Allotment update: All Hallows Eve
Our allotment neighbour, Mark, has grown a giant pumpkin on his site and lots of little pumpkins and squash. I reckoned that his kids would be carving the monster pumpkin but this evening it was still lying on the ground looking like a vast, beached Humpty Dumpty. The allotment below us has tomatoes and plump red pepper ready to harvest for the past few weeks – they are just rotting on the plants. I must admit that I’ve been eyeing this bounty. Danny is severe, “Even if they are clearly just going to rot, you can’t take them. It’s...
read moreCooking in a Thermos or vacuum flask. Leek and potato soup recipe
When I first heard about cooking in a vacuum flask I had an image of a whiskery maiden aunts filling vacuum flasks with Spam, gravy granules and boiling water. Why on earth would I want to cook in a Thermos? The idea seemed grim until I bought my 1920’s Thermos at the village fete one year. This is a marvellous piece of kit. It was crying out to be used so I started researching the possibilities and I’ve used it for slow cooking ever since. During WW2 vacuum flask cooking was normal. Apart from a few minutes coming to boil on the hob and a...
read moreCollecting bean seeds from the garden saves money
This year I’m very behind in the garden. Seeds need to be gathered, pelargonium’s are crying out to be dug up and taken to a warmer place, the final lawn cut needs to take place. So yesterday I stepped into the bright autumn sunshine with a selection of bags. The seeds that I was chasing were sweet peas, broad beans, climbing French beans and runner beans. Last year I left the runner bean pods on the plants too long and they got damp, mildewy and rotted. This year I was determined to succeed. Seeds seem relatively cheap when you just buy a...
read moreEggy bread and cheese toasties recipe
Reading a review of a biography of Eva Braun at the weekend, I discovered that I have something in common with Hitler. He rarely got up before midday. Since developing CFS a couple of years ago, I tend to spend my mornings in bed. Propped up with my laptop and the Min Pins I do a bit of reading, writing and planning. The latter is generally not plotting world domination but rather what I’m going to prepare for brunch. This morning it was going to be toasted chicken club sandwiches until D confessed that he had picked the carcass...
read moreRecipe for leftovers: broccoli, cauliflower and Stilton soup
A few years ago I woke up one night. I could hear a loud crunching coming from the bottom of my giant 100 year old bed. What on earth could it be? I hastily groped for the light switch and discovered that Inca, our youngest Min Pin, was gnawing a head of broccoli. She had stolen the head from the kitchen and dragged it upstairs. Inca loves vegetables and often thieves from the pig bin but this was the first time that she had stolen from the vegetable basket. I was too tired to take it from her. In the morning I was surprised to find that she...
read moreDealing with an invasion of mice
This hugely sentimental (yet brilliantly airbrushed) photo that I discovered on the Internet indicates that I’m a bit ambivalent about mice. I love them, enjoy observing their balletic antics but do not want them rampaging in our kitchen. If they slept in their beds at night and went elsewhere for their food they would be more than welcome. We live in racehorse country, land packed with studs and stables that are magnetic to mice. Loads of free food, warmth and a rural environment. We also keep chickens. The sum of horse country and...
read moreBeetroot recipes from The Chicken Lady
Both The Chicken Lady and I are growing beetroot on our allotments. TCL has started to harvest hers already and raced home with a vast bunch last week. She was planning to transform them into beetroot delicacies. She mentioned pickled beets, a Crank’s beetroot salad and an intriguing raspberry and beetroot jelly. When I sowed my beetroot seed I had no plans beyond beetroot in a white sauce or a cold beetroot salad with yoghurt. Both delicious but not nearly as exotic as raspberry and beetroot jelly. Yesterday I drifted onto her blog...
read moreCataracts are a common side effect of diabetes in dogs
The Contessa has diabetes which is being treated with daily insulin injections and a special diet. She has adapted well and loved jumping on the chair for her ‘jecky’ as it’s followed by a scrap of cheddar cheese. Then one day she jumped onto the chair and missed. I checked her eyes carefully, her nut brown eyes were smudged with milky cataracts. The Contessa’s cataracts developed very quickly. Seemingly in just a matter of days she changed from a dog with the grace and agility of a tiny gazelle to a nervous and uncertain...
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