7m high.  Along the route there were loads of different funghi to see.

I managed to walk over 3 miles this afternoon, the legs are feeling it now, but lots of sun, fresh air and it has helped me to get rid of this horrid cold.

Remember though that I must wear socks in my trainers next time, to prevent the blisters, then I can cache more.

Start as you mean to go on.

There was a brilliant programme on the BBC this week "Great British Waste Menu", it certainly makes you think about how much food is wasted in this country there are some great websites to help make better use of our food, LoveFoodNotWaste is one of these sites.

I find it very difficult to remember what has been bought over the weeks and which fridge it's in, what we are having for dinner, then forgetting a vital ingredient and next minute, it's past its use-by date. Some things like veg, that doesn't matter, but for meat it is an issue.  To prevent us wasting any food in future, we are going to start planning our weekly meals again and put up a list with the fridge contents and use-by dates. This should also enable us to shop more wisely and the entire family to work to the same plan. How many times has something vanished from the fridge due to "hunger pangs", only to find out it was someone's sandwich filling for the next day, oops.

Well we've just got back from Ferndene farm shop. I decided to share what we've just bought for 3 of us for the week ahead which includes a Bank Holiday and then the plan for the weeks menus.
1 doz medium free range eggs,
3 packs stewing lamb (2 pieces per pack),
1 chicken,
1/2 shoulder lamb,
1 pack lamb mince,
1 pack steak & kidney and
3 large pork chops,
3 parsnips,
1 swede,
1 bunch fresh beetroot,
1 bunch watercress.
I think total was £22 ish.

So here is the basic plan for the weeks meals.
Saturday - Roast Chicken, with roast potatoes, parsnips and beetroot plus a green veg
Sunday - Moussaka plus a greek salad
Monday - Roast Lamb with dauphinois potatoes (I'll use my own recipe but I won't put the cheese on the top) and green veg
Tuesday - Lemon marinated pork chops - not sure what to serve yet, will post the recipe on my crafty cooking blog later in the week.
Wednesday - Lamb Stew
Thursday - Individual steak and kidney puddings with new potatoes and veg
Friday - probably fish

I'm going to try a new recipe for the Moussaka, I love watching My Greek Kitchen and this recipe is by Tonia Buxton so going to see if this is more authentic.
Now going to hit Waitrose at about 3 (reduction time we hope). That's all the meat we need for our meals for the week, but there are still the additional veg, cream, black olives, aubergines, courgettes, flour etc.
I am also planning on starting the Christmas cakes and Christmas puddings both recipes from Delia Smith, I've got all the dried fruit, butter, eggs, just need oranges, lemons, brandy etc, think that may be a next weekend job, I have made these recipes every year for the last 20 years, ever since I got married, they are the best recipes ever and are my first start to Christmas.

The lanes around us are overflowing with fruits and berries, my foraging and preserving instinct has started, so I need more preserving sugar, I've got loads of vinegars, now for some cooking apples to ensure when I get some fruit I can just get going. There is nothing more satisfying than turning a glut of something into a set of colourful jars full of the most scrumptious preserves.

I will also be starting to get planned for Christmas, I have had a planner for the last 5 years, now's the time to start updating the pages ready for this year. I use a couple of sites for printouts, here's a good start

Garden magic

It was glorious in the garden yesterday, hot but cloudy, so I could get lots of planting done.

“Take it easy” is my motto in the garden, plant a couple of plants, then do something else, no stress on the back by staying in one position for too long.

The foxgloves are wonderful, they are self-sown and come back year after year. This is the country garden border I started last year, I think Dad was expecting a 1 metre wide bed, um, more like 4 metres!!! It is full of lovely perennials, biennials and lots of roses and climbers. I have popped in some annuals amongst the permanent plants to give some colour. This is very experimental for me, with the hard winter, I’ve lost some of my perennials, but know that I will collect more plants to fill in those gaps (if I can find a gap).

The roses are fantastic this year, they are wafting their scent on the breeze, you can’t fail to take in a lungful of the fantastic aroma whenever you walk past the border.

At the back of the bottom picture is a perennial gloxinia, it is a new addition, that’s the trouble when you go to garden centres and then fall in love with plants. Even our daughter has caught the bug and is spending her hard earned cash on plants for her own garden. Over the last couple of weeks, clematis, jasmine and variegated jasmine plus hydrangea’s both shrub and climbing have fallen into her basket at the garden centre. Then the osteospermums’s and chrysanthemum’s, hollyhock, delphinium and night scented phlox. I’ll take photos of her garden and put a special blog on about her exploits.

Time to sort out the greenhouse, there’s an escape committee operating in the bean family, the tomatoes want rehousing and will be contacting the plant welfare officer if I’m not careful, so time to drag another grow bag in and then get the bamboo canes in the garden to start the beans on their skyward climb.

Happy gardening!

Ready, steady, barbecue

I’m very fortunate to have a husband who loves shopping for food, he has an excellent eye for bargains and knows his way around a store by the reduced bins.

Last night his bargain bag contained, a fresh ray wing and some smoked bass, now normally I’d cook these in the oven, but due to the heat today, out comes the gas barbecue and I’m in a dilemma, what to do with the fish, time to experiment methinks.

Ray wing in barbecue sauce

I made a barbecue sauce (thank you to my old school file).

1 small onion (finely chopped)
2 tablespoons tomato sauce
25g butter
1/2 tablespoon of vinegar
1/2 tablespoon of worcestershire sauce
4 tablespoons of water
salt & pepper

Put all the ingredients in a small pan and simmer for 10 minutes.

On a sheet of foil, put 1/2 the barbecue sauce, then place the ray wing on top, finish with the rest of the sauce and the seal the fish in the foil parcel. Pop on the barbecue for 10 minutes.

Smoked buttered bass

Debone the bass, then place a knob of butter on a piece of foil, then the bass fillet then another knob of butter, seal the foil parcel. Pop on the barbecue for 10 minutes.

The results were brilliant, will definitely cook this way again.

Oops, seeds sown, variety and care now problem – Help?

The sun streamed through the window straight onto my face, it was a lovely way to wake up. It is cold and showery, the odd ray of sunshine and then some heavy rain, even a touch of hail I think, I can’t really tell as I was in the greenhouse at the time, but it sounded like hail on the glass.

The plants need a boost, I found the seaweed solution, filled up my sprayer and managed to foliar feed everything in the veg garden and flower  borders before it started raining again, leaving me in the warm greenhouse to spray in there. It’s amazing stuff and really helps the plants to grow strong and resist attack from pests.

OK, I’ve got an organisation problem…

I very carefully labelled all my plants in the greenhouse with the type and variety, also listed on my blog, but… I now don’t know which aubergine is which, what I mean is, which was the small little egg sized fruit and which is the large variety. Of the tomatoes, which will need to be in the greenhouse, which outside and do I pinch out or not. Just as well I realised now.

Ideas on how to solve this..

• Do I scan in the packets front and back and attach them to each of the blog entries?
• Shall I research on the web and hope that I can find the information already exists and I can just link to them?
• Do I simply find the packet when I need to and then type up the basics
• Perhaps I need some ideas from other expert gardeners?

Today is going to be a day of more than one blog entry, I need help and guidance, does anyone have any tips?

May Day

I grabbed the hoe today and chopped the weeds between the rows. The radishes are amazing, probably the best I’ve ever grown. It was brilliant using the cloche, it’s brought them on much earlier than normal. The peas are now 8 inches high and have started climbing up the pea sticks I put in last week.  I’ve planted out some Webbs lettuce plants, I had put in some carrot seeds, but there aren’t that many showing, so have decided to put the lettuce amongst them, if the carrots still want to grow they can. Years ago we had some cloches, they don’t have any plastic left, just the wire, they are placed over the lettuces, ready to lay the fleece over tomorrow.

The forecast for the rest of the week is wet and cold, with ground frosts overnight and day temperatures being only very cold, so I need to make sure that all my plants are snuggled up to stop them getting damaged.

The farmshop near Bashley has a brilliant collection of plants at very reasonable prices, I bought a pack of calabrese and another of cauliflower, 2 tomatoes for hanging baskets and a pepper plant. Mine have germinated, but they aren’t advanced as far, so will be producing later in the season.

Pricked out some Little Gem lettuces, also potted up the tomatoes and pepper from today. The Ipomoea also needed pricking out, loads more needs doing, but I need more space first.

Seeds sown today (again in the greenhouse) were celeriac, romanesco cauliflower, purple calabrese, leeks, hispi cabbage and some sweet peas designed for hanging baskets.

So much still to plant. Hubby has brought me back some garden lime and some pelleted chicken manure. I now need to look up about cabbages, I know they need a high lime content to encourage them to grow properly, so definitely need to do some serious research.

Picked the first rhubarb from the garden for Mum and Dad. Still need to sort out the rest of the flower garden, I’m inspired by Geoff Hamilton’s Ornamental Kitchen Garden and Alys Fowler’s Edible Garden, the idea of producing a pretty garden that also produces food is my idea of heaven, I’m going to start to plant the veg amongst the flowers, but need to ensure I label everything properly so that others know what everything is, I know the herbs and veg, but Mum and Dad may not be so sure, so I need to keep it simple to identify everything.

Roast chicken is in the oven with the roast potatoes and parsnips, serving with lashings of spring cabbage and gravy.

If the weather is grotty tomorrow, I will be in the greenhouse or filling the kitchen with the smell of baking. Now what shall I bake this time……………………

A day of variety

They say that variety is the spice of life, well today is one of those days.

I started in the greenhouse, re-jigging the pots around to try and give some of the plants more light. Then I pricked out the Okra into 3 inch pots, not sure how these are going to work as they need lots of sun (keep your fingers crossed we get a better summer this year).

Spent 2 hours logging up the rotten trees we felled over the Easter holidays and stacking them in the wood store, the poor electric chainsaw is struggling, it can’t cope with the large diameter trees, so hoping Dad can work his magic this week and get the petrol chainsaw working again before the bank holiday weekend, then we can clear all the remaining trunks.

A trip to Castlepoint (local shopping centre), new carry all for hubby who has a business trip to London this week, jeggings for daughter and some food bits and bobs from supermarket, can now make Dundee cake, carrot cake and coffee and walnut cake.  The weather is changing, some sunny spells then threatening rain, it can’t make up it’s mind.

I decided to make the carrot cake today, it’s now baked and cooling, I can then ice it tomorrow.  Also popped some dough on in the breadmaker, turned it into some luscious foccacia, I used the pestle and mortar to pound some fresh rosemary with garlic and olive oil, it produced some fantastic herby oil which I squeezed over the dough (I used a swiss roll tin and flattened the finished dough into it), then sprinkled over the rosemary and garlic, plus some chopped black olives and finally some maldon salt crystals. It was so scrummy, over 2/3rds gone with dinner, a definite success and added to the yummy list.

A quiet evening recharging the batteries before a busy week at work.

Spring is sprung, loads of sun

It was a lovely sunny day, temperatures reached 17 C on the forecast and as we are surrounded by trees it must have pushed that higher.

Time to take off the 2 large cloches covering the radishes, turnips, peas, spinach, onions and carrots. Hopefully the forecast is correct and no ground frosts forecast over the next couple of days so that they can properly hard off, I’ve been leaving the cloches open at night, so they are half-way there.  Not too many weeds, but hand weeded amongst the rows, put in the pea sticks (the plants are already 6 inches high) and then watered. Also managed to squeeze in a few pak choi plants next to the onions as there was a larger path than needed due to the cloches.

Herbs are so important, I really miss having the full selection available, so have collected a few different ones over our trips to the garden centres, now I need to prepare a herb bed. Started by getting the edging tool out (Dad is obsessed with crisp cut edges to gardens so he can mow easily, I can’t let anything grow over the edges or they get mowed off), then I started to clear out some more of the bed closest to the back door where Mum can get access to. It’s going to take more than one session, there are brambles and nettles (show’s it’s healthy soil) still to clear out. We’ve worked out where to move our rambling rose to, also going to put flowers and veg amongst the herbs and country garden, it’s amazing how watching Geoff Hamilton’s Ornamental Kitchen Garden always inspires me.

The greenhouse is beginning to show lots of life, I just wish I had more space with maximum light to bring everything on.  Think my cold frame needs moving too, it’s in full sun at the moment and I think it needs to go in a shaded area with good light to bring on strong plants.

Another day in the garden tomorrow. Now, where do I plant the shallots, veg garden or flower bed, think the flower bed may win!!

Flower power

It was the turn of the flower seeds today, it was great to have an extra pair of hands, Laura joined me in the warm greenhouse as the temperature outside wasn’t brilliant, or perhaps the wind was blowing making it feel a little chilly.

Sweet peas like to have deep roots, so the old loo roll inners make brilliant growing tubes. I filled each one in the potting tray and then transferred quickly to a small seed tray, fitting 12 into each tray.  24 tubes later with between 3-5 seeds in each one depending on the variety, I didn’t record each variety this time, as there were lots of ends of packets. The display will always look brilliant and lots of them are highly scented.

I split the seeds into 2 piles this morning, direct sow (straight into the garden) and the greenhouse seeds, then we got busy.

Sown today:-

Flowers
Ageratum
Impatiens
Lobelia
Cineraria
Aubretia ‘Purple cascade’
Aubretia ‘Spring cascade’
Aster ‘Big boy mix’
Mesembryanthemum ‘the livingstone daisy’ (wasn’t I lucky to have someone else writing the labels and my notebook)
Osteospermum ‘Glistening white’
Browallia ‘blue lady’
Antirrhinum ‘Illuminatras mix’
Stock ‘Dwarf 10 week mixed’
Alyssum ‘Easter basket’
Chrysanthemum Parthenium ‘Vanilla’
Viola ‘velvet mix’
Lobelia ‘cascade mix’
Alyssum ‘carpet of snow’
Coleus ‘wizard mix’
Marigold ‘Dwarf Double mixed’
Marigold’yellow boy’
Cup and saucer plant
Nicotiana ‘sylvestris’
Marigold ‘solan’
French marigold
Sunflower ‘moulin rouge’
Sunflower ‘giant single’
Sunflower ‘autumn beauty’
Salvia - ‘Blaze of fire’
Morning Glory - ‘Heavenly Blue’
Morning Glory - ‘Grandpa Otts’
Lavender ‘Hidcot Blue Strain’
Holly hock ‘Chaters Double Mixed’
Lupin ‘Russell Mixed’

Veg
Peashoots (in large trough) – as Laura seems to have got a serious liking for them
Rosemary – lots of cuttings
Lemon Balm
Spring onion ‘White Lisbon’ in modules
Lettuce ‘Little Gem’

Phew – can’t believe how much we’ve sown, it’s brilliant keeping a notebook/blog, then I can see what has been sown and when and keep a note of what is producing well and to grow again, also those seeds that aren’t worth the bother.

I wanted a little flip cutting knife, we ended up looking in 3 different shops, ended up at Golden Acres and they had them, plus picked up a lovely olive tree for only £8.49, a bargain and we are going to try and grow it in the garden as the one in a pot is doing brilliantly.

Back to work tomorrow, but will hopefully still get something done in the garden.

Greenhouse antics

Wow did it get hot today, needed my sunhat to stop my head burning. No need for highlights here, sun is bleaching my hair on it’s own and my natural highlights look fab.

Started to plant the half-hardy and tender seeds today, even got back out the propagators to put them in, to keep the temperature constant during the nights (it’s still very chilly at night with the possibility of frosts). Might need to put some milk containers in the greenhouse filled with water to hold the heat from the day.

Seeds sown today:-

Lemon Grass
Dill
Swiss Chard in modules
Basil “Dark Opal”
Okra
Aubergine “Orlando” & “Properosa”

Tomatoes:-
Moneymaker
Alicante
Plum “San Marzano Lungo”
Beef “Costoluto Genovese”
Tigerella
Gardener’s Delight
Plum “Incas”
Tamina
Garden Pearl – for hanging baskets and patio planters
Organic Red Cherry

Peppers:-
Marco Rosso
Worldbeater
Californian Wonder

Chillies:-
Hot Pepper Fuego
Chilli Pepper Anaheim
Apache
Joe’s Long
Cayenne
Black Pearl

Non edible
Chinese Purple Bell Vine
Glory Vine

I also spotted some rubble bags in Tesco’s, £1.20 for 6 bags. I’m going to try out growing potatoes in them, have 5 different types to go in, so going to have a go with my first earlies tomorry (International Kidney variety), think I should be able to put 3 potatoes in each bag.

A very busy day, but the greenhouse is now packed, still more to go in, but I’ve made brilliant progress after the last 3 days.

A busy day in the greenhouse

It was a beautiful day today, by 7.15am I was in the greenhouse. I decided that it needed rearranging to fit in the pots and seedtrays to get all the seedlings growing.

As I moved some staging, I spotted some little seedlings in the floor, they were from my daughter’s cyclamen that had been kept in there last summer. After carefully potting some of them up, I was then able to finish moving the rest of the staging.

I bought some new seeds at the garden centre yesterday, so put some “Bright & Spicy” mixed salad leaves in both a large pot and hanging basket, I need to make sure grandma can easily pick lots of salad leaves.

The root trainers I bought 3 years ago are still going strong, I planted up 3 different varieties of climbing french beans, Organic “Cobra”, Purple podded “Blauhilde” and “Sultana” normal pencil green.

In modules, dwarf kale, perpetual spinach, green globe artichokes, nasturtiums (sacrificial to be planted with the broad beans), fennel and asparagus peas.

Small pot of self-blanching celery - “Lathom Galaxy”

I also pricked out 41 Webbs’ lettuce seedlings, they are one of the best lettuce varieties around and I haven’t successfully grown any for a couple of years due to either sowing too late, slugs, or the bad weather.

I’m testing out the new type of Brussel Sprout - “Petit Posy”, this is a rufflette variety, which tastes more like spring cabbage.

Runner beans are a mainstay in our garden, so I’ve planted up large pots of Desiree, Lady Di, Polestar and a dwarf variety.

We picked up some Basil and Coriander pots from the supermarket this week, I’ve just repotted these into bigger pots.

Hubby has finished cutting all the trees out and getting rid of the trunks, Grandad has taken charge of the bonfire and has had a brilliant time, it was brilliant seeing the whole family working together, to a common goal.

A very rewarding day, we’re all shattered, but feel so pleased with the results.

What a feller?

A brilliant day in the garden today. There were 3 rotten silver birches in the garden, we’ve been worried about them possibly falling unexpectedly and hurting someone, so planned to clear them today. Good news, daughter was taken horseriding by grandparents, so all 3 of them were out of the way safely whilst we felled the trees.  Wow has hubby been impressive, he’s managed to clear away the trees and the hazel, holly and an old blossom tree that was covered in rust. It wasn’t without excitement, trees getting stuck on the way down, but a well slung rope and towed with the Disco we managed to get them all down safely, just in time for daughter and grandparents to return.

Just a huge pile of twigs to now burn and a couple of hazel boughs to get down before the burning can be done safely.

Sunday – weeds out and plants in

Oh dear, lost my secateurs, so nipped out to buy some more from The Range, bargain seed offer when we got to the checkout, all the packets in the basket were charged at half-price.

We spent the rest of the morning tidying up the borders, cutting back the tops of the old perennials from last year, pruning and tying in the roses, then weeding out the couch grass, nettles and dock leaves, that’s the trouble with country gardens. One bag of mushroom compost later and I saw a huge area at the front of the border that was so bare I felt guilty, I couldn’t leave the bed like that, so a trip to Haskin’s was needed.

Dad’s favourite spring flower is aubretia, now I’m looking after the borders, I’ve put some in plus some wonderfully frilly pansies and some other white perennials. Then I watered them in and just as I was finished, it start to drizzle, perfect timing and now they are settling in nicely. It was a lovely surprise for Mum and Dad, they had been having an afternoon nap, whilst they were asleep the garden fairy turned the bare soil into a pretty garden.

Lots of possibilities this year in the garden, we are trying to make the border a lovely cottage garden, now I need some more hollyhocks in different colours, the double yellow ones were beautiful last year, the lupins are already bursting from the ground and the other perennials I put in last year and now beginning to shoot. Spring is such a lovely time for new awakenings.

Discussions about the future were interesting, the most thought provoking was, to get chickens or not?  They would be great at getting rid of the slugs and snails as we seem to be inundated and they ate most of the crops last year, but they need looking after, feeding and could eat what they shouldn’t. The debate continues, but my hunch is that six chickens will appear in the next couple of weeks, Dad’s such a softie and daughter hasn’t ever looked after chickens and will work on her grandparents whilst she’s on holiday.

Watch this space!

A wonderful day for gardening

After waking at 5.30am, I decided to get up (well the clocks go forward anyway tonight so I’m already readjusting my internal clock ready for Monday). I watched some Teacher’s TV washed down with a hot cup of coffee.

Once the basics were done, the farm shop called it’s merry tune, we stocked up on meat for most of the week, now I need to plan the meals for the week ahead, a chance to try a new recipe or two.

Tuna and sweetcorn salad for lunch fired us up to work in the garden and greenhouse. It was a productive afternoon, I’ve moved one staging rack so that I can get more seed trays and pots in.

From the seeds planted last week, there are now pea shoots showing, Webbs lettuce, rocket and mizuna. The rocket and land cress are showing the odd white speck where a shoot will appear. The temperature in the greenhouse reached 30degC, it was gorgeous, I managed to move the bubble wrap to allow the air to circulate.

I’ve planted one strawberry plant in a pot in the greenhouse, to get some early berries. A large container of carrots and another of dwarf purple podded beans. I also planted some modules with 3 different types of beetroot, golden, red and white ringed and also normal red beetroot, plus a tray of kholrabi. This is a first for me, normally I plant them direct in the garden, but hope that this will give me a head start and allow me to intercrop better and increase the yield in the garden. The other strawberries are now in the garden, they are Mara Des Bois strawberries, which are a cross between wild strawberries and cultivated, so you get the flavour of wild with size of standard, they also produce over a long season, so hopefully we’ll get lots of strawberries over the summer. With the sun shining today, the vitamin D felt good soaking into the skin, a wonderful boost.

Time to sit back and watch a film with a lovely cup of tea.

Getting ahead with the cooking and shopping

After a very busy day at work I needed to relax. The fridge was full of meat, some dates were getting short, so if I’m going to pop one dish in the oven, I might as well make it 2 and save on energy.

It was great, I started making a lancashire hotpot, then venison stifado. Whilst this was all in the oven, I made dinner, a paella but without any seafood just the chicken with chorizo.

Was I pleased I had done this, by Wednesday I was shattered and just needed to put the hotpot back in to the oven to bubble and brown. On Thursday after a very tough day at work, I reheated the stifado and served with chips and peas.

I finished work in time to collect daughter from school, she’s now broken up for Easter, we headed off to Sainsbury’s to stock up on salad, veg and also a few other treats to go with dinner.

Now a perfect evening lies ahead. The roast lamb is studded with garlic and is in the oven, it’s nearly time to make some dauphinoise potatoes, then I just need to steam some spinach, oh and make a starter with the wonderful prawns that seemed to jump into my shopping basket.  I’ve got the film Julie and Julia on, this was a present from hubby for Mother’s Day and I love it. I now want a great french cookbook, do I get the Julia Child’s book, or another french cookbook, then I can started working through the book as I get the time and widen my repertoire.

I think this weekend is going to be filled with gardening and cooking, lots of fresh air and wonderful aromas, totally lush.

Garden centres - arggggh

I followed my own advice and I created a garden centre shopping list on my phone, added a sprayer, beetroot seeds, organic slug pellets and potato fertilizer to the list and hubby and I headed off to the first garden centre.

We fell in love with a really cute woolly sheep tea cosy , it reminded me of my pet sheep, Jenny, who I was given when I was 8 years of age and lived at home with us for a couple of years until we returned her back to the farm in Wales due to her antics. Hubby met her just after we got married when I was 24. Jenny’s antics, now there’s a tale for another day or 20.

Tick off the slug pellets, fertilizer, but their seed range was so disappointing, 20 varieties of carrots, 25 of tomatoes, but only red beetroot :( they had 3 different seed suppliers displayed too.

Off to garden centre 2 – still no golden beetroot, just the boring red. The displays were identical to the first garden centre, the size and positioning of the packets, none of the interesting varieties, yes they can read a display chart from the supplier and it is really annoying that there is no difference.

Garden centre 3 – yes, same display, still no unusual varieties. So I headed home and onto the Internet.

Finally, there is a different supplier, I add the yellow beetroot to my basket, then concentric ringed white and red beetroot. Oh, Saltwort now that sounds interesting as I love Samphire, some baby aubergines, Red Sorrel, Chinese Broccoli, Honey Squashes, oops, and Strawberry Mara des Bois plants that combine the taste of wild strawberries with a standard strawberry and producing over a really long season. Roll on the summer, cream and sugar.

We are really proud that all of us are serious foodies, our daughter may be 16, but she’s so good in the kitchen, came home to a wonderful salad, “Mum, I’ve added some of the hazelnut oil to the salad, I think it makes it taste really nice”, and yes, she had made a perfect dressing.

Sunday afternoon – the time for daughter to finish homework and me to plan my lessons for next week, we always put a film on and today it’s “Julie and Julia”, a true foodie’s film, I was given it last week for Mother’s Day and we watched it last Sunday afternoon, snap today, I think this may become a regular pattern for Sunday’s.

It’s time to put a loaf in the breadmaker for tomorrow’s sandwiches and to prepare the roast chicken in true Julia Child’s style, covered with lashings of butter. Scrummy roast chicken sandwiches for my lunch tomorrow. We managed to get some wonderful forced English rhubarb at the farmshop this morning, so I’ve been asked to make a deep rhubarb pie for pudding.

I have decided that I need a decent french cookbook, perhaps Elizabeth David, or is there a better book, perhaps a Cordon Bleu book. I think I need to do some serious research and then drop some hints at my hubby/daughter.

I think this evening is going to be foodie heaven.

The greenhouse beckoned

Yippee, I left work in daylight and got home before the bewitching hour of 5pm. So after getting into jeans and scruff order, I was in the greenhouse by 4.30 and started sowing seeds. One of the best things about the greenhouse is being able to grow lots of salad leaves which can’t be beaten for freshness and are great for mum to pick as she wants. They are a fortune in the supermarket and aren’t as fresh, just a few leaves here and there and we have a really varied salad.

So planted some large pots of mixed salad leaves, mizuna, land cress, rocket, parsley, sweet basil, pea shoots and also to get ready to go in the garden 2 trays of broad beans plus some Webbs wonderful lettuces.

Turned the hose on and got soaked, the multi-sprayer was left outside over winter and has been damaged by ice, it’s splitting all over it and water was spraying everywhere, yuk, now drying off in the warm.

Add new sprayer to list and also some different varieties of beetroot, saw them on Raymond Blanc’s cookery programme and they looked brilliant. I only have the traditional variety Boltardy at the moment, so need to find some different ones when I next go shopping.

Time to put a garden shopping list in my app on my phone and make sure I don’t forget.

The seed potatoes also arrived, so need to get some organic potato fertilizer now, then they can go in old compost sacks in the garden.

A nice cup of tea is needed now!

Well laid plans.....

Isn't it typical, you ave all these plans and then something gets in the way to stop it happening.  I have been looking forward to half-term for ages, it's been so chaotic at work recently plus on top I've been struggling to fight off a cold, so the thought of half-term getting organised has been my dream.  Well on Wednesday evening last week I started sneezing, by the morning I was suffering with the blocked nose, sore throat and a temperature, but I was determined to keep going and not give in, I succeeded and managed to finish the week. Saturday and I hit rock bottom, the sofa beckoned and the cat stapled me to it.  So feeling poorly for valentine's day and also my birthday was tough, but I've got to the age where I can celebrate later without worry. I found a pad of paper and started a todo list, well I might not have been capable of doing anything physical, but the brain was working (if a little slowly).
Well Wednesday morning and I was feeling much better, so the organisation has begun, lots of junk cleared out, paper burnt up, hoovering, scrubbing.  Guess who over did it?  So I'm back on the sofa wheezing, but feel chuffed that my husband noticed the difference.
Organisation happens in small or large amounts, the little bits build into larger amounts.
 I now have a todo list for the rest of the week, I can start ticking off items, that means, I've made progress.

So much achieved, I'm happy

I've had a lovely day, first of all I put on over 3kg of seville oranges with a couple of lemons to soften. With the help of my daughter we then shredded the skins (once soft), removed the pips from the pulp, and then boiled it all down with some preserving sugar, really pleased as we ended up with 11.5 pounds of seville orange marmalade (rustic style).  I also used my new hand mixer and made 18 chocolate cupcakes. Put a loaf in the breadmaker and rustled up faggots with peas for dinner.

It's going to be a very busy week at work, so I've taken time to relax and recharge my batteries, my poor hubby has a nasty cold, I thought I was getting it, but with echinacea, vitamins, brazil nuts and healthy food from the farmshop, I'm managing to keep it under control.

To keep organised, I just need to type the letter for school giving permission for my daughter to be absent when she doesn't have a mock exam.  Poor thing would have to sit in the examination room if she couldn't escape.

A whole lot of logs

Bless them, Mum and Dad hadn’t realised how low their oil was for their heating, the red light started flashing 2 days ago, they have tried to book a delivery and been told 10-14 days. They’ve been and bought some electric oil filled radiators, but that’s going to be expensive.

Luckily they also have the option to have a real fire in the lounge, but Dad is beginning to feel his age and can collect logs and bits of firewood, but isn’t upto sawing or chopping the logs up if they are too big.

Let my darling hubby and daughter loose and 3 hours later we have managed to produce a huge stacked wood pile to hopefully keep them warm for 2-3 weeks.  Dad was a sweetheart, he grabbed the chainsaw from the shed and was going to use it until I took it and said, “time for me to start using it, now teach me”, so I have been a brave Mum and with Dad’s direction have been happily sawing up a fallen tree into logs, feel really chuffed that I’ve done it.

I had bought a new saw and axe for hubby along with some wellies for his birthday and Christmas pressies, you can hear the tune “I’m a lumberjack and I’m OK” ringing out as he started singing it.  Really happy family atmosphere, daughter started using the axe to chop the large logs into smaller chunks and was amazing. I was in charge of stacking it all under the woodstore in neat rows so that it will dry out and be easy for Dad to get at.

Well we are now ALL organised, team spirit is oozing, I’ve found muscles I forgot existed, we are all going to ache tomorrow. Who needs a gym, we have had a fantastic workout today that was far better for us, lots of fresh air, the odd snowflake too. We were amazed at the number of robins that were around us, they normally fight, but we’ve got about 6 that must have been from the same brood, they were scratching and picking up any bugs they could around the woodpile.

We’ve filled all the bird feeders, bless them, the birds are starving and they can’t get at the grubs in the soil, so we’ve put out a complete range of different types of bird food.  There was a redwing in the garden yesterday, it was so pretty, a much more striking version of a thrush with pink on the chest (just under the wings), lots of blue tits, great tits, coal tits, long tailed tits, goldfinches, greenfinches, dunnocks, greater spotted woodpeckers, nuthatches, robins, blackbirds, doves, pigeons, thrushes, chaffinches, wren, oh, and the odd squirrel too.

Going to settle down for the evening with some muscle lubricant (can’t decide what to have in my glass tonight but it had better be strong and effective).

Oh how I wish for some snow, it seems to have been every but here (.5 inch isn’t much), daughter is praying that she can get snowed in and she is desperate for a white birthday on Tuesday.

Going to cook a paella style rice dish tonight with free range chicken from Littlemoors, some chorizo for flavour, red pepper and peas.

Time to relax and put my feet up.

New Year 2010

Wishing everyone a Happy and Prosperous New Year.
Well it's all quiet on the western front. Last day of late lie-ins, no more late nights, back to 6.30 alarms on Monday, so need to get used to it asap or will be a wreck next week.
Organisation is beginning, planner is well underway, family are happy to join in, which is a really positive step.
A couple of hiccoughs though, a nasty virus managed to disable my protection software, so laptop is getting a medical at the moment, thank goodness hubby and I are pc bods. Can't print anymore pages for planner.
Day of marking ahead, better to get ahead, could be inspected at any time by OFSTED so need to be focussed and use my task list properly so I stay on control.
Technology is great, I'm still able to keep blogging, facebooking and mailing using my phone.
I'd better get started, 10 digi assignments, then food.
Have fun!