Inveterate Squirrel

Whilst I have been away and with all the rain we have had the herb garden such as it is has gone ballistic so much so that I am going to preserve some of nature's bounty in ice cubes for use during the winter months.  The spearmint has really  put on a lot of growth as has the sage and thyme and lemon balm and the chives, so later on when it is quieter I am going to forage some of these goodies away.  I also intend to start drying the sage in bunches again for use during winter as it is something I use an awful lot of.  Will post instructions later on as to what I am up to.

 We have roast pork for dinner tomorrow with hispi cabbage peas carrots and minted new potatoes and some roasties of potato, shallots, sweet potato and parsnip. I also intend to make a home made sage and onion stuffing too. I have picked up fresh English Strawberries for pudding for tonight and tomorrow just served with either Cornish ice cream or cream- umm yummy.  I think also some of these wonderful fruits will also find themselves in one preserve or another during the next few weeks and I think a visit to our local Pick Your Own farm might well be on  the cards too.  Hopefully I will be able to get cracking in the next few weeks or so. I am dreadfully behind with the Putdown this year but we will get there in the end.

I have also managed to pick up a load of cherry tomatoes one punnet of which will remain out for OH - the other two to be washed bagged and wrapped and popped in the deep freeze for use in a fry up during the winter months as it brings a touch of summer to a winter plate.  They can also be used in soups or sauces for pasta or whole in lasagne or in home made chilli .  I have also picked up some reduced peppers which are also headed for the freezer.  These are always worth freezing down if you see them reduced as they are useful in chicken dishes with pizza with stir fries in foccacia and of course if you don't have them to hand you are rather ham strung in the choices that you have recipe wise which is why I always aim to have a little bit of everything squirrelled away no matter what format it takes. I am well known amongst my friends for being a bit of a foodie and indeed recently at the group I belong to we were talking about totem animals and each of the group had to guess which our individual totem animal was;  they all declared I was a squirrel.  Which in truth I am!

The Elderflowers are out and I am hoping to get some Champagne, cordial and curd put down in the next few weeks.  The weather here today has been very blustery and a little bit variable although it has gone a tad chilly here at the moment.

Right am off to go and get on with some things will comeback later on once I have squirrelled a few more goodies away.

Have a good afternoon

Hugs

Pattypan

xx