And The Winner Is ... From number 1 - 41 ... Number ... 15 !!! Carefully chosen by Mr Whizz Kid - just like a rabbit out of a hat. (Actually a torn up bit of paper out of a bowl!)
Dear Faith do please send me your address and the pretty cover, some embroidery threads and embroidery needles will be sent to you immediately. xx
Little starter kit
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Time To Get Out In The Garden
Delightfully dancing by the pond
This weekend was all about family and cooking and gardening. I took a few photos of my budding garden - we grow vegetables, salads, tomatoes, lots of herbs, a few flowers and lots of trees. For a London garden we have a fairly huge plot divided into a smart area and a very scruffy allotment area with raised beds, a shed and a greenhouse, which has an old vine that produces (inedible) grapes each year. Here is also the home of the trampoline to keep the children busy while we work or laze in the garden.
Early magnolia in the sun
We also have a very small pond with lots of frogs and the occasional snake (I was actually bitten by one several years ago, was hospitalised for a week with cellulitis and septaeceamia and almost lost my leg!) . Other wildlife are daily foxes, squirrels, mice and lots of birds.
Tiny pond with frogspawn, bamboos and bergenias
The garden is south facing (ie very sunny) so we have a wonderful shaded pergola area that drips with wisteria and passion flowers later in the year and protects us from the worst of the sun. There are several sitting and eating areas.
Skimmias now in bloom
The front garden is also a decent size for London with lots of pots, bamboo (too much bamboo) and a little stone sitting nook on one side of the house and the pretty purple passion perch here too. Sadly lots of cars sit on the gravel drive and one blessed motorbike. The rest of the front garden is being taken over by an untamed bamboo which grows happily through the gravel drive.
Huge bamboo in the front garden
The bane of my life!
More about this later.
Ten foot tall by ten foot wide monster bamboo taking over the plot
Front garden bench with magnolia and potted crysanthamums and bottle brush
The camelias are flowering
We have managed to nurture two fairly decent sized olive trees, two apple trees, two pear trees and a cherry tree. Sadly the cherries are mostly eaten by the birds way before we ever get to them. We also have about twenty tallish trees, mostly evergreen, which probably annoy our neighbours somewhat but give us an amazing amount of privacy right here in London.
Tiny flowers covering this bush under the pergola
The red robin is growing well by the pond
Purple sprouting broccoli in the vegetable plot almost ready to eat
Wonderful angelica herb in raised bed for crystalized stems
Herbs just coming back to life - sage and creeping thyme by the kitchen door
Fennel , mint and parsley just waking up from winter by the kitchen door
More herbs recovering from the cold in a raised bed including
chives, rosemary, lemon thyme, celery and angelica
And even more herbs in raised bed recovering from the cold including
garlic, rosemary, bay, parsley, thyme, curry plant, and lemon balm
These little plants will go into the vegetable garden 'when they grow up'
They are purple tree spinach and grow five feet tall
with just cut and come again spinach leaves
I shall really enjoy seeing these small plants springing into life and filling the beds - and of course, eating them too! Most of all I shall enjoy the herbs when they are grown as I use many of them daily in my cooking and I so miss them during the dormant period.
This last week lots of seeds were planted in trays in the greenhouse and even some tomato plants are now inching their way to our salad table. I am really going to enjoy this season. This year I feel a special bond with my garden because I honestly did not expect to survive until now and I completely lost the whole of last years growing season and part of the previous years too due to my illness. This year I aim to make up for it by being particularly attentive to every plant, vegetable, salad, flower and tree... So I may just bore you some more before the year is out ...
Either comment below this post or add to the list already on
Friday 16th March blog post.
Zara cushion cover
Today I went to the lovely Zara Home and saw some lovely stuff. I fell in love with this beautiful hand embroidered and machine embroidered cushion cover (among a zillion other things) and though this would be a perfect little gift for one of my virtual friends out there. It really inspired me to get out my needle and threads and have another go at some embroidery.
If you want to be inspired by this lovely little item - while resting your weary head on it - then please enter my Giveaway ...
1. Enter a comment after this item and tell me why you deserve this pretty thing.
2. Join me and let me know that you have done so.
3. Blog about this Giveaway and let me know that you have done so.
4. Have a glass of wine (or cup of tea) and drink to my health!
The cushion cover is 40cm x 40cm and comes without the pad. It will be accompanied by some lovely sewing threads and embroidery needles to inspire you to make another similar item. I shall be asking about its progress!
This giveaway will be chosen by random numbers on Sunday 25th March at 8pm and posted off on Monday 26th March. Do not forget to leave a contact email.
Yet Another Weekend Loaf And Lots Of Purple Passion
I just wanted to add to my post of yesterday as I had a really good baking morning and did a third loaf. This one was made exactly as yesterdays post but I added half a cup of chopped sundried tomatoes and when I removed the lid sprinkled a handful more on the top of the loaf along with some capers and a few drops of olive oil. I then returned it to the oven for about ten more minutes. It turned out very well indeed so I just wanted to recommend this variation to anyone who enjoyed the blog post yesterday enough to try it themselves.
After thirty minutes I removed the lid and this was the loaf
Add the chopped sun dried tomatoes, some capers and teaspoon of olive oil
Cooked for around ten minutes more
A very successful loaf of sundried tomato bread
I promise that I will not bore you any more with bread making but do try this Mark Bittman recipe sometime - I guarantee you will not be disappointed.
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Purple Perching Spot
Well you all know by now that my trip into becoming an interior designer did not go too well when it came to choosing a colour for the front door and the door to a little side studio. I choose a colour called "Passion Flower" and sure enough Mr Whizz Kid hated it with a passion to such an extent that I have been busy choosing a new (conservative) colour for him to approve.
So ... what a surprise ... this is the new little table that he has bought for us to perch on in the front garden ... not that we are in the habit of sitting in the front garden but we do live in a little private gated road, right at the end of a cul-de-sac and my friends and I have been known to perch in the front garden and have the odd glass of wine while Mr Whizz Kid cleans the cars or fixes the blessed motorbike or uses his running machine, which is housed in the little studio/gym where all sorts of other healthy paraphanalia reside. (I really do try never to cross its threshold for fear of it scaring me into giving up wine!)
Pretty - isn't it? I guess now that I can put the repaint on hold while he tries to get used to it all and meanwhile you will find me perching on this little chair enjoying a glass of wine whenever the sun is shining and he is puffing away inside pretending to get fit (this before he eats a heavy dinner, has a huge pudding, enjoys a beer or two and later disappears into the kitchen for cheese and biscuits and chocolates for afters!)
PLEASE REMEMBER TO ENTER MY GIVEAWAY IN FRIDAYS BLOG
I came upon this recipe for a no-knead bread a many years ago and it really suits my method of no fuss cooking: it is so easy and works perfectly every time. There is also very little in the way of measuring and you really do not need to be too precise. An added advantage is that it works well when cooking in an Aga, which is generally too hot for most breads - they brown on the outside before they are fully cooked inside. The bread is cooked in a Dutch oven (a large cast iron casserole) - I use a Le Crueset 30 cm wide and deep, which is huge and takes a full chicken. Mine are about ten years old, and all a little discoloured inside on the white enamel but work just fine. They do have a lifetime guarantee and are worth their price tag of around £150 each.
30cm diameter £150 approximately
Firstly we get a mixing bowl and put three cups of all purpose bread flour in it.
Cannot see the flour - as you can see it is very sunny in my kitchen today!
Then add one full teaspoon of salt and one full teaspoon of dried yeast.
Still sunny
I use a very old 'runcible' spoon, which is a half teaspoon measure - and upon taking this picture I am ashamed of it and have decided it is high time I replaced it.
The old 'runcible' spoon!
Mix together thoroughly.
Now add one and a half cups of lukewarm water and mix lightly together. The mixture will look sticky and stringy. I now use a scraper to clean the sides of the bowl and pile it all in the centre.
Still very sunny in the kitchen
Now cover the mixture with clingfilm and put in a warm area and forget about it for twelve hours. Do not be tempted to touch it! This twelve hour period can be extended for up to eighteen hours without any harm coming to the finished bread. I just push mine to the back of the kitchen worktop and forget about it.
Meanwhile ... while waiting for the bread to rise I thought I would explain the 'runcible' spoon ...
The Owl And The Pussy Cat
The Owl And The Pussy Cat
by
Edward Lear 1812 - 1888
I
The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!'
II
Pussy said to the Owl, 'You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?'
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.
The Owl and the Pussy Cat and Piggy-Wig
III
'Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?' Said the Piggy, 'I will.'
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runciblespoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.
The Owl and The Pussy Cat and The Turkey
Now thats clear, isn't it? A 'runcible' spoon is a word made up by the nonsense poet Edward Lear and used in many of his poems with different meanings allotted to it each time. It describes my salt spoon perfectly.
Mark Bitman's No-Knead Bread Recipe from UTube ...
Now back to the bread ....
Twelve hours later the bread mix has doubled or even tripled in size and looks very bubbly on the surface. It is still very squidqee (I like this word) and not at all firm like dough would normally be if using a 'normal' bread recipe.
I always think this looks like a big bowl of porridge!
Now turn it out onto a floured surface and just lightly fold it into a parcel. Do not knead!! ...
Any flour will do - see how sticky it still is?
The Dutch oven is now placed in a very hot oven for fifteen minutes
I use a sheet of Bake O Glide in the bottom of the casserole
I sprinkle a handful of pine nuts (or other) on the baking sheet
And another handful on the dough once I place it in the hot pan
Now place the lid on the casserole and give it thirty minutes in a very hot oven at which point you then remove the lid of the casserole. Time it carefully ...
The bread should have substantially risen and should now look like this ...
See those lovely toasted pinenuts?
I now check the bread every five minutes or so and it usually takes between ten to fifteen minutes to meet the required brown colour.
We now have lovely fresh bread with pine nuts ...
This mornings breakfast
Yummy with honey
And this is the one made for tomorrow without the pine nuts ...
Without pine nuts
The best thing about this easy loaf is the fact that although a bit time consuming there is really very little to do other than wait. The bread is always wholesome and tasty and the crust always crispy. Do give it a try and you may get hooked like me.
I have tried making the loaf with different quantities (ie doubling them) and this is then not successful. The actual finished loaf is around one and a half pounds in weight. It is however easy to include other flavourings and this seems to work quite well as long as they are kept to a minimum quantity. The topping can be just about anything you like - sea salt and rosemary being one of my favourites.
Note: The pine nuts do not all stick and many remain in the bottom of the casserole. I collect these lovely toasted nuts and sprinkle them on salads.
Delicious toasted pine nuts
PLEASE REMEMBER TO ENTER MY GIVEAWAY IN FRIDAY BLOG POST
