Friday

. . . and I'm home after a few days with my mum and dad.  It was supposed to be 'home, James', today but very good reasons (not bad ones) meant I had to come back yesterday.

It was quite an uncomfortable drive home.  The air con needs topping up or whatever it is they do to air con, so it wasn't working very effectively and it was SO hot!  Fortunately, there was little traffic and no hold ups and also it's not a long drive, only about an hour and a quarter.

It's been a lovely few days.  I always come home from mum and dad's feeling refreshed and encouraged: they are really lovely people.
On Wednesday we took a trip to Old Warden, as described in an earlier entry, and yesterday morning we went to Chapman's, a fantastic butcher in Baldock.  I have come home with bacon, sausages, chicken, pork steaks and some pork and apple burgers, which are delicious.  Thanks, Dad!

Their garden is, as always, lovely and at its most productive right now.  The cucumbers are producing more than they can eat, they have lettuce, radishes, carrots, runner beans (just starting to produce enough to eat), broad beans (now more or less over but we had a last picking on Wednesday) and tomatoes.  The tomatoes may be more and bigger (dad has very green fingers and the ones in the photo are beefsteaks which can be huge) but they aren't ripening yet

and - wait for it - mine ARE!

Evidence!

I came home to find several beatifully orange ones on the tumbling tom in the hanging basket and, even better, there's a few ripening on one of the grow house tomatoes.  The rest won't be far behind now.
I would like to say I picked one and popped it straight in my mouth but I didn't because Beth very kindly sprayed them all for me with anti-blight stuff while I was away (as you can see in the photo) so they have to be washed before eating.  It was absolutely delicious, sun-warm and sun-ripened and I wanted another one!!!

I have lots of flower photos from the garden so will post some separately.

Today is a quiet day.  I need to make bread, do washing, ironing, etc, and I have some knitting to be getting on with, so I won't be exactly lazy, but it will be quiet.  Very nice too!  No complaints from me!

And finally, if you are so inclined, you can pre-order Jack Monroe's recipe book, A Girl Called Jack, on Amazon.  I've done that but it might be more frugal to wait and see what they want in places like Sainsbury's.  Jack uses their value range quite a lot and says so on her very popular blog, so they might have it on special when it comes out.  That will be next February but pre-orders alone have taken it straight into the top 100 which can't be bad and I am very glad for her.  Talent isn't always recognised and rewarded as quickly and as emphatically as this but this time it has been.  Excellent!


Edited later to add:  RIP, living lettuces.  They have bolted and the leaves have turned very bitter.  Shame.  Two and a half months of lettuce for £2 can't be bad, can it?