02-06-25

Good morning, everyone.  Welcome to Monday, the first day of a new week and, depending on which date you go by, the start of summer.  It looks like it too - the sun is rising and the sky is blue - for the moment, anyway.

Going back to Saturday, the four of us had a really lovely lunch together at Fowler's Farm, in Braintree.  I didn't get home until nearly five because I diverted on the way home to drop some fold up garden chairs with Beth and Alex.

Yesterday's sourdough course was amazing.  My usual Garmin satnav was on the blink (sound but no picture so I guess I have to get another one) so I used the car one - less reliable - which took me through country roads and housing estates.  It got me there with plenty of time to spare so that was OK.

The venue was the Knead and Desire shop/bakery.  There's the sales counter . . . 

The baking area . . .

And the coffee machine (excellent coffee).

So each day the shop sells coffee,  home made soup and he had made carrot and coriander soup for the course lunch.

Plus whatever sourdough loaves they are making that week and various semi-sourdough pastries.

I gather the place sells out very quickly!

There's also a little eating area, nothing special, just a table and a few chairs.

Not a great photos but this is Andrew, the shop owner and course tutor.  He is absolutely passionate about what he does and a thoroughly nice chap, very down to earth, not the least bit high-brow in his approach and generous in sharing his knowledge and experience.

There were six of us.  One younger man, two older men around my age, a lady and her teenage son who wanted to become a chef/baker of some kind - and me.

We were welcomes in with coffee and pastries - the most amazing pastries, all made by Andrew and semi-sourdough.  He uses a bit of yeast to help with the rise/lamination.

Oh, they were amazing and so very more-ish.  Just look at the lamination on that croissant . . . 

. . . and on the choc chip one I brought home.

Eat your heart out, Paul Hollywood!!

There was also a selection of breads to have with the soup - the cheese and chorizo was so good and I'm having a go at something similar at some point and also try cheese and olive so Beth can have some.  Or cheese and sundried tomatoes - and I also wonder what cheese and chopped cornichons would be like.

I could make some rolls with different insides, couldn't I?

Anyway, back to the course.
We polished off all of that and then the refill as well.

I came home with three loaves.

At the back there's a 100% dark rye with seeds, to the right is a 100% wholemeal and molasses and to the left is one I didn't make.  We practised scoring on dough that was ready for the oven before he baked them.

We did also make our own 'table loaf' as he calls it.  Not completely white but more white that wholemeal.  He doesn't make 100% white loaves.

We took that last home unbaked.  Andrew suggested that it go in the fridge to bake today but by the time I got home it had risen so much that I decided to bake it there and then.  No photo though.

I also came back with a lame, a scraper and an oval banneton; I have a round one so oval was just perfect, and some of his rye starter.  Bubbles is a 100% rye so I earlier this morning I put the two together - no point having two starters exactly the same.  

He uses his rye starter for everything, it is the only starter in the place.

An easy journey home.  I decided to go the longer, known, way round, using the satnav to get to Letchworth and then taking the way I always drove when going to Mum and Dad's.
It was a very bitter-sweet journey - so many memories surfacing as I made my way home.

I was all breaded out yesterday evening.  Not uncomfortable, this is sourdough after all  but very full of good stuff.

And I learned so much.

Andrew reckons I am correct in thinking that I over ferment my dough and that's why I don't get much oven-rise.  Also, he does a step I haven't used so far, which is making a leaven.  It's not essential but he thinks it gives a better rise and more consistency.

So I have fed Bubbles (and Squeak because why not) and this evening I plan to make a leaven with Bubbles, ready for making a loaf after Groove class tomorrow - or, maybe, some different flavoured cheese rolls.  Fingers crossed . . .

Not that I need any more bread right now.  I've sliced everything and more than half of it is going over to Beth's later this morning, but I want to practise.  My lot is in the freezer.
Maybe Chris would like a loaf - or Lindsey?   Beth will want more next week, I know.  As for me - I have enough.

So there you are.  It was a fab day and I am so happy to have gone and so lucky to have learned so much.  Now I have three normal days before jollification starts again.  Woo hoo!!

Just to say . . .

 . . . there won't be a post tomorrow (Sunday) but I'll be back Monday.

Thanks, everyone.  x

31-05-25

Good morning, everyone.

This was yesterday, pretty much!

Such a lovely, warm, almost-summer day with plenty of sitting out in the garden to enjoy the colours and shapes, bees and butterflies.  Those foxgloves have really set the insects a-buzzing.

The egg chair is now uncovered and will stay like that unless a longer spell of rain is predicted.  It can cope with the occasional light shower and the cushion pads are wipe down.

After SW yesterday morning, half term so most of the young mums had sent their apologies, I popped to Morrisons and used the 'stamps' that had been accumulating on my card to get some pyrex vacuum dishes before the thing runs out at the end of next week.  The smallest rectangular dishes are just perfect for a two portion lasagne, pie, bake, whatever AND fit perfectly into my Ninja drawers.
Now I have the vacuum pump and three dishes and it cost me very little because I mostly used what had been accumulating on my card through my normal weekly purchases over the last months.

I baked a loaf for Beth, not sourdough, just my usual wholemeal, rye and spelt one with added seeds, and it didn't half rise and prove quickly in the warm air.   I took it over and spent some time fussing over Ava.  She's weak and wobbly but definitely recovering and very happy to be tickled under her chin and around her ears before settling down for some stroking.  She is such a sweetie.

My yarn arrived.  It came in one of those gauze bags so it's staying there until the pattern comes out and I can get going.  It's lovely.

This coming week is, in contrast to this past week, going to be really busy.

Today:  going out for lunch with Diane and two other friends

Sunday:  the sourdough course

Monday:  the new block of fitness classes starts so it is circuits but apart from that there's time for housework, etc

Tuesday:  Groove, ditto

Wednesday:  Personal training, ditto and I must pack for Friday because . . .

Thursday:  off into London with the Broomfield coach group - the Tutankhamun immersive experience, up and down the Shard and fish and chips at Kennedy's (been there before, great grub) before coming home for an evening online chat with friends

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday morning:  off to Five Lakes for an activity filled break.  Must remember to ask one of my lovely neighbours to do some watering.

Oh, it is such a hard life!!  😉

Today, apart from the lunch out, it is the usual last-day-of-the-month things - meter readings, money balancing and so on.  

I'd better get going, hadn't I?  Have a lovely day, everyone.  xx

30-05-25

Good morning, everyone.  How's things this Friday morning.  Yesterday started gloomy, turned into sunshine, hazy at times, and we seem to have had more rain overnight.  It's a bit gloomy now but we will see.

Thank you all very much for your lovely comments.  Isn't it great to have good news.

For Jane, here's the link to Anita's Facebook Group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/madebyanita
and to her blog where she details the Trellis Blanket:  Trellis Blanket
I've signed up to receive email updates which is what I did last time.  Very helpful.
I'm expecting the yarn to arrive today and then I can admire the colours for a week while I finish off the current WIP, a sunburst square 'jacket'.  Not really a jacket but a bit more substantial than a cardigan.

If you are interested, here's a post about foxglove seeds and saving them.  
https://gardenerspath.com/plants/flowers/save-foxglove-seed/
I'm not doing that - I'm going to let them sow themselves in autumn and then I should get flowers the next summer (I think I have got that right - sow one year, flower the next) - and I can pull up the ones not needed.  I'd like a few more anyway, they are very lovely.  
Please correct me if I am wrong here. 

I have realised that they may have one main stem but, as the bottom flowers dies and fall off, out come some side shoots that look as if they will also have a lovely set of flowers.  Can you see in the photo?

I just have to show you this close up - they are so very lovely, I think.

In the morning chat with Chris, we got onto the subject of hanging baskets.  I have five brackets for baskets, one at the front, two on the back of the house (one of which holds the wind chimes) and two on the garden room (well, three actually, but the third one is not weight bearing and I use it for a bird feeder.

I hadn't really thought about hanging baskets but decided it would be a Good Idea so off I went to B&Q (cheap!!) and then to Longacres and bought three wire baskets, three linings and some trailing flowers of various kinds.

Now they are all planted up and I will leave them sitting in the pots for a few days to water them in and start them off and once they look happy, up they go.

I've decided to have them all up at the back - because if I have one at the front, the chances are it won't get watered enough.  I know me!

The baskets, etc, were not the only thing that caught my eye though.  Dear me, no.  Guess what I found.

Yes - Roma tomatoes.  Of course I bought two, just in case.

So now I have my plum tomatoes, my Sungolds and a nice variety of others - and my cup is full and running over.

The Roma are very small in comparison to the others, as the photo shows, but, looking at them this morning, they have perked up and look taller already.  They should be fine.

I moved the baby corn (growing nicely so far but I still worry that the pots are not big enough) over to the other side so I could put the Roma (I am assuming that's the plural but it might be wrong) by a fence that I can tie the cane to, if necessary.

I was a little unsure as to whether I had enough remaining potting compost for the extra pots and baskets but I did - just.  There's a very little left in the last bag which I will spread over one of the beds at some point.

No runner beans yet though . . .

I really do think that's the garden done and dusted for this year - not in terms of work, in terms of getting stuff.  I have, of course, totally destroyed the budget again this year and, should I be lucky enough to win anything on Premium Bonds next week, I will be drawing that out to cover some of the excess instead of leaving it in.

More happy news - Lathcoats is open for fruit picking next week and, as always, senior citizens and people with disabilities can just turn up between nine and ten rather than having to book - when the fields are open, of course.

And Ava still does well.  She's wobbly still but eating better, drinking well and doesn't need any more vet input for now.

Better stop rambling.  I have my Facebook stuff to do and I have to be out early for Slimming World.
Have a lovely Friday, everyone.  Stay safe, stay well.  xx

29-05-25 - lots of good news

Hello again, everyone.  In contrast to yesterday's sunny start, today is dull and a bit chilly again and we have had more rain overnight.  I'm happy about the rain.  The beds are gradually soaking it all up and the plants do look very happy.

Thank you all for your lovely wishes for Ava-puss yesterday.

Happily, as you can see, she is home and they don't think she will need another day on a drip.

Beth said:

"You know how old people get sudden, nasty UTI's that make them extremely unwell very quickly with all sorts of neurological stuff for extra interest? Ava has an old cat UTI.

"She's probably going to be ok. At lunchtime they were saying she'd need another day on the drip, now they are saying only if she goes downhill overnight. She's eating and drinking, so they could collect samples, and the urine had lots of blood and nasties in it. The antibiotics should clear it, and the fluid has helped too. 

"She's very very weak and wobbly still, but much more herself. I picked her up just now and she was all 'Unhand me, Madam' "

That's my Ava-puss, bless her.  Fingers crossed she has been good overnight - she was OK at home over Tuesday night and Beth took her back into the vet's yesterday morning for another day on a drip.

Small wonder she looks offended - she likes her creature comforts as much as any elderly lady!  She looks thin but she has always been a thin cat.

We know Ava doesn't - can't - have much longer here but I am so glad she seems to be so much better.

I looked up about foxgloves.  They reproduce via seeds and are not really perennial, more a biennial although the second year is not as good, says the RHS, so, if I want them to stay (which I do) I need to not dead head but leave them to seed and then be very vigilant about pulling out most of the plantlets when they come up or they will take over the world garden.  A bit like poppies, I suppose.  At least, I think that's what it was saying but  I will find out through experience.
At least, that way will be comparatively easy to control - no nasty old root systems to deal with.

I've heard from Val - she might have developed hay fever, poor love.  What she has got isn't covid and it doesn't seem to be a cold either.  After as chat to a pharmacists, she came home with Piriton and thinks it might be helping.  I do hope so, she sounded pretty miserable about it.

Anyway, I can't do next week and she can't do the week after that so we need to reschedule for three or four weeks' time.

And another nice thing - I got the final arrangements for the sourdough course email which was good and clear about where to park and, if that's full, where to go next.  I intend getting there before nine so there should be no issues with fullness, the route looks really very straightforward, I've often been to that part of Hitchin with Mum (it's close to where the market is) and, while I don't know the exact road, I can sort of picture it in my mind, if that makes sense.  So, for once, no parking paranoia!
And it is free parking all day on Sundays.  Three cheers!

It also detailed what to wear and what to bring - aprons are provided so I wonder if I can bring it home.  I will find out, won't I?  

And finally, the weak internet signal has righted itself.  I know 'they' have been doing work round here so I wasn't that concerned really but the signal has been down and up more times than a yoyo since Monday.  Anyway, yesterday morning there was a complete outage for about twenty minutes and when it came back it was fine again.  

It's so boring when the signal is weak - it takes me right back to early days and dial up, etc.  Do you remember?

But it is also quite scary how emotionally reliant on technology we are now - and in other ways too.

The only thing in the diary today is the weekly coffee and chat with Chris.  It's here this week so the place is reasonably neat and tidy..  Even my corner, while cluttered with crochet, is reasonable.

And talking of crochet - I have been a baaaaad girl and ordered the yarn for another CAL.  It's a blanket - no, I don't NEED another blanket - but I love this pattern and it is big enough to keep my hands occupied for a while.

Anita has some gorgeous blanket patterns - this one goes live on June 6th and there's some YouTube tutorials to go with it.  I wasn't in time to get the yarn pack which has sold out but I have been able to order the yarn from the Wool Warehouse.  I tried Sconch first but she didn't have everything needed, sadly.

The 6th is the day I go to Five Lakes so it will be a nice thing to take with me to enjoy between doing other stuff.

Apologies for the length of this post.  Have a lovely Thursday, everyone.  xx

28-05-25

Morning, lovely people of blogland.  Welcome to Wednesday, a sunny Wednesday too at the moment.  Yesterday was very wet - just what was needed; steady rain over hours, not too heavy but enough to soak everything.  Good for the garden and good for the farmers - and enough to settle the pollen good and proper for a while.

It was a pleasure to do my early morning stroll round the estate in pjs, camera in hand, enjoying the sunshine.  Of course, I took some photos.

I was looking forward to Val seeing how lovely the foxgloves she gave me are but she can't come tomorrow having come back from holiday with a raging sore throat and a cough that isn't getting better.
I have no idea how long foxgloves flower for - I need to read up about them.
Anyway, they are looking lovely - the diffused morning light isn't doing them justice at all.

Ditto for this photo but you get the idea.  It is a real picture right now, that middle bed.

Another shot of the clematis.

Looking forward to blueberries for breakfast!  Yum.

Yesterday started nicely and deteriorated through the day.

We (me, Chris and Steve) went next door for coffee and a chat with Tracey and had a lovely time.

A little while later, Sharon turned up and now my hair feels civilised again.  Phew.

I did another load of washing and an avoiding looking at the reck where they have been drying.  Ironing is on the list for today!

I heard from Eddie that James was unable to retrieve any of my stuff from the C drive so he (Eddie) has researched and found a company that will be able to do a deeper dive, as we say nowadays, with more specialist technology.  Expensive, yes, but not enough to make me have to think about it.

A bit of a blow though.

And later on Beth contacted me to let me know another of her cats is very unwell.  Ava-puss is the oldest of her cats and the first she ever had (with her sister, Sofia), a grand old dame pretty much into her nineties in human terms.  She's my favourite of all Beth's cats, just a moggy, no feline breeding about her at all but a lady through and through.
Realistically, if she comes through this, she hasn't got much longer anyway but I will miss her so very much.
That's pets for you, isn't it?

Today there is nothing whatsoever in the diary.  That feels nice because, as you know, I love days when I can just potter and do this, that and the other as the spirit moves.

27-05-25

Good morning, everyone.  I will start by apologising if this doesn't appear Tuesday morning.  I will write it and try to send it but at some point yesterday the internet connection slowed right down and doesn't seem to have picked up again yet so my replies to yesterday's comments are hanging fire and this might do too.  Very annoying.

Anyway, just a quick one today.  Yesterday was quiet and pleasant.  I got stuff done including one load of washing (ironing and putting a way included).  I'll put in another load later and, if the weather doesn't play ball, it can hang on the inside rack.

(Just tried to send a comment reply and it went.  Fingers crossed.)

Today feels busy but it is nice-busy.  I'm going round next door for coffee, as are Chris and Steve,  My neighbour works at school so it's her half term break.

Then, later on, the lovely Sharon is coming round to battle my hair into submission.  It doesn't feel like six weeks since the last time but my hair bears witness to the fact that it really is!  I will feel so much better this afternoon.

That's today.  Nice and gentle.  I will do other bits and bobs as well -  houseworky stuff, etc, but it's not going to be busy, however it actually feels.  I should be getting an email from the sourdough course people and then I can work out where to park for the day, etc.   

Fingers crossed this sends.  If not, I will try to send it later.  All the best and have an enjoyable day, everyone.  xx