TARRAGON & THYME

I am back to writing lists as my memory is decidedly dippy at the moment.  Plus with a list I have the added bonus of ticking things off as I finish them.  Now that is satisfaction.  Something completed.  I have a few things to do this week (as per usual); some things will keep a bit longer like the Shallots there is always flexibility with doing them but I would like to start them even if I do not get them completely sorted. I also have some more runner beans, marrow courgettes, new potatoes, tomatoes and some Victoria Plums that need ripening off . Also the remnants of a net of red onions and white onions so for starters the list looks as follows: Tomato Ketchup. Tomato Soup for the freezer. Picallili. Pickled Shallots. Burnt Onions for Gravy. Red Onion Marmalade. White Onion and Garlic Marmalade. Another layer on the Rumptopf. Victoria Plum Jam. Mincemeat. We will have to see how we get on. Pattypan xx

Well I have started the Christmas Food Hoarding.  Most of the dates on the goodies located so far have dates into April 2014 which suits me and gives me a bit more flexibility on time frame which is  a good thing.  These are destined for under the stairs out of the way.  I want to get as much as I can sorted earlier than I did last year so that I can get on when I need to do certain things which are fiddly and need a bit of time spending on them. Just a few things for starters but the list will increase as I acquire things.  I really should have started with cake ingredients like fruit for the Christmas Cake and Christmas Puddings but hey its about nabbing things whilst I can and whilst things are on offer and more importantly when pennies will allow.  I also have to sort out the Pantry and the Freezer with goodies as well, but that will come in due course.  I am planning on making whatever I can from scratch However I am aiming to get what I can ...

We are at the end of another month; the nights are starting to draw in a little and there is a nip in the air and the blackberries and elderberries are putting in an appearance. We are slipping into autumn gently almost imperceptibly the wheel is turning again.  Bringing in the new shaking things up again. Soon time to go picking blackberries for freezing, making jam, chutney, bottling, vinegars and wine making and blackberry vinegar.  Also time to look for mushrooms, Rosehips, Rowan berries, crab apples, Damsons, sloes.  Time to get making wine either buying a kit or creating from scratch and putting some beer, cider and lager, bitter or stout down for Christmas as well as Ginger Beer. This is the time of the year where we have to make the best of what comes our way to make sure our pantries are filled to last us through the winter months until spring arrives once more.  My local Coop has the Christmas sweets in and the biscuits and there are offers on alread...

  There is another Workshop coming up with Jacqueline Lesley on Saturday 7 September 2013.  The details are as follows: ‘ARE YOU PSYCHIC?’ “Dare to believe in your own potential!” Workshop Day, 10 am to 4pm, Saturday 7th September 2013 – Peterborough Have you wondered if you may be psychic? Do you just have a ‘feeling’ that maybe there is something different about you? Have you had ‘unusual’ experiences? Are you drawn to find out more about this subject? With her 22 years of experience as a medium and tutor, Jacqueline will lead you on a day of spiritual learning. This will be a voyage of discovery about your own intuitive abilities which will help you to open up to the possibility that you too may be psychic! You will learn how to contact the spirit world and how to attune psychically to your own and other people’s energy. A day of infinite opportunities awaits you in a relaxed and calm atmosphere with others just like you. Even if you are a tota...

Sorry have not been around for a few days have had internet problems -  hopefully that is all sorted now.  Have a couple of posts prepped  up but have to find the photos to go with them which could be easier said than done.   Hope everyone has had a good weekend. Pattypan xx

I have been at home today  as I had the final hospital appointment for my ankle.  I have to get in touch with my consultant now to see whether or not she wants me to have further sessions.  I must say I have been very impressed with this treatment although the last appointment was extremely uncomfortable today's was more like the first, but apparently it can go like this.  They were running late on appointments today  so by the time I got home it was about 12:30 pm.   OH is on holiday this week until he is back to work next Tuesday so when we got home he fancied a fried breakfast so that is what we had although I never do have much as I cannot eat an awful lot in one session these days.  I have been trying to find homes for some of my books this afternoon in the bookshelves in the front room.  I have also been sorting knitting patterns out and have sorted out some that I no longer require so they will go to the charity shop at the weekend....

Condiments are sauces that help pep up meals like home made mustards and flavouring the mustard to go with specific meats sometimes mixing them with wine another time with a beer or a stout.  There are many kind of condiments including the nations favourite Tomato Ketchup. Having made the Souper Paste stock the other evening and having the remnants of a net of onions lurking and needing something doing with them I have decided to make another batch of Burnt Onions for Gravy which I make periodically although it is a while since I have raised this via a post. For the recipe please see the link here: http://tarragonnthyme.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/burnt-onions-for-gravy-stock.html .  It will in effect be something useful made out of what I already have to hand and not wasting anything.  The net of onions only cost me £1 and I have had lots of use out of the onions so far.  I use onions a lot although when peeling and chopping I am quite frequently balling my eyes out b...

I have a new book; one I have had my eye on for some time and I eventually treated myself to it. This one is called A Country Cook's Kitchen and I love it.  ISBN: 978-1-906417-56-7  Sections on Baking, the Dairy, Preserving. Bottling and liqueurs, curing and potting .  There are Cook Books and there are Cook Books this one has some delightful recipes and ideas with beautiful clear photography.  This is definitely my sort of book and there are recipe here for making your own dairy produce from raw materials like your own butter, including flavoured butters.  I already have Cinnamon sugar put up for one of my winter favourites comfort food of the highest order Cinnamon toast but I had not thought of Cinnamon Butter to really give your toast or tea cakes extra oompf.  Would also be good for a fruit cake.  A residuary product from making your own Butter is Buttermilk and there is a recipe here for Buttermilk Scones. A recipe for making clotted cream and t...

I have had the best part of the day on my own pottering away at my own housework for a change.  One of the jobs on the list was to sort out and clean the pantry fridge I use lemon juice in water to clean out the fridge and dispose of any out of date items.  That's the pantry fridge sorted and I can now find what I am looking for.  This fridge houses all the dairy and meat products as the fridge gets really nice and cold and its a little too cold for my salad stuff.  The small one in the kitchen is for storing fruit and fresh veg as although cold it keeps the veg well and it is this fridge that is raided when I do a home made stir fry.  I still have the kitchen fridge to clean out but will set about that in a little while. Its the end of the month again where I start running out of things or have not go the wherewithall to go out and add an item here or there to make a meal out of something.  OH was moaning last night that we were down on provisions (wh...

I have been to my mum's today travelling in by bus quiet in my own thoughts.  The bus service for the Deepings where my mum lives has changed a lot since I was a kid; the buses used to have a conductor or conductress then.  Not so today the driver does it all.  Funny how things change all in the name of progress . I got off the bus at Market Deeping as the service I had gone on was to Bourne.  Its quite organic my transport routine as I just go to the station to see whichever bus is available after picking up a few things in town before going to mums.  I usually walk from Market Deeping to Deeping St James calling in at the Antiques Centre on the way having a quick look around and then going on to mum's.  This I did today but today I espied some kitchenalia items i.e. a large stone flour crock which came home with me today.  I already have one of these but as I have various different types of flour the more storage I have the better.  I have ...

They are thriving and starting to pad out a little.  Molly has been delightful with them hardly taking any time for herself just  making sure he offspring are warm and fed.  For the best part they sleep in a heap all three of them either lined up all three together or wrapped like snakes around each other keeping each other warm and for the best part they are asleep.  I still have not been able to get any photographs although I have tried this evening not very successfully.  The only time you hear the squeak is when mum goes in and disturbs them being all wrapped up together to give them a clean or a feed.  They are sweethearts and I am so enjoying them.  I will get photos as soon as I can.  But mum and kits doing well its exactly one week today since they were born. Catch up soon  Pattypan

Everything in my Pantry has to earn its place and I keep a base of items that I personally use on a regular basis. Of course your base items would be those items which you would use on a regular basis and therefore may well be very different to what I keep in the  pantry.  That is okay that is the norm - it would not do if we were all the same but equally you have to embrace individuality.  One of these base items is sesame seeds - they are very good for you and contain some of those unusual trace elements that our systems use and need in minute amounts.  I have quite frequently bought Tahini in the past but the jars are always too big and so I decided to look for a recipe to make home made Tahini and I found this link to this tutorial which I popped up for future investigation.  This is what I do find things I am interested in and then go back and play.  This is what happened with this tutorial: http://www.cinnamonspiceandeverythingnice.com/how-to-mak...

Hello there and welcome (waves frantically  - sorry do not know morse code)  how remiss of me.  I have been engrossed with preparing posts. I have new followers Yippee.  So excited please do not be shy introduce youselves, put the kettle on and make a nice mug of tea.  Hope you get comfy and find something useful to you. So welcome to Sadie, Ben, Miss Sandra and Nanny Annie. Take care and thank you for following Pattypan x

It started with me reading an article on growing potatoes for Christmas dinner; then going on to me buying some Christmas Tree Cookie cutters from the Works at lunch time and a book entitled a Little Course on Preserving and subsequently a conversation where the shop staff were quite amazed that they had managed to sell a lot of Christmas based items pretty quickly.  This then led on to a conversation about families buying through the year or when they saw something to put up for a family member all to help with pacing the Christmas budget without having to go overdrawn and paying for everything up front.  I indicated that I could quite understand that and that I had been organising one or two bits as I had gone along myself and another customer joined in the conversation and said she actually started buying in January straight after Christmas. Because things are getting tighter you have to do what you can when you can with what you have available to you.  I go looking a...

When shopping I always look at date labels as the longer something stores the better and you have more chance of using things up.  At my local Coop they have this last week had an offer on McVities dairy chocolate and plain biscuits at £1.65 a packet.  As well as packs of digestive biscuits.  I was not going to buy any but then I clocked the date March 2014.  So it would appear that it never is too early for that C Word  or for putting stuff up or in my case into the Put Down.   It may be worth keeping you eyes open to see if anything else is on  offer that has a long sell by date on that can be put up in readiness  The same applies on looking for bargains on dried fruit now to stock pile for making the Christmas cake(s) come the end of September.  It is worth looking out for own brand fruit and also offers on flour and other baking consumables; not only for the C Season but also for baking generally. Thats at the shop supermarket o...

Its how I like it does not give you time to think. Yesterday I went to my mum's and did the weekly clean for her.  This time round I have bottomed out her dining room and cleaned that from top to bottom and freshened it up.  Next week it is the conservatory if the weather is okay as I am going to strip out all the furniture and wash everything down to make it nice and fresh and also clean the windows on the inside.  Mum has a window cleaner for outside. I have also been popping backwards and forwards checking on Molz and the kittens.  She has really been very good with them  today hardly leaving them although she has had a couple of periods of time out but for the best part has elected to be with her babies. I on the other hand have started cleaning the kitchen and re-organising the kitchen again.  Well it will get done eventually. I have also purchased two sets of plastic lightweight free standing drawers in which to sort out my craft and ...

Molly and kitz are doing well.  It seems that nature is kicked in and she is being a perfect nursing Queen at the moment.  She is even managing time out for herself is feeding like billio and coming down for regular reassurance and a quick fuss from mum.  We would appear to have three long haired kittens two dark tabbies with fine striping and one coffee/smoke colour with tabby markings around the head.  I have not gone to handle them even though Molly is sharing the kitz with me at the moment and does not mind me having a quick check up with her.  However I was a tad concerned earlier on when she showed no signs of returning to her litter so I walked her upstairs back to the cupboard and she had left Aunty Squeak esconced on the bed watching the litter with beady eyes. It would appear that she has been an excellent kit sitter and all the thanks she got from Molly was a quick hiss and spit as she went by back to her litter where they promptly squeaked at her an...

Molly has become mum today and presented me with two three tiny tabby kittens. They are very vocal. Molly was all over me like a rash before I left for work was letting me stroke her tummy and was generally very affectionate.  Came home tonight not a sign of her.  In the end I went up into the bedroom and called and she came out tome and took me back into the cupboard where  she has holed herself up in what was my airing cupboard and which is now a clothes closet to show me her babies.  I have left them be although I have fed and watered Molly.  They look so sweet.  All as a result of her going missing in June.  Its the first time I have had kittens they are so tiny.  Molly seems to have her waistline back. I will provide photos as soon as I can but I just want Molly to be happy with her babies with no pressure for the time being. Nature is a wonderful thing. Pattypan x

I have been for the second session of treatment on my ankle today at the hospital.  Last time was uncomfortable today blooming hurt although my ankle is okay,sore but I am walking about on it.  Apparently they got a bit more to the nitty gritty on it today and the more I can bear it the better it will be in the long run.  Last session in a couple of weeks time.  I have had the rest of the day to myself at home. I have the smell of tomatoes roasting filling the house at the moment I have the first batch of the home made tomato pasta sauce on the go roasting in the oven with rosemary basil some tarragon, thyme, plenty of white pepper, red onion, shallot, garlic.  The smell of summer filling the house for the winter months to come.  I bought 4kg of vine tomatoes  from the veg shop today together with pears for bottling in syrup, plums, and I was given some cherries to turn into something as well. Tea is roasted mixed vegetables  (onion, r...

Its been a dull old day today although humid and damp.  I woke up with a start this morning thinking it was Sunday and that I did not have to get up then realising that I should be at work!  It sort of wrong foots you for the rest of the day then.  I met up with my friend at dinner and put the world to rights; we try and meet up once a week for a spot of lunch and a we always end up having a good old chin wag and quite frequently end up in lots of giggles.   The heavens opened up just before I came out of work this evening to walk home.  Fortunately I was armed with a brolly and soon made it home in quick time doing the Mary Poppins quick step and bewailing the fact that my brolly did not have a talking parrots head! Over the weekend I have been on Ebay quite a bit looking for craft CDs at cheap prices.  Mostly Joanna Sheen CDs. I am talking an average of £5 for each CD.  I am starting to stockpile craft items and wool in readiness for th...

Crumbles are one of the easiest puddings to learn to master and crumble whatever fruit is made with is very popular in this house; notably rhubarb but gooseberry is OH's favourite pudding and I thought it would go very nicely with the roast pork we are having for dinner this evening, served with lashings of custard. Ingredients: 500g gooseberries 175g Plain Flour 85g Margarine/Butter 85gWhite Sugar/Caster Sugar/Golden Granulated Sugar whichever you choose 75g Demerara Sugar Butter for greasing Water Pinch of salt Put the SR into a bowl and then chop whichever fat you are using into tiny pieces and then rub together with the flour until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.  Add the pinch of salt and the Demerara sugar.  Set to one side. Grease a pudding dish. Top and tail the gooseberries add to the greased dish sprinkle the white sugar over the gooseberries and mix up in the sugar  Add two tablespoons of water. Add the crumble mix to the top of the...

I Thank you ladies for you kind wishes - I am indeed feeling a lot more comfortable than I was aIthough whenever I have an attack of this nature it usuallly takes a couple of days to work itself out of my system, but I have been drinking copious amounts of mint tea which has helped enormously. I travelled by bus to my mum's again today; an early start as I needed to collect some items from  town before I set off to Mums.  I bought some more mint and some more parsley and also took one plant of each to my mum's.  She has mint but unfortunately its flavour is not very good so new stock was in order.  Mum is not fond of herbs but she does use mint and parsley. This week as I passed through the villages on the bus it was very apparent that the Farmers were getting busy they had started combining and by the time that we went by again tonight three large fields had been cleared and they were still working at it.  The crop looks well ripe though. On gettin...

I was talking to my friend the other day and she indicated that there was a chap near where she lived who had quite a lot of home grown veggies available including shallots and new potatoes, thyme and rosemary plants and a cabbage.  So I decided to give it a try and I must say I am very impressed. The gentleman who grows them has a big garden and an allottment if I have understood the situation correctly.  We grew up on veggies like this fro my Grandparents and then latterly my Dad.  Home grown is good.  So I had two thyme plants and three rosemary plants arrive together with 7lb new potatoes  for £2 and 10lb shallots all for the princely sum of £8.30.  The plants were five for £1 and the shallots work out at 50p per pound the cabbage was 30pence and it is a large one.  So much so when I go to mum's tomorrow I am going to call in at Grasmere Farm Butchers and get some chipolatas and then cook the sausages in the oven and serve with new potatoes,...

It has just been too hot today although I am one of the lucky ones as I have been in an air conditioned office all day which has been very comfortable until I went out dinner and then the heat hit me and boy was it hot.  I think I am fighting a summer cold at the moment as I really did struggle with the heat at dinner.  The cold has not amounted to much and is in my head at the moment but I have the sniffles.   As a result I was not in the mood for cooking; I have had various ingredients in the fridge like a melon, some pate, celery and I have been and bought some blue cheese and some parma ham and salami and we have had a big plate of antipasti with melon slices, and the cheese served with bread or with crackers.  Something to eat but nice and light.  There was another reason for me wanting something light tonight; I have had a bad antacid attack with my hiatus hernia (a bit ikky) and I really could not stomach the thought of a cooked meal this evenin...