Thursday

Is it really Thursday already?  This week is passing frighteningly quickly.  I'm sure it was only Monday yesterday!  There's a watery sun out there but a pinkish-greyish sky and I think it won't be long before we have rain.

Yesterday was a typical April day, all showers, wind and some sun.  It also turned quite cold at one point and then the hail fell quite hard for a short time.

We ended up not going to the allotment because it was raining.  Apart from the getting wet bit, the soil is quite heavy and it's no fun trying to turn it when it is so wet.  We will go again in the next few days.

Instead, I made my oaty biscuits (always delicious and so, so easy to make) and also I made a no knead loaf of which I have blogged on Teacher's Recipes.
http://fooddiaryofteacher.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/no-knead-crusty-bread.html

As John Torode would say, it's a lovely, thing - or it was.  Half is now in the freezer and the other half is pretty well gone the way of all good bread!

As it came out so well, now I have a granary/wholemeal one on the make.  I started it yesterday evening and I'm just warming it up close to the radiator.  It's not quite as bubbly as the white was but even so, it looks promising.  It seems to be a flexible process so I will do the last bit in my own time.

Today one pair of visitors leave and another comes so I need to sort out a bedroom this morning.  I also need to make some soda bread and this time I am using some home made yogurt rather than buttermilk which does work out quite expensive.  I gather it works really well so fingers crossed.

Well, in the time it has taken to write all this the sun has vanished and the clouds are gathering.  It's just as well I don't have too much outside stuff to do today.

Today's food:
B:  marmite on toast, apple
L:  celery soup (I promised my guest I would make some and I do have some celery that ought to be used up.
D:  fish and chips.  From the chippie!  Yay!

Wednesday

Good morning, everyone.  Round here it's a cool, semi-clear morning although too early to tell what the weather will be today.  BBC weather thinks that it will be fine today although tomorrow looks pretty horrendous with quite a lot of rain.  Ah, well, so that's allotment (ouch, ouch) today and indoorsy stuff tomorrow.

Yesterday I had a lot of starter so made around eight pikelets, six of which are now stored in the freezer.  As I have more today, I think it will be pikelet day - breakfast and lunch.  They're so delicious: at the weekend I shared the recipe with a friend and she and her boys now love them.  As I've said before, it is worth keeping sourdough starter simply for the discard side-products.

Down the allotment, I managed to trim one pathway with my new shears and dig over a patch of soil before the back protested and the foot/ankle started giving me hassle.  Little and often is the name of the game, I think, and gradually the stamina will build.  Beth finished digging over the potato patch and after I had gone she planted some mange tout which is exciting.  The potatoes are doing whatever potatoes need to do on her window ledge at the moment.  I have no idea what she will be wanting me to work at today but I am sure it will be hard work!

I managed to get the cushion cover finished and all it needs now, like the first one, is buttons.  I will have to take a trip into town to the market at some point or maybe it is an ideal excuse to visit And Sew On again.  I need to go anyway - I have decided to make a tablecloth with large patchwork squares a bit like this only with larger squares and in colours that tone with the furnishings, of course.

From Google Images.

It won't be quilted but I think I will line it - double cost but better, so worth doing.

Today is the aforementioned allotment and I need to make some more oaty biscuits as I'm right out.  In fact, I might do them when I have finished this as they are very quick and easy and can bake while I am getting the kitchen ready for the day.

After coffee, of course!


Today's food:
B:  poached egg on pikelets
L:  pikelets with soft cheese and chutney, apple
D:  the rest of the pasta with the rest of the sauce made yesterday - I might add some chick peas or other beans to it.  Then yogurt.

Tuesday

Good morning, gentle readers.  It's another dull and gloomy morning here in not-so sunny Essex but then yesterday was the same but we had some lovely sun later on.  It was a proper April showers day but in between showers Beth and I skipped off to our allotment and got started.  She started digging the potato bed while I got to grips with some of the edging with my new shears.  I left the cuttings in a pile and today I want to take an old laundry basket to transport it all to the compost heap!

Before we set out for the allotment, I set to and made some pasta and a vegetable sauce for a quick lunch as I guessed we would be hungry when we got back.  It was very nice - I love home made pasta and made enough so I could dry some.  Not having a proper pasta rack, I improvised!

It worked a treat and now I have pasta for today and maybe another day this week too.  I am guessing (hoping) that, once dried, it keeps for a while.   I have some bacon that needs using up so I think I will use it to make a smoky tomato sauce to have with the pasta.

Later on, Beth finished the owls, all but one big one, and now I have nine sets of owlish button eyes staring at me from the chair.  While she stitched, I knitted away at the next aran cushion and it is now nearly finished.  A few more rows and then I just have to do the button hole band on 2x2 rib and sew it up!  I have decided what pattern I want to use for the next one and now just have to work out the numbers.  It will be a trellis with cables up each side, I think, and I might have moss stitch as the background stitch.  I think I need to do some swatches to see how it all goes.

We're off to the allotment again today.  Being terribly unfit, both of us, we can't do a very long stretch and there's some heavy work to do, but I'm looking forward to being able to take a picnic along there when the weather gets better.  Little and often should do the trick quite nicely, I think!

Later on my two friends are arriving for a few days.  I need to make up their beds and prepare some kind of vegetable soup, that being their meal request!  They seem to like my veg soups, so thank you, Thermione!

Well, I had better get going.  I have sourdough starter to deal with, pikelets to make plus a soup and a pasta sauce.  That should keep me out of trouble, shouldn't it?

Today's food:
B:  pikelets and a poached egg
L:  sourdough bread with soft cheese and chutney, apple
D:  pasta with smoky bacon and tomato sauce, orange

Monday

It's an early start for me today.  After several mornings of sleeping past seven o'clock, I am back to my normal pattern of waking between four and five.  There's a difference though.  The heating is not on and it's nowhere near as chilly as a short time ago.  The weather has been gorgeous over the weekend.  Yesterday was so sunny and warm that I threw open all the windows including the two French windows and drenched the house in fresh air.  It was lovely.

What wasn't so lovely was the accompanying sneezes.  Pollen, I expect, and I must take some of my antihistamine tablets if it starts up again today.  A bit early but then everything has been a bit early this year.

Beth came round for lunch and then set to, sewing up the last few owls.  Sadly, she needed to pop off earlier than we had expected but never mind, I sat in my TV chair and watched 'stuff' while continuing to knit the latest aran cushion cover.  Annoyingly, I noticed a mistake several pattern sets down so had to do an unpick job which was frustrating but there you go, if I will make mistakes . . .  I have caught up and gone past now.

Today, when I have finished this entry, I will make the most of the early start and pootle off into the kitchen to sort out the sourdough and make some pikelets with the discard.  That will sort out most of my breakfast.  I hope to meet Beth at the allotment at some point, weather permitting, and then there's more knitting and sewing to do plus the spare room beds to make up for guests.  A nice, happy, predictable day.

(I hope that's not famous last words!)

Today's food:
B:  pikelets and a poached egg
L:  pasta with a tomato vegetable sauce
D:  sausages, oven chips and a salad

Have a great day.

Sunday

Good morning, gentle readers.  It is another gloriously sunny morning and I love how, now the clocks have changed, the sun appears so much earlier.  It's not warm enough to sit outside in the earlier hours of the day yet, but one of the joys of the summer for me is sitting in the garden with a first coffee and whatever book I am reading at the time, so as soon as I can, I will!

Yesterday was mostly sunny too, sunny enough to dry two loads of washing before the predicted rain finally fell.  I didn't iron it yesterday evening so that's the first task for today, after sorting out the kitchen, etc.

I was very pleased to finish off the dog coat and it looks OK.  No photos yet because, as you may imagine, it looks weird without a dog inside!  The customer has said she will take some photos so fingers crossed . . .

Then I started a second cushion cover.  This is not for me: someone saw the first one and liked it very much.   There's a lot of knitting in that so it will take a few days.

I finished the sourdough loaf but, like all my other efforts, it failed at the last hurdle, sinking badly when I transferred it to the baking sheet.  It tastes OK but the crumb is very tight.  Maybe I am over proving it, I don't know.  Diane, any advice?

I was going to do an early shop at Aldi (going later than opening time on a Saturday morning is asking for parking problems) but didn't go.  Instead I went late afternoon and I think it might become a regular slot from now on because it was much quieter and more pleasant to shop in.  By that time it had started raining so I was glad I'd taking in the washing before setting out.

Today I have some sorting out to do followed by ironing and then I will knit until Beth comes for lunch.  Nothing posh today, probably beans on toast!

Now I need my coffee!

Saturday

Good morning and apologies for the lateness.  Just a quick one on this lovely, gloriously sunny morning.

I've been busy with the doggie coat and it is now nearly finished.  I feel a deep uncertainty about making it from measurements I haven't taken myself and not being able to check as I go along but fingers crossed that it will be OK and my customer likes what I have done.

After a facebook chat about sourdough yesterday, I have started a loaf and am keeping my fingers crossed.  I know the starter is good, a friend has made this recipe many times and swears by it so fingers crossed.  I'm not sure why my sourdough loaves aren't working but maybe something will click.  It's the waste that worries me really.  It may be only flour, water and salt, but even so, that's more than some in this unequal world are certain to have.

So today's loaf is in its banneton, covered and in front of the window in the warm sun, slowly, oh so slowly growing.  It will be late this afternoon before it can go in the oven, I think.  OPatience, Joy, patience.

Today's food is more or less like yesterday's as there are plenty of leftovers.  So . . .
B:  Pikelets and fried tomatoes (much nicer fried than raw at the moment)
L: Tomato soup and apple
D:  Chicken curry with rice, oranges.

Friday

. . . and a pinch and a punch for the first of the month.

No April Fools - I'm too old for them.

It might be the beginning of April but when I woke under an hour ago (disgracefully late: I blame the cold) there was a thick frost over everything.  It's melting rapidly now but the early morning must have been chilly.

I got a lot more done yesterday than the rest of the week put together, I think.  Washing, drying, ironing, recipe tryout, finishing a Kitty Stitches waistcoat (big one) getting on with a Kitty Stitches doggy coat, tidying a kitchen and generally bustling around.  Shows how much better I am feeling now, thank goodness.

While I was hanging out the washing, to my delight I noticed that the tayberry is sending out shoots (as posted yesterday) which, sad to say, really made my day.  I sent the good news to Beth because, after all, she will share the fruit with me when it finally arrives next year and we had a daft little conversation on Facebook which made me laugh so here it is.

Me:      Looky look look - the tayberry is not dead, it has risen! (well it is Easter!) It's sending out several new shoots.
Beth:    lol the second coming
Me:      Third coming, more like!
Beth     he's not the messiah, he's a very naughty plant hahaha

With any luck, this is what it will look like in a year and some months' time.

Well, one can hope.  A lot of gardening is about hope.

I was pleased to finish the Elmer waistcoat.  All done, even down to the ironing so Beth can post it off.  It does look lovely, very bright and happy, and we're well pleased with it.  Now I'm working on the dog coat and want to finish that before the weekend is over.

I dearly love bread and butter pudding but hardly ever make it because it means having the oven on and it's all a bit of a fiddle faddle with bain marie, etc.  However, as I mentioned earlier in the week, I wondered if I could steam a B&B pudding in the Varoma so yesterday I had a go and yes, you can, it was delicious.  I've posted about it over in Teacher's Recipes but it is just a recipe for Thermione.

http://fooddiaryofteacher.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/spiced-bread-and-butter-pudding.html

Today is another stay at home day except that I need to trundle over to Aldi at some point today or maybe tomorrow as I'm nearly out of various bits and bobs that I buy there.  I will get on with my knitting and do a bit of tidying and clearing.  Nice, homey stuff.

I haven't had my first coffee yet and it's getting late so I'm off into the kitchen to make coffee, sort out the dishwasher, feed the sourdough starter and start off a loaf.