It's turning into a bit of a quiet weekend, which is fine by me! Off to the plot to do the final segement of A Week at the Plot, and then home for a haircut, a bath, a read in the afternoon and then the joy of a leftovers supper that just needed heating up.
A bit of TV, and earlyish to bed, as I need to get up early tomorrow, for what I think will be a long day! Weather: Yet another grey day, and a tad colder. Breakfast: Two slices Lidl German Bread toasted with butter, and a small bowl of Bran Sticks, yogurt, oat milk and a few freeze-dried pineapple pieces Lunch: Lidl Vegetable Soup added to some softened red lentils, and Cheesy Butterbean Salad wraps Supper: Final portion of Butterbean, Caramelised Red Onion & Carrot Stew, leftover Couscous, and newly made Braised Red Cabbage
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A nondescript day really, and mainly a desk day whilst getting used to Richard being at home… Though I did get down to the plot middish afternoon and started work on cutting back the ivy that’s fallen off a rotten tree by the 1940s shed and is dying.
Weather: Like the day… uneventful. Breakfast: Two slices Lidl German Bread toasted with butter, and a small bowl of Bran Sticks, yogurt, oat milk and a few freeze-dried pineapple pieces Lunch: Soup of Black Quinoa & Vegetable Stew (defrosted - I had blitzed leftovers which were given to us after the meal by our friend down the road and frozen them) added to some softened red lentils, hummus, pitta, carrot batons and radish Supper: Smoked Tofu & Red Kidney Bean Burger, Lidl Skin On Fries, Grated Carrot salad (carrot, onion, celery, cucumber, radish in a grain mustard dressing) 7 February 2025 (Friday)
It’s grey, and is going to be so all day AND getting wet later so I’m glad that we got to Kew yesterday. I get on with some work work, which I try to keep off from doing on Friday's, though sometimes when the weather's not playing ball the best thing to do is work work at my desk and get ahead for the following day or, in this case, week. Tonight’s meal will be easy, as it’s the leftovers of two of last night’s meal items, Butterbean, Caramelised Red Onion & Carrot Stew and also the Braised Red Cabbage. Instead of baked potatoes though we'll be having wholemeal couscous (the wholemeal couscous being an absolute favourite of Richard). Now, this meal actually came together, or rather sort of did not come together two days ago, on Wednesday afternoon. I'd spent time at the plot and got back intending to cook the stew and the braised cabbage for our evening meal... though, basically, nothing went to plan! It happens sometimes, and I always think that inexperienced cooks might just give up, bin whatever's in the pan and reach for a phone to dial a meal to their door... however a meal's a meal and it's very unlikely that something delicious and edible won't come from a disaster of a cooking day! Butterbean, Caramelised Red Onion & Carrot Stew I’d already soaked the dried butter beans (250g) for a day, changing the water three times. As I was back from the plot later than I'd expected, I thought I'd speed up the cooking by giving the butter beans a quick pre-cook in the Instant Pot (High Pressure for 20 minutes). I could then add them to the caramelised onions and carrots and pop in the oven to finish off for an hour... best laid plans, etc. Whilst the butter beans were having a pre-cook I sauteed red onion slowly in the casserole on the stovetop in a tablespoon of olive oil. Once they'd began to soften and brown, I added six carrots that had been cut into hefty slices, and a few tablespoons of apple juice from a measure of 500ml (two cups). I gave all a good stir, brought to a bubble and then popped the lid on… at this point forgetting to turn the heat down to a low simmer! About fifteen minutes later, as I sat in the middle room engrossed in my book, a delicious smell of onions, sweet apple, carrots and a background of butter beans was wafting through the air. Yum! As Cal McGill was fending off the calls of journalists (The Sea Detective - very much worth a read!) my nose picked up another smell... a slight burning smell… definitely NOT yum!! Jumping quickly from my chair, I immediately realised I'd lost track of time AND not set any timer and, on lifting the lid, saw the mixture had dried out rather a lot as I’d also left it on too high a heat by mistake. The result was the red onion was WELL caramelised… as were quite a few chunks of the carrots. However, not to be beaten I took the pan off the heat, added the rest of the apple juice and popped the lid on immediately. Now, adding the apple juice would deglaze the pan, though to what extent all would be burnt I’d have to wait and see. After five minutes, I lifted the lid, gave all a stir, and saw that this was not a lost cause... it very rarely is. I added two level teaspoons of mixed herbs, took the butter beans out of the Instant Pot with a slotted spoon and popped them into the casserole, and then added two tablespoons of miso, carefully stirring it thoroughly until the paste was fully dispersed. Then I added about another 500ml of the cooking liquid from the Instant Pot to the casserole, stirred through then popped the lid on and then into the oven at 160c for an hour or so. With all the delays and the kerfuffle of me having a bad cooking day, I changed Wednesday’s meal to something simple, and we had the casserole on Thursday and Friday night instead. So, back to today and I put the oven on to reheat the casserole - again about 160° - and as the oven was going to be on for another hour or so, I popped two proper baking potatoes in the to have with the stew, and wanted another veg too, so I did a Braised Red Cabbage in the Instant Pot. Braised Red Cabbage (Instant Pot / Pressure Cooker version) This is a delicious spiced braised red cabbage. Ingredients 1 red onion (225g), chopped 1 lb red cabbage (450g), core removed, quartered and each quarter sliced thinly 75g sultanas (optional) 1/2 cup apple juice 4 cloves garlic 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp ground cloves 1 tbsp honey 2 tbsp cider vinegar 1 tbs liquid aminos or soy sauce Salt & Pepper if needed and as desired Method Put the ingredients into the Instant Pot cooking bowl in the order listed. Lock the lid, turn the steam vent to 'sealing' and set the cook time to 5 minutes at High Pressure. After it has come to heat and pressure, and after it has cooked for the requisite time, manually release the pressure with a wooden spoon. You could cook on high pressure for 3 minutes and then let it do a natural release instead. If you wanted to cook this on a hob instead of a pressure cooker I would expect it to take 30 minutes on a lowish heat (make sure you bring it to a bubble first), stirring every five minutes, and with a lid on. Weather: Grey, getting rather wet. Around 5°. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, yogurt, oat milk, a few freeze-dried strawberries Lunch: A soup of a small portion of curry from the freezer, defrosted and mashed and mixed with soften red lentils, homemade hummus, pitta, carrot batons and cucumber slices Supper: Butterbean, Caramelised Red Onion & Carrot Stew, Couscous, Braised Red Cabbage - apart from the coucous leftovers from yesterday. 6 February (Thursday)
The day started as well as forecast, maybe with a harder frost than I’d expected, and as we were on a mission (well, doing something at a definite time!) we were both up earlyish. You see, Richard had booked a time slot for us to visit Kew Gardens’ Orchid Festival; a members’ timeslot of 10am, though Richard had read an advisement to ensure arrival ten minutes prior AT the Princess of Wales Conservatory, which itself is a decent walk from any of Kew’s public entrances. Now, as per our usual routine we’d be parking Fenella at the Brentford Gate entrance which I was sure didn’t open before 10am; Richard, somewhat understandably, was positive there wouldn’t be advice to arrive early if it wasn’t required, so off we went… to find Brentford Gate didn’t open prior to 10am. Anyway, ‘rules is rules’ and I’m all in favour of that, so after an ‘on time’ opening and a quick trot along pathways, at 10.08am we got to the PoWC where the Orchid Festival is held each year. By the time we got to the festival’s entrance a shortish queue had already developed, which of course we joined at the end, about fifteen members back, thankfully soon moving our way along as the line was swiftly scanned in to the event one by one; though not before a requisite security bag check which itself seemed to be over before it had begun, which is a good thing in one way, though very much not in another! Now, when it comes to orchids I'm a bit of a “pretty colours, and?” type of guy. I appreciate the colour and the beauty and the bottony, though they don't really do it for me. I'm not quite sure why this is. For sure some I find a bit too blousy and show off, but of course that's what they do do and what many people love them for. Others, which I seem to like a little more, are much less “look at me” and far more subtle in their visual gifting. However, seeing the happy faces of thronging people there's no doubt about it, the Orchid Festival is popular and a much anticipated and enjoyed event in Kew’s calendar, and my feelings on these colourful gems of petals and foliage from far flung continents are in the minority. When we came out after about an hour of wandering the prescribed route, I noticed the queue was sizable and ever growing. I wondered what they’d all make of it. Most, I was sure, would love it. For me? To be honest I’d been more intrigued by the size of some leaves of other tropical plants housed in the same glasshouse, and the sheer spikiness of the myriad cacti rather than the orchids themselves. Each to their own, which again is fine by me! Now, when we went to Kew a few weeks back it was for the astounding Expressions in Blue exhibition of the work of Felicity Aylieff, monumentally large hand-crafted porcelain pieces which in some cases are twice my height or more. The day was quiet and grey and damp, the preciousness of the finely shaped fired pottery bringing a veritable shine to our visit… and then of course the walking and ambling and watching and looking which all brought a calm, relaxing and restorative healing. Today, it was somewhat different… everything seemed vibrant and pacey and moving with many people enjoying the various elements Kew Gardens always has to offer, and those regular and irregular events that are extras and the more precious for it… like the Orchid Festival. So, leaving the growing queue well behind and wandering on our way it seemed the entire gardens was awash with visitors, them bustling about the paths and glasshouses in many groups of ones and twos and threes and fours and larger… a gaggle of school girls (is that the collective noun?) mobiles in hand completing their tasks sheets by taking photos of plants whose shape from this angle or that resembled letters of the alphabet; laughter from an Italian couple chattering away unaware as they stylishly walked tarmacadam paths as if on the runway of a Milan fashion show; a Japanese tourist TikTok’ing her way from the dragon encrusted pagoda to the snakelike Sackler crossing; and an elderly couple all bent around and swaddled in wool holding each other physically, emotionally and lovingly. The entirety of the gardens felt alive and appreciated, and that can only be a good thing. And of course, unless you're a member you have to pay not only the usual entrance fee to Kew Gardens itself but also for the Orchid Festival on top, so it's a good money earner too. Weather: Gorgeous start to the day, sunny and blue sky. Around 9°, feeling cooler when not in the sun. The afternoon got a tad greyer. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, yogurt, oat milk, a few freeze-dried strawberries Lunch: Lidl Minestrone Soup, Rice Cakes (two leftover from our walk as a sandwich of yeast extract), Hummus, Carrot Batons Supper: Butterbean, Caramelised Red Onion & Carrot Stew, Baked Potato, Braised Red Cabbage (recipes will be another day…) Popped to Lidl first thing, though the bananas were a bit green so none for breakfast today!
Client has decided to postpone a show so a whole lot of reworking of artwork, press releases etc. A change like this adds at least half a day to my normal working week, and is rather demoralising, but… I carried on at the plot in the late afternoon, though not really leaving enough time to get supper done - I had had some butter beans soaking and was going to do a casserole, though things didn't quite go to plan so we had something rather different to that which I’d planned. Weather: Greyish with some sun breaking through, and colder than of late BUT oddly feels mild - despite condensation on the windows and a frost saying otherwise. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, yogurt, oat milk, a few freeze-dried strawberries Lunch: Grilled halloumi, grated carrot, red onion, shredded white cabbage, radish and cucumber salad in a Lidl half-and-half wrap. Supper: Lidl fresh Veggie Sausage, homemade chips, baked broccoli and an onion gravy. A nondescript day really, and mainly a desk day whilst getting used to Richard being at home… Though I did get down to the plot middish afternoon and started work on cutting back the ivy that’s fallen off a rotten tree by the 1940s shed and is dying.
Weather: Uneventful. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, yogurt, oat milk, pear, a few freeze-dried strawberries Lunch: Lidl lentil soup bulked out with softened red lentils, miso paste, and some leftover gravy - about a cup of water too, cottage cheese, cucumber, yeast extract and two Ryvita Supper: Morrisons Ultimate Burger and homemade coleslaw Not a great night’s sleep - not sure I took my pre-bed acid tablets…
It's Richard’s first day of 'holiday’, and his first day of working out his notice. It’s becoming clear we need to share the upstairs room, not something I’m used to when at my desk… Richard’s been researching reels over the past few days and is uploading quite a lot to YouTube that have been on Instagram. He’s going to show me what to do tomorrow… Weather: Grey all day, around 5°. Mid-afternoon it starts drizzling… though the sun fought through just before sunset and gave us a delightfully cheering golden glow. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, yogurt, oat milk, banana, a few freeze-dried strawberries Lunch: Lidl lentil soup bulked out with softened red lentils, miso paste, and some leftover gravy - about a cup of water too, cottage cheese, cucumber, yeast extract and two Ryvita Supper: Morrisons Ultimate Burger and homemade coleslaw Up pretty early and after some toast and yeast extract it was off to the allotment to pick up a wheelbarrow.
I’d decided some months back that I'd buy premium compost this year, particularly to do our seed sowing. The erratic germination that we had last year and also poor germination was, I think, down to the compost either being too rich and burning the seeds, it having some type of weed killer in it, or something that impeded the growth of seeds... Or a mix of all three. So, after looking online and also going to our local garden centre and a DIY store, I decided to buy some online that had been recommended to me by a fellow YouTuber. The bags arrived on Friday, and sat by the side of our house waiting to be taken down to the plot. I spent a good three hours or so at the plot, doing the final segment of A Week at the Plot which in the end turned out to be sowing into module trays the two types of broad beans that I have left - Aquadulche Claudia and an own saved seed given to my by our plot neighbours. I SO hope that these do well as I need them to replace the ones that have been eaten by mice. Also, due to the significant numbers of mice that we seem to now have, I’ve put the sown modular trays into the greenhouse, as the greenhouse is mice-proof where the polytunnel isn't! After lunch, and editing A Week at the Plot and uploading it to YouTube, I sat down and watched an episode or two of The Serial Killer's Wife (a Channel 5 drama I’d recorded; I thought it was pretty good even though I guessed right from the start sort of how it was going to end. Our evening meal came straight from the freezer. It was the cabbage dish and Boulangere potatoes that I’d made a few days ago, all mixed together and topped with some grated cheese and then baked in our combination microwave. It was rather nice, and had with some tinned baked beans. All in all, a productive and also rather relaxing day. Weather: Sunny from the outset, though quite a frost to begin with. High of 7°, overnight forecast to be 0° again. Breakfast: Lidl German Rye Bread, Butter, Yeast Extract Lunch: Blitzed the leftovers of the Black Quinoa & Vegetable Stew (which were given to us after the meal by our friend down the road) into a soup. Supper: Baked leftovers of Cabbage in the Troo Style, Boulangere Potatoes and peas mixed together, topped with a little cheese. Had with a tin of Baked Beans. Woke up early, though fell back to sleep and got up around 7.30am. Richard was asleep till 9am.
Saturday’s usually Sunday Chat day, as indeed it was today, so with the recording done I pondered getting to the plot after lunch and doing the final segment of this week’s A Week at the Plot… though lunch was delayed a tad, we’re going out this evening to a friend down the road for supper, I felt I needed a rest, and with it being sunny tomorrow (hopefully!) working down there will be more pleasant… So whilst Richard edited I had a bath. I've put aside Felicity Cloake’s One More Croissant for the Road (gifted to me by Vivi of What Vivi Did Next!) to read The Sea Detective; I’ve a lot of library books piling up so best read those first. Weather: Blanket of grey cloud has descended. Around 6° all day and forecast to be down to 0° overnight. Breakfast: Porridge, banana and bran sticks Lunch: Lidl Vegetable Soup (tin) bulked out with softened red lentils and miso, Ryvita, Yeast Extract, Cottage Cheese, Cucumber and Radish Supper: Black Quinoa & Vegetable Stew, white rice, followed by grapes. Following the glorious day of yesterday, the morning starts wet and colder and that theme continues through the day, so I get on with stuff at my desk.
I do pop to the library to collect a book that’s arrived that I’ve had on reserve; The Sea Detective by Mark Douglas-Home - I read The Malice of Waves which is a later book in the series and enjoyed it, so this one’s being given a go. I really like to start a series of books at book one and then read through the series, though The Malice of Waves was on the sharing book shelves in the portico of our local library and I picked it up a few weeks back, popping in its place a Boy George biography in exchange that I’d picked up six months or so ago. Weather: Lots of rain overnight and a grey and mild start to the day. Definitely cooler than yesterday even when the sun did break through a few times all too briefly. Wet, much of the day drizzling. Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs, Baked Beans & Toast Lunch: Lidl Minestrone Soup (tin), Lidl Artisan Loaf, Homemade Hummus & Cucumber Supper: Cabbage in the Troo Style (vegetarian - dish inspired by a Tamasin Day-Lewis recipe. Needs tweaking prior to sharing), Boulangerie Potatoes, Peas and gravy |