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Up around 6.30am and downstairs quickly to make tea. I need to get to Lidl for a usual 8am shop, usual as in at least once or twice a week. It’s still a bit meagre light-wise whilst walking up the road, and Lidl’s a little late opening… maybe just a minute though!
The sky’s a dirty watery winter white with the sun breaking through… just. The morning’s a full-on desk event with designs being created on Canva for two Great Green Barn shows, and also sorting out this week’s newsletter. Hopefully I will get to the plot this afternoon, and then get home for a good bath which is much needed! Weather: Again cold, being around 5° during the day and 2° overnight. The clouds seem weaker and the sun is constantly trying to break through. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, Yogurt, Banana Lunch: Lidl Lentil soup (tin) with additional softened lentils. Microwave omelette, pitta, cucumber and celery. Supper: Leftovers of the Baked Gnocchi thinned with a little oat milk and rebaked - and re-delicious again too! Leftover coleslaw from last night as a side, and chunked celery.
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Early start at my desk despite being a bit blurry eyed…
Spent half an hour at the end of my work work day finishing off Louise Penny's A Trick of the Light - she is such a great writer of community, place and murderous twists. Weather: Cold, though that blanket has lifted a tad and we have sun breaking through a watery sky from mid-morning. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, Yogurt, Banana Lunch: Squash & Red Lentil Soup, Lidl Wrap, Quorn Ham, remains of last night’s grated salad with some mayo. Supper: Smoked Tofu & Red Kidney Bean Burger (again, recipe to follow after a tweak), Red Cabbage Coleslaw, Lidl German Bread slice  19 January 2025 (Sunday)
Not a great night sleep had me awake at 3am and dozing off again just over two and a half hours later - I’d heard one bong after five bongs though not six bongs. A cup of tea in bed was, as ever, rather nice and a lazy start to the day got me out of bed just after eight thirty. More laziness took me to the plot around ten thirty… and walking the site filming I heard some type of dull sonic boom around eleven, and felt air pass across my face, whether physical or metaphysical I will never know. A lazy day continued in the afternoon with much reading of Louise Penny’s A Trick of the Light… and making supper which is picktured here, or at least the leftovers for another day are! The evening will be one of TV… Recipe: Baked Lidl Spinach Gnocchi & Broad Beans in a cream-style blue cheese sauce I’m keen to defrost the freezer - the freezer of which I had to mend the handle the other day… I’d bought some fresh Lidl Vemondo Spinach Gnocchi around the new year, being immediately worried about using them - most I’ve cooked ended up as bullets, and the ones I’ve made COULD have been used as bullets. In the freezer are year-old portions of stilton, shop-bought broad beans, a tablespoon of leftover cream, and in the fridge are some leeks that need using, and a good glug of dry white white wine (about an inch at the bottom of a bottle). Time to use these up. I topped, tailed, split down half the length of each then cleaned the leeks under the running cold tap, leaving some water clinging; chopped them and then softened them in a pan on the gas in a few teaspoons of olive oil - about five minutes. My pan was lidded so they steamed a tad too. I then added a tablespoon of miso, stirring through, then about a dessert spoon of plain flour, swiftly adding about a cup of oat milk and stirring well to ensure no lumps. I then added the wine and stirred through again until all was smooth. I added and stirred through the gnocchi (400g), broken up stilton (I guess about 80g), and the broad beans (maybe 200g, they were still frozen). Stirred through till all was coated I then turned down the gas to the lowest heat, with a lid, and let it cook gently for five minutes. I then put all in a glass baking dish and popped in our preheated convection oven at 180° until golden, about fifteen minutes. It was rather rich so we had half of the mixture between us, leaving leftovers for another day. We served it with a grated salad of thinly sliced red onion, grated carrot and thinly red cabbage dressed with a dash or two of cider vinegar - the subtle sharpness really worked well with the rich dish. Richard’s comment - a keeper!!! Weather: Grey, a little chillier, and that blanket of cloud remains! Breakfast: Bran Sticks, Yogurt, Banana Lunch: Squash & Red Lentil Soup, Quorn ham sandwiches with Lidl artisan baguette and cucumber Supper: Baked Lidl Spinach Gnocchi and broad beans in a cream-style blue cheese sauce, and grated salad.  18 January 2025 (Saturday)
We had a Work Social this morning. It had been postponed from the cold, cold Saturday of last week, to land on the cold Saturday of today. Decisions. So often they need to be made with an inkling of what might be, though more often than not no surety. Whilst expecting it to be cold, though not freezing, I’d hoped for sunshine beating down on us as we got on with the jobs list… though there was, as seems usual currently, none breaking through. As usual I’d already planned out the jobs that needed to be done. I'd walked around the site the day before, visiting the areas that I thought needed work and making a mental note if it was needed or not. The one job that I thought we might not get on with was painting of the furniture with a wood protector; the cold was still here and unlikely to lift to allow the protection to soak in and do its job well. Accepting this one might have to wait for another day, I wondered how many other jobs on my list might have to wait. Just how many of the jobs we’d get done would rely entirely upon just how many plotters turned up to assist and maintain their site. Sometimes the turnout surprised one way, and sometimes surprised the other. So to the jobs list. One of our tenants who manages the riverbank had pruned willow trees. Their poles and brush needed to be moved away from into the site to ensure no prunings dive into the river when the bank next floods; eight tonne of wood chip needed to be moved and barrowed and shovelled onto paths; the ivy along the pavement that borders our fence line needed to be cut back just a little to allow better access, and the same with the cornus by our main allotment gate; our communal shed needed a tidy, and a sort as items tend to build up… in particular items that some feel might be useful for our little allotment community, though so often turn out to be junk to be turned into a skip months or years later; a litter pick of the site, including the riverbank; and finally, a few areas needed a judicious prune to allow easy passing of plotters over paths. Despite no longer being chair and despite no longer being on the committee, I still organise and manage the Work Socials. At the moment I’m fine with this, and in all honesty think I’m the best to do this at this time. Fortunately, one fellow tenant in particular helps, and she picked me up on her way down to save me the faff of walking with a heavy flask of 5 litres of boiling water, various biscuits, Lidl apples pies and a carton of oat milk - refreshments that will sustain the morning's work. The lift was gratefully received! As we drove the short journey from my home to the site we caught each other up, and continued doing so whilst sitting for ten minutes further in her parked up car, with the doors open a touch to save condensation, and then to the site gate and in to get all ready for the masses. I'm delighted to say that despite the cold we had a decent turnout, and got most of the jobs done I'd wanted but not expected to get done. The completion of a litter pick will have to wait for another day, and so will the protection of the wooden furniture, as had been expected. Before these Work Socials, I always feel a little deflated with the time and organisation I'm putting in and the tasks that need to be done. However, by the time I’m walking home some three or so hours later my mood is always buoyant and many laughs have been had… and importantly much work has been done. And, of course, I start making a mental note of the jobs to be done at our next gathering. Weather: That blanket is still fully cloaking the sky, but it does feel a tad brighter. Maybe a little colder than yesterday, but feeling MUCH milder than a week ago. Breakfast: Porridge, banana and Lidl Bran Sticks Lunch: Squash & Red Lentil Soup, Quorn ham sandwiches with Lidl artisan baguette and cucumber Supper: Baked Lidl Spinach Gnocchi and broad beans in a cream-style blue cheese sauce, and grated salad. I slept through to after seven this morning, so thankfully no early start like yesterday! Not a big day, though I did pop to the allotment site to do some weeding and check out the jobs I think need doing at our Work Social tomorrow.
Weather: Grey, damp and mild’ish - a typical winter’s day. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, Yogurt, Banana Lunch: Squash & Red Lentil Soup, Cottage Cheese, Sesame Crackers, Cucumber & Radish Supper: Wholewheat Spaghetti with Lidl Red Pesto, Olives, and Cream Cheese and cucumber.  16 January 2025 (Thursday)
Grey and listless. Three words that describe the weather and also my get-up-and-go, which today has decidedly simply got up and gone. It’s fair to say a rather early start did not help! You see, Richard’s a bit of a Bagpuss, in that once he wakes up all other creatures, including me, wake up too. So, as Richard woke up very early again, I too was awake early, and despite wanting to sleep for another hour or so, it just was not to be. I was warm, comfy, and cozy BUT my mind had started thinking of things, and however much I tried those things didn’t want to be tucked away until later. However, there is an upside to Richard being the first up, and it’s that a cuppa soon follows. Now just like mum, I’m not a fan of cold tea, so with a hot brew sitting on my bedside table my arm soon outstretched, gently gripped the mug’s handle, and with an industrial crane-like horizontal movement those first invigorating sips began to help me take hold of the day… and put those things I was thinking in my head to one side, for the moment. “Alexa. Play Radio 4.” A soothing voice piped up telling of meteorological states, starting near Iceland and then slipping seamlessly clockwise around the British Islands. At the end of the Shipping Forecast, with not-too-far-off names Bailey, Viking, Cromarty, German Bight, Rockall, Fitzroy and more tumbling through my mind, it was time to get up, go downstairs, top up my mug, then climb right to the top of the house to check through a client’s VAT return that had been sent overnight. A quick once over, double-checking a few figures as I took it all in, and it was saved as a new file before uploading through a specialist portal and hitting the Submit button… shortly a confirmation came through that it was all safe and sound with His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs. This fully digital process, which has been going on for some years, is all part of the HMRC’s Making Tax Digital initiative, which to be honest I find rather time saving compared to their old systems. The rest of the morning bounced along, and I got plenty done, in between making a squash and lentil soup for lunch, and for portioning for the freezer… having something always handy is such a delight when you really can’t be bothered or, more often, time’s too tight to think of anything let alone actually make it. So into the Instant Pot went a tablespoon of olive oil, one of water, a diced onion, a chunkily chopped half of a large Uchiki Kuri (skin on and leftover from an earlier meal), 250 grammes of red lentils, a fat rounded tablespoon of miso paste (not a spicy one - I always prefer to add my own spices), a tablespoon of soy sauce (I prefer Bragg’s Liquid Aminos but can’t get hold of it at the moment!), and 1.5 litres of cold water. I set the timer for twelve minutes, and delayed it starting by thirty. Back to my desk, I carried on with work work until lunch. By this time, a blanket of cloud still heavily lingered… the sun had tried its best once or twice, lifting hope of some sunshine, but it was not to be… and with this grey and listless weather, my energy slipped away so that by mid-afternoon I was hunting for my mojo again. It wasn’t that I was down, just tired and feeling rather blugh. Just one of those days… and I’m sure tomorrow will be different. Weather: Mild, still and a blanket of grey clouds. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, Yogurt, Banana Lunch: Squash & Lentil Soup, Lidl artisan break stick, cream cheese and cucumber. Supper: Quorn Chick’n Fried Rice - olive oil, onion, carrots, peas, broad beans, Quorn Pieces, miso and soy sauce. After a long day yesterday I’ve lots to do at my desk,.. so mainly a desk day.
I got to the plot late afternoon to start putting into my head where things would be grown this year. Weather: Grey, damp and mild’ish - a typical winter’s day. Breakfast: Leftover Brown Rice, Peas, Egg and Soy Sauce Lunch: Leftover Vegetable Curry with Lidl Lentil Soup, Bread & Butter Supper: Cauliflower Cheese (Richard’s), homemade chips and peas - DELICIOUS!!! Not a great night’s sleep and up early as I need to get in the car… a day at Vanessa today.
Weather: Definitely milder, though not much sun - at least it’s not COLD! Breakfast: Bran Sticks, Yogurt, Banana Lunch: Tomato & Black Bean Soup and toast Supper: A Vegetable Curry with bulgur wheat - made by Richard. I heard five bongs, though dozed until I heard six before getting up. It will likely be mainly a desk day today, preparing for a visit to Vanessa this week and also getting leaflets designed and off to the printers - and an A4 poster.
Weather: Slightly milder this morning, at least not sub zero! Much sun later in the day making it feel even milder than it is. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, Yogurt, Grapes Lunch: Leftover soup from yesterday, hummus, pitta, sliced cucumber and carrot batons. Supper: Squash, Mixed Bean and Coconut Curry with brown rice - Richard did not like… A quiet day. Last section of AWATP recorded, during which the connector between my phone and tripod sheared away… and will need replacing. The afternoon I read, finishing The Malice of Waves by Mark Douglas-Home; I will read his others.
Weather: Another cold start to the day with Alexa saying it's -4°, though the main thing is that there's really, really thick fog. It quickly dissipates, and there’s a golden light trying to break through and burn it away more quickly, though the clouds are strong and the grey blanket descends once again. Breakfast: Porridge with sliced banana and some Bran Sticks Lunch: Lidl Lentil Soup, red lentils, miso, yesterday’s leftover Spiced Squash & Lentil Soup and chopped up Sweet Potato, plus cheese and coleslaw sandwiches. Supper: Broad Bean Omelette, baked potato (last of Jeremy’s) and leftover coleslaw bulked out. |
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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