WI garden group, giant tomatoes and unreliable broadband

WI garden group, giant tomatoes and unreliable broadband

Had a great day at WI garden group today. I spoke about how to grow watercress, showed some growing plants and gave a few rooted cuttings. Then gave out pieces of one of my very precious Brandywine tomatoes for people to taste. There is nothing like a Brandywine,...

Kitchen Plans

Edit: How extremely annoying. I posted this last night and WordPress for some reason decided to chop it off right at the beginning, and I can’t access the Revision copies either. So I’ve had to re-write what I could remember. Goodness knows what you...

Tissue or handkerchief, which do you prefer?

This week, I was cutting out bias strips to edge the quilt my Mum made for me. I was using a double white sheet I got from a charity shop for £1.50. As I was cutting out the strips, I was thinking how soft the fabric was and started wondering if they would make...

Off to Wickes for a quote

We went to Wickes today to sort out the kitchen. My goodness, what an expensive proposition that is! We have been umming and aahing for weeks over what the layout should be, all rotating around a walk-in corner larder unit. The layout was finalised today. We will be...

Broad bean, pea and mint risotto, 53p

Here is the recipe for the risotto we had yesterday. I halved a recipe that was supposed to serve 5-6 as a starter, but half would actually easily serve 4 as a main I found the recipe in the Guardian. 200g broad beans, Asda frozen ones are £1/750g, or a tin 55p,...

Sports day and risotto

Phew, what a scorcher! Went to Eastbourne today to see my grand daughter’s sports day. The race she was dreading the most was the balance a bean bag on the head one. But because she hated it, she had practised it a lot and only won it! Her mum was leaping up and...

Hair conditioner used as makeup remover

I used to wear makeup every day when I went to work in an office, plus heels and huge Pat Butcher earrings. I don’t wear any of those much now. The most I wear in the makeup line is a slick of tinted moisturiser, a teeny bit of eye shadow and a little mascara...

Free groceries arriving in the garden

These are some of the Brandywine beefsteak tomatoes in the greenhouse. An old fashioned variety and with a superb flavour These are ordinary tomato size in a variety called Tigerella. They were recommended by a friend for their flavour, and they are very fine and...

The garden party this afternoon

Had a lovely afternoon at our annual WI garden party. This was our tea table. I had just prepped 7 kilos of strawberries. Took me AGES! The reddy looking scones are our tomato scones, made small, and with some black olives from Approved Foods added. The sandwich end...
Progress today in the kitchen

Progress today in the kitchen

At half past four this afternoon, a builder pal of DP’s and his four labouring lads piled into the house. They hoisted the lintel up into place in a trice. At one point one of the lads, a skinny youngster, looked no more than 17, had the entire weight of the lintel,...

Some freebie fruit, lucky me

Had a fasting day today, so am starving. Really looking forward to breakfast tomorrow. Spent the afternoon at a friends. She has a garden that is big enough for a small holding and asks me round to pick blackcurrants because she doesn’t get round to using them...