TARRAGON & THYME

 ...the first of the autumn style meals to hit here.  More about that in a moment though.   The past week has involved a couple of medical appointments,.  I have one further one to arrange (my eyes need to be tested again) and then hopefully that will be everything done and dusted.  I have also managed to sort out the front garden out to make sure it is all nice and tidy again. G does the cutting of the bushes down - I get to do all the sorting out and tidying.  The hedges have had necessary haircuts and the remnants of G cutting an Elder plant down which was dealt with a couple of weeks ago and (which he had conveniently left on the gravel and which had shrivelled up) has now been removed from said gravel.  It was a bit of a mess and took some time to painstakingly remove, along with prickly Holly leaves which were also hidden in the gravel.  I have also this week for the first time since just before the first real hot spell, have been wakin...

We paid a trip out to the Butcher today to stock up a bit more on a few more meat items for the freezer. I have spent approximately £100, but there is quite a bit of good eating to be had from this.  Now I must make it clear it is a lot of money to spend but in the Winter months in particular I do like to have one really good meal per day.  This meat will last us a fair while, although I am looking for specific meats for Christmas. There will therefore be an element of meat buying in for the next few months.   One of our mainstay ingredients particularly during the Winter months is Beef mince, but the prices are only going up and there are a couple of places that I source Beef mince from as it is of a really good quality.  The middle of the road Butcher that we have been to today i.e. ABC Meats caters more for family sized packs of good quality meat and at reasonable prices.  I have used them on and off for many years and it is the Butcher I tend to go to w...

On Sunday first thing whilst I was still asleep, G nipped to the Butcher without me and came back with a big 2.5kg pack of Bacon, a 1.6kg Large Chicken for £6, a pack of cooked Ham, a very large Black Pudding, and a pack of sausages.  In any event I already had the Chicken Thighs in-house  from the other day, and as we do not want Chicken everyday, I will use them up for soup, and stock a little later in the week as I need to put a supply of Chicken stock on the Pantry shelf for use in everyday cooking but specifically more for the Winter months. I go through a lot of stock then.  I also want to get some Soups on the shelf as well as some Chicken pies, which is what I may well do. With the remains of the Chicken tonight, the remains of the stuffing and the remains of the Bread Sauce and some Cranberry or Redcurrant jelly and fresh Shortcrust Pastry will be turned into either a large pie or individual pies for going into the freezer.  The stock will be made with the C...

Unlike G I like to have a lot of vegetables in my meals.  We have had quite a lot of scratch meals this week mostly down to the fact that I have been dealing with other things in the household and not getting very far; however I continue to work on these in the background for now. There is an offer on at Morrisons Late Stop which is the shop around the corner for me for three packs of Chicken thighs for the sum of £10.  You get about 8 to 10 per tray.  It is a good way of eating chicken without necessarily the price tag of Chicken breasts.  Now I do prefer my chicken breasts, but so much can be made of the Chicken thighs for everyday eating.  G does not like the legs so much, which I do eat but to keep the peace and make sure that he eats his food, especially after the effort made to cook. it is perhaps the simplest way to forestall a potential problem. Now I like to play with my food, trying different things out with different ingredients. I also like a tray ba...

 ... in lots of areas really.  However over the past fortnight I have been getting agitated about getting some preserving done.  Things have not gone well this year on that front, mostly due to me being unwell and not up to doing anything.  There is  however still plenty of time left to do so with the access to resources I have locally.  I also have a lot of fruit from last year still in the freezer and on the Pantry shelf. My resources also encompass/include some of the supermarkets, Lay-by sellers, smaller shops, Farm shops.  Unfortunately I do not have access to a proper market.  I am however picking and choosing what ingredients I do buy in.  I tend not to buy in quantity from anyone supplier these days and cherry pick those items I do buy in.  I very much buy the ingredients that we eat.  At the end of the day you have to make the most of what is available to you, and when you can get hold of it.  Last year I did not come ...

I have been on a Quest this week obtaining boxes, different sized ones, Khaki-Beige coloured boxes in readiness for another assault in the back bedroom.   Sorting out the boxes made me think of a song that was prevalent in my childhood called "Little Boxes" and sung by Pete Seegar. It was a favourite on popular Radio as well. The song is below for those who do not know it and indeed for those of  you who do and want to hear it again.  I still think it is as timeless today as it was then. Link is here: Song "Little Boxes" sung by Pete Seegar Anyway back to my boxes.  They are not pretty but are likely to be "Ticky-Tacky" by the time I have finished with the Sellotape reinforcing the used boxes which is something I tend to do in any event.  Now let us put it plainly on the table, Muggins is not particularly proficient with sticky tape and I tend to get it where I should not and often end up in a fine old mess!  The boxes did not cost me a penny either. I...

I came across this You Tube video simply by chance and found it quite informative.  Explains some of the background reasons why there are problems in the food chain and why some of the prices will not come down very quickly at all.  After reading this article I think it highlights the fact what a blooming mess the food chain really is in this country.   Think this excessively hot weather will not impact the food chain - then think again.  Under normal circumstances I always understood that the Farmers were always hopeful for a dry summer for harvest and would mean that they would not have to pay out to have the grain dried.  Wet weather would mean that the crop would have to be dried if a wet harvest was experienced.  I had not appreciated that too hot weather causes the grain to grow quickly and loose volume and protein which also in turn means earlier harvesting times than usual. It therefore looks as though prices are going to go up across the range...