TARRAGON & THYME

Still no internet connection so I am continuing to draft posts even though I am not able to post them just yet. OH and I have been out in the garden this evening together with a powerful halogen work lamp and the wooden frame is starting to come together.  We have all the walls up and together the floor down.  Tomorrow evening we are aiming to get the roof on.  We have done a couple of hours work not starting really until 8:00am after we had had tea and then we had to go back to B & Q as the lamp he had bought did not have a bulb in it.  Was not missing they just did not supply it and OH had thought was within.  So a productive evening all round even though it was bitterly cold.  I had two pairs of gloves on and my thick anorak over a couple of thick jumpers.  I was pleased to get in.  Lovely clear sky though tonight often find that with a bitterly cold night.  Its nights like this when I am desperate for a log fire to snuggle round ...

Or perhaps that should be the base is not going too well.  OH was in a hurry and ended up skimping and the base was even more higgly piggledy.  He was keen to get the shed up for me.  However we ended up having words about this as it just was not right and I was not paying out good money to have it bodged and I told him so.  He eventually came round to my way of thinking and we eventually got the base sorted out after going a couple of more times to get the fixative.  We have also got the fluorescent lights, extension leads, wiring, light switches, cover for the wire so it does not get wet etc. etc.  But the base is done - hurrah but it was dusk again before we finished and so the shed has not been started.  We are hoping to do a bit during the week of an evening when OH gets home.  OH has been suffering with his back again today  - he has a disc that pops out and causes problems every now and then and so has to take it st...

Work started in earnest and we stripped quite a lot of vegetation out of the area where the slabs were to go.  OH last weekend had laid the slabs out roughly where we wanted them to place the shed on.  However we needed to get the fixative underneath.  We spent quite a bit of time trying to do that with not very good results.  The slabs needed quite a bit of lifting up due to the ground being sloping and at the bottom.  In the end we realised that we did not have enough fixative and would need to be able to go and get some more on Sunday morning.  By the time we realised it was dusk, and extremely cold so into the house we retreated. We really need to get the internet and the TV sorted out.  We have an Amazon Fire stick but there are problems with the loading of the films we believe the signal is too slow the same with the Internet.  So that will have to happen next week when I am home.  I will strip the front room out so that we can sol...

I am not sure what is going on with the computer but am finding it difficult to keep a consistent signal the internet keeps shutting itself off so I have not read many other blogs or posted as a result.  I am going to have a fiddle with it but I think it is something to do with the router and the fire wall but I need to strip that out in the front room and it is not easily accessible at the moment so will have to do what I can when I can.  So I will carry on posting and somewhere down the line I hope that the posts actually post and you are able to read them. The migraine is still hanging and making life impossible but I am back at work after two days off Because of the rough weather at the weekend we were unable to get all the slabs down and the shed up.  We are hoping to get it done over the weekend although I think we may be a tad ambitious about this.  Fingers crossed and toes plaited and all that jazz.  Wish us luck. Catch you soon. Pattypa...

I ended up being off work for a couple of days last week with a horrendous migraine that just came on.  Trouble is that when I get a migraine I end up being in bed until it subsides in a dark room.  No computers no TV as the light always jiggers me up.  I am light sensitive in any event and that is how they discovered I had epilepsy by putting me under a strobe light which in turn triggered a fit albeit an absence a petit mal. Never mind these things are sent to try us so that itself has put the Christmas preparations on hold.  Fortunately next week from Tuesday night I will be on leave for five days so I am hoping to catchup then. Will be playing catchup all week as a result of this.  Never mind these things are sent to try us. Catch you later. Pattypan x

Disappointingly we did not get out to do the shed and lay the base because of the weather.  We have the powdered cement base that you put down and then lay the slabs on top and it then sets itself. Despite indications to the contrary it just did not brighten up and there was a proper  mizzle in the air.  So we stayed in and pottered.  Evenutally OH did manage to get the slabs into the garden - so everything is to hand ready for us to get stuck in when we can.  Bit disappointed that we have not got further but hey ho these things are sent to try us. We have however had a very nice tea tonight.  I prepared the roast beef by placing it on a sliced raw onion in the bottom of a roasting pan and then popped a foil lid over the tray and cooked it on Gas mark 4 checked it halfway through and took the foil off and there was a lovely natural gravy in the bottom of the pan which formed the base of the gravy for our meal with the addition of some...

Weatherwise the sky is still grey and cloudy but lighter than it was.  However I think today is a complete washout when it comes to doing the shed.  Something may be salvaged we will wait and see but at least we have all the pieces to get on with stuff and maybe even get the patio done with one fair swoop which will stand us in good stead. We have just had a sausage sarnie each and a milky coffee (mine Masawatti style) and a bit of a chin wag as you do.  I am going to get on in the kitchen downstairs in the hope that I can get it squared to get on with other things that I have and need to do.  Including my own personal washout  - more laundry. We have been to the Butchers and  have bought a piece of beef to have later on for tea with home made Yorkshire pudding and a few veggies. We have bought a few other bits and bobs as well.  We do not do badly on the food front and tend to buy the best we can with the money available to us....

It has been raining since about 11:00pm last night.  Only gentle but then getting a tad rough with the wind getting up in the early hours for a brief time.  This morning we have arisen to grey cloudy skies with intermittent drizzle and we are now hoping for a break in the weather so that we can continue with the slabs and get the shed up.  If that does not happen will have to do a bit of an evening during the week.  Alternatively I will get on with something in the house instead.  So it will be a busy day one way or another. Catch you later. Pattypan x

Its been a really cold day but it has not stopped us bogging in and getting things done.  I managed to get the path clear in the garden - got rid of pots where the plants have been spent  and put the pots for washing another day to one side.  The delivery man came and unloaded and popped the shed into the front garden for us - I was nearly there with the garden when he arrived.  Here is where we got the shed off, and I got an extra 5% off as well.  Very pleased in the end with the service received from them and the delivery driver.  http://www.sheds.co.uk/avon-8-x-12-double-door-overlap-apex-shed.html We then went off.  First to the cash and carry as  needed more soap powder and ended up with a couple of other bits and bobs as well.  Including Fentimans Dandelion and Burdock - 16 bottles for £7.99 normally £1.50 a bottle in the shops.  We also ended up getting trolley for moving sacks of stuff and furniture around. Wil...

Jigsaw time here big time. I have been up since 6:00am pottering around trying to get a bit more sorted for the delivery of the shed.  A little low loader turned up with a stocky very helpful little chap who unloaded for us.  He had come from Newark and had several deliveries in all today. going in a circuit next to Bedford then to Leicester a couple of places there then Nottingham and finally back to Newark.  When he first turned up I though the contents were just for us big gulp where are we going to put it all.  Then I realised  - silly me.  But the shed is here it appears to be very well made.  Now we have a lot to do and I suspect that it is going to be a garden based day today as a lot of sorting needs doing and then we have to start building the shed  - that is after we have got the slabs and then go them down.  OH had the foresight to get the stuff to put under the slabs yesterday. It is bitterly cold we have had a very ha...

arising from the fact that at 07:00am this morning I received a text indicating that my goods from so and so were going to be delivered today 18 November 2016.  Really serious major panic because we are of course talking about the shed.  Could not speak to the company concerned until 08:30am or the providers of the shed until 09:00am.  Was really concerned as nobody was going to be home!  Was getting in a right two and eight about the whole thing and trying to work out what the heck I could do whilst waiting to speak to them. Not good for the old blood pressure especially before breakfast. Eventually getting through to a very nice lady who with a couple of words was able to confirm that indeed my shed is due for delivery tomorrow and it is in their list for tomorrow.  Big sigh of relief!  I had ordered an alarm system for the shed and we believe that is what they have tried to deliver today.  I was expecting it all to come together and arrive ...

and maybe at some point Sea Salt as well.  I like to keep this in but I have noted that I am running low.  I bought curing salt, Prague Powder 1 and 2, a salami kit, a culture for helping with salami curing and various other little bits and bobs and sausage/salami casings which are to be stored in the fridge.  I even bought some Agar Agar gelatin as well.  I did not expect it all to arrive on the same day and it was from three different companies.  I am still waiting for the Prague powders maybe they will come tomorrow.  However I am getting the bits and bobs together so that I am organised and I can set too and play once the house is sorted out a bit I have so much that I want to do. I also purchased some boning tweezers to remove the pin bones on the salmon. The hog casings are in the fridge and I have a new book by Paul Peacock (well to me anyway) "make your own bacon and ham"....and other salted, smoked and cured meats.  On first glance there ...

I just love candle light through the year but I think it is even more atmospheric come Christmas. A Couple of years ago I made some Christmas candle decorations which involved making an outer container in effect made of Cinnamon sticks.  However the sticks were not really long enough but I made the best of what I had but I had always promised myself that I would when I had the opportunity buy some new Cinnamon sticks and have another go.  The original design I did was graduated lengths around a very tall candle and the prices vary considerably for cinnamon sticks I happen to think this link is one of the better buys. I must stress these are not my photos but the designs are simple and beautiful and I have shared them to show you the sort of thing I am thinking about doing.  I obtained the photos by just typing in Cinnamon candles and these came up.  However Credit must be given as these are not my photos. The other day I did just that - I...

Well something seems to be going right.  I have had a little bit of a success in getting the shed to be delivered this Saturday so it looks as though it is going to be all systems go one way or another.  Now to get the slabs sorted and the access way sorted.  Looks as though its going to be a couple of busy evenings ahead.  Once the shed is up and running we can then empty the dining room and get that back into order and then hopefully I can really start getting stuck in on the rest of the house.  Looks as though it will be an early start in any event this coming weekend.  Told you before its just the depth that varies. Well I cannot complain I am bored can I. There is always something to do and I don't really do bored.  Frustrated yes, need more time yes but never bored. Then once the shed is up then I can start getting organised to have a go with salami and bacon and my Gravadlax as I plan on having a curing cave in the shed based on a wine ch...

I had a little lottery win at the weekend and so I have used that little win (a syndicate we run at work run on the bonus numbers) and have put it towards some more Christmas decorations. Some years I don't see anything I like and then other years it goes barmy.  I am trying to be sensible but occasionally very occasionally its nice to have a little splurge.   I went to TK Maxx fatal.  I had actually gone to look at the glass and the china but there was not too much on that front today maybe another day things will be different.  I am very pleased with today's purchases though even though they were not quite what I had gone for. Anyway here it goes the most expensive item was the Angel.  at £14.99.  She is however very different to a normal Angel more classical and in a pale green which is the traditional colour for Father Christmas.   It looks gold in the photo but is a lovely pale limey green.  I am how...

Well the shed saga continues.  I have been on email on and off most of the day.  And I have purchased it now and hopefully it will be delivered soon.  I have asked for confirmation when. I am hoping this Saturday but that might be a tad over-optimistic.  However it will certainly help me tidy the back room up and then we should be able to move again in there and I should be able to get sorted with all my jars, bottles etc.  I am hoping to get them all into the stone shed so that I can clear the under stairs for dual purpose for my jam store which it partially is now but also to get my cleaning equipment put away properly and also storing some of the Christmas food away plus the dog and cat food.  Well that is the plan but actually getting it to work may be a different story altogether.  Now the work starts and we have to get the slab base down so that OH can get the shed up and then we can get electrics in and strip light in. and the sh...

When we were younger one of our family's little traditions or should I say my father's was to have a little extra present on the tree for each of us.  I always used to be in the kitchen with mum when I was growing up clearing up after her and once she had got what she needed to be done done I would be allowed to do something myself. That is really where I learned to cook at the heels of my mother. I always helped her for Sunday dinners and also on Christmas Day when things got hectic.  Being the Father he was (and I happen to think he wasn't perfect I saw him warts n all but as a father he was pretty special to me and to my brother) he knew how much work went into preparing everything and after dinner one year he went to the Christmas tree and procured three little presents for us all (including my brother) as a thank you.  I still have what he bought me and also what he bought my mum and the special little notes that were popped into the little boxes ex...

Maybe its just me  - I attract chaos of one sort or another!  Well I told you it was just the depth that varied.  You would have thought that ordering a shed would be quite a straightforward business.  I just need a shed in which to store excess items and make a workable work room for doing up some projects and for doing my potting on of plants in the summer. As well as storing the freezers, a curing chamber and a wine chiller.  Simples or not as the case did not turn out to be.  I think its me that is the rogue element here. However is it just me being simplistic but I want four walls and a roof with a couple of windows in.  How complicated is that.  It is going to have my freezers in so we are going to put a slab base down so that it is nice and even and firm.  But all the firms want to offer you this whether you want a different finish, whether you want it installing etc.etc. etc.  Then the delivery service on most of them dumps th...

Its been a long day today - too long.  Started at 6:00am got OH sorted out with fresh laundered clothes and also pack up and then out to work.  Then I made me and Missy a cup of tea and then started to write a couple of posts before starting to get ready for work.  It was raining full blast this morning and so I did not walk I called for a Taxi - when its wet and damp my body just does not wish to cooperate despite me pushing forwards. Dinner time saw me at the post office and then on to Argos.  I have bought a dehumidifier in an attempt to stop some of the moisture in the kitchen and the bathroom.  The bathroom condenses up quite badly and we have told the Landlord this ever since we have been here  - 29 years.  Every so often we get a build up of mould on the skirting edge in the bathroom despite me using specialist cleaners.  The outside wall of the bathroom which is a separate loo on the outer wall and then on the inside the washbasin and...

For many years mum kept the Christmas decorations or the bulk of the breakable ones in a large old wooden tea chest that for the best part of the year was kept in the attic.  A nondescript box that belied its contents.  That box was treated with great reverence and respect as it held Mum's German glass ornaments and other little bits and pieces of Christmas ephemera like the paper garlands and little plastic angels that her mum had given her for the tree when she first got married.  Of particular pride of place were two bells one pink and one blue with dots on them.  They were unusual in that they were proper bell ringing bells when you moved them they used to ding the ringer being buried inside the bauble.  The pink one got broken when we moved to Deeping but the blue one prevailed until the tree collapsed a year before mum passed and then it and many of the other special baubles got broken.  We have a few of the remnants each but the really special ones ...

Most of us like long cold drinks at Christmas especially when things start to get hot.  So now is the time to get the ice cubes sorted out.  One of the things that I do is to cut a lemon into wedges or a lime and then add the wedge to an individual ice cube tray and then poor on water and freeze.  All you have to do then is when you want an ice cube is just pop them straight in the freezer. If you only have the one ice cube tray once they are frozen decant into polythene bags and then you can reuse your tray.  Keep doing this until you have enough.  Don't want anything in them just leave them plain or fill the ice cube trays up with diluted lemon barley water and freeze.  These are lovely in a long cold glass of Coca Cola or Pepsi. You can also add fresh cranberries and mint leaves and just suit the ice cube to the drink. In the same way you can also create festive ice bowls to serve home made ice cream out of - something simple can be made abs...

We went to the Van Hage Garden Centre ostensibly to have a look around.  I saw far too many lovely things as usual.  They also have a food department (what a shock) and as I am concentrating on the food side at the moment  that was where my primary focus was today.  I am nearly there when it comes to the food apart from the fresh stuff and the meat. We enquired whether they still did Stinking Bishop cheese (we both like this) and they do so hopefully will be able to order some.  They do but did not have any in today. I did come away with some different jams  - ones that I have not tried before and so if I like them I will be looking for a recipe/recipes and also different flavoured ciders, some different bread flours, including a French Bread mix that can be used in the breadmaker and also and apple and cinnamon bread mix and a seed mix and the Easiyo yogurt mixes. So when I go back to have another look I wil...

I have been buying the odd thing here and there just recently over the past couple of months or so  and they consist of: From the Charity Shop A vintage toast rack and jam dish with both dishes intact. Some egg coddlers Another Punch bowl An embroidered tea tray A green glass jug which will go with one I already have  - need to source some more tumblers for this though. A beehive Cheese dome and platter in the shape of a bee skep. Bought items Two silver and two red star tealight holders which I obtained from Wilkinsons. A cake tray from Lakeland to create an individual Christmas tree cake. Pans for pies, a bacon and egg pie mould, a large oval pie mould and I also have the individual pie mould tin as well.  After the Pork Pie making class I invested in the shaped pans as this is something I am going to continue with. A fancy cake pan from TK Maxx.  Normally these pans cost upwards of £15 h...