Good morning. Another dull but dry start to the day. Yesterday was weird - it kept going very dark and gloomy but after some very light rain first thing, it remained sort of dry pretty much all day. When I say 'sort of', I mean there was dampness in the air and the very occasional single drop. At them, come the evening, the heavens opened and we had a real downpour for about an hour. If we were prone to flooding round here, we would have. It was quite a relief because the allotment had felt pretty dry earlier but I hadn't watered, expecting rain.
There might have been a bit of thunder; I had my TV loop system on for some of the time, so wouldn't know.
Yesterday passed pretty much as expected. My Morrisons delivery arrived with a few subs, all appropriate, in the morning so I have plenty of fresh stuff in again now. Early afternoon I drove to the allotment to check things out. Excitingly, the first dwarf French bean has emerged and where one starts, others will follow. The runners are flowering madly but I couldn't see any baby beans. There was a picking of sweet peas and I dug up two potato plants and got these beauties . . .
Also, there are definitely some baby corns emerging from the sides of the stems so it shouldn't be long before they are ready to pull off.
Look what I found yesterday - not that it took much finding.
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/blackcurrant-gin
I can share the results with Chris who gave me the blackcurrants too. It's five months till Christmas and this should be ready in three months, ready to mature for the festive season, so I won't make the drink for a month. The fruit is quite safe in the freezer.
It will make nice champagne cocktails, don't you think?
Today's diary page is completely blank. However, I have washing, ironing, house work and, assuming the forecast is right and it will be dry today, some allotment weeding. After the rain, those pesky invaders will be fighting back so I need to stay on top of things. Also, I think my ankles and calves are now strong enough for me to wheel the manky old barrow up to the top of the site where there is a pile for dumping unwanted stuff at the moment - very useful.
I also need to sort out and tidy a few kitchen drawers; they're a bit messy and crumby
What's the rain been like your way?
Take care, stay safe and well and have a great day. xx
I've bookmarked that recipe for next year when, hopefully, I will have more blackcurrants to harvest.
ReplyDeleteNo rain here yet. It's another bright sunny day. X
It is so simple and I know it will work - it works for other soft fruit too.
Deletexx
No rain expected here today but there is a teasing chance of some tomorrow afternoon...maybe.
ReplyDeleteYour blackcurrant cocktails will be delicious and something to look forward to later on in the year. Have a good day and be safe x
I do love sparkly white with a fruit liqueur so I will be looking forward to that. xx
ReplyDeleteNo rain today, just a pleasant summer day with blue sky and white fluffy clouds. It's not too hot and there is a bit of a breeze, so just right for sitting out on the patio. We're promised rain for the rest of the week though, but the forecast seems to change every day so who knows!
ReplyDeleteIt's turned very humid here - rather sweaty, in fact. I wouldn't be surprised if we had more wet stuff at some point.
Deletexx
The last time I was properly falling down drunk was when I went to a work colleague's house for a BBQ, a good few years ago. She had made blackcurrant gin and we drank it in a cocktail mixed with Prosecco. I didn't realise how much she'd been topping up everyone's glasses so had no idea how much alcohol I'd had. I stood up from the dining table to go to the loo and promptly fell over as I couldn't feel my legs!!
ReplyDeleteLong story short, I was "ill" all through the night. Shame really as she'd gone to a lot of effort to make lovely food. Turned out later that a few of my colleagues were also similarly "ill." She was very apologetic.
So beware of the Ribena flavoured gin!! LOL!
Oooops! I agree, they are deceptively strong those home made fruit gins. The original gin is bad enough but by the time the added sugar has converted to alcohol - look out!! The plus side is that you only need a very little to flavour a tonic or sparkly wine.
Deletexx