And now we go again...

Sun_Addict

I think just the fact it’s spring makes you feel more motivated. 

Glad you made a purchase that will make you happy. Hope it arrives sooner than expected. 

One thing I always say about Spoons is their food is consistent and you certainly can’t moan about their drinks prices. 

Blackcats

we made wild garlic pesto last week and it was really tasty.  we used a Jamie o recipe and were very flexible with the ingredients in order to use up store cupboard bits and bobs.  we served it with pasta one evening and then had some on some sea bass

clematis sounds nice - a good name!

EssexHebridean

You may be right about it just being spring SA - whatever it is I’ll take it anyway, even if the motivation does always translate to action! 

BC my pesto was just the washed leaves, sunflower seeds, a chunk of padano cheese and rapeseed oil - plus a little black pepper. I just blitz and taste until the texture is right and it tastes like something I’d want to eat! 😂 It’s not frozen in little,blobs which Iwill transfer to a tub or bag at some stage.  I’ve just looked that JO recipe up though - I do like the way he makes his recipes really accessible - lots of alternatives for things!  I made the planned lemon curd too - that was a Good Housekeeping recipe - always reliable! Also made the planned pizza for tea - we’re both solidly agreed that home made is definitely nicer than shop bought and just as nice - albeit in a different way - to takeaway as well. Froze the other half of the mozzarella as well Vix! 😁

I was wide awake just after 7 this morning so got up and came downstairs leaving MrEH to sleep on for a bit. So far we’ve had a glorious start to the day with bright sunshine and a decent breeze. Handily I remembered to look at the forecast last night so the WM ran first thing and I got the load onto the line as soon as it finished. It might have to come in again in a couple of hours but my hope is that it will get a decent blow and be mostly dry even if that is how things pan out. 

Breakfast was toast including some of the lemon curd I made on one slice - oh my it’s tasty! Actually we’re limiting it to half slices at a time as otherwise it will just disappear! 

I wasn’t able to do the Big River return yesterday as the hub was down at the PO - I felt rather sorry for the ladies in there as they’ve clearly been apologising to a lot of people about this! I’ve re-arranged it as a courier return now so will try and get that dropped off later. We also want to get to the C0-0p for MrEH’s milk so can combine the two errands with a walk this morning. We then have the meeting which we thought was last weekend, and I think the rest of the day will be general pottering about. Allowing that the forecast for tomorrow appears to be dry I think we’ll get the bedding change done today so that can run through this evening ready to hopefully make it to the line tomorrow. 

I’m feeling quite pleased with the general “using what we have” approach to food at the moment. Last night’s pizza only needed the mozzarella and that does us for two meals so we’re lined up ready for next time with the other half of the ball in the freezer. The lemon curd was entirely using ingredients we had - and indeed “using up” those lemons and two eggs as well. The pesto again was all either foraged (the garlic itself) or stuff we had in. Lunch today will be bacon egg and cheese wraps - wraps from the freezer, cheese and bacon in the fridge and the final two eggs. This evening I am planning burgers (in muffins) and curly fries - all already in the freezer. Tomorrow’s pasta salad will be a prep one/eat twice and although the “fresh”salady bits needed buying the turkey is from the freezer. I did buy a jar of sun dried tomatoes but those do several meals as well.  I need to go and stage a freezer raid to get various bits out actually - so I think I will stop rambling now and crack on with things! 

jwil

Enjoy your day!

savingholmes

Enjoy the sunshine. Sounds like You've achieved loads already

EssexHebridean

Good morning all! A bit of a dull and cloudy one, but still, it's dry, not "too" cold, and I managed to get the heating at the office working again this morning after a somewhat chilly day on Thursday!

Weekend felt really nicely productive in the end - a good focus on the garden too which was always the plan. Our meeting on Saturday was shorter than we expected - and we still got mostly the outcome that was needed from it, so we are on to the next stage of planning for the event to happen next year. Ended up popping to Mum's on Saturday afternoon, a couple of odd jobs for her and a nice sit and natter with a slice each of her delicious choccy fudge cake. When we got home our neighbour from across the road came over with the pots he mentioned that he wanted shot of as well - two massive ones, and one slightly smaller, but all of which we can make use of! 

Yesterday was a day of washing as the weather was just SO lovely - I'd already set a load of bedding running to finish early so got that out on the line very first thing/ Checked the forecast and immediately got the next load though, and then managed a third load on a short wash as well - all came in late yesterday afternoon with just the merest tinge of dampness in it. Lots of general pottering about ysterday morning as well - MrEH was trying to sort out a problem with the computer in the office, so I managed to get various odds and ends done - a bit of filing, a bit of weeding etc. 

Seeds are looking good - all the veggies are now showing some signs of life even if in the case of the chillies it's not much. The 4 courgettes from the mini-greehouse spent most of yesterday sitting out enjoying the sunshine and a bit of a breeze which should help them to strengthen up a bit the thyme, parsley and basil are all popping through. The spinach and salad are looking happy-cheerful as well - I'll need to work out what I am going to do the next sowing of those in though as we're running low on containers! Next garden related jobs will probably be to work through what we need to get sewing next, nasturtiums I think, and probably chard, too. 

Yesterday afternoon we popped to a couple of garden centres - the large one we got my hydrangea from first - got some odds and ends there including a lovely rose for one of the previously mentioned large pots in the front garden. Two trays of really pretty violas as well - a sort of pale lilacy mauve and a white with a vivid yellow centre.  Came back via another one - a smaller independent (the first is also an independent, in fact) family business which Mum has used for years but it was the first time we've been there. Well, my goodness we were impressed - lots of stock, all really vigorous and healthy looking, and at excellent prices! Frankly we wished we had gone there first - it will certainly be our first stop in the future. Got a lovely healthy looking rosemary, a tray of broad bean seedlings, a small bush fuschia and a really pretty variegated thyme in sort of bronzey shades - under £8 for the lot!  Home then (via Al's for the apples - why on earth it's suddenly so difficult to get nice British ones, lord knows!) and we turned our attention to getting the new pots planted up - the front is now FAR more colourful, I'm delighted to say! Plenty of random bedding bits left over so the back garden pots have also had a bit of a makeover as well. The Broad beans are now taking up the smallest of our beds which are designated for veg and it feels good to have got something properly on the go like that - I LOVE broad beans - we always grew them at the plot, so assuming they don't all get eaten by slugs etc it will be such a treat to have them again!  All in all it really felt like we got plenty done.

MrEH has had a dentist visit this morning - he's had a miserable weekend with toothache poor thing, but is now minus one tooth which as it's a back one the dentist assures him he really won't miss, once it's all healed up. I imagine he will be a far happier bunny in a few days time. It might mean I need to rethink food choices for the next few days though as I'm not convinced he will want to be eating couscous tomorrow night.... 

lucielle

Poor Mr EH. Hope he heals quickly. 

L

beanielou

Hope Mr Eh is on the mend soon.

redofromstart

Oh my, not the couscous. Poor Mr EH.  ETA it got stuck in the hole for me and was painful to remove. Soup was best for a few days.

Sounds like my sort of garden centre, and well worth supporting.

jwil

Great garden centre finds.  It's always nice to find a good one.

I had a back tooth removed earlier this year after it broke.  I don't notice it missing at all.