TARRAGON & THYME

Well I have the stock pot on the go. Am not going to waste all those subtle flavourings which you can layer up layer by layer to get the maximum of flavour. Its a good way to use up all those veggies that are possibly past their best and starting to dry up. Its something for nothing again and I tend to use what I have around. Today the carcass, bones, skin and fragments of meat left on the carcass together with some boiling water,(topped up to about an inch below the top of the pan - I use a pressure cooker base, white pepper (I tend to use a lot of pepper rather than salt)a couple of bay leaves, mixed herbs, some leek, carrot, celery (not too much of this as it can be overpowering) onion chopped and some of my Souper Mix (as per the recipe in the River Cottage Preserves book - this is a mixture of raw vegetables pulverised in the food processer and then liberally dosed with salt to preserve it. I use a lot of this as it helps make a very flavoursome stock but obviously if I use ...

I had some chicken left over from last night's Sunday dinner. OH didn't know what he wanted to eat - he is starting with a cold and really didn't (so he said fancy very much at all). Well I was determined that I wasn't going to waste the chicken. I had to nip to the shop for some milk anyway and spotted some salad leaves on offer and also some wraps - no more than £1.79 for both, and enough wraps to make pack up during the week (they come in a resealable bag) and enough salad to have with sandwiches or as a side serving with something else during the week I warmed the wraps in the bottom of a frying pan warming both sides, just flash warming them really I then popped on a plate, put some salad leaves and chopped onion in and then liberally sprinkled the chopped picked chicken on top and dressed with some sweet chilli sauce. (Sweet Chilli sauce was in the cupboard. Delicious and what's more OH enjoyed too, despite initial mumblings he quite relished his supper...

My Day and my weekend has been a very lazy one as I have felt drained of energy again and so I have rested and slept and not done very much at all which has made me feel a tad guilty as I have so much to get on with. But there we are, the more I rest the better I will get on when I do feel energised. To tell the truth I have felt much better today than I did yesterday. We have had the sun out most of the day although we had snow again overnight. The sun although cold and the lightness of the sky has made me feel much more alive today than I have done for a long time I think and hope that Spring is literally just around the corner and that my days of hibernation are limited, thank goodness Its been chilly here, but then its Winter so its supposed to be cold. But it is enoucouraging to see spikes of new growth amongst the snow ridden borders in the garden and a prompt to get a wriggle on and get organised with my seeds etc so that I can get some early sowings in hand to make the mos...

We started off with freezing fog first thing this morning and no we have had snow on and off again most of the morning; but this afternoon we have really had it and it is settling. The fence posts and the dustbins have their snow hats on and there has been that pinky hue to the light that we tend to get round here when it snows. In the open plan office where I work I am lucky enough to sit next to a window and so can see out onto one of the main roads through Peterborough, when it started letting rip this afternoon it was as though everyone in heaven had cut open their feather pillows and decided to deposit the contents on the unsuspecting humans below. Very pretty but not easy to travel in. And it is perishingly cold so I think it will be more than a tad slippy in the morning. Don't think it will be too long before I go and get wrapped up under the quilts. Take care and please be careful especially if you are experiencing weather like we are at the moment. Catch up with everyo...

Just a few photographs of Missy. She is getting a bit cute with the camera. Everytime I get her in the frame to take a photo does she move and we end up with bits of her or not at all - case of now you see her now you don't. Everyone falls in love with her. Even Tyson my Ginger Tom is getting better with her and they stay in the same room now without any fighting. Still work in progress, but with kindness we seem to be getting there.

I am very pleased with the two books that I acquired from the Charity Shop on Saturday. The first book Edible Presents to Make by Norma Miller ISBN 0-600-56470-3 covers quite a lot of occasions including Christmas, Special Days, Special Occasions, Presents for Keeps, Surprise Presents, Bazaars and Fetes and Packaging. Recipes cover Orange Brandy Butter, Tropical Relish, Blackberry Vinegar, Sloe or Raspberry Gin, Candied Pumpkin, Whisky Mincemeat, Spiced Oranges, Orange Turkish Delight,Easter egg monsters, Pumpkin Pie, Jigsaw Fudge, Tipsy Marmalade, Garlic Cheese, Pineapple Butter, Sugar Mice and Toffee Apples and is quite a nice little book. Think this one will be very useful in the coming months. I am very fond of Pamela Westland Craft and Cookery books and I have quite a few. Saturday I gained another one of hers called Taste of the Country, making the best of home produce. It was printed in 1974 SBN No 241 02466 8. It has some lovely seasonal recipes in as well as a good selectio...

I consider myself very lucky in many respects. First of all I am lucky to be here in the first place as my mum had to have her appendixs out when she was 6 monhs pregnant with me; she was warned she might lose me, and they operated and managed to save her and me. So yes I feel very lucky. I apologise in advance if this article bores the pants off you my aim is only to try and help others in a similar situation; some things I do may help you too. I have since the age of 7 had to deal with health issues, initially epilepsy, and latterly Auto Immune Disease. I try and keep myself as healthy as I can - sometimes I achieve it and at other times I don't quite do so well. But I firmly believe that you can help yourself a great deal in the long run. In my experience I have had to find my own way around different conditions and find things that work for me at the end of the day. The Doctor's know a lot but they dont know everything and cannot always advise how best for you to manage you...

Have had a very quiet day here in Peterborough. The day started off not too well as I read of a fellow blogger(Nita) losing her husband to cancer. [[major hugs to her and her family] Please take care. I feel very much for them at this time. It is all very sad and no matter how prepared you are it is always a shock when anything like this happens. Last weekend we had a new garden centre open on the Eye bypass called Peterborough Garden Park Retail Outlet, which is dominated by a Van Hage Garden Centre which I didn't get into but it has lots of little shops like Le Creuset shop, a cheapie book shop, pet food shop and various other little shops outside - but the reason I went there was to have a look at the New Hobbeycraft store. It was well worth the visit and I think I will be popping backwards and forwards on a regular basis there plenty of everything including items I haven't been able to get readily in Peterborough - I like beading and they have an excellent choice on b...

Rowan and Elizabeth - I am well thank you and I am I think just about back. Sorry for being missing, but have had quite a lot of things on my plate the last few weeks or so and I haven't been firing on all pistons - its the cold it looks pretty especially if it has been snowing but it gets deep into my bones and slows me up. So I tend to hibernate when its cold. Today has been an enjoyable day we went to our Butchers at Willowbrook Farm Helpston and have a joint of Gloucester Old Spot pork for tomorrow's dinner. That means oh goody pork dripping for the roasts over the next few weeks. [I might also make a Yorkshire Pud and either a Chocolate Mousse or a Treacle Pudding for afters. Might be naughty and make both] I also bought some back bacon and got some bones for Missy to gnaw on some smoked Garlic and a Game Pie. I thought we would try it as I wasn't sure whether I liked it or not but it went down extremely nicely with some cabbage and mashed potatoes and gravy. ...

I have been to the vegetable shop today and bought another sack of potatoes and my supplier indicated to me that they believed that pototoes were going to be a little scarcer this coming year as not so many farmers out their way are going to be planting them (Spalding area). Therefore if you have the land it might be worth growing a few of your own if you can. I am afraid I always buy a very big bag of spuds as you can always get a good meal out of them. The last lot that I got were Cara and were £5 - far cheaper than the supermarket and far more meals out of a bag. During all the snow recently the farmers had closed the potato sheds, and were having difficulty lifting other veg as well. Cauliflowers have also been £1.50 each - in fact they wouldn't buy them - the area in which I live is not very wealthy with a lot of people on benefits so at that price they didn't think they would get rid of any and so it would be false economy in stocking them, so Cauliflower has been m...