New paintings and regular art updates.
Having lots of apples is great, but then you have to use them. I want to cook a pie or a crumble or a cake, I just don’t have the energy at the moment. I might even stew the apples and make some pancakes to go with them. It would be good with some lemon juice. Lots of choices, lots of ideas, hopefully tasty.
We had a Thai meal tonight. Look away if you don’t like prawns. Very tasty, low carbohydrates. With mussels, squid and scallops.
Sometimes it’s good to try something new, rather than having the same food every day. But then I am lucky to have that opportunity. Its difficult to know how the first world can do so much when so many other people in the world have nothing or next to nothing….
Cooking and dessert apples, over the last few days we have collected lots of them.
I have questions. Can you freeze apples if you just cut them up, or do you have to cook them first?
Crumble or pie? Cake or tart? I’m thinking of what to use them in. Do I cook them till they are mush and turned to puree then freeze it. Can I make Cider? I also have lots of pears on the tree, can I make Perry? I might bake them in the oven after removing the cores and then serve them with custard?
What do you think? Any suggestions?
I went out to our local Thai restaurant, Sawadee Thai taste in Stoke and had a Green Papaya salad with seafood. It was extremely tasty. We also had thin rice noodles with some chilli’s and mixed vegetables. This is the third time I’ve had it because it tastes so nice. I would have taken a photo but I’d eaten the food before I thought about it.
Yes, it’s a mini gingerbread man. A treat with a cup of tea. Nice and spicy with a good snap. Dunked in to his knees first, then waist, and body, finally his head. Sorry gingerbread man, but you were very tasty. I might find room for another!
I know that far more elaborate ginger biscuits used to be made, for some reason I remember them being mediaeval? Maybe made in the Netherlands? Someone please let me know. I do know they are made in Market Drayton, in Shropshire. I can’t tell you more….
Days are getting shorter now and the fruit is getting ripe. We have plenty of pears on our tree, but of all five apple trees only one fruit. But then after weeding the allotment this morning we were allowed to get a tub of apples in exchange. Some of them are different varieties, a lot of them are a bit holey but I’m hoping they will taste nice if I stew them up or cook them in a cake. If it turns out OK I will post about it.
X
Went out for a belated birthday meal, everywhere has been shut down for months except for takeaways.
We had simple starters including small vegetable spring rolls, chicken wings, small spare ribs, satay chicken and chicken dumplings. Then I had a papaya seafood salad. It was delicious, spicy, lime and lemony, mixed green papaya and shredded carrot and sliced tomato and cucumber and other vegetables. Also a pile of spicy noodles and beansprouts, broccoli and other veg. The seafood were large king prawns, squid, and mussels. So tasty. Good prices too. Not to expensive, all cooked fresh.
Tonight was busy, I don’t think I’ve seen so many people in there for ages but it was worth the wait.
We went out to meet the art group this morning, but after half an hour in the hot sun on our own we went up to the local cafe. We both ordered full English breakfasts (you get a choice of ingredients, I had egg, tomato, hash browns, bacon, sausage, black pudding and mushrooms. That came with toast. We both had coffee and I had an orange juice. Not the healthiest food I know, but on the odd occasion its delicious (apologies to vegetarian friends). I appreciated not having to cook in this heat. After the meal we went and waited for our friends again but they never arrived. So we came home.
I cooked this tonight, lentil and chicken curry with tomatoes, ginger and garlic. ingredients
Two chicken breasts
A cup full of lentils
Chopped tomatoes
Spring onions
A sweet pepper
Two garlic cloves
Grated ginger.
First I boiled some red lentils for ten minutes, then fried some chicken pieces, a couple of spring onions, a sweet pepper and four large tomatoes. I added a small teaspoon of hot curry powder and the same of medium curry powder. I added a pinch of Fenugreek and then grated about an inch of ginger and two cloves of garlic into the frying mix. I’d cooked the lentils for a further twenty minutes then added it to the stir fried mix, covered it over for a few minutes more. It ended up being really tasty.
I just went out to check if there were hedgehogs in the shed. One was eating cat food but scuttled over to the corner as I shone my light in, so I took a quick photo and came out again. It’s quite a cool night so at least the poor thing has some shelter, food and water in there. There is a smaller one somewhere so we might have Hoglets soon. I think the shed needs tidying up a bit. Hubby seems to leave everything on the floor, but as long as there isn’t anything dangerous for the hedgehogs to eat they should be fine. I’ve got details now of the local hog charity so I might get in touch tomorrow. X
Mallaband-Brown