TARRAGON & THYME

Its been a lovely sunny day again here in Peterborough (although we woke to a thick frost) and its been a bit warmer of late, but it has gone really chilly again tonight. Well I set too when I got in this evening and cooked a nice hot meal. We had steak pie, gravy, mashed potato, steamed kale, and carrots. Very yummy it was too. We managed to sit down for about 7.30 p.m. which wasn't bad going as I did not get in until about 5.45 p.m and didnt start cooking until about 6.20 p.m. At dinner I was free as I didn't meet anyone and I went mooching round the market. We have quite a good fabric store there and there are often quite reasonable offers on ends of line with fabrics often being about £1 or £1.50 a metre. The trader sells both fabrics for dressmaking and also furnishings such as curtains. More recently has had some furnishing fabrics available and today I spotted a pile of remnants sold at £3.50 a piece. A couple of the pieces are badly marked, but as the plainer go...

Well the best laid plans of mice and men. I was due to go out this evening but unfortunately it has been cancelled as the lady who was due to take me got caught up in Leeds and would not have been back in time. I was quite disappointed as I was so looking forward to going out. Therefore disappointed but not out I set too and bottomed the pantry out - well the fridges got done yesterday and sorted out so that we could find what was in the fridges so the pantry needed tidying up too. Tomorrow night I shall start on the kitchen - I intend to start the spring cleaning this week too to make the house clean and tidy and sweet smelling again, and that includes scrubbing up the cooker too. Think we shall be having stir fry of some description for tea tomorrw night, its quick easy and makes the most of fresh vegetables and frozen veggies alike and its tasty and filling. I intend to do a little baking this coming weekend with a bit of luck I intend to try and get back into baking mode agai...

This weekend I have hardly spent any time at home as was out all day on Saturday with very good fiends and I had a lovely day. Sunday it was time for a little shopping - I haven't done any for a while and so went to Morrisons for a change I managed to get well stocked up with some basic bits and bobs, I try and buy ingredients for making things from scratch rather than pre-prepared stuff. I predominantly got some veg and quite a bit of meat, and I have managed to match quite a bit of meals together to cover the whole week together with what I already have in the freezers and the pantry. I intend to go to the veggie shop at the end of the week as I need a tray of eggs and some fruit. Sunday instead of a roast I bought two rib eye steaks, some oyster mushrooms, salad leaves, coleslaw, tomatoes and made some home made chips and fried some onions. I cooked everything apart from the chips on my griddle. It was very delish. I am out tomorrow night so it will be a scratch tea - I thin...

What a wonderful way to wake up this morning with wonderful heart-wearming sun rays seeping through the cream roller blind in the bedroom and illuminating every nook and crannny. I never have the curtains drawn just the blind down, and in the summer not even that and the windows are open during the day an at night. I love fresh air to run right through the house but not when its cold. How heart warming after many days of darkness and cold that seeped right through the core of me to my bones. I hadnt realised just how much I have missed the sun this long hard winter, but I was grateful for the gentle wake up call and watching the sun beams play upon the window blind as I gradually came to this morning. Gentle sunlight always helps lift any lurking clouds and makes me feel so alive and ready to get on with things. Its surprising what gentle sunlight can do it always casts a different perspective on things and helps me feel much more positive. Even if only for a few days it is lovely...

Well I have the stock pot on the go. Am not going to waste all those subtle flavourings which you can layer up layer by layer to get the maximum of flavour. Its a good way to use up all those veggies that are possibly past their best and starting to dry up. Its something for nothing again and I tend to use what I have around. Today the carcass, bones, skin and fragments of meat left on the carcass together with some boiling water,(topped up to about an inch below the top of the pan - I use a pressure cooker base, white pepper (I tend to use a lot of pepper rather than salt)a couple of bay leaves, mixed herbs, some leek, carrot, celery (not too much of this as it can be overpowering) onion chopped and some of my Souper Mix (as per the recipe in the River Cottage Preserves book - this is a mixture of raw vegetables pulverised in the food processer and then liberally dosed with salt to preserve it. I use a lot of this as it helps make a very flavoursome stock but obviously if I use ...

I had some chicken left over from last night's Sunday dinner. OH didn't know what he wanted to eat - he is starting with a cold and really didn't (so he said fancy very much at all). Well I was determined that I wasn't going to waste the chicken. I had to nip to the shop for some milk anyway and spotted some salad leaves on offer and also some wraps - no more than £1.79 for both, and enough wraps to make pack up during the week (they come in a resealable bag) and enough salad to have with sandwiches or as a side serving with something else during the week I warmed the wraps in the bottom of a frying pan warming both sides, just flash warming them really I then popped on a plate, put some salad leaves and chopped onion in and then liberally sprinkled the chopped picked chicken on top and dressed with some sweet chilli sauce. (Sweet Chilli sauce was in the cupboard. Delicious and what's more OH enjoyed too, despite initial mumblings he quite relished his supper...

My Day and my weekend has been a very lazy one as I have felt drained of energy again and so I have rested and slept and not done very much at all which has made me feel a tad guilty as I have so much to get on with. But there we are, the more I rest the better I will get on when I do feel energised. To tell the truth I have felt much better today than I did yesterday. We have had the sun out most of the day although we had snow again overnight. The sun although cold and the lightness of the sky has made me feel much more alive today than I have done for a long time I think and hope that Spring is literally just around the corner and that my days of hibernation are limited, thank goodness Its been chilly here, but then its Winter so its supposed to be cold. But it is enoucouraging to see spikes of new growth amongst the snow ridden borders in the garden and a prompt to get a wriggle on and get organised with my seeds etc so that I can get some early sowings in hand to make the mos...