The weather hasn’t been good enough today for our planned BBQ, but that didn’t stop us having the food we planned – sausage kebabs with peppers, tomatoes and home-grown courgettes. Whereas most folks would just randomly pile the elements on to the skewers, in our house it’s an exercise in precision assembly – note the symmetry!
I usually make bread in the bread making machine – it’s just a question of popping the ingredients in, switching the machine on, and there’s a decent loaf of bread two hours later. No artificial ingredients and it tastes better than shop bread. Today I decided to make bread rolls – not bad for a first attempt – maybe a bit on the large side and with wholemeal flour perhaps a little ‘heavy’. Definitely edible though…
Somehow I got talked into hosting a gin and cocktail evening for some of my wife’s friends… Not wanting to disappoint them, I had all the ingredients and gear set out well in advance. I’m no Tom Cruise, but I can make a mean Pornstar Martini!
The weather this year has not been good for the fruit trees in our garden, but one tree that never fails is a crab apple tree I was given a few years back. This batch of fruit is on its way to being crab apple jelly – delicious with hot or cold meats…
Came across this beautiful butterfly while we were in the garden this afternoon. I’ve never seen this variety before, but apparently it’s quite common. It’s called a Speckled Wood, and easily identifiable by its distinctive spots or ‘eyes’ on its wings.
… on the weather. This weathervane sits on the roof of our neighbour’s barn. The barn is around 200 years old, and I suspect the weathervane is of similar age. Lit by an amazing sky this evening.
My favourite lunch – carpaccio of beef. We chill it for a couple of hours in the freezer, cut it thinly and then flatten it between sheets of cling film. Then serve with rocket leaves, parmesan cheese and a home made mustard dressing. Tasty!
Well, vegetables actually… The green runner beans have done reasonably well this year, despite the very mixed weather, but are now coming to an end. I planted yellow courgettes for the first time, and after an uncertain start they are coming thick and fast. And as for the onions – they are huge! Most of them are a good 4-5 ins across, so just need to dry them off for storage. Not shown is the final crop of rhubarb – probably about 4lbs this time. Most will get frozen for use later, but I will definitely use some to make rhubarb vodka for Christmas!
It’s been a while since we last did any real running (2012 when we ran a full 10km race). I like to think we could still manage to run a modest distance, so starting the training very slowly – aim is to build up to 5km over the space of a month or so, and see where we go from there. It’s good to get out in a morning!
Advancing years and the hilly terrain around here have made cycling somewhat of a challenge, so last year we swapped our regular bikes for electric. It’s made a huge difference. Slight problem is that the bike carrier we had for the car wasn’t up to carrying the new e-bikes (they weigh around 22kg each). This is the replacement carrier all set up and ready to go.
One Day At A Time... 