TARRAGON & THYME

I love wooden items of any sort.  However, for me Christmas has always been about putting the tree up, and bringing out treasure of many years in the form of ornaments; special treasures many of them old and thin with the glass like spun cobwebs but oh so fragile.  My Mum always treasured and valued items and at Christmas proper glass baubles were always on our tree and they were stored safely in boxes (one even an old tea chest).  They were always treated with respect and it was a big thing putting up the Christmas tree when I was a child and even as an adult. An occasion was always made of it and quality family time was always spent at this time.  It was always magical when the tree went up and the lights went on.  We had a roaring fire in those days and everywhere was always warm and snug.  Times I look back on with much love. At the minute we do not have the tree up.  Not sure will get to it this year as many other things to attend to. However, I d...

Following on my post on Monday this week, I have since then started wading through the rest of the herbs that were bought, drying them and then once cooled (where necessary) decanting them into more jars.   On Tuesday I got three bunches of Chives dried in the Ninja Foodi dehydrator setting. I dried them whole as have found from previous experience that if you cut them into small pieces before drying then they are  liable to float around the dryer a bit (depends on the dryer of course but one of mine seems to do this).  I then when they are dry and cooled chop them into small pieces with a pair of scissors.  They smell wonderfully "oniony".  Thinking laterally it might if ground down to a powder be a good sprinkle for home-made crisps.  Will look into that one a little further. I then set too with the previous batch of Sage leaves which have now dried and took them off the Dresser.  The leaves go "crispy" and "crackly" when they are dry they also ...

 as I go about my daily work and chores is re-vamping my condiments cupboard and getting items jarred up where I can. It is by its nature a slow process.  I have deliberately chosen to do this, this way. I have always used odd jars out of necessity for storing things, but this cupboard which I use on a daily basis is looking a bit unloved.  Mis-matched has its own charm, but the sizes of the jars are not always easy to accommodate or stack using up what little space is available.  I have also been finding it difficult to locate some items.  As I have topped up  on my major stock up of items recently I now have a lovely little supply of items and I want to be able to get hold of them easily and quickly.  I have therefore been using new purpose fit jars for decanting the new stock into.  It is slow work at the moment, but hopefully should make things a lot easier in the longer term.  It is also helping me by doing things piecemeal to be actuall...

 Pickled Onions and Shallots. Madness not getting them before, however I never came across any.  I lost the veg shop at the end of August and they were where I normally got my picklers and shallots from.  Madness I know in trying to do a few jars before Christmas.  However they are part of the cold cuts eating after the main event. Managed to get a 10kg bag of pickling onions and a 4kg bag of Shallots very late in the day. Ordered off Ebay.  Picklers come from Cornwall; Shallots from a local farm.  Not cheap, but the Picklers worked out at £2.70 per kilo and you got free delivery.  The Shallots worked out at £4.50 a kilo.  Yet again no postage. Now to get sat down, listening to the radio and peeling firstly Shallots and then some picklers to get them into brine.  May be a Sunday afternoon job.  Will see how it pans out.  If not Sunday it could be an afternoon at the beginning of the week.  Have the salt and have the vinegar and...

 to bottle up and preserve for the Pantry shelf have landed in my basket.  However, I need fresh herbs to be able to make more of the roasted Tomato sauce for my Italian style home cooked food.  When I made the first batch of Tomato Sauce, I did not have access to a Tomato press. I have invested in one from Seeds of Italy to make my life a little easier in the longer term.  I have opted for the larger sized press as this will be an ongoing exercise in my home as and when I can get hold of Tomatoes. Therefore the next batch which is calling to me, will be made with the aid of the press. I need fresh Thyme, Basil and Rosemary.  I will have a supply left over as I did when I made the previous batch.  However, this time around, I will be making them into herb butters to be stored in the freezer therefore ensuring that I have a taste of fresh herb available if I have not been able to get to the shop. Since I started writing this post, I have got a wriggle on and...

Apologies about this being a combined post.  Things have been busy again here and I also have a very off-colour Jack Russell who is needing a lot of attention at the moment.  So please bear with us.  It is old age a lot of it, but even so have to take care of them. Friday Today Chicken Livers were sourced. Big Packs of Chicken Livers costing £2 each.  Far more than probably what we need. We are rather fond of Chicken Liver Pate, and at one stage many years ago, I used to make Pate regularly.  Sort of got out of the habit of that a few years back therefore decided was going to have another bash at making my own, especially as I now have my food processor which I am extremely happy with.  Chicken Livers are into the freezer in preparation for making this. Have 5 x 8oz bags of Chicken Livers packed away in the freezer.  This should keep us going.  Need to source one or two other ingredients including Pork Belly and then will set too and make some oth...

Busy, Busy, Busy.  It is how I like things generally speaking although I do like to come up for air and do something different.  Things are likely to be very busy until Christmas. Wednesday Yesterday was a fighting day.  Everything I touched ended up taking me in a different direction and then G wanted some assistance with something, so I may as well not have bothered at all as not much achieved.   Today however: G ordered proper Cornish Pasties from a company in Cornwall called "Proper Job".  They arrived this morning, were frozen and we had eight traditional Beef Skirt Pasties arrive with four Sausage Rolls.  I quickly got those out of their packing which was excellent, plenty of cold bags that were still frozen in a Polystyrene container.  I can recycle this for taking cold stuff down to the caravan or using it for growing seedlings in the greenhouse for an early start.  The ice bags can also be re-used and re-frozen so ideal for taking st...