Celia’s Purple Podded Peas blog birthday – 5 years old today!
To write a blog for five years is something to be applauded. But to create a blog as inspirational and well written as Celia’s Purple Podded Peas blog takes true talent. “I keep on thinking about what I would have done with all that time if I hadn’t been writing my blog,” mused Celia, “but then I wouldn’t have met other bloggers, or been discovered by galleries and so much more.” Blogging is a social activity. In most cases it’s a celebration of being human in its broadest sense. Celia combines a wide range of activities and...
read moreRecipe for delicious and easy chicken and ham risotto
We eat a lot of risotto in the cottage. It’s a great way of padding out small leftovers of meat and totally vegetarian risottos are great too – all that creamy rice with just a little bite is gorgeous. Generally I am the one who makes it. Danny tried it once using some duck fat that he found lurking in the bottom of the fridge. I’m not sure how old that fat was but it tasted like something from Tutankhamen’s tomb. I strongly suspect that he did this accidentally on purpose. He’s never been asked to attempt the dish again. In fact...
read moreSponsored video and post: Mr Kipling’s granny and her tin
This post has been sponsored by Mr Kipling, but all thoughts are my own. I love the granny in Mr Kipling’s new advertisement. As we never see her face she is the archetypal generous and slightly mysterious old lady. With the help of her special tin she can make what you are thinking appear in the form of one of the large range of Mr Kipling cakes. The fact that each cake is offered on a tiny old fashioned tea plate is so grannyish too. This charming advertisement conjures up the epitome of happy childhood days and the simple pleasure of...
read moreGrowing and eating yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius)
If you have not cultivated yacon before it would be worth seriously thinking about growing it this year. If you are already growing yacon you will know why! So many of the little known vegetables are a bit of a disappointment – it’s easy to see why they are not in every garden in the land. Yacon is different. It’s delicious. It is a great contrast to most of the winter veg that we chomp through each year. It’s easy to grow and so versatile. Yacon is a perennial tuber from South America. There it is eaten as a fruit. In the UK it is...
read moreMorphy Richards Essentials 70455 Compact Steam Cleaner: a review
I hate cleaning. Even more than cleaning, I loathe grunge. Deep ingrained dirt that seems to be dug right in and almost impossible to remove. Black mould at the bottom of windows. Grease in oven. Those nasty deposits of lime scale around the base of the taps. Stains on the carpets where one of the Min Pins has had an accident. Old fat spills on the kitchen carpet. Every now and then I tackle the grunge but the effort put in no way matches the poor results, leaving me frustrated and peevish. Also I find that cleaning is hard work and time...
read moreAssumptions can kill
Thank you so much for all your good wishes over the past few days. Your comments are a real tonic to be savoured. The trip to the doctor was worthwhile, the pain is now bearable, the lung infection is being tackled with the antibiotics and I’m happy to lie in bed and recover. Yes Codeine’s great buddy is Constipation. But a small overnight pill breaks up that friendship in a trice! Within a few hours of getting ill the world contracts to just a few essentials. The warm bed a boat in a sheltered harbour. The world outside the window is...
read moreCoping with pain
“I’m afraid you are going to be rattling for the next couple of weeks or so.” The duty doctor looked at the screen as he filled out the prescription. I didn’t care if I rattled or even hooted at midnight. Anything to get rid of the pain. Rushing down the garden last Friday, I slipped on a mossy brick path and fell backwards. Breaking a rib on an old stone planter. Apart from being a bit sore over the weekend I must have been cage fighting in my dreams on Sunday night. By Monday I could hardly move – the pain was so severe. I also had...
read moreBeekeeping plans and projects 2012
Our colony of bees didn’t make it through the winter. I always start checking to see if they are flying on sunny days. It’s so heartening to see them buzzing in an out of the hive. A real sign of spring. But this year the hive is silent. I’ve sat beside the pond for ages hoping that eventually they’d appear. But there is no sign of them. All the honey bees that I’ve spotted in our garden must have come from the hives across the road. It’s really disappointing. I haven’t looked inside the hive yet – I suppose I’ve been...
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