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Quite a bit to do at my desk today in terms of my work work, and also need to catch up a bit on a few other personal and household matters at my desk - and a trip to Lidl was desirable though not essential.
I popped to the plot late afternoon to water, and ended up speaking to several fellow plotters for quite some time, and then back home to make supper which was a standard quickish supper. Watched the second half of the first episode of Channel 5’s Ellis, which I really enjoyed. Weather: Cool start to the day though with the sun shining it soon warmed up, and hit about 18°. Again, nights are dropping to about 3° or 4°. Breakfast: Bran sticks, yogurt, banana Lunch: Egg Mayonnaise with crackers, celery and cucumber Supper: Wholewheat spaghetti with broad beans, olive oil, Lidl green pesto, garlic and grated cheddar - side of radish and cucumber.
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 30 March 2025 (Sunday)
The clocks changed at 1am, so waking up at 7.30am it’s really just 6.30am, despite it being 7.30am… Apparently the changing of the clocks to British Summer Time’s down to a decision during the First World War; elongating hours available to work due to the length of daylight hours. It seems on Googling that this is totally true, though other claims prevail too! And this is just British Summer Time… let’s not even get into Double British Summer Time!! I needed to get the final segment of A Week at the Plot recorded, so I was down to the plot pretty early to get this done - as per usual, I wasn’t sure what I needed to do though once I was down there the jobs revealed themselves from the mists of my allotment mind, and I knew what I wanted to get done. Home for lunch, and then edited the pieces recorded in the morning. I’m trying to keep things under or around 30 minutes these days, certainly trying not to go over 40 minutes. I do wonder if my weekly upload would get more views if I uploaded the daily segments as I went through the week, though doing it as I do, as one upload per week, suits me fine for the time being. I mull this question quite often, and then think “Well, it works for me, so…” I was back at the plot for an hour or two after editing, mainly weeding which I sort of enjoy. I was delighted to receive a pint of Pride; a fellow plotter who’d seen me, wanted to thank me for some help I’d given them and they’d bought it from The Fox… Happy Days!! Sweet & Sour Tofu I’m beginning to get used to cooking with tofu and tempeh. For years each has been a bit of an enigma - I know they’re a good source of protein, and apparently also good for us, but it’s not something that I’ve been hugely comfortable with cooking. I have to admit I must have bought one or two blocks of tofu and tempeh over the years, and never used them only for them to be released from their packaging and added to my Hotbin! A waste of money, of course… though thankfully, no more! We’ve used tofu to make fake bacon. It was a while ago and worked well though a bit of a faff, or so it seemed. I cooked a dish with tempeh before Christmas, and I think one with tofu earlier this year, though only now am I being brave enough to get my head around my anxiety and really have a go. As the Roasted Broccoli with Broad Beans and a Cheezy Potato Topping shows, if something does go wrong one can usually turn it around and still produce something edible, if not delicious! I’ve learnt from various videos that freezing the tofu allows for more liquid to be squeezed out prior to cooking, and you end up with a firmer tofu. Just torn from the block tofu, adding some spices and black pepper, a tablespoon of cornflour or gram flour and frying it gives a rather nice crispy, often delicious dish. Adding extra flavours, as below, takes it to another level. For this trial, I took inspiration from a reel I saw from Bosh, and have adapted it for how I cooked this: https://www.facebook.com/reel/514063331499667 Ingredients 300g block of firm tofu 1 teaspoon ground black pepper 4 tablespoon gram flour or cornflour 2 tablespoon olive oil 1 red onion, thinly sliced 1 red pepper, cut into strips (use green or yellow if you wish) 200g frozen green beans, or fresh 4cm piece fresh ginger or one frozen block 4 garlic cloves or one frozen block 250ml pineapple juice - this was the juice from a 4 tablespoon rice vinegar 2 tablespoon sesame oil Rounded tablespoon tomato puree Rounded tablespoon miso paste Dessert spoon of honey 100g tinned pineapple chunks Method My block of tofu had been frozen, defrosted and then squeezed between my palms to remove as much liquid as possible. Once I'd done this for a minute or two, I tore 2cm’ish chunks off the block and put them in a bowl, continuing until the whole block was in small chunks. I ground black pepper over the chunks, sprinkled over the gram flour, and then tossed all together to coat the chunks. In a heavy bottomed pan (or a frying pan) I put in half the olive oil and brought it to just before smoking, then added the tofu chunks with my fingers (leaving any remaining flour in the bowl) and cooked them through, stirring and browning for about five minutes. I then removed all from the pan to a plate. I added the rest of the olive oil to the pan, followed by the red onion and pepper. I added a tablespoon of water and then covered it with a lid and put it on low heat for five minutes. Then I added the green beans, and with a lid on cooked these for another five minutes, stirring regularly. Whilst the veg was cooking, I put all the remaining ingredients except the chunks of pineapple into a jug and gave all a good mix. The remaining flour in the bowl went into the pan next, and I gave it all a good stir - the remaining flour will thicken the mix a bit. Then the liquid mix went in, I brought it all up to a bubble, and cooked through for another minute stirring regularly. Then I added the cooked tofu chunks back in and the pineapple chunks, stirring all through and bringing back to a bubble and slow simmer for about a minute. I thoroughly heated through some cooked brown rice in the microwave, popped this into two bowls and topped off with this sweet and sour deliciousness. I think next time I will try cornflour instead of gram flour, though Richard was very happy with it exactly as it was! Weather: Sunny start, and despite a few clouds the sun shone throughout the day. 17° high today, though we’re due an overnight of only 3°. Breakfast: Bran sticks, yogurt, sliced banana Lunch: Baguette with cheese, our own lettuce, cucumber and a little mayo Supper: Sweet & Sour Tofu with brown rice I woke up just before 7:30 - I heard one bong on our clock so I knew it was half past something, though I thought it was around 6:30 until I checked my phone; delighted that I had slept an hour more than I’d thought.
We took the day slowly, with catching up on editing and desk stuff in the morning and Sunday Chat filming in the afternoon. A late afternoon visit to the plot was brief, as once I was there I was so cold I decided no work would warm me so best get back home. Hopefully, an earlyish night tonight, or at least a lot of reading in bed if not. Weather: Bright start, and remained so until late afternoon, but a chilling wind, despite the sunshine. Breakfast: Lidl Sliced Rye, Flora ProActiv spread, yeast extract and peanut butter Lunch: Hummus, crackers, carrots, radish and cucumber Supper: Cheese & Onion Quiche, Peas and Sweetcorn  28 March 2025 (Friday) I didn't sleep well again. It seems to be one of those things now that when I’ve an important day ahead, where there's quite a lot of anxiety, I don't sleep great… have I already said that this week? I sort of feel I have, though don't really have time to read back and check. Today’s the final event of a week that seems very lengthy indeed, albeit that actually it's only been Sunday to Friday - An Exquisite Harmony, air quality monitoring equipment change at the allotment, three workshops at an academy, and The Shakespeare Solitaire, plus the usual work work that has to be done each week. Tonight, as mentioned above, we’ve The Shakespeare Solitaire at the Great Green Barn. It's quite a complex event this evening as there's a number who have booked to have a three course meal and the performance, and others who’ve just booked what’s called Ticket Only. This means that we're going to have about five tables of those who are having a meal and two tables of those who aren't. We decided to do Ticket Only as a number of people said that they'd like to come to the event but they either didn't want the meal or couldn't afford the meal. It didn't seem fair to exclude people from coming to the event simply because of the food element. I think it's become clear that we need a good five or six months to sell an event at the Great Green Barn well. This year, it's likely that each of the shows will have at least four months sales time if not six or more. We've already got shows scheduled and on sale in for the autumn, and I expect those to be near capacity. Anyway, back to today… Apart from getting to the plot to water the recently planted out broad beans, I got on with work work at my desk and also minuteing for a board meeting. This meant that Richard and myself (as Richard was coming with me) weren't able to leave until around 3pm - getting into rush hour. We got into Fenella and started the drive down to Shamley Green. There are various ways to go, and on Friday afternoon it seemed that each of these ways had blockages of traffic at one point or another, with the sat nav saying that it would take about 90 minutes to get down there - so I took it that it would take about two hours. In the end we decided to go straight down the M3, coming off near Aldershot and dropping down into the top of Guildford, through the city centre and then driving further south to reach Shamley Green. In the end I think it took us about two hours five minutes to get there - I guess not too bad on a Friday afternoon. When we walked into the Great Green Barn, I was really delighted to see that it looked so great; Vanessa and her helpers had worked hard and done a fantastic job in putting the tables out, laying them up, with each having a fabulous floral decoration with blooms and foliage from Vanessa's garden. The bar was also set up, which is where Richard and I would spend most of the evening, and Giorgos' of London’s The Life Goddess in Store Street had all the food prepared to finish off in the on-site Event Kitchen, before being plated and taken out to those having a meal.  Shortly after we arrived, the Guildford Shakespeare Company's cast and director arrived, and started blocking out how they’d work the show for that evening. I haven't been at a mixed performance event of tables and theater for quite some time. I've been to quite a bit of cabaret, though that’s mainly stage centered. This evening was always going to be a mix of promenade performance, with the actors in character bringing the customers sitting at the tables into the performance. Being a murder mystery evening, there was always going to be a lot of interrogation of the characters at the tables. That's how these evenings rumble.  Guildford Shakespeare Company cast of The Shakespeare Solitaire at the Great Green Barn. Photo by Richard Leighton (richardandpaul.com) With everything prepared, people started arriving around 6:30; a little earlier than expected. The thing is these people that arrived very early had not been to the Great Green Barn before, so they’d come early to make sure that they didn't get lost. That was absolutely fine, and we welcomed them through the great barn doors. They sat down at their table, ordered a few drinks, and twenty or so minutes later others started arriving too. By 7.25, five minutes before the show was to go up, everyone who had booked had arrived and Vanessa took to the stage to give a little speech, then the actors came out and it was ‘curtain up’
After about half an hour, the first course was served which was celeriac soup and a roll. Stupidly, we’d forgotten to get some gluten-free rolls so the three customers who were gluten intolerant, who had told us in advance, didn’t have a SØDT bread roll. This is a mistake that will not happen again! Vanessa apologised to each of the gluten-free customers personally, and they each took it in their stride, though this is something to note for the future. Once the soup bowls were cleared, the performance recommenced, which was further interrogation of the characters at the tables. After about another 20 minutes, there was another interval and the main course was served (a choice of Chicken in a Lemon Sauce or Feta Stuffed Aubergine - no vegans had booked). Within 40 minutes all main plates and cutlery was cleared then the performance began again, with a short break where puddings were served. The evening ended with the reveal of ‘who dunnit’ it just before 10pm. I have to say that despite actually working, and therefore not being able to partake directly in the interrogations, I really enjoyed the evening, and the Guildford Shakespeare Company did us proud. There were four mysteries to detect, including two murders - and I got three of the four. Happy Murder Mystery Days!! I didn’t hear one quibble about the evening, other than the missing gluten free rolls, and one table who bought a bottle of white wine and wanted an ice bucket, which was fair enough. The customers left in its usual orderly fashion, and that left us staff to do some clearing up… quite a bit of clearing up. There's another private event tomorrow evening, and the hall needs to be clear for that so the younger guys who were on hand cleared the tables out of the main hall and all of the chairs too. After about another half an hour, the hall was clear and partly prepared for tomorrow's event. Richard and I left just about this point, as we had to drive home. Everybody else lives locally or relatively locally so I think Vanessa was quite happy for us to get away because she knew we had at least an hour's drive back home, as the drive home most of the time is shorter than the drive there by at least 45 minutes. Thankfully, the M25 junction at Wisely was not yet closed (it’s fully closed this weekend with planned roadworks), even though I’d read it would be. This meant that we could go straight down the M25 and didn't have to go around the back roads that I sometimes have to drive down when the Wisley junction’s fully shut. We got home around half eleven, had an Ovaltine and watched Paranormal, the new series. Then it was time to get to bed. As I got between the sheets and duvet, picking up my book for a quick few pages, I breathed a huge sigh of relief that this heavy week was behind me, and that it had all gone extremely well. Happy Days!! Weather: A little bit of rain, though generally sunny and warm. Clear sky overnight. Breakfast: Bran sticks, yogurt, mashed banana Lunch: Microwave Frozen Mixed Veg Omelette, Pitta and Cucumber Supper: Spanakopita  27 March 2025 (Thursday) After a poor night’s sleep yesterday as I was anxious about waking up early for a long day, I was in bed early and woke up at 6am this morning - so almost 9 hours sleep! Some early morning editing of A Week at the Plot, with a cuppa, and then on to work work the remainder of the morning. We have The Shakespeare Solitaire murder mystery evening from the Guildford Shakespeare Company tomorrow at the Great Green Barn - both tickets with dinner and ticket only - and seating plans need to be sorted. A brief visit to the plot, pulling a few weeds, though the energy isn’t with me at the moment. Roasted Broccoli & Broad Bean with Cheesy Potato Topping Richard's been experimenting with vegan and gluten free pastry, and last week nailed it, so he decided to make some Cheez, Onion & Potato pasties... though this week the pastry did not work how it did last week. He thinks maybe he got a measurement wrong, or wrote it down wrong last week. More trials ahead! The thing is, he'd already made the cheezy onion and potato filling, and of course that was not going to be thrown away. He suggested I roast a full head of broccoli we had in the fridge, and top it with the needing-to-be-used pasty filling. So I did. Basically, he made the Vegan Welsh Rarebit, though with a chopped onion added at the beginning with the olive oil and softened. He then made Microwave Mash with two potatoes, and stirred this into the oniony Welsh Rarebit mix. By the time I got to use it, the mix was cold and in the fridge. I used our Microwave Combination oven and preheated it to 180c. I cut the broccoli head up, slicing the larger florets in half lengthways through the stalk, and placed these into a small ovenproof dish. I twisted some black pepper from our pepper mill over them, drizzled some olive oil and then covered the ovenproof dish in foil, and popped it into the preheated combi oven for about twently minutes. Using oven gloves I then took the dish out of the oven, peeled the foil back and added about eight tablespoons of frozen broad beans. Replacing the foil, I then baked the broccoli and broad beans for a further 15 minutes, then took the pan out of the oven and removed the foil. Using my fingers (though use a couple of spoons if you like as this bit is a bit messy!), I took chestnut mushroom sized portions of the mix and laid it over the broccoli and broad beans, continuing until all the cheezy mix was used. I didn't ensure the surface covered all the veggies underneath, just most of them. I then popped the dish back into the oven and baked it for another 20 minutes, or until piping hot. It was a delicious use of something that hadn't quite worked out!  Weather: Chilly start, though feeling a good few degrees warmer outside. Grey all morning with occasional brief, heavy showers.
Breakfast: Porridge and mashed banana Lunch: Lidl No Meat Sausage Rolls with tinned baked beans Supper: Roasted Broccoli & Broad Bean with Cheesy Potato Top A rather early start, as I am helping a fellow plotter today - he runs workshops for schools and group, making a frame structure out of newspapers. I did it last year and though it was tiring, I did enjoy my day, so…
Up at 5pm to leave the house at 5.45pm and walk down to my fellow plotter’s house. I’m driving his car as his wrist is in a splint, and of course that means we’ve had to arrange extra insurance which I did through Cuvva. It took me back to my days in the Sharing Economy with Rent My Items Limited (sadly, now dissolved) and the need for short-term and micro-insurance on items. That was a very different time of my life! Anyway, we make good headway to a school south of Richmond, arriving pretty early and having plenty of time to set-up for the workshops. Each went well, though I do wonder how teachers teach nowadays… kids seem to be far more disruptive than in my days, though Richard assures me he was extremely disruptive, so maybe I was just a goody two-shoes! The drive back went well, despite me taking a wrong turning in Richmond Park - I wasn’t using my usual satnav, and some things looked very different! I was delighted when Richard said he'd do supper, as after I changed and he was doing halloumi salad wraps, I watched a little bit more of that episode of Endeavour! Weather: Feels milder, and once the sun came out it felt rather warm, around 16°. Breakfast: Bran sticks, yogurt, sultanas Lunch: Peanut Butter, Marmite & Cucumber Baguette (made at home and taken as a packed lunch) Supper: Halloumi Salad Wraps, a la Richard Awake early, and up to do some desk work work and then get to Lidl at opening. Worked at desk through to 1pm.
At the plot in the afternoon I got the broad beans in - and at the moment they look pretty healthy! Weather: Chilly start, though feeling a good few degrees warmer outside. Grey all morning with occasional brief, heavy showers. Breakfast: Bran sticks, yogurt, sultanas Lunch: Microwave Pea Omelette, Pitta, radish and cucumber Supper: Hmmm… can’t remember! We got back just before midnight last night - after a rather successful evening at the Great Green Barn with An Exquisite Harmony. Vanessa was very happy, despite us not quite covering the costs ticketwise, though an event later in the week will balance the swings and roundabouts of promotion and producing events!
A bit of a foggy start, though that cleared quickly with the sun breaking through early afternoon - so following a long morning at my desk, plus popping to the site as the air quality monitoring equipment was being upgraded, I was at the plot in the afternoon in my two T-shirts!! We were both dozing off and on on the sofa through the evening, and I watched an Endeavour - for about the seventh time! Weather: Again, slightly foggy. Feeling a little cooler first thing. By mid-afternoon it was 12° and felt warm, though felt chilly-ish again late afternoon in the house! Breakfast: Porridge with banana and sultanas Lunch: Softened red lentils with leftover Braised Cabbage & Carrots (squished) mixed in to make a thick soup, cottage cheese, crackers, radish and cucumber Supper: Wholewheat spaghetti with broad beans, olive oil, Lidl green pesto, garlic and grated cheddar - side of radish and cucumber.  I was up early editing the last segment into A Week at the Plot and then uploading it to YouTube, ready for our Ko-fi members to view at three o'clock this afternoon, prior to publicly publishing 24 hours later.
I've been asked to help the two committee members that are now in charge of turning on the water at the site to help them at 10:30. It was pretty swiftly done and we were relatively efficient in doing what we needed to do; the job was done and dusted within an hour, which was great. With the mild winter and deep pipes all of the taps were functional and not dripping and they're appeared to be no leak, as there was no increase in the water meter until taps returned on. It was then back home to have a little rest and get ready to go down to the great green barn today as we have a performance of An Exquisite Harmony this evening. Both Richard and I are going down. Richard will take photos and videos of the Great Green Barn and the evening, whilst I try and ensure that all goes well, and with one person down already I guess I’ll be manning the bar. Weather: Mild, slightly foggy start to the day. The sun didn't find its way out from behind the clouds. Breakfast: Porridge with banana Lunch: Reheated leftover Chik’n & Leek Filo Pie, grated carrot, radish, cucumber and mildly pickled beetroot Supper: A slice of Spanakopita and a bag of Salt & Vinegar crisps  22 March 2025 (Saturday) The next seven days are pretty full-on, for me at least. There’s several major events for the Great Green Barn, one full day helping a friend present three workshops at an Academy some distance away, the usual work work, and the usual A Week at the Plot to finish this weekend, and start recording for next week’s upload… at times like this, I focus on the day after the last big thing, in this case I’m focusing on the totally free weekend I have NEXT weekend rather than the full-on week ahead. After filming Sunday Chat, it was a quick lunch and then down to the plot… soon to be followed by lightning, thunder and a few torrential downpours. Yes, I did get wet, though the last segment of AWATP needed to be filmed so I can edit tomorrow, before I’m full in to that full-on week! I'd been fancying a pie of some sort or another for quite a few weeks now, knowing that we've got some puff pastry and also a roll of filo pastry in the freezer, both of which have been in there since the last ice age. A few weeks ago, when at Lidl I bought some of its non-meat chik’n pieces which were on offer, with a significant discount as the use by date was that day; I brought them home and popped them straight in the freezer. I didn't read the instructions to see if they could be frozen; I'm sure being protein at one sort or another and fiber they would be fine, and I’d find out for sure when I cooked them. I took both the pastry, deciding upon the filo, and the chik’n pieces out of the freezer late morning, after we'd done Sunday Chat. I was sure I'd have time in the afternoon to get some sort of pie done and dusted for supper. Richard would be editing his vlog and uploading it and also editing Sunday Chat and uploading that so despite me going down to the plot to clear buddleia prunings for a couple of hours, I was sure there’d be time.
Chik’n & Leek Pie with Braised Cabbage & Carrots
After removing a few gone over leaves from the leeks, slicing them down the middle and running them under the tap to remove any sand or grit, I sliced them relatively chunkily and popped them into a pan with some olive oil. I didn't shake off the water from the leeks, as this would turn to steam and, alongside the tablespoon of olive oil I used would help cook them down. Once the leeks were soft, I added a tablespoon of miso paste and stirred that through. I then added the chik’n, bringing it up to heat and making sure that it was cooked through well. A tablespoon and a half of plain flour went in next, stirred through, cooked out (for about a minute - this takes the floury taste away) and then about 300ml of oat milk with a level tablespoon of Dijon mustard was stirred through, making all a thick sauce. Obviously, if you’ve a different mustard you can use whatever is your favourite - a wholegrain would work well. I then sliced up two peppers, in my case a red and a yellow one, and popped these into the mix, putting the pan lid on and letting them cook on a low heat for 5 minutes, until they were a little soft. I then turned the heat off and added about 250g of frozen peas. I stirred these through, which obviously brought down the temperature a little bit. I left the lid off so that any heat could escape as I wanted the mixture to cool down pretty well before I used it as a filling. I then got a ten inch glass Pyrex pie dish and layered the unrolled filo pastry into it, ensuring that there was plenty overlapping the sides so that I could fold it back over the top later. The filo was quite brittle as it was quite old, but I didn't worry about this. I didn't use any olive oil at this stage - usually you’d brush olive oil or melted butter between the filo sheets to help them stick together and give crunch. I was just going to dress the top with olive oil right at the end, so I didn't bother with the extra faffing. Once there were about six sheets of filo around the whole pie plate, and overlapping the edges, I put the now cooled mixture into the pastry dish, smoothed it around to evenly cover the base, and then folded the overlapping individual filo sheets back over the mixture. I dressed the top with a good drizzle of olive oil (a couple of teaspoons), and then let it rest for about 15 minutes. Whilst the pie was resting I turned the oven on to 180° fan, and once heated up I popped the pie in and cooked it for about 30 minutes, checking after 20 minutes that it wasn't burning. I then washed out the pan that I had used to cook the mixture, added in some olive oil and a little salt, about four tablespoons of water and then four sliced carrots. Bringing all up to a bubble I turned down the heat to the lowest and put the pan lid on, leaving the carrots to gently steam over a simmering heat for about 15 minutes. I then added about half a roughly shredded pointed cabbage and let that steam on top of the carrots for a further 15 minutes. I'm not very good at plating up, though I'm pretty good at taste, and I have to say this pie is definitely a winner. I might add a few herbs in the next one and tweak here and there,but I think this recipe, which is pretty rough and ready, is a winner. Weather: Mild, with the sun breaking through around 11am… giving over to lightning, thunder and torrential downpours in the afternoon.. Breakfast: Crumpets with yeast extract, and two with peanut butter and banana slices Lunch: Homemade Hummus, crackers, carrots, radish and cucumber wedges Supper: Chik’n & Leek Filo Pie, Braised Carrots & Cabbage |
Paul SavidentFollowing on from A Guernsey Gardener in London, I've decided to try and write a regular blog, and we'll see how it AND 2025 go! Archives
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