Reflecting on my week #80

Well, hasn’t the weather over Easter been lovely? You’ll have noticed it’s been unusually quiet here for a bit. Despite plans to catch up with myself and the tasks - and posts - I planned, I found I needed some much needed time away from my blog, and so I did just that.  Work too has been quieter in the run up to the four day weekend and I think that also contributed, strangely. I’m pretty sure it will be gearing up again for the rest of the week, but it was good to enjoy some headspace and time to think, and really reflect on which is the way forward. 

This Easter there’s been time at home, and some family time. I’ve cleared my way into the greenhouse, which was just as well as I brought some plants home from dad, and we’ve even had time for some gardening. I’ve also found some time for some crocheting, although that wasn’t without its challenges. 

The lacy scarf i shared last week had been growing, but I wasn’t happy with the starting chain which was too tight, and pulling. I think I needed to hear mum say to undo it. I knew that was probably the answer but to unravel nearly five inches worth wasn’t really my plan A.  However I’m pretty sure if I didn’t I’d have regretted it. As it goes I’m back up to, and past, where I was before, and it is much better for having restarted. But still, it was a little painful.

Norfolk and its big blue skies are best in the sunshine, and on this visit the fields were full of yellow rape flowers too. I think that makes it even more beautiful.

Mum had been extra busy preparing for Easter, there were Easter Bunny egg cosies for our duck eggs on Sunday, and later that day we started on, but didn’t finish, a rather large cake!

Back home on Monday, the weather was still good, but not quite as good as in Norfolk. The seedlings I’d brought home from dad had survived what turned out to be a longer than normal journey, mostly due to Bank Holiday and good weather traffic - while it’s nice to have the weather, they don’t always mix, do they? So now in my clearer-than-it-was greenhouse, there’s a couple of tiny squash seedlings, and a couple of slightly larger courgette seedlings.

It was good to see our lilac starting to flower. I’m hoping it’s got plenty more flowers to come, and this year it’s due for another trim, but not before its finished flowering.

And with two green bins to fill, we decided to make the most of the weather. The plan was to tackle the shape of the pear tree, but as it was a bit of a struggle to get the ladder out from where it was padlocked to the forsythia, there was a quick change of plan. The forsythia, which had finished flowering, was taller than we usually keep it, and so the ladder needed to be at its full extension, which meant the first step was about mid thigh-height for me, and so I delegated ladder duties to MOH. Which meant pruning also became much more of a communications exercise!

But still getting the ladder into the right place proved tricky, and at times a long cane was used to point to exactly which branch and where it should be cut. The operation was further complicated as the forsythia has our large, and very prickly yucca plant beneath it. Thankfully I’d hit on the brainwave of covering that with our patio table cover, but only because it was still out drying having finally been removed from the table. It was just as well, as after slightly overstretching MOH toppled, while still up the ladder. It was definitely a slow motion fall, I’d seen it coming and was able to slow down the topple but not stop it completely.

Thankfully MOH was OK, however the yucca fared less well and so one of the stems needed to be removed. Typically it was the stem that was the most upright, but given the circumstances that was the least of my worries. The stake has been repositioned and the plan is to gradually try to correct the tilt, to see if that makes a difference. If it doesn’t, it seems that the yucca has made its own succession plans, as two new plants have started to form, and you can see them in the photo below to the right of the stake. My longer term plan for the yucca is to nurture these and any others that appear.

So quite an eventful time gardening, and our bin filled even more quickly than we thought! Now that we’ve started gardening we become driven by the green bins, and how much we can get in them, as the larger, thicker cuttings take much longer to break down on the compost heap. There is, plenty to do, and I’m hoping there’ll be some chances this week for some seed sowing and pottering in the greenhouse.

Reflecting on my week #79

It’s been a bit of a food week here, which is never a bad thing, and I’m going to subject you to some of the photos. As I told you last week I was off work on Wednesday and went to brunch with Heston Blumenthal at the launch of the 4K Everdure barbecues. It was a sunny, but chilly day, and as expected the food was good. The ribs were definitely worth waiting for, and well, they didn’t hang around for long.

The event took place at The Sipping Room in West India Quay, and as you’d expect I took a peek at the loos, and they were good. So as well as more about the barbecues, I’ll be sharing the latest in the Loo Series. And of course, just like buses good loos seem to come along in twos.

On Saturday we were out in town for a bit of a celebration, and headed to Jason Atherton’s Social Eating House starting off in the bar upstairs called the Blind Pig. Their cocktails are based on children’s books, and mine was based on Beatrix Potter’s Jemima Puddle-Duck, called Fowl Play. It’s ingredients sounded fascinating: duck fat washed Aylsbury Duck vodka, Blood orange, Chartreuse, honey, herbs and spices. It looked great and tasted lovely too.

I’ve no pictures of the food - although that was heavenly too - I was too busy eating it to photograph it. The cocktails on the other hand, well I was ok taking pictures of those, as it slowed the drinking down!

Remember that large - and pretty - skein of wool that I bought in Islington back in February? Well, it’s made it onto my crochet hook. I started making a shawl with a chevron and feather pattern but wasn’t happy with it, as it wasn’t as deep as I wanted it to be. But I was worried that if I made it as deep as I wanted, then I’d run out of wool, and while it’s lovely, it was also expensive and so I didn’t want to have to buy another one. Then again, a half-made shawl isn’t much good either, so I unravelled it all and looked again for a pattern.

I found one and it’s working out better this time round. The pattern is based on groups of five, which I can cope with, and have quickly memorised. It grows pretty quick too, so I’m hopeful it won’t be on my hook for very long.

The final food shot of the week, is this home cooked Persian green bean and spiced tomato rice, which I made for tea tonight. Unusually I had all of the ingredients, and spotted it was marked as easy. What I didn’t quite read was the number of pots and the length of cooking time. The rice was par-boiled, that’s one pan. The onions, beans, tomato puree and spices were cooked in another pan, so that’s two. And then the combined ingredients were cooked for another forty-five minutes in a third pan, lined with greaseproof paper and the lid wrapped in a tea towel.

I’ve never cooked rice like this, but it was worth it.  The base could have been crunchier, and I suspect I could have had the heat on higher , but it was still good.  There’s enough for lunch tomorrow too.  Even MOH was impressed, and didn’t even ask if there was any meat in it, which is his usual for meat-free dishes.  It’s one of those ritual things, he’s ok with not eating meat at every meal but always needs to ask.

You might be wondering how my healthy regime is going, and it’s a fair question to ask. I’ve been asking myself that this week too, but it’s back on and I’ve stepped up a level on the fitness angle with a new 55 minute workout to replace the 35 minute one that I started with, and which initially gave good results. I hadn’t mastered the shorter version - as in a real class, I’m out of time and going the wrong way to those on the screen - but it was probably as mastered as it’s going to get.

So it’s been a productive evening, with household chores like emptying the dishwasher and putting the bins out, cooking an inappropriate weeknight dinner, and making myself exercise too. But also one that’s stood out for the shocking news about the fire at Paris’ Notre Dame.

NOTRE DAME IN 2010

Let’s hope they can salvage as much as possible, although from the pictures on the news I fear that may not be much.  It’s such a shame that this beautiful building has withstood so much that history had to throw at it, but couldn’t withstand a modern day renovation. Let’s hope there’s some more positive news emerging over the next few days.

The Contemporary and Family Fun garden room sets

I’m sharing two of the garden room sets today from this year’s Ideal Home Show. I’ve already shared the Grow Your Own Garden, which means after today there’s just one more to share, and you’d be right to think I’ve saved my favourite garden until last. But before I tell you all about that space and spoil that post, let me share the pictures and info on these two gardens.

I’m sharing them both together so you can see them both, as I’m unlikely to share the Family Fun garden on its own, it’s just not content I usually cover, but it is full of bright colours and colour is quite at home here on my blog, isn’t it?

The Contemporary garden

This garden was sponsored by Gardena, and is an ultra-stylish garden, full of modern planting and design ideas by Charles Benton, one of the Benton Brothers, who you may know from their appearances on ITV’s This Morning.

The space is based around entertaining and making the most of the garden, as well as somewhere to eat there’s somewhere to cook, complete with a barbecue I’m not sure I’d show MOH for fear of it ending up quite high on his wishlist, on size alone.

There’s also somewhere to relax, which was my favourite part of the garden - and it seemed the perfect spot to sit and watch the robotic lawnmower go about its work. There’s other gadgetry in the garden too, including smart watering which is part of the Gardena smart system, which comes complete with its own smart app so you really can garden from your armchair, or sunlounger.

Family Fun garden

This garden room set was sponsored by Flymo and according to the leaflet it’s inspired by children and includes all the fun things they can get up to that will keep them entertained all day, and focuses on the sensory experience. It seemed to be well received, as unusually for a space like this, children were in the garden playing.

It was designed by the Skinny Jean Gardener who’s aka Lee Connelly, best known for his work as the CBBC Blue Peter Gardener. It seems gardening for kids has come a long way since Percy Thrower was the Blue Peter Gardener when I was growing up!

The bright colours, activities and sensory elements were all very much evident, and it shows you can have gardens, or spaces in gardens that are child friendly and stylish.

So two very different gardens, with quite different audiences in mind, but two great spaces. Look out for the final - and my favourite - garden room set next week.