TARRAGON & THYME

In the past six months or so I have managed to go through three phones my best one I lost.  Then I got a replacement lost that and the last one was drowned a couple of months ago, since which have been saving up to try and replace it which I hope will happen in the next few days or so.  To exacerbate matters I have not been able to email anyone at all. I have been able to receive emails in but not physically respond.   My IT chappie is going to look at my puter on friday and hopefully then it will be sorted.  Fingers crossed toes plaited. The main thing I am looking forward to with the new phone is having a camera again with which to embellish my posts.  So if I have not got back to you recently or have not been able to respond to comments, I am extremely sorry and once the phone arrives I will get back to everyone. Promise. The other problem is lost all my numbers on my phone.  Three times is really too much. This together with a lot of stuff...

Saturday we went shopping to the Butchers again and also called in at the Fishman at Ramsey.  Bought quite a few goodies and then on the way home called into Dobbies.  Been a while since been in there and it has changed quite a lot.  Very interested in their food hall section although not much in the way of plants at the moment. That will change though.  I did however see a very nice patio set which I am hanging my nose over.  Round table with umbrella and six chairs all in wicker but looked terribly nice.  There was also a small table and a settee and couple of chairs which I quite liked too. They have a lovely kitchen area and we ended up picking up a Pyrex frying pan which is ideal to use on a hob and also induction hobs.  My spare plate is an induction one but some of my pans just do not work on it.  This new pan which is a square frying pan in effect works an absolute treat.  It is also very easy to clean.  Might get some more ...

Now that I have one of the freezers up and running I am keen to get a wriggle on and get things stashed away. I tend to freeze most items for my freezer myself and prefer to buy fresh ingredients where at all possible.  Perhaps the exception to this is frozen petit-pois but the rest if I can I do myself I will do.  However, I do buy frozen goods as well. I was able to buy another tray of eggs from my local Butcher during the week.  These are free range eggs and so golden in colour and so tasty.  As a result of having the new tray of eggs, I have a few eggs left over. They will not last too much longer and so I have started my stockpile for the freezer of frozen eggs.  These ones are destined to be frozen whole, but I also intend to mix them up and then use them for scrambled egg etc as well. I had thought on mixing some of these up into the quantity of eggs I need for a batch Victoria Sponge cake method I have to make things a little easier in the longer-te...

On Thursday I had a busy day in that I recycled six large water bottles and turned them into containers for sowing mixed spicy leaves, mixed leaves, rocket.  This will eventually be the salad bar and from what I understand I should be able to take at least four picks of leaves off each planter.  I intend to leave these a couple of weeks and then start another six bottles off. I will alternate use of the bottles six bottles on - six bottles off if it works out ok as I have never done this before.  Being able to pick salad leaves so fresh without them going into the fridge (not that I have one at the moment) is going to be an absolute boon as far as I am concerned.  I also have mustard and cress to sow as I love this especially with egg mayonnaise.  Gives lots of nice extra flavour.  I am looking to save the pennies. I have also sorted out and prepared 12 Strawberry hanging planters.  The planters are bright red and have been recycled from previous ...

I have been trawling the Internet looking for new and different recipes on how to use Rhubarb as I fancied a change from Rhubarb crumble all the time which is OH's favourite.  I have found a slightly different pudding recipe which I am going to try out on OH.  The link is here  Rhubarb and Custard Self-Saucing Pudding  and is on the blog of Tales of a Kitchen Shed.  I think he is going to love this.  For weeks and weeks I don't see anything that takes my fancy on the pudding front and then I see three in one day.  The next recipe is from Waitrose by Martha Collison and is for  Rhubarb Pavlova  and then a really simple recipe for Rhubarb and Ginger Panacotta recipe here  Rhubarb and Ginger Panacotta . Also on the agenda is Rhubarb Cordial, Rhubarb Gin and Vodka I intend to freeze some now that the freezer is up and running.  Some of the Rhubarb will come from my garden and the rest from the shop.  I also intend to bottle ...

Today has been an exceptionally busy day starting off with the appointment for Missy to have her teeth taken out (it transpires 18 in total). Jack Russells apparently have 42 teeth to start with.  It seems to be mostly the back teeth she still has her front ones and her smile.  We collected her from the Vets.  I had taken a large fleecy blanket with me to wrap her in as it has been cold again today and cold is forecast again for next couple of days.  They keep them on a heated pad in the Vets so I was not taking any chances in her being cold.  After wrapping her in the blanket she buried her head into my shoulder and promptly nodded off again.  She has come through it well despite what has been done to her.  She has quite a bit of discomfort at the moment which is natural.  She also has a regime of antibiotics and pain killers for some time to come. We have also been told to give her Calpol to help with the pain.  (Vet's instructions, but yo...

For me - not OH. Or perhaps this should be entitled "Haircut 100! It was certainly a hair-raising experience and I was very nervous throughout.. Since lockdown, OH has not been able to have his hair cut, and his hair had got extremely long, wavy and silver grey (he is often referred to as the "Silverback"!  So in an effort to resolve matters, we went trawling through the Internet for trimmers and finding that most people were out of stock.  In the end, we ordered some clippers through Ebay, which are supposed to arrive by 14 May 2019.  So far they have not arrived and I am not sure they are going to either as we have received a message from Ebay saying that they have had to remove the seller from their site.  They noted that we had paid for the item but suggested that if we did not receive by designated date to put in a claim with them to recover the money which is what we will do if they do not arrive, but will give until the designated date which is still pend...