Category: Food

Keeping your head down – 18 June 2025

Posted on by Zogman

It’s amazing the things you see if you keep your head down.

Today I was out for a walk in the afternoon, heading to the shops to get a variety of veg to make dinner. If I hadn’t had my head to the ground I would never have noticed the burned off rusted pipe on the pavement. Inside the pipe, dirt and stones had collected over time. Some seeds had landed in the old pipe too and some of them had germinated. Add a little sunlight and a plentiful amount of rain and there you have the beginnings of a miniature garden. If I’d just been striding out, or if I’d been thinking about that dinner I was going to make, I’d have missed this little garden in the street. If you don’t look, you’ll never see what’s in front of you. But be careful, watch out for busses as well as little round gardens.

You can find my garden on Flickr. The round garden didn’t quite make PoD. That award went to a White Tailed Bee feeding on a Marsh Cinquefoil flower. Much prettier, but I still like that round garden. It’s the second one I’ve found. Must go back through Flickr to find it.

Scamp was out in the afternoon to meet up with the rest of the Witches, while I was shopping. I’d half intended to drive up to Fannyside to get some landscape photos. Unfortunately the sun didn’t want to play ball today and so instead I searched out a recipe I could use for dinner tonight. I’d seen one on the BBC page and it looked simple enough for me. Actually it was fairly simple and that’s what we had tonight. It was listed as Mediterranean Vegetable Pasta, but in reality it was “What have we got in the fridge”. It served the purpose and it tasted reasonable. May make it again.

The dull weather that prevented me from going to Fannyside lasted for the remainder of the day. Dull and with the threat of rain sort of summed it up. Hoping for a better day tomorrow.

Scamp is intending to meet Isobel tomorrow and I’m hoping to meet Alex for a photowalk.

My turn to cook – 17 June 2025

Posted on by Zogman

It was my turn to cook today and I thought I’d made a mess of it, but surprisingly it all worked out well.

It was a dull, grey day. I don’t think either of us really wanted to do much of anything. I had finished my book and started another. I don’t know where it came from on the Kindle, but it didn’t last long there. It’s now in the Kindle Bin. An hour or so’s research and a couple of quid brought me another book, much more interesting, at least that’s what I’m hoping it will be. By the way Hazy, did you know that Stone and Sky, the new Rivers of London book, set in SCOTLAND! comes out in a couple of weeks? You probably knew that and you probably told me and I probably forgot about it. Too many wee ‘nories’ in my head, that’s what my mum would have said.

Scamp was in a redesigning mood today. Plants in their pots were needing moved and I could see where she was going with this rebuild. Too many pots containing greenery and not enough with some brighter colours. Admittedly she has some beautiful roses growing in the front garden, in pots, of course, but she needs some spots of colour too. Today was a test to see what she could create from what she already had in the garden. I was the pot lifter for the day and I agreed with her changes.

However, I did want to get a bit of photography done and once I was sure she wouldn’t strain her back humphing the pots around, I took the chance of a walk over to St Mo’s where I found a Common Blue Damselfly that was willing to be a model for me. Also a pretty pink wildflower growing beside the boardwalk. It took me a bit of research to find out that it was Valerian. I remembered the name from last year. Last, but not least was was a side view of a white wild rose, fully open and welcoming any passing bees. All are to be seen on Flickr, but the PoD was the Valerian.

Like I said at the start, it was my turn to cook today. It was Mushroom Risotto and I still think I got some of my quantities wrong, but the result worked well. It’s 20 minutes of standing by the cooker feeding the mushroom, onion, garlic, butter and rice mixture with ladles full of rehydrated mushroom flavoured liquid, meanwhile stirring almost constantly for those 20 minutes. Scamp had poached a chicken breast earlier and I added it to the mixture. I’m glad it all worked. I would have hated to have gone to all that effort for it to be a failure.

Tomorrow Scamp is hoping to meet the Witches for a blether and I may go looking for dragonflies, out in the country.

Happy Father’s Day – 15 June 2025

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It’s nice to wake up in the morning to two lots of cards and breakfast in bed courtesy of Scamp. My turn to reciprocate tomorrow.

Spoke to Hazel in the morning and caught up with what was happening down south. Glad to hear that Ivan is no worse and pleased that he might be getting home soon. Also happy that the rockery is settling into its own shape and planting. Thanks for the cup and phone holder. It sits comfortably on the arm of the couch. You are such a clever girl!

Other than that, it was a bit of a dull day. Occasional drizzle, but no real rain on the windows, so that’s a bonus. We watched the F1 qualifying and watched an F1 car lose its carbon fibre covering and have to drive back to the paddock almost ‘naked’. I bet a lot of paparazzi’s cameras would almost be reading melt down trying to find what’s underneath the skin!

After much discussion, we settled on Carrot & Lentil Curry for dinner. An old favourite, tried and tested over the years.

Later in the afternoon I got a taxi over to to Central Health Centre for my Covid vaccination. A Covid jag on a Sunday and on Father’s Day too? What are these folk thinking about? The lady at the health centre almost managed to get me a Shingles jag too until I told her I’d already had one and she agreed. Another sore arm avoided! I’d got a taxi, because our street is double parked to max when it’s Fathers’ Day and the prospect of trying to find an empty space was not in the least appealing. Being driven there and back was worth the tenner and a bit.

Spoke to Jamie later in the afternoon and got the amended details of their plans for Arran. Nice card Jamie. As you know I’m always losing my glasses!!

PoD was a photo of some crystalline ice with the remainder of some blackcurrant juice looking decidedly like blood.  Believe me, it’s fruit juice! Would I lie to you?

That was about it for the day. A lovely day with great folk. Even the lady who gave me the jag had a good sense of humour.

No real plans for tomorrow, although there are rumours that shopping may be necessary!

Thunder, and torrential rain – 14 June 2025

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Of course it was! It was summer in Scotland! What else did you expect?

We had been well warned by the Met Office and they got it right. During last night we got heavy, thumping rain, but thankfully no thunder or lightning. The rain tapered off during the day, but we weren’t going out, we’ve been caught like the before and got a soaking. Instead we stayed at home and read for a while, just because we could. No dancing class today, because the teachers were off on a Mediterranean cruise. They call it working, but we know better.

The day just sort of dragged its feet all afternoon and then late in the afternoon we heard the first rumbles of thunder in the distance. The rumbles got closer accompanied by a couple of louder bangs, then only rain to remind us that it wasn’t quite finished with us yet.

Dinner tonight was divided between two eateries. Scamp wanted a small fish supper with pickled onions. I chose chicken chop suey with fried rice. Each were produced from two different shops and both were deemed delicious. On the walk home I did catch a few heavy drops of rain, but it didn’t come to much.

The PoD came from a short dry spell in the garden and is a Polemonium Scamp recently purchased. I like the shape of the flowers which remind me of Aquilegia flowers, and the little yellow stamens catch the eye of passing insects.

Watched another episode of ‘GOLD’ on iPlayer. Quite an intriguing story although, how true to life it is, I wouldn’t like to say.

Hoping for a drier day tomorrow, or at least a less wet one.

A warm, clammy, overcast day – 13 June 2025

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Scamp was out early as usual to go to FitSteps. I read for a while.

It was one of those days when the weather can’t decide what it’s going to do. Will it rain? Will the clouds break and give us sunshine? Will it be a mixture of the two? In the end it was a combination of all those things, but nothing stayed for any length of time. I read a few more chapters of my book.

Scamp arrived home early because a woman in the class fainted and of course the rest of class was cancelled until someone came to take her home.

After lunch we browsed a food magazine for some suggestions for food for dinner. Eventually Scamp pulled a host of recipe cards from one of the kitchen shelves and we made a shortlist of possibles. We eventually settled on Tomatoey Baked Eggs with Feta. It sounds a bit naff, but actually it turned out well. We added half a focaccia that we’d picked up at a grocery stall at Klondyke. The bread was a bit dried out, but after we’d pierced a few holes in the top and fed some good olive oil into it, then gently warmed it in the oven it was fine and great for dunking in the tomato sauce. That’s another keeper for the kitchen shelf.

I went out later to St Mo’s and after catching a few gentle showers, found a photo in a bunch of Speedwell wildflowers, growing through the grass.

Warnings of heavy rain and thunderstorms for tomorrow.

Another hot day – 11 June 2025

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Hardly any wind today to ruffle the leaves on the trees, but plenty of sun. Making the most of it, because it looks like it will be all change by the weekend.

Scamp was out in the morning tweaking this and pruning that in the garden. She was just making sure that all the flowers she’d planted yesterday were sitting up straight and looking happy.

We sat and solved our usual puzzles and then had lunch. It wasn’t a day to go our anywhere in a hurry, so we walked down to the shops to get the ingredients to make a stir-fry and then sat in the garden reading until I decided I’d go ‘beastie’ hunting. Scamp’s description of insects, arachnids and things that crawl and sometimes bite.

I managed to get a decent photo of a Four Spotted Chaser dragonfly at St Mo’s pond. Didn’t quite capture a Common Blue damselfly, there have been very few of them in and around the ponds this year. Further on I got a shot of a Yellow Iris with one flower beginning to go over and another just about to unfurl. That was about all the exercise I got today.

Back home we both read for a while in the back garden with a Pimms at hand. Later, Scamp turned the mixed veg we’d bought earlier into a well filled stir-fry for dinner.

That was about all the excitement we could take for one day.

We may go dancing tomorrow.

Another damp, dismal, day – 9 June 2025

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More or less what we expected after reading the weather report and checking online. It’s a Monday. Mondays are often dull. We had to cancel the visit to the Kelpies. I don’t think they’d be coming out anyway today.

With a lot of help from Scamp, I parcelled up my unwanted, too narrow and too short, dance sneakers, then drove over to UPS and gave the box and the proof of posting to the lady there and she said everything was in order. It’s up to UPS and Amazon now to do the rest of the business.

Next was a trip to Tesco for the usual lunch requirements. I did think about going for a walk in St Mo’s, but the constant showers didn’t encourage me to go walking in the rain. Instead I read a few more pages in my latest book, Murder Mindfully. It’s described as a the darkly comic bestselling thriller. I don’t know about the best seller, but it’s certainly very dark and at times funny. About a third through it now and I’m still not sure what’s going on or where it’s going!

I took some photos of the next batch of partly dried flowers that landed on the mat a couple of days ago. Then it was time to get ready to go to Kirsty’s class. Tonight we were reprising Waltz Nioli. I’d forgotten just how much I had forgotten. This was the dance class wearing my new dance sneakers and I must say they were very comfortable. I’d been told by a lot of folk that they make you think you have nothing on your feet and now I see exactly what they mean. Lovely, light trainers.

Drove home through more rain and around 7pm we had our dinner which was Giovanni Rana Tortelloni pasta and yesterday’s refried baby potatoes. Very nice and filling too.

After dinner I took some more photos of the flowers, but it was one of the earlier ones that got PoD.

Tomorrow we may have another chance to see the big horses, if they’re not too rusty.

It’s raining again – 8 June 2025

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Us humans are never truly happy. Last month we were complaining about the heat and the likelihood of their being a drought. This week we’re complaining because it’s raining.

Today I was waiting for another pair of dance trainers. I ordered a pair just over a week ago and they arrived last week, but were the wrong size when they arrived. Yesterday I found a pair online that were the recommended size (one half size larger than normal) and promptly ordered them, expecting to wait another week before they would be delivered, but no, they would be delivered today! Hooray!

It was one of those days when the sun shines in the morning, but before afternoon there is a gradual darkening of the sky and then the rain comes thumping down, only for the sun to come out later and the cycle to begin again.

Scamp took advantage of a dry spell to cut the grass in the back garden, or to be more exact, to strim the grass in the back garden. Strimming the grass is quite a lot quicker than using the lawn mower, and, as Scamp will tell you, cleaning a strimmer is much quicker than cleaning a mower. Once she was finished, we went for a walk round the front garden and Scamp laid out her plans for removing the plants that have passed flowering and also for what will replace them. Just as we were finishing, the Amazon man handed me a big brown paper box, quite like a shoe box actually!

In trepidation, I tried the trainers and although they might be a little bit big, they will work perfectly well. Light as a feather and worth every penny. I’m hoping I’ll get a chance to wear them tomorrow to Monday dance class.

I went for a walk around St Mo’s and almost got it dry all the way. Just a ten minute shelter under some trees when the rain came on, but otherwise ok. A little branch with some Hawthorn leaves and berries looking like a miniature Bonsai got PoD.

After a lot of disagreements, we settled on Sea Bass and potatoes for Scamp’s dinner and Lamb Burgers and potatoes for mine. Dessert was meringue nests with strawberries, raspberries and cream. Lovely.

Spoke to Jamie and told him all about Scamp’s scan. Then we heard all about their 80 visitors to the Open Garden project. They also took part in a Bake Off game where they had to bake a cake and also amongst other things, a batch of macarons. I wonder what Jamie’s gran would have thought of that!

Tomorrow I think we may be going to look at a couple of horses.

Another fairly early rise for us dancers – 7 June 2025

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Up and out by 9.45am to join the M80 then the M8 and trundle along through torrential rain to Brookfield and a fairly large dance class. The last one for a fortnight.

First dance was the Charnwood cha-cha. Actually a routine we are fairly au fait with. A gentle cha-cha that doesn’t stress you too much and works quite well. Next was a short Foxtrot which again didn’t put us under too much pressure, mainly because we’d done most of it before.

A break for a sequence dance was next, Scamp’s favourite, the Tina Tango, the Ed Sheeran version. We’ve danced it so many times, I sometimes think I can get through the routine blindfolded – but I can’t! After that it was Rona’s Rumba. It’s not my favourite rumba routine, but Jane wrote it for a friend of hers who died recently after a short illness and it’s just a case of learning it for her and Rona’s sake.

We just had to slide in a House of Bamboo for all the line dancers in the class. At least it’s one of the dances where people smile as they dance it, not at all like Waltz Across Texas, a terrible dirge of a dance.

We finished up with the Mayfair Quickstep which isn’t a real quickstep, but gets you moving round the floor at quite a pace.

We said goodbye to everyone and drove home again to even more heavy rain. This was probably the last dance class for a couple of weeks … thankfully. Having said that, I did actually enjoy the class and clarified some of the routines with help from Jane.

Easy run home and just when I thought I’d go out for a walk, the rain returned with a vengeance. It was that sort of day. I did remember to wish Jamie and Simonne a good day with their Open Gardens day. The house and gardens did look grand in the photos he sent. Well done you pair!!

PoD was taken in the garden and is another Schoolgirl photos, but taken in the back garden this time, after the last rain shower.

Today’s dinner was a take on Chicken & Pea tray bake. This time it was a spiced up version with skin on, bone in chicken thighs with potato wedges and red onions. This was our first attempt at it, but we agreed it needed some refinement.

No real plans for tomorrow. It all depends on the weather.

A bit of a wasted day – 6 June 2025

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A day when the cloud cover hinted at rain in the wind, but the deluge never really got going.

Scamp went out to FitSteps in the morning and I’d intended spending the morning clearing up my expenses, but instead I used up most of my free hour reading.

We were supposed to have an Amazon parcel delivered in the early afternoon, but for whatever reason, by the delivery time had disappeared, I had a message to say it wouldn’t be delivered until late afternoon. That sort of spoiled our day, but Scamp took it as a challenge to haul out the strimmer and tidy up the edges of the front garden. Not to be outdone, I dug out spades full of compost from the bottom of the back garden compost bin to fill up the potato bags and pail. Most of the compost was very well rotted and simply crumbled through my hands. I dug out enough of the compost to fill two potato bags and one potato bucket. That should help to produce a decent crop of potatoes later in the year.

I had a few spaces in the raised bed, so rather that leave it barren, I planted out some leeks. I’d planted some about a month ago and they were looking quite good considering they had been in the ground all through those hot days of May. I’m hoping the new planting will also begin to show in a week or two.

Dinner tonight, we agreed, would be fish and chips from the Condorrat chip shop. I walked there and on the way remembered I was going to photograph a lovely big rhododendron bush that was growing wild beside the path. I even managed to get a bee’s bum sticking out of one of the florets! PoD sorted. The fish ’n’ chips were good, but not the best I’ve ever tasted. Could do better IMO Condorrat.

My parcel from Amazon which held a pair of dance trainers arrived as we were starting our fish and chips, and after that wait, they were just slightly too short. I’ll send them back tomorrow.

Tomorrow we’re intending to go to Saturday dance class but without my new dance trainers. 🙁