Friday 18th August - Snails and criss stitch, and Food or Medicine?

Not much to say about snails, except they are quite engaging creatures with their little 'horns' and beautifully patterned shells. Except when they are eating my lettuces and primulas. I spotted a couple wending their way across the path this morning in the rain, along with a slug or two. Slugs are not engaging creatures in my view. Anyway, I picked them all up using my slugging tongs and deposited them in the council garden waste collection bin. The ones I had dumped in there a day or so ago had all laboriously climbed to the top of the bin and then I heard them drop back to the bottom when the lid fell closed wit a rumble-thump. I did feel a little bit mean...

There's a lesson there, in the way the snails persist in their determination to reach the top of the bin. Persistence is the name of the game with this month's cross stitch; for some reason I keep forming rows of cross-crisses instead of criss-crosses, and have to embark upon unpicking and redoing stretches, sometimes twice over. What is the matter with me? 

I have solved this problem for the moment by doing an entire row of crisses, and then going back with crosses over the top. Hallelujah! It worked! I completed a section in about 15 minutes, having spent an hour getting the previous section right. With this tactic I might make some serious progress.

At the moment I am enjoying delicious 'medicines'. Seriously. Recent blood tests, in preparation for an annual infusion of - wait for it - zolendronic acid - (I love saying that, sounds as though I should get a super power or at least glow in the dark, but it's just for osteoporosis which is a consequence of taking steroids) flagged up low levels of potassium, so I have been advised to have a banana and a glass of tomato juice every day. Good job I like them both!

(That's the new tray cloth). Then there is a handful mixed of nuts, I forget why it is supposed to be a good idea.

 Finally there's the small bowl of four soaked prunes with half a portion of live yogurt and a generous sprinkle of whole grain cereal. That's because I have altered my breakfast from muesli and milk to white toast and honey to accommodate the idiosyncrasies of the iron tablets I have to take twice a day, which clash with dairy, whole grains and calcium supplements. I'm reliably informed by Best Beloved that pictures of prunes are not a thing anyone wants to look at. Can't think why.

Anything else? Well, Dr Tim Spector would probably advise adding kombucha (not keen on the sound of that) or kefir (I've tried it; I'm not enthusiastic unless it is strained and used as a soft cheese spread) or kimchi (Tried that too, even made my own, and that's a NO) or sauerkraut (I do like that) That's to combat the effect of the prophylactic antibiotics I have to take all the time (to protect me from the consequences of taking immune suppressants.).

Somewhere in all this lot I have fit in time to actually eat a meal... oddly enough, I don't seem to be very hungry at the moment...

Hey ho. We shall see what the repeat blood tests show next week.  

      

Saturday 8th July - random non-sequituers

 Professor Tim Spector is keen that we should all eat 30 different types of plant per week. I think the newspaper headline

'Eating 30 plants per week will cure all your ills' is probably a vast overstatement of what he actually said. I have learned not to go past the headlines on news items such as 'insert name of minor celebrity here gives update on their devastating diagnosis' when it turns out they have sprained their ankle or some such.

Thirty plants seems a lot, so I kept a running total this week. It seems that seeds, spices, vinegar, pickles, coffee, tea, chocolate can all be included in the list;

so my breakfast of fruit-nut-and-seed muesli contains raisins, sultanas (are they the same?) apricots, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds, hazelnuts, oats, wheat and barley. Not in great quantities, but I eat a portion of this most mornings. This with a cup of coffee gives me 11 items.

Over the course of the week my meals and snacks included brazil nuts, macadamia nuts, sugar snap peas, garden peas (I think they are different because of the pods), potatoes, rice, asparagus, raspberries, tomatoes, lettuce, pea shoots, baby spinach leaves, red peppers, olives, jalapeno peppers, chilli peppers, lemon, lime, pine nuts, cucumber, apple, basil, parsley, chocolate, tea, edmame beans, black beans, white beans, borlotti beans, canelli beans, ginger, indian spices, mushrooms, onions, spring onions, garlic, and cauliflower.    Around another 38 items. I haven't counted in today yet - indeed, I stopped counting!

It appears that it is not the quantity so much as the variety that matters. No problem then!

Dead-heading sweet peas is an odd sort of task. I went out yesterday and did all three pots as comprehensively as I could. Today it looked as though I hadn't been near them, and I came away with another handful. On closer inspection I saw that they hide their little seed pods inside the faded petals. Aha! You won't catch me that way again!

I brought a few stems indoors yesterday, but today the petals have faded and even have seed pods! The other flowers are coriander from the herb pot and a small bit of erigeron.

I adored 'Mrs 'Arris goes to Paris' and read it in one sitting. Paul Gallico's writing is so vivid. It feels so full of love... with the message that it's the people, inside the clothes, that really matter. I'm in luck; 'Mrs 'Arris goes to New York' came in the same book. I'm almost afraid to start reading it in case it isn't as good...   

   

Monday 17th October - Double Surprise

 I have started the week in the way I probably won't manage to continue. One doesn't like to become predictable, after all.

We've got into the habit of 'Second Breakfasts' - a slice of toast or a couple of mini-croissants or  biscotti if there are any left in the tin.

Today I surprised Himself  with a second breakfast of a poached egg on toast. It was about the same amount of effort as making a couple of slices of toast and marmalade.

Step one. Read the destructions on the oh-so-nifty Joseph Conran microwave egg poacher. Looks easy enough.

Step two. Put a slice of toast in the toaster

Step three. Add water to the egg poaching thingy up to the line, put in microwave to heat for 60 seconds

Step four. Assemble eggs, plate, knife, fork, salt, pepper, butter. It's all close to hand.

Step five. Remove thingy from microwave, add egg, deal with shell, put thingy plus egg into microwave for 50 seconds.

Step six. Butter the toast, put knife, fork, salt and pepper on table, replace butter dish in cupboard and eggs, in fridge.

Step seven. Serve up perfectly poached egg to delighted husband. He needs the calories as he uses them up getting his daily steps and doing this and that around the house all day.

Here's the second surprise (which I haven't mentioned to him yet, after all, I didn't want to spoil his egg.

Step eight. Clean up the microwave after the lid popped off the every-so-nifty-thingy just before then end of the 50 seconds, so that the entire interior of the microwave was sprayed with little fragments of cooked egg white and steam.

I cunningly served the egg upside down on the toast, so the explosion site was hidden - it looked great as I bore the plate to the table!

And as the microwave was still all steamed up inside it was quite quick and easy to clean, while the toast for toast-and-marmalade to go with the coffee was in the toaster.

I still think this is the easiest method so far - in olden days I've done the dropping an egg into a pan of simmering water, suspending a sort of ladle in said pan of boiling water, tried paper pouches (messy) and other microwave egg poaching devices but I prefer this one... I reckon I'll go for 40 seconds next time and let it stand for 10 seconds... I'll let you know how I get on!

All very eggcellent, if a little too eggciting...

Sorry!

  

  

Wednesday 13th April - Tea, coffee, ginger biscuits, bread and wine

 This morning our vicar came to bring us 'Home Communion' - the first time we have taken part in a service of Holy Communion since March 2020.

He's a good friend of ours and we have known him and the family since the 1990s when we joined our church. It's strange, thinking back to when the children were young, and our hair was still brown, and none of us wore glasses. Ah memory, memory.

So we sat round the garden table as the sun slowly warmed through the clouds. We started with tea, or coffee, and ginger biscuits made yesterday, catching up on church and family news. Then we pushed the teapot and mugs to one side, and brushed the biscuit crumbs off the table and continued seamlessly in the church service, complete with Bible reading (John chapter 14) and even a 'sermon' - if you could call it that, a few comments on the words. 

In the spaces between the prayers the breeze fluttered the table cloth, the glowing colours of the tulips and daffodils and the birdsong added to the sense of peace. A special moment, worth waiting for. 

In the past I always felt that a Sunday morning church service was incomplete without Communion being a part of it. Now, having waited so long, the experience seemed fresh and new, like the very first time over fifty years ago.

I didn't take photographs. But you can see the biscuits;

My husband makes them, to the recipe his mother used. I asked if he could make small ones as well, for me to have with morning coffee. So he did.

Noah's Ark; Hen and chickens

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.

There are only a few windows left to open on the calendar.

We added hot cross buns and mini Easter eggs to this week's on-line order, and they arrived this morning. As did also an extra half-order due to a mix up. Our mix-up. We usually have next week's date booked and secured with a minimum order, and then go through adding and deleting as necessary, but if there are too many distraction during this process things can go wrong. So our fridge and freezer are overloaded with a week and a half's worth of food, and we sent our vicar on his way with our thanks, and some tomatoes, some lettuce and a pizza.

Thursday 16th April - Sunny - Chilly - Sunny - Chilly

It's very clear to me that energy levels and cheerfulness are affected by the weather. My grandmother, who qualified as a doctor back in the 1920s, always declared that barometric pressure should be taken into account.

Yesterday was a bright, sunny, day - today is cloudy and cold. That could be a pretty accurate description of me yesterday and today!

I'm finding my day-to-day list of things that I could do, might do, should possibly do, is a great help in keeping me going. I don't necessarily do all the things on the list, or only do things on the list, but it gives a slight structure, and helps nudge me away from the cake tin!

I do feel a bit of a 'teenager' doing all the doodles and so on in my notebook - but hey - it's my book!

A page of postage-sized doodles picking out one thing from the day;

Colouring the squares as I complete each suggestion gives me a ridiculous amount of satisfaction.

Yesterday I finally completed sewing up a cardigan that I knitted over the course of last year. I had got stuck, as one of the seams was all wonky and lost the will to fix it.

and yesterday it was warm enough to wear it. Today I'm back in my winter fleece jacket.

Sorting out how to keep the household supplies coming in has been a bit of a challenge. We have neighbours and friends who will add a bit of shopping to their list, and we've ordered a box of meat from an on-line company. The pet shop half a mile away will let you buy and pay for cat food over the phone, and then bring it out to the car - you can part right outside their door. We discovered that during Tuesday's CATastrophe with the catflap. 

I've found a local company that used to supply local restaurants and caterers. They have re-organised themselves to sell boxes - choose fruit, or veg, or salad, and you get enough of what's available to feed a family of four. I added eggs to the order - they come in trays of 30!  I've shared the contents of the boxes and the eggs with a friend, and also gave some eggs to a neighbour who has been adding things for us - like breakfast cereal - to her list when she goes out. The boxes each have enough for a family of four; now that I've seen what's in them, I'll know what to expect next time.

I ended up with a sort of greengrocer's shop in the garden while we shared out the produce, keeping a safe 2 metres apart;

This is a tiny-weeny sketch that just fits beside the stamp on a postcard I sent to a friend. Himself goes to the post box for me as part of his daily exercise.!

Wednesday 27th November - Odd sort of Feast

I've always liked the description of the picnic that Ratty put up for Mole;

‘Hold hard a minute, then!’ said the Rat. He looped the painter through a ring in his landing-stage, climbed up into his hole above, and after a short interval reappeared staggering under a fat, wicker luncheon-basket.
‘Shove that under your feet,’ he observed to the Mole, as he passed it down into the boat. Then he untied the painter and took the sculls again.
‘What’s inside it?’ asked the Mole, wriggling with curiosity.
‘There’s cold chicken inside it,’ replied the Rat briefly;
‘coldtonguecoldhamcoldbeefpickledgherkinssaladfrenchrollscresssandwiches
pottedmeatgingerbeerlemonadesodawater—-‘
‘O stop, stop,’ cried the Mole in ecstacies: ‘This is too much!’
‘Do you really think so?’ enquired the Rat seriously. ‘It’s only what I always take on these little excursions; and the other animals are always telling me that I’m a mean beast and cut it VERY fine!’

-The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame

I bought a sort of picnic for this evening, of the things I fancied eating and things my father might like, and Himself added some crackers and some boursin and some fine cheddar...

and we took it round to my father's flat for supper.

We had

slices of salmon terrine, chicken satay and peanut sauce, sliced cold topside of beef, quail's eggs and celery salt, red bell peppers stuffed with cream cheese, mini pork pies, radishes, cherry tomatoes, watermelon pieces, orange melon pieces, mango slices and of course, the cheeses and the crackers.

I also bought a little mini port selection box, so that my father and I could have a small glass of port each to finish;

(Himself doesn't really care for port, and was driving).

Excellent end to the day!

Thursday 7th November - Random thoughts

St Willibrord of York. It's his day!

He lived round about 658 to 739, living in York, and then travelling, to Ireland, and twice to Rome (that would have been quite a journey) before going to Frisland to convert the pagans.

That's only a few hundred years after Roman times... maybe the Roman roads were still in reasonable condition?

I've spent today in a semi-zombie like condition, teaching piano (5 pupils), African Drumming (2 classes) and piano again at home (4 pupils). The lack of sleep on Tuesday night is catching up with me. I had a very, very light lunch, so came home from the drumming feeling ravenous. Porridge seemed like a good idea, made in my specially purchased microwave porridge bowl.



It works extremely well if you remember the instructions to cook your porridge in 30 second bursts. If you don't, well, it was time to clean the microwave anyway, and the porridge was eating temperature, as opposed to burn-your-mouth temperature by the time the microwave was pristine again.

The day has been sunny and autumnal and lovely again. It is quite astonishing how much difference sunshine makes.

Right. More phone calls and emails and stuff and admin and paperwork - best get on with it while I am still slightly awake!

Saturday 2nd November - Mostly pots of puree

Like this;

Mostly half-and-half carrot and potato. These will go in the freezer when they are cool enough, and then the testing begins...

It has been quite a long to work out how to manage all of this; my god-mother is 91 and on the whole is very well able to do what she can do. But she has decided that all the home-delivery foods are inedible - we brought a sack home of rejected foods from her freezer at her request and binned them yesterday - wasteful? Yes. Did we want to eat them ourselves? No. Not even as soup, to be honest.

So I think we are going to have to try and deliver home-made equivalents, with more flavour.

This is step one - vegetables.

So there are so many questions...

Will they come out of the moulds? We can try the bendy silicone ones if these don't work.

How long do they need to be reheated for?

How do we go about heating them in the microwave?

We have had to think long and hard about what she will be able to manage this safely. The current plan is to use this egg-poacher;

 
as there will be no problem about clips on the lid, or remembering to open the vent. I will use the two potato-only portions as testers; somehow get them out of the bun tray, and then find out if they fit into the poacher, work out how long they need in the microwave to heat up.

If all goes well, we will move on to experimenting with slow-cooked meats. Then we will be able to supply her with a bag of frozen portions of vegetables, and a bag of frozen portions of meat. The idea is that she puts a veg in one cup, and a meat in the other, zaps them for however minutes and - hey presto - lunch. A very small lunch - there are about two tablespoons of gloop in each portion. But at least it is food. A major consideration is that everything has to be gluten-free.

I'll get the next batch of rice pudding done in the next day or so. She had three defrosting in the fridge ready for supper and breakfast and lunch!

The state of the Brambly Hedge kitchen makes me feel much better about the state of ours. Look! It's okay to have every shelf filled and all sorts of bits and pieces wedged into every space and balanced in all the corners. You can stash bags and baskets under the table and leave bowls of fruit lying around on the floor. It doesn't matter if there are cracks in the plaster or washing draped everywhere. What a relief.

Sunday 29th September - News, Views, Whatevs

What's to say?

I'd have to look in my journal to try and remember this week.

Monday - the usual teaching
Tuesday - the usual teaching, round to friends in the evening.

I started and finished a couple of summer sketches; a trip to London

and this one - which I did a slight 'tinker' to just now; spot the difference?

Wednesday - the usual teaching

Thursday -  it was going to be a day of waiting in for deliveries, but they came early, and as a school had cancelled I had an unexpected free afternoon. So we all went off to the pub, me and Himself and the Grand Old Man. They had steaks, I had 'a lady's meal' (I am not quoting Himself) of hake and chips and mushy peas. Lady's meal or not, it came on a smaller plate!

Friday - another waiting for deliveries day. I stayed in bed for ages and ages, reading, dozing, reading, dozing until even the cat was bored.

Then I finally got dressed and came down, and did a diary page picture

and wrote some more novel, and went off to drumming.

Saturday - oh my word, Saturday, weary Saturday... I went off for the normal morning teaching. They have a problem with damp in the practice rooms where I work, so they leave the electric heaters on, turning the room into something like the Palm House at Kew, but with an all pervasive smell of rot and mould. It's not good. I would open a window if there was one, so have to be content with switching off the heater and leaving the door open while I'm in there.

I taught my eight pupils, escaping into the corridor at every opportunity to breath the fresh air through the open windows, and then it was the drive to visit my godmother (50+ difficult miles each way). It is always worth visiting her; she works hard at staying cheerful and coping with the difficulties strewing her. 

But still I was glad when we arrived safely back home. It is not a drive I could safely undertake after teaching all morning; the traffic is hurried and harsh and aggressive and unforgiving.

Sunday! We've arrived! We went shopping in the afternoon, collecting this and that for my godmother for next time we visit. I'm not sure how her oesophageal stent will cope with the pickled herrings that she is desperate for, but perhaps she'll manage if we cut them up small enough. 

While he was doing the hard work of shopping, I sat in the cafe (which was unfortunately unable to serve tea or coffee! due to a machine breakdown) and wrote some more of The Book in a notebook I happened to have in my bag. I've stuck the pages in, and that brings me up to the target of 1000 words per week for several  weeks in a row. Happy Happy.

,

The garden is still looking wonderful - so worthwhile all the angst and drama of getting it done. The whole process started this time last year, and was delayed every month and beset by obstacles. At one point I was ready to throw in the towel and live with the weeds. But look at it now!

Salvia 'Armistead' and 'Hotlips', Rudebeckia, and a Holly

The white passion flower is still producing lots of flowers

This fuschia is a potted up cutting, given by a friend

That last photograph is the corner of the raised bed where I have even managed to plant a some bulbs - no idea if they are daffodil or crocus or narcissus, I'll find out in the Spring. It will be a surprise. The plastic grid is to foil any attempts by the cats to appropriate the soil for their own purposes.

I've made a rice pudding in the microwave, and Himself is providing the first course of roast chicken, which will be ready very soon now.

Just three work-related emails left to send (I've done the other dozen already) and Saturday's lessons to write up and I'm free!!!!!! More happy happy!!!!!

    

Friday 9th August - Inspired to Cook

The food on the cruise was excellent...

Let me try and describe it...

Breakfast Buffet

You walked round a central buffet loaded with... continental meats and smoked salmon and pickled herrings and various cheeses, a mound of danish pastries, doughnuts and croissants, cereals, and toppings, four kinds of yogurt, ski and full cream milk, fresh fruit salad, fresh fruit not turned into a sald, prunes, apricots, slices of melon, several different smoothies and fruit juices, various bread for toasting, rows of different jams and marmalades and honeys and chocolate spreads and peanut butters, and final the hot section; sausages, frankfurters, bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes, baked beans, hash browns, waffles and eggs cooked to order.

If there was nothing in that list that fitted your mood, you could order lamb cutlets, steak, eggs Benedict and heaven knows what else from a menu.

And tea, (which kind?) coffee, hot chocolate...

After the first morning we resolutely turned our backs on most of the offerings and settles for granola, toppings, milk, yogurt for me,  coffee to drink.

Then there was Lunch...

The central buffet now had various hot dishes, soups, cheeses, cold meats and charcuterie, selection of breads, a dozen varieties of salad and additions and dressings, and a display of patisseries and fresh fruit to choose from. Wines, beers, ciders, and even water...

Finally there was Dinner

Always four courses with several options; hors d'oevres, soup, main course (fish, meat or vegetarian) and desert (fruit, cheese plate or choice of two sweet dishes). And wine, and coffee....

Should you feel a snack-attack approaching, the bar in the lounge also had a chilled display of savoury and sweet plates, with no limits on how many you could choose at any time. We were assured that all the pastries on board were 'zero calories' - but I think that was probably not true...

And then, of course, beside the self-serve coffee machine and tea machine was a stand piled high with little biscuits...

I rapidly came to the conclusion that the only way to survive the week without exploding out of my clothes was to Take Precautionary Measures;

• Never, never approach the all-day snack-attach cabinet
• Stay away from the biscuit stand, even when it was loaded with palmiers
• Always hand half my desert over to himself
• Eat the fillings from tarts and pies and leave the pastry
• If I didn't totally LOVE the food on my plate, don't finish it   

Amazingly, I arrived back home only 1kg heavier than when I started, and still able to do up my trousers.

However, all the soups and salads have inspired me to start doing a bit of cooking again. We went shopping yesterday. He had a list, and followed it, while I added even more fresh vegetables, and orzo pasta, and gourmet stock cubes. I have to admit that it took him a while to stow it all in the fridge.

Yesterday I made an onion soup with cheese on toast at lunchtime (based on reading the recipe for 'Potage Les Halles'. 

For 2;

Finely slice an onion, crush a clove of garlic, and sweat them together in a generous amount of butter with a dash of oil and a small teaspoon of sugar. When all soft and brown and caramelised, add stock - it should be beef but I only had vegetable - check the seasoning and simmer for an hour, or as long as you have. Check seasoning again before serving.

Meanwhile toast some bread on both sides, top one side with cheese - I used some Gouda - and grill until melted and bubbling. 

Serve soup with sliced up cheese on toast.

In the evening I cooked runner beans and also made my favourite tomato salad to go with the chicken  

Runner beans - top and tail, slice lengthways, zap in microwave with a little water for 5 mins. Season, toss in butter, 

Tomato Salad - I used tomatoes from the garden, as ripe as ever they should be. I wouldn't normally skin them, but ours have slightly tough skins so I put them in a bowl, poured boiling water over them, and a minute later was able to skin them without any bother. I sliced them horizontally (parallel to their equators) and sprinkled them with salt, black pepper and fresh basil leaves. I leaned this recipe over forty years ago from a friend in York.

Today, for lunch we had soup again; a medium potato and half a leek chopped and softened in butter, and then stock and skinned tomatoes added. When cooked through, I liquidised it, added a handful each of fresh peas, sliced beans and chopped tender stem broccoli. I reckoned it needed a little 'je ne sais quois' so added a dash of dry cider as well as seasoning.

I also served a slice of toast which has been rubbed over with the cut edge of a piece of garlic.

Delish - now for tomorrow!

   

So far I have 

Sunday 26th - and breathe...

We're sitting down, each with a coffee to hand. The cats have stopped paddling around and chosen their preferred resting places.

No television, no sound except the rattle of the computer keys and the ticking of the clock. The garden is watering itself from time to time (ie it is drizzling outside).

We've come back from visiting my Godmother; she is getting stir crazy. They let her have a zimmer frame for a toilet trip and she was off like a ferret down a rabbit hole, the nurse having to move smartly to keep up. 'Oh my, we aren't used to them going that fast,' cried the nurse as she set off in pursuit. She still tires quickly; it's going to be a while yet before she gets her discharge papers and goes home.

Anyway, here are some random thoughts


Inside this unlikely-looking package  are four Jacob's crackers, four squares of cheddar, a dollop of Branston pickle and a small plastic spreader. When you have spent a day in and out of a hospital visiting an elderly relative, have had too many lukewarm mediocre coffees and are facing a 90 minute drive home, one of these packets shared between us is a surprisingly excellent thing.

As are these Itsu chocolate rice cakes, shared between us as we drive home, or these mini pretzels

                

In future we are going to keep small containers of pretzels and similar delicacies in the car. Not the cheese thingies though. I don't think they have that kind of shelf life, and spreading Branston pickle onto crackers and handing them to the driver is probably A Bad Idea.

We have found a Waitrose halfway along one of the routes home, relatively easy to get to with a reasonable car park (especially with the Panda which turns on a sixpence and slips into awkward spaces with ease). As well as selling food, it has Important facilities like loos, and a cafe which sells macaroni cheese with cauliflower and bacon - the ultimate comfort food.

Food and evening meals have been a bit of an issue recently. We are getting more canny, buying things that can go into the freezer if we don't eat them in time, and can also be cooked from frozen.

Random Fact
We've been keeping a record of the differences in the cost of running the Alfas and the Panda. The savings we have made are on track for the Panda to have paid for itself by the end of June.

The accounting is a little tricksy to substantiate; one of the reasons we will reach break even so soon (we had figured on it being October) is because of the savings we make in the difference in cost each time we fill the car with petrol. Because the number of long distance trips we have been doing, we are obviously filling the tank more often, and therefore saving money more frequently... I did wonder if we should buy another Panda in order to make even more savings, but I am assured that that's not quite how it works.

Wednesday 17th April - And another thing

Steak and frites

foremangrill

with maybe a tarte tatin to follow

bbcgoodfood

or perhaps a creme caramel

deliaonline

(while looking for pictures I found a coconut creme caramel and even a chocolate creme caramel - quel horreur)

do make a good day even better.

Monday 25th June - Today...

Today he discovered the milk bottle lying on its side on the drive with a hole in the base. How did that get there? The hole, I mean. I know how the drive got there - several weeks of mudbath several years ago. And the milk bottle came from the milkman of course. But the hole?

Luckily we had enough left over for coffee and milk.

I watched a video tutorial on how to paint some leaves. "That looks possible" I thought. And it was surprisingly simple. You get the blotchy effect by sprinkling salt onto the wet leaves and leaving it to dry.



I had a home-grown, home-made lunch; lettuce and radishes from the garden

Home-made kefir cream cheese spread on sour-dough toast

We had bought some chocolates over the weekend, and they got left on their side in a bag in the sun all of Sunday. So today, when I lifted them out, they had completely melted. I put them in the fridge for an hour to set; Mess completely describes the appearance.

So we prised them out of the tray, and balanced bits of strawberry topping, rescued from the bottom of the packet, on top of what was left of the chocolates, and ate them.  Delicious. Eton completely describes them now.

It has been a blisteringly hot day.

 The cats move from one place to another, trying to find a cool place to sleep.

Wednesday 30th May - Food, Health, and so forth

I've just finished a slew of appointments;

Dentist - the broken tooth turned out to be a broken crown; some of the porcelain has sheered off, but luckily no action is required. In passing she (the dentist) gave my teeth and gums an industrial level clean. "Owch, ooch, owch, aargh," I went, but not out loud. "Not so much bleeding this time." I have to say I was surprised...

Hospitals - the chest clinic have pronounced "no change, come back in six months". That's good news. The cardiologist agreed; "no change, come back in, now, should it be a year? or six months? Hmm." The paper he handed me said nine months. The rheumotologist also agreed, both with "no change" and "nine months." She also advised that people needed ten minutes in the sun, four times a week, to maintain their vitamin D levels, and that "you should take a supplement in Winter, this British weather in Winter, it is no good at all" (she is Italian). And you should eat meat, every week, to keep your iron levels up "this Popeye, spinach idea, it is all nonsense." I am liking her more and more each time I see her.

So we had melt in the mouth steak for supper tonight; the first for many, many months. Mainly because Himself is in charge of all things steak-related; choosing, buying, cooking. From when he got the hernia back in October/November last year, until after the recovery from the op back in February this year, standing over a hot griddle cooking the perfect steak was not a possibility.  Welcome back, chef, sez I. No pictures, as it is all et up.

Tomorrow, I hope to be reunited with my kefir culture, which I lent to a friend for safekeeping while we were away. Meanwhile I have set some yoghurt to replicate itself;

Heat up some milk, let it cool to blood heat.
Put a couple of tablespoons of live yoghurt into a food flask
Stir in the cooled milk
Put the lid on the flask and leave overnight.
Hey presto! More yoghurt!
You can use this "more yoghurt" to create "even more yoghurt" until it stops working or you accidentally eat it all.

And some time this week, I shall set up my next batch of kimchi... be afraid, be very afraid!