Topic: Not much going on, how about dropping in for just a chat, about anything..

[Jeannine]

Thought I would start just a chat topic..my day today was pretty boring the highlight was making a huge decision and baking brown bread instead of white,,thrilling eh.

Ran out of Piccalli, oh gosh that is terribel, I can't buy the d**n stuff here so I have to make it.

Oh something good , after 43 years here I have found frozen smoked haddock so I made kedgeree tonight. I am making pork pies tomorrow as can't get them either..now if  I could just get a gallon or two of blood I could make black pudding..I wish

Tea cakes for toasting you would think would be simple but again I have to make them.

Why is it that we always crave what we can't get . I love those things that most folks turn their noses up at, like pork hock, pigs trotters, tripe and chitterlings,the first three I can get in the Oriental supermarket but I have to go to the US fo real chitterlings.

One of my tiny Chihuahuas caught a baby rat yesterday and dropped inside the house...dead.

It is exactly 11 weeks yesterday since I left the house...I think I am starting to get a bit squirly

So come on share something interesting before my brain shrivels.

[galina]

What are the Covid statistics in Canada?  Hope going down and with a chic homesewn mask you will hopefully be able to take at least pleasure drives again, if now short isolated walks.  Are you required to shield or shield voluntarily?

In UK all shielding people have got a bit of a raw deal.  Cases not going down fast enough and plenty of folk acting as if nothing was wrong.  This may prolong the time of 'house arrest' for people who are shielding themselves. 

I can only hope that those crowding on the beaches have all had it and carry 'some' immunity, maybe.  This would reduce the risk to everybody.

How are things where you are?

[tricia]

Hi Jeannine,
I haven't been beyond my front gate since March 17th! - about the same time I got started with sowing seeds. Once I got going I decided to grow rather more than usual in anticipation of higher prices for veggies later this year. Unfortunately, the arthritis in my right hand has got so bad I have to wear a thumb splint which is making it difficult to do most things,  especially in the garden and the kitchen.
d**n  - I left this message for a second,  came back and found most of what I had written has disappeared. Now my tummy is rumbling so I'm going to get something to eat.  I'll come back later.

Tricia 

[markfield rover]

Hello all, as of 5pm yesterday afternoon my plot was 95% weed free , instagram here I come! I have cooked the dishes from those recipes I kept from the Sunday papers thinking one day , well  this is one day, the chicken shawarma with chips is now a firm favourite. I have discovered Anthony Bourdain on Netflix, finally a great series about food and not cooking ,not one recipe ( except for something we shouldn’t be eating) When redecorating one embraced the bolder end of the paint chart and after reading last weeks Observer magazine garden issue my front garden is firmly in my sights, I’ll take no prisoners!We have made elderflower champagne which will be ready when we can safely picnic with the family . The decadence of being in one’s jimjams while it is still light and OH still can’t quite work out how I put Alexa back on without saying anything , I need my fix of Tony Hancock .  Locally our Community Recycling project run by Andrew was asked if they could find outdoor chairs and tables for the hospital- 400 pieces later is a brilliant response, if just 10% of this community spirit remains after all this is over we will be the better for it.
And the hoover and iron have had a lovely holiday.
Cheers

[Palustris]

I feel sorry for those people who have been really affected by the Lockdown scenario. I am lucky in that it has made very little difference to the way we live at all. We have been in sort of lockdown for the last 30 years.
The worst part of it as far as we are concenred is that we have been unable to go and buy the plants we need for a largely empty garden. the previous owners had conifers and Hydrangeas all over the garden. As I am allergic to the former and not very keen on the latter we have spent 12 months removing them. We are now waiting for a Fencing contractor to put up a fence to replace the Leylandii hedge which I removed. Once that is done we can begin planning the 100 feet by 10 feet border along the top of this garden. It gives me something to do.

[lottie lou]

oooh how I envy your weed free plot Karkfield Rover.  Went down to lottie with husband this afternoon to try and clear a few weeds in order to plant my pumpkins.  Was clearing away and he offered to help so handed over my mattock and asked him to carry on removing grass.  Went to shed for my fork to return a couple of minutes later to find him happily on the opposite side of the plot hacking down my broad beans.  Could not understand why I was upset as "there was nothing there but a load of rubbish".  Aaaargh, I know his idea of a garden is concrete it and paint it green but ........  To cap it all my kitchen door is hanging on its top hinge as the screws have all come out of the door frame on the bottom hinge.  Wish I could find all those missing screwdrivers.

[Jeannine]

Galina Covid in y town is virtually nil, I think there is still one case on record but that is it. I think on the whole we have done fine. RV parks opened on June 1st but still in the shops social distancing is very strong, there are doormen everywhere and when someone comes out. they let someone in.there are foorprints on the floor and one way systems . Plastic onle at check out and you get sanitised when coming  in and out. Some health facilites have opened a bit.

You might guess I have made dozens of masks for my family and some shops insist on them,others not. I can't tell you the statistics, they are not publishing so much , I do know it is much worse in the East.My daughter has a friend stuck in the Phillipines and still can't get home.He is on a small island and thy have colosed it to all traffic so he really stuck.

I  miss going to my Orienal supermarket T&T  in the next town and my US supermarket just over the border. The border is still closed. T&T isn't but I a told it is almost impossible to get in they are so scared, and many of them don't speak English, just the check out ladies do, so again I am told no one understands the instructions at the door. The staff there have plastic face shields, disposable gowns, masks and gloves so you go to buy kidney and expect to lose one LOL

All in all this side of Canada has done a fine job.






I am  sorry to hear it is nt the same back home, it must be harder in a smaller country I think


Hi Tricia, sorry to hear about your hands but admire your get up and go..I think veryone had the same idea, there are folks here dif=gging up their lawns and throwing packets of veggies in the soil, I guess they have to kearn the hard way.

MR, well good for your side, great to hear some good things about the Covid time, here I must admit folks have been very good to each other. We have a 7pm horn blowing,pan bashing session and I get to ring the huge dinner bell at my front door. Pretty good about your weeds too. well done. I had to order new Jim Jams yesterday on Amazon as all mine are very old, I bought them before we came back so they have to be 11 years old. My daughter kept complaining but I didn't care till yesterday I noticed a nipple poking out if a hole so quickly had to out a robe on. the grocery delivey folks didn;t come yesterday thank goodness.

Palustris, it hasn't made much diff to me either other than regualr visitors have not been. Good luck with your new garden..oh by the way the garden centres here didn't close, they were considered essential.

Lottie Lou, I think I understand,,look under the bed,it is amazing what I found there , and inside shoes too. Super that you have got a place to garden, not so good that it is full of weeds but you will do it..good luck.

My today has not been very exciting.I didn't make the pork pie,, but dare  say it.....I have three CHRISTMAS cakes in the oven as we speak, 2 x12 inch runds and 1 5 inch for the 90 +year old SIL's father who loves it.They have just gone in so along time to go. I always soak the fruit , sugar spices and booze for more than a month, then on the day add the flour, eggs butter etc. It makes for a nice moist cake.


Can someone tell me if there is any benefit from leaving potatoes in the soil  after the flowers have gone, my lone very special Charlotte in a big pot seems to show no sign of withering, but don't want to risk losing even one..fingers crossed.The plant os over three feet tall and have it staked.

[Palustris]

Been creating a Stumpery from the stumps of the old conifer hedge. Bit daft going to all the trouble of removing the stumps from the top end of the garden and then putting them back in, but these are artistically arranged. Where they are going is not easy to dig over, it is full of roots and stones. Raining now, so I have had to stop. Mind I do need to find some soil to fill it up before I can plant it up.

[Redalder]

Going stir crazy down here in Cornwall, we have not left the house for weeks. Luckily we got on the delivery list (due to our great age!) for our supermarket so food is not a problem, though OH always manages to remember something he forgot to put on the list as soon as I have finalised the order.

I put some broad beans, lettuce and peas in the greenhouse back in March so we got some early veg until the toms, peppers etc were ready to go in. The veg garden managed to survive the hot spell and the downpours we are having have brought everything to life and sent the garden into overdrive so won't be bored when the rain stops - we have to fight our way up one path as the hedges have met in the middle but the birds love it and we can cut it back when they have finished raising babies. The rest of our back garden is mostly a wildlife garden, which sounds easy but that type of gardening still needs quite a bit of maintenance to keep the balance between wild and out of hand jungle. I know it has got a bit out of hand as the dog has lost both his balls in the long grass.

Our house is a bit of a DIY renovation project and we currently have a living room completely finished - except for no carpet which was ordered just before all of this kicked off! The rest of the work kept going because we could source what we needed on line, luckily the paint colours were true to the printed version. Would rather have bought more local as we usually do, but needs must.

Got a storm warning out for later on so the pond will get a chance to refill and I can read a book without feeling guilty!

[lottie lou]

Very envious of your Christmas cakes Jeannine.  Haven't made one in ages, think when the kids left home. Sounds delicious.  What is your recipe.  Remember that at one point you gave us recipes for your take on convenience food.  Sadly I never bookmarked it and have been unable to find it.  Did you ever get your recipes published like we asked you to?

BTW did you ever use that trowel your friends from A4A sent you?

[Jeannine]

Hi Lottie, The recipe I use is from an Australian Womens Weekly book but I think it on the net.I will try and find a link for you.

You start by puting all the fruit, cherries, raisns, pineapple if you like, what ever you choose in a hug big ajr, you add the sugars and the spices, then thr booze, you can use rim ,brandy or watever you like, I make a mix of brandy and Grand Marnier, Teh each day you turn the jar over. You can do it in a bowl but you would have to stir. You leave it for a month, or even longer, the booze soaks into the fruit hwich is why the cake is very moist.When you are ready to bake, prep your tins, and in a big bowl you put the fruit, the eggs, the baking soda and the melted butter.I always make a big batch asd they all go in my oven together as it has a fan option. It comes out very nice,

The copper trowel and folks I use every day amost, they are brought in during the winter and copper polished, the handles  are oiled and so they keep pretty, and they sit near my fireplace along woth my copper kettle etc.

No I never had anything published.

[Palustris]

Weeding, weeding and more weeding. We needed the rain, but it does encourage the weeds as well.
Talking about publishing, eldest son has published another one of my books a few weeks back. It is called The Eggshell War.'
I think that makes 11 books in all.
Where we live now is very handy for good country walks while also being handy for the shops etc.
We are waiting for Fencing contractors to put up 100 foot of fence across the back of the garden. Expensive but needed and there is no way we could do it ourselves.

[Beersmith]

Chat about anything?  Well here is a puzzle for the soft fruit experts.

I have a variety of currant bushes trained as cordons. Red, white and pink (Gloire De Sablon, Rovada, Jonkheer, White Versailles, etc, etc) but there is one white currant for which I do not know the variety.

However, it does have one very distinctive characteristic.  Each season it is very slow to come into leaf, as much as a month or more after the others. It remains a month or more later than the others right through to fruiting.  In its first season I thought it had died over the winter and nearly dug it up.

 Not much to go on but does anyone have any idea what this very late fruiting white currant variety might be?

[galina]

https://www.chrisbowers.co.uk/category/whitecurrants/

I just put 'late white current' into Google and this popped up.  Could it be White Grape?

I am sure similar search terms like 'late flowering' would give additional options.  If that fails, a trawl through the online nursery catalogues.  Good luck identifying your variety.     

[Beersmith]

https://www.chrisbowers.co.uk/category/whitecurrants/

I just put 'late white current' into Google and this popped up.  Could it be White Grape?

I am sure similar search terms like 'late flowering' would give additional options.  If that fails, a trawl through the online nursery catalogues.  Good luck identifying your variety.     

Thank you. Yes - very good suggestion. I should have tried Google. Just a senior moment.

Could be white grape, but researching a bit myself I have found a very late Dutch variety called Bianca.  Fruit may not be ready for picking until August which fits.  I guess no way to ever be sure.  I'll be careful to evaluate taste, sweetness, acidity etc and see if that helps narrow it down further.

[Beersmith]

Blanca not Bianca

[Palustris]

Yesterdays rain was spectacular. We had a waterfall  from the roof as the gutters could not handle the volume of water. More expected today as well.

[Hector]

Got a few days off (NHS, so still working But from home, as daughter shielding) so garden here I come.
Jeannine, never made my own Christmas cake as not an icing fan but want to try your fruit approach In another cake- sounds wonderful.

Any of you use a Rumtopf. i fancy giving it a go.

Had a lovely surprise today, a wild orchid in my big Jerusalem artichoke pot!! Would post a pic but keeps telling me has to be a jpeg, when it is.


Been weeding in evenings, as saving 3 hours travel a day...so not weedfree like you folks but veg patch looking best it has in a long time.

[Jeannine]

Yep. I do a Rumpot,, well, I used to but stopped when my husband died.It is very easy, I am sure there will be stuff on the web and I do belive we had a page or two in it here some years ago.

I chose  to use just berries, rasps, blues, currants, straws etc  . I didn't like rhubarb in it , it always seemed to be stringy and I don't really like the fresh peaches anymore chopped up as they seem to be like  like bullets these days. I stuck to what I grew mostly.I just added them as they came along/ It was great over ice cream or Boxing Day pancakes.

I don't ice my Christmas cakes generally as many folks don't like the almond paste.

I absolutely love the recipe that presoaks the fruit and it isn't a very dark cake either.It makes the whole procedure so easy, as you soak everything and then make the cake when you feel like it. There has to be a good amount of booze in it. Good luck

[gray1720]

Had a decent rain here - I just got the black plastic off the bit of the lottie I've been trying to de-weed for about three years about five minutes before the heavens opened, so it will be diggable without me jumping up and down on my fork!