Avacado Salad Dressing

Yummy Creamy Dressing



I love avocados and at present seem to be eating my own weight in them daily. Avocado on toast for breakfast, baked avocado for lunch, avocado salad with just about anything for dinner. They are at their best at present and now that I have discovered this wonderful creamy dressing I guess there will be even more ways to use this delectable fruit/vegetable.

This recipe can be adapted for any number of portions. This size suits two persons - about 1/4 pint.

2 Avocado - very ripe
2 Garlic cloves
1 Lime or lemon - juiced
Salt and pepper
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
Pinch of paprika
Handful of herbs - optional
Dash of water if needed - optional


Squeeze the avocados, the garlic, the lemon or lime juice, oil and seasonings and herbs into a food processor or liquidizer and whizz energetically until all is fully combined. Add extra oil or a little more juice until the required consistency or cold water to taste. Place in a sealed jar and keep in the fridge until all gone - which should be immediately - but will keep green for three or four days. Wonderful on crisp lettuce.

 

A simple salad supper with quiche and that wonderful dressing was a lovely meal.

This dressing takes minutes but tastes delicious.

The Isabella Plantation - Richmond Park

Beautiful Woodland Garden

The Isabella Plantation is a forty acre woodland garden set within the grounds of Richmond Park in London. In May it is a sea of rhododendrons and azaleas and camellias and is a sight to behold. Here are some photos taken yesterday - on a chilly summer morning.

We managed to walk a total of six miles around the gardens without seeing all the sights. The trees and streams are teeming with wildlife and there are many ducks of all varieties on the many ponds set within the site.

I hope these photos give you a taste of what a beautiful place it is - I have taken many more photos but thought I might be in danger of overkill. I may use them another time. As I said in an earlier post it is hard to be home when the sun is shining - everything else can wait!

Day In Southampton

Old Southampton

This old Hampshire town is known as the "cruise capital of Europe" (yes ... really ... much to my surprise). Apparently over four million visitors visit this southern town each year and along with a thriving university it has many things to do and many interesting places to visit. The old town is largely quiet with many of the shops and restaurants moving into the new build shopping arcades, but here in the old town are many historical sites and visitor attractions. Many of the buildings and walls date from Tudor times and the main Bargate is over eight hundred years old. Henry V marched his troops through here when he departed for Agincourt and the Mayflower set sail from the docks to the new world from here in 1620. The Titanic also sadly set sail from the port here in April 1912 and it was this that was of interest to me on this visit - I was off to the Titanic Sea City Museum.



Here are a few photos I took along the way ...

 

 

I should love to give you some photos of the Titanic SeaCity Museum display but sadly all cameras were barred. For Southampton in particular the sinking affected over five thousand local households and the exhibition shows you the poignancy of this particular fact. The sights and sounds of The White Star Liners disaster are vividly shown and are depressingly sad when learning of the fate of the many passengers.


I have been rather lapse in my posts on crafts recently - perhaps the hot weather has taken me away from crafting and cooking, (the kitchen is too hot), but tomorrow promises to be wet and cool so I should be able to catch up with some more interesting stuff then ... meanwhile these are some lovely bluebells in my garden this morning.

Have a lovely sunny day!

Watts Gallery Artists' Village

Home Of George Frederic Watts And His Wife Mary Watts


This week I had the pleasure of a visit to Watts Gallery Artists' Village in Compton, Surrey. It was my second visit, the first taking place last summer and this time there was an additional reason for the visit given that the house, Limnerslease, was now open to the public.

I was first entranced by G.F. Watts on a trip to The National Portrait Gallery many years ago, when I first caught a glimpse of the portrait of Dame Ellen Terry, (1847-1928) called 'Choosing': she was G.F. Watts first wife. He met and married her when she was an aspiring actress at the age of sixteen and he already forty eight - the marriage lasting little more than a year. It has been my favourite painting ever since and, therefore, I am a real fan of G.F. Watts.

Later in life, at the age of sixty nine he met the talented artist, designer and potter Mary Fraser Tytler and they married. She was then only thirty-six. Together they set up the artists village and chapel in Compton and these are now owned by The Watts Gallery Trust. Many of his paintings are in Tate Britain and others can be seen in The National Portrait Gallery. The paintings are wonderful and the chapel, (all Mary's work), is quite spectacular.

Above are a few photos that I took during the day to whet your appetite. Sadly cameras were not allowed so some of the more special sights can not be shown.

"The aims of art are not different from the aims of life in general, which should be to add as much as possible to the good of the world ..." G.F. Watts.

George Frederic Watts 1817 - 1904

Mary Seaton Watts 1849 - 1938