Did you know?

Posted on August 8, 2024 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Bacon, brown sauce, Cheese, fillings, Food, Jam, Life, oat flour, Oatcake, Oats, sausage, Tomatoes, Water, YeastLeave a comment

Credit Moorlands eater photo of a Staffordshire Oatcake.

Today is Staffordshire Oatcake day. According to Google:

“Oatcake Day is celebrated annually on August 8th to honor Staffordshire and its famous oatcake. The day began in 2010. Some people celebrate by visiting Staffordshire Oatcakes in Hanley to learn how the Potteries staple is made. Others share their oatcake creations on social media using the hashtag #StaffordshireDay.”

Basically the Staffordshire Oatcake is a thin pancake style flat tasty disk made of oatmeal flour, yeast, water and possibly other ingredients. It is cooked on a hot griddle in a thin layer so it ends up looking a bit like a lace doily but with fewer holes. You can buy a dozen or half a dozen to take home, or if you get them from an oatcake shop you can have them with various toppings. Mostly cheese and bacon, or bacon and mushroom. My favourite is sausage, cheese and tinned tomatoes. Sometimes with a bit of brown sauce. You can also eat them hot with butter and jam, but that’s probably not acceptable behaviour! And rolled or folded? That’s your choice!

Definitely a Staffordshire specialty. Not to be confused with Scottish oatcakes which are smaller and thicker.

Local artist, poet and author, Arthur Berry wrote “Ode to the Oatcake”…

Yesterday’s tomatoes

Posted on August 28, 2023 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged cold rain, Facebook memories, Gardening, Home grown, Last year, Overcast, Summer, Tomatoes2 Comments

Actually my small 2022 crop.

I only put in a couple of small plants this year so we have had about 8 or 10 tomatoes this year. I just haven’t had the heart. Then this appeared on my Facebook memories and I’m amazed at the sunshine. This last few weeks have been a succession of grey, wet days, Atlantic lows storming in with chill winds. According to the weather forecast September might be slightly better. I’d like something summery please, not too hot, not to cold. X

Cooking!

Posted on August 12, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged ankle, aubergine, Chicken, Cooking, Courgette, crutches, Food, Foot, Leg, mussels, Rice, Tomatoes, VegetablesLeave a comment

Just managed to cook! A simple recipe, two carrots chopped, half an aubergine chopped up, half a courgette (zucchini). I set a pan of basmati rice boiling while I put a couple of chicken breasts in another pan and fried them. Then I added the vegetables, added a large flat mushroom, added salt, oregano, and garlic granules. When the chicken was part cooked I cut it up into small chunks. I had some cooked mussels out of the fridge that had defrosted overnight, I added them to the food.

Then I deseeded a single chilli and added that, I spooned cooked rice into the pan and added half a tin of peeled plum tomatoes. In all everything cooked on a low heat for about half am hour.

Did I mention? I stood up to do it, put my crutches to one side. I felt a bit unbalanced, but I’ve got to try and do things. And the meal was lovely. Hubby carried the plates into the living room for me.

The

November tomatoes

Posted on November 9, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Climate change, Food, Gardening, Growing, November, Plants, Tomatoes, WeatherLeave a comment

On a tomato plant at the back of the yard. Eight tomatoes in November. We have eaten four but we are waiting for the rest to ripen. But it’s NOVEMBER! How on earth have they lasted this long.

Tomorrow the weather forecast is for temperatures of 19°C. That’s about 8°C above normal. The COP 27 Climate change conference just discussed trying to keep temperatures from going above 1.5°C higher than before the industrial revolution. Only a small rise, but enough to cause damage and disaster. So what? Flooding in costal cities across the world, dangerous increases in the ferocity of hurricanes, tornados and typhoons. Melting icecaps and glaciers. We must all try and do something about it.

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.

Frazzled but surviving

Posted on July 19, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blueberries, frazzled, Gardening, Heat, Outdoor plants, Temperature, Tomatoes, WaterLeave a comment

Our back yard is a bit frazzled. The plants are brown in places but we have watered them in the evening. The tomatoes in a little hanging basket have developed but are yet to ripen as are the blueberries that a friend loaned us a few years ago when she moved. I’m still caring for them, I hope she’s OK but we have got out of touch with her. Anyway cool and thundery weather is on the way..

Picnic

Posted on July 13, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cucumber, Food, Lettuce, olives, picnic, Salad, sandwiches, sandy beach, Tasty, TomatoesLeave a comment

Not something I’ve done for years. But a picnic on a sandy beach was fun. Luckily it was a still day so the sand didn’t get blown into the sandwiches! Salad was tasty with olives, lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes. A drink of tonic water and orange juice mixed was very refreshing. It was great to use a real picnic basket. I think we will do it again.

Hanging basket tomatoes

Posted on November 27, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Autumn, Food, Gardening, Gtting cold, Hanging basket plants, Home grown, Plants, TomatoesLeave a comment

A handful of tomatoes from our hanging basket. I wasn’t expecting to find anything. It’s almost the end of November. I guess the expected frosts haven’t really arrived yet so they have survived through the darkening days. I don’t know if they will ripen, I will have to wait and see.

Tomatoes ripening-at last!

Posted on November 3, 2020November 3, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged apples, Banana, Fruit, Fruit and veg, Gardening, Red, Ripening, Tasty, Tiny, TomatoesLeave a comment

A few tiny tomatoes, some from our plants, most from an allotment we helped on. I think they were brought on by some ripe bananas that give out a gas which helps ripen fruit around them. My hubby says the chemical symbol for the gas is Ethene (previously called Ethylene) CH2=CH2….We have a few apples too. I used a cooking apple yesterday with some cider to make a very tasty apple sauce. I’m going to use the rest of the apples up in a cake.

Friends bean and tomato plants.

Posted on August 7, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Beans, Blogging, Friend, Garden, Gardening, Happy, Life, Plants, Tomatoes, VisitLeave a comment

Visited a friend who has some bean plants growing and some tomato plants.

I was jealous, my tomatoes only have a couple of fruits on them. And we don’t have any beans. But I admire her ability to grow them. It’s good to go out and visit people at a distance. It’s better than sitti g in my house. I still wear a mask even if I’m outside. That made it hard to have a glass of elderflower cordial so I relented because I was thirsty and we kept a good six feet apart. Now I’m back home in the cool. It was 36° C in places today. The hottest August day since 2003, and it’s forecast to get hotter!

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Tomatoes