The Google Redirect Virus: a great site that can help you kill it for good
Computer health is something that most of us take for granted. Especially if you have bought and installed a reputable anti virus software and spyware programme – McAfee in my case. This programme chugs away daily – updating and searching and protecting. Having paid your annual subscription you can relax. Wrong. A few weeks ago I began having problems with browsing. I’d click on one site and be redirected to another – Toronto Real Estate, motor parts, shopping selection sites and so on. This started to drive me nuts. I jumped...
read moreResults of Grand Draw for 5 x £50 Homebase vouchers
Danny here. Fiona opened the Homebase Grand Draw on May 11th and it ran until the end of the month. As she said, “the five lucky winners will each receive a £50 voucher. The vouchers can be used throughout the store. As you know, they have a huge range of other products too.” You can read her article here. This morning I ran the drawing of the prize vouchers. There were 136 entries (including my invalid one), which were comments on her article. One entrant Tweeted and also posted a comment (1 entry). The method of selecting the...
read moreHow to make simple and strong raised beds for your garden
Our cottage is set quite a way back from the road. We like this as it gives us a lot more privacy than a house set beside a pavement. This front garden faces south west and is a much warmer and more protected spot than the kitchen garden – which lies in a bit of a frost pocket. Last year we extended the long south facing herbaceous border that runs from the gate to the cottage. This year we decided to use some more of the front drive for raised beds. Our drive is full of rocks and the soil is heavy clay – so raised beds seemed like a good...
read moreIn search of a good salad dressing
Over 20 years ago, when I was married to my ex-husband B, we went to supper with one of his old college friends. Let’s call her Lucy. She had lived in Italy for a while and this is where she’d met her Italian husband. We’ll call him Maximus. They had a little girl – very pretty and bright so I think that Bella would be a good name to protect her privacy. Somehow the evening was awkward. Perhaps they had had a row? Possibly we had – I just don’t remember. They were living in a rented flat. Maximus didn’t speak much...
read moreThe year of the salad
When I was growing up salad was just a few basic ingredients arranged on a plate. It was the same for Danny. “Sliced cucumber, a quartered tomato and some lettuce leaves.” “Was the lettuce that soft floppy kind?” “Yes, the stuff that bruised easily. And I always seemed to get the bruised leaves” “Did you have celery?” “My mum used to make an apple, walnut and celery salad. A triumph compared to the rest.” Over the past 40 years salad in the UK has evolved massively into something that can be surprising, delicious and...
read moreThe Grand Broad Bean Challenge
Home grown broad beans are an entirely different ‘animal’ from those wet, hard skinned specimens that were served for school lunches when I was a child. Even the podded broad beans available from good greengrocers and high end supermarkets are not a patch on the pods plucked from your garden and devoured within minutes. Broad beans tops are a delicacy in France . Baby beans cooked in the pod are delicious. Even more mature broad beans haven’t a hint of school dinners and old mens’ fingers with their translucent skin. To be at...
read moreSummer rabbit casserole recipe for the slow cooker/crock pot
A few years ago Danny and I went to stay in the Cinque Terra in Italy. This is in Liguria and the five towns are seaside or clinging to hillside near the coast. This is a great region for walking and farming. We’d watch the walkers leave as we enjoyed our breakfast and return when we were lifting the first glass of the evening. We were staying in a small town called Monte Rosso. A beautiful old fashioned seaside place with a truly sleepy feel. Despite this it was packed with good restaurants and shops selling foodie delights. We’d guzzle...
read moreHow About Snail Farming? Guest spot by Helen Howard – the edible snail farmer
A few weeks ago I got an email from Helen Howard, the Kent snail farmer. I was intrigued – what did the process actually involve? Why had she started snail farming? Do they need a special diet? Where does she keep them? My brain whirled. We don’t have a large snail population here at the cottage. We are lucky that we have many frogs and a large community of birds living in the garden. When they do appear snails are a menace. The thought of nurturing and breeding them albeit to eventually eat was a wonderful reversal of the traditional...
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