05-07-25 - evening

Good evening, everyone!  I'm posting this now because tomorrow I will be out on a coach trip to Hampton Court Flower Festival, leaving home quite early so it seemed sensible to post this evening instead.

I am really looking forward to tomorrow although, of course, it would be the weekend that the fine weather breaks.  However, it means we won't have to endure baking heat or fight for the shady spots as we go round - that's a plus, for sure.  It looks interesting and there's loads of talks and demos going on .I've looked on the site and it doesn't seem that they have to be booked so it's a case of what you know, you know.  With that in mind, I will be shelling out a tenner on a programme that should tell me everything I need to know.

I've got my bags packed - the bag I leave on the coach and the bag I take round with me.  I wonder whether I will spend any more than the programme and a few souvenirs (fridge magnet, perhaps?)

I had another round of bread making in Thermione.  Same recipe, different end product.  I wanted a roll for my packed lunch tomorrow and plus one for my burger this evening and I though 'why not.  The diagonal scoring worked much better for these rolls, I think.

The recipe made nine and the others are in the freezer for other times.

I had an interesting communication the other day.  Longer term readers might possibly remember that I took out a funeral plan after I retired but, unfortunately, the company went bankrupt as a result of much higher than expected Covid claims and we were given to understand that there was nothing left for repayments/compensation.  I was a bit miffed as I had paid in full but it is what it is and no-one could have foreseen the catastrophe that was Covid.

However, since then the liquidators have been at work and it seems that there will be some sort pay-out after all, pro rata, I believe, around November time.  I needed to confirm a few details (not bank details or anything personal) so I did that and sent it straight back off again.
So that was a bit of positive news.
I found another way of making sure Beth, Dave and Alex don't have to shell out anything before probate is granted or take out any expensive loans.  No more funeral plans for me, thank you!

Yesterday the fan arrived and I am very pleased with it.  It's more neat and compact than a pedestal fan, sends out plenty of cool air, has six (I think) speeds and a night time setting and is controlled by a gizmo (which I had better not lose!).  And it oscillates.  Oh, and yes, it is a lot quieter too.
I've ordered another one for my bedroom!

And finally -

I asked would this be red or orange.  The answer is 'yellow'.  Of course it is!!  :-)

The chillies can be seen quite clearly now.

Despite my reservations regarding how there are planted, they seem to be going great guns.  No baby corns yet though.
Fingers are crossed.

That's all folks.  Have a great day tomorrow and I'll be back Monday, maybe with some photos of my trip.

xx

05-07-25

 Good morning, everyone.  We've had another nice, cool night round here; it's cloudy at the moment and predicted to stay so all day.  No hint of rain though but not to worry, cool is good however it presents.

I had fun making the baguettes and this is how they turned out:
The yeasted dough . . .

What they looked like pre baking and before the sprinkle and score. It's a half and half dough, hence the specked-ness.

And oh, yes!!

OK, so different sized (not a problem) and I needed to slash them deeper as there was great oven-spring and they split along the sides but that's OK too.

But how did they taste?

This was how the sourdough worked.  Again, great oven spring and inadequate scoring - see how it has blown out at the side - although I did try.

Neither baguette was proper crusty.

I gave two to Beth and Alex, enjoyed some for dinner and the rest is in the freezer now.
As for the taste - delicious!  Not authentic - thet were half and halfs for a start, but that's fine, they tasted great which is the most important thing.

I'm going to have another try today but the yeasted version, not the sourdough, because I don't wand anything hanging over until tomorrow.

This was how I enjoyed them.  :-)  Oh, it was good.  Home made bread, home made chutney, home churned butter (from the leftover Christmas cream) and see how good I was just having one of those mini bottles of wine.  😇

Naughty but nice!

The cookery 'class' wasn't plain sailing in that there was obviously a problem with the batter - far too much milk to flour and egg so it simply wouldn't cook, it just made a splurgy mess in the pan.  Embarrassing.

I tried another pan and it was the same so it wasn't me.

So I quickly knocked up a batch of ordinary pancakes and on we went.  Alex took to ladling and swirling the batter round the pan like a pro, bless him.

The filling was a tomato sauce with cheese and spinach and it was absolutely delicious.  Adaptable too.  The photos is my portion.
It was a shame about the pancakes though because the 'splurgy mess' tasted fab.
I wasn't going to waste the batter without a fight so, after Alex had gone, I halved the failed batter and to one half I added another egg and 40g plain flour and it worked perfectly.  So it was the recipe, not my lack of skill!!  I did the same for the other half and now there's ten big carrot crepes rolled and wrapped and in the freezer.  I'll take them over to Beth and Alex at some point.  He also took home a dish with three more filled pancakes to freeze and have at a later date.

Tomorrow is totally filled so today I will be mostly chilling, just doing things I want to do and prepping for tomorrow.  I won't be able to post tomorrow so I'll probably do an early one this evening instead.  However, if I don't, I'll be back Monday.

Have a wonderful day, all!  xx

04-07-25

Morning, my lovelies.  How are you all today?

I woke super-early this morning and have been downstairs making dough!  Daft?  Probably, but it makes me happy so . . . why not.

The mandatory garden photos for today:

Great excitement - I have a ripening tomato.  Just one.  It's a Tumbling Tom, not sure if it's the red or the orange one; I suspect the latter.  Once one gets the idea, the others soon catch on too and this feels pretty early for me.
Nice!!

And the runner beans are coming on a treat.  I'm starting to see some little flower stems emerging, which is great.

Yesterday started with the SET class online - always good - and then I did some vaguely helpful housework in dribs and drabs.  This has been a very lazy week for housework but I will back to get my act together because I have people round for lunch on several days next week, not to mention the lovely Sharon coming round to do my hair so the kitchen needs to be see-able.

I need to plan some meals too, don't I?
Better get going with that.

Groove in the afternoon was brilliant but, sadly, this block is the last block and it won't resume in September.  There's very good reasons which I will share another time but I'm sad about it.

I've just popped into the kitchen and now my first attempt at baguettes, using a Thermomix recipe, is all shaped and on the new tin, covered with a damp cloth and in around forty five minutes it should be ready for the oven.
I followed Veronica's advice and looked up how to fold and shape baguettes.  Different bakers have different methods, of course, but I got the general idea so fingers crossed.
The other dough, the sourdough, is slower and will need to go into the fridge when I go to Slimming World.
I'll take a few photos whether the outcome be successful or less so.  Got to try in order to learn!

It's Alex's Cookery Club later and he sounds really quite excited to have a go at carrot crepes with a tomato sauce.  Apparently, last week's sausage and bean casserole went down so well with both of them that he went out and bought a new set of ingredients to make it again.  That's what I call a win every time!

Well, I just have time to shower, wash my hair, etc, and get dressed before the baguettes should be ready for baking - so I will love you and leave you with my hopes that you all have the best day.  Jackie and Chris - I hope you can stay cool and fresh in the summer heat.  

See you!  xx

03-07-25

Morning, everyone.

(photos taken yesterday morning)

Great activity going on with the cucumbers.  I looked at a few videos and have started pinching out as many side shoots (or suckers) as I can, as I do with the tomatoes although it always amazes me how many I miss and how quickly they grow.

One or two are rather too big to cut out so I am training them up a cane instead.

The females now have flowers so I have dug out a soft bristles brush (from my make up drawer!) and am helping the pollination process along, as suggested on one of the videos.  

So far, so good!

There's loads and loads of tomatoes now but not much sign of ripening - yet.  Maybe this hot weather we have had will make a difference in the next few weeks but I believe outdoor tomatoes ripen later than greenhouse ones anyway.  We will see.

I'm picking loads of blueberries at the moment and plan to make a batch of blueberry discard pancakes for the freezer.  There's also a few rogue raspberries but not too many.

The Premium Bonds have come up trumps again; this month I am drawing it down to cover the cost of a new fan as one of my old ones has rather given up and isn't pushing out the air very much.  I've ordered a bladeless one, just a cheap version and nothing like a Dyson, but, if it's good, I might go upmarket a bit.  Do any of you have bladeless fans - are they good?

I've also ordered a baguette baking tray so I can make different loaves.  Sourdough isn't quite the same as a baguette dough but that's OK, it's the shape that's so useful.
One of these days, I might look up the authentic recipe but I believe that involves a specialist flour that's quite expensive.  Does anyone know?

While on the subject, I have a great pot full of discard but have read that it's great for the compost heap so, rather than draining it and risking a blockage, all that lovely yeasty stuff can feed my compost instead - all that I don't need for the blueberry pancakes, of course.

The SEND meeting with J was really helpful and informative.  Plenty to write about, for sure.  Afterwards, I went to Morrisons as Alex would like to use Thermione on Friday to make carrot crepes in a tomato sauce.  It may sound off but they recipe looks great and he should be able to just work through it while I watch.  Anyway, I got what was needed so am now all set up and ready for that.

It's surprising how tiring extreme heat can be.  Monday and Tuesday evenings I was fighting to keep my eyes open beyond eight and was asleep well before nine, sleeping badly and waking often.  Last night I was fine, bed near ten, slept well and feel refreshed this morning.  It almost felt chilly and I have a dressing gown on for the first time in what feels like ages.

It is sunny though, at the moment, and is supposed to be pleasant - sunny, light winds and a high of 24.  It sounds really nice.

Today is another easier day.  I'm doing two sections of SET this morning and Groove in the Garden this afternoon.  Between them, it is homey stuff.  Chris is away so no coffee and chat today.

I've started a smaller sourdoughs in Thermione, just to see if it works that way, and I want to start making yogurt again.  I gave away my yogurt maker but I can use Thermione and a flask - worth a try as I am finding I throw out so much milk that has gone off in this warmer weather.

Finally, I have to write the report of the meeting and send it off for approval.

Have a lovely day, everyone.  Enjoy the cooler weather and stay safe.  xx

02-07-25

Good morning, everyone.  
I am so thankful - we have a much cooler day predicted today and, right now, it is cloudy and raining slightly while the top temp today is predicted to be around 22C.  I am so grateful.
Round here, yesterday was a real scorcher, must have been well into the 30s and stepping out to hang out washing felt like stepping into an oven.  It was a very uncomfortable first half of the night too, very sweaty and nasty, even with the fans on.  It didn't help that my tum went on me a bit too - the heat, I assume.

Enough grumbling!  The heat was good in one respect:

The best white sourdough I think I have ever made and, because it was so warm, the starter was very active and so was the dough - you could see the bubbles forming in it and I just hope there aren't too many holes.
This one is for Lindsey, not for me.  As most of you know, I have promised her a loaf a week for her birthday present, although she will be away most of August.

Groove was baking though (like the bread but not so active!!)

Lyndsey did her hot weather class - a steady beat and 'nothing too energetic' (her words).   It may not have been as energetic as usual but it was quite enough, thank you, and we all ended sweaty and a bit drained.  I'm very glad I did it though - and also very glad I took the car.  I wouldn't have enjoyed walking back in that heat.

Housework?  What housework?

Today has two things in the diary.  I'm off into school for the termly SEND meeting, paperwork to hand, this morning.  It shouldn't take that long, hopefully.  Then, later on, I'm off to Lindsey's for personal training.  It should be do-able as it's cooler today.  
And housework.  Must get housework done too.  The place is becoming a tip.

What's it like your way?  Comfortable, I hope.  Have a lovely day.  xx

01-07-25

 Morning, everyone.

So here we are in July, entering the second half of 2025 with a beautifully sunny early morning.  It will hot up and become less comfortable but, right now, it is lovely.  I've prepped quite a lot of my food for today and I've started this week's sourdough for Lindsey - a while one this time.  I should be able to get it all done today; after all, it is warm enough!

All those plans for yesterday - well, I did manage to get some ironing done but the housework got left and I couldn't do the finances because my phone was out of data - note to self: do NOT send big photos to friend.  SO I tackled them early this morning.  It was a bit more complicated what with some of July's stuff already out and the Eddie money hanging fire until tomorrow but I was able to work it out OK, I think. 

Today is going to be hot again.  Getting ready for fitness classes is a bit more complicated what with making sure I have a towel, the wet flannel is cooling in the freezer and there's really cold water to take with me in my flask.  It's worth it though - it makes a big difference.
I'm not walking to Groove and back again.  Going would be OK but by the time the class is over, it will be pretty hot - and so will I.

I'll see how it goes today.  I really ought to do some dusting, etc and it's not too energetic, is it?  I have a meeting tomorrow to prepare for and I can always recipe hunt - I enjoy that.  Not to mention finishing off the banket and a sourdough loaf to get on with.
Actually it should be quite a pleasant day.

I hope yours is good too.  Stay safe and well.  xx

Spot the babies - how many baby chillies can you find in this photo 
(I have no idea but there are loads)!

30-06-25

Good morning.  So, here we are at the very end of June.  Half way through the year, pretty much, and in the middle of a 'heatwave'.

Yesterday worked out fine.  The Thermo cooking demo worked out fine.  I was just looking to learn (there's always something new to find out about Thermione) and it is an opportunity for a free meal too.   The consultants made sticky chilli beef, devilled eggs, potato salad (including the mayo) and sous-vide apples.  All delicious and I will make them at home.

Before then, I had worked up by making some caramelised onion chutney and some lentil and veg bolognaise sauce in Thermione.  I must use her more, given how much I am shelling out on TM7!

I used the bus as the timings worked out well and got home well in time for Eddie who came round with the precious external hard drive continuing pretty much all of my lost data.  There's a few files that are incomplete but nothing crucial and I have my precious family photos and recipes, etc.  Phew.

Today begins with circuits and that's it as far as the diary is concerned.  Downstairs could do with a good clean and tidy - I've done the bits that show but it's time to pull things out, etc.

As it is the end of the month I will also read the gas meter and finalise the finances for June - a bit more complicated as I paid for the computer thingy but the money from my Premium Bonds account is being paid after tomorrow's draw (my choice, you never know) so I have to take that into account.

Well, time to love you and leave you.  Have the best day and stay cool, everyone.  xx