TARRAGON & THYME

Well what a week, rain rain and more rain.  Even today although we have had a far better day the sun has been out, but we have had another heavy shower this evening.  Our weather seems to be changing and we seem to be getting all the weather in one hit and sort of nothing in between. Ah well we need the water  there have been large cracks in the land where we walk the dog and not just small cracks quite large.  Its a firm fact that without water we don't eat or survive, so we really do need it. I had a bit of a lay in this morning, until 10.00 a.m. then I have been pottering getting the washing done etc.  The past two weekends I haven't been home so its very much lots of work to do this weekend. I have been busy as usual paid a visit to the veg shop this morning had my usual Saturday morning chat with the ladies.  They report that the farmers local to them are having trouble getting the grain in - from going to very dry weather and then to torrential...

This is a recipe to make use of the wild fruits that are free for the picking from the hedgerow that makes a lovely flavoured jam  to have on piles of hot buttered toast. Ingredients: Equal weights of blackberries and elderberries washed and stalks removed (with the elderberries I use the tines of a fork to pull the berries off the very fine stalks) Preserving sugar Method Weigh the fruit and then put in a preserving pan.  Using both hands squeeze all the fruit gently (the colour does stain the hands but it does wear off eventually so you might like to put on a clean pair of food hygiene gloves at this point).  Slowly bring to the boil stirring the fruit constantly then keep boiling for approximately 20 minutes. Meanwhile for each 450g/1lb of fruit measure out 350g/12 oz of preserving sugar and warm briefly in the oven (this helps speed the setting process up) .  Add the sugar to the pan at the end of the 20 minutes then mix thoroughly, bring back to the b...

Preserving time, the time when I peacefully get on with the process of preparing fruit for bottling together  with preparing fruit for pickling.   A time for thinking and contemplation and making sense of all those thoughts that run through my head at breakneck speed  and sometimes do not get to see the light of day. A time for cogitating and making sense of a number of factors. The beetroot is bubbling away in the big stainless steel pot on top of the cooker, as I write, following a well versed process in readiness for being pickled.  Alongside in a saucepan sugar is melting into water in readiness for being made into syrup to preserve the blood red plums and the blackberry, pear and apple mix, the pears and the nectarines for the pantry shelf.  All is calm apart from the gentle hubble bubble of the water as it reaches peaks and troughs and slowly cooks the contents of the pan. The work is methodic and calming and the peace and tranquility gently ch...

I am a great believer in seasonal food and enjoying foods as they come into season, but I also love putting up food for those dark days of winter when everything is grey and cold. Being able to eat well during those grey days is what spurs me on to do more and more myself for my pantry shelf.  But its not that far back that if we didn't put down a much food as we could - we just would not have survived through the winter months of the year.  With large supermarkets containing near enough everything we could wish, dream or hope for - there would appear to be no need to do anything about it. But hey, life has a habit of kicking things into touch when you least expect it.  I am not so sure about this practice of over-reliance as we only have to go back as far as the Second World War to see the effect of food not being available and everything being rationed.  I think an over-reliance on what is available in the shop can be dangerous, and I think that is ...

This morning, I have woken to golden sunbeams blazing through the windows and infecting every nook and cranny with joy, instead of rain which we have had on and off for the past few days, but we needed the water to freshen up this world of ours.  Sunshine makes me feel happy it soothes us all like balm infecting everyone with a better mood.  This bodes well for the day which is going to be busy and another family orientated one. Even though we live in the city there is a certain kind of peace that descends every so often and  you can simply be in the moment.  Its rare here but we do get it, whereas in the countryside it does not take as much finding.  I hope you have a lovely day wherever you are.  Missy needs a walk am going to see whether can wrinkle OH out of bed so that we can stretch her legs. Catch you all later Pattypan xx

I have had a quiet day today - have been researching some recipes for future posts and generally having a wander around, lurking and mooching and enjoying myself after a busy week at work, as well as doing the washing and some general tidying i.e. putting some of my numerous books back on their respective shelves. However I did go to the veg shop today primarily to get a new sack of potatoes and also a tray of eggs as I was out of both.  The potatoes are Wilja not a long keeping potato, but I am only ever happiest when I have a sack of spuds (£6.75 a sack) in as you can always get a meal in a hurry with the aid of the humble potato.  (Like tonight's tea - fried egg and home made chips [I always save the vinegar from pickled onions and use it occasionally on chips to give a spicy lift] served with bread and butter.  Went down a treat.  Perhaps we are a bit odd but we only like home made chips!  We do eat them very occasionally from ...

My Grandparents used to speak glowingly of Marrow Rum - in fact  I believe my Nan used to make her own as she used to make many things. I remember as a youngster being intrigued by Nan's Pantry - she would never let me in for fear I would knock something over, but I remember there being all sorts of goodies in there with a big Meat Safe at the bottom.  Ah now Meat Safe's there's a subject for another day.  Equally I have heard all sorts of horror stories about how it went manky (the marrow) and it didn't look very appetitising etc etc.  But when hearing older people speak there has always been the "romance" or rose coloured spectacles element when they reminisce about certain wines or alcoholic conconctions and they seem to gain this glazed look as they are looking back on a memory from so long ago. I however have never tasted it - never tried it and really don't know what I am letting myself in for but I have decided to bite the bullet and have a go. ...

Have been to the veggie shop this morning and have the first of the harvest of fresh sweetcorn.  There is something very delectable about fresh sweetcorn,especially when the cobs are heavy and are golden in colour.  They seem to call eat me eat me with lots of butter oodled over them.  So guess what we are having for lunch today!  The water is boiling as we speak. The cobs are grown not far from where the Veg Shop people live in Lincolnshire, and I have had them in past years and frozen them down for the winter months (although I usually cut a cob in half for the freezer - today we have the luxury of a whole one each or two in the case of OH.  They go well with a brunch or just to eat plainly and simply. I do love seasonal food. I am dribbling at the thought ..... Catch you all later Pattypan xx Update: I cooked the sweetcorn bringing a pan of water to the boil and then adding the cobs of sweetcorn letting it come back up to the bubble again and...

I have a rose scented geranium that is living quite happily in a window box in the back garden.  It even survived last year's bad weather.  Apparently the geranium comes in lots of different scents of which the lemon and the rose seem to be the best known .  Up until nowI haven't really known what to do with it.  However I have been reading some of my books that I haven't looked through for sometime and have found the following recipe.  I don't know what it is like so am only going to make the one batch to start with and if I like it then will make more next year. I am going to have a go at this recipe over the weekend when I have a little more time to play and I have time to let the jelly drip overnight through my jelly bag. The recipe is from Gifts from Nature by Helen Sudell ISBN 1-85967-502-6 Ingredients 3 1/4lb cooking apples roughly chopped 3 pints water juice of 2 large lemons about 20 large scented geranium (Pelargonium) keaves p...

Now the brambles are ready for the picking part of the problem is finding recipes that can be useful through the winter months that will add variety to the palate.  This one is particularly nice on hot toast, in a Victoria Sandwich, in scones, tarts and meringues.  Ingredients 1lb blackberries 1/2lb cooking apples Juice of a lemon 12oz butter 1lb sugar 4 eggs Wash and hull the blackberries.  Peel and core then chop the apples.  Place in a pan over a low heat until the juices start to run and the fruit is cooked and tender.  Alternatively place the fruit in an oven proof casserole, still without water and put in a low oven.  Liquidise or sieve the fruit.  Squeeze the juice from the lemon and strain into a double saucepan or a bowl over a pan of simmering water.  Add the fruit pulp, butter and the sugar and stir until all the sugar has dissolved.  Beat the eggs gradually then add to the fruit mixture.  Cook gently still stirring...

I haven't been at home this weekend as have been out and about.  Saturday I was helping a friend with some workshops, and it was a very good day. Yesterday we descended on OH's sister for a family day.  A short while after OH lost his parents (about five years ago) out of the blue the family were contacted by a lady who had been trying to trace her birth family for many years. Its a complicated story, but OH was adopted as a child by his grandparents (his birth mother he was bought up to believe was his older sister).  It would seem that she was about 18 years old when she had OH and he was bought up with in the family. [He always knew something had happened because he could remember attending Court as a youngster, but he was alwasy on his own] However what was not known was that his birth mother went on to have another child within a year of OH being born.    We think things must have been tight as OH's parents only had a two bedroom p...

Hi everyone hope you are all okay. This is getting to be a little bit of a saga but I thought I ought to let you know about a cheap source of kilner jars, where you can buy the bottles singly.  I walked into Wilkinsons on Friday and there arranged on the shelf were a load of Kilner jars of both sizes.  No prices on them but I went to enquire anyway (I had just bought four more at £10 from John Lewis) and the small ones came out at £1.97 a jar - that would be 5 jars for £10. I assume the bigger ones will be cheaper than John Lewis but will find out when I go in during the week again.  In John Lewis they are £3 a hit. (The large jars in Wilkinson are £2.50 per jar) Just thought I would let you all know in the name of getting as much as you can for your money. I know I am paying out now for these jars now, but come end of preserving for this year will still carry on buying a few jars here and there.  Next year I will then be able to start my bottling pantry ea...

Today the 13 August is the 20 year anniversary since my mother underwent a liver transplant  at Addenbrookes hospital in Cambridge as her own liver was diseased and failing.  This was revolutionary at the time and the transpant was used to treat the liver disease she was experiencing at the time known as primary biliary cirrhosis a condition where the tiny bile ducts became diseased and hardened thus cutting off the lubrication points in the liver and thus turning her liver into a piece of stone as well as causing various other problems.  A disease of the auto immune system, the experts now know that this particular disease comes back even after the transplant and they are starting to establish that it may be down to a defective gene.  The latest news is that they believe it is down to possibly 16 genes and that its cause is not what they thought it is. All I know is that one particular family's loss has enabled my mother to have 20 years of precious life...

Yesterday I came home with a treat two books that I have had my eye on for sometime.  The first The Grow Your Own Drugs book - I have been hanging my nose over this for quite a period of time and it has paid off.  I only paid £2 and the latest cookery book from The Hairy Bikers Family Cookbook everywhere I have seen it in town was £10, but I managed to obtain it from the Bookman who calls at work for £5.  So was well chuffed and that is two more off my ever ending list. The Bookman who calls sells for The Book People

Well I had it all figured out what I was going to achieve this evening especially as I still have a back room that looks like a bomb has hit it.  Mind you I have found things I had forgotten I had but the plus point is that I have been having a thorough sort out as I have been going along and underneath the stairs is all sorted out and very organised for me.  I also found a box of CD's that I had forgotten I had had.  I have been playing with my computer and am gradually getting used to using different elements.  Music is the latest one and so finding the CD's means that I will be able to download them and then have music playing whilst am composing for the blog etc. My choice in music is somewhat ecclectic at the best of times. If you haven't yet heard it the Fishermans Friend CD is extremely good.  But then I like traditional music and these types of songs tell a story which is all part of our heritage and from where we are from originally.  Back to g...

As a result of wanting to buy single kilner bottles as I don't necessarily have the £25 upwards to buy a box of 12 which is definitely a cheaper way of buying things.  I decided to write to Lakeland as my feeling is that it is losing Lakeland sales but not only this, this in itself precludes people on lower incomes actually having the opportunity of bottling some goodies for their own pantry because they cannot afford to buy the bottles. This is the response I received from them.  "Thank you for taking the time to get in touch with us about the Kilner jars. I've had a look into this for you and we don't stock the jars individually at the moment, however I have passed this suggestion onto our buying team for their consideration for the future. We're always interested to hear what our customers like, so your suggestion is very welcome. As always, if there's anything else we can help you with, please do let us know. You can email us at net.shop@lakeland...

Well its been a busy weekend and I have been bottoming out the dining room this weekend and under the stairs, constant washing and cleaning making sure everything is tickety booh doing the room section by section.  This room holds a lot of stuff as well as the cupboard under the stairs being my Jam Pantry and store for jars, bottles decorating equipement etc etc.  To get it absolutely A1 ok is going to take me another couple of nights, but it will be a job well done when it is finished. I thought I was out of jam jars but I have found a load under the stairs so that is very useful so was quite pleased about that. This room is the through room and tends to be the room where stuff is left - I am aiming to put a stop to this  so that I can utilise the room for doing my needlework - I have lots of stuff to do but haven't quite found the enthusiasm to start it but will get there.  One thing that is on the cards though is a couple of marrow bags for covering marrows wh...

For those of you wishing to enter into this "bottle and jar fetish" that I seem to have inadvertently engaged in along the road of "learning preserving" these are the bottles that I referred to the other day which are ideal for Elderflower Champagne and Ginger Beer.  These size bottles normally cost over £3 per bottle, but buying them off the shelf with contents included they cost the princely sum of £1.50 per bottle.  I obtain mine from Waitrose.  The contents are pretty good too.  I aim to have a healthy supply of these bottles for my next venture into Elderflower Champagne next year in readiness.  It will also mean that I will be able to make my Ginger Beer on a regular basis too.  Also very useful are the traditional Grolsch type bottles with the kind of pressure lever on the top to keep the contents secure (the same as on the lemonade bottles that I have just bought) so if you get a chance of acquiring them do so they are extremely useful. Here's a...

Whilst out walking last weekend I noticed that there was a lot of Meadowsweet on the walk and I wondered if you could do anything with it.  I have found this recipe which sounds promising and I have all the ingredients in house.  So hopefully when OH gets back from fishing tomorrow we will be able to go for a walk and I will be able to gather some (pending the weather being ok) and have a go at making this.  It is supposed to be a light refreshing beer. The recipe is from Gail Duff's The Countryside Cookbook: Ingredients 4oz/125g meadowsweet leaves 1lb/450g malt extract 8oz/225g light brown demerara sugar 1 gallon (8 pints)/4.6 litres water 1/2 oz/15g dried yeast 1/2 teaspoon/2.5ml brown sugar per 575ml (1 pint bottle) Method Boil the meadowsweet leaves in 3 pints/ 1.725 litres of water for 15 minutes.  Dissolve the malt and the sugar in a further 3 pints/1.725 litres of water in a large container.  Strain the meadowsweet liquid on to the malt and...

One of the side effects of making preserves of any kind is a keen interest in sourcing nice shaped bottles, jars etc without paying through the nose for them.   Am a bit sad I am afraid. In the spirit of waste not want not I always check products out that I buy  - especially if in jars and bottles to see whether I can re-use them or not.  Certain firms sell replacement lids so I always have a mind as to whether or not I can recycle them for next to nothing.  I also buy new jars too especially bottling jars for long term storage of pantry basics like, pasta sauces, fruit in syrups, in wine, pie fillings, etc.  The more preserving I do the more I want to do and the more I want to expand into other areas as well, but what I actually buy is dictated by the funds currently available to me. However, the containers once bought you will have infinitum (unless you give them away - but I tend to tell people that I want the jars back in any event i.e. that if the...

I popped into my local £ shop today for a quick nosy round as haven't been in there for a few weeks. I am glad I popped in as I was able to snaffle a new ironing board pad which is extremely thick, (for a £1 altho had £1.99 on it) so at some point in the not too distant future my ironing board is going to get overhauled. In the spirit of waste not want not and why dump it when it isn't brock!  All part and parcel of the slow re-organisation of the household basics. I also managed to find 22 latex gloves (at the time of this post not sure whether 22 gloves or 22 pairs!) all for £1. I also bought two bottles of disinfectant the ones that smell like flowers which always make the house smell nice. I also noticed that they had 8 colourcatchers for £1. The soup bags that Lakeland sell they do their own version for £1 a box Lakeland are about 3.99 a pack. Its worth using these resources as it means you get reasonable basic stuff at sensible prices which means you can actuall...

Unfortunately I have come home to bad news.  Merlin my youngest cat at 3 1/2 years old has passed over.  He had been off colour for a couple of days, we thought that he had a bit of a chill although he seemed brighter this morning before I left for work.  OH informs me that he thought things had gone a bit quiet and when he checked he had gone.  He couldn't believe it either.  It just wasn't expected because he has always been a larger than life Moggie,  a big un, a bruiser who regularly yowled at the back door when he wanted in and used to come and sit on you when he wanted fuss.  Had to have his daily fuss. His world just wasn't right until he had sat on you for his one to one attention. He is now buried under the Cherry Tree in the back garden (under the tree that he regularly used to scale) RIP

These are the latest wild plums that we have been harvesting from the hedgerow today.  They are pure yellow plums, the others started yellow and went pink  These are pure yellow with yellow flesh and a flavour reminiscent of apricots.  I think this batch are going to be bottled in syrup in readiness for puddings during the winter months.  Stewed plums and custard or served with vanilla or cinnamon ice cream scrummy.  I am extremely partial to cinnamon and cinnamon ice cream - unfortunately OH isn't partial so I have to make everything without and then add it to my portions where I can. Although with the Cinnamon Ice cream I make a batch just for me.  If we manage to get some more, some are going to my mum for her freezer, but I would like to get some for some more jam for the colour variation if nothing else as the different colours also play their part. Especially if you make some old fashioned jam tarts.  Could look really good ...

Make Blackberry And Apple Jam. [Done] 4 jars Make Wild Cherry Plum Jelly. [Half way there] Make Wild Cherry Preserve batch 2. [Done] 3 jars Pickle the Gherkins 2kg. [Done] 2 Large Jars Make Nectarine and White currant jelly. [done] Make Redcurrant Jelly. [done] Make Apple and Lemon Curd. [done] Bottle Yellow Cherry Plums. [Done]. 1 jar Bottle Pink/Red Cherry Plums [Done] 2 jars Bottle Blackberries out of the garden. [ Done] .  1 jar Pickle more gherkins. Pickle Eggs. Pickle Quail Eggs. Ratatouille Chutney Pickled Fennel Bottle Apples Bottle Bilberries. Dry Tomatoes and preserve in oil. Dry more sage. Dry Thyme That's it for starters

Its been a quiet day today; I am slightly incapacitated with a poorly wrist - think its down to the arthritis, but I have a splint on to support my wrist and my hand at the moment as I don't want to let it get any worse.  I don't make a good patient at the best of times.  Too darned impatient! Early on we took Missy for a  long run and I managed to pick a few wild blackberries, still early but the odd one is ready here and there and there are no end of berries to come in the next few weeks or so.  They taste very sharp.  The elderberries are starting to blacken as well so they won't be long.  Will have to sort out some recipes in anticipation of these black gold to come.   We looked at the Cherry plum/bullace we have been harvesting but they are nearly now all gone. We are not the only ones who have been harvesting nature's bounty.  These are the ones we collected before. However, we spotted that there were loads of "golden plum...

I paid a quick trip to the market on Friday and had a nosy round a new Polish Delicatessan stall on the market looking for some cervelat, (a salami style sausage that has a lot of flavour and does not last long in this household) unfortunately they didn't have any.  So I went to the small deli shop just off the market.  That shop seems to have been taken over as there were different people in there.  However,  I found proper gherkins at 1.35 a kg so I bought 2 kg to pickle this week.  I also bought some dill off the market too. I intend to make another batch, this time using the dry brining method OH can then compare which version he likes best. Not sure how to do this as never done gherkins before - cucumber yes - in fact the methods are very similar.  I had a search on the Internet to see if I could find anything that appeals and nothing really took my fancy.  So I hit one of the basic books I use on a regular basis The Basic ...