TARRAGON & THYME

Saturday - we did not get up too early especially after the white knuckle drive we had down.  I needed to do some shopping though and we also needed more petrol for the car.  With this in mind we headed to Dulverton. There was apparently a Farmer's market that is held on the fourth Saturday of every month and keen to get food in for the next few days we headed there to see what we could find.  We came in at the tail end of the market and found a meat stall, where we ended up buying a half leg of Lamb, a Beef Roast, and some Mince,  We then headed to the Local Co-Op where I stocked up on veggies and various other bits and bobs.  Whenever we go away I do try and buy through local suppliers where I can. We had assumed that we would be able to find a petrol station at Dulverton, unfortunately the one we did locate was closed and so we headed for Tiverton which was some 11 miles up the road.  We located the Morrison's garage with the Morrison's store over the ro...

 We left on Friday for the border of Somerset/Devon for our next holiday.  After depositing the cats at the Cattery we then went home and bought all the things we needed with us managing to leave out by 11am.  We were slightly worried as the weather was rough and extremely windy and this would only be our third trip out this one being the longest trip and also away for a longer period than we have been thus far. However, once we got going and we took our time the winds calmed down a lot. OH had decided to use the Sat Nav which is installed in the car to arrive at our holiday destination.  I am not sure that was a wise idea.  When we have come down to the West Country in the past we have always gone via Northampton, Oxford, Birmingham, Swindon, Bristol, Taunton, Barnstaple and then travelled along the Atlantic Highway.  Admittedly this is when we go down to Cornwall and so I thought that we may well have ended up coming the same way.  How wrong could I ...

 Newton Wonder if you please.  Lovely large cooking apples with a rosy hue and lovely flavour.  Never seen them before well here is a piccie They are an alternative to good old reliable Bramley and I for one think that they give the good old Bramley a run for its money.  It is a tree I would plant if I had a bit of land to do so. I am lucky enough to be able to buy these from the veg shop who buy them direct from a local farmer.  I had plans to turn them into either bottled apple slices or apple sauce but I ran out of time before coming away on holiday.  So what does one do when faced with a possible waste scenario?  I know for a fact that when I go back after my break, the apples will have been done and dusted.  So I bought about 5kgs and I have bought them away on holiday with me, including the Kilner x 12 jars not sure if I have too many jars or too little.  I have my new Ninja foodie so I will be able to hot water bath them in that and th...

Yesterday I set to and cleaned a couple of pair of ankle boots that I had.  They are both a suedette effect only cheap and cheerful boots but I like to get my money's worth out of whatever I buy and so if I can keep them going that bit longer I will do.  Besides I just get the boots worn in, comfortable to wear and then it is usually time to sling them.  I had bought from the £ shop a few months a go a cheapie carpet foam for spot cleaning carpets.  I had cleaned these boots before with some Ariel liquid washing soap and they had come up not too bad, but the nap did not seem as plush as it used to by the time I had finished.  Under normal circumstances this is how I tend to clean grimed up boots or shoes (synthetics only of course) by rubbing the washing liquid into grimed up fabric.  If it is particularly dense then I use some washing up liquid (Fairy) on the stain particularly if I suspect it is oil or grease based and that usually shifts things.  Ho...

  OH took me out for breakfast to our local Cafe where he had a full English and I had my usual sausage bun with copious amounts of tea.  It made a lovely change. He then took me to Willowbrook Farm Butchery which is just up the road from where we live just outside of Helpston.  Missy was left in the car and she did not like it.  Would not stop barking so in the end OH came out of the Butchers and I went in and he babysat the dog We had initially gone there for some Gammon steaks for tea to be served with pineapple. However I also came away with three Barnsley steaks, some pigs liver and a couple of jars of chutney.  One is a regular buy Onion Relish which I use in home made sausage rolls as well as with a cheese board.  The other is referred to as "cheeseboard chutney".  So will give it a whirl and if we like it I might look for a similar recipe. From there it was walkies time for Missy.  We went down to Castor Backwater, but this time followed t...

OH is going fishing and I am going to do a little bit of playing. I have some Victoria plums and I am going to make some plum vodka (I have a bottle of vodka on the shelf as you do) just waiting.   I also need to check the Strawberry wine to see how that is doing and the plan is to start some Strawberry Champagne. The vinegars also need checking, i.e. the Blackcurrant, Raspberry and Blackberry vinegars as well as the Tarragon vinegar.  Nearly at the point where they can be finished off and bottled and put up on the shelf. I also have plans to get some beetroot to pickle as well as some more Blackberries as I have found a Blackberry Pickle recipe that sounds really good to serve with a home made Ploughman's salad or indeed a Goat's Cheese salad. I want to see what apples they have at the veg shop as I would like to get some apple sauce bottled.  I will see what apples they have available. I usually use a mixture of a cooker and an eater as the cooking apple softens an...

 and not at all planned.  For starters OH decided that we would go to see the Fish Man at Ramsey this morning (instead of Saturday morning).  He had planned to go fishing, but in the end the call of the warm bed won hands down.  We then went to the Fish man and ended up bringing home a selection of shell fish including crab.  No fillets of fish today.  We ended up with Crayfish, Crevettes, Cockles and Pink Shrimp.  It has gone down very nicely as well. On the way back we walked Missy and gave her a run somewhere different for a change.  As it was mid-day  by the time we got home we then set to and had our crab. I was then pottering in the kitchen for a little while before going off to the shop to get some bits and bobs that were needed for the pantry shelf.  I also nipped to the Charity Shop and ended coming home with another Rumtopf for £2.50 and a small flower jug for £4.00.  I am chuffed with them.  I had only nipped in on s...

 .. .. however a harvest none the less. I tidied my grape vine up earlier this year (I should have done it earlier on) and have trained it into a better shape.  As I was late in achieving this I was not really expecting any grapes let alone I did no know the colour of them.   I have been outside this evening tying a piece of the vine that has gone bonkers despite having its tendrils trained it has gone freelance and I have found hidden inbetween the leaves two tiny bunches of grapes.  What's more the grapes are a lovely purpley colour and the grapes although tiddly are extremely sweet.  I have no idea as to variety but the grapes are gorgeous, So homework is to find out now what to do with the vine so that I get grapes next year. It would be nice to add a regular supply of grapes to the cheeseboard or even turn into preserves.  First things first homework is needed. Catch you soon. Pattypan x

I am a Christmas Nut and I readily admit it, as are most the rest of my family. However, I for one hate the over-commercialism of Christmas and as one reader put it to me when is it too soon for Christmas.   Traditionally when we were growing up you started your Christmas shopping about six to eight weeks before Christmas (on the food front always earlier in our family). I recently referred to buying the Christmas magazines for recipe ideas and craft ideas as well as Christmas decorating ideas. They are so different from one year to another. I keep the magazines and use them for different things each year and so that I can  mix things up a bit. One of the underlying reasons for this is that I am a lot slower than I used to be in doing things and like to give myself as much time as I can to get things made and done.  If however these days we were to wait until November to do our shopping,  in our shops most of the nicer things have gone by then and you end up wit...

Slowly, very slowly I am starting to work on the Food Store taking advantage of seasonal goodies like Blackberries and Plums and trying to add slightly different things to expand my repertoire and good eating. Earlier on, about a month after the pandemic  started we went to our favourite Butchers and ended up buying some choice bits and bobs.  There is still more buying to be done.  What I tend to do when stocking the freezer is buy a fair bit but we don't eat it all.  We do not eat meat everyday so I meter it out a bit at a time to get the maximum out of it we then shop again and do this several times until everything is well stocked. I am doing the same with fish.  We have a couple of meals left a piece of smoked haddock for me, Turbot for OH, a couple of Lemon Sole and a couple of Dover Sole.  Need to top that up a little more yet. I do not like bought  already frozen fish. Perhaps the exceptions are Cod fish fingers, prawns and Scampi. The bought i...

I spotted another Christmas Magazine last evening entitled "Simply Christmas".  It is not an overly thick magazine but it does have a delightful miniature Gingerbread Cottage Cookie Cutter kit on the front of it.  Something to keep the children occupied or indeed to make an individual Gingerbread Cottage at Christmas for relatives or friends.  It is very low key in relation to what is going on at the moment and has nice touches in that it is suggesting we look for greenery to decorate our homes with wherever possible and use nature's natural elegance to complement those decorations that we do have.  There are also suggestions for having a "Crafternoon" for relatives and friends to help raise funds for Mind.  It is a good idea in principle.  However, in light of no more than six people being in a home at one time I am not sure how this is going to pan out.   For those who wish to obtain more information about this fundraiser further information can...

The kitchen was a hive of industry last evening in squirrelling away more goodies in the freezer and the pantry. I was lucky enough to find some reduced eggs with a couple of days grace on them, so I have cracked them, decanted them into pots (six eggs at a time) and they are now esconced in the freezer ready for a baking day.  I am paying it forward a little but trying to be prepared to some degree as well.  Eggs are so useful for all sorts of cooking and due to the recent difficulties I thought perhaps it was safer to keep a supply in the freezer in any event I have also bought some reduced double cream, two large pots and made some home-made butter in my Kilner Butter Churner, which I have turned into chive butter for the freezer. I have had a very good harvest of chives from the garden this year.  You make the chive butter the same way as you would mint butter. In-between time, I fancied a big cup of coffee.  It gives me a little boost when I am running out of st...