Great to feel the sun on our backs, but it’s still bloody cold with frosts most mornings
She will miss her friend and confident. It’s sad, yet he had a good long and rewarding life.
For the Queen a lonely end to her reign. Next year she will mark her platinum jubilee, a milestone that has never been reached before. But in a few days she will be 95. It’s perhaps inevitable that her term on the throne will soon be coming to an end. And the Royal family will be without the leadership of its oldest generation.
You can tell the weather has improved, l have stopped writing my blog and presently spending more time outside in the garden, on the deck laying tiles and finishing of the exterior steps.
The summer quilt is out, but a blanket isn’t far away, as the early morning frost still creeps through the open windows into the bedroom to disrupt the slumber.
Heading over to Paisley. First time this year.
Great to see the sun appearing in the hall. The whole house appreciates the rays of the sun.
As we walk down to the corner shop on Innellan shore road, the views of the hills in the distance with a sprinkling of snow is gorgeous.
Toward in the foreground with the mountains of the Isle of Arran and Goat Fell in the distance.
The wild garden has been a haven of peace and tranquility although the weeds did put up a good fight, tap roots diving deep into the unrelenting earth. But we succeeded in digging up the majority, along with the invasive layers of couch grass.
Eventual swapped the fork and spade for the trusty mattock, prior to seeding with a mix of flower and grass. Fingers crossed that it grows.
Also managed to make various spots around the wild garden to put our feet up. Cutting seats in the fallen tree trunks, and levelling areas to accept the odd G&T table and chair.
Wildlife is blossoming, two types of Newts have been spotted, along with slow worms, bats, red squirrels, deer and a real mixture of bird life.
It says it all, although a long refreshing gin and tonic on the rocks with a twist of lemon hits the mark on a sunny afternoon. Especially after laying floor tiles on the top deck.
Two days before they were due for delivery they phoned to say that they were out of stock. Chose an alternative. They agreed to fulfil within three days, which turned into fourteen.
On the day of delivery received a call to say it had been postponed for a further day. The following day they contacted us to say that it was on its way and would be delivered.
By 8pm realised it wasn’t going to arrive.
A few strong and forceful words over the phone at 8am the following day eventually resulted in a comment that they would get back with a definite delivery time, assuring me it would be that day. No call, but the tiles arrived by lunch, albeit packed precariously on two pallets.
600 x 600 tiles are heavy, so it took a lot of head scratching before we unpacked and manoeuvred the packages into the house.
Must say, the tiles were and are superb, it’s was just the delivery company that caused the problem, along with the sellers computer system that monitors stock, and of course the lines of communication between departments, suppliers and delivery company.
Well that’s off my chest.
Judith feels that l have become a grumpy old bugger. In truth, l believe l have always been like this.
Due to the change of weather and under estimating the volume of adhesive needed, the job is still ongoing. But it’s looking good.
Will just have to wait for another trip to the mainland to buy what we need.
Watching the forecast closely, but rain and the possibility of snow seems to be with us for the next week.
Move onto something positive, one of my passions and love, food.
Fell in love with the idea of this dish, although perhaps the reality may not live up to expectations. Sunday roast in a wrap of Yorkshire pudding.
BBC good food suggest that you take all the best bits from your Sunday lunch, and wrap it in a fluffy, indulgent Yorkshire pudding wrap. Taking a weekend comfort food to a whole new level.
Ingredients
- 150g plain flour
- 3 eggs
- 300ml full-fat or semi-skimmed milk
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 50g frozen peas
- 100g kale leaves
- 2 tbsp horseradish sauce
- 1 tbsp English mustard
- 200g leftover roast beef slices
- 100ml beef gravy
Method
- STEP 1Whisk the flour, eggs and milk together with a pinch of salt until smooth. Cover and rest for 30 mins (or chill in the fridge overnight).
- STEP 2Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/ gas 7 and put a large pan of salted water on to boil. Heat the oil in a large roasting tin (40cm x 30cm approx) in the oven for 10 mins. Once hot, pour in the batter and cook for 25 mins or until puffed up and golden.
- STEP 3Meanwhile, tip the peas and kale into the boiling water and cook for 2-3 mins until tender. Drain well and season.
- STEP 4When the pudding comes out of the oven, remove from the tin, flatten with the back of a large metal spoon and halve lengthways. Spread 1 tbsp horseradish over each half, followed by the mustard, beef slices, peas, kale and gravy. Wrap up and serve.
Click on the link. https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/wild_garlic_langoustine_02012
Ingredients
For the wild garlic pappardelle
- 1–2 handfuls wild garlic
- 150g/5½oz ‘00’ flour, plus extra for dusting
- 10g/⅓oz cornflour
- pinch salt
- 1 free-range egg
- 10g/⅓oz olive oil
- 30–50g/1–1¾oz water, depending on the moisture of the wild garlic
For the langoustines
- 10 langoustines
- 2 tbsp oil
- 30g/1oz unsalted butter
To serve
- 20g/¾oz yeast flakes
- 1 lemon, zest only
- ½ handful flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
- 4 wild garlic leaves
- 2 tbsp wild garlic flowers, to garnish
Method
- To make the wild garlic and langoustine pappardelle, place the wild garlic into a food processor or blender and blitz to a purée. Add the ’00’ flour, cornflour and salt and blend, adding egg, oil and the water gradually until it comes together. Lightly flour a clean work surface.
- With your hands, bring the dough together on the work surface and knead for a few minutes until smooth. If the dough is too wet that it sticks, knead in a little more flour, but take care – if it’s too dry it will be tricky to get thin enough. It should be supple but not tacky. Cover the dough and leave to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
- For the langoustines, bring a pan of salted water to the boil, and prepare a bowl of ice water. Blanch the langoustines for 20–30 seconds, then remove them straight into the ice water. When the langoustines have cooled you should be able to remove the head, claws and shells easily. Use a pairing knife to remove the dark intestinal tract along the back of the langoustines. Save the pan of boiling water to cook the pasta later.
- Heat the oil and butter in a frying pan over a medium heat. Cook the langoustines for 1–2 minutes on each side until golden and caramelised. Remove the langoustines and drain on kitchen paper. Keep the pan to one side as we'll use that pan to finish the pasta.
- Roll the pasta dough out to the thinnest setting in a pasta machine, cutting the sheets to about 30cm/12in long. Alternatively, you can roll the pasta out by hand. Lightly flour your work surface and roll out the dough gradually. Keep turning the dough and sprinkle with a tiny amount of flour if it begins to stick. Cut the pasta into wide pappardelle strips, and sprinkle with a bit of extra flour to make sure they don't stick together.
- Bring your pan of salted water back to the boil and cook the pappardelle for 2 minutes then drain, saving two ladles of the pasta water.
- Place the langoustine pan back over a medium-high heat and add the pasta water to the pan. Simmer the sauce and give it a good stir to incorporate all the pan juices. To serve, for the pappardelle onto a serving plate and top with the cooked langoustines. Finish with the pan sauce, yeast flakes, lemon zest, parsley, garlic flowers and wild garlic leaves. Alternatively, you can toss the langoustines and pasta through the sauce in the pan, then serve with the yeast flakes, lemon zest, parsley, garlic flowers and wild garlic leaves.
On the subject of food and beef in particular, a recent report out of America suggests people are moving away from eating beef.
The average American consumes almost 215 pounds of meat per year, over 4 pound per week, but they are reacting to the reality of global warming, and moving away from beef. Data shows that 15% of greenhouse gas emissions globally come from livestock, cattle being responsible for the most emissions.
If everyone in the United States reduced consumption of beef, pork and poultry by a quarter and substituted plant proteins, according to a 2019 study, the country would save about 82 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year, a reduction of a little more than 1 percent.
Perhaps it would be better if they moved away from gas guzzling cars.
At the end of the tax year, the HMRC sent a tax inspector to audit the books of a local hospital.
While the taxman was checking the books, he turned to the executive of the hospital and said: "I notice you buy a lot of bandages. I imagine there is a lot of wastage there.
What do you do with the end of the roll when there is too little left to be of any use."
"Good question," noted the executive. "We save them up and send them back to the bandage company and every once in a while, they send us a free roll."
"Oh", replied the taxman, somewhat disappointed that his unusual question had a practical answer. However, he was now well mounted on his favourite hobby horse and ready to be critical. What about all these plaster purchases? What do you do with what's left over after setting a cast on a patient?
"Ah, yes," replied the executive, who hadn't a clue, but rising to the challenge. "We save that too and send it back to the manufacturer and every so often they send us a free bag of plaster."
"My, my, an answer for everything!" responded the auditor, who also fancied himself a bit of a wit. "What do you do with all the remains from the circumcision surgeries?"
"Here, too, we do not waste," answered the executive. What we do is save all the little foreskins and send them to the tax office and once a year they send us a complete prick."
Comments
Post a Comment