Using up pears

Posted on October 9, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged chopped pears, Cookery, Cooking, Custard, digestive biscuits, Food, Fruit, Pears, simmered, softened, TastyLeave a comment

I have lots of pears off our tree, they were hard but are slowly softening. But they have been bruised by falling off the tree and a couple went mouldy. They are tasty and quite sweet. What to do with them?

I cut off the bad bits then chopped up the pears into small pieces. Then I put them in a saucepan and added a little boiling water from the kettle. I added half a tablespoonful of splenda sweetner because it tastes like sugar. I put the pears on a low heat to simmer and soften. Then I made up some powdered custard with about three quarters of a pint of milk. In the meantime I was stirring and crushing the pears till they were soft and cooked. Finally I dished out the pears. I crumbled a couple of digestive biscuits over them to add texture and crunch. Lastly I ladeled the custard over the fruit and biscuits (a bit like a deconstructed pear crumble I think). The result was hot and tasty on a cool autumn afternoon.

Pear time

Posted on September 28, 2022September 28, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged annual crop, Crop, Food, Garden, Gardening, Life, Pears, Plant, sapling, Tasty, Tree, WoolworthsLeave a comment

Pears off our tree and oranges from the supermarket. This shows just how big our pears have grown this year. They needed picking as they won’t ripen on the tree. The tree was a small sapling from a woolworths store in Stoke twenty years ago or so, before the stores went bust. It’s now a tree about fifteen foot high and spreading branches about twenty or twenty five foot across. It grew leaning over because of the weight of the pears. I have to say they are very tasty when they are ripe. I think they are a conference style of pear. We have had around fifty or sixty pears but most of them are too high to reach, the ones in the bowl were low hanging.

Friendly flowers

Posted on September 23, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Colourful, Decorations, Flowers, Food, Gardening, Growth, Nasturtiums, Plants, spicyLeave a comment

Nasturtiums like poor soil. They have large seeds about the size of a pea. I think they would be great for children to grow. You can plant them in succession over a few weeks and they first put out tendrils with umbrella shaped leaves. When it rains droplets gather on their leaves. Then in late summer, or early autumn the flowers appear. Trumpet shaped, the flower from pale yellow to deep red, with diffeepatterns and stripes as well as full colour ones. You can eat the spicy leaves and flowers in salads or on cold soups. I think the victorians used to use them as food decorations.

Cupcakes

Posted on September 3, 2022September 4, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blueberries, cakes, clotted cream, cupcakes, Food, Middleport, Middleport pottery, Nickiebees cupcakes, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Tasty, Victoria spongesLeave a comment

Opposite the new art venue in Middleport is a small unit called Nickiebees Cupcakes. I popped in to see what they had. I asked about cakes without frosting (too much sugar in it) and we had a chat about whether it’s possible to use a sugar substitute to make the butter cream icing. Afterwards I went back and bought a couple of freshly baked cupcakes. They looked like perfect Victoria sponges. When I got home I went and got some clotted cream and blueberries. I cut the tops off the cakes, cut the tops in half, spread the cream over the cut surface. Then I put the tops back on like butterfly wings. I spooned a little more cream on top and studdied the cream with fresh blueberries. What a tasty treat! Had with a cup of decaff coffee. Tasty and not as sugary as fully frosted!

Cats miaow

Posted on September 2, 2022September 4, 2022 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Black and white cat, Cat, Cat Food, Eating, Food, Love, Midnight, Poem, Poetry, saying hello, Tuxedo catLeave a comment

Midnight

He wanders in

Wants his tea

Comes to say hello

Wants?

A scratch behind his ears

Cheek rubbing

Chin chucking

Then

Like an off switch

Enough

He goes

Nose in bowl

Eats, and

Then outside again.

Green peppers?

Posted on August 29, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Burleigh ware, Cooking, Curry, flames, Food, green pepper, peppers, Photo, ripe peppers, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

These were green when I put them in the fridge a week ago. Most of the pack still are, but these look like they have caught fire! I hope they won’t be too hot, I’ve incorporated them into a curry. The plate is Burleigh ware from Middleport pottery in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire. The photo cheered me up because of the bright colours.

Cherry tomatoes

Posted on August 28, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged cherry tomatoes, Food, Fruit, Gardening, Hanging basket, Harvest, Plants, Tasty, TomatoLeave a comment

Cherry tomatoes from a little hanging basket in the yard. They ripened over the last few days. Each one is a little burst of flavour. Sunshine in a red, shiny, tiny globe. Held in a yellow bowl. Delicious in today’s salad. We don’t grow much of our own produce but it is great to harvest things like this.

Hot buttered toast

Posted on August 27, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Aches, Butter, decaffeinated, Food, Hot, Insomnia, Sleep, Sleepy, spread, Tired, ToastLeave a comment

When you get up after two hours lying awake at four o’clock in the morning and need comfort food. A lightly toasted slice of white bread and the spread of your choice, and a decaffeinated beverage helps. The first thing I thought last night when I woke up was ‘toast’, I’d got to take a tablet, and I didn’t want to take it on an empty stomach. I remember making toast for people for breakfast in one of my jobs. When all the residents had had theirs we were allowed a slice of toast and a cup of tea. A five minute rest in a hectic morning. And doesn’t it look good enough to eat? I’ve managed to get about three hours sleep in total and all I want to do is get back to bed. But the toast was lovely.

can anyone tell me?

Posted on August 20, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged alfornio, Cooking, Food, gas oven, Heat, King prawn, linguini, meatballs, Microwave, Question, ScienceLeave a comment

As an experiment I cooked a portion of meatballs alfornio in the oven ( gas mark 7, 35 minutes) and king prawn linguini (5 minutes in the microwave). Both were cooked at the same time but I put the microwave food in when the oven food was almost cooked, so they were both piping hot.

My question to the scientific minded out there is, which used the most energy? My guess is the gas oven cooked meal. But I don’t know? What is the ratio between the two? If I want to save money, which is the best? Answers please…..

Home grown

Posted on August 17, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged apples, Blueberries, Cherries, elderberries, Food, Fruit, Gardening, Gooseberries, Life, Pears, Plants, Raspberries, redcurrants, Tomatoes, town garden, walnuts, WindfallsLeave a comment

Basically windfalls, five rough pears, two apples, three green walnuts and a single green tomato. The wind must have been blowing.

For the first time we have a good crop of apples on the main tree, the pear tree is bent over with pears that are growing slowly larger. The walnuts are being stolen by squirrels who bury them and the tomatoes are growing in a hanging basket and in a grow bag surrounded by other plants. They are all having to take their chances while there is less rain, but they are well established plants and I think the fruit trees have deep roots. We plan to do some pruning of the garden. The blueberries are gradually ripening, the gooseberries have all been eaten as have the raspberries. I saw no strawberries this year, but I think they have been shaded out by other plants. We even have redcurrants although I misidentified them as woody nightshade (not a good idea). Earlier in the year we had a small crop of cherries and we might get a few elderberries. So all in all not a bad year of fruit and veg.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Food