TARRAGON & THYME

i am getting fidgety - I want to get growing things, my hands have a life of their own and yet still I have not been able to indulge them.  This weekend I intend to get some violas from Waitrose I anticipate getting a couple of trays as I have some small black cauldron planters to sort out to give a bit of colour to the herb section of the garden and also to fill some small hanging baskets.  It is probably because the evenings are getting lighter I want to get on with stuff.  In the lighter months we tend to get stuck in and work until it gets dark.  In the winter months we yearn for the lighter nights so that we can get more done rather than vegetate in front of the TV (not that there has been much of that taking place here). If you have green fingers and know what you are doing in a garden you can take your own cuttings of plants and bits and bobs and throughout the year in effect provide presents for friends and relatives for next to nothing.  If times are...

........is always dangerous for me. Today (Tuesday) I have come back with a very large baby steriliser unit that has a nice deep lid for £3.  That means that potentially I can process 8 bottles of home made cordial in this new one and six in the old unit.  I have spent £5 on the two units in total and it makes the unit easy and clean to use when processing lots of bottles of cordial.  You can leave it on a work top and get on with something else.  Much better than slaving over a hot stove with steam and water bubbling everywhere. One of the problems using larger bottles for storing cordial in is that once the bottle of cordial is opened you have to store it in the fridge; but prior to that you have trouble finding a pan to hold the deep bottles in.  I have that sort of equipment but have found that for the two of us and for general long term use, using the hex bottles are simpler to process in smaller amounts and if you want larger quantiti...

In the menu for the week that is.  Today I have managed to liberate some quite large steaks of sirloin from the Co-Op and I have saved about £6 in  all.   I also managed to liberate some sausage, and another tray of lamb cutlets.  I bought mushrooms fresh from the Veg shop.  I have bacon and eggs in and I therefore rather fancied doing a mixed grill for tea which is what I did in the end as this quite took OH's fancy.  It was not the planned meal but hey so what it will get used up during the week.  Very tasty it was too - I cooked it on the griddle after having used butter to give a surface to the pan but cooking it very gently.  I like using a griddle I always seem to get good results from it.  OH enjoyed it which was the main thing.  I think his appetite might be coming back. As a result of opening a package of sausages I need to use them up so tomorrow night's tea is toad in the hole.  That way I am using up bits and bo...

Good news for the time being.  I have been to see my Consultant Mr Kamarth today.  Last time I went he was worried that the plate was not behaving itself and there was talk about having it removed.  Also the healing process was not as advanced as it should have been. After x-rays first thing he is now pretty happy with my foot.  The big toe is not as straight as it could have been (that is how it goes)but it is far straighter than it was and I do not have the discomfort that I did have.  However bearing in mind all my medical conditions which have had an impact I do not think he has done a bad job at all.  In fact I am extremely grateful.  I can walk around again pretty normally.  He said that he thought that give my foot another year and it will have healed permanently.  Once it settled the swelling on the joint should go down significantly which I was pleased to hear.  He said that the x-rays from today have shown significant heal...

This is not an advert for Dunhelm just more own personal view.  No gifts in kind or coercements have been used this is just my subjective view.  It is also not my photo. As I said yesterday I paid a trip to Dunhelm and I spotted something that might be useful in my kitchen and maybe give OH a sugar free pudding in the process and myself of course.  This little machine uses fresh fruit that has been frozen and then using the frozen fruit to go through like an extruding machine.It cost me £18 as it is on offer at the moment at Dunhelm. For my first try I used a punnet of frozen mixed fruit - it turned out to be a little too tart but only ever such a fraction and so I will probably put a banana in next time or a little artificial sweetener just to take the tartness off.  The one punnet cost me £2 from the Co-Op and made enough sorbet for the two of us.  There are the occasional seeds but not as bad as when you eat the fruit fresh. However it is...

I am an old fashioned girl when it comes to flowers.  I like all the English Country Garden favourites like, sweet scented violets, wood primroses, forget me nots, Roses preferably scented, honeysuckle, wild roses.  I also like Polyanthus.  They always look cheerful and colourful especially after the grey days of the winter months.  I do not know whether I am too early or not but the Co-Op had trays of four in-store for £2.50 so I have bought some to put into some long window box containers I have to try and bring a little colour and prettiness to the sheltered herb garden area outside the back door.  I also noticed that Waitrose have trays of violas in different colours for about 20 (I think) to a tray for £5.  I might get some of those as well as they also give a very cheerful burst of colour. I think Polyanthus and violas are very cheerful plants.  I also need to get some paint for the mini greenhouses to give them a tidy up and then once they ...

Recycling OH was bought as part of the Christmas food bits and bobs two large jars of  Gherkins.  It is something he can have within reason to eat and nibble at (instead of something sweet).  I get these from Lidl.  I have in the past made them but at the price I can get them for at Lidl this is one thing I have dropped off the Preserve list as it is just false economy for me to make them. Unless of course I manage to find a glut of gherkins for next to nothing which in this country is perhaps not as common as it is in the States. In any event I thought the two large jars might keep him going until the end of the month but it appears I have underestimated him.  Both jars are now empty as I have said but they are not about to be thrown.  They are ideal for keeping my pickled onions and shallots in later in the year.  I have been adding a few jars every so often; I will just have to source new lids for the coming season.  Bottles for Liq...

....11 degrees and the sun is out the sky is blue and not grey  - what a difference a day makes and it has been like it for most of the day however the wind has been very rough so I have not been able to get into the garden.  So still on house duties. Well that is how today started off. I had a little trip out to Dunhelm.  I needed a couple of new throws for the front room as the ones there have gone a little thin and I like snuggly and I have managed to find two that will do nicely snuggle wise which are a coffee colour which is not really the colour I would have gone for but these were on offer and I did not really fancy mustard yellow which was the other option.  I like yellow but not scream in your face mustard yellow  Eoogh!  I also came away with some more plastic storage boxes predominantly for me to sort my crafting stuff into so that I can find it when I need it and then ultimately get it sorted to where I need it. I have recently acquired ...

Cold day.  It was not too bad earlier on in the day - not good enough for gardening but passable all the same.  Now we have ice cold rain and it trickles down the bits you don't want it to.  I have been to the veggie shop - I ventured out and did several jobs before going in there.  Got the rest of my Sevilles hopefully that should do me but I may be able to get some more if I need to.  Also got some reduced peaches £1 a bowl and some reduced Raspberries £1 a punnet so we are going to have a peach and Raspberry jam for the pantry shelf as well.  Leeks, courgettes, Tomatoes, apples, cabbage, cauliflower, swede were also purchased to bulk up veggies I already have to hand. For tea this evening we had fresh mussels done with garlic and butter.  Yum they sure did go down very well.  Also had some bread to go with.  I had tried to get some baguettes earlier on but by the time I got there they were all gone; so it was just ordinary sliced bread ...

I did not sleep well last night despite going to bed early it was rather fitful and i have started dreaming again.  It was all crazy and mixed up last night - predominantly about a van crash into a lake and not being able to get out easily!  These ones trouble me as they are so intense.  I am hoping that it is one of the dreams that surrounds a dream of more portent. Fingers crossed. Its an indoor day today.  I was hoping desperately to get out and have some fresh air but it will not happen today so an indoor day it is apart from my regular jaunt to the veggie shop.  I have another 5kg of Seville Oranges to pick up today as well and if there are any other bargains I may well take advantage,  Never mind all is not lost I have a long list of things to do but I am itching to get going on the garden. I have also ordered some more new books; some have already arrived but there are a few more yet to come and am waiting for them to arrive.  It is dre...

What a busy week and I am shattered so I am very pleased it is Friday! Meal plans were wrecked again as OH had had a big dinner at work.  Apparently he and work colleagues sent out for fish and chips so come this evening so he was not hungry.  In the meantime I had planned on having a nice simple tea.  I had been to Waitrose and bought some haddock for him and some smoked haddock for myself.  I had also bought a couple of nets of mussels. In fairness he did not know what I was up to but equally he normally leaves the food to me.  So tonight's planned meal has been postponed until tomorrow. So being as he was stuffed and really did not want anything heavy we ended up having some fresh bread with pate on.  It went down very nicely. I ended up going to Wilkinsons a lunch to get topped up with toiletries, some more magazine sleeves, some jam jars for making the curds and the marmalades, a new socket board for the kitchen for using with my appliances....

and it will be thank God its Friday syndrome!  Have had an extremely busy week at work but an enjoyable one nonetheless.  I would rather be busy than bored.  I have been absolutely shattered when I got in from work this week and I have not read at all this week and there will be no reading over the weekend as I need to achieve some things  - need to stop prevaricating and get on with them. As usual have a load of things to do.  Think it might be a later night tomorrow night as I really must get stuck in on some projects and then also a reasonably early start on Saturday morning.  If the weather is okay then I want to go into the shed and sort it out a little bit and also the tidier part of the back garden all nicely sorted.  I also want to do some path cleaning and also tidy the front garden out.  With all those winds the other day we ended up with everyone's rubbish in there as usual.  The rubbish has been put in the bin but for some un...

Its always quite on the blogging front on a Tuesday night  - do not know why I have noticed this for a good couple of years or it may be down to the blogs that I follow. Things have been very busy at work and I have been shattered when I have got in.  OH has been suffering a touch of the blues and nearly went to pieces when the car refused to work last night.  He was in the depths of depression and he was not very good when I got home tonight (I had to walk as the car is still      with the  garage). He was due to come and collect me from work  last night but he took Missy for a walk and the car refused to start.  (That was last night and I had to walk home last night and tonight). We cannot afford to be without a car and yet cannot really afford another one either a bit of a catch 22 situation.  He got his garage to come and collect the car and it would appear that the car has a few issues £500 worth to be precise!  So a ...

On reading one of my new books i.e. the Fat Pig Farm book "Not Just Jam" by Matthew Evans he being one of the Gourmet Farmers and based in Tasmania.  He uses this cordial as a hot toddy during the winter months and as a refreshing cool drink in summer.  A Cordial that will be useful all year.  This one sounds as though it ticks all the boxes and being as I bought a lot of root ginger at the veggie shop on Saturday and I already have the  lemons and honey in the pantry I thought why not.   Apparently it makes about 400ml/14 fl oz of cordial. Ingredients:  100g/ 3 1/2 oz fresh root ginger 4 lemons scrubbed 2-3 tablespoons of honey 3-4 tablespoons of raw caster sugar Method: Wash and sterilize a 500ml/17 fl oz/2 cup bottle Scrub the ginger well making sure that you get between any tight bits so that you can get rid of any dirt.  Snap it at the joins if need be.  Bruise the ginger with the back of a knife (which means ...

Well in all honesty I have not done very much this weekend apart from read.  I have eventually finished my book and I think OH has breathed a sigh of relief at me surfacing however it is not often I down tools and do nothing it is very much a rarity; In reality though I think it may have done me some good although its work again tomorrow.  Maybe I will be refreshed enough to tackle some long standing issues during the week.  Well I can but try. I have finished the current story (Pillars of the Earth) and sam ad to say cheerio to the characters but a fantastic book and a very good plot.  I am looking forward to reading the second tome of the book shortly World Without End, although from what I understand this is not a continuation  but a sequel to the  Pillars of the Earth; set in the same town Kingsbridge but some 200 years later with some of these characters being descendants of those characters in the Pillars of the Earth but with plenty of new ones ...

Reaction to a very busy fortnight at work where I have been absolutely shattered and in bed for 9:00am a lot of the time. (hence the reason for me not popping up many posts this week).  I am not normally in bed before midnight so trying to slot everything in has been a bit of a nightmare to say the least.  This morning I just slept only to be woke up by the Postie hammering on the front door. He had bought me two preserving books I had ordered.  Both I am pleased with.  Both are very different though and both have some lovely recipes - very different ones and ones I am going to have a go at.  Making preserves is a very individual thing each of us does things very differently.  That is not to say one method is better than another but rootling around the different books gives me a different perspective on things, different approaches and different methods.  I try and incorporate the ones that really work for me and that is what is about really findi...

I went back to Poundland at dinner time to get some more of the magazine files.  I managed to find 3 more in the lime green colour but they had no more today.  They had orange and pink but I will check it out again in a few days.  The thing is I can always cover them in wadding and fabric if I cannot live with the colour or indeed a pretty wallpaper so my options are not limited but the price is so very right.  If I cannot get the lime green colour then I will get some of the orange and the pink and just cover them.  At the end of the day they are needed so that I can sort out my huge collection of craft, needlework, patchwork, crochet and cooking magazines oh and I nearly forgot the gardening magazines. We have had some of the chicken that I cooked the other day.  I had left some in the fridge.  We had it simply with bread and butter.  OH has been seriously off his food the past couple of days and I was starting to get a little concerned....