TARRAGON & THYME

Quiet Sunday and a Little Recycling It has been a quietish day here at Pattypans although it was very  busy first thing as we had another visit to the tip planned.  Primarily to get rid of the bits left over from the new carpet I had fitted last week in the front room and some other accumulated rubbish. I sorted out a big box of bottles I no longer had any use for. [ I have a habit of saving any jars and bottles that come into the house and I recycle them when I make preserves and/or cordials.  Beer bottles get recycled with home brew as do wine bottles for home made wine.  I recycle as much as I can reusing those bottles and jars I can get replacement closures for and the rest get recycled at the Bottle Bank rather than wasted]. On the way back we made an impromptu stop to get something to eat and drink and then came back to the house intent on getting on with some more sorting out.When we got back it was grey fading to dark the light that is peculiar to a ...

Well I have been adding a few more items to the list, just a few things here and there and also taking advantage of offers on some items. I am lucky and I know I am in that I am able to put things up here and there.  Equally though I have not gone as mad this year, partly due to prices but I have been a little more selective in what I have actually bought so far. I have bought a few sweets (but not as many as I have in the past). This year though I am going more for ingredients I can make things from like nuts, sesame seeds, potatoes, popping corn. Puff Pastry, dough, for making savoury pinwheels, cheese straws, cheese and sesame twists and for savoury popcorns and home made chips naan breads etc.  Although I have particular brands of crackers that I always keep in as we love cheese I intend to make a few to ring the changes as well.  I think there will be a visit to the Cheese Shop in Stamford to get stocked up on some of the more specialist cheeses that we both like ...

List of items acquired/made so far 1 x Bottle of Chocolate Sauce 1 x Bottle of Butterscotch Sauce 3 x Bottles of Raspberry Coulis 3 x Bottles of Passionfruit Coulis 3 x Bottles of Crabbies 3 x Lemon Mousse Mix 3 x Strawberry Mousse Orange Curd Pickled Onions Pickled Shallots Pickled Beetroot Pickled Cucumber Picallili Pickled Eggs Apple Chutney  Pear Chutney Christmas Chutney Mincemeat Raspberry Wine Cucumber Pickle   4 blocks Chocolate   3 bags white chocolate chunks   3 bags dairy milk chocolate chunks   2 Bags Belgian Chocolate Chips   4Fruit Flavour coloured cake icing pen   4 Tubs of Chocolate Vermicelli   1 Mixed tub of chocolate cake decorations   1 tub of Hundreds and thousands   1 tub of silver Dragees   1 bottle of French Almond Extract.   Gold and Silver Glitter Pack   2 Tubs Thai Sweet Chilli Pringles   2 Tubs Texas Barbecue Pringles   2 Tubs Plain Pringles   ...

I tend to cut through the M & S Store in the Queensgate Centre to save walking time when I am in town at lunchtime and I espied bottles of Mulled Wine, Spiced Cider and Mulled Rose available for the cost of £6 a bottle (or 2 for £10) which is all very good but that's a lot of money for what basically is a bottle of wine, or cider which has had added to it in the case of mulled wine some brandy or a liqueur  if you really want to be exotic (but it is very warming).  I love Mulled wine anyway but I had not thought about using it with a Rose for example or with White Wine.  I have had Mulled Cider before which is a favourite.  I will post a  recipe for the Cider at a later date. Its funny that prices shoot up on food when somebody does something to it.  It is simple to spice a wine, traditionally it is a red wine, but why not experiment with white wine, cider and Rose.  To prepare in advance if you are using oranges or lemons in preserves in the ...

  Follow my blog with Bloglovin I  only have a half size gas oven that belongs to the house (we rent) and every time I put the oven on these days I am conscious of maximising how I use the oven to its full potential rather than just one thing at a time.  One thing at a time is such a waste of resources.  This is why when I do a Sunday lunch I cook for the following day as well  by doubling up on everything and then just heat the food up in the microwave "ping" it for 5 minutes and then we have a lovely home cooked meal courtesy of a little planning and being frugal with the fuel.  You have to make the best of what you have and although my dream cooker is the full Aga we have to be realistic and  deal with what we have rather than what we don't have.  We have to be grateful no matter what the situation. My mum was ever conscious about getting the most out of the oven. I attribute this to the fact that she was one of ten children,who were aba...

I am very fond of the Country Living magazine, beautiful articles and lovely food.  A magazine to savour and read page to page as well as being a proper coffee table magazine; always something useful to be found.  One of the regular contributors Alison Walker produces some lovely recipes and quite frequently these are given full coverage within the magazine often with an opportunity to purchase her new book at a reduction.  This was the basis of my introduction to the work of Alison Walker which I personally think is superb. I first purchased her previous publication A Country Cook's Kitchen and thought that fab it has recipes for making Goats cheese (1kg of) amongst lots of other really lovely items,  and that is a treasured book as well.  Its a proper book with good solid recipes for having a go at making things yourself and a good one for a family.  Good solid cooking.  Both books enhance each other, are good cooking and eating with lots...

At 6:00am this morning it was minus 2 - OH walks Missy at this time and he and her came in frozen.  Needless to say the heating went on for a while.  Then again when you really look at things we haven't done bad so far this year it has been quite mild for the season.   Everything looks etheric and mystical when covered with a proper white hoar frost as though you have just stepped off the merry go round into an imaginary world. Mind you it was a nice brisk walk into work this morning needless to say I got warmly dressed up and contemplated that it was about time for thermals coming out of the cupboard!  I am dressed for comfort not for speed these days and being comfortable is far more valuable to me these days  - my priorities have changed again another milestone passed another phase waved good bye to. I have found that if I get over cold or damp I seize up just like the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz and I don't like being seized up!  Or if I g...

  Follow my blog with Bloglovin Are in the shops  -well they were in M & S earlier in the week.  I always look out for them early as in the run up to Christmas you do not always have the time to set too and make some preserves but for cranberries, and clementines I always make an exception.   I will purchase mine at the beginning of December.  I always make Cranberry and Apple Jelly (not just for Christmas but I make in bulk as we use this quite a lot throughout the year either with a hot meal or in sarnies with brie (lovely if in a baguette and popped into the microwave to melt the brie) and/or meat.v  I also look out in reductions on cranberries in between time as well.  If you haven't got time to use them then and now you can always freeze them. Please refer to earlier post for recipe:   http://tarragonnthyme.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/cranberries.html I also make a fresh Cranberry and Grand Marnier whole berry sauce for serving wi...

Follow my blog with Bloglovin I have managed to accumulate some more items for the Christmas Hoard the majority of which are bits and bobs for cake decorating.  There are a few more items yet  to go on the list but I will pop these on at a later date.  It doesn't matter how much or how little you acquire as it all goes towards Christmas and in my case into the New Year as well. 4 blocks Chocolate 3 bags white chocolate chunks 3 bags dairy milk chocolate chunks 2 Bags Belgian Chocolate Chips 4 Fruit Flavour coloured cake icing pen 4 Tubs of Chocolate Vermicelli 1 Mixed tub of chocolate cake decorations 1 tub of Hundreds and thousands 1 tub of silver Dragees 1 bottle of French Almond Extract. Gold and Silver Glitter Pack 2 Tubs Thai Sweet Chilli Pringles 2 Tubs Texas Barbecue Pringles 2 Tubs Plain Pringles 2 Boxes Cadburys Fingers 1 bag of Beef Jerky 2 Boxes Brazil Nut Cookies 1 bag whit chocolate buttons 2 bags milk chocolate buttons 2 boxes Milk...

For tea tonight - should have been served with lamb, but have ended up cooking a piece of ham and serving that with the Bubble N Squeak as the cats launched an online attack on the remnants of the lamb from yesterday when OH turned hi back for a split second!  The Ham was on the cards to be cooked in any event for OHs pack up but just means the ham will be served warm for a change.  I am not wasting all those lovely vegetables. I think it was on Saturday on James' Martins Home Comforts cooking programme that there was a segment by the Food Historian Ivan Day about Bubble N Squeak and its origins which was very interesting as the meal originally consisted of left over cabbage and finely   cut left over meat brought together in a pan and turned into a large cake!  Not a potato in sight! Mine has mashed potato, Brussel sprouts, some peas, some carrots, cauliflower all mixed up in it and then using my Tupperware beefburger formers made into Bubble N S...

Christmas is coming The Geese are getting Fat Please put a penny in the old man's hat If you haven't got a penny, a hapenny will do If  you haven't got a hapenny  Then God bless you! It would seem that Christmas is on its way - Its Stir Up Sunday today  - and I forgot! I normally make my Christmas Puddings on Stir Up Sunday but not this year oohps its the reincarnation of the other year when I forgot! - since me not being well in February I have been more forgetful (was probably the bang on the head) but I do not seem to have got myself together very well. Oh b..! They will just have to be made next weekend (I am on holiday then) so should have time to get them done and out the way with. Here is a post from a previous year including the recipe I normally use (a Delia one) although I have been known to fiddle with the ingredients and also use other recipes but this is the one I tend to come back to. http://tarragonnthyme.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/advent-sund...

  Follow my blog with Bloglovin As some of you may recall every year I normally start buying a few extra items of goodies and things I need for Christmas cooking from the end of August beginning of September so that we do not have a massive grocery bill in December itself.  This system is the old country way that my grandmother utilised and my mum and which I in turn have carried on and no doubt many of you fellow readers also do something similar.  However as food prices have shot up I have found myself taking advantage of real offers on items and stocking up if I am able to on the item on offer.  I always check out whether the item is genuine as quite often it is a ruse to get you to buy a bigger pack of something when often it works out cheaper to buy a couple of the smaller packs. My Nan/we lived in small country villages that did not normally have a bus route through and so if you did not drive or did not have a car you were reliant on close family or fri...

Its been a busy old week where I haven't had time to catch my breath but that is good in one sense as you really do not have time to get bored.  Not that I get bored often, but sometimes you just need to relax do nothing and breathe to help re-charge the batteries.  However it has not been one of those weekends either. We started work removing the old carpet yesterday in the front room and consequently the rest of the house is all upside down as what was in the lounge is now in various places around the house whilst we get down to business in the lounge. Today we have been to the tip 3 times with the car fully laden.  I had to have a new tumble drier as the old one gave up the ghost I have had it about 15 years|) so that had to go and also the old dishwasher needed removing.  There was also some misceallaneous household waste including polystyrene and of course some garden waste.  Will have some more next weekend but it all needed packaging up before taki...

Hello everyone, sorry I have been absent for a while just not enough hours in the day and things have been hectic to say the least.  Mostly centred around the house we have been doing a little bit of tidying up/reackerfurbitation.  I will not spill now but will confirm later on but needless to say that there has been a fair bit of work going on and simply not enough hours in the day. I have been crotcheting again and nearly have a lounge throw completed.  It is the first one of two which have been planned.  I have been working them in a beige marled Aran wool which will be lovely and snug when sat down watching the TV of an evening and besides you pay an arm and a leg when you buy from a shop but working something from scratch means that I am putting something of me into the home crafted item as well as making my home individual snug and cosy and no one else will have the same items in their home. I have carried on acquiring men's shirts in different colours...