How to easily grow the best shallots
I love using shallots in my recipes. I prefer their mild taste to most onions and the fact that they generally store so well gets the thumbs up from me. Until last year my shallots were not the chubby specimens that I saw in the supermarket. If I was lucky they were the size of a small walnut. I tried investing in more expensive sets, giving them more water, feeding them, putting grit in the soil and still the results were disappointing. So last year I took a tip from Monty Don, on Gardeners World. He set his shallots in trays of compost....
read morePeace and or conflict: I‘ve realised that it’s down to me
We still haven’t switched our rooms. The blocker on progress is down to me. I just have too much stuff in my areas for Danny to move any of his things into my ‘old’ space at present. The situation reminds me of a toy that I used to love when I was little. It was a square plastic frame filled with individual plastic tiles. On each tile there was a letter. There was one square left without a tile. The idea was to manoeuvre the letters around, using the free space to create a word. Back then it took me ages. It probably would take the same...
read moreNew plans and projects
When I went back to college to train as a 3D computer animator I had been making wooden toys for 10 years. Enjoyable though the toy making was, it was hardly rocket science and my brain was rarely stretched. Not only was the software extremely complicated to use but I had never used a computer before. Despite the power of positive thinking, the learning curve was pretty tight. I could literally feel my brain sweating for the first month or so. I was learning how to use 3DStudio at £2000 in the Dos platform it was hugely outpaced by software...
read moreRecipe for pork fillet and yacon stir fry with sweet chilli sauce
Pork fillet can sometimes be a bit disappointing – especially when it is sold as medallions. We’ve discovered that if it’s marinaded for an hour before cooking, sliced and cooked very quickly it’s delicious. In fact I think it is one of my favourite types of meat for a stir fry. I’ve been making quite a few stir fries recently. They are quick and it’s fun to play with the ingredients. For years I got the wrong end of the stick regarding stir fries – imagined that everything had to be fried in oil. Of course you can use...
read moreOut in the garden again. Preparing, polishing, fertilising and dreaming.
Over the past day or so I’ve spent a few hours making a start on the garden here at the cottage. There’s so much to do! But I’m not panicking about that – just focusing on each job in hand. I love this time of year – heavy with the promise of things to come and the summer to look forward to. There are always surprises too. Plants that I’ve forgotten are there, plants that are doing better this year and off course there’s the occasional plant that hasn’t got through the winter. Simple tasks like clearing away the...
read moreThe Contessa
The Contessa was the subject of my first blog post way back in August 2006. Danny reminded me of the fact this evening. I often think about the time when Danny and I drove down to London to collect The Contessa. She didn’t have a name then. She was just a new stag red Min Pin pup and a wife for Dr Quito. Dr Q had been attacked and semi-paralysed during a Sunday afternoon walk on The Gallops in Newmarket and our vet suggested that a companion might salve his damaged mojo. We drew up at a tall house that seemed to have Min Pins barking from...
read moreHow to remove glue from jam jar labels
Why is it always the prettiest jam jars that have the most stubborn labels and glue? There’s no chance that they would accidentally peel off and nobody would know what was inside. And when you want to fill them with your own home made preserves they cling to their gluey deposits like stubborn stains. I’m late with my Seville orange marmalade making this year. But I have Sevilles, lemons and sugar at the ready. The real problem has been the jars. In past years I have washed them, dealt with the labels and stored them ready for use....
read moreDeep root trainers: a review
I’m way behind with sowing my seeds this year. I was very envious of Celia’s seedlings that I spotted in her greenhouse at Purple Podded Peas HQ this week. So this weekend will be a flurry of seed sowing activity. I think that I’m a bit late for sowing chillies this year, as these really need to be sown in early February but I might try a few alongside the tomato seeds in the electric propagator. Apart from the seeds that can go straight in the ground, I’ll be using seed trays and deep root trainers for everything else. Deep root...
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