Cooking feast

 Is it feast or fest?  Anyway, whatever.  It has been going on in our house over the last few days.

Today’s soup is red pepper with lime, except in this case it is with lemon due to the lack of lime in local shop.  Wow, what a bite added by a chilli fresh from the garden.  Add garlic,onion, proverbial veg stock and away we go.

 And tomorrow it will be Moroccan Chickpea,  another winter warmer which looks really good.

Yesterday also took on the task of a chicken and leak pie.  Chicken had been defrosted and not used so, following our ‘no waste’ programme and having a spare leek in the fridge, it looked like a good idea.

Absolutely amazing.  Even better now the short crust pastry has been hunted down.

Just one more to add to the list was American pancakes with real American maple syrup to boot for breakfast this morning.  Can you believe maple syrup purchased from our Cypriot butcher!  He has amazing things on display and I often pick things up as an aside to the meat order.

A bit of wow, I must have that, and then find out what to do with it.

A bit closer to home my daughter has her birthday tomorrow and I mailed her hoping to book a catch up call.

Looks like a no go, she is taking a day out from work and a day which sounds like it is much needed.  Happy birthday sweetheart, and catch up soon. xxx

As a key worker she must be under extreme pressure, as all key workers are, and any time off must be very precious.

My excitement levels are rising while waiting for the big garden change over for the raised bed! Let it be soon.  I am about to burst.

Weather not brilliant at the moment but did manage to get a while out in the garden this afternoon.

Knitting progressing at a fairly slow rate but am happy with the result.

I am enjoying our wood pile at the moment.  Some very interesting shapes coming to light.  I found one yesterday which looks like a cross between a horse, camel, donkey. Didn’t get a pic of it today but will get one tomorrow.

Experiment for carrots and garlic coming along.  And hyacinths showing fabulous colours.

I think that brings us up to date so more again soon.

Thanks for reading.

Getting ready for Spring

 Friday 22nd January

Work getting started to prepare for the Spring.  Plant plugs will be ready about the second week in March, so plenty of time to make sure the garden is ready and hazard free.

The old table has served us well.  We bought it from IKEA when we got our first home together back in 2002.  They don’t make them like that any more.

Cats wanting to know what’s afoot and jockeying for positions in readiness.  Poor Daisy the dog has to take what’s left.

The old gardening table is going have a spruce up by our gardening team and replace the glass topped one, which is too big for us. 

I am hoping once we have all the troughs and pots in place we can rig up a small irrigation system.

The first of our hyacinth has started to bloom, and looks gorgeous.  I still get a buzz when anything bursts into bloom.

The roses are still going strong as the weather has been so mild during the day. But freezing during the night.  Thank god for electric blankets.

I am off the ‘see’ an eye specialist on Wednesday.  My eyes have been getting worse and it’s time to get a check up.

I did go to one a couple of years ago and she told me I didn’t need glasses.  Well, thought I, and why would I have been wearing glasses since I was about seven?

I have found a magic lady who can replace a broken zip on a sofa seating cover.   I thought we would have to wait until some of the restrictions are lifted.

Talking of which, this crazy government are talking about re-opening airports as soon as 1st March, just as the infection rate is going down.

Looks like we will just keep doing what we are doing!

I will leave you with that thought and, as they used to say on Hill Street Blues, “let’s be careful out there”.

See you soon.

Substantial meal...?

 Tuesday 19th January - scotch eggs.

Well, we would have said not.  But we made some today, absolutely scrumpy.

We decided we had to try them, so took the plunge with half of one each. 

Verdict - definitely substantial.

Bit of a cooking day with a batch of cream of mushroom soup. I was going to do courgette and garlic as well but ran out of steam so it will have to wait until tomorrow.

We have had some fun with watching films this week.

Saturday - The Dead Zone based on a man waking from a coma after five years with apparently an ability to look into people’s hearts.  Christopher Walken superb as always.

Sunday - The Green Line.  Hairy film based in death row in the 1930s. Outstanding work from Tom Hanks together with a gigantic actor called Michael Clark Duncan (Who sadly died at the age of 54).

Monday - The Verdict.  My choice based on the write up in Wickipedia and happen to like crime films.  Paul Newman played a good drunk!

This all came about as we are now shivering and shaking in the cold,  even with the log fire.

Just as an aside, I actually managed to get laundry out of the way before the rain came yesterday and now the house looks like a Chinese laundry.  Ho, hum, what fun!

To vaccinate or not, seems easy enough

 I am at home today keeping snug, listening to Classic FM with Alan Titchmarsh, who, to my way of thinking, has one of the most relaxing ways of presenting his program on radio.

Last Sunday was an early morning shopping trip to the supermarket, where 7 until 9 is reserved for people in high risk groups.  Seems most people respect that ruling and I must say I really appreciate it.  I don’t really cherish people breathing down my neck when shopping.

We decided we would try and go out just once a week to do essential things, even though all non-essential shops have to remain closed. We are back to having to send of a text with a code which matches the reason for going out and also quote the registration number on Certificate of Residence.  Authorities have a right to stop and request site of these and issue a fine if they are not produced.

Well, all was well until we got to Thursday and an essential trip to the doctor had to be made and then on to the pharmacy.  We even managed to fit in getting some light bulbs for the cooker hood and I decided to change doctors back to the original practice.

Bit of a hiccup when the pharmacy said they did not have some of my medication and I would have to go back the next day to collect it

So once a week turned into three times! And it is only the first week.

We have had some interesting weather this week but then again we have been waiting for winter to arrive. It did so with a crash, bang, wallop but I am pleased to say the garden did not suffer too much damage.

Our outing next week may include a trip to the nursery for a plant trough which will be used on the raised bed  - pictures to follow once work begins.

The question of vaccination is one which I don’t want to decide on, but I have come to the conclusion that it will eventually come into play and then be repeated annually, not unlike the flu vaccine which is tweaked every year to deal with any variants in the strain.

It is the only way I can see any sort of normality can return.  Of course, it would have helped if governments had sang from the  same song sheet and members of the public had stuck to the rules for the benefit of everyone.

On the bright side we have had fun with food this week following on from a roast Sunday lunch and keeping to our house rule not to throw any food away!

Chicken broth, chicken pie also using left over roaster veg (very yummy), more creative breakfasts and looking forward to more pies.

Watch this space for results and comments on weight gain.

Looking forward to February - a bit closer to warm days of Spring.

Breakfast feasts

Once I had left school and started work I stopped eating breakfast.

Whether the two things were connected or not I don’t know, but it became a way of life.

I also started smoking and continued to do so until 2018, which was, trust me, a lot of years!

2018 was a significant year for a lot of reasons.  One was I was very much under weight and had to put some on pretty quickly.  A gust of wind would have blown me away.

So, armed with a certain amount of determination I proceeded with a plan. Mr D was a very happy person.

Not that I have never cooked breakfast for him but it was a bit of a hit and miss subject.

Moving to Cyprus opened up a new world of eating and recipes, all of which felt healthy.  Not that we gave up the good old fry-up, but the abundance of wonderful fruit and veg and vibrant colours on display are just out of this world.

I still love going to the fruiteria or supermarket and seeing the displays of goods on offer.

On Thursday our gardens had collected some pink grapefruits from a garden they were looking after (with permission of course) and gave some to us.

This happens a lot here, and I still find it a very generous act.  Another person recently gave us some super oranges, a bit like the Jaffa ones we got as kids.  Lemons are aplenty as not many of them are being harvested in this area.

The internet comes into its own at times like this as far as I am concerned.  Search grapefruit recipes and up pops ‘baked grapefruit with maple syrup’.

Well, I don’t keep maple syrup but do keep honey, so off we go.

In my rush to taste it when it came out of the oven I forgot to take a picture.  But it was to die for is the expression I think.

Today was an egg breakfast and ‘egg casserole for two’ was a great hit with both of us.

A bit like a soufflé, very filling.  May make a good supper dish with a light salad.

This week we have received new regulations which take us back to square one last March.  Oh, well.  Could be heartbreaking but still staying positive.

Hope you enjoy the post and will be back with more musings soon.

Welcome 2021!

 Day four of a new year and hoping for better things.  

We have been blessed with a quite wonderful December with weather so good that almost every day we have been able to spend time in the garden.

Flowers seem to think it is spring and are having a blooming time.

We have had a fair show of vegetables and the chilli plants are laden with flowers so should give a healthy second crop.

I have learnt a lot this year about what to grow and how, so I am looking forward to a visit to the nursery.

I also think the two mini lemon trees are needing bigger pots, but will check with Marianna.

The gardener pruned the vine recently so fingers crossed we can have a better show.

A few months ago I planted some hyacinth bulbs just to see if they would grow.  Here is the progress so far.

Not bad!

as we go into a new year we are expecting yet more restrictions. Thank god for the garden (and knitting) which have given me sanity, peace of mind and a rewarding interest.

I hope to keep going with my blog and hope you carry on coming to dip into see what’s happening here.

I will be back soon.