Friday 26 December 2014

Boxing Day Walk

Epping Forest felt still and close today. The trees transpired in warm misty breaths down the back of our necks as we passed by and every so often when we were directly beneath their boughs they would shudder and sprinkle us with drops of thawing hoar frost.

Wednesday 24 December 2014

Christmas Dinner

☆ Merry Christmas to you.☆

☆ Artichokes, salsify and parsnips for dinner tomorrow.☆

Tuesday 23 December 2014

Garden Critters

Spiced garden critter pressies for warm-up tea breaks.

This Morning's Post

♥ Christmas has come early ♥

Sunday 14 December 2014

A Difficult Task

The deliberation and slow-savoured selection of 6 choices from the Heritage Seed Library catalogue has become one of our much anticipated favourite activities.

Saturday 6 December 2014

Small Business Saturday

Tracklements from Eat17.

A selection of microbrews from Wild Card Brewery.

We've been doing a bit of Christmas pressie shopping; 'tis the season to spread some little packages of awesomeness from our neck of the woods.

Nipped

"What big eyes you have..."

No, the googly-eyed scarers do not faze the squirrels or the pigeons one jot! The garlic seems to be thriving despite being pawed, pecked and perused on a near daily basis.

Monday 1 December 2014

Bedecked


Holly, Ivy, Dogwood, Fir, Bay, Crab Apple, before last light yesterday, we nipped around the garden snip,snip.

We twisted the pliable Dogwood into circular armatures and threaded it through with Bay, Crab Apple, Fir and Holly. We used the amazing 'silly string' superpower of the Ivy to bind it all into robust wreaths.

Sunday 30 November 2014

Dirty Work

It was a good day to get my hands dirty, and about time too. I pulled the last of the carrots and prepped a section of this year's root bed for next year's legumes, and a handful of garlic.

Each clove is planted with just its papery wisp peeking out of the soil, and so begins the absurd routine of replanting the cloves every other couple of days as they are tirelessly plucked out by the same 4 pigeons, 3 squirrels and 2 foxes that frequent the garden. 2015 WILL be the year of allium SATIVUM.

♥ Roots for roasting. ♥ Reward reaped!

Sunday 16 November 2014

Jewel Jelly

We followed the RHS recipe for medlar jelly.

A bletted medlar. It is overripe but not to the point of being fermented or rotten. Uncooked, it has a unique flavour with (in our 'umble opinion) notes of dates, waxy apple skin, apricot, apricot kernels and dark caramel (browned sugar, not butterscotch). Medlars need to be bletted as they contain tannins that make them astringent which cause the same hair-raising, puckered-tongued, dry-mouth sensation experienced after biting into an under-ripe banana or persimmon... a heads-up!

The camera flash has made this fruit appear wet to the point of being mushy, it is actually a thick, pasty consistency. A bletted medlar will appear darkened and less turgid, the skin will be dry and dimpled.

To blet, arrange the fruit out on a paper-lined tray making sure they do not touch and keep in a dark, cool place for 10-14 days. Check for mould every couple of days and remove any fruit that spoil.

Saturday 15 November 2014

Baked Goods and Beeches - Liverpool Mini Adventure

We breakfasted on the Baltic Bakehouse's buttery mushrooms on Baltic Wild and a slice of sublime Crack Pie washed down with Ethiopian coffee - the timer is to let you know when to plunge the plunger.

From first bite to last,the blistered crust of the toasted sourdough shattered into smithereens snapping like a string of firecrackers whilst the slow fermented bubbles made for a satisfyingly chewy crumb. ♥ Breakfast toast is the perfect medium for ruminating.♥ Needless to say we purchased a loaf of Baltic Wild to take home ... oh, and a tub of Funky Nut Co milk chocolate peanut butter.

As luck would have it the morning batch of doughnuts arrived just as our purchase was being tallied. We turned to find out the flavour of the day(we were wishing for lemon curd)only to see that the queue had grown from four to out-the-door ...and jittery; so we bought one blind. Chocolate with a chocolate custard centre proved to be the only consolation on our cancelled-and-delayed homeward train journey.

Sefton Park Meadows not for sale! We sincerely hope it's not.

We took a nippy autumnal walk through the beeches of Sefton Park to an artisan fair at the Palm House.

This goat's cheese, sweet potato, spinach and onion pie from the Moon and Pea stall went some way to warm the cockles.

We wended our way back to Liverpool Central via Lark Lane and spent our last couple of hours drinking Bold Street coffee and perusing the shelves of the hub that is News From Nowhere and made a purchase of Crouch, D., Ward, C. (2007, 5th edition) The Allotment, Its Landscape and Culture.

We ♥ Liverpool.

Friday 14 November 2014

Another Place - Liverpool Mini Adventure

We strolled from Blundellsands & Crosby station to Hall Rd station along Crosby Beach and mingled amongst the crowd of Antony Gormley's 'Another Place'. We even caught a bit of sun.

We continued on to Southport and chanced upon this bowl of brothy bliss: 'Nan's Recipe Bacon Bone Soup'. It is served up by Pudding and Pie, a cafe pocketed in the time warp of the victorian mahogany mouldings, iron and stained glass of the Wayfarers Arcade, Lord Street.

We spent some time down another wormhole, that opened out through a ginnel, an alleyway off Lord St, thumbing through the three floors of bookshelves of Parkinsons Books and came away with Johnson, A.T., Smith, H.A. (1958, 5th edition) Plant Names Simplified, Their Pronunciation, Derivation & Meaning, 7s 6d.


















Thursday 13 November 2014

'Cross the Mersey - Liverpool Mini Adventure

A good day to take the ferry. The wind was blowy and the sea choppy enough to make the MV Snowdrop heave and sway and for us land lubbers to experience the illusion of sea-legs once back on dry land. We like a bit of weather, we do.

We had a rummage around New Brighton's junk shops.

Wind-whipped, we warmed up on hot, fresh-fried calamari from Docklands Fish and Chips at Albert Dock and perused the Maritime Museum till closing time.

We explored the Rope Walks and popped into Bon Bon Bakery in Berry Street to purchase buns for breakfast as we planned an early start. The fresh-baked lotus seed "pineapple" bun and red bean bun did not disappoint, the fillings were neither too dry or too cloying. We ♥ their Hong Kong-style mango pudding with fresh cubed mango stirred through it.

We hunkered back indoors to warm up and watched Mike Leigh's 'Mr Turner' at FACT - JMWT's 'Boat and Red Buoy in a Choppy Sea' resonated. We supped at new restaurant on Bold St, Mowgli. It was buzzing, we stopped by some time after 9pm and were 8th in queue for a table. Sorry no pics as we were too busy relishing our delicious veggie school tiffin, gunpowder chicken and Aunty's prawn curry feast.

Saturday 1 November 2014

Blackhorse Workshop: Bonfire Burning


Bish, Bash, Bosh ...the Bonfire Man's Barnet

Blackhorse Workshop's fiendish, fawkesian November market activity; teaching tots to bash square pegs through round holes to create a perfectly sculpted coiffure.

WOOooooo Walthamstow

Friday 31 October 2014

Halloween Tricks

We rustled up a little magic and transmuted the New England Sugar Pies into ....pumpkin pie ta-dah!

We particularly like the addition of rum-soaked "squashed flies" and citrus in this pie recipe.

Wednesday 29 October 2014

Saving Seed

♥ Magic beans ♥

Tuesday 28 October 2014

Horrors!

What we witnessed at Borough Market today...monster veg!

Sunday 26 October 2014

October Plenty

We lolled in bed too long to get to Southwark in time to tag along with the Lions Part October Plenty(for shame!)but caught up with the Berry Man and the merry Morris dancers at Borough Market.

The Corn Queene
resplendent in her plenty.

Neal's Yard Dairy

We lunched on the haul: Knobby Russets (1820), Ball's Pippin (1923)& Mrs Humphrey's Braintree Seedling (1930) from Brogdale Farm National Fruit Collection, Mrs Kirkham's Lancashire cheese from Neal's Yard Dairy and sourdough bread from Bread Ahead Bakery.