I haven't got a picture of the rainbow. I'll have to leave that to your imagination.
But I was very happy to see the rain, on and off through the day, and then in the evening the sun came out for a short while, and that's when I looked up and saw the rainbow.
I did draw a picture this morning as a keepsake memory of my outing to the garden centre yesterday;
There were more children of course, but I thought I'd stop at two. I had some difficulty with the faces, so simplified my life by just drawing them from the back... I see I forgot to give the fish in the bottom row any pond weed. I might go back and fix that... or not...
Music
'Do you recognise this tune?' my friend asked, sending me a short audio clip of a friend's young relative playing a piano piece. I pondered for a while after listening. I seemed to hear a flute version in my head, and I was pretty sure it was Bach or one of his contemporaries; a Brandenburg concerto perhaps?
This morning we went out to visit a garden centre. BB had been there a couple of times as it is a handy place to while away a couple of hours while the car is at the nearby garage for servicing.
He had discovered that
It has an excellent cafe with outdoor seating
The indoor shop area is airy and spacious
There's lots to see
It's pretty much deserted until about 11am
All of which makes it an excellent place for me to enjoy for a bit of 'retail therapy', a coffee and a cake. I have a weakened immune system so crowded indoor spaces, and especially cafes and restaurants are no-go areas unless we both wear masks. BB has to mask up in order to avoid catching anything too.
We knew the route; it's notvfar, only about 30 mins by car, but something went wrong about 10 minutes away. Suddenly all the shops and houses looked slightly wrong... we must have missed a turning. Still, it was a pleasant drive through previously unknown little villages until we circled back. I'd always wondered where Wivelsfield was, and now I know.
The garden centre had lots to look at - so much so that I never made it out to the plants! I was enchanted to see a little crocodile of small children from a local nursey making their way through the shop holding hands in pairs and led by a woman pushing a double buggy and another double buggy bringing up the rear. I watched as they visited all their favourite areas in turn, lingering over the tanks of tropical and garden pond fish. It was clearly a regular outing. I wonder if the toy shop area was included on their route...
I think sitting in cafes and people watching is something I miss the most.
Going home, we took a different route to avoid some road works. For some reason we often take the wrong exit from the fast-paced main dual carriage way, and today was one of those days. So we skipped Handcross (location of 'The Toll-Gate', for Georgette Heyer fans) and wended our way along narrow leafy lanes through Warninglid and Slaugham instead. We weren't in any hurry.
The afternoon's entertainment was provided by the building works next door. They 'found' a gas pipe which wasn't in the place marked on the plans. Apparently they had only slightly damaged it, so bound it with tape and called the gasman. It wasn't very long before another two gas vans joined the first, to repair the pipe properly. Meanwhile the first man walked up and down outside with his gas leak detector - and now we have mysterious symbols marked on the pavement outside our house and a couple either side.
Fish with pea and lettuce; now this was a bit of a find from the GoodFood website. It's a recipe for one, so was easy enough to scale up for the two of us.
It's shredded little gem lettuce, some sliced spring onions, and a handful of frozen peas all mixed together with a splash of olive oil, and an individual fillet of haddock on top with a bit of salt and pepper and a table spoon of creme fraiche. Cover with cling film, pierce, and microwave for six or seven minutes... check the link for full details.
As usual I didn't have all the ingredients. I substituted some finely chopped onion for the spring onions, and Greek yoghurt for creme fraiche.
It was delicious. And very quick to make. Definitely one to keep.
Day off
It was a gentle slow day for me. I did what I felt like doing, and didn't do much of anything I should, perhaps, have been doing...
I've been binge-reading the first two books in 'The Cemeteries of Amalo' series by Katherine Addison. They are fantasy whodunit, set in a world of goblins and elves. They all have complicated names which I can't remember, so I'm constantly getting confused as I hurtle through the interwoven plot threads. But I don't care, I'm enjoying the comprehensive world she has built, the language, religions, customs,way of life. Plus the ghouls, and forensic investigations, and political intrigues.
I have crammed the knitted part of the scarf into a small bag, as it was getting into a hopeless tangle as it got longer and longer. Now it's a bit easier to manage.
Music
More piano duets; a couple of Dvorak's Slavonic Dances, played with obvious enjoyment my Andras Schiff and Yuja Wang.
It's been pretty noisy all day, as the groundworks progress next door. At the end of the day there were a couple of deeeeeep trenches in the garden; maybe five feet deep?
These few houses along the street were built in a small dip in the contour of the original field. You wouldn't know it now, because they just built the foundation walls up and up and up, and then back-filled to make them level with the rest. But that does have consequences when addingvan extension!
There was a pause in the afternoon; being nosey interested we got chatting with the foreman who was looking pensive at the hole.
'Pipes', he said. 'There's always pipes where you're not expecting the. I've got to figure out what to do with them'.
Then, at about 4pm the noise changed;
A large pickup truck with a grabber attachment came and took the rubble away.
Peace descended at about 4:30. The cat will find his world has changed; I expect he'll find his way across the trenches and over the little steel plate bridge to the cat flap in the back door and his supper...
South Stoke
(The church where I found the Isaiah chapter 41 v 10 handholds;)
Our son sent me this;
"South Stoke! It's lit entirely by candlelight - several chandeliers, and candlestands every few rows of pews. The harmonium is pedal-powered and has its own somewhat theatrical pair of candles. When I visited a couple of months ago the windows each had candle arches made up of different sized jam-jars."
And also some photographs;
Music
It's nearly bedtime... so I'm trying to think of something quickly; How about Julia Fischer playing the slow movement of Mendelsohn's violin concerto;
I've posted about this before, but it was a long time ago...
We visited a tiny church in a tiny village somewhere near Arundel, either North Stoke or South Stoke, I think. I have a feeling the church had no electricity, and the music for the hymns was provided bt one of those harmonium with foot pedals to work the bellows...
On the table by the door was a pile of help-yourself leaflets, with the 7 handholds in Isaiah chapter 41, verse 10;
So do not fear,
for I am with you;
do not be dismayed,
for I am your God.
I will strengthen you
and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
One for every day of the week.
It was a bit of a lifeline for me, a ladder out of a rather worrying couple of weeks, and there have been times since then when I have returned to these hand-holds, as the help-yoursef piece of paper called them. I used to write them down at the top of each page in my diary, one for each day, and hang to them on when ever things were getting on top of me.
Well, I loaded a set of daily study notes (Encounters with God, July -September) onto my kindle, and the passage for the day (I'm catching up so I think it is July 17th in the actual booklet).
So there you are. Seven hand-holds to help you through the week.
Picture
Half-copied from a Hannah Dunnett illustration in her book 'more than words'. Drawn on the Kindle scribe.
Music
I do enjoy watching the Adama Duo playing piano duets together. This is 'En bateau' by Debussy.
I was sitting in my usual place on the settee wondering what to draw this morning.
I was procrastinating, by writing about not drawing, and then just got on with it and drew what I could see;
We have a terrible habit of using the hearthrug as a sort of staging post for things waiting to be dealt with. They can lurk there for days, weeks even. As I drew I started realising how utterly irritating I was finding all the machines and tools lined up in front of me.
BB kindly carried them off and put everything away;
Well, what a difference! We both feel better for having tidied that patch. (Now for the rest of the room...)
Patchwork
I have returned to the hexagon quilt I started back in the Autumn of 2023.
It's a sort of 'as and when I'm in the mood' project. At the moment I am in the mood, so I'm making patches and adding them, one or two a day. Each patch is completely finished before it is added to the quilt; the padding, backing and quilting all done, so the patches become little padded hexagon 'pennies'.
That way the actual quilt is always 'finished'; no raw edges, pins or tacking threads to be dealt with. I am using it already as a cover for my knitting bag.
Music
I'm watching/listening to the Vivaldi and Bach prom concert from last night as I tap away at this blog post. Glorious. How do they play so fast for so long? And those swift, mercurial changes from loud to soft? Such skill and musicality.
I enjoyed listening to Susan Calman championing recorders on the BBCSounds 'Artworks' programme the other evening. I learned to play the recorder at school, and spent many a Friday teaching recorders at primary schools. I had no idea they were such a versatile instrument until I listened to the programme.
Now, if I had listened to this;
Charlotte Barbour-Condini plays Music for a Bird by Linde on the Recorder at BBC Young Musician of the year, 2012, Woodwind final.
We were supposed to be going out to spend the day with friends near Wantage, in Oxfordshire. BUT, she rang first thing this morning that she had started a cold, and although she felt fine, did we still want to come, or would we prefer to reschedule. She knows I am very wary of any kind of respiratory infection as I am take immunosuppressants.
Oh, definitely reschedule! Although we were meeting out of doors, it wasn't worth the risk.
So, now about our lunch? Spaghetti Carbonara, my new culinary skill fitted the bill perfectly.
The spaghetti only takes 10 minutes, which is plenty of time to grate the parmesan, beat a couple of eggs and warm some plates. Oh, and slice some veg for a quick stir fry sort of accompaniment.
10 minutes suddenly stopped being plenty of time was still doable - just.
The eggs were beaten, the veg were cooking, bowls were heating and I was grating parmesan as fast as I dared...
and my phone rang.
It was about scheduling a delivery, and I could feel my brain beginning to implode as I juggled dates in my head.
Somehow I just about managed to finish grating the parmesan and throw everything together and serve it all up.
'This could be the best carbonara so far", said BB. Result! But at considerable cost to my composure.
Another bit of tech
I'm trying out my new kindle scribe and loving it. I've bought it with some of the inheritance from my father’s estate, to use every day and to remember both him and my mother by. I wanted to get something I would use everyday.
The attraction is that I can read books, and also write, and draw, but without being distracted by all the other stuff (OK, I admit it, games, sudoku, patience!) that's on my tablet.
My mother started painting just a few years before she had a severe stroke and was very talented. So buying something that I can use for drawing is particularly important.
These two drawings are nearly my first ones; and this is the same tree that I sketched on my tablet yesterday so I can compare the results.
But I can't write blog posts on the scribe as easily as I can on the tablet!
Next-door's extension proceeds apace. We can rubberneck easily from our garden, as a couple of fence panels were removed when the garage came down, and won't be replaced for at least a few days.
We are behaving a bit like the man and his dog in a cartoon I saw at the beginning of the covid lockdown back in 2020. The picture and caption were something like this;
"Now I understand why you spend so much time just staring out of the window! "
That was back when the whole world seemed to come to a sudden stop, and the slightest activity outside in the street became of huge interest.
I wish I knew who created the original cartoon so I could credit them.
If I ignored the tremendous racket that's inevitable when breaking up and removing a solid concrete slab (Jack hammer, mini-digger, small tipper truck, slowly growling mountain of concrete lumps on their front lawn), these are really quiet workers. There's no shouting, swearing, littering, loud radio music... they seem to work steadily and efficiently without any fuss. Give them all a beer, says I.
Music
Have you seen the programme for tonight's prom? Oh wow! We are in for a treat.
Here's a real Nightingale
I don't think I've ever seen or heard a live one...
I think I must have started it this morning. I was listening to conversation between BB and a builder about the gutters at the corner of the house, and idly pulling up the weeds wildflowers growing exuberantly around the front door;
If left alone for much longer they would be making their way indoors!
Fixing the gutter is going to be expensive. Whoever put it up didn't solve the problem of fixing it to the corner securely, so now we have a damp patch in the bedroom, and need to hire a tower so the builder can do a 'proper job'.
Meanwhile, BB carried on with weeding the driveway, filling the garden waste bin. What a difference that has made to the 'kerb appeal', as the estate agents put it.
The drawing above was done on this tablet; this one
is in pencil, just a sketch of a young cherry tree opposite. You can apply to the council to have a tree on your verge, although they insist on planting it and you are charged for the tree. I was about to apply for a cherry tree outside our house, when BT suddenly turned up and planted a telephone pole instead! So I reckoned a street lamp, telephone pole, a water hydrant and an electricity access point on the verge in front of our two semis was probably, enough without adding a tree as well.
Music
The Axis of Awesome demonstrate how many pop songs use the same 4 chords over and over.
I used to love teaching this in piano, electronic keyboard and music theory lessons!
Mini-theory-moment; the roman numerals ar one of the ways of labelling the harmonies. Notesx are labelled A B C D E F G; a scale is (usually) a sequence of 8 eg C D E F G A B C. if you want to start in a different note, eg D, you will have to involve sharps and flats to stop it sounding weird: D E F# G A B C# D.
The chord progression in the track is I, the first note, which is D, IV or 4 which is G, vi or 6 which is B - in lower case because it will sound minor or sad - and finally V or 5, A.
This is a mini-theory-moment so that's all the explanation I'm offering.
Enjoy the mayhem! I wonder how many songs you recognise!
I spent time watching the big bumble bees in the cardoon flowers;
The cardoons have grown up to 7 feet tall, with large, thistle-like flowers. The flowers are big enough for the bees to disappear into.
There seemed to be a number of them sharing each flower head; I could just see about three on a flower, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were more on the other side.
There was a white butterfly desperately trying to join in, but I think it must have found it too difficult to work out how to land among the feathery purple flowers.
The edged bound and trimmed, or should that be trimmed and bound? There was an awful lot of measuring and checking and checking and measuring before I took the scissors to it.
I left it folded and pegged around the book overnight. This is the front.
Today I blanket stitched all around the top and the bottom, to create the sleeves for the book covers to slide into. The inside front cover...
And inside back cover...
It's a soft cover Moleskine ruled notebook with about 200 pages, or 400 sides, which should last me a long time! I'm working at catching up with writing everything that's on screenshots and bits of paper into my current notebook, so that I can start this one as soon as possible. I find it difficult to be disciplined about finishing off one notebook before starting the next, as my shelves of half-empty notebooks and sketchbooks can testify.
Ang finished her Cover Story a few days ago and blogged about it here. It looks wonderful, do go and look.
I had an intriguing looking packet from her in the post today; A card, a flat gift of a lovely leather book mark with a little pewter Canterbury Pilgrimage scallop shell and... the doings for our next collaboration. We're off; the official start is 1st August... what's the betting that both she and I will have started before then! My mind is buzzing with ideas. I should jot them down in my new notebook (aha, an excuse to start it!) before I forget them...
Music
To celebrate the finish of the Cover Story Collaboration; the Fanfare from Janacek's Sinfonietta;
There are certain words which we all mis-pronounced as children;
'Look!', said my mother to me when I was very little. 'Snow!'
'Nose,' I echoed. A year, maybe two years later, she had almost exactly the same conversation with my little brother. (as he was then, over the years he seems to have morphed into my big brother, in size at least!)
'Look!', she said. 'Snow!'
'Yes, nose!'
When my own children were toddlers I was looking after a friend's toddlers for a few hours while she was doing something or other.
They were cheerfully sharing crayons, asking each other politely if they could borrow the yennow, or wellow, or lellow one for the sun's in their pictures. Some words in our language are quite tricky to say!
So when we were having afternoon tea with our now grown-up children, I still couldn't help calling the pesky insects with a sweet tooth 'wopses' as they targeted out drinks and cakes. One of the waiters came out with a spray bottle and sprayed the table.
'Peppermint spray. Our manager thinks it discourages the wasps' They certainly weren't interested in my delicious ice cream or cup of tea, much preferring the other's fruit juice and cakes.
I might try and make some kind of peppermint spray to try at home though.
First Night of the Proms Concert
We listened to the first night of the proms yesterday evening. What did we hear...
I think I enjoyed Mendelsohn's Hebridean Overture most, followed by Errollyn Warren's new composition called Elements; a wonderfully joyous mix of sounds and snatches of tunes and fun rhythms.
I usually love the Sibelius violin concerto but not yesterday's, for some reason. We usually put the sound through the speakers for the stereo for concerts, but we couldn't get it working. I'm sure that would have made all the difference.
The final piece was the epic Vaughan-Williams choral work Sancta Civitas.
Music
After defending our afternoon tea from so many wasps it obviously has to be Vaughan Williams and The Wasps Overture!
We, or rather BB and our next door neighbour, set to and cleared an area of... stuff... from the garden. The neighbour is about to have an extension built to the back of his house, starting the next day or so. The first thing that happens is his garage and one fence panel are to be removed, so he helped us to clear our side.
So all that stuff has gone!
Look at all that clear space! Ah, but where did it go? Our neighbour took a lot to the tip with his rubbish, but if you swivel a few degrees to the right...
I've got a little bit, just a teensy weensy tiny bit still to do!
Music
Voces8 did a couple of videos of interactive songs during the lockdown in 2020.
This sort of song was one of my favourite parts of primary school music teaching. I never learned this one though.
Here's your chance to join in - go on, no-one's listening!
Yesterday I tried a version of the Guardian Newspaper Chocolate Impossible Pie. I made two, no, three changes, and I suspect each change reduced its chance of success;
Firstly, I made half quantities, as I knew I would be the only one eating it.
Secondly, I cooked it in my air fryer instead of the oven.
Thirdly, I substituted toasted porridge oats for the toasted coconut as I really do not like coconut in any form except absolutely fresh.
I reckon it would have been fine with only one, maybe two changes. However with all three it was not, to be completely honest, delicious. The flavour was fine, and the oats added texture without the coconutty taste.
I think I needed to reduce time and temperature, and probably reduce the weight of toasted oats.
So, was it worth the calories? Not for me. I've presented the remains to the worms in our compost bin so it's not completely wastd, I'm sure they aren't so fussy!
If you plan to try it, I would recommend only changing one, not three elements! I haven't given up on the recipe yet...
Appointments
It's a week of appointments. Yesterday BB had a routine annual blood test. These days we have to book day and time online rather than just turning up and waiting. It is a better system (they do provide a telephone number for people who aren't online) but you do have to name sure you turn up on time.
Today was dentist day, which meant rescheduling a piano lesson...
Tomorrow I have a routine clinic appointment, and I also have to remember the rescheduled piano lesson
On Friday it's the car's turn; time for the annual service.
I shall be glad when the weekend arrives and my diary looks clearer!
Music
This is what I should have shared yesterday after finding the ammonite halves in the Korean Chest
I've made another Impossible Pie, this time a chocolate one using a recipe from the Guardian Newspaper kindly passed on by Ang.
It's looking good;
I really don't like desiccated coconut, so substituted toasted oats. I haven't cut into the Pie yet so I don't know if that will have worked. Certainly the bits that overflowed the paper tasted great. Half quantities, cooked in the air fryer again. I used the same timing and temperature; the proof will be in the eating!
The Korean Chest
The next row of drawers all opened easily enough;
The first drawer was empty
Little yellow ribbon flowers on wire stems covered in green ribbon
Candle rings; orange artificial flowers on plastic rings which you drop over a candle
A dark brown and therefore nearly invisible cloth bag for glasses
An ammonite, cut into two halves and polished, plus small plastic stands to display them
String
Another white card, unlabelled, and a lost screw.
The ammonites are so intricately made, close up.
Music
Pianists just like to have fun...
CIPC finalists; Lavignac's Galop-Marche
Argerich, Galdo and Tiempo playing Rachmaninov waltz for 6 hands
There's been a bit of a delay, blame the tennis, but I have explored another row of drawers in the Korean Chest
The second row beneath the shelf
What have we got?
A little screwdriver set, and also a white plastic box box with a useful tiny screw driver and two miniature screws for mending glasses
A round wooden box with something in it, but which refuses to open, and another mysterious piece of card marked 'READING'
Another 'READING' card, and a packet of flints for cigarette lighters
This drawer was stuck shut;
Two small inexpensive gilt frames
Three corks from bottles, the sort which contained whisky or rum, a pendant on a cord, and the solution to the 'READING' mystery; this card also had 'SPECSAVERS' printed on it!
Two cups for chairlegs or tablelegs, the sort used to protect carpet.
BB managed to open the drawer. It seems that the piece of wood which forms the base of each cubby hole doesn't go all the way to the back. So he removed the drawer above and reached right in, managing to ease whatever was in the stuck drawer so it would open...
A set of poker dice, an neat little book light which clips over a book, and still works! And another card labelled 'SINGAPORE MULTI'. I have no idea what that could mean!
Now, that little box, that rattled and would open; BB very gently worked on it until the lid came off. It has a rather battered and dried out impression of my father’s family crest.
BB is very keen for the next installment; he really enjoys the challenge of opening stuck drawers and mysterious boxes!
There are three more rows of drawers, then the cupboard and the six drawers either side are still waiting to have their secrets revealed.
Tennis
It felt weird not to be spending the afternoon glued to the television... but that's it for me until next Summer!
Music
Philip Glass Etude no 2, played by Yuja Wang. I'm not sure if Philip Glass actually started 'Minimalist Music' or not. Actually I think his idea of repeated notes slowly changing has a lot in common with the Balinese gamelan tradition.
Nowadays we hear what I call Minimalist Muzak all the time, the loathsome (in my opinion!) repetitive rocking between two notes that is the soundtrack to programmes like Masterchef while the camera lingers on the faces of the anxious chefs waiting to hear who is about to be sent home.
I think this Philip Glass piece is really interesting.
This is the first illustration in Hannah Dunnett's book 'More than Words'.
I expect many people are familiar with her work. She has a way of weaving quotations from the Bible into her pictures.
This is the front cover of the book;
When we were talking about using creating or colouring pictures as a way into prayer in my zoom church home group we came across this book and decided to follow it together. In my ignorance I thought it was a book for colouring in the pictures, but no, that has been done already!
We plan to take each of the 24 illustrations in turn, one a week, to look at and talk about together in our meetings. As it turns out, there are roughly 24 weeks left in the year...
The Lighthouse is our illustration for this week.
Once you start looking, there is so much to find in each illustration, even before you start reading the thoughtful reflections HD has written.
Each time I look at this picture I discover more... I am feeling quite inspired to spend time pondering and praying in response to the words.
Zoom in, and find comfort in the age-old wisdom. Repeat the phrases in time to your breathing. Create your own picture. Or just sit, with a cup of tea of coffee (or iced water!) and let the words do their work within you.
I took some time in the garden this morning before the day heated up. My cardoons are flowering, even the ones that were attacked by blackfly and liberally sprayed with a mixture of washing up liquid and vegetable oil.
They are taller than the fence, over 6 feet.
I deadheaded some more lavender, watered the pots nearest the back door and enjoyed the scene.
I picked the last few broad beans; we've a hosepipe ban starting from next weekend so the less we have that needs watering, the better.
Picking the beans was a bit of a dodgy exercise as my long oxygen cannula only reaches halfway towards them. I took it off and hooked it over a handy bay tree at its full extent, walked down to the beans, and made it back before I was getting seriously out of breath.
Oxygen
I could have gone and fetched a cylinder but... there are time when I feel a bit cantankerous about the whole oxygen scenario and just go for it. BB would raise an eyebrow and remark 'it's hard work being lazy' and he's not wrong!
In these really hot days I've been using a cylinder instead of the mains powered concentrator in the afternoons when the temperature rises. The concentrator, as well as making a continuous chuntering noise like an air-conditioner also produces a lot of heat. Well, the heat is welcome in winter, but not in a heatwave!
The cylinders are really for going out and about, well, that's not happening at the moment! So I use them while I sit and watch the tennis.
Saving water
I have suggested lowering the buckets out of the bathroom window on a length of rope when we save the bathwater. BB says carrying them down the stairs is easier. I guess the bathroom window, being directly over the bath would be tricky.
Ice Cream
I have removed temptation by buying icecreamd that BB prefers and I actually don't like. This has worked well. There is a tub of vanilla in the freezer though, and sometimes I hear it's gentle call...
Here's my contribution to the sweet treat collection
Hot Chocolate Sauce for Ice Cream
Make this just before you serve the ice cream
2oz plain chocolate
1 oz butter
Melt in microwave (90 sec on full power, but this is an old recipe from the days when full power was probably 600W)
Beat in 2 tablespoons milk
It sets when you pour it over the ice cream
Tennis
The men's doubles final was terrific.
The women's singles final is tragic. I can hardly bear to watch. Amanda Anisomova has lost to Iga Swiatek. 6-0 6-0. It was as hard to watch as Djokavic and Sinner yesterday.
Men's final tomorrow...
Music
I thought I'd choose gamelan music from Bali. I have a feeling this might be a modern composition, but in the traditional style.
Here's the YouTube link if you want to read a little more about it.
It must be years and tears since we had a takeaway, even fish and chips. We have our main meal at lunch time, and tend to get supermarket takeaway-style dishes or make them ourselves if that's what we would like.
Today I was going to make a Thai Green Chicken Curry sort of lunch;
I had bought some pots of IceKitchen frozen curry paste a while ago. I thought today was a good day to try the Green Thai pots as I wanted a meal that was easy and wouldn't take long to prepare, cook and serve.
Anyway, I can't report on the Thai Green Curry pot yet as after hunting through the cupboards I had to come to the conclusion we were out of coconut milk. Another time.
Warning; should you wish to try their Jalfrezi curry paste, be prepared for a blisteringly hot curry! Even with a good dollop of yoghurt stirred through we couldn't finish them
Anyway, it was now a case of Help! What next? Make a Stir fry.
Chicken stir fry, satay style
Chicken, sliced into suitable sized pieces
Selection of veg
1 nest of Chinese noodles per person cooked as per packet instructions
'Fake' satay-style sauce; for recipe, see below
Stir fry meat and veg in the usual way (my mother learned in Singapore to add a splash of hot water once the veg were sizzling away, as the steam would speed up the cooking time)
Add the sauce and mix through, and add a little water if it's a bit gloomy looking. If the pan is too hot or the sauce too thick it will start to stick.
Serve! A squeeze of lime or lemon, and maybe a little extra soy sauce is a good idea. Go the whole distance and garnish with chopped spring onions or coriander!
I've tried the teriyaki sauce - not bad; I added grated ginger. I haven't tried the sweet and sour one yet.
Tennis
I thought Novak Djokavic had been looking uneasy in himself all week, so wasn't surprised that he lost his semifinal against Jannik Sinner. The Carlos Alcarez versus Taylor Fritz match was amazing, and I enjoyed Andre Aggassi's commentary very much.
Music
Paganini violin caprice played by Hilary Hahn. Parts of this could be the sound track for some of the rallies I watched this afternoon.
There was watering the garden this morning, and deheading a rose bush, and making a start on deadheading lavender and picking rather manky looking broad beans,
There was a piano lesson plus our usual putting the world to rights, or to what we two consider to be right,
There was lunch (sausages, boiled potatoes and green veg medley)
And then there was tennis... I gave up on the first match as both women were 'shouters', but watched the second.
Fast, hot, sweaty, running and turning and twisting and hurtling round the court... how can they keep it going?
So I've chosen scurry scurry music; Schubert Impromptu in E flat. It's almost too hot to listen to it;
I had bever actually made spaghetti carbonate before, although I'd eaten it often enough. I read through a couple of recipes online, and settled on 'Easy Spaghetti Carbonara' from the BBC Good Food site. There is an Ultimate Spaghetti Carbonara recas well, which is Nigella Lawson version, almost the same but using 3 pans instead of 2...
Basically, for 2, you boil 200g spaghetti. While that's going on, fry 75g lardonds in a little olive oil. grate 100g parmesan and stir this into 2 beaten eggs. Season the egg and cheese mix with pepper and a little salt. Dip a bit of water out of the spaghetti pan with a mug in case you need it later. Drain the spaghetti, but not too thoroughly so that a little water clings to the strands, and tip it into the pan with the crispy brown lardons, and straight away stir through the egg and cheese mixture, off the heat. Add a little pasta water to loosen the sauce if necessary.
Serve in warm bowls with extra grated parmesan.
It was delicious! My only problem was that I was using up some rather old parmesan which was too hard to grate. I ended up chopping it finely with knife - time consuming and messy.
This recipe is keeper
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4-Ingredient Impossible Pie
I was intrigued by this recipe and thought I'd give it a go. I made half of these quantities and cooked it in a dish in the air fryer.
Ingredients
4largeeggs
3/4cup (148 g)granulated white sugar
1/2cup (64 g)all-purpose flour
2 cups (473 ml)low fat milk
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease the interior of a 9-inch pie pan.
Add eggs, sugar, flour and milk into a blender. Blend until all ingredients are incorporated and evenly mixed. Pour batter into prepared pie pan.
Bake for about 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. The pie will also start to pull away from the sides. Let pie cool to room temperature. The pie will deflate a little as it cools. Place pie into fridge for several hours or overnight to chill and to let the flavors fully develop. If desired, dust pie with powdered sugar before serving. Pie is best served chilled.
The website suggests using vanilla flavour coconut milk, but I used ordinary dairy milk and vanilla sugar.
What you end up with is very similar to the custard part of a custard tart. I found the pie too sweet; next time around I'll use a lot less sugar and add nutmeg. BB didn't care for it, but then he's never liked custard tarts, but I love them!
Music
More manic music to accompany the tennis. The Flight of the Bumble Bee played on the piano by Yuja Wang... un be lieve a ble
