HERB GARDEN TREATS

I am a great exponent of herbal tea and it is no accident that my garden is full of herbs of every sort. Sage tea,beneficial to the liver and kidneys is a frequent beverage for me. Mint for indigestion is another but it is the wild herbs which provide so of the nicest and most refreshing of all .


Lime flowers are very plentiful this year and have been picking them daily for a couple of week, a handful of these sweet smelling flowers infused in a half pint of boiling water make a refreshing drink when strained and chilled. Drunk at bed time this has a pleasantly soporific effect and helps me to relax and be ready for sleep.

Drunk in larger quantities it has a diuretic effect which is useful if fluid retention is a problem. Lime flowers can like many herbs can be dried for winter use and In the summer my kitchen is fragranced by the great bunches of herbs hanging all around.

Chamomile flowers are better dried in a flat bottomed basket,turned daily they will dry quite quickly,tansy,dandelion,nettle,and many more take there turn on the drying racks as the years turns. Lavender,which has so many uses is just coming in to flower in my garden and I have already baked and orange ;lavender cake,made like a lemon drizzle but using lavender flowers along with the orange juice and sugar to pour over the cake while it is still hot.

Today I noticed that the ladies bedstraw,sweetest of all the strewing herbs is in flower in the meadow and if tomorrow is dry I shall pick a large bunch to add to this years pot pourri and of course to mix with lavender and wormwood for the moth sachets . Moths dislike the smell of these herbs and will not lay eggs where they are present.

Even Twiggy is a fan of herbal treats and is the proud owner of three large catnip plants which I should tell you would be a good deal bigger if she would stop chewing them for a week or two,I photographed her this afternoon rolling about on the path as high as a kite of the stuff...what a junky she is!

Today I am making a gooseberry crumble wit the addition of some elder flowers which give the dish a wonderful fragrance. In autumn the berries of this same elder will find there way in to apple pies for a rich red splash among the pale apples and for the splendid flavour they produce and all completely free of charge,courtesy of nature,who am I to refuse such bounty.

One humble request to any weather Gods out there. Picking herbs for drying is not possible when it is raining, a little dry weather would be nice. Thank you.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT

Whoopee ,yippee,hooray and hallelujah we are back on line at last. So much has happened since my last blog that I have decided not to run back numbers as Some how it does n9t seem current.


To begin with we now have a fabulous new wet room,beautifully tiled and perfect in every way. Our downstairs lavatory has been a huge hit and it means that I mead not use the stairs as often and Pa only once when he has his evening shower.
Next Monday the stair-lift will be installed after which I need never worry about pa falling down stairs ever again....or myself if it comes to that.

The builders were wonderful and we have made new friends, I can not say that it was not a little fraught at times but by and large the whole thing went very well. While the builders were knocking about I reclaimed the small windowed room which has been used as a wardrobe,it is now a pretty little en suite sitting room with a window seat and a wonderful view out over the orchard.

Everything should be perfect but when I tell you that our no good low down double dealing rat of an Estate Manager is once again applying for permission to build houses on my garden you will understand why I am not entirely happy. What makes it worse is that he came to tell us this on the day he work was finished so that when we should have been celebrating we were in fact planning our objection....again!

Still I cannot help but be light of heart when I hear Pa singing happily in the shower or sitting in the comfy chair I brought for him to sit wrapped in a huge bathrobe and drinking his ovaltine after his shower, he loves it all and I am glad for it.

Strawberry jam season has just about finished and my strawberry crop has been a total failure due to the wet weather gooseberries have been plentiful however and the first OT the summer raspberries have been steeped in vodka ready for Christmas festivities and charity auctions.

I do not know how long our internet connection will last but having grown tired of Virgin Media’s intermittent service we have signed up to BT home hub which should be installed by July 12 and hopefully by September we shall have cable in our area,can't wait!
I have missed writing and yet it has almost been a blessing that I could not publish as my time has been so very short,power cuts,no gas and quite often no water for prolonged periods has meant late meals and the palaver of trooping one by one next door for a bath has been very time consuming indeed.

Twiggy loves her new cat house and now she can spend even wet days in her beloved garden warm and dry with her delicate little paws tucked into a snug fleece.

Now I am off to the shower and then bed..it's good to be back.

DERBYSHIRE FISH SUPPER

Hailing as I do from the country sidefresh water  fish and bacon were always plentiful, the pure rivers of Derbyshire contain some of the best trout in England and our farmers produce the finest bacon which was dry cured to perfection by our local butcher or often as not the farmers wife herself. My kitchen today houses a very large bacon settle which was used for the curing of bacon, ham and gammon.

The base contained a large pan into which a half pig would be placed for curing, once this was done the meat would have been hung inside the top cupboard from meat hooks ready for use.

The following recipe combines the wonderful bacon and the magnificent trout to make a dish which is simple enough for a family supper and grand enough to serve at a dinner party.

Heat the oven to 180oC

6 x 8ox trout

12 rashers of thin dry cured streaky bacon smoked or green

1 tablespoon of finely chopped fresh parsley

salt and pepper

Clean the trout or ask the fishmonger to do this if you buy them, keep them whole.

Season the inside of the fish with the salt and pepper. If your bacon has rinds trim them off and place them in a baking dish that will hold the fish snugly. Place the fish nose to tail on top of the rashers and sprinkle with the parsley. Cover with foil and bake for twenty minutes in a pre-heated oven.

Serve with mashed potatoes and salad or as I do with new potatoes asparagus and a hollandaise sauce.

This dish gets the seal of approval from Twiggy as she loves bacon and is a also fond of trout.

A SHOCKING REVELATION

We are now entering our second week without a bath and although we have the use of the bath in the currently empty house next door it is far from being a satisfactory arrangement,

It happens that the bath to which we have access is unusually deep and as both Pa and I have great difficulty extracting ourselves from our own normal depth one we have discovered that the only way to use the bath is to stand up and wash as best we can or sit down ,have a proper bath and then call out the fire brigade....not a difficult choice!

Intrusions while one is bathing are common as a stream of prospective tenants, painters, decorators,carpet fitters and plumbers are at work in the building. Really the prospect of almost another two weeks without our own bathing facilities is daunting, when I broke the news to my son the language was atrocious and I freely admit that my own was little better.

Tiling is now in progress and it is apparently the tiles which will cause the delay,though I must say that they are doing a wonderful job. White dimpled tiles ans a tan mosaic border will look wonderful with the flooring we chose yesterday.

Today and for the second time this week my buggy broke down while I was about a mile away from home. Yesterday for no reason it just stopped dead in spite of having a full charge on the battery. I managed to get it going again yesterday by pressing the re-set button but today she just refused to play. I was pushed home by an energetic soul to whom I shall be forever indebted.

Early morning bread making produced some lovely loaves and I decided upon a dinner of cheese soufflé with crispy panchetta, fried haloomi and salad as fresh bread really compliments this meal.

My son managed to eat a little dinner and although very weary he tells me that he feels a little better, poor darling,he has had a rough trot these past couple of months.

Early nights all round are on the cards for tonight as early mornings are essential when builders are in the house,oh the blessed relief when nice as they all are they finally depart and we can return to getting up in pour own time and being able to close the doors during the day.

Twiggy has surprised us and has taken kindly to the plumber Chris of who she appears fond, the others she tolerates but even this is progress indeed! Perhaps the ownership of her new outdoor cat house has sweetened her attitude to strangers,who can say?

Sometimes Shit Happens!

With our internet connection intermittent to say et least and the unexpected arrival of the builders the past week has been eventful. All seems to be going well except for the early mornings which are killing poor old Pa and the fact that my poor son has been trying to sleep through what has sounded like ten deaf blacksmiths playing “The Anvil Chorus”. In fact he has slept rather better than anyone could have hoped but unfortunately has has succumbed to a nasty tummy bug which seems to be doing the rounds. All I can say is thank the Gods that it did not happen earlier in the week when the loo was disconected for the afternoon!

Converting the under stairs pantry in to a lavatory has proved to be life changing for Pa who in future will only have to manage the stairs once a day to take a shower. Our team of builders,plumbers, plasterers and electricians are wonderful, they are thoughtful, kind and always pleasant. One of the plumbers saw me trying to haul a hose between the gardens and when I returned he had fitted a new tap in exactly the right place so that I shall never have to struggle again. I almost cried with relief. The electrician fitted extra power points in convenient places, again this was not in their specs, they just decided that they wanted to help. We have been very lucky and I shall miss the boys when they go, they all love shortbread and buttered toast so I can return their kindness, with tea and cookies or breakfast now and then.

My poor son has spent the day in bed having worn out the landing carpet between his room and the loo during the whole of last night, by this morning he looked ghastly and has eaten nothing for days. Next week he is not working and so I hope that he has a chance to recover before he returns to work, also the builders will be gone soon so he the will be able to get some decent sleep.

Today being Fathers Day I gave Pa a slap up breakfast while my son drank weak tea in his room,the Fathers Day feast has been postponed until such time as we can all enjoy it. Tomorrow the builders will be back and hard at work to finish the shower room which will be a great relief all round. To begin with the bath in the house next door is so deep that neither Pa or myself dare sit down for fear of needing the fire brigade to extract us. Worse still we keep on being interrupted by the estate agent showing round prospective clients which it most disconcerting for all concerned. Yes it will be good to have the wet room ready for use,at the moment the bathroom floor is full of large holes and the plasterers have been hard at work.

Moving the lavatory from one place to another caused much merriment and further mirth may well be caused by the fact that it is now placed directly in the window area so that the view of the grave yard is excellent, Lord only knows what the view from the grave yard is like, methinks frosted glass may be in order ! Now I am up to date I think and internet permitting I shall keep you informed as to our progress,and now being fairly certain that the blasted estate agent will be by now either at home or in the pub I shall venture to take a bath next door...wish me luck!

WE'RE OFF!

What a day to lose internet access,A telephone call this afternoon informed us that after a cancellation the builders will be commencing work tomorrow morning at eight. I feel that the next couple of weeks will be gruelling but I am sure that the end result will be worth the trouble.

Of course this will mean that my son will be working during the noisy demolition stage with all the problems that being a night worker entails. He is determined that he will manage and he is pretty tough,it will not be the first time he has had to work with ,little or no sleep.

Today has been rather busy as the bathroom had to be emptied in a hurry but now we are stripped for action...here goes!

Normal Service Will Be Resumed...

Apologies for the lack of updatse the last couple of days - internet access has been temporarily lost...hopefully all will be back to normal shortly!

SON OF AVIE