 Lemony Tofu on a Rice Salad 21 June 2025 (Saturday)
Woke up at 5.30am and up soon after and I needed a cuppa… and it was already warm verging on hot, though there was a breeze! Being Saturday, the morning was spent doing some desk work and then writing our list for Sunday Chat and recording it - with a good Word of the Week this week… Yay! Whilst Richard was editing and uploading, I made hummus for lunch… and a ratatouille for supper, though actually it went into the freezer. After lunch, I was down at the plot doing some seed sowing, but it was rather bloody humid, especially as I hadn’t thought ahead and was a bit stupid! I wanted to sow fennel, bulb fennel, chard and also some wild rocket, and as it was pretty sunny and warm I thought the best place to do this was in the poly, out of the bright glare of the sun, but… When I get down to the plot one of the first jobs I do, sometimes even before opening the shed, is water the poly. The beds there dry out relatively swiftly so a quick water is always on the cards, followed by another after half-an-hour or so allowing the water to then really soak down to the roots. On Saturday, I did exactly this - getting down to the plot, into the poly and giving all a good water… It was only then that I realised that doing this would drastically increase the humidity of the poly, in which I was expecting to sow three types of seeds!! Well, suffice to say I was melting in the poly whilst sowing seeds; I think I was doing a grand impersonation of the baddy German guy in Indiana Jones who has his face melted off when the Holy Grail is opened. My face was dripping… from my nose, from my brows, from my chin, ears, cheeks, with rivulets of salty sweat torrenting down my face and doing its own great impersonation of Niagara Falls! I wondered whether I actually needed to water the seeds once I’d sown them as there was so much liquid flying around inside the poly, though of course I did… fresh water will do them far more good than my sweaty offerings. Anywho, as Greta says, the seed sowing was done and it’s fair to say once back home a change of clothes and a little cooling off was much needed… and a good drink of water, or two! I then made supper; Lemony Tofu on a Rice Salad. Lemony Tofu on a Rice Salad I’d cooked some rice earlier in the day, and take two portions, added some Bragg’s liquid aminos, half a red onion finely diced, two handfuls each of frozen peas and broad beans (brought to boiling in a pan and simmered for three minutes, then drained, plunged into cold water and then drained well after a few minutes), one rounded tablespoon of mayonnaise, a diced red pepper, some sliced radish and lots of torn up basil leaves. I then placed it in the fridge, covered, to chill. For the tofu I marinated a well-pressed defrosted firm tofu that had been cubed in some liquid aminos, yeast flakes and garlic for half an hour, and then fried the cubes on each side for a few minutes. In a bowl I put about a tablespoon of maple syrup, two of lemon juice, and another of liquid aminos, added some garlic, and made up a slurry in a separate bowl of teaspoon of cornflour and a tablespoon of water. Removing the cooked tofu from the pan, I added the first liquid mix into the pan and stirred, cooking it through, and then after a minute added the cornflour slurry, which thickened the mix. After a minute I then added the tofu back in, coated it all and then placed it on top of the rice salad which I had previously portioned into two bowls. It was rather nice, though next time I would use a little less maple syrup, as I found it a tad too sweet! Richard rather liked it, which is unusual as he's not a fan of tangy dishes like this. Weather: Hot, though also slightly overcast. Despite the clouds it gets to 32° or 33°. Breakfast: Lidl Rye with Flora ProActiv, yeast extract and peanut butter Lunch: Hummus, pitta, tomatoes, cucumber and radish Supper: Lemony Tofu on a Rice Salad
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 27, 28, 29 & 30 May 2025 (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday) I'm not quite sure where the last four days have gone, and in this time I've also broken my stretch of writing something every day. My aim this year has been to write something every day in terms of creative writing, rather than writing for my work or work work. Until this week, that had happened. It might not have been many words, though as part of this blog it was some words. For some reason for the past four days I just haven't written. I could say that it's because I haven't had time, though that sort of wouldn’t be true. I could say that it was because I've been extremely busy, and even though this is true I'm sure I could have found time for a few words each day. So what is the real reason? I guess the real reason is that my head just hasn’t been in the space to do it, and free time hasn’t presented itself enough to allow my head to be in this space. There’ve been times where I've just sat and thought about things, or watched TV to unwind, or been traveling in a car where I could have made notes at a toilet break, though I didn't. Yes, the real reason is that my head just wasn't there. Tuesday was very much a day of work work, and with Gerald Dickens being at the Great Green Barn at the end of the week there were things to do again for that, which I got done. We also had a delivery from Morrison's in the afternoon, after which I went to the plot to tidy away the plants from the Gate Sale on my plot, though it started raining, so… I sowed some Cheeky Prince seeds instead. Wednesday was a work work day too, and I was up early and driving down to Vanessa. Despite it being half-term, it still took almost two hours to get down there. Of course, as per usual, it was a full, full day both with stuff to do in the shop and thinking about things for the Great Green Barn and the weekend, though we did have time to sit outside for lunch on Vanessa's new terrace and have an omelette with some toast, salad leaves and cherry tomatoes. Thursday again seemed to vanish. I was down early at the plot to water and check on things in a neighbouring plotter’s greenhouse (as she’s away and I promised I would!), and then got back home, had a meds review by phone and did work work at my desk. After lunch, and a chat with Vanessa, I got down to the plot again and sorted and tidied most of the plants on my plot leftover from the Gate Sale, and cleared the bed that had had chard and beetroot this year. I'd let this bed get completely overgrown, which was against my plan this year of not letting too much nature take hold. However, with a good bit of effort that bed of flowering chard and one beetroot, a self-seeded mallow and a chicory that was about to flower is now cleared, and so something can go into it. Friday again was busy, and an early start, this time at my desk. Each time we have an event at the Great Green Barn we send each person that’s booked details of where to park and how they walk across to the theatre space. It also has details of what time doors open, the bar serving wine and soft drinks and some nibbles available before the show and at the interval, and what time the event is likely to end. Each of these is personalised and I’ve not worked out how to do a mail merge on Outlook. I've used Outlook for decades now, and I've still not worked out how to do a mail merge. When we're sending out newsletters, they go out via MailChimp, though I don't think I can do this without segmenting the list or adding them as separate list, which I don't think I can do without paying more. So, on Outlook it's currently a bit of a copy and paste job, though it doesn't take too long. As we’ve a busy weekend ahead, we'd decided to record Sunday Chat today rather than tomorrow, though Richard also wants to try a recipe - a Puttanesca sauce - this morning and film it, and I've got stuff to do at my desk first thing and then an important job to get done at the Post Office Almost a week’s gone by from our Gate Sale, and the donations have been rolling in for the leftover plants that have been by our communal shed. I've waited until now to pay in the cash taken; I’ll pay it into our allotment association's high street bank account via the Post Office as I did last year - though I also seem to remember that there was an issue last year in doing this, though I can’t think what it was… Anyway, I pop off up the road to the Post Office with all of the cash counted out, the paying-in-book written up and the card that we have for the allotment association's bank account. I hand the money over, which is now well over £700, to the usual lady at the Post Office who’s always extremely chatty and smiley and helpful. When I pop in the card for our bank account, for whatever reason it doesn't allow whatever needs to happen to happen for the money to be automatically paid in. For some reason, the Post Office system also can't find our account. So, I decided that it’s best to pay the cash into my own account… although I've left my own bank card at home, I have to go back home to get the card, to go back to the Post Office and put my card into the machine so that the Post Office lady can pay the money into my account. As I do this, I remember we had to do the same last year… Back at home, I transfer the sum that's just been paid into my account into the account of our allotment association. I then log on at my desk to make sure that the sum has arrived in the account, and also notice that the credit card payments that we’d taken have gone into the account, less the percentage transaction that gets taken by the card company. I then sent a WhatsApp message to the chair of the allotment association and also to another of the committee members, just to let them know that money has been paid into the account, how it's been paid in, and what the total take for the Gate Sale is, which is now over £810. I know that there's about £5 of loose change in the commonal shed jar, and by the time I get to the plot in the afternoon, checking the jar on the way, I notice a £10 note in there which I take out. Any money that now comes in I'll just transfer across from my own bank account, and keep the cash at home; it's unlikely to be more than another £20 or so. At the plot, I carry on weeding. Today, weeding is of the long bed that’s going to have the tomato plants, and also a bed by the poly. I also check on the wheels of a pull along trolley that we have, taking the code number from the side of the tyre, which I think is size and diameter or something like that. Two of the wheels have been broken for quite a while and it's well past the date to replace them. As I don't know much about wheels on trolleys, I put a message on our WhatsApp group define out whether the wheels need to come off or whether the inner tube and tyre can be added without the wheel being removed, and another plotter comes back with the answer that I need to ensure all can be fitted correctly. Back at home, Richard did a Live at 6pm, and as it was nearing the hour mark I put the oven on as we were going to have a quick supper of smoked tofu and red kidney bean burgos from the freezer, frozen oven chips and salad. The evening was a bit of a chilling out session with several old episodes of Top of the Pops, and then an average episode of Have I Got News For You. Early to bed as it's a full day tomorrow, and a couple of chapters of my book, which at the moment is Peter James's Picture You Dead. Tuesday 27 May Weather: Wet start, middle and end, and very breezy. Around 15°, though feeling cooler. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, yogurt, sultanas and some mixed nuts Lunch: Richard's Easy Vegetable Curry with Brown Rice Supper: Scrambled eggs, tinned baked beans and a slice of rye bread  Richard's Easy Vegetable Curry Wednesday 28 May Weather: Wet first thing though drying later with a strong breeze, and temps around 17/°. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, yogurt, sultanas and banana Lunch: Vanessa Omelette, cherry tomatoes, salad leaves and toast Supper: Richard's Easy Vegetable Curry with Brown Rice Thursday 29 May Weather: Rooves damp at the beginning of the day, though no rain and a drying breeze. Temps around 20°. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, yogurt, sultanas and banana Lunch: Egg Mayonnaise, crackers, cucumber, radish and some olives Supper: Richard's Puttanesca Sauce with wholewheat spaghetti and grated Cheddar
Friday 30 May
Weather: Grey with sunny spells, yet still breezy. Around 22°. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, yogurt, sultanas and banana Lunch: Cheddar wraps with lettuce and homemade coleslaw Supper: Smoked Tofu & Red Kidney Beans Burgers from the freezer, oven chips, lettuce, cucumber, radish and some olives.  19 May 2025 (Monday)
A usual Monday, with work work in the morning and ordering from one of the suppliers of For Earth’s Sake to get the delivery tomorrow, plan an order from a second supplier for delivery on Wednesday, and a third one for delivery on Friday, plus bread orders to do, and organic fruit and veg, and messaging to out local shopping hubs to say what we’ll have this week. I grabbed two hours at the plot in the afternoon, checking on our broad beans which seem to still be well saturated with blackfly, a moisture sucking aphid that means that the beans will likely develop poorly. I had been hoping that the many ladybirds that had arrived would feed and breed, and that their larvae would voraciously munch on the aphids… BUT, I also noticed magpies in the broad bean bed a few times, and I think they are feasting on the ladybirds… I spoke to a fellow plotter about this, and he said he had never heard of magpies eating ladybirds, especially as ladybirds are foul tasting for this very reason. He suggested I contact the British Trust of Ornithology with my findings - which are basically that I had a plethora of ladybirds one day, and the following day having seen magpies feasting in the broad bean bean… I spotted most of the ladybirds had disappeared. I decided to drop an email to the BTO, and we will see what happens. I grabbed another block of smoked tofu from the freezer early in the day as I fancied a Smoked Tofu & Red Bean burger for supper, with our own lettuce, and some radish, cucumber and non-homemade oven chips (they were a free item at Lidl!). We had some leftover cooked green lentils from a pasta sauce Richard made a few nights ago, so I used those in addition to the drained red kidney beans, adjusting seasoning and adding just a little bit of extra gram flour. They were delish! If you want to watch Richard making them than have a watch of the YouTube upload! It was a late supper as I got caught speaking to a lodger at the neighbour where I’m feeding and injecting her cat, so after supper just a few episodes of As Time Goes By, one of Benidorm, and then to bed and a read of my book - It’s a Peter James Roy Grace one, Picture You Dead - when I read this I try not to think of John Simm… Weather: Chilly and grey to start, warming up with some sun in the afternoon. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, yogurt, sultanas and banana Lunch: Cottage Cheese, crackers, cucumber, radish, and beetroot Supper: Smoked Tofu & Red Kidney Bean Burger, lettuce, cucumber, radish and Lidl French Fries  Modular sown well-rooted cucumbers going into the raised bed by the shed on Saturday. 16, 17 & 18 May 2025 (Friday, Saturday & Sunday)
I really don’t know where the last three days have gone… of course, we’ve both followed the usual routine of getting up, tea, work work for me, breakfast, work and work work for me and work for Richard, lunch, plot time, thinking about what to make for supper, more plot time, supper, TV, read, bed… not quite a merry-go-round, but also one just the same. We were hoping to get out to the Chilterns on Friday, though that didn’t happen as we had quite a few things to do and Sophie (our niece on Richard’s side) of Sophie Stock Art coming to stay overnight, and coming a few hours earlier to spend some time with us. I was at the plot when she arrived, though on coming through the door both Sophie and Richard were sitting on sofas with blankets over them… and I was hot from working in the sun! A quiet evening with lots of chat, and Richard made a delicious lentil and soya pasta sauce which was truly delish!! Saturday… our usual day for filming Sunday Chat, though as we were up VERY early at 4am as Sophie needed to get a 5.30am train into London to then get a 6.30am train from Victoria to Chichester for Goodwoof I think we were both a bit tired, which sort of comes across! Anyway, after filming I got to the plot to do a final segment of A Week at the Plot; not initially the sowing and planting out I thought I’d be doing as I needed to do some remedial work on the greenhouse! When I got down to the plot on Friday afternoon I noticed our greenhouse doors were out of kilter, jammed and akimbo, so I needed to try and sort that… which I did, somewhat! Rather Heath Robinson, must beggars can’t be choosers, and people without an engineering degree need to work it out themselves! I was back to the plot in the afternoon and got our cucumbers planted out, which is what I’d intended to do as a job for the day, and various other jobs sorted. Sunday was a somewhat quieter busy day, for me at least. I’ve been feeding and, whilst he’s been eating, injecting a neighbour’s cat with insulin morning and night for the last three days. It has to be done, and I don’t mind - the neighbour’s away and whilst I’m sharing the duty with another of our neighbour’s friends, for various reasons this weekend I’ve done morning and evening rather than just evenings. I also did quite a bit at the plot, and am thankful that the cucumbers did well overnight, with slugs and snails CURRENTLY leaving them alone. I potted on the spare cucumbers, courgette and squash I have, as I know they needed either planting out or potting on with the benefit of extra compost. There is some seed sowing to do, though that will have to wait until next week. I’d taken some smoked tofu out of the freezer this morning, intending to do something with it for supper - and it turned out to be tofu bacun wraps. Then it was the usual TV, some episodes of As Time Goes By, then something else, then bed, and a quick read before lights out. Recipe: Tofu Bacun Wraps After removing the defrosted smoked tofu from the packet I gave it a really good squeeze, gently but firmly, to extract as much liquid as I could. I then cut it into eight long slices, and marinated in this mixture: 3 tbsp Bragg’s Liquid Aminos (use others aminos or soy sauce if you don’t have Braggs) 1 tbs maple syrup 1 tsp onion powder 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp smoked paprika I mixed all the above together in a wide flat dish, and laid each slice of tofu into it, coating both sides as I did. I turned the tofu over several times, making sure each side of each slice was well coated. I then fried the slices for about three minutes on each side - they did not crisp up as much as I’d hoped, though as there was to be lots of crispy and crunchy things in the wrap that was fine. Into a wrap I put three washed and spun leaves of our own lettuce, cubed de-seeded cucumber, thinly sliced radish and some chunky slices of sweet long red pepper. Then went two slices of the marinated and fried tofu, and then the wrap was rolled up, folding one end in to ‘seal’ the bottom. It was all rather lovely, though next time I may coat the tofu in flour and fry that up, and add the marinade at the end, and bubble it all through. Friday 16 May Weather: Warmer and sunnier than yesterday, though VERY breezy. Around 22°. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, yogurt, sultanas and banana Lunch: Leftover Cheezy Topped Potatoes mixed with Minestrone Soup (tin) and Lidl demi-baguette Supper: Lentil & Soya Pasta Sauce a la Richard, with wholewheat spaghetti and grated cheese Saturday 17 May Weather: Sunny, and hot, though also feeling just a degree or two cooler. Breakfast Snack at 5am: Chris Sourdough, Flora ProActiv Buttery, Yeast Extract Breakfast: Bran Sticks, yogurt, sultanas and banana Lunch: Leftover Lentil & Soya Pasta Sauce with a tin of Lidl Minestrone, Lidl demi-baguette with grilled cheese Supper: Microwave Spinach Omelette, lettuce, cucumber, radish Sunday 18 May Weather: Overcast, though some sunny spells later in the afternoon. Around 20°. Breakfast: Chris Sourdough, Flora ProActiv Buttery, Yeast Extract and Peanut Butter Lunch: Homemade Hummus (defrosted), sourdough toast, radish and cherry tomatoes Supper: Smoked Tofu marinated in bacon sauce and fried, wraps with lettuce, cucumber, red pepper and radish |
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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