Helping Grandma

The last of the ha-ha-harvest

Red cabbage - mostly snail and caterpillar.

Carrots - mostly carrot fly.

Beetroot - mostly too big and woody.

Nevertheless I have managed to extract a borscht

from these flawed ingredients.

The snails and caterpillars were spared.

I have decided to give that bed over to tulips for cutting next spring.

It's too warm to plant them yet so I must hold off

otherwise they will be mostly - Tulip fire fungus.

Even Sarah Raven has suffered from this.

Racing along

This is the torrent of photos

 that was released when the spanner in the blogging works was unjammed.

It doesn't make a lot of sense and doesn't have a neat story

to wrap round it except that this is how spring goes racing along here.

I've been busy making cards
from my old Brooke Bond tea card collection
which wasn't sparking joy but now is,

a cushion for the summer house
from an old curtain ditto,

passion fruit possets,

many more cards,

and looking after this funny little one, 
lately back from New York
sporting the latest in headgear
aka a neck cushion.

It's beginning to look a bit like

A perfect dawn.

Time to see off this beastly bug for good.

The leaking coolant pipe in the car has been fixed

(yes that was the third thing),

the meat has been collected,

the veg box delivered,

the cake has been iced,

the Advent windows admired,

cards and twinkly lights,

are disposed about the house.

O. has made a huge batch of seething sourdough

and I have cracked open

the Quality Street.

Interesting how much smaller the old tins were.

And finally the orange pastry recipe for mince pies
from my  'well used' Josceline Dimblebey book.
I hope you can read it Frances.

Cooking on gas

It took two hours

and a hefty fee,

to change a 3 amp fuse -

which I provided.

But I am very grateful to the skinny
and much tattooed young man

who wrestled the beast out of its lair,

disemboweled it,
diagnosed the problem

and reassembled it,

without damaging either tiles or floor.

Let the roasting, baking and grilling re-commence.

Exquisite timing

With two loud bangs

our gas stove threw in the towel last night.

At first light the hunt began 

for anyone who knew how to fix it.

The usual rigmarole followed with The Four Seasons on hold.

The passing from hand to hand in various organisations. 

The out of order number, the wrong number,

the,

'We're very busy, everybody wants their cookers fixed. 

I will get someone to call you back between

24 and 48 hours.

Then it will be up to 5 days before anyone can come.'

The lying on the floor with a torch to find

the ten digit model number engraved on its intestines.

The very real possibility that it is beyond repair,

(it is twenty years old),

or the parts are unavailable.

I consider the option of buying a new one,

shudder at the expense

and realise that we will still be sailing very close to the wind 

for delivery and installation.

Plus I happen to remember that the floor was laid up to

and not under the stove in a close fitting chimney alcove and 

that it was an even tighter fit after the walls were tiled.

Likely the floor and tiles will be damaged

as the old one is extracted and the new one pushed in.

Although the entire electrics have blown 

and the gas is therefore cut off to the ovens and grill, 

the burners on the top will still work with matches.

Poached goose anyone? 

Winging it

What do you do if you decide to make some mince pies

and discover that your mince pie tin is missing?

You get a fancy tin from the back of the cupboard,

thankful that you did not Kondo it

and make mince pie madeleines instead.

The broken one didn't spoil the line up for long.

A lemon on a plate

A new plate made by Nao Nakayama.

A lemon on the new plate.

We have been outside fighting the weeds

and decommissioning the three defunct ponds.

I went on a little longer than was wise.

I was hungry but too enervated to do more than squeeze a lemon

and stir it into olive oil and grated Parmesan.

A sauce for a bowl of tagliatelle.

Getting there slowly

Sweet orange pastry for the mince pies -

Josceline Dimblebey's recipe every year.

Red cabbage and apple with sausages and mash.

Winter walks of course

even if we nearly forget to get out in time.

A winter surprise.

But it has been very warm.

Advent windows,

(one of them mine).

The tree at last despite a hissy fit with the lights.

A shining light on these darkling days.