TARRAGON & THYME

I have felt a bit more with it today and have been pottering between the kitchen and the dining room, sorting out kitchen equipment that was in the dining room and getting it into the kitchen.  Emptying a couple of more tubs and fighting my way into the corner to get to the cupboard under the stairs.  A path is cleared and so I am hoping to get to the under-stairs to start emptying, cleaning and painting out the cupboard.  That will probably be late afternoon as I have some more clearing to do in the kitchen first especially in view of the fact that the Kitchen stuff is arriving on Saturday.  So I want as much in place as I can before then and then OH will be able to get the new countertop in and the two double units for underneath which is when I will then be able to totally organise those four cupboards.  The rest of the cupboards have worked out more than fine. I am finding more Christmas decorations as I am going along in the dining room in some of the boxes...

 Today I have not done anything.  My body has told me enough is enough and as I have had no energy at all, I have this afternoon sat in the warm, and done some more knitting.  It is slowly growing and so I am hoping that I will get it done this year so that I can start a new one for the New Year.  So fingers crossed I will attempt my hit list again tomorrow.  I feel a bit more with it than I did.  Just one of those things. I am also off my food a bit. I cooked home made chips and fried egg which I was quite looking forward to but when it came to eating it that was another matter. So I have been sat in the warm just resting.  It will be an early night tonight and then hopefully will be fresh enough tomorrow morning. I have also watched a couple of You Tube videos on different things which have given me some ideas for future projects as if I haven't got enough to do at the moment.  Oh well I dig myself in deeper every-time.  That's just me but ...

Very cold but very quiet. As I type this it is currently minus 1 so it looks as though it is going to be another very cold night. We had a bit of a lay in this morning preferring to stay warm before getting up and having some brunch.  Neither of us felt like Sunday dinner so that will wait until tomorrow.  I have spent most of the day either on the computer, researching some recipes and I also have been stuck in the dining room trying to sort out a few more things and finding things that I had forgotten such as my pasta drying stand.  This will go on the top shelf in the cupboard under the stairs once that is sorted, but I have given it a good thorough wash down in any event. When it goes into the cupboard I am going to cling film it to keep it ready to use and clean for the next time.  I have pumpkin that I want to use up so making home made pasta  would be a good way to use it up, that and soup.. Washing up and drying up of other items that have found has also...

A few posts back I indicated that I was working on a project that I did not want to disclose as I was not sure how I would get on with it.  Knitting is my Nemesis as I soon get bored with it. I found a tutorial on You Tube for this rather lovely blanket/throw which is worked in what we call Moss Stitch and those in the States refer to as Seed Stitch. Work has been slow, however I have been plodding on with the project, which is using some of my Mum's stash of Aran wool.  I am using a 6.5mm circular knitting needle with the wool, although I think the project uses larger needles.  I am not in a position where I could buy new needles and 6.5mm needles is the recommended size for Aran wool from what I can ascertain. I have pulled a few rows down here and there, and my casting on leaves a lot to be desired.  I have been advised to try a smaller needle for the casting on in future so I will try that in another project. I must say that it is incredibly nice to be able to pi...

What a rough night.  Better here than a lot of places and as we are in a City more protected. Nevertheless, the wind is still very rough. My hearts go out to those without power at the moment and hope they are managing to keep warm and safe. Is it me but are we starting to have more rough storms than we used to have, or is it that much more is made of this than it used to be.  I am not sure, but I suspect global warming has something to do with it somewhere along the line.  I think we are all contributing in some way or another, often innocently. I really enjoyed my evening out last night.  It kind of was peaceful and wonderful all at the same time.  Something for the senses and to calm us down, taking us out of ourselves for those few precious moments of time.  A visual celebration of all things light, and leading up to the seasonal celebrations that are Christmas.  Peterborough Cathedral is a very beautiful Cathedral with loads of history attached to...

  After my recent post on Instagram about making mustard, several of you have asked for the recipe to have a go at your own. Before you have a go at this you will need the following ingredients 7oz Yellow Mustard Seeds 7 oz Black Mustard Seeds Your Chosen Beer - I have used a bottle of Spitfire (500ml) this time round but in the past have used a Beer called "Butty Bach". In reality the choice of beer is down to personal choice. 1 Tablespoon of Sea Salt 1 Tablespoon of Freshly grated nutmeg 6 Tablespoons of Runny honey 6 fl oz of Cider Vinegar. I used Brown seeds as could not locate black.  I tend to source my seeds from Asian grocery stores.  They use mustard seeds a lot in cooking. I also used yellow mustard seeds which we are more familiar in this country with. After adding the beer it all went frothy in the pot . After the frothiness had settled down. The recipe is not mine, but is from Rosie Makes Jam (Love Jars) recipe website, which I must say is very good.  I ...

This evening I have been out for a small jaunt with a friend to Peterborough Cathedral to a light show entitled "The Angels are coming.  It was wonderful.  The West Front  to Peterborough Cathedral was all lit up, lit up in such a way that the graphics perfectly fitted the front of the Cathedral.  There were many images reminiscent of a Kaleidoscope, and many many images of traditional Angels.  It was a superb show.  A cold evening and a special one. The above photo is not mine, but if you go to the Cathedral website here  The Angels are Coming , there are more details. The above picture is of the inside of the Cathedral.  I have never seen the Cathedral devoid of chairs and you can walk all the way through with these beautiful visuals all through the centre of the Cathedral.  There are candles to light if you so wish just before coming out.  Peterborough Cathedral is a beautiful Cathedral in any event. If you get a chance to go, it real...

I have a leftovers shelf in the fridge where I put all the bits and bobs from eating through the week onto the one shelf (that is apart from fresh veggies, and then I usually dig them out once a week to put into a home made stir fry). There is pork dripping, ideal for making roasties, there is a load of gravy, a load of beef and some pork.  There was chicken as well but that has been turned into a couple of meals. The first meal of which was Roast Chicken, a large chicken that was £8.90, I cooked that as a proper Roast Chicken, with all the veggies, but this time round did not do any extra veggies.  As a result, I  then ended up with loads of meat off the carcass.   Half of the meat was turned into a Chicken Tikka Masala which was served with Pilau Rice and a Naan.  It could as easily be turned with the help of a sweet and sour sauce into a Chinese sweet and sour, yet again served with Rice, or indeed a home made stir fry.  Very tasty the Chicken Tikka...

In my ongoing sorting out operation at home, I am starting to unearth quite a few things that I had forgotten about and which need storing away so that I can get to them easily in the future.  As a result of that, I am starting to unearth the odd Christmas decorations. Today, I have located one of my favourite decorations, which is a vintage toybox with a rocking horse on the top.  It is musical and as the music plays, the rocking horse moves backwards and forwards.  As it has been in storage, I have given it a good dust down with a little brush.  It is actually a very soft make up brush one of the larger ones, which gets into all the nooks and crannies on the ornament, but it does the job in smartening it up again. As most of you know, since the end of September I have been buying in a few ingredients for the Christmas cooking/baking,  Each week I am buying in a few things extra and it helps me an awful lot. I now know what I need to buy as I have a lot of the ...

 Yesterday I was not with it at all; lethargic and off colour in the end I gave myself some time and just sat and did a little knitting rather than what I should have been; but hey these things are sent to try us. I also did some research on some new to me recipes as well.  Things I plan to have a go at in due course. Researching new things and trying new recipes has for me been a key thing this year; I have done more of this than I usually do and to tell the truth I have enjoyed it and intend to incorporate what I have learned into my yearly and seasonal routines. The day started off with me witnessing Missy giving her Dad some love which I think is beautifully represented in this photo. It has been a bitterly cold day today as I found out when I went out to put out the tea towels as I had run out of clean ones.  I have a big stack of tea towels that I go through quite quickly.  I have found that I still need to hand-wash stuff despite having the dishwasher.  A...